The Rock

Watched some good old action on DVD – “The Rock“. It is based on an old story of some cool marine kernel stealing some chemical weapons, taking hostages, setting base ins some secure location (like a prison), and demanding some money off the government. The details vary from film to film, but the main story holds still for many movies.

Anyway, the story is not the point of the film, because it is weak and well-known, and everyone can tell that noone is blowing up anything after like 3 minutes of watching it. The point of the film is entertainment. And this film provides a good portion of it. Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage team up nicely against Ed Harris and David Morse. There is plenty of shooting, fighting, and cool talk.

There could have been more destruction and hot women. Patriotic propaganda could have been cut out too without affecting the film that much. Photography and camera work were brilliant. Some frames from the movie could have been done into excellent posters. For example, the fighter jet in the hangar with huge American flag, or the reflection of the flag in the wet tarmac together with few running marines. These were just beautiful. There were plenty more there.

Anyway, I’ll give this film a 7 out of 10, since it measure pretty much to the level it claimed. It could have been better, but I have seen a lot worse.

First really big shopping for the kid

Olga and I went for our first really big shopping for the kid. We targeted “Jumbo” supermarket and spend there about two hours. We bought all sorts of things – socks, bibs, blankets, towels, etc. “Jumbo” has a good range of products, easier described as “Whatever you desire” with reasonable and low prices. We bougth mostly everything that we needed. Now we need to equip Olga with some clothes and gadgets and buy some furniture into kid’s room. For that I am waiting for the Christmas salary to arrive…

The Crimson Rivers

Watched “The Crimson Rivers” (also known as “Les Rivi�res pourpres”) on DVD today.

It started like a something really good, with interesting plot points, Jean Reno playing a cool cop, and some really nice photography. I was enjoying it for about 10-15 minutes. Than I started to get bored. Than producers most probably realized that everyone is getting bored and they changed the pace and angle of the movie. From this point on it looked more and more like a bad “South Park” episode with lots of cursing, messed up dialogs, missing story parts, and lousy special effects. The more I watched, the worse it got. Fortunately, it didn’t manage to get too far and ended with a totally expected, happy ending.

4 out of 10. It could have been very very good, but it wasn’t. Pity.

Cheaper it isn’t!

Olga and I are usually shopping in “Woolworth”, which has recently been renamed to “Ermes”. We prefer it to two other supermarkets in Limassol – “Orphanides” and “Chris Cash & Carry”. Both “Chris” and “Orphanides” are bigger than “Ermes” and are boasted to be cheaper by many individuals.

Today, we went shopping to “Orphanides”. It is holiday season and we are a bit short on cash, so we figured – why not. It the second time we visit “Orphanides” recently and it is the second time that I get this idea that it is not cheaper. Before you argue, let me finish.

Product to product comparison will most definetly show that “Orphanides” is cheaper than “Ermes”. But there is more to shopping than just product to product comparison. Choice is important too. “Orphanides” offers a much wider choice of products than “Ermes”. All these products are generously distributed over shelves. Consumers (read: me and Olga) end up walking longer distances, looking at more products with lower prices. All of this leads to the shopping cart being feeled with all sorts of useless stuff. Being overwhelmed by choice and feeling confidence in low prices, people tend to by more. Not only me and Olga, I must say.

Second visit to “Orphanides” showed that two times out of two we have spent more money in “Orphanides” than we did in “Ermes”. We bought things that we have never bought or even wanted to buy. Just because it was there, it was cheap, and we decided to try this and that.

All these leads me to believe that “Orphanides” is not cheaper than “Ermes”. Here, I’ve said it.

Team America: World Police

No matter how many movies I watch, there are always some that I am waiting to watch desperately. And when they come around, I use any chance to watch them – be that a cinema, a scratched video tape, or highly compressed DivX screener.

I was so waiting for “Team America: World Police“. And I am so happy that it turned out way better than I expected even though my expectations were pretty high. This is a great feature. Here is a check list:

  • Original – check
  • From the producers of the “South Park”, with “South Park” atmosphere, but done differently – check.
  • Explicit lyrics, with lots of “f”-words, “s”-words, “d”-words, and all sorts of other words – check
  • Unbelievable doll art – check
  • Great songs – check
  • Lots of parodies on “Kill Bill”, “The Matrix”, “Men In Black”, “Star Wars”, James Bond movies and what not – check
  • Huge dead body count and blowing up of few world wonders – check
  • Both hetero and homosexual scenes – check
  • Laughing at a bunch of “American” values – check

Could I continue? Yes, of course. But this was so good that is worth seeing. And although I’ve seen it from the screener, I will go the cinema to watch it (if it will ever come to this part of the world) or rent an original DVD.

9 out of 10. I gave 9 reasons, didn’t I?