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Webomatica - tech, movies, music blog

Technology, Movies, Music, and Television Reviews by Jason Kaneshiro


Movie Notes: Fay GrimOctober 25 2008

starstar = 2 stars

Starring Parker Posey, Jeff Goldblum
Directed by Hal Hartley

Synopsis

Fay Grim (Parker Posey) searches for her writer ex-husband Henry (Thomas Jay Ryan) after learning of his potential involvement in a vast international terrorist network.

The Good

  • A film noir, screwball comedy beginning - rapid fire dialogue about serious matters of murder, spies, and international espionage.
  • Parker Posey (with some really cool outfits), Jeff Goldblum (as a CIA operative) give a remarkable go at tackling the dense dialogue and manage to find an emotion behind every scene.
  • About mid-way through when Fay’s in peril, Posey resembles Eva Marie Saint at the end of North By Northwest. Wish they kept going with that.

The Bad

  • A tilted camera in every scene, alternating the angle from left to right. Extremely pointless and annoying, as it’s a trait shared by another terrible movie.
  • While interesting, the HD camera lends almost too much clarity, and ultimately I don’t think the style served the story well.
  • All actors besides Posey and Goldblum are very amateurish, reading the dialogue straight ahead and bog the movie down. Whenever the two leads are absent, the flick sags.
  • When the enigmatic Henry is finally found, he’s rather gruff and rather a let down. This is no Apocalypse Now.
  • Hartley never totally sells the foreign intrigue thing. I was left unsure if this aspect of the movie was meant as homage or mockery of the thriller genre.

Conclusion

It’s possible I’m not witty or intelligent enough to get this flick. I think it’s saying something about terrorism, and the slick, spy-thriller style is supposed to be satire - after all, they’re pursuing an alcoholic writer. Ultimately, I found it an unenjoyable exercise to figure out both the plot and what the heck Hartley was getting at. Even Posey’s entertaining performance can’t untangle the web that’s woven.

IMDB: Fay Grim
Wikipedia: Fay Grim
Rotten Tomatoes: Fay Grim 44%




Movie Notes: Exorcist II: The HereticOctober 24 2008

Note: This is an entry in the second Webomatica So Bad They’re Good movie contest.

Exorcist II: The Heretic

0 stars
So Bad It’s Good Rating -9 stars

Starring Linda Blair, Richard Burton, Louise Fletcher
Directed by John Boorman

Synopsis

Father Lamont (Richard Burton) is asked to investigate the death of Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow) which leads him to the older Regan (Linda Blair) who was possessed by the demon Pazuzu in the first film. This trip takes Father Lamont (Richard Burton) to Ethiopia and beyond.

The Good

N/A.

The Bad

  • The credits deserve some mockery, a list of moderately famous people set to a soundtrack of a disturbed woman freaking out. Not very scary, just gross.
  • If you ever wondered what became of Louise Fletcher, Oscar winner as Nurse Ratchet, now you know, she plays child psychologist Dr. Tuskin. Overall I’d say the locusts buzzing about are more animated.
  • Linda Blair, the little girl Regan from The Exorcist, is an appealingly daffy young teenager, but in that rough child star mode - over-compensating in the acting department as if to demonstrate she has talent. She looks a bit like Carrie Fisher mashed with Chevy Chase’s daughter in National Lampoon’s European Vacation. Ultimately, Blair’s most notable contribution is a coat hanger for some really inventive seventies fashions.
  • Dr. Tuskin links herself psychically to Regan using some machine, resulting in some silly film overlays of Father Merrin and Regan superimposed over the doctor who has her heart squeezed by a demon. This goes on much too long and it moves from creepy to ridiculous and then laughable in a few seconds.
  • Eventually we meet Pazuzu, some kind of locust spirit type guy who lived in a small African village, long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away. Sorry, wrong movie. We see Father Merrin carrying a possessed child up a cliff to some mountain temple for an exorcism. This whole locust thing is taken a bit too far and is way too much explanation - as if the Midichlorians were portrayed in some extended sequence from ages ago, giving birth to Jedi. Yes, right movie. Boorman sure gets a lot of mileage out of that one locust shot.
  • What the hell is up with Regan’s tap dancing? Oh, the stage is set for her to flip out as Father Lamont (Richard Burton) is stoned by villagers who think he’s a devil worshiper. Could I get stoned, too?
  • Lamont makes his way to James Earl Jones playing African priest, the possessed boy all grown up. He’s dressed in a giant locust outfit. Yes, it’s Darth Vader from that other movie, dressed as a giant insect. He spits a fruit into a pit of spikes. Oh, it’s just a dream. James Earl Jones is actually a doctor that studies locusts. Now we’re watching a National Geographic documentary on locusts. Am I in the right theater?
  • Things eventually snowball to a nonsensical climax where everyone makes their way back to the original house, locusts swarm over Washington DC, the caretaker nearly burns up Dr. Tuskin, and Lamont chokes and has sex with Regan simultaneously. I won’t claim to understand what the hell happened here (something to do with turning the victim of the first movie into the savior of the second), but they should have brought back James Earl Jones in the giant locust outfit.
  • Father Lamont holds a burned body of as Lamont and Regan walk off in the distance. I think there’s a rather perverse angle there I won’t get into. The authorities suddenly arrive to pick up the pieces at another head-scratchingly wrong moment, obviously saved for dramatic effect. At this point I felt a strange sadness, and empty feeling, as I had just wasted precious minutes of my life watching this flick while I could have done something more entertaining like cleaning out the kitty litter.

