Two Movie Reviews

broderic on December 12, 2004

It is getting harder to write a post when I know my writing skills are lacking. Is anyone really reading? I’ll continue on, because I am trying to better my writing skills. In this post, I will share my thoughts on two recent films, Closer and Ocean’s 12. I am remiss that I didn’t share my thoughts on Closer the past week, because I saw it last weekend. Ocean’s 12 I saw yesterday.

Closer. This was originally a play and it felt like one. Lots of dialogue and witty reparte between the characters. Each of them, I did not like. Yet, the movie kept me interested because I wanted to find out what happens to each. Who ends up with whom? The breakthrought performance was turned in by Clive Owen, but his character was a schmuck. Unlikeable and arrogant, his character ends up being the only winner. Julia Roberts has got some acting chops and it is likely that she has gained some fans for her acting rather than her supposed looks. Jude Law is Jude Law, a pretty boy. I did not understand his character’s motivation in sleeping around. It was as if the writer meant for the audience to not root for him. In the end his redemption was never to be because of Natalie Portman’s character. Was the audience supposed to find her attractive? I hated her in this. Many will write about the graphic portrayal of sex amonst adults that this film was about, and it was the most frank depiction of sex outside of a porno. This film could be thought of as an intellectual porno for the mind without the graphic display of nude bodies fucking.

Ocean’s 12. What was the heist in this? There wasn’t one, because the main heist was used as a backdrop to a contest between thieves. I found it rediculouse with its plot twists around plot twists. I still don’t understand what happened. In the first Ocean’s flick, it was about the thieves. In this one, the band of thieves is giving short play and it is about the skullduggery and back stabbing of the bad guys. Is there no honor amongst thieves? Frankly, there are huge holes in the plot. Why, for instance, do they continue with the job when they already know the outcome. This was a mediocre sequel to an already mediocre remake.

In summary: Closer – 3 of 5 stars. Ocean’s 12 – 2 of 5 stars.

Check in later as soon I shall write my end of year lists.

Another great episode of the Amazing Race

broderic on December 8, 2004

Tues. 9:00 PM. CBS. The Amazing Race. It always has me on the edge of my seat. I am glad that this leg was a non-elimination leg. The elderly couple, Don and MJ stave off elimination for another day. Close call for Gus and Hera. These people have bad strategies. Choosing the slower detour is rather risky.

This leg occured in Dakar, Senegal. I liked when someone said that it sucks. I replied to the TV that they haven’t seen India yet.

Adam is an emo-boy. What a wuss. He’s damaged goods for Rebecca. I can’t wait for there elimination to see what each says and to see them on the CBS morning show. Will they still be seeing each other?

Wanted: A lightbulb

broderic on December 3, 2004

The NY Times publishes an article about Icelanders’ability to cope with the long dark winters of their native land. The article tries to state that for Icelanders during time of year the dark does not bother them so much. Of course if your people lived there for a thousand years, you would adapt and get used to it.

Software Design: Dependency Inversion Priciple

broderic on December 2, 2004

Robert Martin introduced the Dependency Inversion Principle as one of ten best practice object-oriented design principles in his seminal article, “Design Principles and Design Patterns.” In the article, Martin categorizes the Dependency Inversion Principle, along with the Open/Closed Principle, the Liskov Substitution Principle, and the Interface Segregation Principle, as a standard for well designed object-oriented classes. Besides these class based design principles, he also lists architecture of package design as a parameter to good design practices, which I won’t focus on here.

The Dependency Inversion Principle supports one of the main tenets of object-oriented design, abstraction. This principle inverts the logical dependency structure of an object-oriented program; concrete classes depend on abstract classes rather than abstract classes end depending on concrete, instantiated classes. Rather than high level modules specifically dependent on the implementation found in lower level modules, they rely on an abstract interface.

The Dependency Inversion Principle allows for flexible, robust designs. If the concrete classes only depend upon an abstract interface, then by swapping out different instantiated class objects, the concrete class can do act differently. Also relying on a minimal set of public methods provided by the abstract class, the fan-in and fan-out metrics will be minimized, and fat interfaces will not be too much of a problem. Relying on abstract classes also contributes to a more cohesive design, because many classes would be of the same type that they form a tighter logically cohesive package. Finally, relying on abstract classes produces a less coupled system. The number of dependencies is lower if concrete classes rely on only a few abstract classes. The concrete classes don’t have to physically include several instances of derived concrete classes, but just one dependency to an abstract classes.

Finally, the Dependency Inversion Principle is realized in the idea of component design. It is reflected in the motifs found in CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) and COM (Common Object Model). These specifications provide an interface to allow different objects or entities to communicate amongst themselves. They provide an interface, an abstract interface, for the programmer to write her program.

