IntenseDebate - skahammer

11 years ago @ Crasstalk - Tuesday Open Thread · 0 replies · +2 points

There's a Universal Studios theme park in New York?

11 years ago @ Crasstalk - Monday Open Thread · 2 replies · +3 points

Actually I'm ready to hear more from someone who enjoyed the film, if you'd like to expand on this, tunamelt.

I mean, what about the framing of those endless battle scenes? Could you really figure out what was going on all the time?

And that business with the red shoe just made me embarrassed for everyone involved. Poor Stringer Bell.

11 years ago @ Crasstalk - Monday Open Thread · 0 replies · +8 points

...From inside a giant robot.

11 years ago @ Crasstalk - Monday Open Thread · 7 replies · +4 points

I confess that I've never actually seen The Devil Wears Prada.

11 years ago @ Crasstalk - Monday Open Thread · 0 replies · +2 points

Consider this alternative: This movie actually wants to be about Dr. Newton Geiszler (Charlie Day) and his main antagonist, Hannibal Chau (Ron Perlman). Spoilers ahead.

Geiszler is still a military scientist, but the first person he has to convince about his kaiju theories is Chau, who has an obvious interest in not disrupting his business. That's half the movie right there, as it becomes clear that Chau actually knows more about the kaiju than anyone in the military. In fact maybe the kaiju aren't an existential threat to humanity after all.

Then Geiszler has to convince the military to give him access to Drift technology. The Jaeger pilots are against it, because they don't want people believing that just any untrained person can execute a Drift. And they're convinced the kaiju are an existential threat. But Stringer Bell takes the long view and gives him a chance.

The third act is still all monster-punching.

David O. Russell could direct. It could be an allegory of the Allies' cooperation with the Mafia in pacifying Italy during WWII, maybe.

11 years ago @ Crasstalk - Monday Open Thread · 14 replies · +8 points

On the strength of MonkeyBiz' review and other comments here, I went to see Robot-Monster Punch-Out this weekend.

Let's be clear: This is a production for people who've been going to movies all their lives — the Terminators, Avatar, The Devil Wears Prada — and always thought to themselves afterwards: "What this movie really needed was more CGI fight scenes." Do those scenes take up a solid hour in this movie? I think maybe they do.

Or alternate thoughts:

"I wish the second act of Matrix: Revolutions was two hours long."

"The wait for the next Transformers movie is just killing me!"

Also, why did the Jaeger pilots sometimes talk to each other when their minds were already linked via The Drift?

But I'll say this for the film: That Rinko Kikiuchi is one incredibly winsome actress. Watch out, Marion Cotillard.

11 years ago @ Crasstalk - Friday Open Thread · 0 replies · +2 points

"Sweet summer rain...like God's own mercy."

11 years ago @ Crasstalk - Flashback Friday: Chee... · 0 replies · +3 points

This song isn't to my taste — but because it's Harry, it doesn't tarnish his other masterworks. Which are at least a little cheesy themselves.

11 years ago @ Crasstalk - How To Reach Enlighten... · 2 replies · +4 points

I was told this story by a member of the Board of Trustees of the Enfield Tennis Academy. The Trustee consulted me on a separate matter — dealing with some Academy land which happens to abut on the Great Concavity — without realizing that I'm not licensed in the Organization of North American Nations (O.N.A.N.) jurisdiction.

I gave out the best advice I could on the matter, and waived my fee since I'm not licensed in that field. So the Trustee told me this story in exchange. And then she walked out of my office...while wearing, I noticed, very comfortable shoes.

I have no further insight into the details of this narrative. But I suppose follow-up questions could be addressed to Lyle at the Enfield Tennis Academy. I understand he's been returned to his old job there now.

11 years ago @ Crasstalk - Flashback Friday: Chee... · 2 replies · +4 points

Harry Nilsson could get away with schmaltz that would render a normal human bathetic forever. He was so uncool that he was cool — a maneuver many culture heroes attempt when they sense fashion leaving them behind, but few succeed at. Harry was the Napoleon Dynamite of rock and roll.

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