V for Vendetta

V for Vendetta

What an interesting movie.

This movie tells the story of V, a man who has been made into what he is by the state and has been planning ultimately to get back at the man that did this to him.  

This story is based on an illustrated novel of the same name written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd.  It’s set in the United Kingdom in a rather bleak future.  The story itself pays homage to 1984 by George Orwell in which the people are monitored by and are afraid of their government.

I really enjoyed the adaptation the Wachowski Brothers skillfully put together.  Now, you would think that this would be an action movie, but it really isn’t.  It’s all about the story politics, betrayal and love.  Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman really are fantastic.

On the venerated and now rarely-used corn-cob scale, where 1 cob means you really should avoid this as it’ll make you sick, and 5 means the cobs are so good that they give you superpowers, I would have to give it a 4.5.  It even won over my girlfriend who really didn’t have much of an opinion when she started watching it, but told me she wanted to buy the movie when we finished watching.

El Presidente

Reviews to go - August 13, 2006

1. Benchwarmers - Napolean Dynamite really needs to quit picking his nose and eating it as the whole shtick went on far too long. Otherwise, it was cute. 3/5 corn cobs.
2. Annapolis - An enjoyable movie that showed Harry Osbourne from Spiderman really ripped and fat-less. Bugger. For a navy movie, it turned out to be a boxing movie. I did enjoy it though. 3.5/5 corn cobs.
3. Rumour Has It - I couldn't sit through it. The entry really put me off. No rating.
4. Munich - I found this to be particularly interesting. Now, I don't profess myself to be an expert on acting, but I thought that Eric Bana did a particularly good job. The story was engaging and realistic. I guess that's what you get when it's reality-based and from Steven Spielberg. 4.5/5 corn cobs.
5. Failure To Launch - This one plays on the fears of parents. Children who never leave the nest. All in all, I thought this one was pretty good for a romantic comedy. Though, it may be that I'm a fan of Matthew McConaughey. Not so much of Sarah Jessica Parker, but she did well too. 4/5 corn cobs.

El Presidente.

6 months is long enough

Ok, so we've left this alone long enough. It's July now and I think the ol'corn-cob-o-meter needs to be taken back out of mothballs.

The last movie I saw was called Over The Hedge. It's quite a nice little movie. I know, I know. That's really not a very good description.

Lets try this.

Have you ever laughed so hard your back cracked? (Git'er done...)

No, no... that wasn't good.

Anyway, the voice talen in this movie was pretty big. The guy that stole the show for me though, was Steve Carrell (of The 40 Year Old Virgin) who played Hammy. Hammy's a squirrel. And if you've ever seen a squirrel, you know that they seem like they're on speed the majority of the time. I howled. I howled so hard it hurt. I laughed so hard I almost pissed myself.

This movie is another one of those learn your lesson sorts where the main character (in this case, Bruce Willis' raccoon, who's name escapes me for the moment) goes from being a jerk to loved, to having everyone turn on him and then saving the day to win them back. Pretty standard fair for a light-hearted family flick like this.

The ol' corn-cob-o-meter says that this one is a 4-cobber out of a possible 5. Go see it with some friends. Go see it when you're in the mood for fun because it'll only make the experience better for you.

El Presidente has left the blogger.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardobe.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

I can remember as a young kid watching the taped version of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe that my dad had copied onto tape from TV and enjoying the hell out of it, except the part with Aslan and the stone table.  Without giving it away to those that haven’t seen the movie, or read the books, you know what I mean.  Although I didn’t go into the movie expecting much I came out feeling reasonably impressed.

The story is set during World War 2 when German is bombing the shit out of England.  The kids are shoveled off to the country side to avoid becoming bomb-fodder.  They’re met by a crotchety old house keeper in a horse-drawn cart and are brought to this huge lavish estate.  During a game of hide and seek, the wardrobe is discovered.

From there, you can figure out what happens by reading the damn thing yourself, or at least going to watch a really excellent movie.

