Once

Self-deprication is something I've developed into an art form and one thing I like to kid about is my lack of diction. Not that I don't have an extensive vocabulary, but it does get misused quite often. The best way to put it is in my placement tests for college I tested out of one english class while at the same time the university decided I needed remedial english, like Eng 080, or something because I couldn't handle the word analogies. Thank God I never needed to take the SAT's. So when I find a great word that I understand I obviously use it quite a bit, ok WAY too often, but I like my words.

So when I first watched the movie "Once" it spawned one of my favorite words: endearing. I use this word all of the time now, but it is the very best way to describe this movie.

En-dear-ing (en-dir ing): inspiring affection or warm sympathy

The movie is basically a modern rock musical which uses real musicians as the two main characters. The two characters are very unassuming. They would be people that just blend into every day life. That's probably why the writer/director, John Carney, doesn't even give them names. The Guy, Glen Hansard of the Irish rock group "The Frames", is an aspiring musician by night and a Hoover repairman during the day. The Girl, Marketa Irglova, sells roses and cleans houses to make due.

They meet while the Guy is playing one of his original songs on a street corner and the Girl happens to walk by. This starts an amazing relationship of friendship, love, and loss. Both of them seem to be treading water in their lives and by them meeting it inspires musical creativity and a new sense of purpose. The Guy is an excellent guitarist while the Girl is a classically trained pianist.

I never like getting too specific about movies because it ruins the fun. But it seems like every movie I love has at least one "scene". I mean a scene you will remember and you can say that it made the movie all by itself, or that it made a movie memorable instead of just good. In a later blog I'll get into the discussion of great scenes, but for now I'll just mention it from "Once".

The Guy and the Girl have just recently met and decide to go to lunch together. After lunch she takes him to her favorite music store where the owner lets her play piano for short periods at a time. This is the only way for her to play because she can't afford a piano of her own. After she dabbles on the piano for a bit, she gets him to play one of his songs for her (with his guitar which seems to be on him 90% of the movie). He agrees to as long as she will play piano along with him. The way this scene develops is classic. He teaches her the chords. She learns quickly. He sings a verse, let's her know the chorus is kicking in, she keeps up and eventually provides some back-up vocals. The song struck me as amazing, and the track, "Falling Slowly", eventually won an academy award for Best Song in a Motion Picture. I knew I had good taste.

The story unfolds pieced together by tracks of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. Some are live performances that stand alone while others provide a back-drop in explanation of different plot developments.

The movie would be so-so, if the music wasn't unbelievable. The soundtrack for Once stands alone as an excellent CD, definitely the best soundtrack I've ever heard. It's hard to pick a genre for the music, it's just good. Anybody that can appreciate beautiful chords, a good beat, and some sappy lyrics thrown in for fun would really enjoy the CD. I'm sure by watching the movie you'll be as eager as I was to pick up the soundtrack.

All in all, if you love movies that develop a life of their own, and can make you laugh, cry, and everything in the middle, this is a must see. I can't really think of any other way of putting it, it's simply endearing. (sappy I know)

"X-Men: The Last Stand" . . . Best Movie Ever?

Considering this is my first blog, I figure I should pick a topic that would be a good representation of what things I find interesting to post.

Now I do pose the question "X-Men: The Last Stand" Best movie ever? with some level of sarcasm. Just a touch. Now I never did think that this was a GREAT movie, but at a point in my life I did consider this to be extremely entertaining. I thought it was one of the best comic movies I'd ever seen. I must admit that at the point I watched it I did have somewhat of a skewed perspective. I had such a keen reaction to the movie that I bought the trilogy about 3 weeks ago and watched them in order from the original to X-Men United, to The Last Stand.

Now my motivation was to watch the first two in order to build up for the The Last Stand which I had enjoyed so much over a year ago. The first two were totally decent with me liking the original a bit better than the second. I was so looking forward to watching the conclusion that I invited my roommate, Brad, to watch it with me. He said he had seen it when it first came out and that it was totally unimpressive. I scoffed at that and convinced him to sit there with me while the drama unfolded.

I was sucked in from the beginning with the premise that the cure for mutation was found. I loved the part where Jean Grey emerges from the water and establishes herself as a bonafide bad-ass. Her fight with the professor was a memorable scene. I was really into it pretty much until the final act when it seemed like EVERYTHING fell apart.

The great thing is that Brad was there to remind me of how terrible the movie becomes. There were three things that stuck out from this viewing as a mixture of cheesiness and bad writing.

For starters, the army knows that the "evil" mutants are going to attack for a decent amount of time before it happens and when the time comes the general is given the unfortunate news that the ground troups are 30 minutes away. In response the general busts out the cheesiest/most outrageously satisfying "MAY GOD HELP US ALL!" I've ever heard. It's a totally cliche line and he actually said it in a serious tone. At this point I knew the movie was taking a turn for the worst. The best part of this line was Brad and my reaction. We laughed hysterically and then somehow pulled it together. And now when we watch any movie together we both try and find a point in the movie to blurt out "MAY GOD HELP US ALL!" I highly reccommend anyone try this. It is quite hilarious and almost any movie you watch will have a point when it totally makes sense. Thank you X-men.

Next, the cure is located on an island and that's where the mutants are headed to destroy it. There method of transportation was interesting to say the least. Several of the mutants have the power to fly/levitate/float whatever. And instead of transporting this way or on a boat, Magneto tears apart the local suspended bridge and turns it to connect to the island. The shot of this floating bridge is quite funny and completely illogical. It's almost like the director was trying to use his entire budget and create some sort of eye candy for the average movie goer.

Finally, the "head" of the island/complex is captured by the mutants. And instead of killing him straight off, they decide to drop him off the edge of the building which looks to be about 3 stories high. In retrospect I was reminded of "The Dark Knight" where Batman is about to drop the mob boss off the building and the mob boss says something like "this drop won't kill me" and Batman replies "I'm counting on it" and down he goes spraining or fracturing the evildoers knee. So this feeble attempt at dropping this man is solely for the purpose of his mutant son that happens to have wings to swoop down and save him (from a minor injury I guess). The son hadn't been in the movie for a good 45 minutes so I couldn't think of a less dramatic/trying to be dramatic part in the entire movie.

These things along with the terribly choreographed fight scene made me realize how goofy this movie really was. But at the same time, I realize how unique of an experience watching a bad and or cheesy movie can be with a somewhat humorous friend. It gives plenty of opportunity to show off ones wit and is quite a bit more satisfying than seeing a decent movie.

I highly reccommend watching this movie with a good friend or in a chemically altered state and I assure you it will be a great time.

On my trip to Chicago at this Italian restaurant in the Ukrainian village, by complete chance this movie was brought up from a waiter commenting on the Dark Knight. Not quite sure how X-Men: The Last Stand was brought up but it was. I had told my girlfriend, Hillary, about my experience and poked her so as not to bring up my previous love for the movie considering everybody else was knocking it. Well this is my admission, and I'm not ashamed.