Saturday, February 07, 2004
Drugs and Vanilla
Okay. It's about 1:15 AM, but I'll post anyway. It's not like I have anything else to do. Except sleep - how boring is that?
I haven't really been doing much except reading, surfing the Net, sleeping and watching movies. I'm quarantined. Now, I'm not exactly a very extroverted guy, but after a week of not being able to leave the house except to see the doctor, you start to go a little crazy. Before long, I'll probably be found cuddled in a ball in the corner of my room, sucking on my thumb, mumbling something about homosexual ninja squirrels taking away all of the world's Spam. I'm going nuts (no pun intended).
Speaking of movies, I've seen a few lately: Narc, Gangs of New York, Fearless and Vanilla Sky. The last two I just saw tonight, and will probably post reviews on my site. But I'd rather discuss the first two here:
Narc - I loved this movie. What do you get when you mix two detectives, a murdered cop, drug dealers and a huge conspiracy? One awesome movie. It begins with one of the most gripping opening scenes I've ever seen, and things only get better from there. This wasn't a high-budget flick, but I think this actually adds a lot to the style. The directing is dark and gritty and shows no mercy in terms of graphic violence. The story is sprawling and filled with multiple sub-plots, all designed to keep you guessing who the "real" bad guy is. The story weaves in and out through time with the use of flashbacks, and this only adds to the mystery. I thought I had come up with every possibility as to the ending, but I was wrong. The only real flaw I found was that at times it was hard to follow - though this is probably due to the blessing and curse that is TV Guardian. Sure, it takes out the profanity, but in this case parts of the film were so silent that I no doubt missed some important information. To be honest, I'd like to go back and see it without the TVG and see what I missed. Overall though, this is a movie that grabs you from the very beginning and doesn't let go until the end. 8/10.
Gangs of New York - I have mixed feelings about this film. I mean, sure, it's directed by Martin Scorsese and was nominated for Best Picture. But I found a ton of flaws (but of course there are good things, don't worry). The storyline is extremely intriguing and follows the "war" between the New York "natives" and the Irish "foreigners" in the 1800s. Leo DiCaprio isn't half-bad as Amsterdam, the main character, and Daniel Day-Lewis is amazing as Bill the Butcher. Overall, it was good, but there were a few things that got on my nerves (other than the gratuitous sex and nudity, of course). First off, what's the deal with the religious imagery? There's tons of it. One guy is even hung on a cross - how much more religious can you get? There's a story told at the beginning that's about how Saint Michael cast Satan out of Paradise; this added a lot of depth to the film for me, since Amsterdam is trying to force Bill the Butcher out of New York, and one of the key areas is nicknamed Paradise Square - nice parallel. Scorsese's take on religion, however, is extremely ambiguous. One the one hand, we've got the Paradise thing. On the other, we have Amsterdam and Bill both praying to God for the strength to brutally kill one another. I couldn't figure out what Scorsese was trying to say with this.
Also, I couldn't seem to grasp what the whole "message" was. At one point the idea comes up that the war was a good thing, because it provided a strong foundation that helped modern-day New York become what it is today. However, one character's last words, as he's surrounded by the carnage of war, are, "Thank God I die a true American." Does this not seem to anyone else like a huge political statement, and possible insult to the USA - maybe it's supposed to inspire us to think or something. Who knows. But I couldn't figure it out, it was just all too ambiguous. It's a good movie but not perfect. 6/10.
Now on to something else. I finished the book of Jeffrey Ford short stories, and I promised to add links to my favorites. So here you are:
At Reparata - Excellent, though its length may discourage some from reading it. Basically it involves a king, a mysterious disease, a funny little healer, and a giant moth, among loads of other things. It's amazing.
Malthusian's Zombie - It's about a funny old guy, mysterious government projects, and zombies (what did you expect, given the title?). Good stuff. Also, it's worth noting that although there is a small amount of profanity, it's not distracting - Ford uses it in ways that only brought me more into the story and made me read even faster. You've got to be a good writer to pull that off with me; although I usually don't have much of a problem with profanity, most of the time it does at least distract me for a split second, taking me out of the story.
Out of the Canyon - A really weird Western involving a curse and a time spiral that stretches throughout generations. Good stuff.
