Heroes (2006-2010)

Season 1 (3.5/4)
Season 2 (2/4)
Season 3 (2.5/4)
Season 4 (3/4)

One nice thing about NetFlix is how many TV shows they carry. When I'm feeding twins between 2330 and 0100 every night, it's nice to find something to watch. Bini had recommended Heroes to me a few years back, so I gave it a try.

The first season was really good. New characters, good development, good story, good finale. The second season wandered... a lot. There really wasn't anything memorable about it except for a few scenes. Season 3 was better, but there still wasn't much of a story... just our heroes keep running. Season 4 finally began to pull things back together and bring back a story and character growth. But by now the audience for Heroes is like 1/4 to 1/3 of what they got during Season 1... maybe they'll do Season 5.

District 9 (2009)

3/4

I liked this movie. The basis for it, apartheid, isn't new. But sci-fi usually excels at taking an old story and reimagining it. The movie starts a little slow, with some subtle humor, and then takes off very well near the end. I liked how some of the main characters make choices that aren't particularly heroic.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

2/4

I liked the first movie. This one roams all over the map and never really comes together as a story. There are a few funny moments. It's like the guys writing and directing this just wanted a few cool scenes, and didn't bother with much homage or intelligent story like the first one aspired to. That's okay, I guess. Just don't expect much from this movie besides lots more fighting transformers and you'll enjoy yourself.

Pop Goes the Weasel

Meg and I taught Carina "Pop Goes the Weasel" this weekend. She loves it! She gets a little carried away with the improv, though.

Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009)

The first time I saw the reinvented Battlestar Galactica, I wasn't impressed. It was part of an episode near the end of the first season, and without knowing any of the backstory, I was totally lost. A few months later I Tivo'd the miniseries that kicked off the series. After 30 minutes I paused it and told Jen that I'd wait until she was done with her bath so we could watch it together.

The first two seasons were incredible! Rich characters and a web of engaging and intelligent storylines, culminating with the decision by the fleet to settle on a hidden, barely habitable world. The third season picked up a year later, where the Cylons had found the colony and occupied it. The rescue and immediate aftermath of that was amazing, and I think the high mark of the series.

Unfortunately, the remainder of the third season, and much of the final fourth season, seemed disjointed compared to the first half of the series. The characters were still amazing, but the storylines were unraveling. There were occasional moments of awesomeness, but they were more sparse.

Friday night was the series finale, and we watched it with Becca, Jose, and Sarah. I watched it again Saturday morning. It was a decent finale. It was also a lonely finale, as the characters and the audience have completed their journey together and move on their separate ways. The endings worked individually for each character, but as a complete set it seemed lacking. Still, I'm glad we had an ending.

The rest of beautiful Saturday I spent playing with Carina and Jen.

How LotR Should Have Ended

This has been around for a while, but I just saw it. Very funny. Would have made a much shorter trilogy, but very funny.

Watchmen (2009)

1/4

I liked 300. This movie, not so much. 3 hours that I'm not going to get back. There were elements of the story that were interesting, but the pacing was off, we cared nothing for most of the characters, and the ending was horrible. I was thinking 2 stars until the ending.

Yeah, it was supposed to be dark. I get that. I sometimes like dark. But this... eh.

My favorite quote from the movie, when one of the heroes is locked up in prison: "I'm not locked up in here with you. You're locked up in here with me."

That precisely captured my feelings as I sat in my seat, especially as the finale rolled across the screen.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

We had a fantastic Christmas. Carina wins the trophy for most spoils (of course). She seems totally overwhelmed by the number of new toys, but so far I think the gumball machine she picked is her favorite. Here are a couple videos.

Playing with her rockin' guitar


Playing with her Hokey Pokey Elmo (with Grammy helping)


Other than the booty grab, things have been very mello. There's a lot of movie watching and game playing going on with the new PS3. I tried to work for a bit yesterday, but it was tough. I couldn't really form a coherent thought.

We've been talked into hitting the after Christmas sales tomorrow. I'm not 100% sure that I want to go out into the madness, but on the other hand I've been doing a lot of nothing for a while. Strangely, I only got one book this year, which is several under the usual total. My family is usually great givers of books. We hear Barnes and Noble is going to have a wonderful sale tomorrow, though, so maybe I can knock a few off my list there.

Quantum of Solace (2008)

2/4

I liked the last James Bond movie, Casino Royale. It was a good reinvention of Bond, with good characters, a decent story, lots of action. This movie essentially takes up where that one left off... and then proceeds to stage several cool scenes without much plot development except in one or two places. And then it ends, with the obvious expectation of a sequel. Expecting a sequel isn't bad in itself, but more story would have been better. This reminds me of Kill Bill, where the first movie essentially went nowhere and then the second movie had the awesome story. I suspect the next Bond movie will be much better because (for whatever reason) they left the story out here.

