When the phrase, “shock and awe” is uttered, I half expected the actors to pause and look at the camera with a sly nod and a wink.  Ultimately, I couldn’t decide which country they were talking about.  I thought maybe Japan, since there were giant robots in the movie.  Whichever one it is, it’s the one that apparently blows up indigenous peoples because they happen to live on some incredibly valuable natural resources.  Also, the stuff is called—and I kid you not—”Unobtanium.”

As in, they were unable to obtain a better name for it.

I guess other names such as, “Dependenceonforeignoilium,” or “Petroleumite” didn’t test well with the focus groups.  We also don’t even know what it’s used for.  All we are told is that it’s worth a lot of “cheddar.”  I mean, I don’t know if it’s a fuel source that the rest of the galaxy depends on or it’s just a metal that’s just expensive because it is fucking hard to get.

Very visually impressive, but the whole story depends so deeply on the “Mighty Whitey” trope that it’s hard to shake the feeling that you’ve seen it before.  In fact, if you’ve watched Dances With Wolves or The Last Samurai, you already know what happens to the main character in Avatar.

The only differences are the really impressive eye candy and the copious explosions.

That and the blue skinned alien love scene wherein I was starting to feel awkward when it went on for just a bit too long.

Interesting and fun to watch, I was most impressed with the wildlife in the movie.  You only get to see a few of the creatures integral to the plot, but throughout the movie you get to see various creatures running around.  The jungle of Pandora has a definite feel, it has presence.  When you watch the film and see how the fauna and the flora work together, you see that the folks behind Avatar have mapped out an entire alien ecosystem.

I’m glad that I watched the movie to see this aspect of its design.

That, and robots fighting, although that’s really only at the end of the film.

Compare the following scenarios.

Movie: While the main character is investigating a broken console, a shadow quickly flits down the hallway to the right, but the main character notice it.  Everyone yells, “What the hell was that on the right?!”  Character continues to repair broken console oblivious to their doom.

Dead Space:  While the main character is investigating a broken console, a shadow quickly flits down the hallway to the right, but the main character doesn’t notice it.  Everyone yells, “What the hell was that on the right?!”  This time, the camera turns and the actor actually investigates the hallway to the right.

The art in Dead Space plays no small part in the movie like experience. The USG Ishimura, while abandoned, is believable as a large spaceship equipped to house over a thousand people.  It has a work areas, living areas, engineering, and most importantly, a tram system and a zero G basketball court.  A shopping mall and even a virtual brothel are insinuated by advertisements that are strewn about the ship. There are trash cans and bathrooms.  Luggage is found near the flight deck but not near the mining facility.

In short, it’s a believable set.

Which is what makes it more unsettling for the audience when they find out that there doesn’t seem to be anyone on it.

If you look, really look at everything in Dead Space, the environment is telling you a story.  Literally.  The strange graffiti on the wall?  That’s all Unitology script that can be decoded because they created an alphabet for it.  Thomas Holt pointed that out to me and, I would have missed it because it was such detail.

I was avoiding Dead Space.  It came out in November of last year and I just was not sold on it.  I was done with the survival horror genre.  I had heard about it, and read favorable reviews, but then attributed those reviews to fans of Resident Evil.

Then, slowly, I was worn down by praise from people I knew and finally asked to borrow a copy from a friend.

I played three chapters on a Friday night, followed by a marathon session on Sunday because it was so compelling.  For the rest of the day on Sunday, I was accompanied by a friend of mine who was a fan of movies like Event Horizon.  She loved it not only because of the storyline, but because of the interaction and the feeling of immersion.

I’d like to see someone try, as a social experiment, playing Dead Space with an audience, a chapter a night say on a movie night.

Not a big deal, but I ordered some grilled salmon, beef negimaki, some age tofu, gyoza, sukiyaki, and an order of tonkatsu.

I was splitting this with a friend while we watched Lust, Caution, via the Netflix instant queue on the xbox 360.

The food arrived earlier than expected, and I realized that we were missing the tonkatsu sauce. This realization of course, came after the delivery person had come and gone.

Tonkatsu isn’t tonkatsu without sauce.  However, it was already too late and I didn’t want to call the restaurant back for tonkatsu sauce, so we decided to make do with some barbecue sauce I had in the fridge.

It’s just as good.  In fact, I could hardly taste the difference.  I felt like I had been living a lie all these years.  All I needed was hot mustard and it would have been the same.

Oh, also, Lust, Caution has sex in it.  Just thought you should know.

Update:  I just want to talk about Lust, Caution some more.  It’s an espionage spy thriller set in Japanese occupied Shanghai.  It’s nearly three hours, but I didn’t mind, and it’s an Ang Lee film, so I’ll leave you with that.  It was somewhat controversial, and I understand that it took over 100 hours to film that ten minutes.

It is also not the “feel good movie of the year” but then I did tell you it was an Ang Lee film, so I feel you’ve been warned.

WANTED the movie on the other hand, appears to be about a secret society of assassins that run the world and keep us in the dark about the real truth of our existence.

