It was a nice sunny, but cool day. It was great for biking.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Sin City
Based upon the graphic novels by Frank Miller, Sin City is a film noir mixed with some ridiculous fantasy elements. Sin City is a world where it's perpetually night time. Sin City is about three separate stories that occassionally intertwine.
One story is about Bruce Willis playing a detective who is trying to save Jessica Alba's life from a nasty disgusting yellow pervert who likes raping little girls. When the little 11 year old girl grows up, she develops into the beautiful Jessica Alba. The little girl falls in love with Willis after he saves her life. The pervert captures her again when Alba grows up. He says she's a little old for his tastes, but he's obsessed with raping her. Willis punches the hell out of him until he's nothing more than a bloody pulp. Bruce Willis and Jessica Alba?! Come on! That's just wrong. I guess Willis realizes this in the end, 'cuz he shoots his own brains out.
The second story is about a fugly tough dude who had sex with a hooker. He was so happy a gorgeous whore had sex with such an ugly guy like him that he believes she's like an angel. Unfortunately, someone kills her in the middle of the night and frames him. He vows to kill whoever did this to her. He finds some weird cannibal with superhuman powers played by Elijah Wood. I'm sorry to see that Elijah is now playing bad guy roles as freaks and geeks. We all loved him as Frodo in Lord of the Rings. We were disapointed when he played a panty sniffing pervert in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Now, he plays this strange cannibal in Sin City. Due to the round glasses he wore in the movie, he looked like Harry Potter. Except this Harry Potter uses his magic powers to eat you up. I can't believe Elijah went from a Hobbitt to a Gollum.
Anyway, this fugly guy finally manages to kill Elijah Wood and chops off his legs. He gets the guard dog to eat his bloody body. He chops off Elijah's head and gives it to the priest, who was behind all these brutal murders. The fugly dude tortures and terminates the evil priest.
The third story is about a guy who tries to stop a bastard from killing other people. He follows him to Old Town, where the hos rule the streets. The ladies of the night dispose of him by slicing the jerk up. Unfortunately, the bastard turns out to be a cop. The truce between the cops and the hookers is that the cops will leave them alone in Old Town unless someone breaks the truce. Killing a cop will break the truce. There's a squealer in the midst of them. The pimps find out and try to get the bastard's head to show to the cops. This way, the cops will kill the whores and the pimps will be in control once again. The main guy asks the prostitutes to give him a car with a hard top, a decent engine, and a large trunk to dispose of the bodies. The pimps intercept him. There's a big battle in the streets and the hookers prevail by shooting all the pimps from on top the buildings. Yeah, the working girls win!
This movie is very gritty, ugly, and dark. It's made in Frank Miller's comic book style. The movie is very original. The premise of the film is interesting. Unfortunately, it should have been left as a premise. I think it would have been better if it stayed as a comic book than to make it into a movie. I just didn't like it that much. It was hard to watch, because it was kinda boring except for the violent parts. Even the violent parts were hard to stomach because it was so gruesome. I think it was more violent than Kill Bill in some ways.
Every woman in Sin City is a hooker and every guy is a thug. The movie was kinda bizarre. Well, one obvious thing is that it's in black and white. --And red, for blood.
I like full color. It was stylish, but it wasn't my style. Everyone looked really ugly.
The good: Ultra-violent. Very gruesome fighting and torture scenes. Original and stylish.
The bad: Boring between the violent scenes. I got tired of all their dumb narrations. Shot in black and white and red. I like full color. Color would have made the dismemberments more graphic. Jessica Alba loves Bruce Willis in the movie.
Entertainment: 66
Violence: 92
Story: 61
Acting: 72. This was the hardest to rate. It has to be rated in two different ways. On one hand, the acting is cheesy, because it's based on a cheesy comic book. On the other hand, the acting is great if it's supposed to be just like the comic book.
Overall average: C, 72.
