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Movie Review: The Hangover

On a whim, my friends, after a decadent lunch of Dim Sum, decided "HEY, let's go see a movie!" But as 2 of the 4 of us had already seen Star Trek, we decided on a different movie.

We went w/ The Hangover. THAT BE SPOILERS HERE, BE WARNED ALL YE WHO READ FURTHER So here's my point review, that assumes you've seen the film already.

--DUDE, where's our Groom??
I'm sure its been said before, but The Hangover is basically Dude, Where's My Car? with less stoners, more WTF moments than you can shake a stick at and a mother blippin' TIGER. Screw ostriches or whatever those were in DWMC, tigers rule. There's a reason why they call that song "Eye of the Tiger".
But I digress. This film was one of those situations where someone fucks up and everything snowballs out of control. i love films like that, so if you're a fan of things getting way worse before they get better, then The Hangover is for you. In fact, if you're like me and have friends like I do, you'll leave the theater laughing and slightly worried that this may happen to you. I'm never having a bachelor-ette party. Not w/ MY friends.

--Alan
When he first mispronounced the word "retard" (emphasizing the -tard potion, so it sounds like r'tard), I think i realized that only comedy GOLD will be spouted from him. Like those funny asides from an episode of Family Guy, you'll find he may draw out the joke longer, making it unfunny, but it all gets pulled back in at the last moment to save the scene and make you laugh. Roughly half the time you're laughing in the film, its cuz of something r'tarded Alan has said or done.

--Snowball Effect
In this film you get no less than an impromptu Vegas wedding, the dentist losing his tooth, gambling gone wrong, car crashes, ass-kicking, and big black woman cops screaming, and more. Things kept getting wildly out of hand more and more as the film progresses, even throwing a few loops into the mix (small ones like picking up the super-nice car at the impound and its virtually spotless), but while it never reaches the outrageous lengths DWMC reached (ALIEN CHICKS?!), it still worked out in the end.
While not as non-stop mad as Crank, TH is pretty damned close to it. There are few slow moments in the film and they're thankfully sped along by the next big clue to where the fuck they left Doug.

--Mike Tyson
He sings "Coming in the Air Tonight" and owns a motherfucking tiger. That is all.

--Melissa
You know those characters in a horror film where there's that ball-breaking bitch that is non-stop bitching and being a general....unpleasant young woman? Rachel Harris' character is that character, and you revel in each moment in the movie waiting for that ultimate bitchslap. While she doesn't get her crowd-pleasing kill (because...well, this isn't a horror movie XD!), her comuppance is so wonderfully satisfying at the end. Harris is a great actress. XD

--Mr. Chow.
......Ok, you just HAVE to see the film to believe him. He's easily my number one favorite side character in any film of all time. BAR NONE. Mr. Chow owns my life, which means he's gonna have to share it w/ like...Guise, Jacob, and my future dog.

--Previews
Ok, maybe its just me and your milage may vary depending on your theater, but the previews they showed were of the same ilk of the film we were to watch, aimed at that audience. So a Rom-Com here and there. Then the trailer for The Final Destination starts up. HEY, THIS IS THE LAST ONE!! 8O And its in Threeeeeee-Diiiiiiiiiii! Heavens to betsey, I hope to hear good ol Denver in this one (of which I dunno is a trend they followed in the previous 2 installments since I've only seen the first movie). What I never understood in these films was how these yahoos get the power to see Death make his magic before he does it. I'm on board w/ that "the main character becomes the avatar of death" theory so maybe that's why. Cuz to be honest, if >I< were Death, its one hell of a lot more fun to watch people flail about, killing themselves w/ outrageous Rube Goldberg machines, thinking they CAN outwit me than swinging the sickle for myself.
That and I'm one LAZY mofo.
This trailer was followed by one for the movie Orphan. Creepy lil girl is a murderous HELLBEAST. Its like The Omen for the girlies. Ehhh, i'll just save my money for a copy of the original Omen and maybe wait til this hits Red Box in like 3 years.
So adding up the funny trailers and then The Final Destination followed by Orphan, you can kinda tell they wanted to hit the audience w/ downers before they sent you into Sin City w/ the Wolfpack. I'll never understand trailers.

Anyhoo, The Hangover was totally worth my money, and since we got matinee, we only paid $6.75 or something. I'd have prolly paid $8 for the film, I liked it so much. And a warning to you men: LOTSA MALE FULL FRONTAL (and a warning to the ladies: pretty much none of it if from attractive dudes). Yeah, I had to save that for the end of the review, just so I can laugh if you didn't read the whole way an blamed me for not warning you. Nyah nyah.

