March '14 Movies Digest

Some heart and some action!

The Lego Movie

Wits: 4.5/5
Story: 4.5/5
Perception: 5/5
Rating: 4.5/5

You don't need to be a fan of these plastic bricks to enjoy this movie, but if you're one, like me, this is a fantastic ride. First of all, visually it is brilliant and flawless, and the soundtrack gets to you easily. Then the story has enough twists and turns and a nice sentiment to it. And finally, the choice of hints is quite cool. In the end, it really make you think about buying new Legos.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Acting: 5/5
Story: 5/5
Perception: 4/5
Rating: 4.5/5

Another Wes Anderson delight! Probably one of his most elaborate stories yet, with a bunch of unexpected situations, that are magnificently delivered by the cast filled with A-listers: the concierges' scene was absolutely brilliant! And for some nitpicking: around the half of the movie the pace really slows down, more than I've expected, but then it catches up well enough to recover the lost ground.

300: Rise of an Empire

Acting: 3.5/5
Story: 2.5/5
Perception: 3/5
Rating: 3/5

It is better than what I was expecting but far behind of its predecessor. First of all, tackling the bigger picture of the Greek-Persian wars made them take a lot more liberties and not only on a detail level as it was done with 300; and that disturbs me a little. Secondly, it is basically the same thing, so the 'wow!' effect is no longer there. And thirdly, the visual modifications like the gallons of fake-muddy blood and giving up the 300 tri-color theme also made it less appealing. Luckily the two main protagonists are good enough to save some of it.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Acting: 3.5/5
Story: 4.5/5
Perception: 3.5/5
Rating: 4/5

And with this one the full-length previews for the Avengers 2 are done. And as expected it's more grounded than Thor 2 and Iron Man 3, even though it also got its fair share of witty lines.Still, the veterans acting qualities aren't enough to counterbalance the main boy-scout attitude. Also, the filming style was a bit 'bipolar' at times, quickly switching from nice panoramic short to strange angles and shaky-cam. Anyway, the huge plus of the movie is definitely the story which is intricate and twisted to the right amount. Now, I'm waiting to see the series tie-in.



!!!Somewhat of Spoilers below!!!

Bonus on The Winter Soldier: Even Marvel admits Hawkeye's uselessness. This would have been a good opportunity to develop the B-grade Avenger, with all the S.H.I.E.L.D fuss, but instead they chose to introduce another character. Let's hope he'll be more fun than Cap.  

On a side note: It's a known fact that some major characters are missing from the Avengers because of studios' rights. But I wasn't expecting the feud to start over Magneto's offspring: the Maximoff siblings. Moreover, between the two of them I would have gone for Wanda aka The Scarlet Witch, but as it seems it's Pietro (Quicksilver) who's for the moment credited for both X-men: DoFP and Avengers 2. On top of all this both actors come from the Kick-Ass franchise and once again Marvel/Disney has the upper hand since they scored the protagonist compared to the friend that wasn't even recast for the second installment. Still Fox has Sir Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy and...a certain Hugh Jackman. Anyway, let's see how this match develops. 

Ahoy! Trailer crossing the bows!

Some days ago the trailer for the next PotC: On Stranger Tides was released to open seas, so as a fan of Captain Jack Sparrow and a victim of franchises, I'll pass it on too and then speak my mind...

First of all, everyone agrees that the first movie was the best of them all, and everytime a new one is out you just hope that it will return to that initial quality. The third one had a slight chance of doing so but unfortunately this one will surely not make it. I don't know if this is only caused by the arrival of a new director, or just because the whole team couldn't come up with anything comparable to the Curse of the Black Pearl, but there's something fishy about it.
Starting with the whole irony that at first Jack was supposed to be the surprise bonus, who now ends up being the main reason for the cash inflow. The character that really makes the movie today was criticized by the Disney rulers for destroying it back in the good old Aztec Gold days. Moreover, in this trailer the impression is that the entire story is built around him.
Which brings me to the second part, that I must sadly admit: without the two cheesy lovebirds there is no Pirates of the Caribbean, just one hell of an entertaining brilliantly played deranged pirate and his counterpart who has annoyed me from the start (with a couple of exceptions, like the final battle in At Worlds End); there's a major cast/concept alteration, so change the title.
This cast alteration generated another issue: no lovebirds, no romantic theme; no romantic theme, not a Hollywood entrance hit. So they draw out the good looking latin-blooded actress bonus card and it seems to me that they stuck it on Jackie-boy, which is outrageous. Sparrow shouldn't have an obvious female companion(?), and Penelope Cruz even less, she's not the type of character for the movie, silly-mad and really mad aren't quite compatible in my opinion. Plus, I'm still looking for a film where I could find Cruz interesting (some help? and don't say Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona...she's Shutter Island mad in there and not in the good way).
On the other hand Black Beard should do a pretty good job, the role going well McShane's type. 
Thus being said, I'm looking forward to being proven wrong in all the bad aspects listed above, only 5 more months to wait.   

