New URL

For anyone who has been looking for new content here, I’ve actually started posting on my own domain at:

http://dorolerium.com/

I’ve been updating the content there regularly, and really enjoying the freedom that comes with it. Please feel free to check there often and comment!

The Wind that Shakes the Barley

Starring Cillian Murphy and Padriac Delaney

I find it a little difficult to say how I feel about this movie.  On the one hand, I liked it.  On the other, I guess I think it would have done better as a mini series.

It was really difficult to see the kind of persecution and mistreatment that occurred throughout the movie.  It’s the kind of thing that seems so barbaric that you’d think “No way did that happen in the last hundred years!”  Early on in the movie, a young boy is brutally murdered and it’s the sort of thing I would have expected to see in a movie taking place 200 years before this.

The entire movie is a heart wrenching struggle between the British and the Irish, and then among the Irish themselves.  They fight so hard and then have this debate about whether or not they should continue fighting after the British government offers a treaty, and I found myself in the middle of the fence on which way they should go.  Obviously true and total freedom would be wonderful and ideal, but I think I would be so tired after the constant struggles, I’m not sure what I would choose.

The differences between Damien (Cillian Murphy) and Teddy (Padriac Delaney), and the subsequent paths they both take, are really hard to watch.  It’s awful to see families torn apart like they were, and their reasons are probably similar to my own inability to decide which way I would go with the conflict.

My biggest complaint with the movie was that the passage of time was really difficult to grasp…I got the impression later on that at least months, if not years, had gone by during the course of the movie, but I didn’t know it until I saw the noticeable growth of one characters hair.

The reason I would maybe have liked to see this as a mini series is because the character development, and the timeline, would have been handled better.  Perhaps more background info was needed, or maybe just more along the way, but I would have loved to see more about what caused the rift between Damien and Teddy.  I also would have liked more insight into the relationship between Damien and Sinead, as I didn’t really see any real romantic connection between the two and then suddenly they were together.  As it stands, the movie felt a little slow, so more time but broken up would have been better for me.

On the whole, I say see this movie.  It seems like a good insight into the struggles of the Irish people during this time frame.

My Rating: 3.5/5

30 Days - In a Wheelchair

This episode really made me ponder what would I do if I was suddenly in a wheelchair.  It’s not something most people think about, or at least I don’t.

It was comforting to see that there are decent options for getting a car made available for people to drive, and retrofitting their houses, but honestly, I’d have to buy a new house if I were unfortunate enough to suddenly have to be in a wheelchair.  I’d have to get a new job too, the one I work at isn’t very wheelchair accessible.  It really would be a huge impact on my life if something bad were to happen to me.

The episode recalled to me an experience I had in Europe several years ago.  I twisted my ankle pretty badly walking around Paris one day, and the following day we were touring the Louvre.  I could barely walk, so we rented a wheelchair and my boyfriend was kind enough to push me around in it all day.  Perhaps it’s the age of the Louvre, but getting around that thing in the chair was kind of difficult.  There were areas where it was good that I wasn’t fully wheelchair bound, because there just was no option available and I had to get up and slowly walk down some stairs.  Everyone looked at me differently than they had before as well.  Fortunately, the circumstances here in the states are better than that these days.

One of the people in the episode was a woman who had been in a very bad car accident two months before they started filming the show, and it went through some of her rehab and the progress she was making.  It was difficult for me to see this, a once very independent woman being forced to rely on other people, mentioning how she was going to have to live with her parents again.  It’s amazing how one little thing can change your whole life around.

I feel like I have a whole new appreciation for my ability to function without assistance - and a renewed admiration for the people who are in different situations and have to deal with life differently on a daily basis.

Spider-Man 3

Starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst

I will admit from the start that I’ve never really been into comic books and I don’t much care about Spider-man.  I’ve always been more of a Batman girl myself.  Give me Batman or the Slayer! That being said, I do watch plenty of movies and I thought this one was crap.

I have so many not good things rolling around in my head.  Were they intentionally wrapping up all the villains because this was the last contracted movie for this cast?  I honestly felt like the villains weren’t even super present in the movie and they were relatively easily defeated.  I also didn’t like that we essentially knew that Harry was going to go help Peter, so any worry about the danger Spider-man might have been in was…I dunno, just not there I guess.  Never once did I worry for him, that he wouldn’t make it through the whole conflict.

