Sorry, "Followers"

So I got tired of have too many blogs, so I moved all my posts over to The Full Bob Experience. I should be posting almost everything over there from now on. Update your bookmarks accordingly.

Sool

The cover to Sool (2008) is one of the cooler ones I've seen in the past few years. It does, however, make me a little nervous. The curse of colorblindness, you see.

My little ocular deficiency can cause problems with my faith in humanity. Take the following t-shirt image, which I am told is not very nice:

Stuff like that has raised my sensitivity to all dot-based communication. I mean, how am I supposed to know if Georges-Pierre Seurat is secretly telling people I have a small penis?

Fuck you Seurat, I'm on to your tricks. From now on I'm only trusting things that I can put into photoshop and crank the saturation to maximum.

Movie Review: Chocolate

Chocolate (2008)

Directed by Prachya Pinkaew

Starring Yanin Vismitananda, other Thai people with amazingly long names

Trailer:

Chocolate is the latest movie by Ong Bak director Prachya Pinkaew. Zen (Vismitananda) is the autistic daughter of Japanese yakuza father Masashi (Hiroshi Abe!) and Thai mafia mother Zin (Ammara Siripong). In order to pay for her dying mother's medical treatment, Zen and childhood friend Moom (Taphon Phopwandee) attempt to collect debts hidden in Zin's belongings. Unbeknownst to them, these debts are actually owed to Thai mob boss No. 8 (Pongpat Wachirabunjong), a former lover of Zin's who was long ago embittered by her betrayal. Helping matters somewhat is Zen's savant mastery of muay thai boxing, learned from martial arts movies and obsessive practice. Enemies cross paths, hijinx occur, ass-kickery ensues.

The back story of Zen's life is delivered competently. All the actors do a good job, especially Zin, whose relationship with Zen is actually quite touching. The general plot is a little stale, but you have to give credit for at least trying to make it distinctive. Besides, this is first and foremost a martial arts movie, so it's not too disheartening to be a little lax on the story. Zen is a strong main character, displaying an excellent balance of vulnerability and ferocity, as well as amazing martial arts skills (incredibly, no stunt doubles were used in this film).

Pinkaew is a very good martial arts director. Fight scenes are shot without the cut-every-half-second mentality you see so often in Western movies, and you never lose track of who's doing what. The fight choreography is also top-notch, muay thai boxing being one of the more impressive martial arts to watch these days. The scenes each have a distinct look and feel to them, so they don't run together and you don't get bored halfway through. Considering a good 1/3 of the movie is fight scenes, it's very appreciated. From a continuity standpoint, I wonder if I may have gotten an edited version of the movie. Occasionally people will change body positions significantly between cuts. It's not a huge problem, but it can be a distraction if you're OCD about that type of thing.

Plus: Excellent fight choreography, good acting, plenty of moments that you will have to rewind just to make sure you saw what you thought you saw, umm, it features a gang of Thai transsexuals?

Minus: Despite the autism "hook," you've seen this plot 500 times before, not the best soundtrack (depending on whether you like thai pop music), minor continuity errors.

Overall grade: A-

Goddamnit Chicago

I feel like this needed mentioning. 

Top 10 Movies of 2008*

*that I saw.

In no particular order:

Tropic Thunder

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Transporter 3

Iron Man

Wall-e

Quantum of Solace

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The Dark Knight

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Role Models

You may notice there are some mid-line movies in there, at best. This is due to the fact that I saw only 15 movies in 2008. These brilliant gems of cinematic legend didn't make the list:

Semi-Pro

Wanted

Hancock

Hellboy 2

The Incredible Hulk

Yes, I spent money to see Semi-Pro.

twenty aught eight

It's 2009 now, so maybe I should do a year in review? Sure why not. And since I don't like writing long posts, here's part one of [undetermined].

Bob's Top 10 Songs of 2008

(in no particular order)

Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts - No One Said It Would Be Easy

The Cool Kids - The Bake Sale - Mikey Rocks

Girl Talk - Feed The Animals - Give Me A Beat

TV On The Radio - Dear Science - Halfway Home

Son Lux - At War With Walls and Mazes - Wither

School of Language - Sea From Shore - Disappointment '99

Hot Chip - Made In The Dark - We’re Looking For A Lot Of Love

Beck - Modern Guilt - Gamma Ray

Needers and Givers - The Other - Digging

2D Boy Studios - World of Goo Soundtrack - The Red Carpet