Aslan was amazing.  Liam Neeson was kind enough to lend his voice to the production and it was refreshing.  He’s such a good actor.  For a role that you’d expect to hear Sean Connery in, though he just wouldn’t be right for (he’s far too playful), Liam was perfect.  Regal.  Dignified.  Proud.  The perfect lion.

The witch is played by an actress named Tilda Swinton.  I couldn’t help thinking that I really recognized her from somewhere.  She played Gabriel in Constantine.  I had to go and look at IMDb to figure that one out.  For the first half of the movie I couldn’t help but not like her.  She is, after all, the antagonist.  The second half she, oddly enough, was like a cross between Xena and Lara Croft, only blonde and without guns (pun only partially intended).

Technically, this movie was a good one.  For the most part, the effects were jaw-droppingly cool.  After all, who’s to say that the face of a centaur shouldn’t look like it was glued together, or the head fur of a minotaur shouldn’t look like that of a stuffed teddy bear?  Certainly not me.  It appeared that as many of the animals that were real were at least copied from actual footage as they seemed to move properly.  Cheetahs, the Lion, tigers, bears (oh my), wolves, etc. were all magnificent.  There were even some rhinos.  Even beavers.  Some in chainmail (I’m all about beavers in chainmail)

There were piles of mythical creatures that I was fully blown away by as well.  As I mentioned above, minotaurs, centaurs, satyrs, gryphons, drwarves, cyclopes’, giants (really dumb looking ones, I might add.  Very well done).  Hell, even Santa.  Though, I don’t really buy him as an arms dealer (if you’re going to give each of the children a weapon, you have to make them use it in a way that makes sense).

The verdict?  On the now venerable corn-cob scale, 5 being so corny and good and whole some you could probably make popcorn from your… well… nevermind.  And 1 being … well… not corny at all… more like a potatoe… just not good.  I would have to give this movie a very strong 4, quite possibly a 4 and a half.  You just can’t beat a beaver in chain mail.  The only down side really for me was why, at the end of the movie, did she even have a bow?  There was no point?  Her shooting the guy was a bloody afterthought.  Anyway, excellent movie that, according to my girlfriend, remains pretty true to the original story.

Wendigo

Wendigo, is a Legend that I was also brought up with when I was younger, and even as I was older, although the pronunciation is different, Us Plains Cree people Pronounce it, Wee ti goo. Some people may Dispute this Legend, and call it non-sense. I for one do believe it without a doubt, more on that later.

The story is about a Legend of the Wee ti goo , what this Creature is, is a Spirit which takes over the body of someone, and eats the flesh of another. Once this happens they are a Wee ti goo. Us Indians believe that this stole the life energy of that person, and stole all that came with it, Strength and Soul.

Technical/non technical Aspects of the film

The Movie was done pretty good, Script was done well, and Acting was not too shabby either.
I really liked the Cinematography in this film it was done quite well.I Applaud that. The Story I found personally to be a tad bit slow, to get into it. In reality it wasn’t all too bad. It does give a Pretty Accurate Sense of the Legend. I picked up on a few things that had conflicted with what I was told about a Wee ti goo.

The ending does leave you somewhat thinking, mostly as to why it happened the way it did. My words I said at the end of the Film "HUH, Thats one way to end a Film."

ON the Cob Scale, 1 being so Coby that even a Wee ti go wouldnt even touch it, too 5 where you better hope that thats all he eats.
I would give this one a 4. It does give you a pretty good understanding in it, and there is a kool Indian guy telling the kid about the story. As I started Earlier, I do believe in this Legend. One story that comes to mind is when my Mushoom (Grandpa in Cree) told me that he and 2 of his friends were hunting far north, as for some reason the hunting was bad that season. So they kept going north, he told me that they were just at the border of Saskatchewan and the North West territories.

