January 2011
53 posts
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"The End of Eternity" by Isaac Asimov
There have been exactly 0 books written by Isaac Asimov that haven’t blown me away in some way, and this continues the tradition. Probably the most thoughtful and philosophical time travel story I’ve ever read or seen. Written in 1954, various plot points have obviously been heavily borrowed by many, many novels and movies since. The plot deals with the morality of time travel and...
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"The King's Speech" 5/5
Blatant Oscar bait, yes, but oh what bait. It all builds to the title speech, which is handled so well it borders on the sublime. Lives up to the hype. Something I didn’t know about King George VI, but I’m glad I do now.
I love the English language, but seriously, f u “whom.” I never know when to use you.
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"Avatar" 4/5
Finally watched it and while it was incredibly overhyped, it was still quite a feat of filmmaking and very enjoyable in the moment. I just don’t think it’s going to stay with me in the long run. I do kind of wish now that I had seen it in the theater with 3D for the full effect, but not sure how much it would have added to the experience.
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"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" (Book 1)...
I fought off reading this for so long, but after a strong endorsement from my brother, I decided to give it a shot. Rowling sure knows how to spin one hell of a yarn. The pacing is fantastic. I finished it in just a few hours of reading time. I just ordered the next 3 books, so yeah, consider me converted.
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"Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" 4/5
This is one of the good ones. Had all the right elements. I’ll prefer to remember this one over Generations as the last with the original cast.
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"Hitman" 2/5
Surprisingly not terrible for a movie based on a video game. Artfully done at times, although the plot and characters are seriously lacking. With a better script, this could have been really good.
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"Primer" 5/5
Not your typical time travel movie. Total mind-bender. You spend a lot of the movie in the dark, but the pieces are slowly revealed and (somewhat) click into place throughout, although it’s gets extremely complicated and recursive towards the end. I feel like I need (and want) to rewatch it a couple of times at least to really understand it. A thinking man’s sci-fi thriller.
Made for...
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"Primer" 5/5
Not your typical time travel movie. Total mind-bender. You spend a lot of the movie in the dark, but the pieces are slowly revealed and (somewhat) click into place throughout, although it’s gets extremely complicated and recursive towards the end. I feel like I need (and want) to rewatch it a couple of times at least to really understand it. A thinking man’s sci-fi thriller.
Made for...
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"Hitman" 2/5
Surprisingly not terrible for a movie based on a video game. Artfully done at times, although the plot and characters are seriously lacking. With a better script, this could have been really good.
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A History of India: Volume I by Romila Thapar
I couldn’t even get through it and gave up halfway through. Not particularly well written and extremely dry and dull (a deadly combo). She goes into minute details that are overkill for a book targeted to an average reader. There’s also no clear delineation between different eras, so at any given moment I had a hard time remembering whether we were in the 2nd century or the 7th...
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A History of India: Volume I by Romila Thapar
I couldn’t even get through it and gave up halfway through. Not particularly well written and extremely dry and dull (a deadly combo). She goes into minute details that are overkill for a book targeted to an average reader. There’s also no clear delineation between different eras, so at any given moment I had a hard time remembering whether we were in the 2nd century or the 7th...
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23rd James Bond Movie Officially Announced! →
As much as I love James Bond (I own all but the last one on DVD), I was kind of hoping they’d be done with it after the terrible “Quantum of Solace.” If anything, I hope they go back to the tone of the Brosnan series.
I initially loved “Casino Royale”, but soon realized that they took too serious a tone, taken to a severe level on “QoS”. On repeat...
23rd James Bond Movie Officially Announced! →
As much as I love James Bond (I own all but the last one on DVD), I was kind of hoping they’d be done with it after the terrible “Quantum of Solace.” If anything, I hope they go back to the tone of the Brosnan series.
I initially loved “Casino Royale”, but soon realized that they took too serious a tone, taken to a severe level on “QoS”. On repeat...
Diggedy, diggedy, iggedy dead end: Das EFX and 15... →
Great list! Brought back some memories. Yes, I miss the 90s.
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"True Grit" 4/5
Possibly the most straight-up and mainstream movie the Coens’ have ever made. Really well made, but I felt like I was expecting something else. Maybe something more dark or something with more of a wink, or a little bit of both as the Coens’ are wont to do. Maybe that’s not fair, but the Coens’ have clearly made a certain kind of movie over the years and that sets a...
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"True Grit" 4/5
Possibly the most straight-up and mainstream movie the Coens’ have ever made. Really well made, but I felt like I was expecting something else. Maybe something more dark or something with more of a wink, or a little bit of both as the Coens’ are wont to do. Maybe that’s not fair, but the Coens’ have clearly made a certain kind of movie over the years and that sets a...
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"The Spirit" 1/5
Terrible; mainly the acting, which was flat and uninspired. It had all the elements to possibly make a good movie, but nothing holding them all together. Frank Miller was in way over his head.
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"The Spirit" 1/5
Terrible; mainly the acting, which was flat and uninspired. It had all the elements to possibly make a good movie, but nothing holding them all together. Frank Miller was in way over his head.
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"The Cove" 5/5
23,000 dolphins are slaughtered in one tiny cove in the city of Taiji on the coast of Japan. Their meat ends up in markets all over Japan mislabeled as other cetacean meat and which contains many times the mercury level that is considered safe.
A small team of filmmakers, activists and divers set out to expose this practice and succeed. This film has played all over the world, won many awards...
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"The Cove" 5/5
23,000 dolphins are slaughtered every year in one tiny cove in the city of Taiji on the coast of Japan. Their meat ends up in markets all over Japan mislabeled as other cetacean meat and which contains many times the mercury level that is considered safe.
A small team of filmmakers, activists and divers set out to expose this practice and succeeded. This film has played all over the world, won...
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"Shutter Island" 4/5
It works on multiple levels. First and foremost, it works as a creepy and haunting psychological thriller and I thoroughly enjoyed it on that level. But it works on a deeper level and it all comes together in the end, in the final sentence of the movie:
Which would be worse: to live as a monster or to die as a good man?
If you’re not paying attention you could miss it, but my questions...
Introducing Flickr for Windows 7® and Windows... →
I’m all about mobile websites over apps, but I want to look at my photos in app form. There are now official Flickr apps for iPhone and Windows Phone 7. Where’s the Android love, Yahoo? Have you seen the latest mobile market share numbers?
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