Refined Critics
Friday, April 29, 2005
3:00AM - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Ok, this movie was awesome. Everyone needs to go see it. (I just got home from the Continental's 12am opening).
Will post more on this tomorrow with my review.
Friday, April 1, 2005
2:23PM - Sin City
So here it is, my review on Frank Miller's Sin City:
I walked into this movie thinking that it was going to be something fun to watch, with the kind of all-star cast that they advertised as having, and all of my expectations were absolutely blown away. The movie was so stunning and amazing. I jump ahead though.
The movie is based off of Frank Miller's graphic novels "Sin City", "The Big Fat Kill", and "That Yellow Bastard". The movie plays out each story, one at a time and seamlessly and without effort ties them in to each other. The artistic direction of this film is stunning. You are in a graphic novel. Not in the sense that there are boxes that the action fits in, but the colors and the dialogue is done in such a way that you can just as easily imagine yourself sitting in your bedroom reading the novels. The film contains a gianormus list of absolutely fabulous actors...heres the rundown: Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Elijah Wood, Bruce Willis, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Clarke Duncan, Carla Gugino, Josh Hartnett, Michael Madsen, Jaime King, Brittany Murphy, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Nick Stahl and Alexis Bledel. Each and everyone of them played their characters beautifully.
Directed by Robert Rodriguez (with and assistant Direction credit given to Miller for all of his stylization choices that Rodriguez used) and special guest direction by none other than Quentin Tarantino (what?!?!? Tarantino and Rodriguez working on a film together? Never happen ;-) )
I don't know what else to say about it without giving anything up...you have to watch this movie. If you're not familiar with the novels (like I'm not...I need to read them) they are very graphic and it transfers over quite well. But go see it and come back and tell me what you think, only then will i say more
calm2:46AM - Sin City
Ok so I saw Sin City last night (midnight opening) and it was absolutely, posititively fucking amazing.
I promise when I get back from class in the morning that I'll write the review and post it up.
Good night
Saturday, March 26, 2005
1:31AM - Showtime
In an attempt to bring life to this group, I will make it a goal to write about a new movie I've seen. New to me at least.
I just saw Robots, from the people who brought us Ice Age (actually this was my second time)and although I wasn't in the mood for a "Kiddie" film, I did get some entertainment value out of it.
Robots' story follows young Rodney Copperbottom on a journey to follow his dreams and make his dad, a dish washer (literally), proud of him. The moral of the story that is repeated over and over again is that one can be great no matter who they are, what they are made of. It's a colorful adventure to say the least. The visuals are amazing and the joke, well let us just say that they are what one should expect from an animated flick for kids, corney, slapstick, and often crude. There is a scene in which Fender, Rodney's friend voiced by Robin Williams, makes music with his armpit. And even Ms. Spears isn't safe from this flick.
To sum up, this movie may not be a must see but if you want to go see a fun, energetic and silly film then check this one out.
Rating: B
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Robin Williams, Amanda Bines, Greg Kenier, and Drew Carrie.
Also, be sure to get your seat early to catch the Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith trailer!
Thursday, March 10, 2005
11:13PM - Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith...May 19th!!!
I just saw the new trailer for the new Star Wars movie and damn it surprised me with how much it gives away. But honestly, all that transpires is to be expected I think. And it's also looking pretty good. I think we may even see some pretty good acting. The effects are pretty good looking as well. I think they've done a better job on Yoda this time around. All I can really say at this point is that this movie will be intense.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
6:42PM - Recommendations:
For anyone that loves music, that has a passion and connection to music in their soul, or if you just downright like hearing new music, I have decided to offer some suggestions (or demands) for music that you should go find/download/hear now. Take my advice as much as you will. I'll try to generalize what genre and style the song is so that you can pick and choose at least one song to find and love that's new to you.
Lords of Acid - "The Most Wonderful Girl": Old School Techno style with the traditional Lords Of Acid sound and "lyrics". This is one of the first LOA songs I ever heard. I listen to the version that comes off of the Sliver Soundtrack from 1991. It's a little sexy, and all in good fun!
XI XI - "Feel So Good": This is a really fluid song that is somewhat housy/somewhat loungish. It comes from Super Star DJ Keoki's Disco Death Race 2000 CD, that came out around 1996. The vocals are really smooth and somewhat otherworldly, but beautiful and relaxing. It has a somewhat upbeat feel to it, but it's absolutely meant to chill to.
