Another movie review? Yes yes, I’m sorry, I don’t intend for this blog to be “Alex blathers about old movies” but I happen to be on a string of good ones! At least, I think they’re good ones. Hopefully I’ll have something else to talk about soon.
Anyway, I just watched Smokin’ Aces, which I only got in the mail because I forgot it was in my Netflix queue and it worked its way to the top. I’ve seen the movie probably a dozen times so it shouldn’t have been in my queue to begin with, but there ya go. I am pretty glad I got it though. I adore the movie. I recognize its many, many faults without any denial whatsoever, but I still somehow love it.
The movie was dripping with style, and the cast is full of incredibly fun-to-watch people. Ryan Reynolds, Alicia Keys, Jeremy Piven, along with a little bit of Jason Bateman? Yeah, I’m down with that. I am absolutely down with that, especially when we get to see Ryan Reynolds all roughed up with that amazing beard of his. No, I’m still not gay, I promise.
I finally watched Iron Man the other night. It was pretty good. I don’t have as much to say about it as I did about Knocked Up, but I have one big gripe.
What is that gripe? The freaking terrorism subplot. Augh. I don’t know anything at all about the Iron Man mythos, but I do know that terrorists/terrorism has become so overused in the last few years that it has started to feel like a parody. If the terrorist story was always Iron Man’s origin story I apologize, but… in the year 2009, I’m pretty damn sick of terrorists being smashed in my face in every single action movie ever. Was I supposed to take the Iron Man terrorists seriously as a villain? Was it supposed to be a parody and I was supposed to laugh and laugh until I realized who the true villain was? I have no idea, but the movie would’ve been better if they found another way to handle the little origin story.
Past that though, I liked the movie. It’s certainly not an earth-shattering, revolutionary film, but I enjoyed it. It was fun. That’s enough for me. Robert Downey Jr is always fun to watch, and this was no exception. He hammed it up in all the right places, and could put on a serious tone when it was needed. He’s a very entertaining guy!
And as someone who really doesn’t watch all that many movies, Jeff Bridges was mostly unknown to me. I mean, I knew his name, but I didn’t really know in motion. Obadiah Stane was fun to watch on screen even to someone who knew absolutely nothing about the character previously, so I give him props for that.
If you want to know whether you should watch it or not… yeah, I say watch it. It was fun, despite my annoyance with yet more terrorists. It’s definitely not one of those movies where your life will be lesser if you don’t watch it, but if you want a fun flick? Go for it.
Oh, by the way, an update on my list of festivals I want to attend this year: I missed RiverSplash and Pridefest, but I made it to Polish Fest. Not a very good Hit/Miss ratio, but at least I’ve gone to something, right?
Polish Fest was… okay. There was some interesting stuff for sure, but the day we went, there wasn’t a ton going on. We went last week Friday, the very first day of the festival. It was 50 cents to get in between Noon a 5 PM because that’s basically their, “We haven’t bothered to schedule anything worthwhile for this time period” part of the festival. 50 cents is way better than $8 though, so why not.
Polish Fest is probably the only one I’ll manage to talk family members into going to, because my family is very Polish. Like, we’re the sort of Polish people that are totally A-OK with branding ourselves as Polacks. So my aunt, my cousin, my mother, my little sister, and the girlfriend all went to Polish Fest. We ate food, did some shopping, listened to some polka, and not a whole lot more.
My mom and my sister wanted to see some of the Polish dancers in action, but those events weren’t until later in the evening. We had to make due with seeing some frighteningly limber elderly folks waltzing away to polkas aplenty. That didn’t last long, we pretty much just watched that when we sat down to eat lunch. Kishka, pierogies, crepes, the usual. The girlfriend had some Krupnik, which I am pretty sure she ordered on accident because she wanted mead but there was a sign for krupnik at the mead stand. The event program said they had mead, but it turned out that they didn’t. Which was hella lame, but what can you do?
I didn’t buy much when we went shopping. I bought a magnet because my fridge is in dire need of them, Pole-themed or otherwise. I also bought a cookbook, Treasured Polish Recipes for Americans, largely for the novelty. I might make one or two things out of it, but I pretty much bought it for show. There’s some righteously disgusting recipes in there… but there are also some good ones. Who knew kishka was so easy to make?
I briefly considered buying a novelty t-shirt… but my love for completely corny and pointless things only goes so far. I couldn’t bring myself to wear a shirt that says “You bet your dupa I’m Polish” or “I only like her for her pierogies.” That’s a level of awful I’ve not yet reached.
I wanted to check out the tent dedicated to St. Josaphat’s Basilica, a Polish church here in Milwaukee, but didn’t get the chance because everyone was started to get bored (or ill) at that point and all wandered off in different directions. In the interest of not losing every single member of my family I stuck with at least one person. So, I didn’t see it. I suppose I didn’t necessarily need to see it, either. I know about it rather well already. My grandparents were married there, so I took an interest in it pretty early on. It’s a neat place. If you want to see a picture of its absolutely beautiful interior, click through the ‘read more’ link at the bottom of this post.
