A Personal Blog
Reviews
Some Folk Don't Like My Reviews
Apr 22nd
… Imagine, people… Not agreeing… With ME?! ;-)
Pudd, an awesome mate, wrote his perspective on my reviews.
Most notably? Girls are weird, he’s right that Sky Captain’ll suck, he doesn’t agree that Van Helsing’ll be good, he’s crazy for thinking Chocolat was a movie worth the time it took me to type Chocolat (damn, wasted time twice in one sentence); he’s probably right that I Robot will suck, and he’s crazy for not looking forward to Spidey.
Ahh… Siskel, I’m not.
Ahhh… Summer Movie Season!
Apr 22nd
Well, Summer Movie Season is nearly upon us. With the exception of the last few years’ Christmas spectaculars (LOTR mainly); summer is my favourite movie season of all. It’s sad, really, because I should be spending time out doors, but there are just so many true Blockbusters that it’s hard to miss.
This summer is looking (to me) to be one of the best in a long, long, long time. Last summer was pretty good… This summer looks like it’s going to have my smiling 4 days out of 5.
So, what’m'I looking forward to? An eclectic mix, for me:
April
Mean Girls: This is not a typical “Jeremy Movie”, but it looks like it could be some good, unrude, mindless fun.
May
The Day After Tomorrow: Wherever I work, I’m taking anyone who wants to come out with me (sorry, not paying). I’m a complete sucker for really well done end of the world movies. I know, some people will say there’s no such thing as really well done end of the world movies. I say phooey on you. Great Big Phooey. I love ‘em. It’s an addiction. Shrek 2: By definition, this movie had better rock my socks off. I really enjoy Shrek. It has charm (unlike Ella Enchanted); wit and… C’mon, NINJA MOVES! ;-) Van Helsing: I was going to pick Troy for my third movie for May that I’m really looking forward to… But c’mon… Vampire movies that I actually enjoy are few and far between (Underworld was one of the few I really enjoyed). I’m not a big vampire movie guy at all, but if Van Helsing is half as good as Underworld, I’ll be happy. Besides, Troy is the kind of movie that could be really good (inspirational, great fighting, like LOTR) or just a run of the mill Braveheart wannabe cashing in on a testosterone-induced need to see heads get chopped off.
June
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: It’s a guilty pleasure. Love the books. Love the movies. This one has been delayed (they’ve changed the running schedule to 18 month releases from 14); and I’m definitely looking forward to it holding me off until the next book. I’ll be very, very sad when the Harry Potter thing ends : ( MindHunters: To be honest, I haven’t seen any previews for this yet. But, I’ve been hearing very good things for the last year about this project, and I’ve been quietly anticipating it hitting the big screens (unlike Kung Follow Soccer, which I’m STILL waiting to see… Bloody Miramax). The Stepford Wives: I hadn’t actually seen the original. And I haven’t seen anything really good from this. My desire to see this basically comes out of my fear that I, Robot (more on this to come). It could be really, really good though.
July
The Bourne Supremacy: Again, a movie that hasn’t been getting enough press (yet). The first one was good (enough) for a movie adaptation. This one is supposed to be better (I’d be impressed). It should be worth the watch anyways. i, Robot: All I have to say is that if they stay true to Asimov and don’t butcher this, it’ll be fantastic. If they do, I really hope they take other Asimov stuff and make it a reality (Foundations would be impressive, though disjointed… A really skilled Director could make it work though). If they ruin this, and it makes a killing, I shudder to think that they’ll just go on ruining his work. Sleepover: Okay, this could be really, really bad… Or it could be really good. We’ll see.
Movies I’m NOT Looking Forward To (That I Thought I’d Like)?
Envy: Honestly, I think this’ll be stupid. It’s sad, because I normally really, really enjoy Ben Stiller. But, I think this is one situational comedy too many for me this year (already). Garfield: Nothing bothers me more than people cashing in without putting in the effort. Scooby-Do comes to mind. This is just riding the same (small) wave. Sorry, but I refused to see either Scooby movie purely because I knew (and was right) that they’d be awful. I refuse to pay for something which will only encourage more crappy movies and animation. Give me quality or give me death to this genre!
Sadly I couldn’t find an official release schedule for August. There are a lot of other movies I’m looking forward to, which weren’t at Movies.com (and I was too lazy to look).
I’m really looking forward to this season, as it looks like there’ll be at least one really great release every week of the summer!
Hellboy
Apr 4th
Good movie.
I never was much of a comic book kid growing up. I was into baseball cards. Big into baseball cards. I had a collection worth nearly 20,000$ by the time I was 13. Really loved baseball cards. Comics were something for reading on the toilet ;-)
But, I’ve become a fan of some of the comic book movies that have come out. The X-Men series caught myself and my wife off guard (we both loved it). Spiderman was decent. Really liked Daredevil. Damn near loved Hellboy.
I’m pretty sure I’ll hate The Punisher though.
Anyways, this movie reminded me a lot of a cross between League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (alternate universe, fantastical stuff, good plot line, funny one-liners); but with a hint of Underworld: dark, brooding, etc.
I’m not much of a reviewer, but if you enjoyed either of the above movies (I loved Underworld, and thoroughly enjoyed LXG) you’ll likely be into this one.
Fuji is Moving!
Apr 1st
Thanks to Mike Bourne who answered my selfish cry for a book. Love ya mate ;-)
I’m about halfway through and really enjoying it. Basically “How Would You Move Mount Fuji” is a book on tech interviews. Specifically puzzle-based interviews.
I want to get this to understand some of the reasons behind Microsoft’s soft emphasis on these types of questions. Having spoken to Gretchen and Zoe about this, and reading their blog Technical Careers @ Microsoft I’m not actually too stressed out about this portion of the interview.
They are most often used to gauge college candidates who have no experience (Microsoft hires a lot of these). Apparently for experience-based positions you’ll probably only encounter a limited number of these (somewhere between 1-6 depending on who you ask) throughout your interview day.
Personally I’m looking forward to the day when I interview with Microsoft. The techniques they employ are designed to find people just like me. Smart, easily integrated into a certain social norm. creative, able to think and with leadership. I honestly believe I’d do well there.
Plus, I can’t wait to meet many of the people I’ve had a chance to get to know, and enjoy talking to, online.
I’ll have a full review of the book when I’m done :)
