Milkduds

Napoleon Dynamite (8/10)

What a throwback to the eighties!!! Napoleon Dynamite doesn’t really have much of a story to it, but has probably one of the most original and true characters I’ve seen in a movie. I seriously need to see Jon Heder interviewed because he has got to be like the character he plays in some way. I’ve noticed that there’s a lot of “you either love it or hate it” about this the movie, but I think the consensus is that it’s good. I sometimes have quirky taste in movies, so I always look to my wife’s taste to see if a movie is agreeable for the general public. Since she liked Napoleon, I think it’s a safe bet.

The movie is set in the 80’s (I think) and focuses on Napoleon, who is a very awkward teenager living in Idaho and trying to make the best of the situations he faces. It also has one of the best opening credit sequences I’ve seen in a while, by using different real backgrounds and doing close ups on different plates of food while spelling out the credits in some kind of sauce or condiment. The script was very well written, especially the dialogue between the characters and Napoleon’s mannerisms. There was also NO cussing, sex, or brutal violence in the whole movie, hence the PG rating, which is unheard of these days for an adult audience. And most important of all, it made me laugh a lot.

Now, one of the more controversial aspects of the movie is when it takes place. Almost everything looks like it should be in the 80’s, but there are a few things, especially one, that would prove otherwise. For one, Napoleon’s brother, Kip, talks about how he was chatting online or bought something online, which no one did in the 80’s. But, he was a real nerd, so it’s plausible. Also, in the opening credits, Napoleon’s school ID card says 2004 - 2005 on it, but that could have just been an oversight by the editor. Finally, there’s a part in the movie where a group of girls dance to a Backstreet Boys song, and that couldn’t have been an editorial oversight, unless it’s a serious error in the story or script.

If you want to see something original and funny, this is a good movie to watch. Don’t get ready to hear a great story or see awesome action and special effects. And it’s not funny in the sense of the cheap shots most of the SNL or teen movies take. It’s funny because everyone probably knew someone like Napoleon either by acquaintence or because you knew it would be social suicide to associate in any manner with someone like him. Also, this movie should be appreciated by fans of 80’s culture because this movie has some good 80’s artifacts floating around that most current movies set the 80’s don’t have.

Add comment January 9th, 2005

White Noise (6/10)

My wife and I got to go out on a date last Friday and we decided to see White Noise after stuffing ourselves at Guadalajara in The Woodlands, TX. The movie is about how a man’s (Michael Keaton) wife dies and he finds out how to communicate with her from the “spirit world”. But as he starts to figure out what she wants, he gets caught up in a big mystery, with a somewhat suprising ending.

Anyway, the movie was good at making the audience jump at obvious times and the idea of EVP (electronic voice phenomena) was interesting as well, although I would have liked a better background on what EVP is and how they claim it happens. The story and plot isn’t great and kinda starts to fall apart at the end while it tries to wrap up the ending. I really hate it when the speed of the movie is sacrificed in order to wrap it all up. The effects were nice, especially the parts with the TV, although I think that was more psychological than technical. The cast all did a pretty good job, although the script didn’t really call for much acting and Michael Keaton doesn’t do a very convincing job as a mourning husband.

But, despite all of that, the movie did well at making me feel anxious to find out or see what was going to happen next. And my wife can tell you, I hardly ever jump during scary movies because I can prepare myself far in advance since it’s usually obvious when they are going to try to make you jump. I can say that White Noise was a good choice to see at the theater just because you can’t get the same movie watching experience with a scary movie at home.

Add comment January 9th, 2005

Half Life 2 - Entanglement

I got a good solid hour and a half to play yesterday while my daughter was sleeping, but it doesn’t seem like I’ve gotten very far. I went through the prison by cleaning up the soldiers with my antlions and got to a control room where I had to jump out of a window into yet another large area, but my antlions couldn’t follow. This would, of course, mean that I’m about to face something big. I jumped out and a bunch of soldiers busted through a double door, so I started shooting at them but they weren’t concerned with me because they were running from a mother antlion. I had no rockets, but only a bunch of flammable barrels to throw at her. This seemed to only anger her more. After a lot of running around, I found a large hole in the wall that was blocked by junk. I used my grav gun to quickly move it and got through the hole before the mother could get me.

I was now outside of the prison and looking down a long alley full of rubble and junk, but there was a large steel structure on the right side. I started going down the alley and the structure started to move! A section of it raised up, paused, then promptly came smashing down on top of me, killing me. Reloaded the game and did this a few times and finally saw that I had to move a box to get into a wall that took me to the next level.

Once inside the wall, I crawled through and came to a train station of some kind and saw Alex running around. I met up with her and she hacked into the building we were next to so we could find out how to get her father. I had to escort her through the building and help her kill off the soldiers that came at us, but we finally got to a comptuer that showed us where her father was. He, and a lot of other folks, were being held in these pods to be used in experiments. She brought him down and opened the pod and he was ok, but we had to find a way to get with the other scientists to figure out how to free everyone.

Alex let me go back into the building while she helped me out through a radio in my HEV suit. I was basically back in another prison building, but this time she could open gates for me and tell me where to go. I got to a command post where I couldn’t go any further because of a large energy field blocking my way. I was able to use two auto turrets to temporarily hold off the soldiers coming through the barrier, but they didn’t last long. After about 10 minutes of wave after wave of soldiers, they stopped coming and Alex broke through the roof. She tapped into a computer and we watched a conversation between the head evil scientist and that woman I knew earlier was going to be trouble. Alex was upset, but even more determined to bring down the evil scientists. She unlocked the energy barrier and I was back into another prison area.

And that’s where I am at the moment, but this time I don’t have the help of my antlions. I am started to get tired of the game at this point. I think there should be more story of maybe it should change up the environment for me a little more. I’m really getting sick of being in dark, rundown buildings and having to be so cautious. I hope this changes.

2 comments January 9th, 2005