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Nov. 1st, 2007 11:13 amHad a lovely, relaxing Samhain, well after I got the hell out of work that is. The ladies came over for dinner and I used it as an excuse to whip up some Indian fare including jasmine rice and a nice curry Kofta I'd picked up the last time I was at Whole Foods. The garlic naan from TJ's wasn't too bad either. Didn't get any trick or treaters but that just meant that my coworkers will have lots of things to snack on for the foreseeable future. Somehow I don't think they'll be too heartbroken about that.
We finally got to see "The Host", a monster movie from Korea which gets two big thumbs up from me. Best monster movie I've seen since Aliens, no question. Less horror, more action, and a liberal sprinkling of comedy so that things didn't get too grim. The monster, a giant mutant salamander-type thing was one of the most compelling and awe-inspiring critters ever to grace the silver screen. The animation on this thing was superb, its movements (especially when flipping from girder to girder on its favorite bridge) made us all gasp and damn near applaud on more than one occasion. I seriously hope the animators on this one won some major awards.
The story itself was surprisingly deep, the characters interesting and compelling (not to mention beautifully consistent from start to finish), and you were never quite sure who was going to survive or how. I like a movie where I can't see what's coming about ten minutes after I start watching it. I also have to give some serious props to the writers for creating two of the best heroines I've seen in a damned long time.
I will admit that the middle part of the film drags a bit, especially once the family gets split up, but it picks back up in a believable manner and the finale is well worth the wait. I'll also say the ending was much ballsier than any similar American film would be, which made me want to weep for my country's film industry. We stopped taking those kinds of chances a long time ago, sadly. I should also warn you that the Americans in the film are the villains, though as the events at the beginning were based on actual events involving a dickish American military officer making an ugly decision that did a helluva lot of environmental damage, it's not like you can really knock the filmmakers for turning us into the bad guys.
All in all a great film and it's definitely on my must-own list now!
We finally got to see "The Host", a monster movie from Korea which gets two big thumbs up from me. Best monster movie I've seen since Aliens, no question. Less horror, more action, and a liberal sprinkling of comedy so that things didn't get too grim. The monster, a giant mutant salamander-type thing was one of the most compelling and awe-inspiring critters ever to grace the silver screen. The animation on this thing was superb, its movements (especially when flipping from girder to girder on its favorite bridge) made us all gasp and damn near applaud on more than one occasion. I seriously hope the animators on this one won some major awards.
The story itself was surprisingly deep, the characters interesting and compelling (not to mention beautifully consistent from start to finish), and you were never quite sure who was going to survive or how. I like a movie where I can't see what's coming about ten minutes after I start watching it. I also have to give some serious props to the writers for creating two of the best heroines I've seen in a damned long time.
I will admit that the middle part of the film drags a bit, especially once the family gets split up, but it picks back up in a believable manner and the finale is well worth the wait. I'll also say the ending was much ballsier than any similar American film would be, which made me want to weep for my country's film industry. We stopped taking those kinds of chances a long time ago, sadly. I should also warn you that the Americans in the film are the villains, though as the events at the beginning were based on actual events involving a dickish American military officer making an ugly decision that did a helluva lot of environmental damage, it's not like you can really knock the filmmakers for turning us into the bad guys.
All in all a great film and it's definitely on my must-own list now!
