Author: andy

Posted on

Review: Superman Returns

Brooke and I saw “Superman Returns” tonight and I’d place it up there with “Batman Begins” as a great way to rejuvinate a movie series.

The film gets started pretty quickly, apparently taking place after “Superman II,” and incorporating plot devices that end up supplanting the generally worse latter two movies (which I doubt many people will mind).? Essentially, Superman has been gone for 5 years and things have changed such that Superman needs to join the world again and get back to truth, justice and the American way…and as usual, Lex Luthor (in an excellent performance by Kevin Spacey) is around to screw it up with yet another dastardly scheme that threatens the well-being of Earth.

So, the movie overall was really good. The acting was awesome, the special effects were top-notch (as to be expected from a Bryan Singer movie), and the plot in general was strong. I really liked all the little plot points that Singer tossed in that pay homage to the original. The opening credits and ending sequences were very much the same as the original movie and even some lines were ripped from the original script. With that in mind, if you have access to the original film, I’d recommend you see it before watching this movie. You may want to watch the second also, but at least watch the first.

I only had two “complaints” about the movie, but they are pretty minor. First of all, the ending was kinda drawn out. Without giving anything away, the last 15-20 minutes were somewhat unnecessary and could have been resolved differently, in my opinion…but I can live with it… Secondly, the action scenes were good, but they weren’t up with “Spider-Man 2” and the like. Honestly, there isn’t much that could be done. While Spider-Man bounces around and swings all over the place, Superman just flies in straight lines and punches people. So, while watching a movie like “Spider-man” is very dynamic and engaging, the action scenes in “Superman Returns” are somewhat lacking. On the other hand, it is very badass to see him rescue a plane as it plummets toward Earth and land it in a baseball stadium…and to see him take a bullet in the eye and not flinch… I’m just saying that the action was good, but wasn’t particularly impressive as compared with “Spider-Man” (but I can’t see any way that could have been resolved without changing decades of history and lore).

That said, I think the movie was really good and well worth watching…so worth watching that I intend on seeing it again in IMAX 3D once Josh gets back from Virginia…and I’ll tell you about that after I see it…w00t!

Posted on

Resolution…somewhat…

Well, we’ve got TV back… Here’s a numbered summary:

1). I sent two e-mails to the FCC and finally got a response a week and a half after the first e-mail was sent. I contacted the Attorney General’s office and they sent a complaint form to us (as that’s the only way they’ll look into it…if there’s a complaint filed). According to the FCC Rules and Regulations website, in Title 47, Part 76, Subpart M, the lines are owned by Charter Communications. If I owned the property, I could tell them I’m switching providers and either a). I’d have to pay them per foot of the lines within the building to purchase them, or b). they’d have 7 days to remove the lines themselves. Since I don’t own the building, and apparently Park Forest Apartments has a “deal” with Charter, the lines are the cable company’s and I can’t use them. Shenanigans.

2). To avoid any more hassles by Charter, DISH came out today and ran a new line alongside the apartment complex, requiring them to drill a hole through the siding and putting a new faceplate on the inside of the apartment. The only place it could go? Right next to the sliding glass door, on the opposite wall from where the TV currently resides. While this means that Charter cannot cut the line anymore (’cause that’s hardcore illegal), Brooke and I now have to shift the furniture around in the living room to compensate…not that big a deal, I guess. If the line is cut again, the DISH guy has told us to try and catch the Charter fool before he leaves, take pictures of what was done, then call the cops. Believe you me, I will.

3). After talking with the apartment complex manager and one or two maintenence people, it appears that the Charter people have done this multiple times in the past few years, cutting lines that aren’t supposed to be connected to “their” lines. It sure sounded like, next time they have to renew whatever contract they’ve got together, there’s going to be some re-wording…’cause they weren’t pleased. It didn’t seem like they were unhappy with me or anything…just that they have to allow for a new line to be laid into one of their buildings because they aren’t allowed to use the existing one, causing more hassle for everyone involved.

Regardless, we’ve got television back…and next time any of you visit, you’ll see that our living room has been rearranged to a large degree. Oh well…we’ve lived there a year now…’bout time for something new…

Posted on

Good week(end)…

So, we went on a float trip last Thursday with my lab…went pretty well and we generally avoided the tremendous downpour that descended upon St. Louis later in the afternoon.? The temperature was nearly perfect for floating (on the Huzzah River) and the sun stayed mostly behind the clouds.

Anyway, Brooke and I spent our First Anniversary going to Hermann for the weekend, again.? We drove in on Friday and went to dinner at the Stone Hill restaurant…good eats there, yo…? The next day, we went to Stone Hill and Hermannhoff for tasting, and then to the Robller Winery for more tasting and some blues music, which was pretty nice.? Then, we went to see the town production of “Damn Yankees,” which we’d never seen before…and honestly, it could have been a bit better…but hey, it was good entertainment.

Regardless, we had a good weekend, even without TV (not that we would have had it here…) and came back with four bottles of wine…and, the best part being, that we only spent some of our tax refund on the weekend…w00t!

Now, we’ll see if this past weekend lives up to next weekend… 😉

Posted on

Oldiness…

“Wisdom doesn’t automatically come with old age. Nothing does – except wrinkles. It’s true, some wines improve with age. But only if the grapes were good in the first place.”

— Abigail Van Buren

Happy #24 to me…

I’ll be enjoying today at the lab, then going by the Schlafly Tap Room for dinner with my lovely wife this evening. Overall, should be a good day!