One story is about Bruce Willis playing a detective who is trying to save Jessica Alba's life from a nasty disgusting yellow pervert who likes raping little girls. When the little 11 year old girl grows up, she develops into the beautiful Jessica Alba. The little girl falls in love with Willis after he saves her life. The pervert captures her again when Alba grows up. He says she's a little old for his tastes, but he's obsessed with raping her. Willis punches the hell out of him until he's nothing more than a bloody pulp. Bruce Willis and Jessica Alba?! Come on! That's just wrong. I guess Willis realizes this in the end, 'cuz he shoots his own brains out.
The second story is about a fugly tough dude who had sex with a hooker. He was so happy a gorgeous whore had sex with such an ugly guy like him that he believes she's like an angel. Unfortunately, someone kills her in the middle of the night and frames him. He vows to kill whoever did this to her. He finds some weird cannibal with superhuman powers played by Elijah Wood. I'm sorry to see that Elijah is now playing bad guy roles as freaks and geeks. We all loved him as Frodo in Lord of the Rings. We were disapointed when he played a panty sniffing pervert in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Now, he plays this strange cannibal in Sin City. Due to the round glasses he wore in the movie, he looked like Harry Potter. Except this Harry Potter uses his magic powers to eat you up. I can't believe Elijah went from a Hobbitt to a Gollum.
Anyway, this fugly guy finally manages to kill Elijah Wood and chops off his legs. He gets the guard dog to eat his bloody body. He chops off Elijah's head and gives it to the priest, who was behind all these brutal murders. The fugly dude tortures and terminates the evil priest.
The third story is about a guy who tries to stop a bastard from killing other people. He follows him to Old Town, where the hos rule the streets. The ladies of the night dispose of him by slicing the jerk up. Unfortunately, the bastard turns out to be a cop. The truce between the cops and the hookers is that the cops will leave them alone in Old Town unless someone breaks the truce. Killing a cop will break the truce. There's a squealer in the midst of them. The pimps find out and try to get the bastard's head to show to the cops. This way, the cops will kill the whores and the pimps will be in control once again. The main guy asks the prostitutes to give him a car with a hard top, a decent engine, and a large trunk to dispose of the bodies. The pimps intercept him. There's a big battle in the streets and the hookers prevail by shooting all the pimps from on top the buildings. Yeah, the working girls win!
This movie is very gritty, ugly, and dark. It's made in Frank Miller's comic book style. The movie is very original. The premise of the film is interesting. Unfortunately, it should have been left as a premise. I think it would have been better if it stayed as a comic book than to make it into a movie. I just didn't like it that much. It was hard to watch, because it was kinda boring except for the violent parts. Even the violent parts were hard to stomach because it was so gruesome. I think it was more violent than Kill Bill in some ways.
Every woman in Sin City is a hooker and every guy is a thug. The movie was kinda bizarre. Well, one obvious thing is that it's in black and white. --And red, for blood.
I like full color. It was stylish, but it wasn't my style. Everyone looked really ugly.
The good: Ultra-violent. Very gruesome fighting and torture scenes. Original and stylish.
The bad: Boring between the violent scenes. I got tired of all their dumb narrations. Shot in black and white and red. I like full color. Color would have made the dismemberments more graphic. Jessica Alba loves Bruce Willis in the movie.
Entertainment: 66
Violence: 92
Story: 61
Acting: 72. This was the hardest to rate. It has to be rated in two different ways. On one hand, the acting is cheesy, because it's based on a cheesy comic book. On the other hand, the acting is great if it's supposed to be just like the comic book.
Overall average: C, 72.
The Aviator
This movie is about the story of Howard Hughes. Leonardo DiCaprio plays the eccentric billionaire. Hughes was a pioneer in the film industry and in aviation. He was also a major playboy who loved dating Hollywood movie stars.
Cate Blanchett plays Katharine Hepburn. Blanchett does a good job of playing her. She looked a lot like Hepburn too. Unfortunately, she didn't look that attractive. Plus, her voice was really annoying. That New England accent is really unnattractive.
DiCaprio looked kinda whimpy too. He looked like a little boy playing an older man.
I didn't like the introductory scene with little Howard Hughes getting bathed by his mother. That was uncomfortably awkward to watch. He looked like a six year old boy. No wonder why he had problems later on.
