Hawk's Babble-Log

I saw a movie called Kick-Ass. I liked it. I liked it a lot. When I first saw the preview, I thought it would be a little too cheesy for me. But then I saw some better previews, and they made the movie look better, so I thought I’d give it a shot. And I’m sure glad I did!

The more I think about the movie, the more I like it. In particular, the character called Hit Girl. This little girl kicks ass! And she kicks ass all throughout the film. I had no idea anyone could actually play a bright, happy little killing machine! She’s just moping the floor with bad guys. She is walking, running, jumping, flipping, tiny, cute vengeance who knows how to handle a butterfly knife just as naturally as a .45 silenced semi-auto. If I were to have a daughter, I’d want her to be like Hit Girl.

Big Daddy was pretty cool, too. He had the balls to take down room-fulls of heavily armed baddies, all by himself. He had even bigger balls to raise his daughter to be a tiny, cute, purple-clad killing machine.

I have a bit of respect for the main character of the film, Kick-Ass. He didn’t do much ass-kicking, but he persisted in his foolish hobby, and I have to give him credit for that.

If the makers of Kick-Ass are considering making a sequel, please oh please let it be all about Hit Girl and how she goes about kicking ass all over town. She is, by far, my favorite character. From the way she always seems to be happy while she’s kicking ass, to the shocking words that come out of her small mouth, to the way she cracks her knuckles and grins right before beating up the school bullies. Hit Girl! You kick ass! Don’t ever change!

My primary Western Digital hard drive in my game machine failed recently. After the re-install, I tried PowerDVD again (without the net update) and it worked! It worked so well I watched Speed Racer right then and there. With the new install, the Blu-Ray burner, and my new 24″ beautiful crystal clear monitor with 5.1 surround headphones, I now have a fully capable entertainment system! So now it’s my game machine / entertainment system.

In my previous post about how PowerDVD sucked ass, I must have been running into a problem with the hard drive, or data corruption, or something, because after the complete re-install, everything works fine. Note that I have NOT run the net updater, but probably will at some point. Then again, maybe not. Why mess with a working installation?

Sorry PowerDVD, I must eat my words, eat crow, and apologize. It looks like your software works just fine after all!

I can watch a sci-fi movie like Terminator where Skynet becomes “self-aware” and intelligent and then proceeds to attempt to destroy all humanity. I can watch it and enjoy the movie because I can enter their “universe”, just as I can enter the Batman “universe” where explosive grappling hooks can fly across a distance, embed themselves into a concrete wall, support 200+ lbs (riiiight). I can dive into the universe and have fun.

But a computer system, no matter how advanced, will never become intelligent. Two basic reasons for this:

1) humans work with concepts, machines work with zeros and ones (only).

2) humans think in gradients, computers “think” in absolutes: true/false, on/off, yes/no, one/zero.

With a computer, you have a finite storage capacity. It can only hold so much data, and no more. Additionally, that storage capacity is decided upon by the designers. With a human, there are no known limits.

With a computer, their basic datum is one of two things: on/off, true/false, yes/no, one/zero. There is no gradient between the two data. With humans, there is (almost) nothing but gradients. How full is the glass? Is it absolutely full? Exactly 90% full? There are gradients and everything is relative. Not so with a computer.

Additionally, a computer cannot be programmed to “care”. Why does Skynet attack? Why not just continue running things as it was programmed to do? Because the writer (a human) decided that it should (to have a story). But Skynet, even if intelligent, wouldn’t care one way or the other. Human’s want to survive, they have a built-in urge to survive and continue. Computers don’t have this “want” or “urge”; they just don’t care and cannot be made to care.

So rest easy, computers will never take over the world.

Starring: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Bryce Dallas Howard, Moon Bloodgood, Common, Jane Alexander and Helena Bonham Carter. A stellar cast, I like just about everyone on here. I didn’t like John Connor played by Christian Bale, he was just not a likeable character.

Good movie, but I don’t want to see it again.

Why? Because my favorite character died in the end. But if you like action sequences, it’s full of ‘em. And the action sequences are good.

