Here's a picture for the upcoming concert thingie for Stephenie Meyer at the Nokia Times Square on Aug. 1st. :)
Here's another Joker poster, this time at Times Square.
]]>Here's a picture for the upcoming concert thingie for Stephenie Meyer at the Nokia Times Square on Aug. 1st. :)
Every morning, I had this routine. I would head out to work with my ipod and the first song in my playlist was "Every Day is Exactly the Same" by Nine Inch Nails. I've heard that song so many times, I practically know the words.
So when it showed up in "Wanted" yesterday, I couldn't help but smile. Perhaps I am the demographic for this movie. :)
"Wanted", based on the TopCow Graphic Novel of the same name, is the story of Wesley Gordon. Wesley is a regular guy, so caught up in work, he's not even Googleable (if such a word exists). He comes to find that his father was a great assassin and belonged to a whole fraternity of them. Basically, the movie is the first Matrix, just kind of reloaded. We go through Campbell's Hero's Tale:
1. Character lives hum drum life but dreams of more.
2. Events occur that introduce him to a mentor. (Luke had ObiWan, Neo had Morpheus, and Wesley has Sloan, played by Morgan Freeman)
3. Mentor tells Hero they're meant for great things, but Hero rejects notion ("I don't believe you." Or "I gotta help Uncle Owen on the Crops.")
4.) Another event happens that solidifies the Hero into starting on the Path. (Luke's family gets roasted, Neo sees the Pods)
5.) Training and more training.
6.) The Hero is Tested.
So on and so forth. Wanted has all of this, and it's done with style. Heads explode. Bodies fly, and it's like a ballerina act. I'd like to say that I can't remember the last time I said "Wow!" During a movie, but I'd be lying. I did so with Kung Fu Panda. Still there are moments where I leaned forward and applauded (even though I was the only one doing so - Sunday Morning). Despite the holes in logic (and there are many - like if you manage to escape a police roadblock, they won't bother to call backup because they were so amazed at the Awesomeness you displayed, even if your car looks like crap afterwards and is easily trackable), Wanted's one of those films you should see at least once, twice if you can. Take your brain out, put it in the chair next to you and just enjoy the Ride.
It was cool to see David O'Shea again. He is in the opening sequence. When I saw him, I said (to myself) "Hey, it's Steven!!" He played Stephen in Braveheart, the crazy Irish fellow who was 'the most wanted man on his island" (which is Ironic because O'Shea is Scottish).
Thomas Kretschmann(sp?) also has an interesting role as the villian. He kind of reminds me of Sean Bean. His character doesn't have a big role, but it's nice.
Angelina Jolie is good here. You can see facets of her pre-Oscar attitude (and some of that Charm from "Hackers" and Mr. And Mrs. Smith) but she's also become really skinny (though still cute), possibly from having lost her mother over the course of making the film. Here's hoping that she bulks up just a wee for her next outing. The Ambassador kicks some serious ass in this, though. :)
But this is James McAvoy's movie, by far. I will never call him "Fauno" again (which I picked up from seeing him as the Faun in The Chronicles of Narnia and then seeing Pan's Labyrinth sometime afterwards). He's honestly the most believable character in this, especially when having to fetch his pills for the constant panic attacks he suffers. I believe that if they cast anyone else in that role, it's possible that the movie wouldn't have done as well.
And then there's the music. I thought that after stepping down from doing the Spiderman scores, Danny Elfman would have taken a vacation. It seems like he went back to listening to some of his old Oingo Boingo tracks (he was part of a band in the 80's - he even sung the theme song to John Hughes' "Weird Science"), because the rock track "The Little Things" is pretty much a standout. I, being the geek that I am, bought the album off of iTunes (and because I already own Batman, Batman Returns and Edward Scissorhands) and am loving it.
Overall, Wanted's a fun popcorn flick. :)
]]>Found near the Subway. Poor Heath. Movie should be good, though.
Here's two posters for HBO's "True Blood", Alan Ball's (Six Feet Under) take on the Sookie Stackhouse (sp?) Stories by Charlaine Harris. Anna Paquin (Rogue from the X-Men films) will be playing Sookie.
Share a song you listened to in 6th grade.
Word on the grapevine states that we're already letting Sean Avery go. Basically the energy point of the team, Avery proved to be both a bonus to his team in terms of goals and motivation, and a pain to his managers on everything else. For nothing else, the league will probably remember him for getting under goaltender Marty Brodeur's skin during the Playoffs. This was an incident that led to the creation of the Avery Rule ( where players are not allow to hang out in front of goalies and annoy them. I'll remember him for the time he sat in our section (the nosebleeds) while being out with a sore wrist. He taked to and took pictures with the fans. He was definitely one of us, and I hope that we'll be able to hold onto him longer.
Jagr, on the other hand, I can't wait to see him go. Supposedly, a super league in Russia (where their dollar is strong) is willing to pay Jagr roughly 11 million bucks to play out there for a few seasons. He hasn't made a decision yet, but its coming down the pipe.
I'll mention what's up as I find it out.
]]>What's your favorite soundtrack?
I don't know if I have an exact Favorite. Most of my music collection is made up of Soundtracks, but if I had to pick just one, it would be Thomas Newman's "The Shawshank Redemption". (And he's doing Wall-E too!)
There are tons of runners up, though:
John Powell's scores to the Bourne films.
James Horner for Wolfen, Aliens, Braveheart (Freedom!!!!), Titanic and A Beautiful Mind. Oh, and the Land Before Time.
Howard Shore's scores to the Lord of the Rings movies (and Se7en)
James Newton Howard's score for "The Village".
Alan Silvestri for Back to the Future, Beowulf and Forrest Gump.
Basil Poledouris' scores for "Robocop", "Conan the Barbarian" and "The Hunt for Red October"
Jerry Goldsmith's scores for "The Omen", "Rudy" and "Star Trek: First Contact".
John Williams for most of my childhood - "Close Encounters", "ET", "Harry Potter", etc.
Don Davis, who went from scoring Tiny Toons to doing the Matrix movies.
Hans Zimmer for "The Lion King", "Backdraft" and "Gladiator"
Ennio Morricone for "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly", "The Thing", and "The Untouchables"
Giorgio Moroder for "Cat People" (with some help from Bowie) and "Scarface"
Vangelis for "Chariots of Fire" and "Blade Runner".
John Barry for just about every Classic Bond film out there.
David Arnold for all the new Bond films and Hot Fuzz (and Stargate, one of my favourites).And Both Zimmer and Powell for "Kung Fu Panda", and both Zimmer and Newton Howard for "Batman Begins".
Looks like we have rain coming in...
Section 3 - great view!!