Shutter Island

-No spoilers-

Leonardo Dicaprio plays a U.S. Marshal investigating the disappearance of a murderer at a prison for the criminally insane.

It’s been quite a while since I have been kept on the edge of my seat in a movie theater. I do recall giving Avatar a 9/10 just a few days ago but that high score does include at least two points for the never before seen visual effects. Shutter Island thankfully does not require the wearing of uncomfortable and eye straining 3D glasses. It relies only on a great story and the masterful hand of Martin Scorsese behind the camera.

While Avatar can, unfortunately, be adequately described by the one word “awesome” Shutter Island requires a bit more vocabulary to do it justice.

I guess you would call it a dramatic thriller mainly. It sucks you into the story right away and you spend the whole film sharing the claustrophobic atmosphere of the island with the two marshals investigating the escaped murderer. There are some frightening scenes but this is in no way a cheap horror flick. Shutter Island is dripping in grade A eeriness. The suspense, tension and delightfully creepy mood are very genuine and made me feel like a kid again. That is to say that I found myself being completely immersed in the experience. It was able to break through my grown up cynicism and give me a movie watching experience that I haven’t had for a long long time. It accomplished all of this without the use of a single black cat jumping out and screeching for no apparent reason. (It almost deserves an extra star just for that.)

I don't want to say too much more about the story, just that is a great one and is very well told. This is not a feel good heart warmer to be sure. Actually I usually steer well clear of the scary creepy stuff these days because most of it is cliche ridden cheap trick using garbage full of over exaggerated stereotypes. (The Mist)

Shutter Island is a rare gem among modern Hollywood lameness. Plus it's awesome.

A rock solid 9/10

Don’t read about it, don’t ask about it, just see it.

Avatar…

… because “Aliens Meets Dances With Wolves” is just too long.

A few weeks ago I cashed in my Aeroplan miles for, no not a trip to Hawaii, a gift card for…. wait for it……. ESSO… AND… yes there’s more… four movie tickets. Aren’t you just jealous? I used the first of the tickets tonight to go see Avatar. Yes, finally! Even with my pass I had to pay $3 since it was in 3D. Can you believe that after they charge you an extra $3 for a pair of 33¢ glasses they actually have the nerve to ask for them back after the movie. I just have to keep mine as a matter of principle.

Now just in case you have read my past movie reviews you might remember that I’m not a big fan of the current 3D fad but I must admit that Avatar would not have been the same without it. Avatar must be the most visually spectacular movie ever made. Still I hate wearing two pairs of glasses for nearly three hours and I still believe that the way the 3D glasses mess with your vision in order to produce the effect is not without a tradeoff in crispness, clarity and ease of viewing. It just feels like my eyes are working extra hard to compensate for the effect of the glasses. The claim that 3D movies make the experience more real doesn’t make sense to me because I don’t know about you but real life doesn’t look like I’m seeing it through a View-Master.

3D aside, Avatar is quite a good movie. If you consider the ground breaking imagery maybe it’s even a great movie. James Cameron sure does make ‘em big that’s for sure.

Another thing I’ve said before is that the most important thing for me in a movie is the story. The story of Avatar did often feel like a mix of Dances With Wolves, Aliens and The Matrix. I didn’t much care for the heavy handed left wing propaganda but it’s pretty much a given with Hollywood these days. If they don’t make you feel guilty about not living in a mud hut, driving a Prius and eating only locally grown, fair-trade, free-range, organic and humanely harvested vegetables then you just haven’t been paying attention.

Anyway on to the movie. Jake gets into his Avatar body and first thing you know he starts wandering off, an obvious sign that something bad will be happening shortly. Sure enough he runs into some kind of hammerhead hippo and other sundry baddies who then conveniently disappear for a very long time. Foreshadowing much?

Jake meets Neytiri, (she saves him from the hammerhead hippo etc.) the local alien hottie, and the frolicking in the trees begins. She teaches him the ways of her people, they fall in love and he basically becomes one of them. He even learns to ride a hippogriff but just when you think nothing could touch them way up there the Red Baron appears from out of the sun and gives them a good scare. Actually he was called something else, very hard to pronounce so I just thought of him as the Red Baron.

Did you notice that big scull the Navi had in their village looked like it could have belonged to one of the aliens in Aliens?