Conclusion

I was depressed to learn this horrid sequel was directed by John Boorman, whose films Exaclibur and Deliverance I liked. It’s woth noting that the latter film’s banjo-playing rednecks were more frightening than anything depicted in this flick - James Earl Jones in a giant locust outfit included.

I’m not a fan of horror movies because “scary” often crosses the line into “silly” and “unintentionally funny.” This film fails whenever the camera lingers too long on the scary stuff which lessens its impact. The rest is just a mess of a script that makes absolutely no sense despite all attempts to explain, which also lessens the horror.

But in term of a so-bad-it’s-good contest, this is all a positive.

IMDB: Exorcist II: The Heretic
Wikipedia: The Exoricst II: The Heretic
Rotten Tomatoes: The Exorcist II: The Heretic 14%





MacBook: What’s Up With The Black Hinge?October 23 2008

Visited an Apple Store the other day to exchange my iPhone power adapter and took a gander at the new aluminum MacBooks and MacBook Pros. Some observations:

  • The new metal case is very slick. Especially cool are the tiny holes for the battery status light that I assume were created by sharks with lasers on their heads.
  • I did notice some warmth on the top case when my hands were in typing mode. I would imagine the metal case conducts heat to a fair degree.
  • The new trackpad that works as a button felt really comfortable. It’s a little looser in the thumb area where the previous button was which makes clicking feel essentially the same as before.
  • The multitouch ability on the trackpad has some appeal as well - a four fingered “claw” motion brings up Expose.

But I did have one gripe - the black hinge. The monitor has black plastic encircing the screen. That I can deal with. But the hinge, where the monitor meets the bottom half, is black. You can see it when looking at it from above. But what really bugs me is when the MacBook is closed, the hinge creates a black

Interesting: Please Fix The iPhone!October 22 2008

After using my iPhone for a few months on a daily basis, I’ve gathered a handful of minor quibbles with the otherwise very cool product.

Bubbilicious pointed me to the site Please Fix the iPhone! which has a listing of people’s gripes and a simple voting interface. Just click “Me Too!” next to any of the gripes to have your say.

Here are some interesting gripes on the site:

And here’s my short list of iPhone gripes:

  • Copy and paste.
  • Flash in Safari.
  • The “landscap
Firefly: Out Of GasOctober 21 2008

Episode 7

Firefly: Out Of Gas

Synopsis

Mal passes out and hits the floor, bleeding. He struggles to get back on his feet, holding something in his right hand. He has a flashback to he and Zoe checking out Serenity for the first time. To Mal, Serenity represents freedom.

The crew laughs after dinner as Kaylee brings out a birthday cake for Simon. As he blows out the candles, there is a huge explosion, knocking everyone on the ground, and Zoe unconscious and paralyzing the ship. Simon tries to save Zoe’s life, and Mal orders Wash to the bridge, forcing him to leave Zoe’s side.

Flashback to Mal and Zoe hiring Wash (with a mustache) as the ship’s pilot.

Kaylee tells Mal that the life support was damaged, leaving them with limited oxygen. Mal and Wash argue about the low chances of anybody hearing their distress signal.

Flashback to a previous crew member named Fester having sex with Kaylee in the engine room. Mal is impressed with her engineering knowledge, fires Fester, and hires Kaylee as ship’s engineer.

Kaylee apologizes for the ship’s fire. She says the broken engine needs a replacement part.

Mal briefs the crew on their lack of options and decides the crew should evacuate in the two shuttles while he stays behind on Serenity.

Flashback to Mal bringing Inara aboard the Serenity