Reel Time Updates: Inception

On Friday, July 16th, I and my regular crew hit the cinema for a 12:35pm showing of Christopher Nolan’s box office hit: Inception.

I’d been looking forward to this one since I saw the first trailer, though I probably would have gone to see it based simply on the fact that it was directed by Nolan. Or because Ken Watanabe is in it. Take your pick.

It was a great drama/thriller/brain-bender, and while there were adequately-spaced action sequences throughout, if you don’t like movies of some complexity that require a little thought during playback, you might want to sit this one out and just pick it up from Netflix or Redbox later on down the road. That way, if you end up falling asleep, you can do so in the comfort (and privacy) of your own home. The film was obviously a little too much for the viewer sitting directly behind us, as he yawned and muttered sleepily to his companion throughout the showing. Maybe he should have read the prequel comic before attending.

The Trailers: Unfortunately, it’s been over a week since I saw this one, and I typically try to rely on my (hardly reliable) memory for what was previewed before the film. I do remember seeing a lot of trailers that I’d never seen before. I remember: Due Date (starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Zach Galifianakis. Heard of, but never previewed); The Town (never seen or heard of); The Social Network (heard of, but thought it was just some kind of internet joke. It’s basically taking something mundane and trying to make it dramatic… either that, or trying to make people hate/distrust Facebook less. Or both); Tron Legacy (I’m a little iffy on this one. Still need to see the first one). And, yes, I’m going to try and start linking to the trailers I saw, because, otherwise, what’s the point?

My Take on Inception: Because of the nature of this film (it’s complex and makes you think), there are a whole lot of reviews out there discussing all the in and outs, the what-ifs and various aspects that Nolan touched on without going into further detail. One thing I will not discuss here is the controversial closing scene that everyone seems to be stuck on. At most, it was merely Nolan’s way of leaving an open window for a sequel. Beyond that, I don’t think viewers should let it change how they view the film as a whole.

Inception certainly lived up to my expectations, and they were relatively high (probably the highest I’ve had in a while), especially after seeing all the A and A+ reviews. Nolan presents the very unique concept of stealthing into and raiding people’s minds through dreams, and proceeds to strap that idea to a runaway freight train, taking it to its limits. Just when you think the film’s protagonists cannot delve any deeper into the minds of those they’re attempting to exploit, they do.

The score was superb. That “bass horn blast” I mentioned in my “Top 10” post? It was every bit as awesome as I expected it to be in theater surround-sound. I will almost definitely hunt down the soundtrack. It will be like giving my bass speakers crack.

Of course the casting was top-notch, and the visuals were excellent. I’m sure a lot of the film was green-screened, but the cast breezed through like pros, interacting well with the digital sets.

There was only one scene that I felt a bit let down by. (SPOILER ALERT) Throughout the film, DiCaprio’s character, Cobb, is haunted (both in and out of the dream worlds) by memories of his deceased wife, Mal, whose death he feels responsible for. She is painted as both villain and victim as she pleads with Cobb to remain with her in the dream world, and then tries to destroy him and his team when he refuses. Near the end of the film, when Cobb finally realizes that he must let go of his twisted, tainted memories of his wife, the tortured farewell scene was not quite as emotional as I thought it should have been. This is likely because we do not get to know Mal very well, or at least not beyond her status as Cobb’s unforgiving, relentless, and mostly memory-based personal issue. While the scene was very dramatic, and somewhat dragged-out, I just wasn’t feeling it when Cobb severed the crumbling, imaginary relationship he’d been failing to sustain with the person he loved and longed for the most. (END SPOILER ALERT)

If you haven’t seen this film, yet, you need to. Go see it on the big screen, and then pick it up when it’s released on Blu-ray (or DVD if you prefer inferior video/audio quality). It has great action, performances, dialogue, sound, visuals, and the story actually forces you to think. If this is Chris Nolan’s way of throwing us a bone between The Dark Knight and “Batman 3”, I, for one, am gnawing away with relish.

(Oh, and I snuck in a little reference to the reason it took me so long to get this post up. If you spotted it, congratulations! If not… you probably don’t need to know. *grin, wink*)

A Successful Recovery

So, as you may have guessed from my absence (and for that, I do apologize), or to reiterate if you’ve been following me tweets, I got my data back on Friday, July 9th, and have been working to catch up on everything since that point. The professional service I’d entreated to help me out (I did my best not to whimper when I handed the technician my comatose drive) was able to make a full recovery, and so it’s time for some name-dropping (because you have to earn that):

Data Recovery Group – I was helped by a Mr. Ron Davis, who is, apparently, a regional manager, and was very courteous and helpful. The diagnosis on the drive was a single bad head, which was replaced, and then I brought in a second hard-drive for him to transfer the recovered data onto.

The place was like a doctor’s office (a hard-drive doctor), and there were several previous patients (I guess they’d donated their bodies to science) lying dissected on a table by the check-in desk. It was very educational; I think all physicians should look into it.