Eventually the inevitable battle between the nasty war mongering planet destroying and definitely non-Prius driving humans and the Navi begins. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the humans whole purpose for visiting the Navi’s planet was to obtain the rare and very precious material called Unobtainium. Shirley you can’t be serious Mr. Cameron. You make the biggest movie of all time and the whole plot revolves around and mineral called Unobtanium. What were you thinking? Harry Potter had its Philosopher’s Stone, Star Trek had its Dilithium crystals, even the new Star Trek had its Red Matter…oh wait that’s even worse, never mind.

All kidding and complaining aside there is much to like about Avatar. And not just the extra awesome graphics. The story, though quite familiar is compelling. Combined with truly magnificent visuals Avatar is a rare movie experience and is definitely a highly entertaining escape. I give it 9/10.


BTW if you haven’t already I recommend getting a SCENE card (in Canada at least). It’s a loyalty rewards program that will basically get you a free movie after you’ve paid for ten and 10% off on concession prices. So that brings the price of your popcorn from “absolutely ludicrous” all the way down to “completely ridiculous”.

iPod Prison - You Run Away

I have a forty five minute commute to work which, although kind of long, is actual open-road driving so I am not just stuck in traffic the whole way which would make it feel much longer I’m sure. Luckily for me I can attach my iPod to my car stereo and listen to music I have chosen myself without commercials or yappy DJs or even worse, useless traffic reports every ten minutes from some silly big city hundreds of kilometers away.

I love my little black iPod nano. It’s not the latest generation and it’s certainly not an iPhone but it still works just fine thanks. When I first got it several years ago I immediately filled it with all of my old CDs and some current stuff as well, shut of the radio for good and have been listening to it ever since. It has been so nice to be free of the commercials and other annoyances of radio and I have been quite happy with the 883 songs living inside my iPod. Lately though, I must admit I have been hitting the skip button more and more. How can this be? These are supposed to be most of my favourite songs. How could I possibly be tired of 883 songs? But I admit it is true, I need some new music.

Luckily, at work they have recently started playing music over the PA system. It’s not an actual music service, just a local radio station but it’s still much better than nothing. There aren’t even that many commercials to put up with once 9:00am comes and goes. I am finally hearing some new music again and I must admit it is refreshing. There is also that intangible feeling of knowing many other people are listening to the same song with you which is always kind of nice.

Actually the first few songs of the auto start free playlist at the bottom of my blog are there thanks only to my at work radio exposure. It’s been nice to feel like I’m catching up on some of the contemporary music again. I’ve finally broken out of my iPod prison. mp3 players are great and all but it’s nice to know radio is still there when you need it for some new inspiration.

…You didn’t honestly think I could get through an entire post about music without embedding yet another YouTube video now did you? This bit of information is particularly for the benefit of my family and friends who reside outside of Canada as they may not get to hear this Canadian song. Yet another recent discovery thanks to my at work radio exposure. It's by the Barenaked Ladies and is called You Run Away. I think it’s such a great song and just so easy to listen to. I hope you like it too.



BTW this song is not on my playlist because when I do a search to add it I come up with nothing. Otherwise it would be.

Olympic Opening Ceremonies

We begin with the trendy "zoom into the stadium from space" shot and then quickly cut to a video clip that looks suspiciously like a promotional video for a Travel BC.

As the president of the IOC is introduced and he enters the big wig box it is strangely mostly empty. A few minutes later the TV announcers let us know that the First Nations leaders (who had been granted head-of-state status hadn’t arrived yet and so due to protocol most of the others who should have been seated in the box were still waiting in the wings. Wow! Nice!

The next thing I can even remember is the parade of athletes. As usual it was the longest and least interesting part of the whole three hour show. In the olden days at least, the athletes acted like the world was watching them and acted accordingly. Nowadays they barely even acknowledge the audience as they are all so busy videoing themselves being videoed and texting their BFFs “like can u c me now? lol”. I can remember the days when maybe one or two athletes would discreetly take out a camera and grab a quick shot and then get right back to the important business of being on worldwide TV. Now they’ve all got their cameras out front and center from the moment they enter the stadium. I don’t like it.

