I realized yesterday I used to blog more when I would talk about videogames, movies, and other people's books - you know, the things that interest me most. The problem is I think a healthy portion of my audience these days probably doesn't care what videogames I'm playing and only a few people care about what I think about the latest movies. If you're one of these people, come back in a few days, I might post something else. I've been considering doing a sort of "Director's Commentary"-style post on the books I've written; a few of you might enjoy me talking about the deeper symbolisms and themes of the books of written. For the two of you who would enjoy that, I might consider doing it. Or I might just email it to the interested parties and spare the rest of you. I haven't decided yet.
But this post will be about videogames and movies. Because I have opinions, oh yes, and I want to bore you with them. Well, actually, I want to entertain you with them, and I'll try to do just that, but I may fall short of my goal, and if I do, just go ahead and click to something else. I won't be offended, because unless you comment, I won't know. And if you do comment, and it's about me being boring, I'll wish your comment into the cornfield, and it will be gone FOREVAH! Because I have that power here. (And in some other places too, sort of, but we'll talk about that once the statute of limitations runs out).
So, movies.
Braveheart - I hadn't watched this movie in something like 10 years. It's pretty long, and I don't have much time anymore with writing a bunch of novels and raising small children, so when I picked this up as part of a two-pack with Gladiator earlier this year, I kept deferring watching it to some mythical day in my life when I thought I'd have more time. Since that seems unlikely to happen anytime soon, I finally just picked up the blu ray last week and put it in the player, figuring I'd watch a few minutes of it a day until, over the course of a week or two, I'd finish it.
Well, I think I got through it in a day (though not all in one sitting) which is something of a minor miracle for me nowadays. It was phenomenal, better even than I remembered, and now I recall why it won Best Picture and Best Director back in 1995. Of course, I didn't see it back then because I was 14 and it was rated a hard R for some bloody violence, but I vaguely remember it being talked about by just about everyone, including my peers, because they were allowed to watch it. Those a-holes. I wasn't jealous, though. Much.
Anyway, great film. I'm not sure what happened to the old Mel Gibson, the one people said was a nice guy and great to work with to turn him into a drunken, slur-speaking, woman-hitting douche, but I miss the old Mel. This was a great film. That other movie he directed that made a lot of money was pretty good, too, you know - the one all in subtitles. Of course, I didn't read the subtitles, but I think it was about a Mexican day laborer named Jesus (can't put the accentos in because my computer is racist or possibly because I can't figure out how) who runs up against the harsh and unrelenting immigration policies of the Roman Empire and gets whipped and hung up on a cross for working as an unlicensed carpenter. It's been a while since I've seen it, but I think that's how it goes. They were pretty harsh on that sort of thing back then, I guess.
But, anyway, Braveheart was great. The story of William Wallace, a hero of Scotland, and his quest for freedom is compelling. Loved it. I want to watch it again, and likely will some time in the next few weeks. I always like watching epic war movies while I'm writing Sanctuary novels. Oh, who am I kidding? I enjoy watching them all the time.
In the same vein, a movie that should have been nominated for Best Picture (but got screwed because the non-Director's Cut got released to theaters and it comparitively sucked) was Kingdom of Heaven: Director's Cut. I've raved about this film before, but I can't keep myself from doing it again. Do not - do not - do not - DO NOT watch the Theatrical Cut of this movie. Just don't. It's not terrible, but it's pretty mediocre. It misses the mark by a far margin. The Director's Cut is masterful. It's also three hours long. Forty-five minutes of additional footage makes it a butt-numbing film, it's true, but it also takes it from a mediocre film to a really great one, adding nuance and background to the whole story that was utterly lacking in the original Theatrical version.
Liam Neeson's performance, as usual, is fantastic. There are a lot of great characters in this, and great performances but probably one of the best is King Baldwin of Jerusalem, played by Edward Norton, who you would never even know was the actor behind the mask, and yet he is fantastic and captivating in his role; I hang on to his every word, and he manages to convey more with only his eyes visible behind a metal mask than most actors are capable of with the full range of their facial expression available to them.
Oh, by the way, Avengers came out on Blu-ray yesterday. I've already watched it twice, after seeing it six times in theaters. That's probably all you need to be able to tell my opinion, but just in case, look here and here. I'll probably watch the Director's Commentary later today, pad and paper in hand, looking for tips from one of the greatest writer/directors of all time (in my opinion). I finally saw Cabin in the Woods, which he co-wrote with another great writer-turned-director, Drew Goddard, and it was a really awesome, fresh take on the horror genre and the trope of teenagers/young adults in the woods in an isolated horror setting. Cool flick. Gotta watch the commentary on that one, too, actually. It also has Thor in it. (Steps out of the way to allow the stampede of lady Thor fans to run past on their way to the store to buy the film right now).
