The Verdicts

The Sacrifice(dir. Andrei Tarkovsky)
It achieved a dream-like feel better than probably any movie I have ever seen. The story is kind of vaguely told which helps create this feel. The way the lines were delivered were very soothing almost like music. They say this is his most Bergmanesque film which I kind of understand since the characters feel like they baring their souls and are very venerable. I however actually loved this film unlike any of the Bergman films I have seen.
**** out of ****
Little Miss Sunshine(dir. ?)
I think I realize now that I am a sucker for films about "dysfunctional" families. The Royal Tenenbaums is probably my favorite movie and thats all about a "dysfunctional" family. This film is amazingly funny, but in a way that is both intelligent and emotional. It shows a family coming together on a vacation through hardships and bad situations and plays it for laughs. It seems very honest and I loved it.
Night on Earth(dir. Jim Jarmusch)
Taxi Cab Confessions as done by Jim Jarmusch. This is my second favorite by him because the stories are interesting and funny. It is most like Mystery Train in the sense it is a collection of stories. This however has a constitent quality to it compared to Mystery Train where the first story was the best one and the others were lacking.
**** out of ****
The Long Goodbye(dir. Robert Altman)
This could be considered an anti-noir just like McCabe & Mrs. Miller is considered an anti-western. I have very similar feelings to this as I do for McCabe & Mrs. Miller. I thought it was really good, but its not as good as some of his other work. Elliot Gould is still the man so that makes it even better than McCabe.
**** out of ****
Choose Me(dir. Alan Rudolph)
Alan Rudolph was Robert Altman's assistant director on the film above. I thought that was interesting since it was unintentional that I would watch this movie after I've seen the film above. It feels like Altman made a romantic film and this is the product. It was definately alot better than his other film I saw called The Secret Life of Dentists. I loved it.
**** out of ****

Oh Simplicity...

Games have become needlessly complex. Companies now believe the more features you put into a game creates a better game. I personally don't think so. I'm sick of annual sequels that are just basically minor upgrades. I'm sick of games cashing on the success of another game. Back in the day of 8-bit and 16-bit games, everything seemed simpler. Games were simple to get into, but difficult to master. Today, its basically the opposite. Controllers with 10 buttons, 2 joysticks, and a d-pad don't seem very user friendly. What happened to when games where made to be fun? I can't even stand to play my PS2 anymore. If I do, its usually me playing a PS1 game or a compilation of classic games. Things seemed to become needless complex and not as innovative as they once were. I'm supporting Nintendo for what they are doing with the DS and Wii. It seems innovative and fairly user friendly. Nintendo seems to know what games should be and thats FUN.

Oh Reviews...

Masculin, Feminin(dir. Jean-Luc Godard)
I've seen Breathless and I was impressed with that and I saw the Rialto trailer for this and it got me hyped up to see this. Chantal Goya is beautiful. Thats the first thing I thought of after seeing the trailer. The movie however is just as beautiful(?) as her. I don't know if I should use the word beautiful, but whatever. The story could basically be summed by this is an examination of French youth in the 60s, but in all honesty, the story doesn't really mean anything. The story uses titles constantly and the youth recite intellectual sayings from literature and other art forms from the top of their head. Some incidents happen spontaneously like a man pulling a knife on Jean-Pierre Leaud and wife shooting her husband in public. I can't really explain anything and how I like it, but I liked it alot.
**** out of ****
Orpheus(dir. Jean Cocteau)
Blood of a Poet was a borefest. I didn't even want Blockbuster to send this movie, but its basically been on shuffle lately. Cocteau uses some of the tricks he showed off in Blood of a Poet in a film with an actual narrative. Its based on a myth. I believe a Greek one. The film has a very mystical feel to it that made you feel like anything was possible of happening in the film. Hell of a lot better than Blood of Poet.
**** out of ****
Telledaga Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby(dir. Adam McKay)
Disappointed? I guess. I saw the commercials and I found nothing particularly funny about them. It was still a fun movie to watch. The ending really did it for me. Anchorman was miles better. It seemed to suit Will Ferrell better since it had a very over the top feel to it. It was pretty good.
*** out of ****
Inside Man(dir. Spike Lee)
The story in this film just basically took over and not in a very good way. I don't get what the point of having this Nazi backstory and all that to make us sympathize with the criminals? It should have just been Denzel and Clive trying to one up each other or something. Jodie Foster's character just bugged the shit out of me and really had no purpose, but push along this Nazi backstory that I could honestly care less about. They should have just made a typical heist movie, but made in a Spike Lee way. This could have been directed by anyone. It was decent.
*** out of ****

Movie Reviews...

