The Hurt Locker.

I just watched this Saturday night. I started off liking it. It was well shot, superbly acted, and intelligently told. But, by the end, or at the end anyway, I was left wondering, what is the point? Yes, James is an adrenaline junkie. But where does that leave him, and us, when the movie ends? I was disappointed by both the lack of moral and the lack of resolution. Yes, James ends his rotation, returns home, and finds civilian life to be tedious. I get that when he is tasked with getting cereal, he is paralyzed by indecision. I get that. I feel that way about a lot of things. I get overcome by choices. But that is my own personality flaw. But James seems to choose to leave the mundane for the spectacular without any motive other than he is unwilling to face his flaws. He should see a therapist to deal with his addiction to stimulation. So, this film just left me wondering what the point of the story was. I understand it won a bunch of Oscars, but I'm not exactly sure why. What did the Academy see that I didn't? Am I too much like James, paralyzed by normalcy, that I can't see my own flaws and continue to participate in the addictions? Or was there some other point? I'm just not seeing it.

Rescue Dawn.

This movie was very good. I enjoyed all of the performances, Steve Zahn's in particular. I knew Christian Bale would be good, because he always is. But Zahn was the real knock-out for me. I'd only ever seen him in the buddy role in comedies. He was always sort of a generic character, with little depth. This film showed me that he can actually act. The directing was good, but I'm not familiar with Herzog's other movies, so I have little frame of reference. And what is with Bale being in war films? Empire of the Sun basically started his career. Dawn is a great addition to his films, but maybe he should lay off films where he is in Asia as a war prisoner. Just a thought.

Whiteout.

I watched this last night. I thought it was supposed to be a horror movie that took place on Antarctica. Like John Carpenter's amazing sci-fi horror film, the Thing. But it wasn't. It was a murder thriller. Set in Antarctica. It stars Kate Beckinsale as a US marshall stationed at the research facility at the South Pole. Why a US marshall would be at the South Pole, on a continent that isn't part of the US, is beyond me. In fact, the fact that it's portrayed as normal is ridiculous. Most of the movie is terrible. There was a scene near the beginning of the movie, that explains the "whiteout" and what the Antarctic weather will do to the human body. For absolutely no reason, a group of newbies is exposed to the 50 below weather. It was a horrible plot device to show how harsh the weather is and how it would kill anyone within a few minutes. However, later in the movie, Kate Beckinsale spends 15 minutes outside, without a facemask without any problems, but midway through she gets frostbite on her hand after 2 minutes. It makes absolutely no sense. Her face would be frostbitten, like her fingers. Also, the guy who looks like Kris Kristofferson is trusted, for whatever reason. The entirety of the film was terrible. I made me feel stupid. The writing was horrible, as was the acting, directing, and everything else. The only the halfway decent about the movie was the scene, near the beginning of the movie, in which Kate Beckinsale takes a shower. There isn't any nudity, which sucks monkey balls, but she does take off her clothes and show her hot, sexy, taught body in only underwear. That was a major bonus. Kate Beckinsale is clearly fucking hot and I would totally put it in her. But this film was pretty bad. At various points it had potential, but I couldn't believe most of it. For instance, they kept flying a propeller plane around. That isn't unbelievable, but what isn't understandable is that they shut done the plane and leave it on the open ice. It's 50 or 60 degrees below FUCKING ZERO. Regardless of the intent, a plane parked in the open would freeze. It would become unflyable. In fact, the engine might freeze solid, preventing combustion. The same goes for the Caterpiller tractor thing. You can't leave that shit out in the freezing arctic without it breaking down or freezing up. You put planes in hangers, so they are usable. In Siberia, cars must be parked in heated garages, so they actually continue to run. If you don't, the engine oil freezes to sludge and the engine doesn't work. Why on Earth would you leave a plane in the open, turned off, so it cools off and then won't start again. What a terrible movie, except the scene with almost nude, bent over Kate Beckinsale. That part was awesome. But don't bother to even rent this movie. It was pretty bad. Just download the shower scene, since it's all that is worth it. If you want to see hot shower action, rent something else. If you want an awesome Antarctic movie, get John Carpenter's The Thing. It's so much better.

