A Christmas Carol 3D

Christmas is already here, so it means the movies for this season have already arrived. Usually I avoid this kind of cliché movies, but this year there was an interesting candidate.

I believe last time I went to a theater for a Christmas movie it was for "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"... with Jim Carrey too, yes.
What pulled me to watch "A Christmas Carol" was the technical side, because there's a big improvement from movies like "The Polar Express" or "Beowulf".

The story we all already know: old man, named Scrooge, who hates Christmas, is visited by 3 ghosts and at the end he changes completely overnight... literaly! :-)

The quality of the computer animated characters is very good and we can see all Scrooge's details.
But I was disappointed with the 3D. Honestly this movie could really skip the 3D version because it doesn't bring anything special.

One problem with 3D movies is... the subtitles! Subtitles are rendered in first plan, giving you the idea the movie is playing behind! So it makes very very hard to focus and very hard to notice the movie in full 3D, because you keep focusing at different distances (not to mention the headaches!).

Let's see what "Avatar" has to show... I'm really waiting to be astonished! ;-)

Paranormal Activity

The ultimate horror movie? Well, these days marketing is the best tool to get clients... and audiences (like Microsoft does with Windows!).

I had a strong curiosity to watch this movie: horror movie, home made, unknown actors, a strong online buzz... and it was based on true events. Well... it had "Blair Witch Project" written all over it!

I enjoyed the movie. It stays 95% away from the Hollywood clichés... still, the ending is not the original one. Accordingly to the rumors, director Steven Spielberg suggested to change the ending but to keep the rest of the movie intact. I suppose the original one wasn't a seller.

Is also interesting to watch at the movie theater just to see how people react to the best scenes. Here you don't have music to create suspense, neither a shaky camera running all the time... so the final result can be very thrilling.
The story is told in a slow pace, so we can better know the characters and their beliefs. Every night, when the camera records every minute, is when the anxiety tends to rise. Everyone wonders what's going to happen, in a very natural way without the typical Hollywood tricks.

What didn't I like? Well, the movie trailer shows some of the best scenes and almost shows the end of the movie! I wasn't surprised some of the time "thanks" to the trailer! :-P
And I was also "sad" to see the ending was changed by request! So the concept of amateur/home made movie is lost somewhere.

The original movie trailer show an audience completely scared (read: marketing), but the problem is that audience didn't know what movie they were about to watch. For sure it was more scary for them than for everyone else.

Either way, it's a good movie to watch with popcorns and some scared friends. It was the first time I've witnessed a FULL audience screaming! (no, not me... thanks to the movie trailer! *sigh*). But you still find those who laugh... just to decompress ;-)

The Blair Witch Project is still my favourite one! ;-)

Happy nightmares...

Portugal around the corner

When you're abroad, a good way to find a bar of your preference is by looking at the outdoor beer sign: Guiness stands for irish bar, Foster's for australian, Budwiser for american (yes, it's a "beer"), Corona for Mexican, Franziskaner for German... and if you want a Portuguese bar, well, just follow the red light ;-)

Today I found this one by chance... I think it's a good sign for today. It's the FIFA World Cup 2010 stage draw... and these were the results for Portugal:

Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast and... Portugal!

It's going to be a crazy World Cup! Let the party begin with samba and Super Bock ;-)

Capitalism: A Love Story

After the gun industry, the 9/11 attacks and the healthcare system, the director Michael "Provocative" Moore is back. This time the "victim" is... the capitalism and he takes the subject very personal.

After watching this movie I realized the EUA can be the land of the dreams and the land of the worst nightmares at the same time.
Of course this financial "crisis" problem isn't anything new and we all know the global impacts. The curious thing about this movie is to unfortunatelly see how people are taken care of. On the other hand it makes you guess where the world is heading.

Michael Moore tries to show us the downside of the financial "crisis" (yes, there's a upside but that's for the bloodsucking CEOs).
Do people really need all that money? Like if they're going to live forever to enjoy those stupid fortunes!
How can governments let be played like puppets?

I recommend you this movie, because it's painfully entertaining and you will watch some curious images, like President Ronald Reagan getting orders from Merrill Lynch's CEO at the time!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTcL6Xc_eMM. No comments!

Power to the people! :-)

[REC] 2

The spanish directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza bring the sequel to their first "[REC]" movie, and prepare for more shacky camera horror... and action.

"[REC] 2" is beyond the sequel concept, because the storyline happens some minutes (hours?) after the end of the first movie. This time there's a special operations team and a doctor who enter the building to find out more what's going on.

I prefered the first movie (although it wasn't all original) because the story was well paced, good acting and with a nice end (yes, it reminded me "The Blair Witch Project" ending).
The second movie disappointed me a little bit. The directors put too much attention on the gore part, more action and some lack of ideas on how to... scare. The characters don't convince much either. But there are some nice surprises too...

The movie opens in France in December, but I managed to go to the premiere in the presence of the directors. If you saw the first movie, maybe you could watch the sequel... but I think you can pass...



ps: this week opens the long waited "Paranormal Activity"... real chills are waiting ;-)

Paris by Toys 'R' Us

From time to time I like to check what are the new toys on the market (don't laugh, I could check worst things! ;)
My last visit to Toys 'R' Us store was a "shocking" surprise! eheh I know they have toy guns and other "dangerous" toys, but I could never imagine they could use Lego in a bad way! :-P

In one of the stores in Paris they have Lego models from two of the most famous tourist attractions: the Sacré-Cœur Basilica and the Eiffel Tower.
From distance, the two Lego constructions looked great... until I took a closer look! eheheh What did they do to "decorate" the tower base? Cops, firefighters, police cars, helicopters and lots of ambulances!

Wait! Is Eiffel Tower really like this? Well, it's true this place isn't recommended at very very late hours, but it's never like this mayhem! eheheh

Yes, there were even Lego men parts (!) scattered around: legs, torsos, etc... what a massacre! :-D

New Moon (but same old story)

I'm still punishing myself for watching this movie! :-P I know my movie pass allows me to watch any movie at any time... but there should be some warnings at the ticket office, like the ones you already know: you can't use your mobile or camera during the movie, no animals allowed, movie not suitable for kids, you can't take off your shoes, and stuff like that :-P

This time, there should be a big red alert sign, with a flashing light and sound, like when there's an emergency on a nuclear power plant: "Alert! Alert! This movie is too girlish for you to watch!"

I watched "New Moon" for the same reason I watched the first Harry Potter movie: it was based on a series of books everyone was talking about. Potter books were supposed to be for kids and the movies were/are catchy, but there's still a child touch that can please almost everyone.

"New Moon" is a little bit different because it has written "girls only" in almost every scene and dialogue line. I think it surpasses "Sex and The City" movie (yes, I say think because I didn't watch this one! eheheh).

Vampires are pale on the face only (the rest of the body no - a movie goof) and werewolfs... well, they are shirtless all the time.

But I had some fun with this movie. How? Well, it was funny to watch the audience (read: girls) reaction everytime characters held hands, almost kissed... it was general screaming! :-P

The very best was the movie finale, not because it ended, but because the climax was so... so... cheap soap opera! :-P

Well... I have to watch a movie to compensate this one. I'm waiting for "Paranormal Activity" to feel the audience screaming for real! ;-)