"Circles" and "Pentacles" are both powerful magical symbols so it only seems reasonable to select Circle Of Pentacles as the fractal image for the review of Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince. WARNING: the review will be quite short.-What can you say about the sixth movie in a series that hasn't already been said? Not a lot (hence this very short review). Fans who love the series will keep loving it and turn out in droves to see the movie. (Worldwide audiences boosted the latest "Potter" offering to 100 Million in the first day). If you aren't a fan you won't go (unless forced) and you won't care one way or another. I'm an unabashed Harry Potter fan so I'm likely to stick with the series to the bitter end (even if it becomes complete and utter crap).-Make no mistake--Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince is hardly "crap" in any way, shape or form. The tone is dark and foreboding (show by the muted colors of the movie) and, while there is humor, it is low-key and none too prominent. Sadly, it is getting harder and harder with each passing movie to believe three leads as teenagers (Rupert Grint and Emma Watson in particular). Still everyone does a fine job and you can forgive their age. As usual the FX and costumes are first class and wonderfully realized--perfect for the movie. -The movie runs over two hours but it felt rushed through most of the movie. Still, considering the source material, if they tried making the whole book into a movie it would be a twelve hour miniseries. Even so, I often wished I had re-read the book before seeing the movie as I found myself going "say what?" in spots. Several subplots were dropped and many of the secondary characters got only the briefest time on screen or failed to make an appearance at all. (Again, I understood there were time constraints to deal with.) Fans will understand and forgive--but anyone else probably wouldn't want to try jumping on the bandwagon at this point.-FINAL GRADE: B+
A review of the latest "Ice Age" movie requires a fractal with "cold" or "ice in the title: this one has both so enjoy Cold As Ice as today's cookie.-Movie makers know not to met with a good things (or at least something that brings in the dollars). For good or ill, Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs doesn't depart from the formula that made this franchise such a huge success. You got your sitcom characters, plot and dialog, gorgeous animation and a few "danger" sequences thrown in--in other words everything you liked (or disliked) about the first two "Ice Age" movies. All your favorite characters are back with a new character (more on that later) and dinosaurs too! What more could one want?-Incipient father Manny the Mammoth (voiced by Ray Romano--reprising his character from Everybody Love Raymond) is going a bit crazy waiting for his mate Ellie (Queen Latifa) to give birth. Diego the Sabertooth Tiger (Dennis Leary) is worried about getting older and Sid the Sloth (John Leguizamo) has his heart in the right place but his head firmly up his--you knwo... Sid finds some eggs and decides to raise them as his own--but they are T-Rex eggs. Manny tells Sid to take the eggs back but he keeps them and when the eggs hatch--he has three hungry baby T-Rexs! Only then does Sid decide to take the little critters home--a "world within a world" filled with dinosaurs and wild adventure. Scrat the hapless squirrel returns for more hapless adventures with his acorn and this time he has a girl squirrel to contend with: these wordless sequences are probably the best and most original part of the movie. -Buck the weasel (voice of Simon Pegg--crossing Captain Ahab and Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter) serves as guide to the hapless crew from the ice age world above. (He's also from the world above but has lived in the new world below for years.) He's completely and apologetically bonkers--and probably the best thing about the third offering. Sadly, Buck won't be joining the "Ice Age" crew for a fourth installment if/when they make it.-If you liked the first to "Ice Age" movies you'll probably enjoy the third installment. I found it pleasant enough but I didn't love it. (The sitcom characters, plot and dialog are kind of getting to me after three movies...) The movie is pretty and harmless fun for the whole family. Parents can take their kids and enjoy the gags without worrying about having to explain some jokes. You don't need to run to the multiplex to see this but it's a pleasant diversion for a hot weekend afternoon.-FINAL GRADE: B
Whenever I comment on matters (even remotely) religious I usually end up going to the "Stained Glass" fractal series to pick the image for the post. This time I chose Stained Glass 59 because it's black and white (like one of Michael Jackson's songs). Surely you didn't think I could resist commenting on the circus that is the "King of Pop's" Memorial, did you?-Let me begin with a confession: I'm not much of a Michael Jackson fan. I like his music enough that I don't change stations when one of his songs comes on the radio (but not enough to buy one of his albums). I appreciate what he did for the art of music videos and "breaking the color barrier" on MTV. That being said, I was saddened by the strange and scandalous turn his life took--not to mention his seeming desire to turn himself into a living, breath "anime" character. Like every other person on the planet who wasn't living under a rock I knew way too much about his personal life (and I blame both him and the mass media for that). I was a bit saddened and surprised to hear of his death on June 26th just on the eve of his big comeback tour. I wasn't really surprised by the ridiculous media coverage--at least at first. But now a week has passed and it's still "all Michael Jackson ALL THE TIME on pretty much any channel you turn to.-That was over a week ago. Today ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC are broadcasting the Memorial Service (which seems a bit like overkill to me). CNN and Fox News are also broadcasting the thing. It's almost as if a real "King" had died! (Elvis Presley didn't get near this much coverage when he was buried!) Galavision, Telemundo and Univision AREN'T broadcasting the ceremony (no big surprise there) but, then again, neither is E! Entertainment Television--the network most likely to cover something of this nature. (They aren't even running any Michael Jackson-related specials. -Maybe I've become jaded or hard-hearted but this nonstop coverage is REALLY starting to annoy me! I don't need to hear extended chats with backup dancers who worked with "MJ" on the Thriller video (and never saw him again) or the girl who got to go out with him when he was on The Dating Game when he was fourteen! I wouldn't be fighting for a spot at the funeral (and wouldn't even go to Staples Center if someone gave me a ride!) Of course at this point in my life I wouldn't do that for anybody (but I'm embracing my curmudgeonliness). Why the furor for a guy who just made records? It just leaves me baffled... -I can respect him as an artist but the whole thing is just so completely and utterly over the top that I can't even begin to fathom it. We have real problems that are getting no attention: California is still without a budget, North Korea is firing missiles (and working on developing nuclear warheads) and the United States is still in the middle of an economic crisis of truly epic proportions and a mess in the Middle East that we may never get out of--and none of it gets covered. Even Sarah Palin's resignation barely registered on the news. There's something wrong with our news media (or us as consumers) if we allow this to happen. The Michael Jackson story is way past its expiration date. Time to let it fade away...-'nuff said.