.....I'm never having a bachelor/ette party w/ my friends.

Up Review

Because my dad is such a Pixar nut, we went to go see Up last week. His reigning favorites are currently Wall-E and Cars (which I admit is growing on me), but he said that Up is easily now one of his favorites.

Without trying to sound like a long ass review, I'll try to stick to the points of interest w/o really plot combing, esp. since some of you haven't see the film yet.

--Partly Cloudy short
Answering the grand question of "where do babies come from", this short also showcases cloud technology, mostly physics and of course, character development of said clouds. While not nearly as superbly timed as Presto! (which is my ALL TIME FAVORITE short ever created XD), its still sweet, heart-warming and really, really funny, what with the amount of physical humor.

--CARL IS COSGROVE <8O
Which really will apply to you Freakazoid fans since we all grew up hearing Ed Asner's voice; "Hey Freakazoid, wanna go build a go-kart?" "DO I?!?!" Notwithstanding that Asner is a veteran and is one of the best old man voice talents out there, he really shined in this film. I loved him. XD

--Doug
You know those dogs who are a might slow? The kind who'd chase faked ball throws, or if they were in school, they'd stick crayons up their nose, eat the Play-Doh, and play with snails? The "I'm cute, I'm bouncy, I'm thick/dumb, I've GOT IT MADE!" kinda dogs? That's Doug. You can't help but fall in love w/ him and his mannerisms. Plus the line "I like that joke because the Squirrel got dead" is as golden as his breed.

--Dog animation
Speaking of dogs, the animation for animals in this film is, per usual, top-notch. I found it rather annoying that Beowulf boasted this hyper-realistic animation and modeling, yet their animal animation (esp. the wolves/dogs and horses) was horrendous. Up's canines (and there are a lot of them) are uniquely modeled and uniquely animated (at least the main ones, most of the other dogs are usually in a ragin hellpack, which was additionally well animated).

--Russel
I have a friend who looked just like him. XD He was adorable.

--Delicate issues
Not unlike Finding Nemo and Incredibles, some of the real life issues a child (or parent) may encounter are handled with the upmost delicacy and subtlety. Divorce, death, and even the issue of not being able to have children are shown without even really mentioning the actual words (the conversation about Russel's father between the boy and Carl is dealt with very finely w/o saying the actual D-word). Like the opening of Finding Nemo, be prepared for a rather melancholy opening to the film, and a thread of loss that is woven throughout the entire film.

--BALLOONS
There are a shit load of them, all with wonderful light bouncing off and through them, and they even act as balloons ought to. It'll make you want to buy a bunch when you leave the theater.

--In Real D 3D (wut? XD)
As it was made to be in 3D, for the most part, the film worked in 3D. I don't really feel you'll miss much if you watch the film regularly, but the 3D aspect was fun. Unfortunately the previews for upcoming films in 3D aren't very interesting, but, eh. You're not there to see trailers for G-Force, you're there to watch Kevin bother the shit out of Carl.

--Kevin
I want a bird just like Kevin. It looks like a toy. XD

--DON'T FORGET
To watch the credits. Pixar's been really personalizing their credit rolls lately, and even if there really aren't any teasers or epilogues, it still a treat to look at the art behind the people (my favorite credits rolls are Finding Nemo and Wall-E). Also, keep an eye out for the Animation Badge and the Mac OS Pinwheel of Death badge. I want a whole set of those. T_T

Ultimately: the film is definently worth your time and money, even in 3D. You won't be disappointed (in fact, I was stoked to see a trailer for Toy Story 3), and you'll prolly be back in the theaters to see it again. I know I will. ^^

Healing

"Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future. "

Well, I've just blown back in from Santa Maria where we've finally been able to lay my grandmother back to her husband. Its been a rather emotional time for all of us in the family, mostly for my mother and her brothers and sisters.

Being at the viewing and reading during the mass was something of an eye opener for me personally. Seeing all the pictures of my grandmother and hearing the stories from my aunts and uncles made me realize how precious little I knew about my grandmother. The trials she went through before she came to the US in the 70s, and the kind of environment my aunts and uncles and mother grew up in. I had no idea about what my grandmother did to make an income while my grandfather was in Guam during the war; the earliest memories of them were the two of them picking strawberries, the biggest berries you ever seen, sweeter than sugar, and plump with red juice.