Aqua - "Around The World": Pop/Dance. Now, I know you're thinking AQUA?! They did "Barbie Girl"! There is something about this song that's just fun and carefree and happy though, but not in that annoying Barbie Girl kind of way. It came from Aqua's second American release "Aquarius", but the version I have is live from "Pavarotti And Friends for Cambodia and Tibet". It's almost identical to the album version but is a little more spontanious, and it's always fun to hear that Aqua's singer Lene Nystrom really does have a voice that sounds just like it does on their albums.
Simply Red - "Sunrise": Pop or Top 40 Adult Contemporary. The entire song is a sample of a Hall and Oates song (I think it's called I Can't Go For That), but it's remastered beautifully, and even part of the old song is sung in the new one by Simply Red's singer. You'll remember, perhaps, Simply Red as an 80's band as well. This song comes off of a newer CD of theirs, and is pulled of wonderfully. The lyrics are worth a listen and the singer's voice is satin.
Moby - "Rafters": Techno(...or however you classify Moby). In true Moby style, the song has a sample of a gospel choir singer humming a tune, and it's just lively and happy, as well as upbeat. I don't think you can feel bad while listening to this song. It reminds me of sunny Sunday mornings.
Tomcraft - "Lonliness": True modern techno. It can be classified as borderline vocal trance too, but it's almost more house than trance. The lyrics aren't anything life changing, but the style and fluidity of the song are catchy and worth hearing over and over again. I take my version from Euphoria (Disc 2): Pure Euphoria.
FC Kahuna - "Hayling": Ambient/Trance. When asked what song lyrics summed up 2004 for me, I answered from this song: "Don't think about all the things you fear. Just be glad to be here." I played this cd (Laid Back) in my car in fall and it really kept my driving stress down. There's something about this song and the haunting way that the above stated lyrics are sung over and over that relax you and really make you smile and appreciate the smaller things that really do matter.
Saturday, January 22, 2005
11:55PM - Phantom of the Opera
So its a bit late, but I'm still writing this for the group.
If you haven't seen Joel Schumacher's film production of Andrew Loyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera yet, you have to go see it. It is, without a doubt, absolutely amazing. I was just blown away by it.
Over the years I've gone back and forth as a fan of Webber's work. I finally came to this conclusion: musicals put out by Webber are kinda like plays by Neil Simon, its not deep, but it works, people love it for a reason.
I don't have a bad thing to say about any of the cast. It truly was an ensemble piece where it was merited (which were many throughout) and they all worked splendidly together.
Gerard Butler's (Timeline, Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life) performance as the Phantom was great. There were a couple of choices in his singing that I did not expect, but meriting his overall character work they fit together beautifully. An interesting choice by Holloywood to make his mask a bit smaller to emphasize facial expressions (makes sense I guess).
The newcomer, and absolute shocker in the ways of talent would have to be the young Emmy Rossum (Mystic River, Nola) and her portrayl of the young and virtuous Christin Daae. Her singing was superb and so clean. Very well trained. Here's the kicker...she's 17!?!?!? My first thought was OMG...that a girl this young has such an amazing voice and such talent....yeah.
Then there is Raoul, played by Patrick Wilson (Angels in America, The Alamo). He would probably be the best choice possible for this character. Head strong and vibrant. The way he moved and looked and sang just screamed Raoul.
The rest of the ensemble (Miranda Richardson, Minnie Driver, Simon Callow, Ciaran Hinds) helped everything along just wonderfully.
Ok, so I lied. There is one thing that I would have changed with what we saw that night. The volume. It was too quiet. The way this music plays you need to be able to feel it to get the full meaning behind it all. I was absolutely breathless by the whole thing. Just ask 
boundtothemusic who was siting next to me. We were singing along to a lot of the songs. Sooooo much fun.
The artistic design to the whole thing was so spectacular. Everything looked amazingly beautiful. In the sequence at the beginning when it jumps through time from 1930 to 1870, the visual effects are so spectacular.
Like I said, it was a great film. If you haven't seen it yet then you need to very soon. This will definetly be one that I will be buying as soon as it comes to DVD.
Pop in if I missed anything.
Ciao
peacefulThursday, January 20, 2005
1:46AM - Phantom of the Opera
Just got back from seeing Phantom of the Opera with Jason and boundtothemusic and Mercedes and antithesis_tk
It was so so so very much amazing.
I'll post tomorrow on it. Maybe then I'll be able to put things down onto paper a tad better.
Goodnight
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
8:51AM - Red Bull Commercial
Ok I just saw the oddest add I think I've ever seen on television so far. It's a new Red Bull commercial. A man is walking while a bird flies over head. The bird poops on the man and he wipes it off of his jacket. He pulls out a Red Bull, drinks, then gets his wings. He flies up and over the bird and begins to undo his fly. Then "Red Bull: It gives you wings!"
