Another Opinion Among Many

I watched I am Legend tonight. I wasn’t sure what to expect. After all, a zombie movie with Will Smith in it? But, I suppose that its not going to be quite the same as watching War of the Worlds, which didn’t quite have the “punch” that I thought it should have had.

This movie entertained me from beginning to end. It was far less grotesque than 28 Days Later but it had a similar plot line.

Based on the book, I am Legend, by Richard Matheson, written in 1954, this movie centers around a single surviving character who is determined to find a way out.

In the same way that you liked Will Smith in movies like Wild Wild West and the wildly successful Men in Black, you will be kept at attention until he lets you go…at the end of the movie. I think that Mr. Smith is coming into his own and we are just beginning to see what he can do. After seeing him play his role in The Pursuit of Happyness, I think that we are going to see even a few more surprises from Mr. Will Smith.

Synopsis:

Robert Neville is a scientist who was unable to stop the spread of the terrible virus that was incurable and man-made. Immune, Neville is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City and perhaps the world. For three years, Neville has faithfully sent out daily radio messages, desperate to find any other survivors who might be out there. But he is not alone. Mutant victims of the plague — The Infected — lurk in the shadows… watching Neville’s every move… waiting for him to make a fatal mistake. Perhaps mankind’s last, best hope, Neville is driven by only one remaining mission: to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus using his own immune blood. But he knows he is outnumbered… and quickly running out of time.

This movie gets my approval. If you want so entertainment and you like zombie movies, this one will keep your zombie craving satisfied. Along the zombie lines, I’ll be watching another one soon. Look for a review of Planet Terror next.

I see that the whole world but me has wrote (not muc) about Wordpress 2.3.  I haven’t.  I have been running it since the beginning, as soon as the 2.2 code was declared stable (really, before that).  Perhaps I’ll write about it.  You’ll notice that my site is reasonably responsive and that’s because of the new version of WP.

I’ve also installed Debian 4.0 on my machine.  I’ll likely review it soon.

I also have a few movies that I should review.  Maybe I’ll get to that after all.

Who knows.

Four Guys.  2000 Miles.  How wild can it get?

Angela and I caught Wild Hogs this weekend. It was an entertaining watch. I’m finding that anything that Tim Allen stars in will be either be hilarious or “light weight” as far as content. This movie falls under the latter category.  We enjoyed it all the way through and Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, and William Macy did a good job of keeping us entertained (William Macy the most).

This movie’s plot basically follows a simple time line.   Travolta’s character has a life changing event and he has to reclaim his identity.  He convinces his buddies to go on a road trip with him on their bikes.  Since they are pretty stressed anyhow, they come with him.

This is the story of what happens as a result of their following of theoir friend.  They all learn a bit about themselves and they also gain a bit of insight into what’s over the horizon for them.

Well, Billy Bob Thornton, Bruce Willis, and Bias all start with the letter “B”, but I’m not going to say nice things about The Astronaut Farmer because of that. Its true that I am a big Bruce Willis fan (but you already knew that - or else you’re new around these parts…the search box is on the right). But, I’ve not been impressed with the movies that Billy Bob Thornton has starred in until now. I didn’t find Friday Night Lights to be much fun to watch, although I did try to. But, the only football movies that I liked were The Waterboy and Varsity Blues.

I’ve always been a sucker for stories of hope, though, and The Astronaut Farmer falls into that category without confusion at all. The film stars Billy Bob Thornton, the delectable Virginia Madsen, Max Thierot, and a slew of others. This movie was pretty good. It was not on par with Pay it Forward, but it definitely is a must see if you like stories of hope about the human spirit.

Plot Summary fron IMDB:

A NASA astronaut (Thornton), forced to retire years earlier so he could save his family farm, has never give up his dream of space travel and looks to build his own rocket, despite the government’s threats to stop him.

This movie touches on a big topic and a sore spot for many Americans which is NASA and its role.  I don’t know how this issue of private space flight versus government agency space flight will play out in the future, but it is a hot topic.  The sad thing is that this is not a fantasy.  A private individual cannot get his spacecraft in flight due to the stranglehold that the Space Agency has on the “market.”  Is this good? Is it right? The film hints at this isue, but doesn’t go into too much depth, as that would cause too negative of a feeling towards this issue, in my opinion.  It will be visitied int he fure, though, I am sure.