I heard stores about how strict she was with her children, and yet I've always thought of her so gentle and mellow. Doing the math, I realized that my grandmother had endured nearly 13 years without the one person who meant the most to her, and a good portion of it was full of pain, suffering, and days without memories of who she was. The grandmother I knew as a child was no longer in the shell of the woman I saw in that coffin, and hadn't been in over a decade. But, who was the woman I called my grandmother anyway? I felt I knew next to nothing about her life (hell, I didn't even know that one of my uncles was a twin, whose brother died at birth. I can't imagine losing someone like a twin so early in my life).

There is so much I wish I could have asked her while she was of whole mind and body, and now I suddenly see how much i have lost. Its not the most pleasant of feelings to feel rush onto you all at once. My mother was a wreck, but not as much as one of my aunts, whom was the eldest daughter of 8 children. Even now, I know that something like this can't be easily mended and healed, and part of me can feel that it isn't ever going to.

Sorry to have dumped this all out here, but I had things that need to be off my chest. Catharsis is often the best way to really begin the healing process. Thanks for all your condolances and kind words. I'll hang in there, cuz moving forward is what humans do best, isn't it?

Ha

Last 2 weeks of October:
School, Halloween blues, a party, Silent Hill 5.

First week of November
Extreme abdominal pain, missed 2 days of school. Went to doctor, had battery of tests.

Found out I had a cyst on my ovary. Doctor unsure of what it might be; either a cyst caused by over-excited ovulation, or a teratoma cyst.

Second week of November
Ultrasounds dictate that cyst is a dermoid cyst, much like a teratoma. Operation scheduled for following week.

November 17th
Had operation for a dermoid cyst on the right ovary. Spent the week recovering, completely offline.

This week:
I'm back, its out, I gots 4 lil incisions (yay scars?? ^^), and I'm behind a week in school. Not good situation, but overall, very healthy.

But that's neither here nor there:
Let's talk this,

let's talk this,

and let's talk this.


I'm behind. Go.

*Nearly December, lunies!*

Knock Knock! Its Day 14 of the Countdown!

Let's play a game.

Its fun. ^^

*Time to clean the bathroom, lunies!*

Zombie Day (13)

Today is Zombie Day, and Guise had a neat lil idea to write something for it. My story is a short bit from my fiction series Creepy and Crawly. Woo.