Arctic Monkeys.

I saw the Arctic Monkeys last night in DC. They are surprisingly good. I enjoy all of their albums, but wasn't really sure what to expect from them as a live act. Their first album is a fantastic example of the horrors of the loudness war in cd mastering. It is maxed out to the point of almost distorting it. But the music is still good. It would be better if probably mastered, but isn't much I can do about that. Before the show, I bummed around DC for a few hours. My boss recommended the Saloon on U Street, for their selection of draft beers. And he was right, they were very good. The bar maid/waitress was cute, and told me she liked my "sweater" (sweatshirt). Its hard to take a compliment when you are slightly embarrassed for wearing something based on an H.P. Lovecraft story and when you have the sneaking suspicion she is just fishing for a higher tip. Still, the beer was good, as was the burger. I would have liked to have gone to Ben's Chili Bowl, two shops down, but they don't serve beer. Maybe I'll head down there some Saturday just to try it. After dinner and a few beers, I headed out in the cold to the 9:30 Club. It was just before doors opened, so I had to wait in line, with all of the teenagers. That is one way to feel old, quickly; go to a rock show. In line, I chatted a bit with the other 20/30 somethings standing around me. The woman in front of me was pretty attractive. She commented that she was old enough to be some of these kids' mother. I find that a bit hard to believe, but as I assumed the guys she was with was her boyfriend, I let it slide without any flirting. Not that I would have done much of that, but I did have a few beers in me at that point, so anything was possible. I checked my coat upstairs, and as I was coming down the steps, I lost my footing, as fell down the stairs. Now my left wrist is bothering me. Stupid falling. Anyway, the opener was a trio called the Screaming Females. A bit of a misnomer, as there is only one screaming female in the group. But, I can live with misnomers. But I can't live with several things about this band. First, they are from New Brunswick, New Jersey. I fucking hate New Jersey, and just about everything from or in that state. That is strike one. Second, they couldn't decide what genre to be. They were all over the place. It wasn't classic rock, hard rock, punk, metal, prog, country, rap, screamo. It was all over the place. And not just a bunch of different sounding songs, but songs that weren't even internally consistent. Some songs would start as a straightforward power chord rocker, have a screamo chorus, then melt into an 80s guitar shredfest. It was annoying to listen to. Third, the guitarist, who is the lone girl, also sings. This isn't normally a problem. But I chose my words carefully just now. She is not a singer. She sings, but she is not a singer. And someone should stop her. Don't get me wrong, she can play a mean guitar. Some of what she did there was excellent. It just needs to be within a coherent genre or blend of them and without her singing, which vacillated between the sound of strangling cats and monotone boredom. This band would actually have potential without such a shitty singer. Fourth, the songs were boring. Hire a lyricist or something. Get a song written that doesn't suck, written within a standard genre, sung by someone who can. Fourth, the guitarist needs a damn haircut. Listen up, girly. Just because you are "punk" doesn't mean having hair covering your eyes is cool. Get over yourself and get a damn haircut. You look as retarded as your band sounds. I'm all for the Do It Yourself ethic they apparently have. They book most of their own shows and crap like that. Fine, cool, good for you. But that is no excuse for sucking. The Arctic Monkeys were, on the other hand, awesome.

Reservoir Dogs.