Has anyone else seen this? It made me crack up sooo bad. It was great! Comments? Thoughts?
Saturday, January 8, 2005
11:08AM - The New York Times > International > Nuclear Sub Runs Aground
The New York Times > International > Nuclear Sub Runs Aground
What in the world? Did Mapquest steer them awry? Or maybe they took a left back at that ocean quarry when it should've been a right? That's the weird thing: the article mentions absolutely, positively no reason for why the sub came aground.
3:19AM - Monkey Bean
Sweet new coffee shop! (Haha beat you to the post Amy!) Up on 25th and Walnut, an intersection also known as Broadway (Park Avenue West) and Walnut. The shop is totally cool. Really eclectic atmosphere, furniture and people. Free Wifi. The walls are painted a couple different colors, and the brick (I believe intentionally) shows through in a few places. They have books everywhere, a piano, (I think they do occasional open mics) and a leather couch. The coffee's good, they actually serve food which is equally good, and they have 'bubble tea' which both Amy and my gf flipped out about, so.. go try the bubble tea if you've never had one!
Anyway, it's a sweet shop that I think I'll be hanging out at more often. It's open till midnight during the week and 3 am on fri + sat nights. Stop on by! It'll be a good time.
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
2:34AM - Outback Steakhouse
Outback Steakhouse
8601 W. Cross Drive
Littleton, Colorado 80123
http://www.outback.com
I *finally* made it to The Outback with Jason to spend my gift cards that I had received for Christmas from my mom. The experience wasn't extremely eventful, and the food was as consistant as food at the Outback always seems to be. We ordered a Bloomin' Onion, which was hot and cook wonderfully, and we each had a Chopped Blue Cheese Salad. The menu grabbed my attention when I ordered that item, since it said that it included cinnamon crusted nuts tossed into it. When the salad arrived, I was sad to see not one single nut on the entire thing! It was a let down. For the main course, we shared the Alice Springs Chicken. This dish is a grilled chicked breast covered with mushrooms and cheeses. It's a signature dish at the Outback, and for good reason. It was juicy, hot, and delicious all at once. It came with a choice of sides, and we picked the wild rice, which was steamed perfectly with good seasoning. We also added five Shrimp on the Barbie, which, oddly, were a little dry and over seasoned.
Our server was somewhat dry and didn't talk much at all. He stopped by our table only a few times. He was so unremarkable, I don't even remember his name.
We also ended up waiting for twenty minutes longer than our reservation time.
My official reaction and rating: 3 1/2 stars out of 5.
12:38AM - Badder Santa
So I just finished watching Badder Santa, the director's cut version of the film Bad Santa. If you haven't seen it or the theatrical release version yet you should. I warn you now, there is a lot of swearing in it.
That be told, it is a lot of fun to watch, there are actually a few moments in it that are touching, Billy Bob Thorton does a great job as a thief who robs a mall every year by posing as a santa during the holiday season. After suffering through the whole season with snotty nosed brats sitting on his lap, he finally robs the mall blind, with the help with hi trusty elf sidekick (er...little person, yeah thats it ;-) )
On a sad note, it is John Ritter final film. He was a great actor and to see him go was definetly a sad day. Although he plays out his role as the mall manager very well...just listening to him quote BBT's character and spelling out S*H*I*T is funny enough.
Lauren Graham is fun to watch as a bartender with a fetish for Santa (oh santa, oh santa, oh santa) Tony Cox (Hooter from Captain EO...wow thats been a while) and Bernie Mac fill out the cast very well playing Santa's Elf and the Mall's head security chief respectively.
I don't really know how else to fill it out with. There really are some great scenes between Thorton, the kid and Graham. Thorton, in his own twisted way, actually serves as a role model and helps the kid become a better person.
Feel free to add on to this if you've seen it and can reiterate on it.
Monday, January 3, 2005
11:23PM
Hey Hey Hey! Fat Albert here.....ok jk! I've joined and this was a great idea Amy!
Ok so I'm going to suggest "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" (SP) for those who enjoy ensemble casts, like Billy Murry, enjoy random and dry humor and who aren't bothered buy untied-up story lines. It's very interesting I thought but you really have to pay attention I think to get a lot of it.
It's sooo late again!!!2:07PM - Ello there
Hey Amy, saw the post, joined the club, place is neat (althought I might suggest a shrub or two X-P)
Looking forward to hearing about lots and at least trying to give out good info and opinion in things.