DiCaprio did a good job showing his obsessive compulsive disorder. What I didn't like was that it showed too much of it. There were too many long scenes of Hughes going through his mental disorders. It was uncomfortable to watch. They did a good job of showing his disorder--perhaps too good of a job. I just think that those scenes slowed the movie down. I got the point. I wanted to move on and see the rest of his story.
Howard Hughes was a remarkable man. He made great innovations in film and in aviation. He broke speed and distance records on his planes. He bought TWA and stuck to his guns against the evil President of Pan Am, and he went through the senate hearings led by the nefarious Senator Owen Brewster with honor.
Hughes was a genius and a madman.
My rating: B+, 89.
Cate Blanchett plays Katharine Hepburn. Blanchett does a good job of playing her. She looked a lot like Hepburn too. Unfortunately, she didn't look that attractive. Plus, her voice was really annoying. That New England accent is really unnattractive.
DiCaprio looked kinda whimpy too. He looked like a little boy playing an older man.
I didn't like the introductory scene with little Howard Hughes getting bathed by his mother. That was uncomfortably awkward to watch. He looked like a six year old boy. No wonder why he had problems later on.
DiCaprio did a good job showing his obsessive compulsive disorder. What I didn't like was that it showed too much of it. There were too many long scenes of Hughes going through his mental disorders. It was uncomfortable to watch. They did a good job of showing his disorder--perhaps too good of a job. I just think that those scenes slowed the movie down. I got the point. I wanted to move on and see the rest of his story.
Howard Hughes was a remarkable man. He made great innovations in film and in aviation. He broke speed and distance records on his planes. He bought TWA and stuck to his guns against the evil President of Pan Am, and he went through the senate hearings led by the nefarious Senator Owen Brewster with honor.
Hughes was a genius and a madman.
My rating: B+, 89.
The March of the Penguins
Penguins
An awesome documentary about the lives of Emperor Penguins.
Each summer, the penguins come up on top of the ice in Antarctica for mating season. Thousands of them march together in single file and gather together to their breeding grounds.
It's amazing what they have to go through. They have to brave 150 mph blizzard storms, seals, and other dangers to keep their species alive.
Once they gather to their breeding grounds, they each have to find a husband or wife. Once they find each other, they fall in love and then make love. They look into each others' eyes and kiss with their beaks. The guy comes around behind the female and makes love. Sometimes, it looks like the guy stands on top of the female while they do it.
Once the egg is laid, the father has to keep the egg warm until it hatches. The mother goes off for a few months to feed, fatten herself up, and bring food for the baby. During this time, the father doesn't eat anything and has to keep the baby warm during these blizzards.
A lot of eggs and babies die during these storms. The penguins look really depressed when they see their own babies dying. This film proves that they have feelings. Penguins have souls.
Once the mother returns, it's the father's turn to go off and feed. If mother doesn't come back in time, father and baby will die. The mother regurgitates the food to feed the baby. The baby eats the barf from the mother's beaks.
The baby penguins are super cute.
It was sad to see one of the predator birds kill one of the baby penguins. You feel that the bird was evil, but it probably had to feed its own kids.
That's life in the wild.
The good: Amazing camera shots of the penguins. Cute baby penguins.
The bad: Even though it was a short film, a lot of it was the same stuff. ---Showing penguins over and over. They all look the same to me.
The verdict: This amazing cinematic documentary humanizes penguins to the point that people begin to believe they have souls.
My rating: B, 88.
Million Dollar Baby
A white trash waitress dreams of becoming the welterweight boxing champion of the world.
Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, and Hillary Swank give great performances. Unfortunately, the movie seems a little long and boring.
There were a lot of touching moments. Unlike, other boxing movies, where the star becomes the champ, this movie has a surprise twist. After fighting against the current champion, a cold hearted ex-hooker who plays dirty, Swank gets hit after the bell rings. Swank is surprised and falls onto the stool head first. She becomes paralyzed from the neck down. At the hospital, she bites her tongue trying to kill herself. She asks Eastwood to euthanize her. At first, Eastwood says no, because of his catholic beliefs. But after seeing her in such pain, Eastwood gives her peace by sending her to heaven. It provides a thought-provoking message. What would you do if your loved one was suffering so much?