Watch this movie for the entertainment.  You will be entertained.

Angela and I watched the movie Notes on a Scandal, starring the versatile Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett. This movie was originally a book by Zoë Heller. I hadn’t heard of the book before encountering the film and I don’t know if I would have read it. This is a strange story that develops a few twists as it goes along.

I’m thinking that its good that we watched this as a movie.  Dench plays a wonderfully twisted Barbara Covett, who uses a mistake that Blanchett’s character, Sheba Hart, has made, to solidify her position as the only voice of “reason” in poor Hart’s life.  This is the beginning of a manipulation she masterminds in order to fill her loneliness.  The film shows a romantic interest on the part of Covett for Hart.  There are a few allusions to a former “love interest” that had gone bad.  I won’t say too much on this whole thing, as it would be a spoiler.

The IMDB synopsis:

 Barbara Covett is a veteran and cynical schoolteacher who is close to retirement. She is barely tolerated by her less brilliant and acerbic colleagues who know nothing about her private life which consists mainly of taking care of Portia, her aging cat, and spending countless hours alone. The only means she has found to take the edge off her desperate loneliness is writing in her journal. When Sheba Hart, a younger, attractive woman, joins the faculty as an art teacher, Barbara watches her from afar and has nothing but caustic things to say in her diary about her clothing and her care-free manner. Despite her disdain for this woman, Barbara finds herself reaching out to her. Sheba responds by inviting her to dinner at her house to meet Sheba’s lecturer husband, who is twenty years her senior, and their two children, a sexy and rebellious 16-year-old daughter and a younger boy with Downs Syndrome. Instead of opening herself to these people, Barbara immediately sees them as competition to be beaten in the battle for Sheba’s attention. Later, when Barbara discovers her new friend in a classroom having sex with Steven, a 15-year-old from the school who has artistic talent; she realizes that knowledge of this secret gives her power over Sheba which she can use for her own purposes. Barbara promises to not tell anyone but insists that the affair must end immediately. Sheba says she will but finds herself drawn back to the boy again and again. Sheba seems uneasy with Barbara’s friendship and is appalled when she discovers the older woman might have a sexual interest in her. The tenuous relationship between the two women reaches a crisis point when Barbara’s cat is dying and she asks Sheba to go with her to the vet. She chooses to go with her family to see their son in a play instead. In revenge, Barbara sets in motion the scandal that will rock both their lives in ways they never imagined.

Ange and I both enjoyed this film.  Despite the territory it treads, its an entertaining watch.

As anyone who reads this diatribe knows, I have a perchance for movies.  I haven’t been reviewing many lately, though.  Its not because I’ve n0t watched any.  Its just be cause I haven’t felt like producing a review worth reading.  So, instead of churning out a crappy review just to say that I did, I’ve not written about it at all.

This will change.  I’ve seen a few movies lately that others have seen or reviewed as well.  I’ve also seen a few others that I haven’t really seen anything written about.  So, to fill in the gaps, I’ll be producing a few over the next little while.  Sorry for the lapse.

I’m watching a copy of The Corporation, a film about corporation and its effects on us. So, if you see a few anti-corporate rant or two in the near future, this might have been the catalyst. But, it might not be, as I’ve pretty much already made up my mind.

There was a 3 car accident at the intersection of Maple and Westmorland bridge. The intersection had to be closed down to be cleaned up and I believe there were injuries. I hope that it wasn’t too serious. The cars were really smashed up, leading me to believe that somebody was going way too fast through there, which is normal. The speed limit is 50kmh but many sail through at 80-90kmh (or faster), and the intersection is rough and bumpy.

I got the tires patched on a bike I got for Abby (for free) and a new tube for Caleb’s front. Now the kids both have bikes (and yes, we bring them inside at night now). Abby is loving her “big bike”, although she’s just getting onto pedaling. I remember when Caleb first learned.

Interesting fact about me: I was not taught how to ride a bicycle and never used training wheels. I was visiting my cousin one weekend and tried her two-wheeler, which had either 20″ or 24″ wheels. It was a full sized bike, really. The only reason I, as a child, could get on it was that it was a girls bike. I had no hope of sitting on the seat. I got on and started to ride - just like that! I wish that I could do that with learning to make oodles of money!

Its a nice day. Maybe we’ll take the phrase, “Go fly a kite!” to heart.