February 2007
The Archives
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Movies
MOVIES: Daddy’s Little Girls and trailer injustice
Yesterday I begrudgingly was talked into seeing a movie, and once again was pleasantly surprised. This was a trade off to taking my girlfriend to see the not-really-that-bad Ghost Rider.
Short story: My girlfriend mentioned wanting to the movie Daddy’s Little Girls. I hadn’t heard of the movie (I’m a movie buff, I’ve heard of everything, and keep track of most movies), so I decided to do some research and look up the trailer online. The trailer portrayed the movie as a seemingly slapstick comedy featuring Gabrielle Union. Okay, another version of kids versus the new person in their single-parent’s life, make life a living hell for said wannabee fill-in-parent, hilarity ensues.
Wow, did that trailer suck.
The movie was nothing of the sort. Gabrielle Union was more of a supporting role. What follows is a touching story about a man trying to keep his kids. It was a good story that kept you in movie, very well acted by all the main players, and light on the comedy. I have to say that the trailer had nothing to do with what the movie was about.
What’s really disappointing is that people won’t be drawn to this movie for the right reasons, and it may even keep droves people away because of the entirely stupid trailer attached to it. That’s too bad, this movie deserves a look.
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Movies
MOVIES: Ghost Rider vs. Trailers
Ghost Rider: while it isn’t Shakespeare or Citizen Kane, it wasn’t too terrible a movie by a long stretch (I’ve seen worse comic-based adaptations **coff**coff** Batman and Robin). But as with most movies, this one was done a terrible disservice by its trailers. Many of the trailers released prior to the movie being released made the movie look incredibly hokey. Interestingly enough, the moments featured prominently in the trailer were “taken out of context”, not really matching the scenes that they came from. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie (being a Ghost Rider fan, to boot), it did capture the spirit of the…err..Spirit of Vengeance.
This also brings up another comic based movie that I thoroughly enjoyed but were nearly ruined by the trailer: The Fantastic Four. Once again not Casablanca, but not terrible. The trailer made the movie look like a Lost In Space (the movie version) clone, which I heard turned many people away from that movie. Once again, the movie captured the spirit of the books, and actually got me reading FF again.
The point is, like that old adage about books: don’t judge a movie by its trailer.
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Technology
TECHNOLOGY: Printer Ink: Worth Its Weight In Gold
Kodak is promoting their new printers and ink. While that may not surprising (it is, after all, a photo company), the more expensive printers are accompanied by something that may surprise a few people: cheaper ink.
Will people pony up more money now to save up on the ink they may use in the future? Only time will tell, but if you do a lot of photo printing this may be a godsend (Or any other printing for that matter. Like some PDF addicts I know…hint…hint…move along, nothing to see here).
Anyways, as part of their marketing strategy, Kodak has a website that’s promoting their cheaper ink, and here’s a fun little tidbit from it: http://www.inkisit.com/stinkonink
…mmmm…ink champagne…
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Movies
MOVIES: Doomed To Fail
Walmart is offering a new video download service. What makes this different from other download services is that they have the backing of all six major studios.
Of course, like the RIAA, the movie studios are still woefully behind the times. Here’s why: you’re paying 19.98 for new movies. You can’t transfer them anywhere. You can’t burn them to DVD. They are not in high definition. So what’s the point?
You can go out and buy a DVD for at many times less than 19.98. You can take this DVD anywhere, play it on any DVD player (at higher quality than the download no less). Plus you have bonus features on the DVD. Why would anyone pay the EXACT SAME PRICE for downloadable content when they can have all this for an EQUAL or REDUCED price? Hmmm…greed perhaps? Or maybe this is sheer idiocy. Or perhaps this is the movies studios way of setting up Walmart to fail, and having more ammunition against downloadable content.
Look! Downloadable content doesn’t work! It didn’t work for Walmart, do you think it’ll work for anyone else?!? (and somewhere, Steve Jobs and laughs, and counts the next million he’s made)
Either way it seems ludicrous, destined to fail before it gets out the door. They should take the hint from Apple, who already have a system in place that seems to work. Or better yet, listen to the consumers. Making things more difficult for them doesn’t work, it only pushes them further from cockamamie schemes to keep their content locked down. Of course, they won’t listen. Instead of cashing in, they’ll play greedy, dumb and paranoid. Too bad for them.
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TV
TV: ATHF
Aqua Teen Hunger Force. It stirs fear into law enforcement everywhere, this group of miscreants consisting of mainly an anthropomorphized versions of an order of fries, a shake, and a..err…meat thingee.
Makes you wonder about Boston: is the divide between the “hipsters” and the “squares” that wide? Should I worry about making pop culture references around the people in charge there, for fear of being marked a threat to society? The panic shown by Boston law enforcement over these meager animated billboards has me scratching my head in a definitive “Huh? – Wha-?”
You’d think that someone somewhere would’ve been aware enough to recognize this advertising gimmick from a mile away, but the disturbing thing is that (like the mercury scare a few weeks back) it shows not only how ill equipped those we pay to protect us are, but how out of touch they seem to be from what’s going on around them. It also has one wondering: can the law enforcement really tell the difference between glowing electronic diodes and real WMD (my guess is, no- not really).
Wasn’t at least one person the police force who didn’t stay up late at night to watch Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network? What about the recent trailers that have been cropping up on the Internet?
I don’t know what we should be more worried about- the fact that the responders took a forever to react, or how out of touch many seem to be with culture that is occurring right under they’re noses. Maybe they should get a clue. Or better yet, swallow their pride, and ask someone at the risk of looking dumber than they already look.
“A child of five could understand this. Quick, fetch me a child of five.”
It’s a cartoon about fast food products. It’s not a plot to disrupt the city and spread fear and panic. I hope someone learned a valuable lesson from this.
