Flock of Cats » movies

Harry Potter and the Half-Assed Movie

Yulzopolis — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:13:14 +0000

The new Harry Potter movie is a bit disappointing. They didn’t even say the words “Snape…killed Dumbledore.” The movie seemed rushed, and focused too much on the teen love/hormones/drama angle. Maybe the book had the 90120 with owls angle too, but it also spent more time on the rise of the Deatheaters, the mystery of who the half-blood prince is, and other interesting tidbits. And I didn’t like the way that the movie dealt with the death of Dumbledore…no invisibility cloak, no paralyzing spell…just Harry hiding in somewhat plain view and standing there not doing anything (mildly out of character…which is why JK Rowlings probably deviced the whole invisibility cloak angle, in addition to the added tension). The whole seen lacked impact.

But as an interesting side note….while I was watching the movie by myself at the theater, A-Yo was watching a pirated Russian version on the computer at home. When I got home, she was at the cave scene. So I watched the end of the movie again in Russian at home. After Snape killed Dumbledore, A-Yo asked “So is Gandalf really dead or can they bring him back to life?” I just answered “Yes, he’s really dead” rather than completely nerd out and talk about how not all wizards are Gandalf, and how the avada kedavra spell can’t be reversed, as anyone who paid attention in Defense Agianst the Dark Arts would know…

Christmas Eve in Kofu

ranmafan — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 01:13:46 +0000

Its Christmas Eve, and as usual in Japan its the bigger of the two days of Christmas. I like Christmas Eve a lot myself as it always seems to be a magical day. However one thing sucks, for me it will be a bit lonely. But thats OK as I plan on celebrating in usual style, with a Christmas movie/special marathon. Today I will start it off with a viewing of Urusei Yatsura episode 10, the first Christmas special in the series, and one of its best episodes. Then I’ll move onto the classic comedy, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. We then move onto another great classic, the MST3K version of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. And to top it off, one of my favorite movies and the unquestioned greatest Christmas movie ever, A Christmas Story.

All thats missing is egg nog and someone to celebrate with. But It will still be a great Christmas I’m sure. Maybe I’ll even sneak in a viewing of Scrooged in there if I can.

Christmas Movie Quiz

Yulzopolis — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 01:40:04 +0000

1) Which movie opening on Christmas will do better at the box office: Valkyrie with Tom Cruise as a Nazi or Marley and Me featuring a rambunctious but lovable dog that teaches its owners about the things that really matter in life?

2) Who is the idiot that scheduled a WWII Hitler assassination-attempt film to open on Christmas day?

3) How many children will want eye patches in their stockings as Valkyrie-mania sweeps the nation this Christmas?