The last few days in the lovely town of Madison have been nothing short of insane. We got roughly 35 cm of snow and the city was pretty much snowed in. Cars were buried, busing stopped, people fell, classes were canceled, and all around it was not good times. There is a solid 1 meter drift outside my back door... how delightful. I suppose it could be worse... it's not like I've never seen snow before. You gotta' love Wisconsin.
So today I went to Best Buy to pick up The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford on Blu-ray since they had it on sale. Whilst in the video game section browsing for new software titles, I noticed a shipment of three Wii's. Now for those of you familiar with me and/or my blog, you know that I already have a Wii. You may also know that I am an avid eBayer. I know that Wii's currently fetch something like $350 on eBay (MSRP $249.99). Essentially, I can make $100 by swiping my credit card through a machine and shipping it off somewhere. But no, I decide to let the Wii's stay on the shelf and hopefully some underprivileged and/or disabled child somewhere will find the miracle of Wii because of my heroic and selfless act. Not likely, but hey, it could happen. Now then, the slightly pompous and overconfident Best Buy sales lackey approaches me, having overheard my discussion with my roommate on how we should get some Wii's and make some quick cash. He says to me "oh yeah man, you should totally buy the Product Replacement Plan on it. I mean, I sold one of these things on eBay for like $350 without the PRP and like $425 with it. I mean, people just know that this thing will work if it has the PRP with it."
... ... ...
Really? Really? Because I, being a former Best Buy sales associate, happen to know that you would lose your job if you ever pulled a stunt like taking a Wii and selling it on eBay for profit. I also know that if anybody with some good sense would call Nintendo, your Best Buy would never get Wii's again. Ever.
The guy was a Wii-tard, that's all I'm saying.
Anyway, I did actually get what I went there for, which was a brand new copy of The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford. I know that my review of this might be controversial because I have seen so many comments to the effect of "this is way too long and way too boring." So, let me preface this review by saying if you do not have a lot of patience (especially movie patience), this movie is not for you. If you need more substance to your films than tightly woven character dramas in a western setting, this movie is not for you. And finally, if you don't like flat out epic pieces of art pressed onto celluloid, this movie is not for you.
Brad Pitt is in top form as the enigmatic, sometimes charming, sometimes psychotic Jesse James. Pitt plays his finest role since Fight Club back in 1999. Casey Affleck as supports Pitt as Robert Ford in something of a breakout performance that got him nominated for an Oscar (Best Supporting Actor) and clearly proved that the acting talent in the Affleck family sadly all went to Casey rather than Ben. Affleck is slowly consumed by his rather creepy obsession with Pitt, while Pitt is quietly driven mad with paranoia. The last 30 minutes of the film are especially impressive and serve up one of the more thought provoking endings of recent memory.
The film's Blu-ray transfer was only alright, indeed it is easy to be distracted by the rampant grain and repeated white crush in the first bit of the film. The blacks lack depth in several scenes and overall I was slightly disappointed in the video transfer, although it can hardly detract from such a fine film.
On a side note, I was bored after Assassination, and I flipped the TV on. The film Ghosts of Mars happened to be playing, starring Natasha Henstridge and Ice Cube. Oh yes, and Jason Statham. As I am sure you have deduced, this film features some very solid (really desperate), AAA (B movie) stars. From what I could gather out of the convoluted plot, there are crazy microorganisms on Mars that infect people to protect "their" planet. The infected of course go crazy, get hyper aggressive, and move about, killing the inhabitants of a prison camp on Mars. Meanwhile, cops and crooks gang up to save the day with lots of shotguns and do-it-yourself grenades (apparently: can of fruit + mining detonators = big explosion... who knew?). Finally, they decide to blow the zombies to kingdom come with a nuclear reactor explosion. How original. Henstridge is of course the typical hot chick who, despite getting into numerous fights that would likely shatter 90% of the bones in her fragile body, still has her hair perfectly styled and has but a single scratch on her neck. Statham is the hardcore chauvinist trying to hook up with Henstridge, and Ice Cube is the (stereotypical) angry criminal with a heart of gold. Basically, I still can't understand just why exactly I sat through this piece of rubbish. This movie was flat out terrible. Henstridge also wears a full suit of loose-fitting leather for the entire movie... so nothing really pans out in the "hot chicks with guns" area either. Totally lame.
I'm out.
Blu3
PS- Check out MyExtraLife. It is an awesome webcomic. Scott Johnson (the creator) also does a sweet podcast.
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