The family is watching 24 Redemption for the second time as we speak so I felt it a good time to write.
24 was once my favorite show, the traitors and patriots, good versus evil, and the gut wrenching drama. By the end of the 6th season I was still waiting and expecting season 7 the next year. In the show's absence I spent some time dwelling on it and reading the books and felt for a while that it was done for. The character had just been through too many horrors and had too many bad days to buy into it anymore. Metal Gear understood that this was a bad thing when they wrote Solid Snake's story, instead of saving the world 20 or so times he had 3 to 5 major events in his lifetime, one of them which ended in arguably saving the world and disappearing off the face of the earth. I had begun to feel 24 had just hit a point where nothing could intensify anything more. In season 6 when the nuclear weapon went off in Los Angeles that was it. It was gut wrenching and it was powerful and it was well written, but at the same time I recognized that anything bigger would be absurd.
For a while I didn't have much faith in the ability of the show to redeem itself, I had it in my head that it would come back and start slipping. 24 Redemption comes in here.
I think this movie was handled well because they wrote a gut wrenching and powerful story without C.T.U., without most of the usual set pieces, and without the near destruction of the United States. It was also a smooth move because after making Jack Bauer disappear for a while and having most of the cast gone they could start fresh. They have a movie that can attract new viewers and lead directly into the events of the upcoming 24 Season 7.
After losing everything by the end of 6, Jack disappears for a while. He runs around 3 continents avoiding capture by the U.S. government and spends some time with an old buddy from his Special Forces days working at a school for children in “Sangala" (an almost anagram of either Senegal of Angola) in Africa. A war criminal starts another bloody African genocide and civil war and Jack travels with his friend to get these children out of the country. In the end to save these children he has to surrender himself to the U.S. government. A tragic and bone chilling scene occurs at the end as the last of the U.S. forces abandon the base and leave the masses below to face certain genocide, Rwanda all over again.
On the other side of the story the normal political trouble starts and new villians are born, the old president is finishing up with the transition work as a new president takes office, C.T.U. has been destroyed...
The movie is both a powerful story and a device to set up Season 7, it requires little background in 24. Season 7 though according to the previews, requires a little more background in 24... Not gonna spoil it but Season 7 for fans will either blow your mind or piss you off. The movie features a tired and slightly aged Kiefer Sutherland which translates into a tired and aged Jack Bauer, very appropriate for the life he has lead.
Anyway 24 Redemption reminded me that even though the franchise had so much happen on such an unreal time frame so many times, it still tells a gut wrenching story and sucks you in.
I got a kick out of the character they put in there, the U.N. guy who is of course a cold bastard and a coward unwilling to break neutrality even if it means preventing a genocide (and of course he is a crook and a traitor), a pretty strong characterization of the broader U.N. as a whole. No politics in that at all I'm sure, lol.
At any rate I never thought I'd be so excited about 24 again, sure it has its flaws but its still one-of-a-kind and powerfully told story.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Movie Review: Twilight
Well, I saw Twilight at midnight launch with an old friend and haven't taken time to review it yet. I was sitting down to write about 24: Redemption and remembered I never wrote anything on Twilight yet...
So... Twilight... Obviously a chicks thing. Yeah it has the action and stuff but its mostly about the romance and all the beautiful male characters teenage girls fantasize over. Still, it is a rather decent book with well developed characters and there is nothing wrong with a dude reading it. I can see why the hype is so. I'm reading New Moon as we speak so just to take me away from my Ted Dekker stuff it had to be pretty good.
I think the movie was both a good movie and a good representation of the book. Obviously its thinned the hell out, the book is much bigger as expected and the movie is more a cliff-notes version of the story, but it does fit everything that really matters in, it has good music, and the casting was a job well done.
House... the more I think back on House it was a fine movie to complement the book, the book and the movie together were interesting but the movie alone would be a mess... I don't know about Twilight...
The movie contained a lot less than the book, but it was enjoyable and rather well made and it at least gets the point across. I can't imagine not reading a book first but if you're not a book person I think you can probably still enjoy Twilight just fine. I'm not going to say the book is better though, I'm just going to think it. By my standards though its pretty hard to please me with a movie based off of one specific book.
This was precise and enjoyable though.
I know a lot of fan girls who aren't happy with the movie but people who are really obsessive and in love with the books are gonna find flaw in it no matter what.
I don't really have much to say as far as a review... It was a good book, and I think the movie got it right for the most part.
So... Twilight... Obviously a chicks thing. Yeah it has the action and stuff but its mostly about the romance and all the beautiful male characters teenage girls fantasize over. Still, it is a rather decent book with well developed characters and there is nothing wrong with a dude reading it. I can see why the hype is so. I'm reading New Moon as we speak so just to take me away from my Ted Dekker stuff it had to be pretty good.
I think the movie was both a good movie and a good representation of the book. Obviously its thinned the hell out, the book is much bigger as expected and the movie is more a cliff-notes version of the story, but it does fit everything that really matters in, it has good music, and the casting was a job well done.
House... the more I think back on House it was a fine movie to complement the book, the book and the movie together were interesting but the movie alone would be a mess... I don't know about Twilight...
The movie contained a lot less than the book, but it was enjoyable and rather well made and it at least gets the point across. I can't imagine not reading a book first but if you're not a book person I think you can probably still enjoy Twilight just fine. I'm not going to say the book is better though, I'm just going to think it. By my standards though its pretty hard to please me with a movie based off of one specific book.
This was precise and enjoyable though.
I know a lot of fan girls who aren't happy with the movie but people who are really obsessive and in love with the books are gonna find flaw in it no matter what.
I don't really have much to say as far as a review... It was a good book, and I think the movie got it right for the most part.
The Fire Catches On Water - reactions
I'm beginning to enjoy listening to these episodes because I have a poor memory of when I'm being recorded and I'm always interested in what our fearless leader puts into these things.
I think I sound so weird on skype recordings... different perhaps than on videos and other audio recordings... Maybe its just me.
Anyway, I'm often in and out of the call, so I get to hear what was being talked about behind my back. Funny stuff. I'm beginning to enjoy this whole thing, even though its mostly just mindless banter.
LOL, I especially got a kick out of how Niko made fun of the Obama Crimes allegations when I was gone for fear of sparking debate. Oh, people people people... snide remarks and clever comments are all fun and good but don't be a smartass about something unless you're willing to argue about it. Thats who I am, I argue about stuff.
Regardless of how much you like Barack Obama there is more than enough evidence to claim that Obama somewhere along the line was either not a natural citizen or forfeited his citizenship in Indonesia. The fact of the matter is Obama is probably not constitutionally qualified to be president and the Democratic National Convention absolutely FAILED to uphold the vetting process. But nobody cares so the Supreme Court will probably never hear Berg v. Obama anyway...
For those who don't know what that means there are legitimate claims that Barack Hussein Obama II was either born in Kenya or somewhere along the line lost citizenship.
Many people have stepped up to lesser courts and attempted to sue the DNC and the candidate and all motions for discovery have been stopped. Maybe all of Obama's paperwork does check out, who knows. But one thing is definite, while posting a certification of live birth and an illegitimate birth record on his website, he has been avoiding going into a court room and whipping out his true birth certificate like the PLAGUE.
Democrat Phillip J. Berg, plaintiff and founder of the Obama Crimes website has claimed three major pieces of evidence against Obama.
1. A supposed recording documenting his grandmother reminiscing about being there when he was born, in Mombasa, Kenya. It is very possible, his father was a Kenyan citizen with no U.S. citizenship and Obama has fought tooth and nail against resolving the claim. Also the system at that time probably could have allowed for him being registered in Hawaii up to a year after birth, it really isn't the big nutty theory people tell you it is. The supposed tape is a mystery to me though, I would think if it were there it would have been "leaked" somewhere by now, but then again most of the mainstream media doesn't seem to want to touch this trial with a 10 foot pole.
2. The birth certificate issue. A while after people started asking questions of McCain's citizenship and that was resolved the same questions were turned at Obama with no resolution. he posted a certification of live birth on his website and then somebody eventually bothered to point out that it isn't a birth certificate and doesn't really mean anything. He posted another such document that is vastly insufficient or fraudulent, but the mainstream media backed off the issue... Anybody can look at their own master birth certificate and know what it looks like versus the stuff posted on the Obama propaganda websites. I even have the advantage of a mother born in Hawaii only a bit older than Obama. Look at the documetns people, it really is a no brainer. Despite claims to the contrary he has never produced any documentation online or to the media that conclusively proves his citizenship. I think this is the biggest part of the case right here Obama has been completely unwilling to shut down the argument and prove himself to have been legitimately vetted, in fact when he went back to Hawaii to visit his grandmother and came home, the governor put a seal on all his records. Sometimes the simplest explanation is right, and often when somebody is hiding something there is something there worth hiding.
3. Citizenship. Obama got a stepfather, an Indonesian national who was also a non-citizen, and lived in Indonesia for a period of time where he was enrolled in school there under the name Barry Soetoro. Here is the thing though, back then you had to be an Indonesian citizen to be enrolled in the school system, and back then you couldn't have dual Indonesian/American citizenship. Oops. Now maybe its his Indonesian citizenship that is fraudulent, it is entirely possible. But many legal scholars would agree that he may have forfeited his U.S. citizenship in exchange for Indonesian citizenship, purposefully or not.
At any rate, Berg v. Obama was dismissed in the lower court by a Clinton appointed judge who claimed that the citizenry has no right to police the vetting process, so Obama has yet to explain anything. Berg v. Obama isn't dead though, it is headed to the supreme court. The paperwork was filed at the end of October, along with a request to suspend the election. Obviously the latter never happened, otherwise no amount of media bias would be able to surpress what was going on. Berg v. Obama still may happen though, Obama and the DNC have until the first of December to respond to the Writ of Certiorari in the case and explain themselves. I think that a "no comment" wouldn't suffice here in a just world, but the fact of the matter is the Supreme Court can pick and choose what cases it hears and this could easily disappear.
Another little bit, a lot of people think the birth certificate has the name Barry Soetoro instead of Barack Hussein Obama II on it, which would be proof it was issued after he was adopted by his step-father Lolo Soetoro, instead of when he was born. Just something to think about.
One could argue that it doesn't matter to them on a personal level, but it is pretty hard to argue that Obama was legitimately vetted and constitutionally qualified for the office he was elected to. Now of course I realize the political suicide that this case could mean for them, and I'm not unaware of the kind of anarchy that would insue if anybody actually prevented the Obama presidency from happening no matter how legitimate the claims. I honestly think it will disappear. Still to claim it never happened or didn't have any legitimacy... THAT is right up there with denying the moon landing.
:) I'm not mad at anybody, I rarely get mad over politics, I just wanted my thoughts to be represented.
I don't know when we will be recording again, the next episode though could possibly come from some old recorded material, something in the category of things that never should have been recorded out of fairness to everybody... we will see what becomes of that.
I think I sound so weird on skype recordings... different perhaps than on videos and other audio recordings... Maybe its just me.
Anyway, I'm often in and out of the call, so I get to hear what was being talked about behind my back. Funny stuff. I'm beginning to enjoy this whole thing, even though its mostly just mindless banter.
LOL, I especially got a kick out of how Niko made fun of the Obama Crimes allegations when I was gone for fear of sparking debate. Oh, people people people... snide remarks and clever comments are all fun and good but don't be a smartass about something unless you're willing to argue about it. Thats who I am, I argue about stuff.
Regardless of how much you like Barack Obama there is more than enough evidence to claim that Obama somewhere along the line was either not a natural citizen or forfeited his citizenship in Indonesia. The fact of the matter is Obama is probably not constitutionally qualified to be president and the Democratic National Convention absolutely FAILED to uphold the vetting process. But nobody cares so the Supreme Court will probably never hear Berg v. Obama anyway...
For those who don't know what that means there are legitimate claims that Barack Hussein Obama II was either born in Kenya or somewhere along the line lost citizenship.
Many people have stepped up to lesser courts and attempted to sue the DNC and the candidate and all motions for discovery have been stopped. Maybe all of Obama's paperwork does check out, who knows. But one thing is definite, while posting a certification of live birth and an illegitimate birth record on his website, he has been avoiding going into a court room and whipping out his true birth certificate like the PLAGUE.
Democrat Phillip J. Berg, plaintiff and founder of the Obama Crimes website has claimed three major pieces of evidence against Obama.
1. A supposed recording documenting his grandmother reminiscing about being there when he was born, in Mombasa, Kenya. It is very possible, his father was a Kenyan citizen with no U.S. citizenship and Obama has fought tooth and nail against resolving the claim. Also the system at that time probably could have allowed for him being registered in Hawaii up to a year after birth, it really isn't the big nutty theory people tell you it is. The supposed tape is a mystery to me though, I would think if it were there it would have been "leaked" somewhere by now, but then again most of the mainstream media doesn't seem to want to touch this trial with a 10 foot pole.
2. The birth certificate issue. A while after people started asking questions of McCain's citizenship and that was resolved the same questions were turned at Obama with no resolution. he posted a certification of live birth on his website and then somebody eventually bothered to point out that it isn't a birth certificate and doesn't really mean anything. He posted another such document that is vastly insufficient or fraudulent, but the mainstream media backed off the issue... Anybody can look at their own master birth certificate and know what it looks like versus the stuff posted on the Obama propaganda websites. I even have the advantage of a mother born in Hawaii only a bit older than Obama. Look at the documetns people, it really is a no brainer. Despite claims to the contrary he has never produced any documentation online or to the media that conclusively proves his citizenship. I think this is the biggest part of the case right here Obama has been completely unwilling to shut down the argument and prove himself to have been legitimately vetted, in fact when he went back to Hawaii to visit his grandmother and came home, the governor put a seal on all his records. Sometimes the simplest explanation is right, and often when somebody is hiding something there is something there worth hiding.
3. Citizenship. Obama got a stepfather, an Indonesian national who was also a non-citizen, and lived in Indonesia for a period of time where he was enrolled in school there under the name Barry Soetoro. Here is the thing though, back then you had to be an Indonesian citizen to be enrolled in the school system, and back then you couldn't have dual Indonesian/American citizenship. Oops. Now maybe its his Indonesian citizenship that is fraudulent, it is entirely possible. But many legal scholars would agree that he may have forfeited his U.S. citizenship in exchange for Indonesian citizenship, purposefully or not.
At any rate, Berg v. Obama was dismissed in the lower court by a Clinton appointed judge who claimed that the citizenry has no right to police the vetting process, so Obama has yet to explain anything. Berg v. Obama isn't dead though, it is headed to the supreme court. The paperwork was filed at the end of October, along with a request to suspend the election. Obviously the latter never happened, otherwise no amount of media bias would be able to surpress what was going on. Berg v. Obama still may happen though, Obama and the DNC have until the first of December to respond to the Writ of Certiorari in the case and explain themselves. I think that a "no comment" wouldn't suffice here in a just world, but the fact of the matter is the Supreme Court can pick and choose what cases it hears and this could easily disappear.
Another little bit, a lot of people think the birth certificate has the name Barry Soetoro instead of Barack Hussein Obama II on it, which would be proof it was issued after he was adopted by his step-father Lolo Soetoro, instead of when he was born. Just something to think about.
One could argue that it doesn't matter to them on a personal level, but it is pretty hard to argue that Obama was legitimately vetted and constitutionally qualified for the office he was elected to. Now of course I realize the political suicide that this case could mean for them, and I'm not unaware of the kind of anarchy that would insue if anybody actually prevented the Obama presidency from happening no matter how legitimate the claims. I honestly think it will disappear. Still to claim it never happened or didn't have any legitimacy... THAT is right up there with denying the moon landing.
:) I'm not mad at anybody, I rarely get mad over politics, I just wanted my thoughts to be represented.
I don't know when we will be recording again, the next episode though could possibly come from some old recorded material, something in the category of things that never should have been recorded out of fairness to everybody... we will see what becomes of that.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Sorry, Not Tonight.
Dude984 is having uploading problems. The new episode of But What Do I Know? will not be uploaded tonight. Tomorrow definitely though.
I watched 24 Redemption and remember why I fell in love with 24 way back when... I'm newly convinced 24 has a real future, something I was not so sure of 3 hours ago.
Anyway 24 Redemption hits DVD this next week and 24 Season 7 will happen this winter, and I'm fairly excited.
Jury duty tomorrow morning so I'm going to bed.
Sorry about the false alarm, but look for the new episode tomorrow, reportedly called "The Fire Catches On Water"
... Yeah we're kinda hit or miss with episode titles huh, don't blame me though I never named any of them.
I watched 24 Redemption and remember why I fell in love with 24 way back when... I'm newly convinced 24 has a real future, something I was not so sure of 3 hours ago.
Anyway 24 Redemption hits DVD this next week and 24 Season 7 will happen this winter, and I'm fairly excited.
Jury duty tomorrow morning so I'm going to bed.
Sorry about the false alarm, but look for the new episode tomorrow, reportedly called "The Fire Catches On Water"
... Yeah we're kinda hit or miss with episode titles huh, don't blame me though I never named any of them.
New episode being edited.
Dude984 is working on editing a new episode of But What Do I Know? as we speak, probably will go online tonight.
Apparently I'm in it, lol.
I don't pay much attention to when my skype calls are being recorded, I probably should.
Anyway this next episode should be almost as much of a surprise to Massive Echo followers as it is to me...
I just got of work, the Thanksgiving Sales are going to END ME!
I'm watching 24: Redemption tonight. 24 used to be my favorite show on television but I think they hit a point to where everything that was going on was so insane and this one character had gone through so much that they had to lay off and let it die... I don't have high expectations for it but we will see...
I'm working on a new contract with the guys to put an end to secret recording of people talking about sensitive and personal things, and maybe defining the episodes better around some kind of topic or theme... who knows...
At any rate, look for a new episode on itunes tonight, I'm out.
Apparently I'm in it, lol.
I don't pay much attention to when my skype calls are being recorded, I probably should.
Anyway this next episode should be almost as much of a surprise to Massive Echo followers as it is to me...
I just got of work, the Thanksgiving Sales are going to END ME!
I'm watching 24: Redemption tonight. 24 used to be my favorite show on television but I think they hit a point to where everything that was going on was so insane and this one character had gone through so much that they had to lay off and let it die... I don't have high expectations for it but we will see...
I'm working on a new contract with the guys to put an end to secret recording of people talking about sensitive and personal things, and maybe defining the episodes better around some kind of topic or theme... who knows...
At any rate, look for a new episode on itunes tonight, I'm out.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Movie Review: House
House of course is a small movie adaption of a book by my favorite author Ted Dekker. Oh yes, and Frank Peretti too, but I'm more into Dekker. While remaining Christian authors, their appeal is a bit wider than that because some of their stories touch more on the general idea of good and evil or light and darkness, spiritual in context but not potently Christian enough to scare away any non-Christians.
First I should say that Ted Dekker's Thr3e was his first book to be adapted into a movie and House his second. Thr3e is basically my favorite book and I think it adapted pretty damn well into a movie, for a budget flick. I don't want to sound whiny when I say "The book was better", but we all know it almost always is, especially with true masters like Dekker. I guess I was really surprised to see how different the movie was when the Thr3e movie was fairly faithful. Dekker has many many books that I hope to see in movie form, many of them I feel will make great movies once he has enough prestige and budget to consider them, then House will be considered part of the trial and error process.
Many of you may not even know what House is, it has had a few commercials (probably more than Thr3e), but remained mostly hidden to those who are not already Peretti or Dekker fans with their eyes on the web waiting for such things. I never considered House to be one of his better works but like a true Dekker fanboy, I just blame Peretti (no offense to Frank Peretti who also writes good books, I just enjoy Dekker so much more). Still while this is an event that passed by unnoticed to most, to me it was rather important being only the second book by my favorite author to be adapted into a movie. Forget that they're small budget movies filmed in Poland, I'm still excited. It lasted all of a few days in theaters and then started vanishing (hence my having to commute to freaking Edwards Jurupa yay many miles away just to see it). To summarize...
One game. Seven players. Three rules. Game ends at dawn. Several people become stranded in backwoods Alabama because of a road spike trap and end up at this creepy old house, a bread and breakfast of sorts. They become captives of the house when ambushed by a killer Barsidious White known locally as the Tin Man (portrayed in the movie by Michael Madsen) and the mysterious and dark powers of the house itself. A tin can falls down the chimney with rules scratched on it.
In the movie White is known exclusively as the Tin Man, because Barsidious White is a name that ties House to several other Ted Dekker books, and all ties the book had to the broader Ted Dekker universe of Black, Red, White, Showdown, (House here), Saint, Skin, Chosen, Infidel, Renegade, Chaos, Sinner, etc., have been cut. The movie has been constructed in a way that it is a stand alone product (not that the book was ever far from such)
Opening with saying that it was very different from the book sounds stupid since that tends to always be true, but there are movie adaption of books and then there are movies remotely based around the core idea of a certain book and this is certainly the latter. I made the mistake of reading the book most recently a week ago so me and my damn memory, I was picking apart every factual change. I won't list them all because that would take forever and I'm trying to be mostly spoiler free. Just because it was different doesn't make it bad though. I think it has perfectly legitimate reasons to be called bad, like being disjointed and rushed for starters.
I think if I was seeing the movie without having read the book that I might have appreciated it more. It contained Anberlin music much to my surprise, so fans of Anberlin or Air 1 listeners like myself will find that fun. The ending of the movie was certainly interesting (and quite unique from that of the book) and it did toy around with some different ideas and perspectives... and the special effects were way more awesome than I ever expected them to be in that budget... but I still find the book to be better for numerous reasons in my never-to-be-humble opinion.
Rushed. Rushed rushed rushed. Big clusterfuck of this-stuff-is-too-much-to-condense-but-we-tried-anyway, but thats just my opinion. I feel the movie was too short. It wasted too much time on scenes that didn't merit it. It cut most of the spiritual stuff out and was marketed as an everyday horror movie, turning off the very audience that were the only people likely to see it beyond fans of the book. It felt rushed and the characters and motives were transparent. In the book when things happened we didn't know their meaning for a long time, we struggled with trying to figure out who was good and who was evil, and the identity of the serial killer wasn't painfully obvious and was revealed around the end instead of too freaking early. It felt like things meant to have meaning by the end were always qualified and explained instantly after. The movie version certainly felt more shallow and dumbed down at times... Dekker and Peretti both have always never hesitated to delve into the true nature of good and evil, especially evil. I felt the movie to not capture that as much, the movie was more about the horror and the special effects and the very visual adventure and less about the epic battle of good and evil taking place between the lines.
It wasn't an awful movie by any means though, don't let my criticism fool you, and I certainly don't blame the people behind the movie, I remember reading it and thinking it would be rather hard to condense and adapt into a movie. I'm not picking it apart for being different, I mean halfway through the movie I realized just how radically different it was from the movie and it was fun not to know EXACTLY what was going to happen next. Some of the ideas toyed around with in the movie were good, I just feel that overall the movie was much more shallow, devoid of mystery, and condensed to be too much stuff in too short of a movie. You don't get the understanding of the nature of the characters the gradual look into their pasts... Some books were never meant to be great as movies, but I still think there were fatal mistakes made along the way in this one... Thr3e on the other hand had a pretty strong movie adaption and I still have high hopes for the MANY future Dekker movies being planned right now including Blink (now known as Blink of an Eye), Blessed Child, and the Martyr Song books. I hear Lionsgate has rights to Adam and I would LOVE to see a movie of that one, I think that one could be book loyal and still enjoy big mainstream sucess. I still don't consider the movie or the epic commute out there a waste of money by any means, but I'm not necessarily going to preorder the DVD or Blu-ray Disc yet... (it probably won't hit bluray but I'm a fan of the format and I can always hope)
I think the first mainstream movies of Ted Dekker books will probably be the Circle Trilogy, Black Red and White. Interesting stuff.
My end suggestion. Read the book. If you still have interest see the movie. As much as the movie isn't really a book adaption, I don't see it having appeal to anybody who wasn't a fan of the book.
First I should say that Ted Dekker's Thr3e was his first book to be adapted into a movie and House his second. Thr3e is basically my favorite book and I think it adapted pretty damn well into a movie, for a budget flick. I don't want to sound whiny when I say "The book was better", but we all know it almost always is, especially with true masters like Dekker. I guess I was really surprised to see how different the movie was when the Thr3e movie was fairly faithful. Dekker has many many books that I hope to see in movie form, many of them I feel will make great movies once he has enough prestige and budget to consider them, then House will be considered part of the trial and error process.
Many of you may not even know what House is, it has had a few commercials (probably more than Thr3e), but remained mostly hidden to those who are not already Peretti or Dekker fans with their eyes on the web waiting for such things. I never considered House to be one of his better works but like a true Dekker fanboy, I just blame Peretti (no offense to Frank Peretti who also writes good books, I just enjoy Dekker so much more). Still while this is an event that passed by unnoticed to most, to me it was rather important being only the second book by my favorite author to be adapted into a movie. Forget that they're small budget movies filmed in Poland, I'm still excited. It lasted all of a few days in theaters and then started vanishing (hence my having to commute to freaking Edwards Jurupa yay many miles away just to see it). To summarize...
One game. Seven players. Three rules. Game ends at dawn. Several people become stranded in backwoods Alabama because of a road spike trap and end up at this creepy old house, a bread and breakfast of sorts. They become captives of the house when ambushed by a killer Barsidious White known locally as the Tin Man (portrayed in the movie by Michael Madsen) and the mysterious and dark powers of the house itself. A tin can falls down the chimney with rules scratched on it.
Welcome To My House.he wears a metal mask and usually carries a big weapon or firearm, he basically comes off as a cool and calculating intelligent Jason Voorhees. Anyway I'm trying to not be spoiler-heavy.
House Rules:
1. God came into my house and I killed him.
2. I will kill anyone who comes to my house
like I killed God.
3. Bring me one dead body and I might let
rule #2 slide.
You have until dawn.
In the movie White is known exclusively as the Tin Man, because Barsidious White is a name that ties House to several other Ted Dekker books, and all ties the book had to the broader Ted Dekker universe of Black, Red, White, Showdown, (House here), Saint, Skin, Chosen, Infidel, Renegade, Chaos, Sinner, etc., have been cut. The movie has been constructed in a way that it is a stand alone product (not that the book was ever far from such)
Opening with saying that it was very different from the book sounds stupid since that tends to always be true, but there are movie adaption of books and then there are movies remotely based around the core idea of a certain book and this is certainly the latter. I made the mistake of reading the book most recently a week ago so me and my damn memory, I was picking apart every factual change. I won't list them all because that would take forever and I'm trying to be mostly spoiler free. Just because it was different doesn't make it bad though. I think it has perfectly legitimate reasons to be called bad, like being disjointed and rushed for starters.
I think if I was seeing the movie without having read the book that I might have appreciated it more. It contained Anberlin music much to my surprise, so fans of Anberlin or Air 1 listeners like myself will find that fun. The ending of the movie was certainly interesting (and quite unique from that of the book) and it did toy around with some different ideas and perspectives... and the special effects were way more awesome than I ever expected them to be in that budget... but I still find the book to be better for numerous reasons in my never-to-be-humble opinion.
Rushed. Rushed rushed rushed. Big clusterfuck of this-stuff-is-too-much-to-condense-but-we-tried-anyway, but thats just my opinion. I feel the movie was too short. It wasted too much time on scenes that didn't merit it. It cut most of the spiritual stuff out and was marketed as an everyday horror movie, turning off the very audience that were the only people likely to see it beyond fans of the book. It felt rushed and the characters and motives were transparent. In the book when things happened we didn't know their meaning for a long time, we struggled with trying to figure out who was good and who was evil, and the identity of the serial killer wasn't painfully obvious and was revealed around the end instead of too freaking early. It felt like things meant to have meaning by the end were always qualified and explained instantly after. The movie version certainly felt more shallow and dumbed down at times... Dekker and Peretti both have always never hesitated to delve into the true nature of good and evil, especially evil. I felt the movie to not capture that as much, the movie was more about the horror and the special effects and the very visual adventure and less about the epic battle of good and evil taking place between the lines.
It wasn't an awful movie by any means though, don't let my criticism fool you, and I certainly don't blame the people behind the movie, I remember reading it and thinking it would be rather hard to condense and adapt into a movie. I'm not picking it apart for being different, I mean halfway through the movie I realized just how radically different it was from the movie and it was fun not to know EXACTLY what was going to happen next. Some of the ideas toyed around with in the movie were good, I just feel that overall the movie was much more shallow, devoid of mystery, and condensed to be too much stuff in too short of a movie. You don't get the understanding of the nature of the characters the gradual look into their pasts... Some books were never meant to be great as movies, but I still think there were fatal mistakes made along the way in this one... Thr3e on the other hand had a pretty strong movie adaption and I still have high hopes for the MANY future Dekker movies being planned right now including Blink (now known as Blink of an Eye), Blessed Child, and the Martyr Song books. I hear Lionsgate has rights to Adam and I would LOVE to see a movie of that one, I think that one could be book loyal and still enjoy big mainstream sucess. I still don't consider the movie or the epic commute out there a waste of money by any means, but I'm not necessarily going to preorder the DVD or Blu-ray Disc yet... (it probably won't hit bluray but I'm a fan of the format and I can always hope)
I think the first mainstream movies of Ted Dekker books will probably be the Circle Trilogy, Black Red and White. Interesting stuff.
My end suggestion. Read the book. If you still have interest see the movie. As much as the movie isn't really a book adaption, I don't see it having appeal to anybody who wasn't a fan of the book.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
First Post
Welcome friends and strangers alike. I am featured all over the web most commonly with the alias PaladinBladeX or PaladinBlade, and as a contributor to the Massive Echo! network among other things. You can call me Tom.
Don't bother writing to tell me how geeky my display name is, I'm aware. I'm not some big D&D junkie (though there is nothing wrong with being one), I just had a few email addresses with the name PaladinBladeX from when I was much much younger, and I've clung to the alias and used it in dozens of places all over the web because it tends to be a name not never taken.
The Paladin's Refuge... I was considering The Paladin's Sanctuary until I googled it and found it to be the name of an Everquest forum... I didn't want people thinking that was where I drew my alias from. Paladin ideals and mythology were just fascinations of mine when I was much younger and became something I identified with, and I'm too lazy to change. At any rate the name reflects my sentiments toward my blogs (as well as my car), places of escape, meditation, prayer, or whatever I need done. Places of refuge from life's troubles.
I have nothing much to say other than thank you for reading.
Don't bother writing to tell me how geeky my display name is, I'm aware. I'm not some big D&D junkie (though there is nothing wrong with being one), I just had a few email addresses with the name PaladinBladeX from when I was much much younger, and I've clung to the alias and used it in dozens of places all over the web because it tends to be a name not never taken.
The Paladin's Refuge... I was considering The Paladin's Sanctuary until I googled it and found it to be the name of an Everquest forum... I didn't want people thinking that was where I drew my alias from. Paladin ideals and mythology were just fascinations of mine when I was much younger and became something I identified with, and I'm too lazy to change. At any rate the name reflects my sentiments toward my blogs (as well as my car), places of escape, meditation, prayer, or whatever I need done. Places of refuge from life's troubles.
I have nothing much to say other than thank you for reading.
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