Published on August 29, 2009 in Movies and Toys. ClosedTags:video.
To celebrate the upcoming 3D re-release of the Toy Story/Toy Story 2 double feature, Disney is doing a seven part video feature with John Lasseter (here). Some of you who know me, know I love all things Pixar. John Lasseter is kind of a hero for me. He does what I wish I had been talented enough to do in life and he is unabashedly a grown kid. At the same time, he’s obviously a brilliant story teller and seems to be a truly kind hearted individual.
This first video has him explaining the new toys (which I HOPE to pick up as they look amazing) for the Toy Story series. They have a new Toy Story Collection that are supposed to be exact replicas of what the toys would really be. I’ve seen the Woody, Buzz, and Aliens and all three are VERY nicely detailed, but pricey. Still, I want to get them You could think from the video that he was just a shill trying to push the sale of the toys, but from everything I’ve seen, he’s being downright honest. He does seem to truly love the toys and hope people get the same enjoyment out of them.
I went to see ‘The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard‘ on Monday and while not a good movie by the conventional definition, it does have some truly hilarious interactions. It didn’t hurt at all that I’m quite fond of many of the actors; Jeremy Piven, Ving Rhames, David Koechner, Ed Helms, Rob Riggle, and Will Ferrell. The humor that was there is enough that I definitely want to see it again, if not own it.
** VERY MINOR SPOILERS **
The basic premise is that Piven and his team (Rhames, Koechner, & Kathryn Hahn) are hired guns who are brought in to sell cars and whip sales teams into shape. James Brolin calls them in to help his dealership. The sales staff is filled with some truly odd, but funny characters and Piven brings in some additional help of his own. The craziness that ensues is a thin plot with some truly bad dialog, but some great one-liners and exchanges. I don’t want to discuss any of the wonderful supporting cast as it could give away some of the fun, but there is fun to be had. Keep an eye out for Piven’s business card. I need something like that for myself, just not about cars
Oh, if you don’t mind seeing the funniest scene in the movie early, check out my previous post.
Oh and just remember…”when they shoot you, poop comes out the butt”.
Published on August 21, 2009 in Movies. ClosedTags:video.
The Avatar trailer looks nice, but will the story & acting be equal to the CG? James Cameron does have the talent to bring something amazing to the screen and the acting talent looks capable with Sigourney Weaver and Giovanni Ribisi. There are of course other names, but these two seemed the most solid for me. I’m VERY hopeful, but you never know…
PLEASE tell me they didn’t just start as this article implies. That would imply that they have ignored the service complaints for months and months and months without making any publicly visible changes in many areas. Here in NC my signal is decent, but nothing at all to write home about, especially not for how much the service costs. In many big metropolitan areas, the complaints are much, much worse. Hopefully they’ve taken the profits they’ve been raking in to actually make their customers happy, but I simply hope they didn’t just start!
Published on August 14, 2009 in Movies. ClosedTags:review.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
As I tweeted earlier, I had to gather my thoughts after seeing District 9. The movie is intense. It’s violent and bloody/gory, but it is ABSOLUTELY fascinating. This is hard-edged sci-fi that is quite unlike anything I have seen before. I went into this film having seen the trailer, but it really doesn’t tell you much at all. Now, this isn’t for the squeamish as it is bloody, very bloody. Also, don’t expect to see any actors you’re familiar with as the movie has to my eye all fresh talent. This isn’t an issue at all as the characters all come to life quite well and you’re quickly engrossed in the story and their lives.
The action occurs entirely in Johannesburg, South Africa which is also where the filming was done. The setting was perfect as I think the use of a non-US city contributed to the appealing look of the film. The videography is a combination of clean footage along with grainy handicam or TV type footage, but it isn’t overly used or distracting. I’ll also say that is modeled after a documentary style film, but that works for it here. If you pay attention, the interviews foreshadow some of what is to come, but the journey and the final realization make the whole ~2 hours completely worthwhile…
I really don’t want to say much else as I think this is a flick that should be watched with little to no knowledge at all. I went back and watched the trailer again and it now seems very revealing to me having seen the film.
So, in short, get out there and go see this flick if the blood & gore won’t bother you and you’d like to see a VERY interesting sci-fi film.
Today, I hit 50 pounds (50.3 to be exact) of weight lost! I’m thrilled with the progress, but over the past few days it’s been going quite a bit slower. Not sure if this is a brief lull or a temporary plateau. I’m gearing up to deal with it regardless as I am the kind of person who gets frustrated without a quantifiable change. Improvement for improvement’s sake isn’t useful in my head unless I can attach a numerical change to it (at least with regard to weight loss). So, I’m working on dealing with a plateau whenever it should actually arise since I am now trying to begin weight training and that may offset some loss as I build muscle.
I’m hoping I’ll crash through this temporary speed bump & not have to fully address the issue yet, but who knows…
You could think from the video that he was just a shill trying to push the sale of the toys, but from everything I’ve seen, he’s being downright honest. He does seem to truly love the toys and hope people get the same enjoyment out of them.
