SPOILER ALERT! THAR BE SPOILERS HERE!!!
The following opinions will be done in a tongue-in-cheek style, making it VERY hard to understand what is being said, hence the reason I am typing it instead of doing this orally. So let us take a look behind the scenes at how some of the big movies were made for this spring/summer.
Indiana Jones- Crystal Skull: The following conversation took place at some point in the past. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Stephan Speelbergo: Hey, Georgia.
Goergia Locust: Yes, Stephan?
SS: Make a list of your 4 favorite movies that I have done.
GL: No problem! I would go with that Jurassic dinosaur movie, that alien one with the Extra Terrestrial, the one that had those Close Encounters, and the one we did together, with the archaeologist, Dr Jones, and his wacky adventures.
SS: Excellent choices! Let us combine all of those movies, and make it into one big sequel!
GL: But do you think that will take things too far, all those genres rolled into one?
SS: Absolutely
So, Indy... fun movie, good time, but I have so many gripes. Like I said above, it was like SS and GL got together and just made a movie using everything from their previous efforts. This movie was heavily inspired and paid a lot of tribute to Raiders of the Lost Ark, but the whole alien theme went too far. The first three Indy movies were about mystical objects with a power imbued by God, good or evil. This one just blew the whole magical powers thing out of the water. I would have enjoyed it more if the aliens had simply left behind some artifact, and once returned, it gave knowledge and disappeared. The fact that the aliens were actually there and the ship takes off at the end... not cool. Oh, and if you didn't see the Mutt "twist" coming, you have never read a book, watched a TV show, or seen a movie in your entire life.
Chronicals of Narnia: Prince Caspian- The following conversation took place at some point in the past. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Andy Adamdad: Hey random person I am bumping into on the street, what was your favorite part of the first Narnia movie
Bum: The journey of the children, the quest they were sent on, the suspense of wondering what obstacle they would need to get around next.
AA: Oh, ok. What about the fights?
Bum: You mean the big battle at the end? It was cool, good fun, but nowhere near the best part of the movie, or what made the books such a great memory for all the children the world over.
AA: So the fights were your favorite parts?
Bum: What? No. The fights are the LEAST important part of the books and the story!
AA: Well, GREAT NEWS! The 2nd Narnia movie will be NOTHING but battles! No quest, no journey, no exposition, no character development AT ALL, just lots of battles!
Bum: Can I go now please?
Yeah, so, Prince Caspian, another fun ride, but very disappointing overall when you look at what makes the books so special, and what makes a good movie. Three epic battles are great and all, but where was my freaking character development and motivation? MOTIVATION PEOPLE! When the best two parts of your movie are dudes being dropped by griffins into a castle and Anna Poppelwell's face, you didn't do a very good job. A fun watch, but not what the books are about.
Death Cab For Cutie: DCfC just released their latest album, Narrow Stairs, and have been on tour promoting it, and I was lucky enough to be at one of their concerts recently. The show was really great, they know their audience and played to it well. They played only 2 tracks from Narrow Stairs, and those 2 tracks are two of my 3 favorites from the new album. Overall, despite the fact that poor Ben Gibbard had no monitor in his ear for the first 3 songs, they did an amazing job of just playing great music. A lot of bands their size get into a problem of having the levels blasting all over so you cannot really hear the music itself, so major props go to the band's sound designer for the concert at doing an amazing job. Photos of the show can be seen on my MySpace page.
As for Narrow Stairs, I am disappointed at the way the album came out. There are 3 great tracks, Bixby Canyon Bridge, I Will Possess Your Heart (although the 4.5 minute opening can be a bit annoying when you just want to hear the song) and You Can Do Better Than Me. The previous album, Plans, was amazing, and one of my favorite albums of all time, so this one had a lot to live up to. Unfortunately, the sounds that DCfC has defined for me is not that present, with a lot of dark music, black sounds, and depressing songs all around. A good effort, but not up to par with Plans.
WHATS NEXT: Two big deliveries that I will be talking about very soon. As for movies, Adam Sandler's Zohan looks fun, Hulk (maybe, still not sold on Ed Norton), The Happening (cmon Shyamalan!), Get Smart, Wall-E, Hancock, Hellboy 2, The Dark Knight, Mama Mia, Step Brothers, The Mummy 3, Pineapple Express, Tropic Thunder, Hamlet 2, Star Wars: Clone Wars, and City of Ember.... we have a LOT to look forward to over the next few months... holy shnikies!
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