Snakes on a Plane for D&D dorks: [link]

Heh. Funnily enough, I thought Storm's spinning shit was kind of badass. About the only badass thing about her. The rest of the time, I just wanted to slap her silly.

I didn't think the movie was that bad. I enjoyed myself, and I thought it was pretty thematically sound. I want to watch the first two again to figure out what makes them better. I mean, it's true that the first two left me feeling "HOLY SHIT THAT WAS AWESOME" whereas this one left me feeling "Hey, that was cool and fun!" But why? That is what I want to know.

My contribution to the conversation is to point out three of the President's lines, all of which are giant clichés:

"If Magneto wants a war, we'll give him a war!"
"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."
"God help us all!"

I felt embarrassed for the actor.

My favorite part of X3 was the trailers for Snakes on a Plane, Ghost Rider, Superman Returns, and especially My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Also, the discount coupon that got me a free Coke.

Saw two movies tonight -- Banlieu 13, and Cidade Baixa (Lower City)

Banlieu 13 was great fun -- really good fight/chase scenes, and just ridiculously French. The plot moves insanely fast.

Cidade Baixa was well shot, and had very attractive actors, but ultimately bored me because they just didn't bring anything new to the story (and Longstanding Male Friendship Destroyed When They Meet A Hot Chick has pretty much been done to death).

(Well, I killed the thread with my last two capsule reviews, let's go for three!)

Saw Cars tonight, and as with previous Pixar outings, the trailers do NOT do this film justice. It's not my favorite, but I almost loved it. "Almost" because, while it's a really fantastic movie, I didn't quite connect with it the way I did Toy Story or Finding Nemo. Between the carverse premise and the small-towns-are-better nostalgia theme, it just wasn't a movie made for me. (I did discover, however, that the Toy Story/Finding Nemo/Incredibles crypoints have now extended not only throughout their own films, but into ALL OTHER PIXAR MOVIES. There was a moment near the beginning of the movie when nothing even remotely sentimental was happening, but something extremely Pixarish happened -- nothing more than a familiar camera move -- and I felt myself getting choked up. Damn you, Lasseter!)

Anyway.

The characters, as usual, are amazingly well drawn and acted. They are three-dimensional characters in every sense of the word, and you instantly feel for them, and feel their world.

The worldbuilding is as good as it can be given that the main characters are cars, and that this is still a family film (even though the characters are all adults, and act like it). E and I spent the entire subway ride home, and then all of dinner, and then the walk home from dinner, trying to answer questions like "But where do baby cars come from? Who built the [insert object requiring opposable thumbs here]? Why do some vehicles have consciousness and others not?" This continued until he asked me who (in the carverse) invented the wheel, and then my head exploded.

It's also hysterically funny. (I don't think I'll be able to look at a VW Bug for weeks now without giggling.) Watch the backgrounds and STAY THROUGH THE CREDITS.

Oh, yay. mr. flea and Casper have been looking forward to Cars since the trailers first came out. (We have a thing for Pixar; Casper says, "Show the one about the racecars!" when we watch shorts and trailers.) I was a little meh on Incredibles, myself, but it's still better than most movies made IMO.

And, now, I'm imagining humping cars, and pregnant cars, and why, Jessica, why?

I'm imagining humping cars, and pregnant cars

I recommend another viewing of the "Stupid Girls" video. You'll still imagine humping cars, but at least in a socially satirical context.

Banlieu 13

Is that DISTRICT B13 (I think)? I've been hearing good things about it (and that, as Jess indicated, it moves like a bat out of hell).

Is that DISTRICT B13 (I think)?

Yep, that's the English title. (Which I'm pretty sure means it translates as District District 13, but oh well.) It's pretty damn awesome.

Yep, that's the English title. (Which I'm pretty sure means it translates as District District 13, but oh well.) It's pretty damn awesome.

Very psyched for this. But will it come to Annapolis? Sometimes I really miss NY.

BTW, banlieue literally means suburb but in the French context (outside of train stations and commuting discussions) usually refers to what we would call the "inner city".

So I guess its District Suburb 13 which still makes little sense.