Just up the x-box collection by 7 games (hurray for gamestop sales)
will post more later
happy12:52PM - Sunrise Projector by Tycho
What's up all. Thanks for the community invite boundtothemusic, this fancy little community here looks to be e a sweet idea, it'll be interesting to see what becomes of it.
For my first entry, I wanna plug an album I can't put down. "Sunrise Projector," by Tycho, who is actually a professional designer who's work I admire, ISO50. The album is fantastic; totally chilled out ambient instrumental music. Not put-you-to-sleep chill, more like relax-after-a-long-but-good-day chill, or get-that-work-done-around-the-apt-that-y
Anyway go check it out, you can listen to the album almost in its entirety at the album's link. I certainly do hope you enjoy.
5:21AM - "Dracula", by Bram Stoker
I started reading Dracula in the last month of 2004, so it's an odd book to start this community out with. Let me say this then: I *finished* reading it in 2005, so therefore, it counts!
Dracula had struck my curiosity in 2001 and 2002, when I was a rather zealous Anne Rice fan. At the time, I was swayed from reading the book, as I was told that it was drawn out, boring, and written in diary format. The. Entire. Book. That frightened me a little bit, but years later, my curiosity got the better of me and I picked up this classic book.
To call this book a novel wouldn't quite sound proper in my mind, and I find it interesting that "Dracula" was written as, basically, a cheap thriller novel. There are many thoughts and ideas around that present ideas as to why "Dracula" is so popular and has stayed true as a "classic" through the last century and a half.
Perhaps it's because my introduction to vampire novels *was* through Anne Rice's vivid and colorful writings that I didn't find "Dracula" to be a classic or overly outstanding. The story is beautiful, don't get me wrong. There is a human element present in the writing that brings you hope for the characters as they traverse through all these troubles and persistent problems that mar their lives over the course of the six months that the book takes place. And the manner and way in which each of the characters act is also an interesting window into another time of true gender segregation and etiquette.
The first five chapters of this book truly frightened me, and I was taken back to a time in my life where I was afraid to step off of my bed for worry of what might grab my leg and suck me under forever. The simple reference in Jonathan Harker's journal that likens his ride to Castle Dracula to a nightmare created too clear a picture of his fright for me not to become frightened for him.
As the book progressed, and Dracula's intelligent nature comes to light, I was delighted every time I was introduced to a new character. I especially became a fan of Mina Harker. I was excited to finally read, also, about the original Van Helsing, as I didn't know much about him before reading this book. Who was presented in the book, and who he's become in modern pop culture couldn't really be more different in my humble opinion. The Van Helsing of "Dracula" seems more like a tough, older professor type, than the kick ass, young Hugh Jackman version that we saw sadly bastardized recently.
The tireless drive behind the characters also creates a compelling read.
The ending of the novel was somewhat anti-climatic, while all at once being very energetic, exciting, and thrilling. When I say I feel that it was anti-climatic, what I mean is this: How could it have ended the way it did, and Dracula continue to capture the imagination of millions year after year?
Perhaps I should stop speaking of the ending here, before I ruin the book for others.
In retrospect, I have to state that the many different elaborate moments and situations that occur in this book could have been the fuel for making it so popular through all these years. From Dracula's intensely cunning movements, to the colorful and frightening scenes with the trio of un-dead sister that live in Dracula's castle, to the absolutely wonderful character of Renfield, to Mina's struggles, there is proof that Stoker was a very imaginative writer, and the popularity of the book could be credited to the fact that the world of fiction hasn't seen many ideas and stories such as "Dracula", in all it's strange glory.
And overall, I do definitely recommend it as a rather entertaining read, but be ready for a few dry moments (like most books) and interesting, if not almost melodramatic, interactions between the characters. I had a great time reading it, and did, at certain moments, have a hard time with putting it down.
My overall reaction and rating? 4 stars out of 5.
uncomfortable5:19AM - Welcome To My New Community!
As I was filling out just another 2004 survey, something struck me. I sat and thought for a few minutes about my favorite film of 2004...
And not a one could come to mind.
One reason for this was simply that I couldn't remember what I'd seen in 2004. So the brainchild has arrived:
refined_critics.
Here's a way for me to chronicle everything I do this year...from seeing movies with friends, to maybe FINALLY visiting Lotus, to new dazzling restaurants, to just another book that I've read.
I beg my friends, to join, and anyone else that stumbles across this humble community. I'm interested to hear about different aspects of your lives and cities, and what you thought about your experiences and WHY.
So...Welcome and have fun!
proud