My Darling Clementine(dir. John Ford)
I've seen Grapes of Wrath before, but I'm pretty surpised I like this. Of the classic Hollywood westerns I've seen, I can't honestly say I was in love with the whole thing. I can't say it for this either, but it pretty much comes close. Probably my biggest issue is that its a genre. A genre in which subtlity is not very common and this was in an age of unsubtlity which makes it even more unsubtle. The fact of the matter has moments are subtle and beautiful which means alot in this genre. I don't watch much classic Hollywood films, but I would probably say this and Grapes of Wrath are my favorites so far.
**** out of ****
Rushmore(dir. Wes Anderson)[rewatch]
I wasn't sure if I've actually seen the whole thing before so I watched it again. I didn't realize I've seen basically in the movie, but whatever. I looked more into the character of Max Fischer while watching this time and why he acts the way he does. One scene between Max and Ms. Cross probably tells you the whole reason or at least a possible reason why he is in "love" with her when she confronts him about whether having sex with him would put an end to this. I also rewatched this to see if I like more than The Royal Tenenbaums. Tenenbaums is better, but this is still awesome stuff.
**** out of ****
Shrek 2(dir. NO clue)
Intelligent animated films are hard to find. This is pretty intelligent and imaginative. I enjoyed the references to other fairy tale stories and Starbucks and other pop culture nonsense. I didn't think it had as good of a story as the first however.
*** out of ****
Goodbye, South Goodbye(dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien)
First Taiwan movie I've ever seen. I can't say this film was a very emotional experience probably because I had the feeling that I was lost throughout the whole thing. It didn't have a difficult story to follow, it was just the way it was told which is probably what amazed me the most about the film. There was some scenes that blew my mind like a scene where the three main characters are driving on a moped and a motorcycle. I will probably rewatch this or try to find a better copy of it online since this version had pretty lousy video. The film had a sort of Asian Tarkovsky feel to it.
*** out of ****
The Night Listener(dir. No CLUE)
The storytelling is pretty good, but the actual story is pretty bad. Only one scene was very poorly handled which was kind of a combination between a slapstick chase and some horror movie like The Ring. Robin Williams was good. Milks the inspired by true events alittle too much.
*** out of ****
Wedding Crashers(dir. No Clue)
My two biggest complaints are it wasn't that funny and it was very stereotypical. It somehow works with those two complaints against it. The whole thing kind of felt like Rachael McAdams's speech in it. It tries to make you laugh and has good intentions, but it fails.
*** out of ****
Forty Guns(dir. Samuel Fuller)
I have the same feelings about Johnny Guitar. These films are supposed to be films that "independent" minded filmmakers of the classic era twisting a genre to something that suits their needs. However, these films are not as subtle as My Darling Clementine which is categorized as a very Hollywood western. I don't get it. They're somewhat enjoyable, but I've seen better from Fuller and Ray.
*** out of ****

Maps of the Lord: Facing Worlds

This map kicks serious ass. It is probably the greatest CTF map of all time for sheer simplicity and brilliance. It has two opposing towers on a comet. The towers have a sort of Amazonian ruin thing going. Each tower contains three locations to teleport too. A place in the middle with a sniper rifle, a place with a redeemer, and the top of the tower with a sniper rifle. The one thing worth mentioning is the redeemer which makes the map so entertaining. Games have been going crazy on map design. Maps have gotten so huge that theres really no way to know every little detail about them and know where the hell to go. Battlefield 2 which is a game I plan to play alittle bit more of is alittle extravagant with the map design. Gulf of Oman which is probably the best map that I've played in the game is in fact probably the simplest map in the game. Coincidence? I think not. I don't even try to play the large versions of the maps cuz I would get lost for about a half hour. I played two maps today that basically blew. That game has pretty bad map design, but so did Battlefield 1942 except for El Alamein. Enough of Battlefield 2, this map is godlike.