The office was complete with a sign-in sheet and paperwork to fill out. The front desk extended from wall-to-wall like a blockade. The only way through was to climb over, and it was at least chest-height. I assumed this was for when the “doctor” had to tell people that the patient hadn’t made it. I can imagine folks getting pretty pissed/irrational in their grief, and I wondered if the technician kept some sort of ranged weapon behind the desk. I almost asked him if they had any referrals for grief counselors.

But, as I’d noted previously in Put Your Data in The Cloud, I hit up Mozy.com for a 2-year subscription as soon as I got home. It was around $88USD after a 15% off + 1 Month Free coupon I found on RetailMeNot. (As of 07.15.10, it’s the one at the top, BESTOFMONTH. It says 20% off, but it’s actually 15%.) I downloaded the Mozy software, selected what I wanted it to backup, and let’errip. The little spinning circle of life that indicated someone knew how to use Flash progress activity churned to life, and… and now I know why it’s called “Mozy”:

mo·sey mo·zy / [moh-zee] –verb
1.to wander or shuffle about leisurely; stroll; saunter

In other words, this sucker is slow. And when it’s on, the internet has a bad case of the lags. Granted, this will only be the case for the duration of the initial backup, but, if I did my calculations right, that could take anywhere from 2-5 months to complete. Yeah.

I’m only averaging 1.5 – 2 GBs of data uploaded per day at full speed, and that severely throttles bandwidth. Because of that, I’m only allowing Mozy to run at night when no one’s using the internet. Yes, I could decrease the amount of bandwidth Mozy’s allowed to use while uploading so it could run 24/7, but even then, the lag is just noticeable enough that the other household members get pissed, and shoot strings of frustrated, “R u d/ling sumthin!?” texts my way. I guess I’ll keep fiddling with it.

Once the initial download is completed, Mozy will run in the background (I’m hoping with little-to-no resource-hogging behavior), quietly backing up only the files that it detects have been updated since the last backup.

So, while the old, faulty hard-drive was KIA, I guess you could say “all’s well that ends well”. And while I may be significantly poorer because of my lack of foresight, whenever I lose money due to my own ineptitude, I like to look at it as the cost of a lesson well learned. In this case, the moral of the story is: always backup your data, because you’ll never know how much it’s worth until it’s (almost) gone.

More Awesomeness from TeeFury

One of my last posts over at the “old” ~synonymous blue LiveJournal blog showcased the nine awesome tees I’d received via three separate TeeFury.com grab-bags ($17 shipped gets you three random tees, chosen from what was on sale the previous month). Why would I pay good money for mystery shirts that I don’t even know if I’ll like? For the thrill, my friends! Also, most of their tees are, at the very least, interesting and well-designed, so my indulgence in these little bundles of 100% cotton joy is rarely a waste.

Last month, TeeFury posted up another grab-bag for May 2010, and I (of course) pounced on it. Here’s what I received:

JUNE 2010 GRAB BAG

Galactic Sideshow ~ Thomas G. Sullivan | This one was the best of the three. It has a great geek/Trekkie reference, it’s hilarious, and it has good colors. FTW.

Abaeterno ~ m. Brady Clark | Apparently this is a LOST shirt, but I guess I haven’t gotten to whatever point in the show it’s referencing, because I don’t quite get it (I’ve only watched season one… taking a break to watch other stuff, now). However, even if it did make sense, I don’t particularly care for this shirt for two reasons: 1) the design is somewhat *ahem* phallic in nature; 2) it’s a white tee. Blegh.

 

Lost Collage ~ jimiyo | Another LOST homage, and one that I also do not completely understand. I see a few familiar elements from the show, but I guess all will be revealed as I progress through the other seasons. At first blush, the shirt appears to be ancient Egyptian in nature, which is pretty cool. Also, it’s black, and that’s a plus.

So, one, possibly two good tees out of three is not too bad at all. The second shirt would probably just be something to throw on around the house, mostly because it’s white. White ≠ win.

OH! This tee was not part of the June grab-bag, but I have to post it because it’s from TeeFury and it’s awesome (and you know it’s awesome because I paid $11 shipped for it on its sale day):

Pandora BlueSkins ~ WinterArtwork | Sorry, but I liked the movie Avatar, and don’t care what the haters say. Not really a Washington Redskins fan (the design is a spoof of their logo), but that doesn’t really matter. This really appeals to the geek in me, and I had to have it.

Want one of these tees? Too late. If you don’t grab a TeeFury tee you like on the sale date, or unless you’re lucky enough to get it in the next month’s grab-bag, the only way to acquire a previous tee is if someone is selling/trading theirs. Sorry. ;]

Reel Time Updates: The Last Airbender

Saturday night saw me and a gaggle of mis compañeros at our local cinema for a 9:50pm viewing of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender in 2D. (I’d heard reports that many theater-goers had been able to [clearly] view a good chunk of the 3D version sans glasses, so that was out.) Also, I didn’t want to pay an inflated ticket price for a film that was receiving such lousy reviews.

I did attempt to purchase a student admission, but was informed that, “We don’t do student admissions on weekends.” What, so if it’s not a normal school-day, I’m not a student? The only period of my academic career when I got weekends off were grades K-3 in private school. After that, between home-schooling and higher education online, any attempts to take weekends off resulted in projects getting turned in late. And what are students on the weekends if they’re not students? Delinquent dropouts? All that being said, I’m technically not attending school right now anyway, but it’s the principle of the matter.