One thing I didn't like was how Eastwood blamed Freeman for encouraging him to train her in the first place. He says it's all Freeman's fault that she ended up in the hospital. I thought it was Eastwood's fault. When the bell rang, he put the stool at her corner. Once Swank got hit, everything went in slow motion. He saw her falling slowly head first towards the stool. Instead of pulling the stool out, we see him standing there shouting, "Nooooo!!!!!!" Eastwood should have pulled the stool out of her way really quickly. Okay, maybe I'm being too unrealistic. I've been watching too many Matrix movies.
The Good: Great acting performances by all the lead characters. Good story. It shows what most people go through instead of ending up with happy endings. It shows failure and permanent paralysis.
The Bad: The movie feels long and boring during the everyday filler scenes.
The Ugly: Girls that box aren't pretty. The retarded wannabe boxer. --Why does there need to be a retarded comic relief guy in so many movies?
My rating: B, 88.
Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, and Hillary Swank give great performances. Unfortunately, the movie seems a little long and boring.
There were a lot of touching moments. Unlike, other boxing movies, where the star becomes the champ, this movie has a surprise twist. After fighting against the current champion, a cold hearted ex-hooker who plays dirty, Swank gets hit after the bell rings. Swank is surprised and falls onto the stool head first. She becomes paralyzed from the neck down. At the hospital, she bites her tongue trying to kill herself. She asks Eastwood to euthanize her. At first, Eastwood says no, because of his catholic beliefs. But after seeing her in such pain, Eastwood gives her peace by sending her to heaven. It provides a thought-provoking message. What would you do if your loved one was suffering so much?
One thing I didn't like was how Eastwood blamed Freeman for encouraging him to train her in the first place. He says it's all Freeman's fault that she ended up in the hospital. I thought it was Eastwood's fault. When the bell rang, he put the stool at her corner. Once Swank got hit, everything went in slow motion. He saw her falling slowly head first towards the stool. Instead of pulling the stool out, we see him standing there shouting, "Nooooo!!!!!!" Eastwood should have pulled the stool out of her way really quickly. Okay, maybe I'm being too unrealistic. I've been watching too many Matrix movies.
The Good: Great acting performances by all the lead characters. Good story. It shows what most people go through instead of ending up with happy endings. It shows failure and permanent paralysis.
The Bad: The movie feels long and boring during the everyday filler scenes.
The Ugly: Girls that box aren't pretty. The retarded wannabe boxer. --Why does there need to be a retarded comic relief guy in so many movies?
My rating: B, 88.
The Incredibles
The Incredibles
This is definitely the best Disney/Pixar animated film ever made. It is a terrific blend of great animation, action, and humor. Although it's a kids' movie, it's still fun for the whole family.
It's full of humorous parodies about comic book superheroes. Other superhero movies have humor that comes across as cheesy. But, the humor in The Incredibles comes across really well, perhaps because it's an animated film. We knew that the movie didn't take itself seriously and so we loved the humor. One of Mr. Incredibles' last remaining superhero friends, Frozone-an African American Iceman, tells a story about how a villain kept monologueing after he caught Frozone instead of killing him like in other superhero movies. Another humorous parody was when Mr. Incredible tells the family that their identity is their most important power and hands them those tiny black masks that only covers their eyes like raccoons.
The movie contains elements from Superman, James Bond, Spiderman, Batman, Fantastic Four, and Spy Kids. This animated movie puts the Fantastic Four to shame.
Mr. Incredible fights crime and never has time for a break. His biggest fan, Buddy, wants to be his sidekick, but he tells him that he works alone.
Later, Mr. Incredible marries Elastigirl. They have three kids, Violet, Dash, and Jack Jack. After Mr. Incredible saves a guy who tried to kill himself. The guy sues Mr. Incredible because he didn't want to be saved. Now, the guy has a broken neck. The lawsuit sparks a series of lawsuits against other superheroes. The government grants the superheroes amnesty if they stop using their superpowers to save people. They go through a government relocation program to lead lives as average citizens. The government is tired of spending tons of money paying off these lawsuits. They believe the superheroes are a bigger liability than a benefit.
