Movies

Trailers : Red

With “Expendables” coming to Cyprus cinemas this Friday, there’s not much left to wait for, right? Well, almost. There is this new movie coming out on October 15th, called “Red“, which stands for “Retired, Extremely Dangerous”. Judging by the trailer it seems to be in one of my favorite genres – action comedy. Starring Bruce Willice, Morgan Freeman, and John Malkovich, it’s a good candidate for the top of my waiting list right now.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayFfMfN5AvE]

There is also this trailer, in case you want more.

The A-Team

A few weeks ago I went to the cinema to watch the movie re-make of the 1983 TV series – “The A-Team“. I haven’t seen the original, but I’ve heard a lot about it. As for the new movie – I only saw the trailer, and I was hooked. It seemed like my kind of action movie.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM0ypzvuphg]

And it turned out to be even better than I expected. From the first few moments, the film sets the mood and establishes itself as an entertainment-only flick. What follows a non-stop waterfall of action and witty humor. As far as action comedy goes, I think it’s one of the best films in the last few years. Sure, “Iron Man” had its share of jokes, but “The A-Team” took it way beyond. Just the scene of the A-Team using the tank to fight while falling down from the airplane is worth the money for the ticket. But there is so much more!

Highly recommended for a fun Friday evening. 5 out of 5.

Harry Brown

Yesterday I watched “Harry Brown“. It is a very dramatic crime movie with Michael Caine playing the main character. If I were to describe this film in the shortest possible way, I’d say it is an English version of the American movie “Grand Torino” with Clint Eastwood. It is not the same – the story is different, the circumstances are different, the outcome is different. But they have the same theme – an old man, retired decorated veteran, taking measures in their own hands, after the younger generation going nuts and the rest of the world not paying any attention to it or not being able to control it.

While I really did enjoy “Grand Torino” – only now I realized that I haven’t reviewed it, which I will correct shortly – I think that “Harry Brown” is a better movie on this particular subject. It is more dramatic, it shows the problem better, and it is not as much drag to watch. There is some and much needed action in it too, unlike “Grand Torino”, which is purely a drama movie.

Even though both films seem to be shot on a low budget, at least compared to current Hollywood budgets, neither one of them looks cheap. But this type of movies are not there for their special effects. They illustrate the problems with the society. They make you think. And they also make you enjoy the acting. Excellent acting is the backbone of “Harry Brown”. Each and every character in this film is full and complete. Each and every character is as realistic as it gets. And in case of the young criminals and drug addicts maybe a tiny bit too realistic. Some of the worst scumbags are shown as they are – the point where you think it’s OK to bypass the whole institution of criminal law and head directly to the right and wrong approach.

Overall, a very strong movie which gives both something to think about and something to experience. Highly recommended. 5 out of 5.

The Expendables explosive interview

I’ve already posted the trailer of “The Expendables” movie which is coming out this week. But here is another bit that you don’t want to miss – The Expendables explosive interview with Sylvester Stallone. One of the best movie ads that I’ve seen in a long while!

Jim Carrey Official Website

Once in a while, I get this feeling that I have been involved with web development for more than ten years now. And then I see a masterpiece that humbles me, and brings me back to the ground. With supersonic speeds. And it even hurts sometimes to the point that I don’t want to touch a computer ever again. The official website of Jim Carrey had just that effect on me.

It is conceptually perfect and has outstanding execution. I don’t even know where to begin…

Firstly, it matches my perception of Jim Carrey’s image and character. I consider him to be a sad cloud of some sort. He is a genius in comedy, and has also a very strong dramatic side to him. This combination, I think, makes him into a very popular person who has nobody to talk to. Not necessarily so, but you get the idea. The website supports this perception of mine. It is comical, yet sad, and very very original.

Secondly, the combination of visual art and music is stunning. There is so much to look at. Unlike most other sites where you spend a fraction of a second to analyze the page in front of you and navigate to the point that you needed. Here you can stay on each page for minutes, looking at each and every little tiny detail. Awesome!

Thirdly, it is quite interesting technically. I am a strong supporter of the concept that good technology should be almost unnoticeable. It should do what it is supposed to do without attracting too much attention to itself. And this website has a few good examples. See, for example, how Twitter is implemented. Visualized as a bird on a tree, with Jim’s face, that speaks out word by word his latest tweets. How awesome is that? I bet you’ve seen a billion Twitter integrations to all sorts of websites till now, but you haven’t seen one like this. Or maybe you have. I haven’t. And Twitter integration is not the only example – there is the animation between different sections of the site, photo album, trailers of Jim Carrey’s movies, and more. Bits and pieces are spread across the whole thing, leaving you know choice but to explore.

I think if we had much less of marketing and public relations online, the web would look more like this. At the stage we are now, it seems only students and independent individuals can afford to have such websites (and I am not talking about money). The rest are expecting the website to be “professional” and so on and so forth. Which results in all those pieces of crap we have around. I’m just saying that sites don’t get much more professional than this one.

Bravo to Jim Carrey for “approving” it, and for all those people who participated in creating it. A masterpiece, an online piece of art. Nothing less.