That’ really I have to talk about regarding Polish Fest. I would’ve had a far more entertaining experience had I gone Saturday night, but that’s alright. There’s always next year! My next destination is SummerFest, and while I said I might go to Bastille Days on my festival post, I probably won’t. I don’t remember that one being very good. So instead, after SummerFest I’m awaiting GermanFest starting July 23rd. We’ll see how that goes!
After my previous post, I suspect this one will come off a bit crass. Talk about a change of subject, huh?
I just finished watching Knocked Up, it finally worked its way to the top of my Netflix queue. I didn’t really have many expectations for the movie, I haven’t read any reviews and I pretty much tuned out any of my friends talking about it. I knew it was a comedy/drama, and for some reason I already had some preconceived notions about Seth Rogen already despite the fact that I haven’t seen many of his movies. About Knocked Up itself, pretty much a clean slate.
I’m going to start trying to remember to use blippr immediately after I see a movie so I don’t forget to do it, and while I tried to give this movie a mini-review, I was never happy with the wording of it. My thoughts on Knocked Up are a bit more complex than 160 characters can handle. Did I like it? Yes, of course. There’s much more to it, though.
Knocked Up is a great story, but it suffers from one issue. The comedy relief was far more crude than I enjoy in movies. I can handle profanity, I can handle drug jokes/use, I can handle sex and all of that sort of thing. All of that can be pushed a little too far and it just makes everything uncomfortable, and Knocked Up did that a few times. It was unsettling, but not enough to make me turn off the movie. I think the comedy relief had a place in the film, but they could have toned it down a little.
That sort of thing aside, I loved it. My biggest weakness when it comes to books and movies and all of that sort of thing is that when a character is likable, I get attached to them really easily and I’m a sucker for happy endings. The movie had its ups and its downs, and throughout all of it I just wanted all of the extremely likable characters to work things out and be happy. The fact that some of the issues are resolved while two of the characters are on shrooms? Well, that’s just a plus!
It is a good movie, and if you can weather the absurd amounts of profanity and drug use, you really should see it. Alan Tudyk makes an appearance, too. Who doesn’t need a little more Tudyk in their lives? He even made the end of Dollhouse awesome, and that’s damn impressive. Oh, and Katherine Heigl, of course. She’s pretty much a complete and total hotty, knocked up or otherwise.
I guess I could’ve wrapped that up in 160 characters, huh? Well, I tried. If you want to follow my mini-reviews, check them out over on blippr.
Note: I discuss the recent Iranian election in this post, but please keep in mind that I am not in Iran, nor do I have sources in Iran and I am not reporting on Iran. I am only discussing something I feel has played an important role in Iran’s current events. While I write this, I assume you’re reading with working knowledge of what’s happening there. If you don’t, please educate yourself. History is being made right now.
While I’m not the most vocal activist around on the subject, I’ve always been a supporter of the power of the Internet. That’s a very weird phrase, “the power of the Internet,” so I’ll try to elaborate: I very strongly hold the opinion that the Internet is a tool that has the power to change the world in a very real, tangible way. The Internet is a tool that allows humanity to connect on a personal level, no matter where in the world you live. It gives people the resources they need to learn anything they want to learn, and raises their chances to succeed in life. With the Internet, your only limits in life are the ones you create for yourself.
More and more, we’re seeing that come to fruition. We’re seeing it in action. Do you remember the worldwide Scientology protests from awhile back? While they’re still ongoing today in a smaller (but still very, very strong and admirable) capacity, they absolutely rocked the world when they first happened. Millions of people around the globe stood up one day, and protested against what they felt was something very, very wrong. Not hundreds and not thousands, but millions. While all involved had reasons to do it, the single underlying reason was because these people felt something was wrong in the world, and they wanted their voice heard. They wanted to fix the problem. The Internet gave these people the resources they needed to organize a global movement. It didn’t take years to organize, either. The movement started within weeks, if not days. Whatever your opinion on the protests, you absolutely cannot deny their significance.
What’s happening right now in Iran, and what’s been happening for the last few days, puts the internet’s strength on display in a far more visceral way. There are people fighting, literally and figuratively, for their freedoms, their beliefs, and their lives. They are being suppressed, beaten and murdered in the streets for wanting what most of us see as basic human freedoms. The Internet can’t take credit for the bravery of the Iranian people, but its role in what’s happening cannot be denied.
Another movie review? Yes yes, I’m sorry, I don’t intend for this blog to be “Alex blathers about old movies” but I happen to be on a string of good ones! At least, I think they’re good ones. Hopefully I’ll have something else to talk about soon.
After my previous post, I suspect this one will come off a bit crass. Talk about a change of subject, huh?
Note: I discuss the recent Iranian election in this post, but please keep in mind that I am not in Iran, nor do I have sources in Iran and I am not reporting on Iran. I am only discussing something I feel has played an important role in Iran’s current events. While I write this, I assume you’re reading with working knowledge of what’s happening there. If you don’t, please educate yourself. History is being made right now.
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