Random Babblings

Last year was a good year for movies.  Lisa and I went to the theaters 35 times for 32 movies.  AMC would be glad to know that every one of those was at their theaters.  Next to board games, movies are probably our biggest “hobby” though I’m sure we spent more on the movies this year.

We rounded the year out quite well with movies.  The first movie of the year was on New Years day, and the last was December 30th.

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Yes I’m still alive, just life gets away sometimes.

Been playing a lot of Guitar Hero. Finished Hinterland (4/5) and am on to the next Honor Harrington novel. Saw Sweeny Todd (3/5), and played quite a few games at Game Day.

I’ll try and expound on these over the next few days.

I Am Legend an adaptation of the novel by Richard Matheson, staring Will Smith. I say adaptation and not “based on” since the story line is quite changed. Getting away from that it was quite a good film.

Not having much to do today, Lisa and I headed out to the movies. We had discussed seeing this when it was released but events and timing got in the way, so we held off till this vacation week. Despite some negative commentary from folks at Lisa’s work, we’re glad we went and saw this.

When we first saw the previews we didn’t know what to expect, they didn’t reveal much of the plot, just that Will Smith was the only survivor of some catastrophe. Then as more commercials and previews came out we thought it was a Zombie movie. A little digging into the history of the original novel said Vampire. Neither of these are quite true, but the disease in the movie is portrayed as a little of both. Despite the horror/suspense genre not being our normal cup of tea, both Lisa and I wanted to see this movie. For Lisa at least there was some drool factor in Will Smith, but the concept of such an actor doing essentially a “one man show” was a good draw as well.

This movie could have been an effects fest, and probably many people went in expecting it. In the end the movie is all about the story, the story about the “last man” on earth and how he has survived, and how such solitude takes it’s toll. Will Smith manages to pull off a remarkable portrayal of a man fighting to save the world while at the same time fighting to save himself.

When you go to see this remember to turn off that blockbuster mentality. This movie is not meant to be that despite it’s budget. Instead, go in ready to care about the characters of this movie, because it’s hard not to.

Overall 4/5.

Though I expect a lot of titles to be like this. I just don’t seem to be good at keeping this up.

Saw Enchanted this evening. Not my usual fare, but an enjoyable evening. Predictable, as are most fairy tales, even the “modern” ones.

Spent some time this yesterday entering a contest for a board game. It was an “essay” contest and I had to tell what my 5 favorite games are, and why. Was fun to sit back and make sure I was putting the right games in the right order. Also made me really think why I love these games and think about when and where it started.

Thanksgiving has just passed, and it was a small quiet affair here at Casa di Viluppo. Most of the family was off elsewhere, so it was just the wife and one kid. It was nice though, cooked a small version of the traditional feast.

Worked on some stuff for that #1 game of mine today. New version left out something not necessarily critical, but nice to have the option of. Went ahead and created the stuff necessary to play that way again. I’ll post more when I have some if it up (ya right )

As I sat at my computer lastnight watching Underworld: Evolution a few things crossed my mind.

First and formost, was that I was glad I didn’t waste money to to see this in theaters. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll buy it and it’ll sit right next to Underworld on the DVD shelf. But I’m glad that I didn’t spend $25 on movies and popcorn, to sit in a crowded room with incosiderate jerks.

But anyway…

I’ve always been a “Letterbox” snob. Even in the days of VHS tapes, if I could get a movie in letterbox I did. And my recent episode of not paying attention when I picked up Serenity, purchasing the fullscreen, and not being able to get a widescreen at Best Buy for a month (and still having to buy it elsewhere) frustrates me that movies are still released as such. When more widescreen TVs are being sold than standard. When mandates for the broadcast of digital/widescreen TV stations are right around the corner (even if they do keep pushing them back). Why or why is it necessary to release a movie in other than it’s original aspect ratio. But then I watch U:E at 2.35:1 aspect ratio on my 17″ monitor, and maybe I do understand a little. I’m probably just spoiled.

Back to incosiderate jerks. I limit what I will and won’t go to in the theaters nowadays because of them. And then I do try to go when the posibilities of them is reduced. So I was thinking that there wouldn’t be any movies that I’d actually want to see this year, guess I was wrong though. X-Men 3 comes out, though probably to my DVD player. Pirates of the Caribbean 2… a must see. Ice Age 2, I can hope it’ll live up to the original.

What’s your movie list look like?