Went to see The Incredibles…

Opuses

Went to see The Incredibles on Saturday. Go see it. Don’t take your children.

And this statement is worthy of repetition: Pixar have proven again that they can do no wrong. The Incredibles is yet another blow from the Pixar wrecking ball to the tired, grey monolith of story-telling mediocrities.

At first listen, I thought…

Opuses

At first listen, I thought Yellow Card were yet another punk-pop clone. However, I saw a performance on television that began to change my mind and CW said he was enjoying their Ocean Avenue disc so I purchased it from Shopko for $10.

Now that I’ve heard the disc, I wouldn’t say they’re a punk-pop clone. Perhaps they’re a second cousin or a step-child to that bothersome archetype. The band’s vocals are very much in the punk-pop lineage but a fiddle and some other, less definite touches of style make the disc enjoyable.

The lyrics want some variety though. Before long the breakup songs wax tiresome, climaxing with Miles Apart, wherein the writers freely clod us with “apart”, “heart”, “start” rhymes. Happily, the breakup songs are interrupted by more refreshing, more captivating, more compelling songs. For example, instead of the oh so predictable “you were a rotten father” gripe, we find in Life of a Salesman an affirmation of an admirable dad. We also find View From Heaven, a cowboy song about a close friend’s death, and Believe, a tribute to the fallen firefighters of September 11, 2001.

I think it’s worth $10

Gattaca

Opuses

Okay, so I finally got around to watching Gattaca. I’ve heard only that it was a good film but nothing else for some time now. Last time L visited, he told me what the story was about and that I should see it. C was pretty tired on Thursday and I wasn’t. So after she went to bed, I ran down to the local Blockbuster video and rented Gattaca.

I’m not a movie critic but to my tastes, it was more than just a good film. It had a solid moral premise that made the story twice as strong. The writer used the power of suggestion to let the viewer process the issues he raised while immersing himself in, experiencing, feeling the story along with the characters.

I really enjoyed the score of this movie. Standing out was the “concerto for twelve fingers”. 🙂 Since the message of the story is so timely, I positively recommend this movie for viewing.

The Village

Opuses

I’d been trying extra hard for two weeks and yesterday I finally got to see “The Village”. By the looks of things it was just in the nick of time. It’s already done playing at the local cinema and the theatre we went to was pretty empty. Of course that was a Sunday matinee.

* s p o i l e r a l e r t *

The nub of the story was good. I did figure part of it ahead of time but I’m having trouble saying what is the really interesting bit. I keep coming back to the conclusion, when the elders decided to continue the farce. If they decided to carry on with the settlement but end the farce, I would have almost agreed with their actions. Howsoever all events seemed to point toward a lesson that they should be learning, they forgot to learn it. I’ll have to process a bit more and maybe watch it one more time.

Once again M. Night Shamaylan has created a wonderfully riveting story, a full-flavoured picture of a time and a place, a thing that makes you go, “Hmm…” Oh yes, and the score was exquisite.

Let us see what has…

Opuses

Let us see what has happened. We watched the new Peter Pan (live action) picture. I thought it was good and enjoyable in a general sense. No stars, plenty of special effects, intelligent writing. Example of note: Mary [Darling] related how George [Darling] had given up many of his dreams in order to provide a good life for his family. Recently a commenter on this movie said that this is wrongheaded, that you are not supposed to give up on your dreams, and that you are supposed to chase after them relentlessly, desire them endlessly. But this is your garden variety high school graduation speech pablum. So he must not have been a husband or a father. Hopefully this donkey will learn someday: when you are a husband or a father, parting with your dreams is precisely what you must do to make the dreams of your family come to pass. You always give up your desires to give the ones you love their desires.

Last night, we watched a…

Opuses

Last night, we watched a great movie — Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. I thoroughly enjoyed it but C didn’t get it. I suppose it is a man’s movie. When the reviewers said it made you feel like you were present for the happenings, they were right. I felt like I was there. I wanted to be there.

I heard one of my…

Opuses

I heard one of my top 5 bands — Switchfoot — on the radio Wednesday. I know the song has been in the rotation on MTV for a while, so if my prior estimation of local radio holds up, the song has been on the radio around the country for some time and we probably won’t hear it more than once or twice here.

Da Vinci Code

Opuses

I have made an end of reading The Da Vinci Code. It certainly was an interesting read — especially for someone who enjoys puzzles and solving problems like I do — because the book was very well researched and the plot was as thick and tangled as any. Naturally, I reject the novel’s premise (to wit, that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene, that his descendants survive to this day, that documents proving these claims exist somewhere, and that the Church has effected a cover-up of the whole deal). But it was interesting and I learned some history of gnostics and Merovingians.

Moreover, based on what I already knew about gnostics, I might have guessed the ending. One hinge of gnosticism is that one can ascend to higher states by progressively gaining more of the secret knowledge. In the book, the guardians of the aforementioned documents would never be able to release them to the public because that would go against one of their core values.

And that’s the way I see it.

The week has been difficult…

Adventures, Opuses

The week has been difficult for our snowmen 🙁 but the warmer weather isn’t unwanted. So as the old saw says, March is in like a lamb and will be out like a lion. Just wait and see.

We went to see The Passion of the Christ last night. Very moving. I wonder if all the hype changes people’s experience too much. The art value of the film completely matched my expectation which is good because my expectation was so high but as I watched I thought more than once about whether I was having the “correct” emotional reaction. And I don’t enjoy thinking that way. So a body needs to experience a thing for himself and that’s what I decided to do. The thing that touched me most was when Jesus said something like “You have no power over me except what is given to you from my Father,” or “No man takes my life, I lay it down on my own.” It’s incomprehensible.