Now, if only I had television to watch, then today would be perfect…grrrrr…

Posted on

Review: An Inconvenient Truth

So, since Brooke and I are without cable, we decided to go see a movie…well, we wanted to see this one, anyway. We saw “An Inconvenient Truth,” Al Gore’s latest attempt to explain to the American public about the dangers of global warming, a battle that he’s been fighting since the 1970s.

You may wonder why all the reviewers love this documentary, and why it’s creating a stir in the news media, reigniting a decades-old argument about the validity of global warming and whether humanity causes it. I was rather curious how interesting this documentary could be, but I was pleasantly surprised. The movie generally recounted a “slide show” (i.e. beefed-up PowerPoint) that Gore has presented many times over the years, talking about the evidence supporting the idea that mankind has caused, if not accelerated, global warming on Earth. The show is interspersed with testamonials by Gore talking about how he became interested in the subject, and how events in his life (including the 2000 “election”) shaped his mission to educate the world about this problem.

It was certainly scary to see the statistics. He showed graphs and pictures depicting history and modern times…showing CO2 levels taken from ice core samples over 600,000 years…and how the current levels are unbelievably higher (as in, they never crossed 300 ppm [parts-per-million] over that time, but are now well above that and will cross 600 ppm by 2050 at current rates). He showed how the polar ice caps have noticeably decreased in size, and that ice melting in Greenland could stop the flow of the gulf stream, effectively shutting down the “engine” that prevents Europe from entering another ice age.

He informs the masses, he addresses the critics, and he calls for action, whether by switching to more energy-efficient light bulbs and hybrid cars, or by running for political office yourself to make a difference. He makes you see the evidence for yourself and understand it. And, on a side-note, it’s interesting to note how confident he seems in presenting this story, as opposed to some interviews and debates during the 2000 election. This is the voice of someone who believes in this cause and will do what it takes to get the job done.

You should go see it, if you can. And, believe you me, if you drive a large SUV, you’re getting a copy of it for Christmas…

And since I couldn’t say it better, in the words of another great reviewer:

“In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to.”

— Roger Ebert; Chicago Sun-Times

Posted on

The Battle Has Begun…

So, the story goes like this: A few months ago, we decide to switch from Charter Television to DISHnetwork, ’cause they’re cheaper and we get the DVR service…which rocks tremendously… Well, shortly after switching, our service goes out, and the hub where cable lines head from outside the building to inside the building was locked and protected (so you can’t steal cable from Charter, of course). Well, DISH sent a technician out, who subsequently broke through the barrier to reconnect our line from the dish to the coax cable that heads into the building. The DISH technician also makes note of the fact that Charter, in disconnecting the line, didn’t just unscrew the coax cable connection, but also cut the line off so I couldn’t reconnect it without having DISH fix it.

Fast forward to this past Friday, 6/16/06. Well, I call Brooke up to tell her I’m heading home from the lab around 4:15 and she says, “oh, the TV just went out.” So, I told her to look outside and see if anyone was standing around that hub again. No one was there. I get home and start investigating… The green barrier where the hub is was re-set back on its base like it hadn’t been before, so someone had been there… But, I couldn’t find the cable that came from our dish anywhere, that was supposed to be plugged in to the line heading into our building.

I notice some ground disturbed. I grab our trowel. I move the ground.

I find the line cut and re-buried. The line from the dish. Deliberately cut. DISH is charging $100 for them to come out and repair it.

So, I’ve put in an e-mail to the FCC to check on the laws, specifically, to see if the lines within the building are owned by Charter…or by my apartment complex… If the lines are owned by Charter (somehow…), then I’ll have DISHnetwork run a separate line. If it’s owned by our apartment complex, then what Charter is doing is illegal.

Believe you me, this isn’t over.

Posted on

Weird…

So yeah, we watched “The Sixth Sense” tonight (largely nothing on this weekend…)…and we were watching the opening credits…and we noticed that Mischa Barton is in it. You may know her from “The O.C.,” if you’re a fan of crappy teeny-bopper television… In the movie, she’s the little girl whom Cole helps out (killed by her step-mother). Kinda funky, eh?

That is all…

Posted on

Review: A Prairie Home Companion

“A penguin was floating on a small iceberg when he floated by another penguin.? The first penguin says to the second penguin, ‘You look like you’re wearing a tuxedo.’? The second penguin replies: ‘What makes you so sure I’m not?'”

Brooke and I went and saw “A Prairie Home Companion” today, based on the popular radio show frequently played on NPR that’s been on-air for the last 30 years.? The radio show hearkens back to variety shows of yesteryear, where musical acts, skits and subtle humor serve as entertainment to listeners (you know…like it was before there was television?).

The movie tries (effectively) to simulate the radio broadcast, taking place during the last show of a similar program.? The theater where the show is produced was bought and is being torn down to make room for a new parking lot, so the movie centers around the show’s untimely end.? The acting and music are all top-notch, which is expected when you have Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson, Kevin Kline, Lily Tomlin…and even Lindsay Lohan…in a movie together.? The music was catchy, complete with humorous lyrics, and the fact that these actors sang their stuff themselves was especially impressive.

Overall, the movie was well-done and fun to watch, giving the viewer a strong sense of nostalgia for days of old.? It should be noted, however, that Brooke and I were by far the youngest individuals in the theater…bringing the average age in the room down from 75 to 55…? So yeah, people much younger than us probably won’t enjoy the movie as much…but hopefully it’ll bring back fond memories for the adults, and introduce young people to entertainment that doesn’t involve sex, drugs and “Grand Theft Auto”…