rudolfrassen (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} rudolfrassen) wrote,@ 2007-02-27 11:22:00 |
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Book, Movie, & TV Reviews...
Alas, I have nothing audio to report.
I finished reading the book "Hannibal Rising" by Thomas Harris. This book is a prequel to Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal. The idea was to show how Hannibal Lechter became the person he is. However, it pretty much failed on all levels.
The first problem is that if you were reading this book, you would undoubtedly have read the previous one (Hannibal), when you would have discovered that his younger sister Micha was eaten by starving soldiers at the end of WWII. And yet, this book is written as if it is a horrible surprise to the reader. This gave me a "Get on with it" attitude while reading it. The rest of the book was pretty much about his stay with his uncle and aunt in Paris and his eventual vengeance upon the soldiers who killed his sister. His foray into cannibalism was very briefly touched upon, but it seemed almost an afterthought.
I guess the attempt was to make Lechter more sympathetic. I thought it pretty much made him boring.
For movies, I watched the 79th Academy Awards on Sunday and wanted to give my thoughts. Unfortunately, I watched very few of the movies nominated this year, so I can't give in-depth thoughts on who won and why (at least in relation to their specific roles).
1) I wasn't very impressed with Ellen DeGeneres as a host. She seemed too sedate and a lot of her humor fell flat. However, I enjoyed the surreal moment where she asked Steven Spielberg to take the photo of her with Clint Eastwood.
2) They waited too long before the first major award, Best Supporting Actor. I'm sure lot of people tuned out way before that. I was surprised that Eddie Murphy didn't win, but I was not disappointed that Alan Arkin won. I've been a fan of his for quite some time. "The In-Laws" was one of my favorite comedies, mostly due to Arkin's deadpan. On the other end of the spectrum, his role as Harry Rote in "Wait Until Dark" was one of the creepiest movie villians ever.
3) The shadow puppets of the various movies were fun, especially since they were short. It was much better than the interpretive dance of the various soundtracks like Savion Glover did one year.
4) Speaking of Savion Glover, I thought Cars should have won over Happy Feet. The animation was better and the story was better as well. For people who don't know the connection, Savion Glover was the dancer that the penguin was modeled after. The irony is that Savion Glover can't sing either (we often make fun of his rendition of "Rhyme Out" on sesame Street - he should stick to dancing.
5) The orchestra of people making sound effects was interesting, but a bit long.
6) Funniest moment of the night - Al Gore's special announcement being interupted by the "your time's up" music of the orchestra.
7) Did we need Celine Dion to sing a mediocre new song by Ennio Moricone? I thought the tribute was nice, though.
8) Foreign film tribute was a little disjointed, but OK.
9) Jennifer Hudson for Best supporting actress. No surprise there.
10) Helen Mirren for Best Actress. Again no surprise. I've been following her career since "The Long Good Friday", "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover", "The Madness of King George" and the "Prime Suspect" series. Glad to see her finally get recognition - Big Time.
11) Forest Whitaker for Best Actor - I've enjoyed him since "Bird". Glad to see him win. It was a tough call, as there were supposedly lots of good performances.
12) Martin Scorsese for the win! It's about time. Glad to see it being presented by his friends Coppola, Spielberg, and Lucas.
13) The Departed for best film. I wasn't sure which one was going to win...
Hopefully I'll get a chance to see all these movies that everyone was making a fuss about... :-)
Heroes was excellent last night. It gave Mr. Bennett so much more depth and the ending was heartbreaking. The writing is still going strong and it keeps me wanting more (always a good sign).
I suspected that George Takei was more involved than his first appearance let on. hopefully, this means he will show up more. I wonder if Hiro is adopted as well...
Eric Roberts has not aged well. He looks terrible.
Alas, I have nothing audio to report.
I finished reading the book "Hannibal Rising" by Thomas Harris. This book is a prequel to Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal. The idea was to show how Hannibal Lechter became the person he is. However, it pretty much failed on all levels.
The first problem is that if you were reading this book, you would undoubtedly have read the previous one (Hannibal), when you would have discovered that his younger sister Micha was eaten by starving soldiers at the end of WWII. And yet, this book is written as if it is a horrible surprise to the reader. This gave me a "Get on with it" attitude while reading it. The rest of the book was pretty much about his stay with his uncle and aunt in Paris and his eventual vengeance upon the soldiers who killed his sister. His foray into cannibalism was very briefly touched upon, but it seemed almost an afterthought.
I guess the attempt was to make Lechter more sympathetic. I thought it pretty much made him boring.
For movies, I watched the 79th Academy Awards on Sunday and wanted to give my thoughts. Unfortunately, I watched very few of the movies nominated this year, so I can't give in-depth thoughts on who won and why (at least in relation to their specific roles).
1) I wasn't very impressed with Ellen DeGeneres as a host. She seemed too sedate and a lot of her humor fell flat. However, I enjoyed the surreal moment where she asked Steven Spielberg to take the photo of her with Clint Eastwood.
2) They waited too long before the first major award, Best Supporting Actor. I'm sure lot of people tuned out way before that. I was surprised that Eddie Murphy didn't win, but I was not disappointed that Alan Arkin won. I've been a fan of his for quite some time. "The In-Laws" was one of my favorite comedies, mostly due to Arkin's deadpan. On the other end of the spectrum, his role as Harry Rote in "Wait Until Dark" was one of the creepiest movie villians ever.
3) The shadow puppets of the various movies were fun, especially since they were short. It was much better than the interpretive dance of the various soundtracks like Savion Glover did one year.
4) Speaking of Savion Glover, I thought Cars should have won over Happy Feet. The animation was better and the story was better as well. For people who don't know the connection, Savion Glover was the dancer that the penguin was modeled after. The irony is that Savion Glover can't sing either (we often make fun of his rendition of "Rhyme Out" on sesame Street - he should stick to dancing.
5) The orchestra of people making sound effects was interesting, but a bit long.
6) Funniest moment of the night - Al Gore's special announcement being interupted by the "your time's up" music of the orchestra.
7) Did we need Celine Dion to sing a mediocre new song by Ennio Moricone? I thought the tribute was nice, though.
8) Foreign film tribute was a little disjointed, but OK.
9) Jennifer Hudson for Best supporting actress. No surprise there.
10) Helen Mirren for Best Actress. Again no surprise. I've been following her career since "The Long Good Friday", "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover", "The Madness of King George" and the "Prime Suspect" series. Glad to see her finally get recognition - Big Time.
11) Forest Whitaker for Best Actor - I've enjoyed him since "Bird". Glad to see him win. It was a tough call, as there were supposedly lots of good performances.
12) Martin Scorsese for the win! It's about time. Glad to see it being presented by his friends Coppola, Spielberg, and Lucas.
13) The Departed for best film. I wasn't sure which one was going to win...
Hopefully I'll get a chance to see all these movies that everyone was making a fuss about... :-)
Heroes was excellent last night. It gave Mr. Bennett so much more depth and the ending was heartbreaking. The writing is still going strong and it keeps me wanting more (always a good sign).
I suspected that George Takei was more involved than his first appearance let on. hopefully, this means he will show up more. I wonder if Hiro is adopted as well...
Eric Roberts has not aged well. He looks terrible.
