Kyp Reviews The Golden Compass

The picture I'm using for this movie review is of the Book. And that should tell you everything you need to know. As excited as I was about this movie, sadly, it did not live up to my expectations. Please note. This is not a bad movie, by any stretch of the imagination. It is exciting, fast paced and whimsical. Dakota Blue Richards does well as Lyra even though it's her screen debut. Ian McKellen is perfect as the voice of Ice Bear Iorek Byrnison and Nicole Kidman is wonderful playing the villain. I don't know why she doesn't do that more often. The problems lie in the script. It requires so much blatant exposition that it all ends up feeling forced. There is also very little feeling of Charater aside from the 3 I mentioned. They also try too much to be faithful to the book by including almost everything that happens but moving through it way too quickly. Lyra's with one group of people and off again with a different group.

If you've read the book, it might be annoying to see all the characters you've grown to love get swept aside in the interest of a short movie. If you haven't read the book, check out the movie. I think you'll enjoy it, especially if you like ARMORED EFFING BEAR DUELS!

My Favorite Thing About the Holidays

So, I love my mom's cookies, and pretty much anything she bakes. But she kind of lives 3 plane rides away now, so I don't get a lot of baked goods, and baking takes energy, and patience... and i don't have much of either of those.

However, every year Little Debbie comes out with these little cakes... i swear... there are drugs in these cakes. I like to call them Crack Cakes. They are dangerously addictive... and delicious.

cake or death?

mm

Sic Transit Glory... Glory Fades

So, Last night Kyp and I ventured over to the Tsongas Arena in Lowell, MA. Brand New was playing which meant, most likely we'd get free tickets thanks to Jenni (both Kyp's sister and roommate of Brand New's tour manager). It doesn't really matter if we had gotten them for free or not... I most likely would've paid whatever the ticket price was to see this show.

Opening for Brand New were Thrice and mewithoutyou. Both bands played a decent set, I guess I preferred Thrice over mewithoutyou, simply because I was more familiar with Thrice's music. I think their downfall however was playing some of their newer music which seemed to fall upon un-appreciative ears. A mixture of synth, and voice-moding took Thrice's familiar hard rock punk sound and flipped it on it's head... and then bludgeoned it several times. However, they of course played "Artist in the Ambulance" and it was awesome.

Then Brand New hit the stage. Going into this concert I was very excited, however, I had heard concern from Val (my roommate) and one of my brothers that while Brand New is an awesome band, they don't get into their music enough in concert... there's no energy. Also there was the criticism that Brand New's newest album: "The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me" wasn't as hard as their earlier work: "My Favorite Weapon", "Deja Entendu". I got a little bit of video that maybe I can post up here, but nothing could be further from the truth. Brand New put on an insanely awesome show. They ripped through most of their new songs, and then also played a few of their older things. Both Kyp and I were pretty surprised that we didn't hear "Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades" or "The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows". But despite not playing either of those songs... the concert was amazing. As an encore (according to Jenni) Jessie's cousin Shane who's the newest addition to the band came out and implemented some loop recording of guitar, and then about 10 other people came out and they just jammed for about 10 minutes to what sounded like a blend of several of their new songs including "Jesus" and "Degausser".

If you have a chance to see this tour (or Brand New in general) don't pass it up! You will not be disappointed.

I saved Latin
mm

Mark's Movie Review- TRIPLE SHOT!

Ok, So I've neglected you blog... how can I show you how sorry I am... how about I use one post and review three movies back to back!?

OK HERE WE GO:

1) Smoking Aces

Overall this movie was just weird... All the trailers and info I saw on the film made me think this would be a fun action movie. So I wasn't expecting much from the plot... which would have been fine. However, what I think ruined this movie was the sorry attempt at a plot. Now don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of both Jeremy Piven and Ryan Reynolds, however the movie seemed split between wanting to be an action thriller with all the blood and violence you can handle, and having a deep conspiracy theory plot. In the end, it was weak, but fun.

If the movie had ended about 20 minutes earlier, maybe I would've liked it better. Not to mention Piven was surprisingly weak in his snitch character. Explaining his big ideas in metaphors for illusions... it just got more annoying than anything else.

Redeeming points: One of the assassin's had a wrist blade a'la Assassin's Creed.

Some of the little magic type tricks that are done, just kind of thrown in (Piven shuffling the cards as he breaksdown) are kind of cool.

2) Girl Interrupted

I was very impressed with this film. Angelina Jolie and Winona Ryder both were pretty strong. The plot overall was good; had a weird blend of Donnie Darko and One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. The interaction of all the girls in the hospital seemed genuine. A little dry at times, and overall a little slow but I did enjoy this movie.

As a heads up it does have a lot of heavy issues and deals with mental health, which can be hard to watch for some, but it did so in a safe and respectful manner. Some highlights include the cameo of Zoe Bartlett, Brittany Murphy and Stokes.

Watching this film however you kind of wonder what ever happened to Winona Ryder... I figure all the roles that would work for her have been taken by Helena Bonham Carter, or Keira Knightley.

Overall- a strong film, with good acting.

Finally

3) Alpha Dog

What can I say. I had heard good things, and am always open to Emile Hirsch films after The Girl Next Door. I actually really enjoyed this movie. It kind of broke the format of a typical movie, giving you not so much a plot twist as much as a twist on how a normal movie would play out, if that makes any sense. I was very impressed with Justin Timberlake's performance... however, Ben Foster stole the show in my opinion. Despite kind of disappearing halfway through the movie, he was an absolute bad-ass. I'd equate him to the toughest neo-nazi since Ed Norton. I wasn't floored or anything but still a very impressive movie. If you can get past the ridiculous nick names (elvis, 911, poke) and the occasional annoying dialogue... it's pretty good. Stumbles a little with pacing but worth adding to your quene.

Smoking Aces: 2/5

Girl Interrupted: 4/5

Alpha Dog: 3/5

mm out

Movie Excitment: There Will Be Blood

Paul Thomas Anderson is a genius. There, I said it. Magnolia is my 2nd favorite movie ever, and Punch-Drunk Love is probably in the top 20. Boogie Nights is fantastic and thought I've yet to get a hands on his debut Hard Eight, I've heard nothing but good things. So when I heard he had a new movie coming out I was thrilled. When I learned Daniel Day-Lewis was staring I went into a 3 day Awesome Coma.

I, then, learned the film in question was about an Oil Tycoon and base on a novel entitled Oil! Tell me, how do you not get excited about a movie based on a book with 3 letters and an exclamation point as the title. You can't not get excited, the point tells you you have to! <--see.

The movie also features Paul Dano, who played the kid who took a vow of silence in last years Little Miss Sunshine. I'm very eager to see what he can do with actual dialog.

Daniel Day-Lewis or P.T. Anderson alone are enough to get this writer excited. But together they shall combine to form a megazord of awesomeness. If you aren't already, get excited about There Will Be Blood.