Mr. Incredible gets a job as an insurance agent with a boss who is constantly looking over his shoulder. Incredible wants to help people, but his company is primarily concerned about making money for its shareholders. The company comes up with any excuse to deny a claim. Incredible hates his boring job denying claims to people who need help. Even his son has difficulties staying out of trouble. Dash wants to be in sports to show off his incredible speed, but his mom doesn't let him. She knows that he'll be too good and that everyone will know that they're "Supers".
One day, Incredible sees someone being robbed while his boss is reprimanding him. Incredible loses his temper and throws his boss through several walls to the other side of the building. He loses his job. One day, a mysterious woman named Mirage tells him that she has a secret mission for him.
Incredible is excited about reliving the old days. He finishes his job of stopping a superhero-killing robot that he was asked to do. Syndrome, the evil supervillain, makes another robot and captures Incredible. Syndrome starts monologueing and tells him that he was Buddy. He wants to create a killing machine that only he can stop. He creates a robot that kills off all the other superheros. He wants the glory all for himself.
Incredible's family comes to the rescue. Elastigirl is like Mr. Fantastic. She is really flexible. Violet is like Invisigirl. She can turn invisible and make force fields. Dash is like the Flash. He's superquick. There's one chase scene in the jungles of the island that look like the speederbike chase scene from Return of the Jedi. Jack Jack, the baby, has strange powers of being able to turn into the Human Torch, metal man, and a baby demon.
This is a great movie for the whole family. It has great 3D animation, action, and humor. This is one of the best superhero movies ever made.
My rating: A, 92.
Friday, February 17, 2006
Surfing the Streets
I'm surfing the sidewalks in LA. This was filmed by my good friend, Andy Nagai.
After lunch, some @$$hole tried to run me over as we tried to get through the intersection. When will these idiot drivers learn how to stop for others?
Anyway, going down Grand is a cheap thrill. What a rush coming down! Gravity is good.
I've started using YouTube to host my videos. Right now, vidiLife sux butt.
You can check out all my other YouTube videos with this link:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=davidmkim
You can still see all my other vidiLife videos. I haven't deleted them yet, and I don't plan to. It's just that their site is acting up quite a bit right now.
Scooter Chase
We're terrorizing downtown LA with our Razor and longboard.
This reminds me of when I was around 5 years old. I went up and down Honolulu Ave. in Montrose with my tricycle when my parents' had a store there. They said that I was yelling and screaming as I sped past people on my trike.
Things haven't changed much in 30 years.
We're 30-Somethings acting like teenagers.
Andy and Me Cruising
Andy and I are just cruising along downtown LA. Andy's on his Razor scooter and I'm on my longboard. This video sux because I'm trying to skateboard and shoot this video at the same time.
Andy and Me racing downhill
I was looking forward to racing Andy. It would have been more fun if it was a closer race. Unfortunately for him, I blew him away. I knew I was going to win anyway. My longboard is hella fast downhill.
Before Andy came by, I tried a practice run and got caught by a cop. Damn him! I got off with a warning, but next time I might get a ticket. That sux, because I plan on continuing to race downhill. I feel the need--the need for speed!
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Lugeboarding LA style
I know you're not supposed to play on the streets, but this is hella fun. Street luging should be the next Olympic sport. I've got to find more hills to speed down. I just have to be on the lookout for cops.
I've decided to use YouTube to host my videos since vidiLife has been having so many problems lately. Anyway, I love speeding down Grand. It's an awesome cheap thrill.
Howl's Moving Castle
This is a Japanese version of a Disney film. I love anime, but this was too kiddish for me. I like mecha anime like my all-time favorite, Robotech/Macross. I also like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell, Last Exile, Akira, and Serial Experiments: LAIN.