A couple videogames to mention and I'm done. 1) Borderlands 2 - I've been playing this game with friends, and it's such a great experience. It's a good game by itself (I played the first in the series essentially by myself) but when you play with friends it's a fantastic multiplayer experience, a raucous, chaotic good time filled with epic battles and total insanity.
2) The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings - I haven't had much chance to play this one yet, only a couple hours, but thus far I'm completely blown away by the game. It was touted as a mature, deep fantasy game. I always worry when that's the selling point - "maturity," because I usually find that tag to be an excuse for lots of nudity and sexual content. Which I'm not opposed to. Actually, I'm generally in favor of that in movies I watch, but it's rarely integral to the plot, it's almost always gratuitous, which is why I don't tend to write it into my books.
Look at the Game of Thrones TV series - I really love the series and I'm not complaining about this so much as using it as an example because I've repeatedly heard it described as "Mature" fantasy. I agree that thematically it's darker and more suitable for adults, in terms of the writing, but I think they might also be using it as code for the nudity and sexual content added to the series when it hit TV. I can't think of an instance in which the nudity really added anything to the plot (though I must admit that Roz is especially fetching, so I remain in favor of the gratuitous nudity featured therein). Using marketing buzzwords like "Mature" gives more cover to gratuitous sexual content and nudity than the performers are given to cover their bodies during said performances. If you're going to write that and film it, be proud of your marketing concept, you're appealing to the basest nature of humanity - and that's okay if that's the route you want to go. No reason to be ashamed of it; you're already showing everything else. It's sex, it does sell, and has since ancient times.
When you think of Mardi Gras and what happens there, you don't immediately think "MATURE!" - you think...well, probably the opposite. I think college girls, twenty-somethings (and puking in the gutters, hangovers, and a very friendly chimp named Marcellus - don't delve too deeply into my life, please). I don't expect I'd see a ton of eighty year old women flashing their chests on Bourbon Street (I hope - and no offense to you eighty year olds, I'm sure some of you look great nude, but you don't need to send me pictures to prove it, I will take your word for it).
Anyway, rant over. The point is, the Witcher 2 is awesome so far, though the gratuitous sexual content hasn't added anything but titillation to the story, perhaps it will be the story that changes my mind.
Anyway, I think I'm done for now. That was a long and rambling entry, I suspect, but hopefully some nuggets of amusement can be found herein. I'm planning to do some additional posts over the next few days (try and contain your astonishment). One of them will be a review of my friend Sam Best's third volume in his Alphashock series (I'm over halfway through it and I'm loving it), another will be a post about how I'm trying to not violate the trust of my fans, new or old, by screwing things up in my writing, and another...uh...I forget what the third was about. But anyway, more to come, so stay tuned. And I'll try to keep the ranting to a minimum next time. Just kidding; you couldn't get me to shut up unless you turn off the power on my
But this post will be about videogames and movies. Because I have opinions, oh yes, and I want to bore you with them. Well, actually, I want to entertain you with them, and I'll try to do just that, but I may fall short of my goal, and if I do, just go ahead and click to something else. I won't be offended, because unless you comment, I won't know. And if you do comment, and it's about me being boring, I'll wish your comment into the cornfield, and it will be gone FOREVAH! Because I have that power here. (And in some other places too, sort of, but we'll talk about that once the statute of limitations runs out).
So, movies.
Braveheart - I hadn't watched this movie in something like 10 years. It's pretty long, and I don't have much time anymore with writing a bunch of novels and raising small children, so when I picked this up as part of a two-pack with Gladiator earlier this year, I kept deferring watching it to some mythical day in my life when I thought I'd have more time. Since that seems unlikely to happen anytime soon, I finally just picked up the blu ray last week and put it in the player, figuring I'd watch a few minutes of it a day until, over the course of a week or two, I'd finish it.
Well, I think I got through it in a day (though not all in one sitting) which is something of a minor miracle for me nowadays. It was phenomenal, better even than I remembered, and now I recall why it won Best Picture and Best Director back in 1995. Of course, I didn't see it back then because I was 14 and it was rated a hard R for some bloody violence, but I vaguely remember it being talked about by just about everyone, including my peers, because they were allowed to watch it. Those a-holes. I wasn't jealous, though. Much.
Anyway, great film. I'm not sure what happened to the old Mel Gibson, the one people said was a nice guy and great to work with to turn him into a drunken, slur-speaking, woman-hitting douche, but I miss the old Mel. This was a great film. That other movie he directed that made a lot of money was pretty good, too, you know - the one all in subtitles. Of course, I didn't read the subtitles, but I think it was about a Mexican day laborer named Jesus (can't put the accentos in because my computer is racist or possibly because I can't figure out how) who runs up against the harsh and unrelenting immigration policies of the Roman Empire and gets whipped and hung up on a cross for working as an unlicensed carpenter. It's been a while since I've seen it, but I think that's how it goes. They were pretty harsh on that sort of thing back then, I guess.