The national anthem was sung by a very good singer but I guess my thinking on how a national anthem should be sung is different from most of the world. I remember the Salt Lake Olympics when the Tabernacle choir sang the anthem and the NBC announcers were very impressed and commented “that’s the way an anthem should be sung” and I agreed totally. It was sung the way it was written. It was powerful and moving. I really don’t care for these divas who take the opportunity to showcase their own particular interpretation of the song and change it all up. Nope, didn’t care for it.

At some point along the way some guy comes out and does his version of the “I Am Canadian” commercial. Way too preachy.

Did you notice we were able to hear Brian Adams sing the first couple of lines of his duet with Nelly Furtado even though he hadn't raised his mic to his mouth yet? Hmmmmm...

In the olden days Canada was a colony of the British Empire and therefore had someone called a Governor General. This person was the representative of the King or Queen and was probably a relatively important person in the grand scheme of things. Today Canada still retains the position of GG but as Canada has been an independent country for several years now the GG position is completely symbolic and the holder of said post has no actual power. This seemed to change a bit when they started appointing TV personalities to the post. Remember that Adrienne Clarkson lady.
She totally let her pompous new title go to her head and started showing up at everything, giving her opinion like anyone really cared and all that. This delusional assumption of actual power has continued with the current GG, George Michael or John Michael or whatever her name is. Sorry but just I don’t want some former TV presenter opening my Olympics thank you very much.

The artsy and computer generated portion of the show was cool but forgettable. I kind of liked the whales. Was that Peter Pan over some barley?

The final disappointment and ultimate fail was the torch itself. How can you let something THAT important malfunction? Somebody is SO fired? And what’s with sending 99 out into the rain for a way too long back of the pick-up ride down darkened streets to light the “other” torch. Talk about anti-climactic. Lame, lame and lame!

For me, the highlight of the opening ceremonies and the only thing that made the whole thing worth watching and yes, it did make it all worth while was the brilliant singing of kd lang. I have had her rendition of Hallelujah at the 2005 Juno awards in my YouTube favourites for a long time now. Talk about a powerful soulful performance. Just brilliant!

And here it is. Hallelujah



I love the reaction of the audience, full of her music industry peers. They knew they had just witnessed a very special performance by a great talent. (I also love her reaction to their reaction.)

Don't You Hate It When...

you are enjoying a nice quiet little blog surf and all of the sudden someone's playlist autostarts and scares the methane out of you because you had your speakers turned up way too loud the night before listening to your own music and forgot to turn them down. Maybe it's just me but I think it takes a pretty great autostarting playlist to be better than none at all.

After being the victim of yet another unexpected melody tonight I have decided to join in with all the playlist perveyors and get in on a bit of payback (hey that's only one skinny letter away from playback) with my own hastily chosen and partially plagarized playlist.

Don't you also hate it when you can't find where they've hidden the player in their blog and you're frantically scrolling and searching for it to pause it because just reaching and turning down your speakers would somehow mean that they won.

By the way mine is at the very bottom. Feel free to pop down and shut it off if you haven't already.

Update Feb. 11
I have now disabled the autostart so... it won't anymore.

It’s Not What You Think

Nearly three years ago when I decided to start a blog one of the things that had me stumped was what to call it. I’m terrible at coming up with names for things and even thinking up a user name for an internet account has been known to take several hours for me. Having visited a few blogs it was clear to me that an awesome title was critical if one was to be taken seriously in the blogosphere.

In my quest for a blog title I remember even googling “clever blog titles” and in the process found out that I was not the only one trying to come up with a clever name for a new blog.

Then I guess it sort of struck me that there might be this website where all the blogs and in the world with only the most clever titles would be listed or where you could go for help in coming up with a spectacular name for your own blog. This imaginary website would be called “Clever Title Blogs Inc.”

Ever since starting my blog I it has always been in the back of my mind that people may not have really understood my title, I mean why would anyone be expected to understand the events and thinking that resulted in that name. I worry that they might think I supposed my blog to be clever or that my posts had clever titles or something like that. The reality is just the opposite. The name came as a result of an inability to come up with a good name. I finally just decided to make that clear to my readers, yes all three of you.

That's What I Said

Well maybe not in the exact same words but the general sentiment and implications of my last post way back in January appeared in news articles today.

Obama Calls for End to NASA’s Moon Program

Students failing because of Twitter, texting

I'm not saying I called it but...