I would post more, but it's late. I need to go get high on some medicine and then it's off to bed.
I haven't really been doing much except reading, surfing the Net, sleeping and watching movies. I'm quarantined. Now, I'm not exactly a very extroverted guy, but after a week of not being able to leave the house except to see the doctor, you start to go a little crazy. Before long, I'll probably be found cuddled in a ball in the corner of my room, sucking on my thumb, mumbling something about homosexual ninja squirrels taking away all of the world's Spam. I'm going nuts (no pun intended).
Speaking of movies, I've seen a few lately: Narc, Gangs of New York, Fearless and Vanilla Sky. The last two I just saw tonight, and will probably post reviews on my site. But I'd rather discuss the first two here:
Narc - I loved this movie. What do you get when you mix two detectives, a murdered cop, drug dealers and a huge conspiracy? One awesome movie. It begins with one of the most gripping opening scenes I've ever seen, and things only get better from there. This wasn't a high-budget flick, but I think this actually adds a lot to the style. The directing is dark and gritty and shows no mercy in terms of graphic violence. The story is sprawling and filled with multiple sub-plots, all designed to keep you guessing who the "real" bad guy is. The story weaves in and out through time with the use of flashbacks, and this only adds to the mystery. I thought I had come up with every possibility as to the ending, but I was wrong. The only real flaw I found was that at times it was hard to follow - though this is probably due to the blessing and curse that is TV Guardian. Sure, it takes out the profanity, but in this case parts of the film were so silent that I no doubt missed some important information. To be honest, I'd like to go back and see it without the TVG and see what I missed. Overall though, this is a movie that grabs you from the very beginning and doesn't let go until the end. 8/10.
Gangs of New York - I have mixed feelings about this film. I mean, sure, it's directed by Martin Scorsese and was nominated for Best Picture. But I found a ton of flaws (but of course there are good things, don't worry). The storyline is extremely intriguing and follows the "war" between the New York "natives" and the Irish "foreigners" in the 1800s. Leo DiCaprio isn't half-bad as Amsterdam, the main character, and Daniel Day-Lewis is amazing as Bill the Butcher. Overall, it was good, but there were a few things that got on my nerves (other than the gratuitous sex and nudity, of course). First off, what's the deal with the religious imagery? There's tons of it. One guy is even hung on a cross - how much more religious can you get? There's a story told at the beginning that's about how Saint Michael cast Satan out of Paradise; this added a lot of depth to the film for me, since Amsterdam is trying to force Bill the Butcher out of New York, and one of the key areas is nicknamed Paradise Square - nice parallel. Scorsese's take on religion, however, is extremely ambiguous. One the one hand, we've got the Paradise thing. On the other, we have Amsterdam and Bill both praying to God for the strength to brutally kill one another. I couldn't figure out what Scorsese was trying to say with this.
Also, I couldn't seem to grasp what the whole "message" was. At one point the idea comes up that the war was a good thing, because it provided a strong foundation that helped modern-day New York become what it is today. However, one character's last words, as he's surrounded by the carnage of war, are, "Thank God I die a true American." Does this not seem to anyone else like a huge political statement, and possible insult to the USA - maybe it's supposed to inspire us to think or something. Who knows. But I couldn't figure it out, it was just all too ambiguous. It's a good movie but not perfect. 6/10.
Now on to something else. I finished the book of Jeffrey Ford short stories, and I promised to add links to my favorites. So here you are:
At Reparata - Excellent, though its length may discourage some from reading it. Basically it involves a king, a mysterious disease, a funny little healer, and a giant moth, among loads of other things. It's amazing.
Malthusian's Zombie - It's about a funny old guy, mysterious government projects, and zombies (what did you expect, given the title?). Good stuff. Also, it's worth noting that although there is a small amount of profanity, it's not distracting - Ford uses it in ways that only brought me more into the story and made me read even faster. You've got to be a good writer to pull that off with me; although I usually don't have much of a problem with profanity, most of the time it does at least distract me for a split second, taking me out of the story.
Out of the Canyon - A really weird Western involving a curse and a time spiral that stretches throughout generations. Good stuff.
I would post more, but it's late. I need to go get high on some medicine and then it's off to bed.
# posted by Andrew Johnson : 2/07/2004 02:12:00 AM 
