Looper

Soo... I saw Looper last weekend and I've spent this weekend thinking about it and what my feelings are.

First off, there's a moment early on when you first see Joseph Gordon-Levitt in his Bruce Willis make-up where part of you genuinely freaks out a little and it's very uncanny valley. When I first saw the trailers I had the same reaction. But after a little bit you start to see the little smirks and eyebrow raises (at one point JGL checks his hairline in a mirror and I started giggling uncontrollably for about five minutes). After a little bit I was more enthralled with how well Gordon-Levitt plays Bruce Willis. And in the end he's as much playing Willis as he is playing the Looper character. He is supremely believable in the role and I totally bought the younger/older version of one person way more than I have in other movies.

So onto the plot which is more straight-forward than it seems. There are a group of Hitmen known as 'Loopers'. They sign up for a big paycheck in the present to kill people sent back from the future. They get their payout when they kill their Future-Self. Present-Person gets 30 years of fine living until their loop runs out and they get sent back to be killed by their younger self. In Looper, Future-Joe makes a run for it instead of waiting to be shot by his Present-Self. He goes on a quest to prevent some terrible things in the future, causing Present-Joe to have to chase him.

And that's all I want to say before I get into the serious spoilers I'm going to go into below.

There's an interesting question here that if someone gets hit by a bus 20 years in the future does their Present-Self have to work as a Looper that whole 20 years? They only get to quit when their loop closes so if their loop doesn't close do they have to work forever? Or does the Future-Mob send a note back on someone?

There is a great side-bit part played by Jeff Daniels that is absolutely fantastic but I don't want to give any of him away.

I walked out of this movie with mixed feelings (mainly because of the ending) but the more I think on it the more I just absolutely love it. The movie take a subject that any two geeks can argue for days about and presents it in a way that has a logical consistency to it. Which is impressive in and of itself. The human drama is okay and there are some pretty unexpected twists in there that I really enjoyed when they came around. I'm not sure it will make my list of top tem movies, but I'd definitely put it in the top 25.

I was going to mark out spoilers about my thoughts on the time-travel aspect but it's fairly long so I'm just going to put it under a cut instead. Spoilers Ahoy, click at your own risk!

Goals, I has them

A conversation I had via text with a friend. My friends are awesome BTW.


Me                                                                                                                     Me friend K
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OMG have I told you my new life goal?

You have not, what is it!?

I want someone to get me all tripped out on acid
and then take me to Disneyland.
Always get stoned under supervision. That's my motto.

Damn straight, safety first!

And I feel like Disneyland could be a very scary place on acid.

That's why I want a chaperone.
I feel it's an experience that could turn on you quickly.

Feel free to add this to your list of birthday ideas for me.
I'll buy the Disney tickets. :)

Lol, and that's why you plan ahead.

Hm... I think your idea might be genius... 

I was thinking of all the line-waiting, 

but tripping would make that way more fun

OMG K, do you see these flowers? 

DO YOU SEE THESE FUCKING FLOWERS?

"That's gum."

Lol

I think Goofy just bit me.

Im going to get cartoon rabies.

Its like regular rabies only instead of fomaing at the mouth 

you do that ah-ooga thing wolves do to hot chicks in cartoons.

I don't want to die this way K. Don't let me die this way!

Well [NH], at least those sound more fun than regular rabies. 

Thank God you went to hug Goofy 

and not that pidgeon you keep calling Donald.

But he's not wearing pants. 

Donald is the only bird that doesn't wear pants. Ergo...

You keep saying that, and I keep telling you that's just a pidgeon... 

although that's a different pidgeon than the one we started with... 

so that's... better?

(And then I sit in front of Cinderella's castle for three hours staring at my hair.)

It would be fucking AMAZING.

I'll do the same for you when you reach the equivalent birthday.

lol, you're a good frined.

*friend, sorry.

Missed an unintentional "fried" joke by *thismuch*

I was totally just thinking that... 

that and wondering if frined was a word. 

And then deciding it was not.

I think KFC gets frined in food poisoning cases.

And with that I bid you good night!

Ditto! Talk to ya later

Curiosity Landing

I feel like the Curiosity landing was planned by my five year old nephew:

Okay first we're going to just throw this at Mars. When we get there we'll use rockets to slow it down. A parachute will go *poof* but it's no good so then we'll launch another rocket from the rocket and it will fire MORE ROCKETS. But it's not going to land, it's going to just hover there and drop the thing down like a GI Joe out of a helicopter.

They should have named the thing "Occam would have a heart attack" and been done.

Anniversaries are not always good

A year ago today we buried my grandfather.

It's been a rough weekend.

Actual conversation after the ending of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

John: Actually, when Lincoln gave the Gettysburg address no one cheered, everyone thought it was shit.

Me: That's what you're choosing to nitpick over?

Discount this

Twice in the past week I have had to get into a discussion with a salesperson because of a clearly marked discount that they did not understand. And I mean this in the most generous sense possible: these were manufacturer's discounts the store was running on their behalf, not just some salesperson being dumb or oblivious. It was just obvious the store hadn't thought things through.

