Making great progress through Mass Effect 2 -- just have three more party members to recruit (that I know of). I actually meant to recruit one last person last night, but I got so caught up in sidequests that by the time I finished, I was too tired to continue playing, haha. Curse you, addictive sidequests! *shakes fist*
Also, I hope everyone on the Skype call last night enjoyed me swearing at the geth and Garrus saying the same line over and over and over again while we were shooting drones ...
The Triplets of Belleville (2003): This is a weird ass movie, and not just due to the visual style, which is unlike any other animated movie I've seen. The story involves a grandmother traveling to save her grandson, who is a top racer in the Tour de France, from a gangster using him in a convoluted gambling scheme. Somehow this is all communicated nearly wordlessly -- the only time people speak are during news reports, and when the titular singing group belts out some tunes. I'm not 100 percent sure I liked the movie, but I do think it is well worth watching for any animation fan.
The Illusionist (2006): This will probably always be known as the other magician movie released in 2006 (the superior one being The Prestige). This is more of a straightforward drama with magical trappings, though -- you've got a love triangle, an evil husband and written sleight of hand to mask some craziness at the end. I like the development of the story, but I couldn't totally get into it because the romance is typical Hollywood nonsense. Yawn.
Time of Eve (2010): This was originally an OVA of vignettes about androids and how they slowly become sentient in a future world. It makes heavy reference to Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, but it develops and interprets them in interesting ways I do not remember seeing before. (But to be fair, I have not read a lot of Asimov, so he could very well have explored all the angles and intricacies of his Three Laws and done all this stuff in the past.) There's one particular concept I found incredibly interesting that I don't remember seeing in any science-fiction story I've read/watched/whatever in the past. Really impressive.
...And Justice for All (1979): I probably should not have liked this as much as I did. The storytelling is a total mess -- there's way too much going on, and the tone shifts so rapidly that halfway through the movie I wondered if the writers were going for some absurd court drama parody. It really feels like the writers took a TV season's worth of material and crammed it into a two-hour movie. Somehow, though, it sort of works, and I think it's because Al Pacino gives one of those Al Pacino performances where he's hanging on the edge of insanity and hamming it up like a madman, and you can't take your eyes off him. And I'll admit it, I'm a total sucker for the inevitable final courtroom scene in every court drama. It takes a special kind of writer to fuck that scene up. This movie has a doozy of a climax.
On the queue for this week: Good Bye, Lenin! (2003), Rio Bravo (1959)
Total Movies: 157 (Blazing Saddles, The Descent, Gundam 00 the Movie: Awakening of the Trailblazer, Village of the Damned, Children of the Damned, Trigun: Badlands Rumble, The Night of the Hunter, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha the Movie 1st, Dawn of the Dead, Black Swan, Clue, Scarface, Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned, True Grit, Perfect Blue, The Quick and the Dead, High Sierra, Shutter Island, A Serious Man, Kite, The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Broken Blade 3, Kite Liberator, Machete, The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Heathers, The Prince of Tennis: The Two Samurai, The First Game, Notes on a Scandal, The American, King of Thorn), The Expendables, Sword of the Stranger, The Hangover, Welcome to the Space Show, Broken Blade 4, The Social Network, End of Evangelion, Neo Tokyo, Red, Dreamcatcher, Jason X, Wag the Dog, The Naked Gun, Dirty Work, 8mm, The Wicker Man (2006), Blood: The Last Vampire, Winter's Bone, The Road, Heartcatch Precure! Hana no To de Fashion Show ... Desu ka?!, Broadcast News, Bulletproof, Dead Leaves, Dirty Dancing, Hot Tub Time Machine, Eureka Seven: Pocketful of Rainbows, Cloverfield, Best in Show, Play Misty for Me, Paprika, The Cat Returns, Welcome to the Dollhouse, 12 Monkeys, The Killer, Metropolis, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, The Third Man, The King's Speech, Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus, The Abyss, The Fighter, Mega Piranha, Dumb and Dumber, The Rebirth of Buddha, 127 Hours, The Kids Are All Right, The Town, Willow, Akira, Morning Glory, The Verdict, I Love You Phillip Morris, Phantasm II, American Splendor, Broken Blade 5, Tangled, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, The Rock, Wanted, Green Zone, Despicable Me, Waiting for Guffman, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, X-Men: First Class, X-Men, Hereafter, X2, Zatoichi, All About Eve, The Thing, Odin: Photon Space Sailer Starlight, City of God, Das Boot, Some Like it Hot, Downfall, X-Men: The Last Stand, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1, Winnie the Pooh, Bullitt, Hard Eight, Memories of Matsuko, Double Indemnity, Freaks, Break Blade 6, Key Largo, The Grand Illusion, The Seven Year Itch, Hermes: Winds of Love, To Catch a Thief, An American in Paris, Ninotchka, Interstella 5555, Hobo with a Shotgun, Dog Day Afternoon, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Steamboy, Little Norse Prince Valiant, Redline, Beat the Devil, Casablanca, The Girl Who Played with Fire, Easy Rider, Little Caesar, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Band of Outsiders, The Three Faces of Eve, Mardock Scramble: The First Compression, Clue, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Cabaret, Spaceballs, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rifftrax), If...., El Topo, Irresponsible Captain Tylor Movie 1+2, Gundress, Barefoot Gen, Santa Sangre, The Toxic Avenger, Conan O'Brien Can't Stop, House on Haunted Hill, 3:10 to Yuma, Sexy Beast, Tom Jones, The Triplets of Belleville, The Illusionist, Time of Eve, ...And Justice for All)