“It’s not that I think you’re doing a bad job,” Alestor said, reloading his Colt. “Its just you’re not doing a good enough job for the pay you want.”
Leo was glaring at him, despite the fact his gun was in the opposite direction and shooting undead. “You asshole.”
“Hey, don’t take it out on me,” snapped Alestor, turning to the advancing undead to assist. “You wanted your performance review. I gave it.”
The walkie-talkie crackled to life. “Hey, Al, honey.”
It was Yoko. She was probably on the other side of the cemetery, at some crypt, trying to make their undead problem go away.
Leiland Memorial was one of those nice cemeteries, with wide walkways, benches under willows, and small koi ponds that dotted the vista. The dead slept peacefully under nicely tended green plots and the groundskeepers were meticulous of discarding dried and dying flowers from the headstones.
Rather, they had been sleeping peacefully, until some teenage whack-job and his posse of Goth-Emo wanna-bes said the right spell with the right pronunciation (which was pretty rare these days; the forgotten languages were just that) and gave the deceased their unneeded wake up call.
Said group of teens were now huddled near Leo’s van, shocked that, for once, someone actually listened to them, chanting zombie resurrecting spells notwithstanding. Their leader, a one Cale “Demonspeaker” Johnson, was more concerned with what the others (Alestor’s group) were going to do with his undead army than fearing that said army wouldn’t hesitate to tear him limb from limb.
Yoko was reading over, not a thick book bound with the skin of tortured sacrifices, but a print out from a website called “DarkArts and Spells dot com. She’d confiscated it from Cale when Leo made like an assassin and ambushed the group. If not for Alestor, there was no doubt Leo would have started shooting and continued to shoot before he stopped to ask questions.
This was about the time they were jumped by the newly risen undead and Leo asked for an informal performance review.
“Yeah, Yoko, go ahead,” Alestor said into the walkie. Leo was switching to a shotgun now.
“So, the print out says nothing about a return-the-dead-to-the-ground, but I can do what I can from here. By the way,” she said her voice fading a bit when she turned her head to glare at Cale when he tried to make a bid for freedom. “Mei is on her way with Henri and they should be zeroing on your location.
“I’m telling you this because,” Yoko said, then she raised her voice loud enough for Leo to hear. “I don’t want them being shot on sight by Mr. Shoot-first-shoot-some-more-shoot-till-everyone’s-dead-then-try-to-ask-questions Griffin.”
“Shut up, Yoko!” shouted Leo as he deprived a zombie of a head and left shoulder with one shot.
“’Kay,” Alestor responded, chuckling to himself.
It wasn’t long before Mei’s screaming came to the guys’ ears. She was pursued by a group of lumbering undead, but she had a pretty good head start on them. Behind her, pausing every now and again to throw a stick, an empty pot, a vase, was Henri. The fourteen year old’s legs were longer than his but he was able to keep a good pace with her until they came to Alestor and Leo’s barricade of a golf cart and a fold up table.
Mei vaulted the table and crashed into Alestor, who caught her effortlessly. Henri followed but climbed over instead and picked up one of Leo’s discarded guns, a Smith and Wesson Sigma and started dispatching their pursuers.
“‘Ello, Mei,” Alestor said with a broad smile. “How’s your first day of work?”
She stared at him with frightened eyes. “Are you kidding?! Zombies, Alestor! Zombies!”
“Its always zombies,” growled Leo, who turned to the other side of the barricade and re-lit their torches. In keeping the zombies occupied here, Yoko could go about her business in making them stop rising.
“I can see that,” Alestor replied to the girl as she shivered. “You didn’t think a paranormal investigation group was solely about ghosts, did you?”
“You didn’t say we were going to deal with zombies!” she yelled, waving a finger at the lumbering undead. They offered no other comment other than to moan and gurgle.
“Well, next week, we were thinking of visiting Mexico,” the elder man said, still grinning. “They have chupacabra down there.”
Mei finally realized something. She pointed to Henri and said, “Wait, how long has Henri known how to use a gun?” Henri reloaded his gun with all the smoothness of someone who’d done it before, not quite expert, but savvy enough to be efficient. “Why is Henri using a gun?”
“Leo taught me,” Henri said a matter-of-factly. “I’ve been learning since I was eight.”
Leo grinned proudly as he turned to help Henri with dispatching zombies. “Pretty good for a 13 year old, huh?”
Mei’s look of horror melted into a look of horror, mixed with “why is this world like this”.
Yoko’s voice crackled over the walkie. “Ok, Al. I’ve got it. Keep shooting and—” Her voice cut out and was replaced with white noise, faintly screaming teens, and the moaning-roars of a zombie attack. Mei’s eyes grew to the size of dollar coins, but Alestor sighed and fiddled with the walkie impatiently, as if he was on a cell phone and was getting bad reception. The attack was followed by an explosion-like sound, and just past a tree line, in the direction of the parking lot and their van, a reddish-orange glow lit the sky.
“Sorry, love, bit of an attack. I got them though. And the kids here are fine too.” She added the word “unfortunately” under her breath, but Alestor heard it anyway. “I was saying that you should hold these guys off and I’ll be done in a bit with the spell breaking.”
Mei turned her confusion to Alestor after Yoko signed off. “What? What happened?”
“I think she’s gonna chant these guys back to their coffins,” Alestor said, off-handedly. “So we’re gonna sit tight and make sure we keep distracting.”
“How does she do that?”
“Oh, Yoko? She’s a witch. She knows how to blow things up with her mind. And exorcisms.”
Mei’s eyes glazed over with blankness. “Are you serious?”
“Sure. You’re psychic, why can’t she be a pyro too?” It was obvious, wasn’t it? It was to Alestor.
“Maybe we should have hired the other applicant,” Leo said, turning back to his barricade-mates. The onslaught of gunfire seemed to thin out the horde. “The one with the split personality and the three-foot scissors.”
Alestor wrinkled his nose. “The psychopath? I’d rather hire a monkey with a grenade launcher.”
Henri said, “I like Mei. She knows a lot about ghosts and urban legends.”
Mei gave him an appreciated smile.
Henri continued. “And she’s not crazy like the rest of you.”
Mei’s face dropped. She glanced at both Leo and Alestor, both of who were giving her smile they thought was reassuring, but to her made them look more insane.
“I should have joined TAPS,” she moaned, her face in her hands.
Yoko said over the walkie. “Hang on, here we go.” The rest of her static was filled with chanting in tongue. The advancing horde stopped advancing. In fact, the zombies were now standing, swaying and with a deadened perplexed look on their faces.
“They stopped,” Henri said. He was peering over the barricade, head cocked.
“Is that Russian?” asked Leo, staring at the walkie.
The zombies shuffled around, neither coming towards the fresh meat of Alestor’s team, nor away from them.
Mei was massaging her temples. “I never thought joining a paranormal group like this would have me being chased by zombies.”
“Paranormal research isn’t all EVP monitors and infra-red cameras,” Alestor said with a smile.
“Hold on to yer butts,” Leo said, punctuating his comment with a lobbed grenade.
“Wait--!” cried Alestor, but it was too late and the grenade was airborne. He snatched both Mei and Henri and used his body to cover them as Leo hit the dirt next to him. Seconds later, the grenade exploded and dirt rained from the sky, followed by a leg here, a finger or two there, and a few chunks of headstone.
“You ass!” snapped Alestor, smacking Leo’s head. “Damn it, you could have killed us!”
The radio and Yoko’s voice crackled to life. “That’s why you don’t get a pay raise, Leo! Damages are coming out of your pay!”