Speaking of action sequences, the T-800 is one tough cookie… but stupid. The only thing keeping the T-800 from killing you is distance. Once it gets a hold of you, you are done. But not in this movie; if you throw everything you’ve got at it and it just keeps on coming, what does it do to you once it gets a hold of you? It throws you across the room, of course. This puts more distance between you and it, thus giving you more time to figure a way to defeat it. If the T-800 really wanted to kill John Connor, it would have simply walked up to him and killed him. Instead, it walked up to him, grabbed him, and then tossed him away. See? Stupid.

There were the standard lines, such as, “I’ll be back.” and “Come with me if you want to live.” Hey Hollywood, how about some creativity?

They show where/how John Connor got his facial scars. They show how Kyle Reese learned the rope-through-shotgun-stock trick.

Watching the previews, I remember hearing John Connor saying something like, “One way or another, this war ends tonight.” At the end, you heard him say something like, “Skynet’s global network is still operational…” I was thinking, “Well, there were a lot of good action scenes, but what was accomplished?” Because of that last line, the war is not over, the preview lied to me, and now there is yet another opportunity to make another movie with little creativity.

I will not be buying this one, unless I can find it used for $3.

Directed by: Michael Davis
Starring: Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, and Monica Bellucci.

The name of this movie says it all! And I knew I wanted to see it as soon as I saw the billboard. I didn’t even see a preview. All I knew was: 1) starred Clive Owen, 2) starred Paul Giamatti, and 3) is called “Shoot ‘em Up!” And that’s good enough for me.

Now, if you get queasy watching people get shot or blown away, then this is not the movie for you. If you get annoyed that there is a gun shot between every other sentence, then don’t see this movie. And if you do see it, be prepared to learn what Mr. Hero really hates, because he’s going to tell you whether you want to hear it or not.

A possible alternative for the name would have been, “Body Count”. It seems that there are an endless number of bad guys who are just begging to get shot. And they’re all really, really bad shots!

Our Mr. Hero, on the other hand, is one bad-ass mofo who kicks ass all over the place. He kicks ass effortlessly, even while doing other things such as helping pregnant women give birth… and even having sex.

I laughed my ass off through this movie. I thought it was great. Why? Because it doesn’t take itself seriously. For example. when our Mr. Hero escapes from a huge batch of bad guys, the lead bad guy says, “My god, do we really suck, or is he really that good?!” Which I thought was one of the best lines in the whole movie.

I’ll probably buy it when it comes out. Sigh… You know… It’s tough to find such high quality fantastic fun gratuitous violence these days. Well done, Michael Davis, and keep it fun! Give me more! More!

My roommate is awsome! He got us primo tix for Transformers at the ARCLight, front row of the balcony! Woo hoo!

I’ve just gotta take a moment and link to this story:

http://www.bbcpanorama-exposed.org/

(click the image to the right to watch the documentary)

I think this is an excellent and well-researched documentary.

BBC: For shame! I had a much better opinion of you guys before.

Starring: Toby McGuire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, and Topher Grace
Directed by: Sam Raimi

Excellent! I loved it. It was a good balance between drama and action. The characters were really real, and I could understand what they were going through. The story was good, and I even loved the ending!

There’s not much to not like about it. Of course, I’m definately buying it when it comes out on DVD.

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore, Jessica Biel, Tory Kittles, and Michael Trucco
Directed by: Lee Tamahori

Outstanding! Loved it! Wanted more! I really, really didn’t want it to end!

I just gotta say something about this movie poster. This poster doesn’t really convey the coolness of this movie. It just doesn’t do it justice. A really cool scene to depict in a poster would have been the one where Nicolas Cage is walking along casually, dressed casually, and he’s walking through what looks like a war zone. He’s just strolling along, but he’s surounded by a highly trained assault team, heavily armored, heavily armed, all facing away from him. You see, he’s the one giving them tips and pointers on where to look, where to aim, where to shoot, who’s coming, when to pause, etc.

Now _that_ would have made a fantastic poster.

Anyway, I love this movie. I was so interested in what was going to happen next. And ya gotta be on your toes, because the movie plays tricks on you. Sometimes you see what would have happened, sometimes you see what really did finally happen. This is because Nicolas Cage can see his future, and if he can see it, he can change it.

I’m definitely buying it when it comes out on DVD. I hope they make more.