But, anyway, Braveheart was great. The story of William Wallace, a hero of Scotland, and his quest for freedom is compelling. Loved it. I want to watch it again, and likely will some time in the next few weeks. I always like watching epic war movies while I'm writing Sanctuary novels. Oh, who am I kidding? I enjoy watching them all the time.
In the same vein, a movie that should have been nominated for Best Picture (but got screwed because the non-Director's Cut got released to theaters and it comparitively sucked) was Kingdom of Heaven: Director's Cut. I've raved about this film before, but I can't keep myself from doing it again. Do not - do not - do not - DO NOT watch the Theatrical Cut of this movie. Just don't. It's not terrible, but it's pretty mediocre. It misses the mark by a far margin. The Director's Cut is masterful. It's also three hours long. Forty-five minutes of additional footage makes it a butt-numbing film, it's true, but it also takes it from a mediocre film to a really great one, adding nuance and background to the whole story that was utterly lacking in the original Theatrical version.
Liam Neeson's performance, as usual, is fantastic. There are a lot of great characters in this, and great performances but probably one of the best is King Baldwin of Jerusalem, played by Edward Norton, who you would never even know was the actor behind the mask, and yet he is fantastic and captivating in his role; I hang on to his every word, and he manages to convey more with only his eyes visible behind a metal mask than most actors are capable of with the full range of their facial expression available to them.
Oh, by the way, Avengers came out on Blu-ray yesterday. I've already watched it twice, after seeing it six times in theaters. That's probably all you need to be able to tell my opinion, but just in case, look here and here. I'll probably watch the Director's Commentary later today, pad and paper in hand, looking for tips from one of the greatest writer/directors of all time (in my opinion). I finally saw Cabin in the Woods, which he co-wrote with another great writer-turned-director, Drew Goddard, and it was a really awesome, fresh take on the horror genre and the trope of teenagers/young adults in the woods in an isolated horror setting. Cool flick. Gotta watch the commentary on that one, too, actually. It also has Thor in it. (Steps out of the way to allow the stampede of lady Thor fans to run past on their way to the store to buy the film right now).
A couple videogames to mention and I'm done. 1) Borderlands 2 - I've been playing this game with friends, and it's such a great experience. It's a good game by itself (I played the first in the series essentially by myself) but when you play with friends it's a fantastic multiplayer experience, a raucous, chaotic good time filled with epic battles and total insanity.
2) The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings - I haven't had much chance to play this one yet, only a couple hours, but thus far I'm completely blown away by the game. It was touted as a mature, deep fantasy game. I always worry when that's the selling point - "maturity," because I usually find that tag to be an excuse for lots of nudity and sexual content. Which I'm not opposed to. Actually, I'm generally in favor of that in movies I watch, but it's rarely integral to the plot, it's almost always gratuitous, which is why I don't tend to write it into my books.
Look at the Game of Thrones TV series - I really love the series and I'm not complaining about this so much as using it as an example because I've repeatedly heard it described as "Mature" fantasy. I agree that thematically it's darker and more suitable for adults, in terms of the writing, but I think they might also be using it as code for the nudity and sexual content added to the series when it hit TV. I can't think of an instance in which the nudity really added anything to the plot (though I must admit that Roz is especially fetching, so I remain in favor of the gratuitous nudity featured therein). Using marketing buzzwords like "Mature" gives more cover to gratuitous sexual content and nudity than the performers are given to cover their bodies during said performances. If you're going to write that and film it, be proud of your marketing concept, you're appealing to the basest nature of humanity - and that's okay if that's the route you want to go. No reason to be ashamed of it; you're already showing everything else. It's sex, it does sell, and has since ancient times.
When you think of Mardi Gras and what happens there, you don't immediately think "MATURE!" - you think...well, probably the opposite. I think college girls, twenty-somethings (and puking in the gutters, hangovers, and a very friendly chimp named Marcellus - don't delve too deeply into my life, please). I don't expect I'd see a ton of eighty year old women flashing their chests on Bourbon Street (I hope - and no offense to you eighty year olds, I'm sure some of you look great nude, but you don't need to send me pictures to prove it, I will take your word for it).
Anyway, rant over. The point is, the Witcher 2 is awesome so far, though the gratuitous sexual content hasn't added anything but titillation to the story, perhaps it will be the story that changes my mind.
Anyway, I think I'm done for now. That was a long and rambling entry, I suspect, but hopefully some nuggets of amusement can be found herein. I'm planning to do some additional posts over the next few days (try and contain your astonishment). One of them will be a review of my friend Sam Best's third volume in his Alphashock series (I'm over halfway through it and I'm loving it), another will be a post about how I'm trying to not violate the trust of my fans, new or old, by screwing things up in my writing, and another...uh...I forget what the third was about. But anyway, more to come, so stay tuned. And I'll try to keep the ranting to a minimum next time. Just kidding; you couldn't get me to shut up unless you turn off the power on my