I watched this movie last night for the first time in a very long time. I'm talking years. In the intervening years, I've come to appreciate the Tarantino style, at least partially. Some of his movies are pretty decent. Usually the plot is a bit complicating, but they are worth a viewing, despite the language and violence (or because of them). But his debut is kind of pointless. The acting is good, don't get me wrong. He knows who to cast. The performances are all good. But much of the movie has the feeling of an indie film, with a very modest budget. I get that, he wasn't a director until that point, so it probably was. But the plot is unreasonable. I understand, its about a diamond heist gone wrong because one of them is a rat. However, what is the point of showing everything but the robbery? I seems to take half of what makes a great caper movie away. Well, I might take that back. It removes nearly three-quarters. We don't see the planning, we don't see the robbery, and we don't (or barely) see the get away. We only see the aftermath. Which may be the point. But those are always the most fun part of a caper movie. We like to see the planning so we know what should happen. We like to see the actual execution, and everything that goes wrong. And we like to see the get away, possibly for the shootouts and car chases. But this movie has none of that. It just left me thinking, "what's the point of this movie?" I wasn't entertained by the heist or car chases or shooting. If its an examination of the psychology of criminals, maybe it does a good job, but that doesn't make it entertaining.

The Road, and No Country for Old Men.

A very good movie. I didn't know much about it going in, other than it stars a semi-retired Viggo Mortensen and was based on a book written by Cormac McCarthy of "No County For Old Men" fame. The acting was superb, especially from Mr. Smit-McPhee. It was a heart-wrenching story of loss and hope after the end of the world. I would definitely recommend to any fan of serious and emotive films. As with other serious films of this caliber, I'm not sure I have grasped all of the subtly on my first viewing. McCarthy's previous story-turned-film was not my favorite on my initial watching, when it was first released on dvd. However, in the intervening time, I had a good friend and film buff explain it to me. I had failed to grasp the characterizations and the point. The aging sheriff is the main character, and all action is to be viewed with an unfamiliar eye. The explicit, unmotivated violence is supposed to be shocking, foreign, and disconcerting. We are to see that the world has passed us by, like it has the sheriff. Watching it with this in mind, I loved it. It made perfect sense. Although, in retrospect, I feel silly and stupid for not understanding that myself. Symbolic interpretation is usually something I am fairly good at, and pride myself on it. Its a bit humbling.

Mastodon and Dethklok.

I saw them last night in Virginia. The doors for the show opened at 5:30, but I didn't get there until just before 6:30. It was nice to arrive early, giving myself plenty of time to get lost and find a nice parking spot. I didn't get lost, thanks to a GPS which I bought for the purpose of not getting lost. But there were two opening acts. High on Fire and Converge. High on Fire wasn't great. Now, don't get me wrong. Almost nobody was there at that point. They were the first band. But they were fairly good. Nothing great about them, but they were high energy and played metal. Converge, though, was terrible. The lead singer looked like he would fit in better in a rap group. And they were all trying way to hard to have post-punk vocals. I can't stand when a band has talented musicians who can play instruments and a lead singer who just screams into a mic. I couldn't understand a single thing he said, except in the one song where he actually used a human voice. But the band wasn't really all that great either. They could play, sure, but they couldn't play a decent song. It was all just loud, fast, and noisy. And not in a good way. I enjoy some noise rock and some loud and fast stuff, but this was just annoying. Good thing they weren't the only ones playing. At around 8:30 or so, Mastodon came out. They basically played all of Crack the Skye. It was awesome. I'm amazed that a band that talented plays metal. Don't get me wrong, I love them. But they could really branch out and take over the world. They played a song from Blood Mountain and one from Remission. I would have loved to hear something from Leviathan, like Naked Burn, but alas, they did not. But they were amazing. I'll definitely seem them again if I get the chance. Then came Dethklok, the fictitious band from Metalocalypse. It was pretty cool how they pulled it off. Brendan Smalls is the creator and does the voices for the band. He also shreds on the guitar. So, he sang and played, along with a bassist, drummer, and second guitarist. On the screen behind the band, they showed what amounted to music videos, featuring the cartoon band, with their typically metal imagery of warriors fighting and things dying. It was brutal. What surprised me was how far from corny the whole thing seemed. It could have been sort of laughable to see middle-aged guys on stage, backed by cartoons, but it wasn't. I definitely enjoyed it. I was particularly happy that they played Murmaider and Go Into The Water, my favorite Dethklok song. It was a good time.