“Counting Bears Is Not Rocket Science”

broderic on December 2, 2004

Last night’s Amazing Race episode ended in the saddest elimination ever, IMHO. I tried to Tivo their interview this morning on CBS, but woke up late again. I thought they would show it at 8 rather than 7, but luckily they have it on the CBS website. Check the hotties out. They ruled. What I liked about them was that they were the least combatative team left in the race. They supported each other throughout. Now what’s left? A bunch of the anonymous model teams and the bickering, quarreling teams. I have never felt so angry that a team lost. I have rooted for teams, felt sad that some lost, but never so disappointed. Lena and Kristy ruled. What a good run for them I shall miss them. And it seems that everyone will too.

Down and out in Stockholm

broderic on December 1, 2004

The hotties have been eliminated. No!!! Why are the teams I root for always eliminated first. I think I had a thing for Christy, another cute brunette. They were did in by the last roadblock. Even reaching it in 5th place, they could not find the clue. Actually, Lena couldn’t but I feel disappointed. Who to root for in the next round?

Not quitting her day job

broderic on November 30, 2004

Before hitting it big on Lost, Evangeline Lily, she was the spokesmodel for LiveLinks, a phone dating service. Her contract must not have run out yet, because they are still airing these commercials. I just saw the Christmas one. She’s still a cutie.

Cult Movies

broderic on November 28, 2004

This has been going around the blogosphere. Saw it here from a link at APCB. Since I like movies, a lot, I’ll bore you with my experiences with these cult movies. Bold items are the ones I have seen.

1 This Is Spinal Tap: Funny, funny movie. As many great quotes as any. “This goes to 11.”

2 The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Saw it when I was a young’un. Three times. Participated in the fun. But now it is just ridiculous.

3 Freaks: Alex Winters. ‘Nuff said.

4 Harold And Maude

5 Pink Flamingos: John Waters is a local legend in Baltimore. Grossest scene ever. I could take it or leave it.

6 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Scares me too much.

7 Repo Man: The movie soundtrack was all the rave when I was a youn punk. “You find one in every car.”

8 Scarface: Going to the U at the tail end of the 80s. This was a classic to watch.

9 Blade Runner: This is the movie which all sci-fi movies derive from. Classic.

10 The Shawshank Redemption

11 Five Deadly Venoms: Kung fu theatre rulez! They should bring it back for lazy saturdays.

12 Plan 9 From Outer Space

13 Brazil: Prescient. We are all going to die via paperwork.

14 Eraserhead

15 Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

16 The Warriors: Why aren’t the gangs of today like this. Baseball furies.

17 Dazed And Confused: “I love high school girls. The older I get. They stay the same age.”

18 Hard-Boiled

19 Evil Dead II

20 The Mack

21 Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure: The Alamo’s basement!

22 Un Chien Andalou

23 Akira: I still don’t get it.

24 The Toxic Avenger

25 Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory: Oompa-Loompas! Ahh HBO in the summer at OC.

26 Stranger Than Paradise

27 Dawn Of The Dead: The original is still the best of the zombie flicks.

28 The Wiz

29 Clerks

30 The Harder They Come

31 Slap Shot

32 Re-Animator: The head that gives head.

33 Grey Gardens

34 The Big Lebowski: I’m the dude.

35 Withnail and I

36 Showgirls

37 A Bucket Of Bood

38 They Live: Rowdy Roddy Piper taking out alien invaders. What else do you need. “I came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I’m all out of bubblegum.”

39 The Best Of Everything

40 Barbarella

41 Heathers: The young Jack Nickelson.

42 Rushmore: Bittersweet. Loved it.

43 The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension: Saw this when I was younger, I don’t remember much, but it must have been fun. As was all movies when I was a kid.

44 Love Streams

45 Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story

46 Aguirre, The Wrath of God

47 Walking And Talking Nicole Holofcener

48 The Decline Of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years

49 Friday

50 Faces of Death, Vol. 1

51 Monty Python and the Holy Grail : Funnier than the number 1 movie on this list. It gets funnier everytime.

52 A Clockwork Orange: Ultraviolence and a little of the old in-n-out, too.

53 Mommie Dearest

54 The Princess Bride: Good but not great IMHO.

55 Swingers: My movie. Defines the nineties for me. I saw a weekday matinee. Several business men, some college kids, and I. I think I was the only one laughing throughout the movie. Classic.

56 UHF

57 Valley of the Dolls

58 Fight Club: I shall follow the first rule of the fight club.

59 Dead Alive (aka Braindead)

60 Better Off Dead

61 Donnie Darko

Sideways

broderic on November 27, 2004

Caught the latest Alexander Payne movie, Sideways. You can sum this movie up in one sentence, “Swingers for the over 40 crowd.” You heard that right. Swingers. Instead of hapless actors roaming around LA looking for fun, you have a mid-40’s oenophile looking for the next bottle of pinot noir. It has the same loose, enjoyable feel. It has the same mopey main character. Can he find love? Or at least some hapiness with his life? This movie follows his journey through a week when he treats his best friend to the Napa valley before his wedding. I liked it, but was a bit too long. Surely, this film will be a critical darling.

4 of 5 stars.