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Movie Review: Mission Impossible 3

Watched M:I:3 last night. First impression within 30 seconds of the start: Wow, get a bloody steadycam or tripod, will you? Yeesh. I don’t know what makes film makerst think a camera shaking like crazy, at an unecessary time (i.e. when the action is mostly static), is somehow “modern” and “cool”. All it does is make me want to close my eyes before I get a headache. Also, most overused plot technique in movies these days: the flash-forward, or perhaps half-movie-is-flashback-from-first scene. I don’t know which movie did it first – Fight Club is the first example I can remember – but now it’s just getting predictable – “Oh look! First Scene and we’re in the thick of things and we the audience have no clue what’s going on! I know, we’ll wait for the plot exposition.”

On to the movie itself, or the what meat there is to it. There’s little to no reference to the past movies, especially MI2. Ving Rhames is back, which is always good, but somehow you feel there should be a little more history in there. MI3 also lacks the tension that was there in the first, which made it a hit in the first place. It was all a little more cloak and dagger then. MI2 moved towards the action end of town, and now it’s virtually an American Bond With A Team. Also, some of the setup is ludicrously weak. It was 2 hours long, but at times you believed they made up the plot in less time than it took for me to get the popcorn at the candybar.

Utterly unbelievable, but Seymour-Hoffman puts in a great performance, and Maggie Q, Keri Russel & John Rhys-Meyers totally underutilised. Morpheous looks old and fat, unfortunately. Good laugh from “We Are Family”.

★★★

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Cow Tiger Sheep Horse Pig

Some of you may have seen this email before; supposedly, it’s got the wisdom of the Dalai Lama in it & what-not, and part of it is organising a list of animals “by your preference”. If you’ve ever been asked a question which is more random or left-field than that, let me know.

The idea is that these animals reflect your priorities in life. Somehow. Let’s go through this list. If you don’t want to be spoilt for when this email pops in your inbox, look away now.

Ok now the freaks are gone, we can get on with things.

  • Cow: represents Career. I dunno, cows never represented much to me. Some might consider cows “food”, or perhaps “milk”, or even “environment”, but Career? I’m noticing something with these animals – they’re all from the chinese zodiac (aren’t they? Tiger throws out “common domestic animals”). Maybe this email was written in 3000 BC when cows were pretty integral to careers in ye olde China. Wild guess here.
  • Tiger: represents Pride. Hmm, maybe. If you’re a hunter, having a tiger’s head over your hearth is one of those matters of pride, but quite clearly over the years has had an effect on the tigers themselves. And if you’re going to say pride, why not say Lion? King of the jungle et al? Feeds back into that idea of the Chinese zodiac, y’see? Either way, I don’t buy how a tiger is somehow linked to your perception of pride, especially in the era of emails
  • Sheep: represents Love. If there was one animal I had to say did not represent love in any way shape or form, sheep would pretty much have to be it. I don’t know about you, but an animal which is reknowned for its uncanny ability to look like all the other animals of its species doesn’t exactly put me the romancing frame of mind. Maybe something in the Chinese zodiac suggests sheep are particularly associated with love & all that, but it’d have to be a bit of a curveball. To say the least.
  • Horse: represents Family. See, sheep I might have bought here. Cow, even, what with the whole herds. But Horse? Family? That’s illegal practically everywhere you go, my friend. That Chinese Zodiac has got something to answer for.
  • Pig: represents Money. Greed, gluttony, piggy banks… ok, this one I can kinda buy. But since I can’t make a joke about the chinese zodiac here, I’m just going to say: what happend to the other 7 animals?

Next week: my next random email in my inbox! =)

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MacBook released

So Apple’s dropped the MacBook as expected, albeit well before their announced expected time last year. And as you may well know, I’ve been keeping an eye out for the MacBook for a while now… so it’s decision time =)

It’s really a no-brainer. I can afford the higher-spec 2Ghz machine, and even do up the options a bit. What I really don’t get is why Apple is charging over $200 more for a black box. Once you’ve up-spec’d your white 2Ghz one to 80GB, you’ve got the functional equivalent. I don’t get it. It’s like they’re saying “We know you want black. But you gotta pay for it.” – or is it? Is it something like the black one gets hotter so there’s an extra $200 of cooling in there?

Anyway, I’d also like a recommendation – go with 1GB memory? it is shared with the graphics. I’m already going with the 80 GB drive. Finally, should I wait until I can claim duty-free? Can I claim duty free? (coz that’s a $200 saving, and I am looking at a camera too). If you’ve got answers, let me know.

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Mother’s Day

There’s a few people you can never replace in your life, but right at the top of that list is your mum. Without whom you wouldn’t actually be around, so right off the bat there’s something you can’t argue against.

Some will argue that having one “special” day set aside for mothers demeans the whole thing, that actually having that day is an acknowledgement that most of the time mothers go unappreciated. There’s some who argue that it’s crass & commercialised and that decaring this day of all days is completely arbitrary – mainly because the shops haven’t got anything else to get sales in May. To which I say that’s the weakest excuse I’ve ever heard, foo’.

Mother’s Day may indeed be rather arbitrary, and an acknowledgement of those underappreciated, but the counter argument would be to use this day to make up for your own shortcomings. You may argue with your mum, you may find her old fashioned and restrictive and overbearing and all those other things that inevitably gets pointed at parents, but if there’s one person in the world who’ll care for you when all else have left you, it’s your mum.

I can’t be with my mum this Mother’s Day, but I sure hope you did something today. Something as small as telling her: I love you, mum.