Also, I don’t know much about the comics and all that, but I thought that Gwen Stacy was Peter Parker’s girlfriend before Mary Jane…and doesn’t she die?  Either way, that whole bit felt contrived.  And Mary Jane is a big whiner, can we please go through a movie where she is even just a little self confident and not crying half the time?

At no point was Peter Parker cool either, despite the efforts to make him appear so.  Was the point to have him still be a nerd regardless of the suit and his clothes?  Or were we really supposed to think he was cool?  Cuz that definitely wasn’t working.

So anyway, I was bored and now wish I had instead read my book during that two hours.  The positive side is I’ve heard nothing but good things about other superhero movies that I will probably be seeing in the nearish future, so my faith in them won’t be lost.

My Rating: 2/5

Lust, Caution

Starring Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Wei Tang…also Directed by Ang Lee

Another film I knew nothing about prior to seeing it, as this one was on the boyfriends Netflix list.  The whole thing is set pretty quickly - in China, around WWII, Japanese are occupying China, it sucks.  I didn’t totally love this movie, and I would say it’s not the kind of thing a lot of people are going to like, but it is worth seeing if you like movies from this period.  It received an NC-17 rating for the sexual content, so if that sort of thing bothers you, stay away.

Also, it has a lot of mahjong.  I’m personally fascinated with mahjong, so I found that stuff distracting.  I’m not sure how much dialog I missed because of watching the tiles instead of the words on the screen.  A local film critic said that the movie has lots of sex, and even more mahjong, which made me laugh at the truthfulness of the statement.  I wouldn’t say it has tons of sex, but that definitely plays a part in the plot.

I think I need more time to really think on how I felt about the ending.  Part of me likes that Mak Tai Tai gave in to her heart and saved the man she loved.  The other part of me wishes she’d gone for it all and really made a difference for her country.  Plus one of her colleagues was hot and she should have dated him instead

On the whole, a decent film, though a bit sad.

My Rating: 3/5

The Tudors Season 2

I just now got around to watching the season finale, and I am not embarrassed to admit that this was the most heart wrenching hour of television I have seen since Buffy the Vampire Slayer was on.  I was brought to tears numerous times during the episode, and the last few episodes of this season really made up for any deficiencies I’ve felt this series has had.

We all know how this story goes - Henry VIII tires of Katherine of Aragon, marries Anne Boleyn, Anne doesn’t have a male child, Henry tires of Anne, has her beheaded - wackiness ensues, or whatever.  Given that this is based in history, and a historical time that I am admittedly obsessed with already, there were no surprises plot wise for me.

At the beginning of the series, I was a little turned off by Natalie Dormer, the actor who plays Anne Boleyn.  However, the charm and charisma she brought to the role have convinced me to agree with others, that she is the best Anne Boleyn I’ve ever seen.  I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do when she’s not on next season.

I also adore the speed with which the people in charge of the credits get them recut.  In the last half of this season, we lost four major characters from the credit sequence, and not a one of them was in the credits past the episode in which we lost them.  This is another thing that I tie back to Buffy, you could count on a character being out of the credits right away.  A flaw Smallville has, they seem to leave someone in the credits until they have a normal break or the end of the season.  I know it’s a silly thing to obsess on, but there you have it - I expect people out of the credits in the episode directly following their departure.

One thing I dislike about this series is the speed they go through the events.  In 20 episodes, we’ve managed to go through about 10 years - all of Henry Fitzroy’s life, the courtship of Anne Boleyn, Mary growing up, the marriages of Margaret (really Mary but who’s keeping track) and then her death, all of Anne’s marriage to Henry, Elizabeth’s first three years, and the trial and death of Anne and her fellow accused.  At this pace, Jane Seymour will only have like two episodes next season, since she dies right after she gives birth to their son.

I’m also curious to know exactly how far this series plans to go…will they continue with all the Tudor stuff until Showtime says no more?  I would love to see dramatic portrayals of Henry’s last three wives, but I have my doubts as to it getting that far.

For anyone on the fence about The Tudors, I recommend watching it.  This season has convinced me to buy the series, something I hadn’t planned to do at the end of the first season.

My Rating: 4.5/5

30 Days - Working in a Coal Mine

Going into this episode, I really didn’t think I was going to care.  Some of the topics this program delves into are just…dull, I guess.  I thought this was going to be one of them.

