The Number 23

movie iconI went and saw this movie Friday night. Up until Friday I was pumped to see this movie. The previews made it look so good (the point of previews, I know). It just seemed like it had a really good story and I thought Jim Carrey would be good in this type of thriller. I woke up Friday morning to see review after review bashing it. I was disappointed that the press was bashing the movie this much, especially since I was going to see it that night. So, on to what I thought of the movie…

The story wasn’t a bad story. It kept you interested and wondering what was really going on. The ending I think could have been better, but overall, the story wasn’t pretty decent. I think that if this was a book, it would have been a lot better. It reminds me of a Chuck Palahniuk (author of Fight Club) story that could have been developed so much more in print than it was on screen. Palahniuk would have made it a deeper story as well, showing how the main character was really just unhappy with his commercialized life, which is a common theme in Palahniuk’s writings. Jim Carrey was not bad in a thriller role. Though I use the term thriller loosely because there weren’t very many parts that made you jump or that genuinely surprised you. For those who have seen the movie, I didn’t buy his detective character. That just didn’t seem like a character he could pull off. The dog catcher/loving husband and father he pulled of very well. He just seemed a bit cheesy as the dark film noir detective. Speaking of darkness, this movie could have been a bit darker. It was directed by Joel Schumacher who I really don’t think of as a dark director. I mean, he directed Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. That’s not dark. That’s just stupid. Christopher Nolan or David Fincher would have been better directors for a story that is dark like this one is, but Schumacher didn’t do a terrible job. It was no Momento, but it was not Batman and Robin either. Overall I’d say this movie was just average, which is why many reviewers have been giving it a C grade. If I were you, I’d wait for it to come on DVD or cable/satellite.

Netflix vs Blockbuster Online

About a year ago I signed up for Blockbuster Online. I initially chose Blockbuster because I had a month free promotion code. After using them for about 6 months I decided to switch to Netflix. The reason why was because of 2 weeks free trial of Netflix and I wanted to compare the two services before making my decision of which I would keep. Now BB has introduced Total Access where I can return the movie directly to the store. I will compare the two services and try and determine which service I will continue to use.

Speed– Both Netflix and BB deliver movies usually next-day. They send it out and the next day I receive it. There is no clear winner in the speed of delivery here. Besides, this falls more in the hand of the post office than either company. Both have shipment centers in the St. Louis area. On movies that aren’t in the shipping center in St. Louis, they have to grab from another center. BB was faster at the deliveries that couldn’t be filled by my local center. Sometimes by a few days, which leads me to believe they may have more facilities. I could be wrong though.

Email Notifications– Both send out emails when movies have been shipped and received. The one thing I have noticed, and it bugs me a little bit, is that Netflix will notify me in the morning that a movie has been received but I don’t get a shipment email until late that night. With BB I would receive both emails within an hour of each other, usually.

Website– When I was using BB the website was horrible. It was slow, clunky, and overall a bad user experience. That is one of the reasons I left BB, because Netflix had the superior website making it easier to search, add, and remove movies from my queue. For months and months BB was touting their new website launch, but in the 6 months I was with them, it never launched. Their current website seems to be different, so maybe it’s finally up. I’d have to sign up again with BB to see it and test it out, which I may do this week.

Total Access– BB has, Netflix doesn’t. What is total access? I can return BB Online rentals to any store and even pick up a new movie. They didn’t offer this service when I had them and I’m sure they only added it to compete with Netflix. This is a major bonus if I go with BB Online. Of course, if I exchange the movie in store, that movie has to be returned to that store, causing me to make another trip to the store.

Envelopes– Yeah yeah, I’m comparing the envelopes. BB Online were much better. Though, this isn’t a deciding factor, I do find Netflix envelopes annoying. I mean, the annoying tape that is on the Netflix envelopes makes me wonder who designed it. BB rarely uses tape (in fact, the only time I had the annoying white tape circle on BB was when it was shipped from an alternative shipping facility AND it was an older movie.) They definitely have the better envelopes. Easier to open, not that I’m stressing out because I can’t open my Netflix movie.

Pricing– Same for both companies, though Netflix offers a 4 movie out at a time plan that BB doesn’t offer.

So, what is my decision? Do I go with convenience of returning to the stores or the better user experience via the websites? I might sign up with BB again just to see how their website has changed, then make my final decision.

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Tony vs. Paul

Tony vs. Paul

Caleb posted this over in facebook. I thought it was cool so I thought I’d share

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Snakes on a Plane

The unreleased movie Snakes on a Plane starring badass motherfucker Samuel L. Jackson is sure to be a cult classic. In fact, it already is, with shirts in stores like Hot Topic and parodies already floating around the net. The best one thus far has to be this video comedian Dave Coyne doing impressions of actors Christopher Walken, Jack Nicholson, Joe Pesci, and Robert Deniro, and muppet, Beaker doing casting auditions for the movie. This is hilarious, check it out.

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The Other Civil Rights Movement

I watched a movie tonight on HBO. What originally interested me in this movie was the fact that Michael Pena starred in it. Since his excellent role in Crash, I knew he would be an actor to look out for in more starring roles in the future. The movie I watched tonight was called Walkout. It is the story of a teacher (Pena) mentoring Chicano high school students protesting injustices in the East L.A. public schools in 1968 which led to a series of walkouts. To say the least, the movie was excellent. The first 5 minutes of the film brought up some great points about history.

The 1968 classroom headed by Sal Castro (Pena) questioned where Chicano history was in the textbooks. Almost 40 years later, one must still wonder where it is. Rarely do you read about the Chicano civil rights movement in history texts, the same movement that spread across the country and help raise Chicano college enrollment from 2% to 25% over the few years following the High School walkouts and also helped stop the injustices and help make Chicano schools more equal. Edward James Olmos did this story great justice with his direction and production of this movie allowing millions to see and experience a Civil Rights movement that many never knew existed. I implore anyone who is interested in history, civil rights, and more importantly, human rights, to watch this movie.