Directed by: Shane Felux
Produced by: Dawn Cowings
Starring: Gina Hernandez, Karen Hammang, Holland Gedney, Frank Hernandez, and Shane Felux.

An amazing production, if you consider the amature nature of the production. I am really amazed. These guys had no funding and managed to pull off an entertaining chapter in the Star Wars universe. They did an excellent job with the special effects, the space scenes, the scenery, the lighting, etc. It was really cool how they got so much help from all over the world. I love awsome collaboration like that. The only weak point was likeable characters. Despite the amazing job these guys did on the production, I just didn’t really like any of the characters.

Here’s the official website:
[http://panicstruckpro.com/revelations/](http://panicstruckpro.com/revelations/)

and you can download the thing for free here:
[http://panicstruckpro.com/revelations/revelations_movie.html](http://panicstruckpro.com/revelations/revelations_movie.html)

I’m also hosting these movies here on my own server:
revelations_film\_QT\_large.mov Quicktime version, about 253M
revelations\_film\_large.wmv Windows Media version, about 243M
but note that this may not last; depends on how much bandwidth is used.

Post a comment here and let me know if you like it or what.

I just have to take a moment here and say, WTF? Rant mode ON:

I got the second Pirates movie for myself for Christmas, Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man’s Chest. I got the widescreen version, of course. I was kinda surprised when I opened it up last night to find that there was only one disc inside the case. With the first Pirates movie, there were two discs, one for the movie, and one for all the extra stuff, the bonus features.

With Pirates 2, there is only one disc because there are no bonus features except some bloopers and commentary by some of the writers. So, already I’m disappointed in the product.

But then I discover the unthinkable! There is an ad for one of the major cell phone carriers inside the menu system! If you elect to watch the commentary, as I did last night, you’ll see a screen telling you that you’ve selected the commentary, and it has been brought to you by [insert one of the major cell phone carriers here].

I’m not going to state which one it is because I don’t want to further the ad any more than I have to.

Let me be clear: this is a DVD that I got with my own hard-earned money. I paid the money for the _movie content_, NOT FOR _ADS_! The menu system is not bypassable without ripping the disc. It’s no wonder people are ripping DVDs and breaking copy-protection scemes. The studios just don’t seem to get it! All I want is the movie and the special features; in other words, the CONTENT. I _DON’T_ want ads!

If I got this disc for free in some kind of promotion, then I could understand ads. That’s how they could help pay for it. But _I_ paid for it! And I’m not going to pay for ads.

There, all done ranting. Rant mode OFF.

Starring Tony Jaa, Petchthai Wongkamlao, Bongkot Kongmalai, Jin Xing, and Johnny Nguyen.

Directed by Prachya Pinkaew.

Sorry… I keep forgetting to post this!

Good action flick! Tony Jaa kicks ass all over the place. It’s production values are much greater than his first film, Ong Bak.

One of the most impressive scenes in the whole movie is when Tony Jaa breaks into the back part of the resturant. It’s impressive because the camera just keeps on rolling… and rolling… for minutes. This one scene never changes cameras, never changes perspectives, and is all one cut. From the moment he enters this “back area”, the place he’s not supposed to go to, he kicks ass for about 10 or 15 minutes… continuously. He traverses muli-levels, kicks down doors, throws people over balconies, kicks people through banisters, breaks into people doing naughty things in rooms, and it’s all one continuous scene! I was impressed. That’s hard to do.

If you don’t like seeing Tony Jaa kick ass, do stunts, flip around, break bones, knock people through things, then skip this movie.

If, however, you love all that action, buy it. I’m going to. There’s no way I’m going to miss owning this one.

Starring Jet Li, Betty Sun, Dong Yong, Shido Nakamura, and Collin Chou.

Directed by Ronnie Yu.

I’m sad to hear that this is Jet Li’s last epic martial arts film. But at the same time, I’m glad that he has come to a good point with himself and the reasons for which he began his study of the martial arts. I think everyone who studies martial arts, given enough time, comes to this point.

Good film. I liked the story, but I didn’t much care for the ending. I liked that he learned from his mistakes, and I liked the action scenes, but I didn’t like the ending. Still, I’ll buy it.