I hope.

Perspectives

Cari and I went to see The Duchess yesterday. I thought it was really good, but very sad. It made me cry, which hasn't happened in a movie for a while.

On the ride home discussing the movie, it quickly became obvious that Cari was mainly effected by the love story while I was mainly affected by the story of her relationship with her children. I guess that's understandable, considering the difference in our life stages. It's one more piece of evidence on how different my view has become since having a baby.

The woman I took my private pilot check ride with just won her second US National Aerobatic Championship. When I flew with her last June, she had just had shoulder surgery and could barely move her arm far enough forward to grasp the yoke. Guess she got throug rehab OK!

HoaxBusters

I am so there!

Iron Man (2008)

3.5/4

Another great movie. Hopefully the summer keeps turning them out. Dowdry Jr delivers a great performance. He comes across as a modern Howard Hughes, minus the obsessive compulsion disorder. One of the best comic book movies to date. The story paces well and the action scenes are spot on. Make sure you wait and watch the scene after the credits.

The movie studio is setting up for more than a sequel.

Forbidden Kingdom (2008)

3/4

Great movie for the family. A young teenager gets transported to a mythical world, where he discovers he's the one to save it. While his heart is strong, his kung fu isn't too good. Enter Jackie Chan and Jet Li. The fight scenes and comedy were great, the story was decent, and the acting was good all round.

Patacake

I know I just posted videos, but I'm so proud. Look what my girl learned to do!

Laughter is the Best Medicine

Amazingly, I had a few minutes today to put together some recent baby pics and movies.

She can stand up now herself by holding on to us or the furniture.


Gavin really liked this one. He seems to have a thing with me wearing stupid stuff on my head.


And then for movies...

This first one is several weeks old - just to capture her laugh.


This one is more recent - just having fun.

The Aviator (2004)

2.5/4

I liked this movie, and would have given it a 3/4 except for the 20 minute long Howard-Hughes-is-crazy-and-naked sequence, which seemed unnecessary. I think the movie did a great job of showing both his brilliance and his eccentricities. The aviation scenes were good, although the movie made the Hercules' flight more grandoise than it really was. The FX-11 crash in Beverly Hills was appropriately traumatic. The congressional hearing scene was fun. DiCaprio, Blanchett, and Alda were all good.

I think it would have been cool if they had included the Glomar Explorer event late in Hughes' life, but that was almost 30 years after where this movie ends. Apparently there is a 1970s movie that Tommy Lee Jones did, The Amazing Howard Hughes, that covers it.

United 93 (2006)

3.5/4

This movie was a little controversial when it came out; many voiced their opinion that they felt it was too soon from the events of September 11th to make a movie about it. 5 years is enough time for some. I was interested in seeing it, but I was at JPL for several months and didn't make the time for it.

This movie is about the fourth plane, which was seized by hijackers and didn't make it to its target. It is filmed as if you were there, in the plane, in the military control center, and in the Boston and New York FAA control centers. You see the flight attendents arrive to prepare the aircraft for its first flight of the day. You see the passengers board. You see the flight controllers track the 4200 planes on the Eastern seaboard. Just a typical Tuesday.

It all feels very real. I felt my heart pumping as I watched the FAA flight controllers realize that, after American flight 11 went below their radars near Manhattan, that it must have been the first plane that hit the World Trade Center. You see the military commander deal with his frustration as he tries to get 4 fighters airborne -- with or without weapons -- and clarify their rules of engagement. You see some of the miscommunication that can happen between groups in critical situations with little information and delays in getting that information. Turns out they used real FAA and military controllers for those scenes.

I was feeding Carina her last meal at the very end of the movie, with her back to the TV and the sound turned down. I was watching the passengers realize that the hijackers have killed the pilots and that they're on a suicide mission, and as the passengers and crew attempt to retake the plane. Carina looked very concerned at me at that point, probably because of my expression. I gave her a bittersweet smile and said, "It's okay, Daddy's watching some Americans be brave."

Once Upon a Time in China (1991)

1.5/5

This was a Jet Li movie from the early 1990s, so Cari and I watched it yesterday. At several points we were asking each other, what's going on? At one point she had to wake me up. There are a few cool fight scenes and we laughed several times, but that's it. They try to do some story, and I liked some of the elements they had... but it didn't come together well. Overall it seemed 'amateurish' compared to the much better martial arts productions we've seen in the last ten years.

We're going to pass on Once Upon a Time in China, parts 2, 3, and 4. And 5.

