Ausborne Blog

I’m at the theater watching G.I. Joe right now and I find it to be thorougly uninteresting. There are neat special effects but that’s about all that can be said about it. Well, that’s all the “good” that can be said about it, anyways.

Lame.

I went and saw Star Trek tonight.  While I am certainly not considered a Star Trek fan, in general, I found the movie to be quite enjoyable and well done.

I bought tickets to the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, this Friday night.  Nate, Nate, McKay and I are having a “guys night out” and are going to spend it watching what is hopefully as action-packed and exciting as it’s predecessor, Casino Royale.  For me, Casino Royale set the bar for Bond movies and Daniel Craig is THE Bond.  The torture scene in Royale was brutal but still had two of the best lines ever.  I’m sure you all can guess which ones!

You know, I never realized that I had never seen Star Wars Episode III.  I started watching it a few minutes ago and thought to myself, “Self, this is stuff I don’t recognize.  Could it really be?”

Sure enough, it is.

I watched Blood Diamond tonight.  My, oh my.  This movie is rough and brutal and raw in all ways, but it’s really well made and tells its story so well.  I have heard that there are many problems faced by those in Africa but haven’t done any sort of research into it.  This movie opens my eyes to the problem of conflict diamonds.

The writing and the acting, from beginning to end, were fabulous, and the goals of the writers and actors were reached.  This movie opens peoples’ eyes to the brutality to which people will subject other people in an effort to meet the demands of consumers around the world.  I am saddened at the pain and suffering inflicted upon and felt by the innocent, outraged at the way that people knowingly reap profits at the cost of blood, and humbled by those who are willing to stand up and make an attempt to effect change.

It’s been about 15 years since the I last saw Dances with Wolves. Tonight, I (mostly) paid attention to it while reading the news, and really enjoyed it. I’d forgotten how good it is. Kevin Costner does a good job in all aspects of this movie, though I could have done without the whole seeing his naked butt part.

It’s a wonderful story illustrating the clashes that occurred when “civilization” expanded from the East into lands which had historically been home to many differing tribes of Native Americans. On the one hand, I feel for the Indians, whose land and means of survival were taken over by the “greedy White Man.” On the other, it’s only natural for peoples and civilizations to expand outward. When you consider that the United States had “purchased” the land from the French, I guess it was only natural to presume that its people would want to move out into that land. To be met by a bunch of people who are different from you and who are “savages” would be pretty unsettling, I imagine, and they’d probably want to defend themselves in any way they know how. Both viewpoints have merit but, seeing who my ancestors were, I guess I have to side with them.

Either way, I’m pretty comfortable saying that I’m glad I live in today’s world and not back in the 1860’s. I would rather work on a computer than build a brand-new town from nothing in the middle of nowhere. Hey, but that’s just me.

Melanie and I watched Deja Vu tonight. It’s a really great story and a terrific performance by Denzel Washington. I’d seen it before but this time I enjoyed it even more.

I watched The Italian Job tonight, well past my bedtime.  It was quite entertaining.  I really had no clue what was going to happen and was just enjoying being taken along for the ride.  I can’t think of any of the characters I didn’t like.  Well, I mean, anybody except those I wasn’t supposed to like.  I wouldn’t put it in the class of any of the Bourne movies, or even Ocean’s Eleven, Twelve or Thirteen, but it had a certain something that made me want to keep watching even though I’m so overwhelmingly tired.

I watched Twister tonight. As far as special effects go, it’s still a decent movie. As far as plot goes, it’s somewhat fun, presuming that you let your brain check out during some parts.

The good things:

• The special effects. The dark clouds and stormy skies looked pretty cool.
• The character of Melissa Reeves, the fiancee of Bill. The line, “Now’s not a good time to talk. We’ve got cows!” brings a smile to my face.

The bad things:

• The whole flying gas tanker truck scene was too ridiculous to ignore, even if your brain was checked out at the time.
• The idea of a driving the truck right into the middle of the tornado and being able to jump out and run the other way without getting injured is … uh, … a little far-fetched.

I’ll just keep reminding myself that it’s just a movie.

I watched The Pelican Brief tonight. I had forgotten how good it is. The scene at the Riverwalk is really very suspenseful.

I’ve always really liked John Grisham’s books, so I guess it’s fitting that I’d like the movie versions of them. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll watch The Rainmaker, The Chamber, The Runaway Jury or start reading The Appeal.

There are couple of things I really don’t like about the movie, however.  First, the way that the piano is used during the suspenseful moments is pretty annoying and overpowering.  Having an original score of some sort would have been a whole lot better.  Second, they need to remake the DVDs for the movie so that it’s not split up onto two different sides of the DVD.  To have to eject the DVD and flip it over in the middle of the movie is just ridiculous.