David’s Ramblings

I’ve decided to move all the posts from my old site to this one, so you should be able to find them all here. It was a pain to do, but I hope to hang on to every post I can so that I have a sort of history. I imagine it will be fun to look through all of this stuff 10 years from now.

Yesterday I had the good fortune of attending a pre-release screening of the new movie “Zodiac.” This movie is about the real life serial killer who called himself “Zodiac” in letters he taunted the police with. The movie seems to follow the real events of the case (though I’m no expert on these matters) and this makes it somewhat more interesting.

The actors in this movie all do a terrific job, especially Jake Gyllenhaal. The movie does a good job of helping you feel the panic that must have been about in San Francisco due to the Zodiac as well. I particularly liked how music was used to add to the setting.

Unfortunately, the movie follows real life far too well. Unless you want to feel like the detectives who had their lives sucked away trying to solve this case, you’ll find the movie lacks appropriate pacing. Zodiac follows the true life storyline so closely that we’re treated to 30 minutes of excitement and 2 hours of tension that eventually becomes boredom as we desparately hope for a break in the case, or at least for the Zodiac to do something new.

The movie can also be disorienting, jumping large spans of time almost randomly and without warning, but this is important since the killings were quite spread out. I wouldn’t pay money to see this movie, but if you have the chance to see it for free as I did, you might not be completely disappointed. I rate it at a measely 2.3π.

A Stephen King classic, The Shining has become one of my new favorites. I just finished reading it and I must say that King is in danger of becoming my favorite author.

The story centers around a young boy named Danny, who’s rather bright, and his family. We quickly learn that Danny’s not the average 5 year old boy. He knows and understands at a level many adults couldn’t grasp. This is not because he’s some super genius, though he is rather smart, but it’s because he has “the shining.” Psychic ability, shining, intuition, call it what you will, but Danny has it.

Alone, that makes for an interesting story, but that’s just the beginning. The boy’s family is going to be living in a hotel called the Overlook over the winter, since his father has been hired as its caretaker and the hotel gets completely snowed-in during the winter. Unfortunately, there’s something sinister to the Overlook, and that’s where King’s horror story skills come in.

I don’t want to give too much away, because my description couldn’t hold a candle to King’s literary talent. The book makes for a riveting read, and is worth looking into if you don’t mind the fact that you may have to sleep with the light on for a night or two after you finish it. I’ll give it 4.5π.

“The Prestige” is, without a doubt, the movie of 2006. Awesome acting, tremedous plot, and a last second twist all add up to make for an awesome movie. It just came out on DVD. I recommend buying yourself a copy. It’s one of those movies worth owning.

With Christopher Nolan writing and directing, one couldn’t really expect any less. He’s the same guy who made me actually care for the Batman story again with “Batman Begins,” and freaked out my brain with the backwards story telling of “Memento.”

The movie stars Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman, or, if you prefer: “batman” and “wolverine.” The two aspiring magicians are working as assistants to an aging illusionist, but after a horrible accident occurs during one of their perfomances the two become bitter rivals bent on outdoing each other. They quickly escalate to sabotage and other dirty acts of one-upmanship, right up to the conclusion.

“The Prestige” follows Nolan’s preference for non-linear storylines. We switch scenes from present to flashbacks, to further back flashbacks and back again, so one needs to pay a bit of attention to keep track, but the end result is that you’re left with an awesome story that keeps you guessing. This movie gets 4.8π/900º.

Holy sh*t!