Ode to Chemistry - IYC 2011

Next year it's the International Year of Chemistry, and I consider this to be a huge opportunity for this field of activity to get a better image.
Nowadays the public opinion mostly ignores or associates this branch of science with all the bad stuff in the world. Well, it is time to spread out the word and bring out the coolness in Chemistry. As a chemist I can assure you that the opportunities in this domain are limitless and that without Chemistry, all the commodities that are today taken for granted would not have been possible. A shortlist would be:

• Medical and Pharmaceutical advancements 
• Transportation
• Technical and Device Development
• Energy
• Food
• Constructions
• Cosmetics
• Quality of living

...and many more

You would probably bring up the Environmental issue, but that is like saying that the Nuclear Bomb is the fault of Atomic Physics. The thing is, Chemistry has the capacity to clean-up after itself (it already provides the tools, you know...), all that is needed is that the humans really take the situation seriously and change their views and behavior.
So, for all the Chemists out there, do your job well and be good lobbyists! and for the non-Chemists widen your perspective on this amazing Science!

Imperfect is the new Good

With a slight 10 days delay here comes my input on Imperfect Harmonies, Serj Tankian's new album.

You might have guessed (or already known) that he's the vocalist from S.O.A.D. If you've listened to his first solo album Elect the Dead, you'll feel a change in style; if you haven't, FYI it is a back to the roots of SOAD.
Getting to this piece, the title suits the content entirely. It is a mix of soughing notes, disturbed rhythms, a good voice, some metal touches and synthesizer add-ons. I can't say that it was what I expected, but I'm impressed of the end-product; musical evolution can still go the right way. 
My SOAD background makes me mostly enjoy tracks like Left of Center (and therefore all of the previous album) but this one has a new harmony going on and deserves at least a full listening. It might appeal to you, System of a Down fan or not.

900 Eclipses

After a week of inactivity I return with a music related post, because today A Thousand Suns, the new Linkin Park album, is out.

I noticed some evolution in their sound, it's got a more emotional touch to it, but that doesn't mean this is an improvement.
Actually from the 10-12 real tracks, 2-3 are bearable, the rest is borderline wimping. It is sad when you think that the best album of a quite famous band, with a 10 years plus career,  is their first one, but that's the truth. Hybrid Theory was good, the others had respectful parts but never reached the initial force. This one is almost useless in my tracklist, since it lacks the original punch; because the purpose of LP in my music collection was to blow off steam after a long day...well, can't do that anymore, can I.

Disappointment!

$$$-madness

The biggest and greediest movie BS in history. I didn't think much of Cameron's originality but he sewed all the stolen concepts pretty well to make the blockbuster Pandorean story.
So after that well molded forgery, he got to the next level: bloody highway theft. Not only that he has the first 2 Box-Office pictures, but also wants to rip-off everyone by releasing a long version of Avatar in theaters. 8 minutes were added to the film, and the price is even higher that a normal 3D movie (ex. in France it's about 15€ - full price) because it is only IMAX 3D.
I find this outrageous for all the people who bought the DVD, one of its purposes being to reveal the director cuts. There are 3D TVs now; it's almost as real as in cinema! These people should ask to pay only the IMAX extra, because 8 min on a 160 min movie is 5%, that means almost nothing, there are no changes in the story whatsoever.
I wonder if the guys who came with the idea were stuck that much in financial fertilizer that they wanted to suck every cent they could from the franchise. They have invented the infinite sequel (the infiniquel): let's add the time the actors spent in the bathroom and make a big campaign about it...
Also I heard that a real sequel might see the light of day, and that's just another BS. It took him 15 years to come up with unobtainium what will there be after only a couple more?!?!. This story has been told, Jakesully has nothing more to say, not that he had much to say in general, use the technology to create something new, and original this time; change the color theme for instance!

A different kind of symphony

To keep last week's trend, this Wednesday will be a music dedicated one also.
This time I'll briefly talk about the new Apocalyptica album 7th Symphony, which came out two days ago.

Sincerely, I liked it. It is clear that they've evolved from the group that played Metallica songs on cellos and that the drums, added a while back, complete their surprising and wicked sound.
I prefer mostly the pure instrumental stuff, the voiced pieces being a bit less impressive, getting close to any other alternative band. But this is a general pattern with all the albums; still there were some exceptions over the years.
For those interested, there's even a touch of death metal in it with the lead of Gojira on one of the songs. (hope I didn't mess up the genres because the guttural singing is not my thing)
So if you enjoy metal on cellos give it a try, it won't hurt.