There is a scene where Jet fights a huge american wrestler-type guy. This guy is huge. And I don’t mean fat; I mean tall and muscular. He must have been two or three feet taller than Jet. This guy has creative lines of dialog, such as, “RAARRR!”, and “AAARRH!”, and “GRRRRRRRR!” He’s big and tough, but Jet manages to find ways to not get beat up by him. I like how the fight ends. The interesting thing about this guy is that he plays a very similar part in another martial arts movie, The Protector with Tony Ja. And he has the same creative lines with Tony.

I must take a moment and comment upon the good ol’ days when men fought with honor. What do I mean by this? Let me explain… In the middle of a fight with a Japanese guy, Jet manages to swap weapons. I don’t know if it was intentional or accidential, but the Japanese guy had a sword and Jet had a three section staff, and they swapped right in the middle of the fight. Now the Japanese guy has the three section staff, and Jet has the sword. Jet is good with virtually all weapons, so he kicks ass with it. But the Japanese guy has some trouble whipping the three section staff around and accidentially hits his head. Jet sees this and, without a word, stops fighting and offers the sword back to his opponent. That’s honor. He simply holds it out on his fingers for his opponent. The Japanese guy also has honor as he stops fighting, folds up Jet’s three section staff and hands it to Jet. Jet takes his three section staff and, for just a moment, has both weapons in his hands. Then the Japanese guy takes the sword back, and they resume the fight.

That was an awsome scene.

So, the film is good, but I just don’t like the ending very much. Nevertheless, I’ll buy it. Why? Because, well, I’ll buy anything with Jet Li in it.

Not a bad little series. I quite enjoyed it, and was always eager to move on to the next show. This may be because the main plotline moves so slowly, but that’s okay because most of it was fun anyway.

The ending was even okay. I mean, it was pretty good, as far as anime endings go. They left a few strands untied, but this may be a set-up for “R.O.D. the TV the 2″, or “R.O.D. the TV the II”, or “R.O.D. the TV the Next”.

I’ll probably end up buying it as I’d like to watch it again, and I’d like to show it to my roomie homie, and I’d like to watch the commentary.

It’s based on the original anime “Read or Die”, but some characters have been changed, and I don’t think they’re all good changes. Some are good, but not all. So realize that you’re watching a slightly alternate “Read or Die” universe, and then you can have fun.

Directed by Kouji Masunari.

Fantastic! And a whole lotta fun! It’s so nice to watch a good adventure story _without_ all the drama of a “message”. One of the most annoying things about SteamBoy was being preached to about the evils of war (as they went to war) all throughout the film. That’s probably why I have no intereste in seeing it again.

But this one has no message whatsoever, except to have some fun! And they do. In spades. She’s a “PaperMaster”, someone who can control paper, make it form shapes, make it slice things, make weapons, make it fly, etc. Really awsome to watch. And lots of fun. I probably mentioned that already.

Her partner can move through things, become “non-corporeal” (the new popular term). Both of these characters are way cool. There are other fantastic characters, but I’m not going to go into that here. Lots of fun.

I’m definately going to buy it as I do want to see it again. Did I mention that it’s lots of fun?

Also of note is the great job the english actors did. The english dub actors are (generally) getting much, much better from the good ol’ days of ADV where they just conned their friends into it because they were all too broke to hire real actors. These days, the english dubs are very well done.

P.S. Don’t confuse this with a series called “R.O.D. The TV”. Yes, that’s really what it’s called. The Japanese guys were very specific about this. It’s not exactly Read Or Die, but shares elements, and it seems to take place _after_ the OAV (Original Animated Video). I’ll be writing my review on that series next week.

Outstanding! This is a wonderfully educational and entertaining program. This is a set of 13 episodes, each one excellent.

I love the way Carl Sagan can take a section of history–which does not seem to be related to anything–and then show how it relates to the universe. The guy is amazing. Smart, too.

I’ll have to get around to reading his book, Contact. You know, the one they made the movie out of starring Jodie Foster? Yeah, that one. I loved it.

At the end of some episodes, there are Cosmos Updates, where Carl gives a brief update on what was discussed in the show. The surprising thing is that there was little to update. Even a decade after it’s initial release, the show is still excellent.