I had several reasons for choosing today's fractal image. 1) the image, like the movie, is largely "blue". 2) the action takes place mostly over one night. 3) there's a wedding involved (hence the cross). 4) Robyn and I got "crossed up" at the theater. So--because of all that, I chose NightStar as the fractal for my review of The Hangover.-The Hangover was expected to do OK but not "boffo" business at the Box Office. The movie turned out to get good reviews and was Number One for two weeks running (against some pretty stiff competition). Still, I knew this wasn't Robyn's kind of movie so I resigned myself not to see it. And then there was yesterday...-We had Edwards discount tickets (bought Friday at Costco). We were planning to see the latest "Ice Age" movie so we headed off to our favorite theater at Corona Crossings. Imagine our surprise when we discovered the movie wasn't playing there! (Thank You Press-Enterprise idiots who didn't deliver our paper for THREE DAYS!) There was only one movie we hadn't seen that we could kindasorta agree on. That was The Hangover: we bought our tickets, went inside and hoped for the best. It has been out for almost a month but there were still a few other people in the audience. (This becomes important later.)-The story is relatively simple: groom Doug Billings (Justin Bartha) goes off to Las Vegas with his three Friends--"smooth operator Phil (Bradley Cooper) whipped Stu (Ed Helms) and Alan (Zach Gallifanakis) who has a whole host of unfunny problems. Phil, Stu and Alan wake up in a spectacularly trashed suite to find Doug missing with them having no clue as to what happened. What follows is an extended series of painful vignettes that simply aren't funny.-None of the characters are particularly likable and the jokes and situations simply aren't that funny. Yes, we cringed a lot--both we both managed only a could of very small chuckles. The language is VERY blue and the physical humor is crass and gross. (There was way too much "butt" humor at the expense of fat and old people--although being both things I may be particularly sensitive.) Ken Jeong (as Mr. Chow) played a character that I couldn't decide was more offensive to gays or Asian nerds. (IMHO both groups should sue him and the movie for defamation of character--it was that bad.) You know you're in a sad situation when the only (halfway) likable character is a hooker (played by Heather Graham). At least there was some half-way coute stuff running with the closing credits.-Robyn and I loathed this movie so much we would have walked out half way through had we not had people on both sides of us). Still, we must have been in the minority: the theater was half full and everyone else seemed to be laughing a lot. I've enjoyed movies like Wedding Crashers and even Zack And Miri Make A Porno so obviously I'm no prude. Dunno what anyone else saw in the movie but I thought it was complete and utter crap.-FINAL GRADE: F+
I picked Jester as today's fractal image mainly for one reason--the Sarah Palin resignation thing seems completely crazy to me. (There's just no other word to use.)-So yesterday (July 3) Sarah Palin announced she would not seek re-election as Governor of Alaska when her term ends in eighteen months. Further she said she intended to resign the post in a few weeks and turn the job over to the Lieutenant Governor. At first I thought THIS IS ABSOLUTELY CRAZY! Later in the day I saw a commentary on MSN (sorry, I don't remember the author's name and it has since been replaced) who called it "shrewd" and said he thought it would be the opening shot of her run for President in 2012. Since I'm willing to consider pretty much ANYTHING that got me thinking--what would reason would she (or any Politician for that matter) have for resigning mid-term? Here's what I came up with...-1) A FAMILY HEALTH OR RELATIONSHIP CRISIS. This one is obvious: if your spouse, or God forbid your child, should come down with a life-threatening illness it makes sense. Likewise if the marriage is falling apart it only makes sense of her to resign (although it would also make sense to give some clue as to what's going on since the story is going to come out anyway.-2) SCANDAL. Sarah Palin survived "Troopergate" and her daughter's out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Could something else, something much worse, be out there? I don't know but if there is we'll find out soon enough... -3) CAN'T TAKE THE PRESSURE. A high-profile life comes with a great deal of scrutiny and comment. David Letterman's joke at the expense of the Palin daughter was out-of-order and he apologized (fairly sincerely it seems to me) but Palin's reaction was so completely over the top that she just embarrassed herself. You have to admire the woman for defending her daughter (but she put the girl in the public eye to begin with. What did she expect?)-4) RUNNING FOR HIGHER OFFICE. I've tried to wrap my head around the idea of quitting mid-term to run for a higher office being a "good" thing but I simply can't. Quitting gives political opponents of BOTH parties tons of ammunition to use against you at a later date. (I can see the ads now: "Sarah Palin--America doesn't need a quitter...") Both John McCain and Barak Obama kept their Senate seats and managed to run for President at the same time: how difficult would it be for her to retain the Governorship--especially considering the fact that she has PLENTY of time until the next election.-Maybe I've been steeped in my liberal values too long but I just can't see this making sense in any way, shape, form or color. Sarah Palin fans (of which there are many--God help us all) will find some way to excuse this frankly bizarre behavior. Still, anyone with half a brain is sure to see this for what it is--Palin taking another step on the road to Crazyville.-'nuff said.-
"Circles" and "Pentacles" are both powerful magical symbols so it only seems reasonable to select Circle Of Pentacles as the fractal image for the review of Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince. WARNING: the review will be quite short.