The Trailers: For some reason, it seems that less trailers were played before this film than most of the others I’ve seen this year. I remember seeing: Gulliver’s Travels (good for some cheap laughs, but otherwise a waste of time); Rango (I think this film looks like it could be good/interesting. I’d seen the trailer, but, as always, bigger is better); Green Hornet (the action looks good, but I’m still not buying Seth Rogen as the Hornet); and Megamind (it’s about time for a new trailer. This film still has five months before release).

My Take on The Last Airbender: Okay, so several people are threatening to publicly disown me because I went and saw this, but… guys… it’s on my Top Ten list! (Yes, that means I had to go see it.) While I respect and value the reviews of my fellow cinephiles, I simply cannot base my opinions on their opinions. Especially if it’s a film I’ve been wanting to check out. The same for the vice versa: if it’s a film I don’t think looks all that great, I usually won’t go and see it just because everyone is raving about it (e.g., The Hangover, Paranormal Activity, Splice).

But in any case, while there was quite a bit of chatter going on during the film, I managed to take most of it in, and while it was lacking in quite a few areas, I still enjoyed it and may actually give it a second viewing when it hits the “cheap theater”. (Those folks who want to publicly disown me have just upgraded my status to “lynch in a back alley… it’s for your own good”.)

In order to appreciate Shyamalan’s films, I’ve found that it’s best to view them as works of modern art. You know, like those weird pieces you see in museums with blobs of paint on an enormous canvas, or an awkward, toddler-quality line drawn across a piece of plywood.

While some may look at this and say, “This is crap. Anyone can splash paint on a board,” others will find meaning in the work, or will appreciate what the artist was envisioning when they created it. When watching Shyamalan films, I try to do so from the standpoint of the latter group. This makes the film more enjoyable (or more bearable), and I find myself spotting some of the really neat perspectives and camera angles Shyamalan uses.

Now, that viewpoint does not apply as much to The Last Airbender as it has for Shyamalan’s other films because this is the first movie the oft-bashed filmmaker cannot claim to be an original work. It’s based on a very well-written, much-loved Nickelodeon cartoon series, so there was a built-in and very rabid possessive loyal fan base that the writer/director was having to cater to (yes, I have seen and am a fan of the series).

I have automatic sympathy for anyone associated with a reboot or adaptation, because the same fan base that will guarantee ticket sales will also guarantee outlandish expectations. It was silly for anyone to expect this film to be as great as the series. The series was epic, and you simply cannot condense 8+ hours and of epicness (the first season, aka “The Water Book”) into 2 hours and expect it to be just as good (or even comparable, apparently).

The best thing about the film was probably the visuals, and that includes CGI, sets, scenery and costumes. Most of the costumes were close, if not spot-on. While a lot of the hairstyles were off, it’s ridiculous to expect animé hair to translate perfectly into real-life ‘dos (see: Dragonball). While we often got only fleeting glances of a lot of locations included in the film, they were fairly accurate and aesthetic.

The worst thing about the film was the pronunciation of certain names, places and terms. I can’t believe the series’ creators (who purportedly worked with Shyamalan) allowed some of the changes he made in this area. Name pronunciation is a tabula rasa when translating from book to film, because readers have never actually heard how a particular name is pronounced. When they hear it differently than they had been pronouncing it in their mind, there’s the initial annoyance/shock, but then they think, “Okay, I had it wrong all this time,” and move on (see: Hermione). However, when viewers have already been audibly exposed to a particular pronunciation for three entire seasons of a TV series, trying to switch that up is a no-no. Sorry, Shyamalan, but… epic fail.

Probably the most oft-mocked of these was the name of the titular protagonist: Aang. In the series, the name was pronounced AING (rhymes with “slang”), but in the movie, characters pronounced it ONG (rhymes with “long”). Sometimes it even came out as UNG. By about halfway through the film, our entire row (as well as the row behind us) would, in unison (and correctly), chime, “Aang!” every time a character mispronounced the name (which was every single time it was mentioned). Needless to say, said occurrence would be great for a drinking game.

Other than that, the bending was pretty awesome (all though there wasn’t enough of it, and the pre-bending warm-ups were way too long), Sokka (pronounced SOCK-UH, not SOAK-UH!) was not very funny, there wasn’t enough meaningful dialogue, the plot was a poorly-sewn patchwork of the series’ first season, and pretty much the entire Fire Nation (except Dev Patel’s Zuko, why’d they decide to pronounce this one right?) was miscast.

As usual, I understand why this film is taking such a beating. For all intents and purposes, it royally sucked, but I like to try and look at the glass as half full, and there are films that I’ve walked away from feeling much, much worse. Shyamalan, I’m still a fan and it may not be your destiny to remain involved with this project, but I really hope the other two films get made. It would suck if The Last Airbender turned out to be another Eragon or The Golden Compass. C’mon, Paramount/Nickelodeon: yip-yip!