Tim Samoff // Weblog (old)

June 03, 2005

Movie progress...

I just finished the fourth movie in my little “while she’s away“ project. It’s been fun so far. I don’t know if I’ll finish the last two before Julianna gets home, though.

The Chronicles of Riddick ~ Not as good as Pitch Black by any stretch of the imagination, but fairly entertaining nevertheless. It got a little slow for me at times, but it had better dialog and just as good special effects as a famous bummer that I just saw. The one major disappointment I had with Riddick was the ending. Blah.

Primer ~ Not bad for a first-timer. The concept was cool, but the story was a little hard to follow. And a question… Why do cool, techy, sci-fi movies always have to deal with the stock market in some way or another? (Case-in-point: one of my favorites.) Why Primer is rated “R” is beyond me.

Ying xiong (Hero) ~ Amazing. More of a social commentary than The Village even (which I’ll get to in a sec). The story was wonderful. The swordplay was great. The cinematography was incredible. I’ll watch this one again for sure.

The Village ~ Once again, M. Night gives us what we want — a psychological thriller that keeps us guessing. Of course, I’m probably the last person in the world to see this movie, but better late than never, right? To tell you the truth, The Village didn’t completely live up to my expectations — especially considering my past. I’ve heard all of this talk about how great of a social commentary it is (whether it’s about social constraints, organized religion, or whatever). To me, the movie was a little forced and didn’t really bring up any commentary that hasn’t already been beaten into the ground. Even moreso, I felt like the movie spoke well of the intentions of a utopian society more than anything (I mean, the people who created the “village” didn’t start out with bad intentions, nor did they desire to harm or control anyone — beyond their own capacity of intentionality, that is). In my opinion, those involved in more…subduing societies…are much more aware of their positions of control and their status within the society than the “elders” in The Village were — sure, the elders new they were in control, but they weren’t really trying to get anything out of it (e.g., praise, etc.). Oh, well. (Lastly, I’m wondering why the first scene of the movie shows the people of the “village” burying a child under a tombstone that reads 1890-1897… Seems like a dirty trick to disorient the movie-watcher to me.)

Still left on the docket are the two Kill Bill movies. If I can’t fit them in tomorrow night before I drive to the airport to pick up my wife, I guess she’ll just have to watch them with me.

Speaking of my wife… I miss her.

Posted at 01:03 am

Trackback Link: