So, I turned in my final report for the Aquarium this week. It's all finished and it's off to be copy-edited! Huzzah! The same day I turned it in, I get an email asking me to do the Philippines version of the report! They're paying me a 4th of what I did for the other one, but that was significantly harder and also was 5 countries. The Philippines is highly researched and has the most information available. So, it should be a lot easier, especially since the intro is mostly completed (e.g., US importance). So...that'll be interesting to do. I still have to look over and sign the contract.
I survived this week of work! I'm feeling loads better and am almost completely well. I've got an annoying slight congestion and a cough that crops up randomly, but it's not too bad. I feel almost back to normal and feel 10xs better than last week. I didn't realize HOW bad I felt till this week when I started getting back into the rhythm of work and getting back to my normal duties. I can tell how badly I felt because there are certain things I do on a daily or at least every few days and they weren't taken care of for a week. I certainly went through the motion of work for a week, but not much else.
Anyway, on to movies!
Lots of the fall movies are now coming out on DVD and it's definitely kind of refreshing watching good movies rather than the random stuff I sometimes watch like this first one I'm going to write about...
Man with the Iron Fists (RZA, Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu) - Wow...What a bad film. It's silly, over the top, and just bad...It's like a combination of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Kill Bill. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. The effects weren't bad and it does have that sort of old school martial arts film to it, but there's just too much in it that made it silly and bad. Grade: D
Argo (Ben Affleck) - Well...I understand why it was well received. It is a good film. Affleck does a great job in building the suspense and making you wonder if they'll make it out okay. I know it's not all factual as it really wasn't that intense getting them out of the country (i.e., the airport scene), but it was still good to watch. Affleck's character felt a little flat, but that is the way he is supposed to be too so I can't tell if that is a good thing or a bad thing. It's just something you obviously notice compared to all the other actors/actresses in the movie. I still haven't seen Life of Pi or Lincoln so I can't really comment on Best Picture, yet, but if what I hear about Life of Pi or Lincoln is correct, Argo shouldn't have won, but I'll really discuss that later when I've seen them. It's a good watch if you're looking for something to watch, but if you have no interest in it, it's not that important to watch it. I find it above average, but not spectacular. Grade: B
Zero Dark Thirty (Jessica Chastain) - Again, I can see why people like it. Bigelow did do a good directing job and the movie is interesting, but boy is it long. You feel the length of the movie, but it does go along at a nice clip (even if it is a little over 2.5 hours long). I can see complaints too (e.g., the torture scenes), but there's nothing overly graphic. Chastain did a good job. She was tenacious in her lead and stoic in her job, even when one of her friends was killed. I don't think it particularly deserved Best Picture, but then I didn't think Hurt Locker did either. Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty have similar feels to them if you watched Hurt Locker. I liked it, but it, again, is above average, but not spectacular. I think it's good, but it didn't captivate me. Grade: B
Anna Karenina (Kiera Knightley, Jude Law) - You know, Anna definitely has some sort of mental issue. In some ways, you think poorly of Vronsky and Anna because they cheated on her husband, but then you go along and feel sort of sorry for Vronsky for putting up with Anna's unstable mental state. I did find the production style really interesting. They did it like it was a play. So you'd watch a scene and then it'd zoom out and different backgrounds would drop down like you're at a play and they're changing scenes. It did various things like that a lot. It was a little confusing at first, but when you got the hang of it, it was a really neat way to transition between scenes. You do have to say that, in this story, Karenina is definitely "saintly," as she even says when she think she's dying. He put up with an awful lot for the love of his wife. I enjoyed the costumes and the sets, but Anna is not very likeable and then she falls apart at the end, which makes it even harder to really like her. It did feel a little "over produced," though...It was okay. Grade: C for the production was impressive (her costumes were amazing!), but C- because Anna isn't likeable.
Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly) - I adored this film and think it should have won Best Animation. Brave wasn't bad and neither was ParaNorman or Frankenweenie, but Wreck-It Ralph is definitely my favorite of the 4/5 animations I saw. Brave was kind of a sub-par Pixar film, which is saying something since a sub-par Pixar is still a better film than most others (animation or non-animation). Frankenweenie has the Tim Burton stamp on it and ParaNorman wasn't bad. Wreck-It Ralph has humor, heart, adventure, and good ol' nostalgia. I loved how an adult could see the little things in it and laugh over it (pong!), while a child would just like it for the story and the fun of it. It was clever how they did the video games, but also showed the age difference in technology. You have the newer and HD games (e.g., Hero's Duty in the movie) and then the older arcade games like Wreck-It Ralph. I liked the little people in Wreck-It Ralph's game and how they animated them to be like in the video game so their movements weren't smooth. They had a little stutter and when they hopped they did a hop noise. I liked the first person shooter game too and how they handled first person shooter mode. In a lot of ways, Wreck-It Ralph is like the video game equivalent of Toy Story. The games "come alive" when no one is around and worry about being "unplugged." The movie did give me a big craving for candy, though, since most of the movie is in Candy Rush...Anyway, I really liked this movie and can see why everyone really liked it. Disney has definitely had some solid animation hits lately (e.g., Tangled) and this is one I'd recommend for people to watch. Grade: A
I started watching The Following on HuluPlus. It's the big series right now, but I heard it is gory. Gory as in a lot of blood. If it's possible, it'd be considered more gory than the CSIs or something. It's not really "graphic," but it's definitely not tame either. It's so far interesting, but I don't know if I'll keep watching on a regular basis. It's just something to watch while I'm doing my nails or something since I can easily watch it on my iPad. Kevin Bacon is good, though.
Anyway, time to go paint my nails. The Post Office lost one of my packages today. : I'm thinking it has to be at the post office, but they can't find it. Great. It's the polish I've been waiting for too! One of my favorite Indie brands is back (after a very long hiatus) and it was 2 of her new polishes and I was going to wear one of them this week, but...yeah. I guess not! At least I'm not short on polish to wear...
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