Director, Hayao Miyazaki's, latest anime is a beautiful and imaginative, but strange story of a girl that gets turned into a 90 year old woman. She tries to find a way to lift the curse and finds refuge in Howl's bizarre moving castle. She later falls in love with the magician, Howl.
The story has some elements of Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard of Oz. The animation is very detailed. It has colorful scenery, and the story is very imaginative.
Japanese anime has a style that American animation just can't match. It's very cool. I think it's because anime is tailored to more mature audiences than typical Disney animation.
Miyazaki's films are all too similar, however. The style and storytelling is very much similar to his previous films, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. Miyazaki loves using black amorphous slimes in his movies to depict evil creatures. I think those black blobs are disturbing to look at and are one of the worst parts about the films. They're not very detailed and look cheesey. They just don't interest me at all. Now, if he only threw in some cool jets and robots, things might be very different for the better.
The animation is charming. Some of the scenery is breath-taking. The story takes place in an alternative world that seems to take place in turn-of-the-20th century England. They drive steam-engined vehicles and fly around in huge floating airships. Japanese anime stories love this type of setting for some reason.
The girl, Sophie, works at a hat shop. One day, everyone is excited about the mysterious Howl coming to town. She meets an enigmatic man with magical powers who rescues her from some horny soldiers. Later that night, a giant fat fugly woman comes to the hat store and puts a curse on her. The fugly woman then says something about giving her regards to Howl. Sophie realizes she's been turned into a 90-year-old woman. She searches for Howl to help her lift her curse.
Sophie finds the magical moving castle and meets a little boy that turns into a dwarf man, a scarecrow that bounces around on a stick, and a tiny hot-headed fire demon. Later, she meets Howl, a magician who turns into a bird man to fight in the war. He doesn't want to fight in the war, but the queen makes him. Ultimately, he chooses to rebel against orders and risks his life for love.
I think this is an anime for children and not for me. I give it a:
B, 81.
Director, Hayao Miyazaki's, latest anime is a beautiful and imaginative, but strange story of a girl that gets turned into a 90 year old woman. She tries to find a way to lift the curse and finds refuge in Howl's bizarre moving castle. She later falls in love with the magician, Howl.
The story has some elements of Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard of Oz. The animation is very detailed. It has colorful scenery, and the story is very imaginative.
Japanese anime has a style that American animation just can't match. It's very cool. I think it's because anime is tailored to more mature audiences than typical Disney animation.
Miyazaki's films are all too similar, however. The style and storytelling is very much similar to his previous films, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. Miyazaki loves using black amorphous slimes in his movies to depict evil creatures. I think those black blobs are disturbing to look at and are one of the worst parts about the films. They're not very detailed and look cheesey. They just don't interest me at all. Now, if he only threw in some cool jets and robots, things might be very different for the better.
The animation is charming. Some of the scenery is breath-taking. The story takes place in an alternative world that seems to take place in turn-of-the-20th century England. They drive steam-engined vehicles and fly around in huge floating airships. Japanese anime stories love this type of setting for some reason.
The girl, Sophie, works at a hat shop. One day, everyone is excited about the mysterious Howl coming to town. She meets an enigmatic man with magical powers who rescues her from some horny soldiers. Later that night, a giant fat fugly woman comes to the hat store and puts a curse on her. The fugly woman then says something about giving her regards to Howl. Sophie realizes she's been turned into a 90-year-old woman. She searches for Howl to help her lift her curse.
Sophie finds the magical moving castle and meets a little boy that turns into a dwarf man, a scarecrow that bounces around on a stick, and a tiny hot-headed fire demon. Later, she meets Howl, a magician who turns into a bird man to fight in the war. He doesn't want to fight in the war, but the queen makes him. Ultimately, he chooses to rebel against orders and risks his life for love.
I think this is an anime for children and not for me. I give it a:
B, 81.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
More Insane Lugeboarding on 4th Street
This street is hard to get a good ride in because of all the cars and traffic lights.
I want to find some better streets to speed down.
Andy called me up and challenged me to a race--his Razor vs. my longboard. This is going to be pretty interesting. I'll try to videotape it so that you can see the race.
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