WIP Day 12 for the Countdown


Brawl Diaries WIP: Treating by ~DioMaxwelle on deviantART

I demand more Ness art. Hell yeah.

*PK TRICK Lunies!*

Day ONE ONE on the Halloween Countdown

More art! Cuz I'm lazy! And busy!!


WIP: Acorn Festival by ~DioMaxwelle on deviantART

And its a WIP, so it'll be colored soon.

So, the Acorn Festival in Animal Crossing is a week long event in which you pick up acorns and take them to Cornimer (whom I believe to be the mayor Tortimer in disguise) who in turn will gift you with pieces of the rare mushroom furniture. But if you go and bring him rotten acorns, he takes your stash, yells at you, then doesn't give you anything. Boo....
This flicker account had some pics of it (I would have taken some of my own but my camera's broke T_T)

While the event is fun, I still miss the nifty Halloween furniture you got from the GC version of the game, cuz it was all pumpkin themed.

Hopefully when the new Wii game comes out, the furniture will be back (so far I've seen the Jack head accessory, so fingers crossed!).

Well, hopefully these posts will become something, but if not, then I'm happy to do them in the first place. Cornmaze this weekend, so expect pics of that (camera willing).

*WEE-OH WEE-OH WEE-OH ACORNIO! Lunies*

Halloween Countdown, Somewhere in Day 10


Halloween Eggy by ~DioMaxwelle on deviantART

I'm on a Halloween Egg kick.

Well....no, its just the nature of my class projects currently. XD

*There's egg on my face, lunies*

Halloween Countdown, Number 9


Some Scary Shit by ~DioMaxwelle on deviantART

Why oh god why....did I model something so frickin creepy.....??

Myu huuu, postdating is my friend.


Pyramid Head Likes Ice Cream by ~DioMaxwelle on deviantART

PH likes ice cream but does not cotton to Maria.


An Unholy Union by ~DioMaxwelle on deviantART

Ok. Now, let's get something more recent late.

*Burning the midnight oil, Lunies*

Halloween Countdown, Day 8

I'm tapped. I got nothin.

So, if you guys want something to do, you can watch this:


And maybe watch the whole walk thru in JP. You'll have to chase the links from here on out, but I gurantee it'll be tons of fun.

Or, if you prefer to laugh at ppl who aren't as steel-minded as the rest of us:


You can catch up w/ these guys. XD They crack me up.

Othern' that, I'm off to finish more HW.

^^;;;;; Better post friday. Promise.

*I'ma slackoff, lunies*

Day 7? Where Did You Go?

So I lost my other post yesterday, and today seems like we'll get a short post.


Save Point by ~DioMaxwelle on deviantART

Guess I shoulda used that save point. Now I have PH after my ass. Ewwww.

*Save Smart and Save Often, Lunies!*

Day 6 in the Countdown to Hall-O-WEEN


Expectation-Silent Hill by ~DioMaxwelle on deviantART

Something nice and traditional for you Silent Hill fans.

Its an homage to Gustav Klimt's painting Expectation.

No, I haven't been able to play SH5 yet. T_T

*Expecting change, Lunies*

The Door is Open on Day 5

I've posted about this before, but I thought I could give you guys a lil revisit. My posts have been a bit lean this time around, so I'm gonna have to amend that.

But until then, beware of any new doors that smell like candy and cake.

And if you liked this romp, I highly suggest (again) to pick up the novel The House of Leaves. You won't be disappointed. You might, however, get vertigo or paranoid.

Natch!

*Knock knock....Lunies*