At first glance, they seem similar, but the comic had a great edge to it that the trailer lacks.  In the comic, the main character is a villain.  There’s no greater good to his actions.  There’s a progression in his character reminiscent of Tyler Durden’s rise in Fight Club.

In the trailer, it just feels like another action movie.

We’ll see.

By “lately,” I mean “last couple of years.”

And by “last couple of years,” I may actually mean, “a decade.”

Well, there was Serenity, but that was it.

That may change. The latest Speed Racer trailer has me pretty excited to watch the movie, for several reasons.

First is the look of the movie. It’s utilizing a lot of high quality CG which looks amazing in the trailer. The actors filmed primarily in front of a green screen, like 300, but the backgrounds and the overall “look” of the film already has me hooked. The fantastic racetracks, the cartoon look of the smoke, the speed lines, all of it point to visual direction that is updating and modernizing Speed Racer, while remaining true to the source. This could all change once the actual movie is released, but the trailer holds a bit of promise.

Second, the casting seems perfect. I remember watching the series on television, and just looking at the comparisons of the cast with the animated versions, I feel like they’re spot on. Christina Ricci as Trixie is genius. Emile Hirsch looks like Speed. John Goodman as Pops, Susan Sarandon as Mom are great choices. Even Matt Fox as Racer X. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that that monkey chimpanzee they got for Chim Chim is pretty close as well. I’m not saying that all primates look alike, but damn.

Third, I could watch Christina Ricci all day.

All in all, I would rate my excitement for the movie as, “cautiously optimistic.”

I’ve got a entirely different rating for Christina Ricci.

So, instead of housekeeping, I watched Shrek a third time and went out for drinks with a few friends. Yes, it’s that good. I guess it’s that good because it goes against the whole “fairy tale” movie cliché. What other movie are you going to see a talking donkey (Eddie Murphy a la Mushu redux) and a female dragon. . . er, yeah. I’m not going to ruin it for you.

Also, despite what people think, Guapo’s in Tenleytown is pretty good mexican food. I didn’t realize it at the time, but damn. Forget that Chichi’s crap. Go to a Guapo’s. Me, I like the one in Tenleytown, because it’s where I go. But apparently, there are three locations.

Just, well . . .

Wow.

I’m going to see it again. Mainly because the theater that I watched it at BURNED THE FILM RIGHT AT THE CLIMAX OF THE MOVIE. Burned. Watched the film blister and crawl up the height of the screen.

However, even if I didn’t get my money back, I would still watch this movie again. Granted, my opinion is based primarily upon watching 98% of the entire movie. (Yes, they killed the film right there.)

The movie is good. Don’t try to compare it to anything you’ve ever seen before. You’ve never seen a movie that looks like this. The story is cliché, but I found myself rooting for these digital thespians. When they died, I cared. When they wanted to kiss someone, I felt it.

A movie based on a video game that does not suck. Imagine that. My money is on the DVD right now. Digital transfer of this film. I’m going to write some more tomorrow, after I get a good night’s rest. I may be embellishing the experience somewhat right now, after the movie high.

But goodness, it’s a beautiful movie.

Also, went out to a diner last night where I would guess that the waitress paid us the amount of attention that a hyena gives flies on a rotting corpse. That is to say, the amount of attention given to four young lads who ordered only dessert. Four young lads who would have tipped handsomely, had she actually paid us any fucking attention. Normally, this place is pretty good, but I guess she was too busy to actually ask us how we were doing in the twenty minutes we were waiting for three milkshakes and an apple pie a la mode. No prepared food, just drinks and pie with ice cream slapped on it.

Ah, let’s see, things to do today. Find DDR for my brother and myself.

I’m of the opinion that the movie could have ended at one particular point. Now, I wouldn’t have been satisfied with but I would have accepted it. I know that sounds strange, but I feel that not all movies have to end with a happy ending. The movie, if it indeed had ended at that particular point, would have blown me away. Instead, I feel that the movie was lengthened artificially to provide us with a happy ending instead of just letting the story end.

However, focusing on Spielberg would take away from the incredible Haley Joel Osment. Watch this movie for him, he’s incredible. Did I say the word incredible enough? This movie succeeds with his acting.

He should have been Anakin. Episode I might have been a much more watchable movie (as opposed to an exercise in special effects) with his acting.

Also.

Jet Li fans, I managed a sneak Preview of Kiss of the Dragon. My thoughts are that Jet Li is doing his best Bruce Lee impression, ever. And that’s not to bust on the man. He’s great throughout this entire movie. And I’m also not saying that they both look alike–because that would be wrong. But what I am saying is that I think I preferred Mr. Li without the scruffier hair. I don’t know. I guess I’m just used to Fist of Legend Li.

Without going into too much spoiler, I will tell you that accupuncture needles are involved, and Jet Li just about kicks the holy living crap out of a bunch of french people.

I don’t think you need to hear anything else if you’re in any way interested in seeing this movie. If you’re the kind of person that knows about Jet Li, you’re not watching it for the pathos and plot development.

Quote of the evening:

“Okay , you are officially banned from looking at any more ass the rest of the evening.”