Cloverfield (2008)

3.5/5

I really enjoyed this movie. I love Godzilla movies, and the trailers for this one were definitely intriguing. Think Godzilla meets Blair Witch Project... but with even worse jitter cam. Nice blend of humor and 'gotcha' moments as we watch a band of friends try to rescue each other and flee NYC without really knowing what the hell is going on. Acting was great. Story was pretty good, although the number of close calls was getting a bit ridiculous by the end. (I understand dramatic license, but when you go through a lot of effort to make it look and feel realistic, you might as well follow through with things like crashes.) If it weren't for the excessive jitter cam, I might have given it a 4.

Twist and Shout

Unfortunately, this came out a bit dark, but it is hi-larious! Turn on the sound or it will only be mildly funny. :)

she has good taste in movies!

Last night AMC was playing The Hunt for Red October, so we watched it. Carina was fascinated by the movie! Maybe it was the sonar sounds, or the ocean cloaked submarine profiles, or Sean Connery's accent, but Carina had a great time.

And then, for an encore, AMC played a widescreen version with tons of factoids on the bottom of the screen! If only I had known before I had spent two hours watching it. Oh well. I guess I had to watch it again. Not many people can say they've watched 5 hours of The Hunt for Red October in one day. Except, perhaps, the film projectionists. And the people that made the film. And Sarah's family.

Did you know that:
- Sean Connery often felt sea-sick when they tilted the submarine control room?
- The principle screenwriter was offhandedly offered the Chief of the Boat (CoB) role on USS Dallas, and consequently kept writing his character into more and more scenes? The screenwriter and director together acted out scenes before cutting the shooting script.
- The sub yard that Jack Ryan visits was a real submarine drydock in San Diego, the first time the US Navy had ever let a film crew in to see one? They draped tarps over the propeller section since its design was (and is) classified.
- They used many US Navy crewmen for the Dallas and Reuben James scenes?
- They used Russian immigrants and US Coast Guard crewmen for the Red October?
- Most of the Russian immigrants refused to sing the Russian national hymn?
- Sean Connery wasn't the first choice for Ramius, but the previous actor had to withdraw when production was delayed?
- The director wrestled briefly with the selection of Connery? He wanted the audience to question Ramius' motives for much of the movie and he was worried that with Connery, no one would believe he was a bad guy. But he decided, hey, it's Sean Connery, we'll live with him!
- Once James Earl Jones signed on, a lot more actors came out of the woodwork to try to join the cast?
- The movie was being produced as the Berlin Wall was crumbling? The director had already thought to make the movie like a second Russian Revolution (homage to The Battleship Potemkin classic), and the real world events just prior to the release of the movie really hit home.
- Clancy loosely based his story on an article he had read concerning the Soviet frigate Storozhevoy that attempted to defect? The Russians declassified the 1976 incident just as the movie opened. The frigate had made it to within 21 miles of Sweden before being forced to surrender.

Baby Food Face

We took Carina to the doctor today. She weighed in at 14 lb 9 oz! The doctor said to start giving her solid food, rice cereal first. So, tonight we put her in her Bumbo (love that thing!) and made our first foray into spoon feeding. It probably didn't go as well as it could have, since she also had shots today and was feeling a little under the weather. We got baby's first food face on camera, though.



I've been intending for a while to post some video of her splashing in her bath. Once she figured out how to do it, she got really into it.



And to round out the baby show, here's her playing with one of her toys. I think it's still a bit of a mystery to her how it works. Gotta work on that cause and effect reasoning!

Sitter Cam Catches Ghost

This was an interesting video. I've always been a skeptic of the paranormal (go science!), but something like this makes me reconsider...

Superman x3

Today we went and saw Superman Returns with Becca, Sarah, and Jose. It was my third time, after seeing it with Cari after one of the STS-121 launch scrubs and after catching it in Virginia in IMAX 3D with the MSL gang. I like it. As a kid I saw all of the Superman movies, with 1 and 2 being my favorites. I think this one is one of the better ones... which is why I don't mind seeing it three times. Sure, it's another superhero movie. But it's fun and didn't really feel like it was three hours long (although the ending could have been wrapped up more quickly).

There are lots of cool things about it. We all loved the fact that they used a few of the awesome musical themes that John Williams came up with for the original Superman. It just wouldn't be the same without it. The resemblence of Brandon Routh with Christopher Reeves, especially in the delivery of a few lines, is uncanny. There were a few lines of Kate Bosworth that sounded much like Margot Kidder. They both did a good job. Kevin Spacey fares well as Lex Luthor. The opening credits are done in the same style as the original movie. It was fun trying to spot Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic fame.

We stopped by Barnes and Noble on the way home so I could pick up the music which had been in my head for a few weeks.

Apparently Superman Returns isn't meeting expectations but according to the news, it sounds like the director is thinking of doing a sequel that will breathe life back into the franchise. I love how he says how he plans "to get all 'Wrath of Khan' on it."