Inception + Things

So I saw Inception today. It was between that and the new Twilight movie (but not really, of course. Let's be serious.) Someone called the movie "a crushing bore." The movie is most certainly not that. I must consider the possibility that the reviewer went into the wrong movie theatre though, so I will forgive her.

The movie, partly because of its foundation on new technological innovations, is jarring, especially in its opening scenes. But they are technological innovations that are so cool, so interesting, and so fun to watch, that all is forgiven.

***SPOILERS TO FOLLOW***
I'll start by saying that the opening hook didn't really work for me. The movie is framed by the same scene at the beginning and near the end, but because I didn't understand what was going on at the start (my eyes were just waking up) it lost some of its power. The introduction of the movie's technological concepts and the plot itself, however, were handled much better. See it for yourself though.

I enjoyed the acting in the movie in that they did everything they possibly could to bring live and vigor to the characters using what few lines the characters did have. My father said that the actor he appreciated least was Ellen Page. Why is that? Well, I think it's because, despite her profile as a well-known actress, she wasn't given that many great lines, her personality was ill-defined, and her role as part of a motley crew of dream-tresspassers wasn't especially well-developed either. Part of the issue is that the movie's mind-bending action scenes required a lot of screen time and, frankly, two and a half hours of movie is long enough.

It did make me think of the novel I'm currently working on though, and how I'm trying to give characters one or two base personality characteristics and a well-defined role in a group. If it's too difficult to differentiate between characters, it's hard to connect to them, and a feeling of connectedness to the characters (whether its hate or empathy) is the most important part of storytelling.

In any case, it's a movie that I enjoyed. There are a great deal of questions that remain unanswered for me, but as there are a great many questions regarding any semi-sf stories I've read or movies I've seen, I'll refrain from asking them outright. A bit too much exposition for my liking but the concept is one that can clearly be used again in future movies by Nolan if he wants to (although the eye-popping cinematography and special effects won't be quite as enthralling seeing them the second time round).

Back to work now (reading Abercrombie's "Best Served Cold")
Also, it's good to have the power back. You know you live in a small town when it rains hard for thirty minutes and the power goes out for an hour...

"Easy A" Review

Having heard reasonably good things about the movie "Easy A" I decided to go see it with my father. I didn't know exactly what I expected in terms of the quality of the film, but I had a general idea of what it would be about from the trailer. It strikes me that a movie trailer is the same as the opening chapter of a novel in that it needs to hook you and hook you early. It looked more intriguing than "The Town" which, while definitely more action packed, had less potential to leave me thinking about it afterwards. And thus, off to the movies we went...

***SPOILERS TO FOLLOW***
From beginning to end Emma Stone rocked this thing. Her portrayal was spot on, and needed to be considering that she was in the spotlight for the entire movie. Let it not be said that the actors in the secondary roles didn't play an important part, however. Her parents were hilarious, and Amanda Bynes's character was at times cringe-inducing but added an extra element of conflict (ie. judgment) as well as humour that the movie needed.

As an educator, "Easy A"  is a fantastic movie in which to begin a discussion about the dangers of social media and the tendency of teenagers to overact when put in the spotlight for attention. It seems that incredible-and often dangerous- behaviour is increasingly visible on sites like youtube, and I'm not sure I like where that is going. This film illustrates the ease in which rumours can spiral out of control and lead to problems for youth, but slightly undercuts that message because it is a comedy. As a comedy, it needs to have an ending that is both redeeming in nature and happy. Nonetheless, it is a fantastic film with only a few tiny, teenie problems.

1) The kiss at the end is unecessary and a bit too "hollywood" for me. Having them ride off on the lawn mower was a perfect scene to show that her situation would improve.
2) The scene at the school where she comes out of the logs and sings and reveals that she will be "kissing" the a devil on her blog was a bit over the top as well. At the same time, I recognize that a movie needs a real climactic moment, and this is as good as any. I'm not sure how else the writers could have created a large, exciting, top-of-the-plot-curve moment without delving into hollywood-level scenes.