Both incident happened in the same store.

[Note: I'm about to enter and intensive 10-week course which will have me working 16 hour days so I'm stocking up on candies and cookies so I don't kill someone around week six. These will be kept in the car in case of me or other people emergency. Anyway...]

In the first case, there was a discount on M&Ms, $1.00 for any pack (sizes 1.6something or larger). I bought two packs of peanut butter M&Ms - sharing size which is like 3.something something. Larger to get to the point. Of course - they did not ring up with the discount and the clerk kept explaining to me over and over it only referred to the regular size bags, like in the picture. I told her I understood this, but the sign also clearly says or larger. We both agreed my sharing size bags were larger. Eventually she just gave up and sold me at that price. Winner = Me.

Now, tonight, I go in and see a deal which is 3 single serving Nabisco packs for $2. On the shelf were some Oreos, Chips Ahoy, something else, and Oreo Cakesters. All Nabisco, all single serving. I bring up three of the Cakesters because all the nom are mine thank you. Now the cakester packs, if you haven't seen them, are obviously a little larger than the others. But still single serving. Again, they ring up at something like $1.84 each and obviously not discounted. I start again, although this time I'm not as pushy because the sign says regular price is $.89 and these were clearly not that. But I did point out to the guy that he needs to move the cakesters in that case, since they're on the shelf with the things that are on sale and they have no price on them to let people know they're not. Winner = them :(

I know it's sometimes asking a lot of people, but please actually consider what you are actually offering before you commit to it. My examples are small scale, but they range all the way up to the guy who ended up winning an F-16 from Pepsi (who of course reneged).

Snow White and The Huntsman

If this movie was a fourth-grader, I would rate it as 'Exceeds Expectations'. I did not have high hopes for this movie, even considering I thought it looked beautiful and have been waiting for it for some time.

The plot is pretty much basic Snow White. Evil queen takes over kingdom, banishing young princess in some way. Princess escapes into forest, pursued by huntsman. Dwarves are met and help Snow White defeat the evil queen. The land rejoices.

But this movie grows up in many ways from the more traditional tellings - and is much truer to the original feel of the fairy tale (much darker).

I have to say, I like badass retellings of famous fairy tales. I like seeing the damsel in distress pick herself up and kick some ass. It's nice and really validates to me how much I loved these stories as a kid, and how much I still do. Seeing Snow White pick up her sword and charge the castle at the head of her own army is a big cheering moment.

The dwarves are one of the high points of the film - although after seeing Peter Dinklage do his thing in Game of Thrones, I'm wondering why they used full sized humans and visual effects instead of casting actual dwarves. (Is that correct? What's the PC term?) But they are awesome, a little bit of comic relief without undermining their own pain at the land dying around them.

(Note: There were occasions when I had no idea whatsoever what the dwarves and occasionally the Huntsman were saying. A combination of their accents and their deep, gruff, gravelly, 'I've seen things you can't even imagine' voices. It meant I missed things I'm super curious about.)

I've seen lots of people, and reviewers, taking exception on if this Snow White is objectively fairier than the Queen (that Kristen Stewart is more beautiful than Charlize Theron). They seem to take it as a plot device that you just have to buy into in order for the movie to move forward. But I disagree. Not that Kirsten is better looking than Charlize - that's a matter of preference and I think both are gorgeous. But on which is fairer. In that case, it's no contest between them. For all her beauty and poise, the Queen is not fair, she's not beautiful on the inside. Whereas Snow White is beautiful inside and out. She has compassion and joy in life where the Queen is bitter and angry. The word choice here is important, Who is the fairest of them all? The queen nominally qualifies, she is gorgeous - but Snow White is the whole package.

Another part of the movie that seems strange is the love interest angle. The movie definitely moves towards the idea that Snow White and the Huntsman belong together - the other love interest (the more appropriate one) gets short shrifted throughout the movie. It's a little confusing when you're watching because what seems like the designated love interest is extraneous to the move. Spoilers: In fact, it's the Huntsman who's kiss wakes Snow White from the apple bite. Looking at casting news, it looks like the originally had much older men in mind for the role: Viggo Mortenson, Hugh Jackman. And except for that one moment, the movie plays the Huntsman as being much older and more of a father/mentor than a love interest. But how could you waste Chris Hemsworth like that? The result is a weird dynamic between the three, and a scene that seems slotted in. Also, no clean ending to any of the romance.

Which is nice, because this movie, this story, isn't about Snow White finding the love of her life - or finding some to save her from the evils of the world. It's about her confronting her own fears and finding her own way. Becoming her own woman. I love to watch people fall in love - but on looking back I'm actually glad the movie ends on her becoming queen - not getting married or a kiss, but her standing in her crown in the moment she has earned.

So as usual I've glossed over the plot, which is fine, it's what I do. But I'll finish this fairly short review with I enjoyed the movie. Would like to see it again (not for $11 - but sometime) and will probably get the DVD.