I’m going to buy it.

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Colin Farrell, Gong Li, Naomie Harris, Ciaràn Hinds, and John Ortiz.

Written and directed by Michael Mann.

This movie _soundly kicks ass_.

Things that I liked about Miami Vice:

- The realistic way events occur and unfold. When something unexpected happens, the people involved investigate and figure out what’s going on. This happens in a regular progression of communication, assemble new data, conclusion, more communication, etc. I’ve noticed this with other Mann movies as well, especially Heat.

- Nominclature. Actually, this is both good and bad, and somewhat annoying, as I don’t know all the terms and slang used in the movie. I only picked up maybe 60% or 70% of what they were saying.

- The realistic violence. I don’t like real violence, but I do like an accurate representation of it, and this movie really delivers. If you’ve got a weak stomach, don’t see it.

- The realistic way the guys (and gals) assault a fixed position. They don’t mess around, they don’t whine to eachother about their problems, and they don’t hesitate. They know their jobs, what to do, what to expect from eachother, they’re in communication just enough to get the job done, and they know eachother without even having to speek. What’s this? The bad guy is still moving around? Bam! A .45 round to the back of the head fixes that. Done.

By the way, I just have to take a moment here and comment on this gal, Elizabeth Rodriguez (who plays Gina). This chick with the assault rifle next to Jaime Foxx is awsome. She told the guy what would happen if he didn’t drop the shit. She gave him fair warning. He started to tell her to go to hell or fuck off or something, so she did exactly what she told him she would do. That’s my kind of girl. No hesitation, no whining, no doubt-filled looks to her partner (soap). I’d have this girl on my team anytime. Or I’d be on her team anytime.

- Competence. These people know their jobs, they know what they’re doing, and they do it. For example, the tough old bird who plays the Captain: He’s competent, knowledgeable, knows what he’s doing, knows what the enemy is going to do, and plans accordingly. When it’s time for action, he’s there and he gets the job done. Same with all of ‘em. They’re friggin’ competent. None of this, “Ohh, what am I doing here? Ohh, I’m in so deep, what ever shall I do? Ohh, can I handle it? Ohh, what if I can’t? Ohh, people are depending on me, what if I crack under pressure?” I have a phrase for that: _Hollywood soap bullshit_. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen and make room for one of these people in Miami Vice.

- Respect. I mentioned the tough ol’ Captain. If he says, “Calm down,” they calm down. If he says, “We do this my way,” then they do it his way. None of this Hollywood soap bullshit of “Cover me, I’m goin’ in!” and then the hero dives directly into the line of fire, shooting sideways as he flies through the air. No, I don’t think so. It’s going to be pretty tough to suspend that disbelief. Don’t get me wrong, I can enjoy a good John Woo movie, but that’s because I know it’s all fantasy from the start.

Things that I didn’t like about Miami Vice:

- Nominclature. I know I mented this in the “things I liked” section, but it’s a two-way street. On the one hand, I like that they’re talkin’ their own language. On the other, it would really be nice if I knew what they were saying.

- The bad guy didn’t get tortured enough at the end. I felt that he really needed to experience pain in all it’s painful glory. For weeks.

- Crockett & Tubbs get to ride around in zillion-dollar Ferrari’s and I don’t.

- Crockett & Tubbs get to play with fully automatic assault rifles (with cool factors of 10) and I don’t.

All in all, the movie kicks some serious ass, and I’d see it again in a heartbeat. I’m definately going to buy it when it comes out on DVD.

My definition of hardass: Neil Burnside & Jack Bauer

This might require some explanation. Possibly not about the second name, but probably about the first.

Neil Burnside was the director of “MI5″ in the show “The Sandbaggers”. The Sandbaggers were, basically, special forces dudes. Mostly they handled intelligence, but also they went out on missions. Sometimes, these missions were highly dangerous. Other times they were just to go out and pick up a guy who was trying to flee.

All the Sandbaggers shows were very, very well written. Often times I had a hard time keeping up with the political stuff; I don’t seem to have a very good grasp on politics. But that’s one of the things that makes this show so darn good. The writers were amazingly adept, always wrote a good story, and it seems that the head guy (Neil Burnside) always had some hard choices to make.

