Mission Impossible III

Mission Impossible III. Where’s the McGuffin? Where’s the McGuffin? Where’s the Rabbi.. McGuffin?

That is the movie in a nut shell.

While I went into the theatre hoping for some of that magical summer movie magic, this film did not deliver. It was more like the magic found on the boob tube. That can be the case since the director, JJ Abrams, was responsible for “Lost” and “Alias.” Speaking of which, I had the distinct feeling that if they spent anymore time at the IMF headquarters, they’d find Sydney Bristow somewhere in the back.

A lot of the tropes, Abrams used was straight out of his television series. For example, the opening sequence harkens back to Alias’s first episode. Whatever?!

2 of 5 stars

Two year blog-aversary

I didn’t do this last year, but today makes it two years since I started
up this blog. Now that there are readers, I hope they have the chance
to look through my archives to read all things BrowserMetrics.

Counterprogramming against MI-III

Is a movie about ghostly hauntings as scary as Tom Cruise spouting about Scientology? I don’t know, but I am damn sure wanting to find out this weekend. Or when I get some free time. Definitely soon.

Based on true events that took place in Tennessee during the 1800s, An American Haunting tells the story of the only documented case in U.S. history (validated by the State of Tennessee) in which a spirit caused a person’s death. With over 20 books written on the subject, and a town that still lives in fear of the spiritës return, the story is terrifying.

The Sentinel

The Sentinel is one of those movies that suck, but doesn’t suck too much truly hate. The plot is predictable (the mole was easy to pick out), the acting was over the top (Micheal Douglas?! wha?!), and the suspense was not there. Yet it was an enjoyable hour and a half. I really don’t remember much about the movie. It will be another movie in the long list that I am going to be accruing this summer. So, the summer movie season may turn out to be okay after all.

3 of 5 stars.

But wait. I just had to say that it must suck to be this presidential administration. Look at the movies that have come out. V for Vendetta. American Dreamz. Now this flick. Each taking a potshot at the current administration with The Sentinel actively fantisizing the assassination of the president. When you’re unpopular, it makes it easy to kick you once you’re down.

Driving guitars, yeahh!

Your Theme Song is Back in Black by AC/DC

“Back in black, I hit the sack,
I’ve been too long, I’m glad to be back”

Things sometimes get really crazy for you, and sometimes you have to get away from all the chaos.
But each time you stage your comeback, it’s even better than the last!

Being film literate

Here’s a list put up by some dude who thinks that to be film literate
you need to have watched these 100+ movies. I have marked the ones that
I have seen with an asterisk. Some of the ones that I haven’t seen
surprise me. They are films that have a particular stature that it
seems I already know the plot and their major importance to film history
already. Maybe I should check them out. Also, I know I’ve seen bits
and pieces of a few more that I don’t remember about.I clock in about 60 or so movies. How about you?*2001: A Space Odyssey
* The 400 Blows
8 1/2
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
* Alien
All About Eve
* Annie Hall
* Apocalypse Now
* Bambi
* The Battleship Potemkin
The Best Years of Our Lives
* The Big Red One
The Bicycle Thief
* The Big Sleep
* Blade Runner
Blowup
* Blue Velvet
* Bonnie and Clyde
* Breathless
Bringing Up Baby
* Carrie
* Casablanca
Un Chien Andalou
Children of Paradise / Les Enfants du Paradis
* Chinatown
* Citizen Kane
* A Clockwork Orange
* The Crying Game
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Days of Heaven
* Dirty Harry
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
* Do the Right Thing
La Dolce Vita
Double Indemnity
* Dr. Strangelove
Duck Soup
* E.T. — The Extra-Terrestrial
Easy Rider
* The Empire Strikes Back
* The Exorcist
* Fargo
* Fight Club
* Frankenstein
* The General
* The Godfather, The Godfather, Part II
Gone With the Wind
* GoodFellas
* The Graduate
* Halloween
* A Hard Day’s Night
Intolerance
It’s a Gift
* It’s a Wonderful Life
* Jaws
The Lady Eve
* Lawrence of Arabia
* M
* Mad Max 2 / The Road Warrior
The Maltese Falcon
The Manchurian Candidate
Metropolis
Modern Times
* Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Nashville
The Night of the Hunter
* Night of the Living Dead
* North by Northwest
* Nosferatu
On the Waterfront
* Once Upon a Time in the West
Out of the Past
Persona
* Pink Flamingos
* Psycho
* Pulp Fiction
* Rashomon
* Rear Window
* Rebel Without a Cause
Red River
Repulsion
* The Rules of the Game
* Scarface
The Scarlet Empress
Schindler’s List
The Searchers
* The Seven Samurai
Singin’ in the Rain
Some Like It Hot
A Star Is Born
A Streetcar Named Desire
Sunset Boulevard
* Taxi Driver
The Third Man
* Tokyo Story
* Touch of Evil
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Trouble in Paradise
* Vertigo
* West Side Story
The Wild Bunch
* The Wizard of Oz

American Dreamz sucked

As promised from this post, my thoughts on American Dreamz.

Notice that it’s “my thoughts” now rather that a review. I am thinking on changing how I review the movies I watch, because they are not reviews that a Siskel Ebert would write, but just observations I had while exiting the theatre.

American Dreamz stunk. It tried to be satirical about current events, but it tried too hard. You can see the sweat on the forehead of the writer/director, Paul Weitz, as he told the story. He went about satirizing today’s issues, but did it in such a way, that it felt extremely heavy handed. You could not miss the point that he was trying to convey, because he was hitting you over the head with it every 5 minutes of the film. It stunk up the screen, oozed into the theatre aisles, and wafted its way to a seventh place opening weekend position.

We know that the current situation in America is fucked up. We know our president is a fuck up. We know that American Idol and reality shows reward the talentless, ruthless, insipid person. Why am I watching a movie about it?

It was so bad that I sympathized with the president. He could not be so dumb in real life (Yet he is!!!). It was bad that he made that dumb ass sympathetic. This current president sucks too much to be made sympathetic. He’s just plain pathetic. Weitz should never had made his President Staton a sympathetic character, since the current occupant of the White House does not deserve sympathy.

This only adds ammunition to defenders of Bush that say there is a vast left conspiracy trying to make the president look bad. It’s not a conspiracy if it’s out in the open.

1 of 5 stars.