One night they came out and saw foot prints, all around the camp. Everyone was still inside the camp, the fire was still burning, but just smoldering. At first they didn’t think anything of it. Then as they days went on, the tracks were still there around there camp. One night my mushoom and one of his friends, decided to wait and see who it was.

A few hours before dawn they saw something, coming closer, they waited, and it got closer, soon it was right in front of the tents, and was walking around, the camp, slowly, it listened in at each tent. It looked like a man, but it was big. They waited for it to leave. Then as soon as it got light enough outside, they packed up and told there story to there friend in the tent. They left and headed back towards home.

When my mushoom first told us kids this story, he said at first he didn’t know what it was, then when it got closer, he said there was a smell that had followed this thing. It was one of the most awful things he had ever smelt.

I had never seen my mushoom look scared before in my life, but I could tell in his eyes, he was right back in the place he told us about. I told a few others this story, and they said well what if he was just making it up to scare you kids to goto bed. I always say my mushoom wouldn’t lie to his grandkids, about something like.

Years later even as I write this, it sends chills up my back, as after he told this story it has stuck with me. Some time after that, it was solidified in me as factual truth, as I got to meet the men who were there with my mushoom and heard there accounts of what transpired on that hunting trip.

The Ring 2

The Ring 2 what can I say about this film, well it picks up off where the first one left us. Seemingly the lives of Rachel Keller(Naomi Watts)& her son Aidan (David Dorfman)
Seem to be all clear of the horror that befell them. That is until a Murder and an unmarked tape comes up.

Technical/Non-technical Aspects of Film:

The movie does do a very good job with Continuity, same actors and such. and does keep the same feel, thanks to the director who directed Ringu the original ring which was shot in Japan. Soundtrack wasn’t anything great, as was the score. In fact I never really noticed the sound that much; more of the emphasis appeared to be on visuals.
The acting was also done pretty good.

Now onto the important part was it scary? That’s a complicated question for me, as Horror movies are my favorite types of genre. As the first one, I did not find it Scary at all. The only cool thing was the actual video tape they watch, as I could see myself making something like that.

Final Thoughts:

Like many sequels out there, this one is almost no different then those out there.
It does keep the same feel and I give huge credit for that, acting was done pretty good. It does give you more of a deeper understanding as to what really happened and why she does what she does. This movie was more of an interesting watch for me, rather then eye closing horror.

on the cob scale 1 being so "cobby" that you can hear Johnny Cash's Burning Ring of Fire, too 5, being as they say in french "I dont know what" this would be a 3ish score.
Would I buy it? hmmmmmm if I found it really cheap for under like 15 bucks maybe.
Otherwise it was worth the free Pay per view movie that I got. Which reminds me i have 6 more that I gotta use before the end of next month.

Happy trials everyone.

Saw II

Saw II

I didn’t want to see this movie.  My girlfriend and a couple of friends of ours did.  Just know that right from the beginning.

Right from the get go it started out just like the previous Saw: very gross.  It even did a good job of maintaining the continuity of the storyline between the first and the second movie.  I didn’t like that one either, but my girlfriend did.

I was fine for the most part.  The opening trap was disgusting, but I didn’t watch it – my girlfriend hid behind her bag of popcorn and I watched my shoes.  The traps, though nasty, weren’t quite as scary as in the first one though.  I have a problem with needles though … (odd for someone with now 6 body piercings, I know)… and the trap filled with hypodermic needles really bothered me.

I don’t think I’ll be having any recurring bad dreams about this one or anything but even so, it was pretty gross.

I keep talking to people about how people 10 and 20 years ago would react to this movie.  I’m pretty sure that they’d die.  What it takes to shock and scare people now is a lot worse than it was when Freddy and Jason were prevalent.  Hell, that baseball bat with the nails in the end could’ve been an entire horror movie unto itself.

On the corn cob scale, 1 being bad, not enough corn in your diet, and 5 being good – the serial killer has opened you up and instead of blood you bleed corn, this is definitely a 3.  It’s not a great flick, but it’ll certainly scare the corn out of your cornhole.