And that’s the thing that makes a guy a hardass. Not only does he make the tough choices, but he follows through with action. He may not like it, but he does it anyway.

Because The Sandbaggers is old (late 70′s), you’re not going to see too much action, nor too many special effects, though they did blow up a plane near the beginning of the first season. Granted, the plane was already on the ground, but it was still a good gesture. Nevertheless, it’s an _excellent_ show, and I’d buy it.

Specifically, after the first season, you’ll know why I elect Neil Burnside as Hardass #1. No, I’m not going to give anything away. Rent the first season of The Sandbaggers and you’ll know why.

As for Jack Bauer, he’s the hardass in the much more recent show “24″. The show 24 is very, very well planned out. Such planning is necessary when you’re filming events which should appear to play out in real time. So if you need to drive 20 minutes across down to handle something, it really takes 20 minutes to get there. Well, almost. They drop some time for the commercial breaks. But all the various lines of story are intermingled so well, the show creators really deserve kudos for that.

It seems, every hour of every day, Jack Bauer makes some damn hard decisions. And he can go days without sleep, too. The guy just doesn’t stop. If you send him out to handle something, you know it’ll be handled, one way or another. The show writers/producers really need to throw some heavy barriers in his way because he’s just such a hardass.

And speaking of heavy barriers, planning to kidnap his family? Really bad idea. Planning to set off a nuke in his city? Friggin’ bad idea. Planning to release a weaponized virus into his country? Insanely bad idea. Jack Bauer will kick your ass. And there’s nothing you can do to stop him.

Bad guys: you _really don’t_ want to get on Jack’s bad side. Like… really.

It doesn’t seem to matter which season (or “day”) of 24 you watch, after one season (or “day”), you’ll know why I elect Jack Bauer Hardass #2.

So, here’s the Hardass summary:

Hardass #1: Neil Burnside
Hardass #2: Jack Bauer

Any questions?

Starring Justin Whalin, Marlon Wayans, Zoe McLellan, Thora Birch, Kristen Wilson, and Jeremy Irons.

Directed by Courtney Solomon.

I just picked up this movie in the store a few days ago. I got it for a really good price. And, well, it’s worth it.

Truthfully, I think we need more movies like this. I know it’s not LOTR. I know it’s kinda cheesy, but that’s what I like about it! It doesn’t take itself too seriously and–most importantly–it’s _FUN_!

Compared to LOTR (Lord of the Rings), where the fate of the entire universe hangs in the balance, and if you screw up it’s death and torture for you and everyone you know or ever will know, then it’s starting to get serious. I mean, c’mon! That’s serious business! In that kind of situation, you either succeed or you better damn well succeed.

But this is much more lighthearted and much more fun. Even though it’s got some serious notes, such as the death of main characters, it’s still not serious because, well, they get over it.

It’s got lots of cool magic, lots of cool monsters, and lots of cool dragons. That last point, the part about the dragons, is really cool. I like dragons a lot.

The battle scenes aren’t great, but they’re good enough for a film of this caliber.

So, all in all, we need more films like this: fantasy, dungeons & dragons, swords & sorcery, with fantastic mythical quests, lots of cool magic, fun battles (with good choreography), and don’t forget the saving of the damsel in distress! After all, the hero’s gotta get the girl. Or, if the heroin is a girl, then she’s gotta get her guy.

Very confusing, hard to follow, hard to understand, but had some really cool visuals. Plus, it had hot chicks kicking ass. But because it was so hard to follow, I really didn’t know what the hell was happening most of the time, or who’s ass they were kicking, or why.

And what’s up with the giant lady in the sky with the bow? And what’s up with the big holographic lady inside the ship? Is that the main computer? And what’s with the red (evil) hologram? Was that a hacker? And how did the computer/pilot girl wake up again?

And another thing: If Earth defense want’s the ship _intact_ so badly, why are they trying to _destroy_ it???

The english voice acting is pretty sad, though not as bad as I’ve heard. The music is pretty good, but there isn’t much of it, so it gets old really fast.

Not recommended, even for a rental, unless you don’t care about story, plot, or what’s going on.