However, perhaps because it was Morgan Spurlock himself doing this trial, after about five minutes I really did actually care.  This episode really brought to light some things I’d never thought about - mainly that people are even still working in coal mines.  I mean, it seems like such a crap job and you’d think we would have better technology than this by now.

Throughout the episode, I was reminded of various jobs on The Worst Jobs in History because this job seems like it would certainly qualify.  There probably has been one about coal mining, in fact, and I just can’t remember it at the moment.

The health risks outlined in this show were really scary, as are the general day to day threats the miners face.  I honestly would have thought there would be better ways to get coal out of the ground by now, rather than the constant threat of explosion or collapse.  They also talked briefly about the collapse we had here in Utah about a year ago, and it amazes me that retreat mining is even allowed.

Recount

Starring Kevin Spacey, Laura Dern, Denis Leary, and Tom Wilkinson

I liked this movie, but I don’t really think I was necessarily ready for it.  I know the events took place nearly 8 years ago now, but watching this made me realize that for me, those wounds are still just too raw.  It will be a long time before I stop wondering how different things might be now if the events of those few weeks went the other way.

I probably should have just realized before watching it that I’d have a hard time.  I still can’t watch the parts in Fahrenheit 9/11 where he talks about the Florida recount without getting choked up.  I also have a difficult time watching An Inconvenient Truth, for a variety of reasons, but one of them is my constant thought of “Oh man I feel bad for Al Gore.  I feel bad for us that he didn’t win.”

Knowing all this, I probably should have waited at least another year before watching the movie.  And depending on the results of this upcoming election in November, I should have waited another 4 or 8 more years.  But alas, I didn’t wait, and came close to crying at several points during the film.  Seeing something like this makes me glad sometimes that I’m not an actor, because I don’t know how I could have made it through filming.

That all being said, the movie is well worth watching.  I actually wish this was a real movie release instead of something that came out on HBO, because I feel it deserves the biggest audience possible.  We all need a reminder of what is truly at stake.

The performances were all fantastic as well.  I hope Laura Dern gets some kind of acknowledgement during awards season because she almost made me feel bad for Katherine Harris, who really appears to be the only one who hasn’t gone on to super great things after that election.  Or maybe I just haven’t heard about it, and I don’t really want to research her.  I know she had that failed run for another position (was it senate?  I don’t remember).

It was also written by Danny Strong of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame.  I adored him as Jonathan on the show and am happy to see him doing things again.

My Rating: 4.5/5

The Savages

Starring Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman

I actually watched this movie almost a week ago, meant to write about it, but found that I’m not entirely sure what to say.  Honestly, I have been wondering this entire week “what do I say about that movie?”  Once again, the reasons I am not a film critic are brought to light.  I liked it, that much I can admit to.

This movie is just, like, life.  It was depressing, at some points funny, and makes you think.  For me, it made me think about what on earth is going to happen to me when I get old.  Will I get dementia?  Who will take care of me since I have no children?  I don’t want to go to a rest home, but I’ll have no control over it.  I won’t even have anyone to argue with.  I might just end up there because some neighbor decided to drop me off.

Also, I love both of these actors.  I still have nothing further to say about this movie, but I do love those actors.  People, you should see The Savages, it’s good and worth your time.  Hopefully you’ll have more answers to the questions I posed to myself above, cuz I ain’t got shit.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Spam - Not the meatlike substance

Okay, really I don’t know if spam is “meatlike”.  I’ve been a vegetarian my whole life.  Spam could really be full on meat, I have no idea.

What I’m talking about it the junk on the internet, and most specifically at this moment, a comment someone - or something - tried to leave on my blog.

I don’t know if I intentionally installed the spam blocky thing that comes with wordpress, or if it just happened, but I do admit that I like it because I don’t really want those crap insurance comments that are just garbage getting posted.  I’d be deletin that shit anyway.

The spam comment in my queue today, however, mildly amused me.  It always appears as though the inevitable happens, something porn related comes up somehow.  The keywords used in these spams always make me giggle, cuz does that shit really work?  Does someone see that, in a comment or in email, and think “fuck ya!”

I mean, some of it has to work.  I guess I’ve witnessed the aftermath of it working on less internet saavy relatives computers.  So it makes me laugh.  And maybe it worked this time, cuz here I am posting about it.  But I’m not linking to your site, so ha!