Ramblings on Film

I saw Underworld this weekend, and aside from the plot being a complete piece of Hollywood hog-wash, I have to say that I kind of enjoyed the film in all its ripped off unoriginal glory. It's not a good movie, but it is entertaining enough to keep me in my seat. Or it could just be that I like seeing Kate Beckinsale play a sexy vampire killer type in sexy 'skin-tight' leather (complete with British accent). I'm not sure, you be the judge. This movie is in fact, The Matrix meets The Crow meets Blade, nothing terribly original, and there are probably better ways to spend your time.

Enjoyable...YES!
Essential...NO!

What did bother me about going to see this movie was the 8 some odd commercials I had to sit through before the coming attractions even ran. I hate to harp on a seemingly recurring issue, but I paid $7.00 to get in, do I really need to sit through 20min of commercials before my movie? I'm not exaggerating, i checked my watch or well my cell phone and they were in fact running commercials for a good 20min. Aren't the slides we have to look at before the film enough? Then, to top it ALL off they run this 4min documentary detailing the adverse effects of movie piracy, inviting us to take pity on the poor set designer whose kids are apparently being set on fire every time someone signs on to KaZaA. I hate to break it to the MPAA, but the REEL (hahah a pun) criminals are in your midst. How do you think those who pirate movies get their hands on them in the first place. Now, I know some people sneak their cameras into the theater and whatnot, but how do you explain my nearly perfect copy of Lord of the Rings, which scrolls "This Screening Copy Is Intended For Promotional Use ONLY, Please Do Not Copy or Distribute"?. MAYBE, you should be investigating these 'tape handlers' since it seems to be THEIR advanced copies making it into the hands of file-swappers. I'm also not inclined to feel bad about the money you are apparently loosing, the fact of the matter is that DVD technology now accounts for more than 80% of profits acquired from feature films. The fact of that matter is that people ARE buying your DVD's in SPITE of all this file-sharing, so chill out. Not a great way to end, but it's all I've got at the moment.

Yea, ok... I could get into some other things, but I'm not going to... my weekend was good, work is groovy, I was pleased to pickup The Big Lebowski & Requiem For a Dream for $9.99, and well, that’s about it.

One should also note, that I do in fact have digital copies of both The Big Lebowski and Requiem For a Dream, which I acquired FREE OF CHARGE using P2P file-sharing software. Ironically enough, I wouldn't have known enough to BUY Requiem had I not sampled it ahead of time. It is also worth pointing out that I did not intend to purchase anything when I went to Best Buy Friday night, but reasonable pricing is ALWAYS a good incentive since I'm sure DVD's cost about 3 cents to make, and even with shipping and promotion, the cost per unit is probably 50 cents (and that's probably an over-estimation). More on this later...

I turned by desktop into a TiVo last week, but I will talk about that in my next post... later people.

Comments

[satans_girl]

which is better? once upon a time in mexico or underworld? i haven't seen underworld, but i heard it was BETTER THAN once upon a time in mexico, which i enjoyed immensely.

[c0rk]

I haven't seen Once Upon A Time In Mexico, but I would like to. I'm not sure which one is better, though I think the critics liked Once Upon A Time In Mexico a little better than Underworld. Then again, professional critics are usually full of crap. If you enjoy sexy British vampires in tight leather outfits, you can't go wrong with Underworld. It is, at the VERY least, entertaining.