Toy Story 2/ Other Stuff

Well, I sat down and watched Toy Story 2. I wondered during the third movie why some of the characters seemed so unfamiliar to me (little did I know that the closest I got to watching the actual movie was watching movie trailers a long time back).
Result?
Amazing, once again. It's astounding and wonderful what the writers did with a movie "about toys." I might have enjoyed Toy Story 3 even more if I had seen this one already, but as it stands it was still fun (although watching the dvd on a 19" computer monitor isn't especially exciting).

To prove that I am well-rounded in the kinds of stories I like, I'll also say that I've begun reading "Best Served Cold" by Joe Abercrombie. Just finished the first chapter, and it certainly starts off with a bang. I'm interested to see where he goes with it. Having read much of his other work, I have to say that I'm impressed with his action scenes in particular. In the first novel I wrote, every action scene was melodramatic and ugly (and not in the gritty-realistic kind of ugly that I'd like). With that said, I'm going to be paying extra special attention to all scenes with excessive violence (is there any other kind in your novels, Joe?) with the faint hope of somehow absorbing some of his descriptive powers.

In other news, (and at the risk of repeating the same word too many times) news about the HBO "Game of Thrones" adaptation is coming along nicely. Even with GRRM on vacation the winter-is-coming blog is keeping things running smoothly and rumours flowing like a delicious rumour-y wine. Conan Stevens is perfect as Gregor Clegane. The rest of the cast is fantastic. Enough said for now. It's going to be an amazing show. And please check out www.winter-is-coming.net for further news.

Toy Story 3/ First Post

First Post...
...
Where am I supposed to start this thing? 
...
For inspiration, I decided to go check out Patrick Rothfuss's blog and see how he started things off. "Under Construction," it said. That means that he actually had his own website by the time he started blogging, so he's way ahead of me there (I will ignore the fact that by the time he wrote his second post he was being recognized as an author and already had a published novel under his belt). Well, I can't say too much other than that I'm going to be writing on this blog occasionally when I'm bored or drunk or have something semi-interesting to say. 
That's good enough, isn't it?
For those of you who are anxiously looking through bookstores for my novels, I'm afraid you'll have to wait. I do have about a dozen unpublished short stories sitting on my computer, that will most likely never see the light of day, and not one but two unfinished novel drafts as well. I know. I know. I should be writing instead.


Instead of posting anything funny, I have decided to write about Toy Story. Isn't that what all the cool writers do for their first post? Here goes...


To begin, and at the risk of sounding stupid/vain/crazy, I'm just going to copy over my facebook status that best sums up my thoughts on Toy Story 3: "Just saw Toy Story 3. Fantastic, except that it is making me suffer through  feelings of nostalgia, happy and sad and deep..."

Perhaps I've been reading too much Patrick Rothfuss, but the movie really had an impact on me. I'm more-than-slightly afraid that they (the evil money-devouring producers that made this wonderful movie) will ruin "things" by trying to do a Toy Story 4 (I'm hoping they don't). Toy Story 3 ends things on a fantastic high-note and I'm happy with the journey we've had. I loved the first one, I enjoyed the second one, and I adored this one. There is comraderie and betrayal, joy and loss, and with nostalgia-inducing scenes the whole way through (perhaps one day someone will say something like this about something I write. Perhaps). It was a fantastic story even as a stand-alone, but all the better with what's come before.

Someone commented on the fact that I actually enjoyed this movie. Surprising, I know, since I bitch and moan and whine about practically every other movie I see. Here's my response (if anyone cares): "I like good movies. Movies that don't have unnecessary gaping plot holes. Movies that almost humorously melodramatic. Movies that inspire a range of emotional responses. Unfortunately, that eliminates 99% of movies from consideration."

In any case. A hearty recommendation for Toy Story 3!