Iron...Cat-Lady

On Aug 16th, the new Iron Maiden album was shot into space: The Final Frontier

Yesterday, I got my hands on a copy...actually my ears, and unfortunately I wasn't quite thrilled of what I heard. I know that it's been a while that people say that Maiden serve the same dish passed through a different blender, but the last one had been quite OK in my book. This time on the other hand, it's just not enough. I mean even for my unprofessional hammer, anvil and stirrup the new album sounds like A Matter of Life and Death all-round, which is claimed to be a mesh of other stuff from before. It's more than the same dish, it has even been chewed up for you.
The album follows the same 10 track pattern, last one being some sort of preachy moral piece which start with a soft intro. 
The skill is still there, no doubt about it, but there's no more soul left, not to mention the inspiration. All that remains are some stretched-out tracks that are only impressive thanks to the technique.
I'll listen to a good Piece of Mind or even Fear of the Dark, to wash out the disappointment.

Moving Tunnel

China has the world's largest population, and as any other population, the Chinese people need means of transportation. Therefore, they will soon get the biggest buses....so big that the other vehicles will go underneath the giant. 

This concept is called 3D Express Coach.
The bus will be 4-4.5 m high and could carry about 1200-1400 passengers.
The distance between the "floor" and the road would be about 2 m, so cars could easily get under. Trucks on the other hand will be detected upon approach and a warning would be emitted. The same thing will happen for cars getting too close to the wheels.
The "moving tunnel" will be passenger-fed through the doors in the ceiling.

The even better part is that the vehicle will be powered by electrical and solar energy for a top speed of 60 km/h; and their use would reduce traffic jams.

The less fun part starts here: the new bus will also need new adapted roads, because I find it difficult to see this one take a roundabout or a 90° turn. So all the routes have to be built, and this could be less environment friendly.
Anyway, it seems that the works for the first strip of road will start by the end of 2010, so with the Chinese determination the 3D will be ready to roll by 2012.

You Will Be Unprepared - Sucker Punch (2011)

The other day Jeremy was talking about a movie coming out next year, Sucker Punch. So, here's the trailer :

It takes place in a mental institution, where the patients (for what I could figure out, mostly female ones) regress inside their subconscious and create their own world were they "fight against the oppression".
The movie is directed by Zack Snyder, known for 300 and Watchmen. Personally I adored 300, but I found Watchmen a bit to slow; as it turns out from this trailer this one shouldn't have that problem.
Also, it's basically pure artistic action/violence in it's most attractive forms: fantasy, war-zone, SF, gangster-style...and with some charming center characters. I guess that after the spartan muscle-sculptures more delicate human beings were called out to serve as entry magnets.
Anyway, I'll be looking forward for the long trailer, and probably the movie itself.

The WorldWideWeb in numbers

I got this video from a friend, and it's impressive:



There are 1.73 billion internet users (actually almost 2 billion today), compared to 1.1 billion undernourished people and 1.4 billion who don't have access to water (the same number as the email users).
In percentage terms the European continent is the most internetized one.
The social networking concept exploded about 5 years ago; today its greatest representative, Facebook, has 6 million views per minute...I wonder how many of them are during working hours... :p
Another phenomenon is YouTube, with an average of 182 videos/month, which means 6/day...that's about half an hour (at least these were 4 minutes well used)
A strong proof that something is wrong with this world is the fact that the most followed Tweeter user is...Ashton Kutcher (4.25 million people are nourished by his wisdom)

All this information flow has also its bad seeds: 80% of email is spam and 150 k zombie computers spawn each day; you could say that it's not much compared to the almost 170 million computers existing on the planet...but 150k today, 150k tomorrow and we get the computer version of Zombieland/I am Legend/ 28 Days After...or any other infected-mindless-walking-dead-based movie.

Ecologically speaking one Google search generates 7g of CO2, so in two clicks you get the same carbon footprint as an electric kettle. Actually, 2 small nuclear plants would be needed to power up all the Google servers worldwide.
Know that the "clean" information technology field is responsible for 2% of the greenhouse effect gas emissions.
Last sad fun-fact: a SecondLife avatar has the same yearly energy consumption as a Brazilian citizen (1752kWh).

So by reading this blog (one in 126 million) you add 0.2g CO2/s into the ecosystem, but now you're aware of it ;)

Go EUR Go!

today it's been 2 days in a row that the EUR : USD ratio got over the 1.3 cap. I'm glad that's all; hoping that this trend will go on.