Red... and Durarara

Dad and I went to see the movie "Red" on Monday. Neither of us had been to the movies in sometime given Hollywood's ability to produce crappy movies at an astounding rate. Hollywood? Listen up! There is no such thing anymore as a 'sure thing', so get some balls and try something new, because the stuff you've been producing lately doesn't interest me in the slightest. Ehem. That said I'll have to retract slightly, because there were exactly three movies I did like, and actually went back to see twice. I never do this. One was Iron Man 2. Whatever Marvel is doing, they're doing it right. At least with Iron Man movies. The second, was the A-Team, a remake of a TV series from the 80s, which I watched religiously as a kid. Initially I was somewhat taken aback, because I was positive that they were going to totally screw with an old favorite, but I was thrilled to find that they had not only stuck with the character profiles, they'd actually paid attention to detail. I was so happy; I went and saw it a second time.

The third movie, is "Red", which is based on a comic book (you'd be shocked at how many successful movies have been based on comics) currently owned by DC Comics. I think originally it was put out by Homage, but I could be wrong on that. Anyway... Red was wonderful. Let me rephrase. If you like ex-spy movies (think aging Jason Bourne) then this is right up your ally. This was well thought out, well acted, and the filming and FX were just right. Not too many over the top scenes were you're so distracted by the unbelievability of the scene that you miss plot developments. I hate that. Pet peeve I guess. What really made me love this movie though was seeing a lot of old familiar faces. Old familiar faces that make me remember why Hollywood used to be so good. These people are actors. None of this,"I'm pretty to look at." or "Look at all my muscles!" No. This was pure honest acting that carried the film, expertly spliced with new talent who, while can be considered eye-candy, can also carry their roles with their acting skills. AND, it was good honest fun. So well written! Witty repertoire... oh, I do so miss the ease with which I used to be able to find movies like this. And action was definitely part of the recipe, so don't go moaning about how it wasn't there. This was a gem.

Another that was an unexpected find, was an Anime series called "Durarara". I'd seen this on CrunchyRoll, the pictures of it anyway, and finally decided to watch it a few months ago. The first couple of episodes did NOT impress me, but I liked the characters enough to keep watching. Why did I not like the first couple of episodes? Well, mostly because the storyline was all over the place. I had trouble figuring out why a lot of what I was watching was important. Eventually I reached episode 6 and chalked the wildly strobing story to a peculiar slice of life show. However, the deeper you get into this show, the more you realize that everything you see and hear is pertinent, because this show has an astounding amount of twists, turns and switchbacks. A veritable rabbit's warren of plots within plots, histories within histories and surprise turns that make this show damned near addictive. Some things are easy to see coming, some you never see coming, and other things you follow, but never quite catch onto because you haven't gotten all the information you need in order to see the whole picture. In a way this show IS a slice of life, but it is so very well done. I won't tell you exactly why it's a slice of life, because figuring out this show is part of the fun.

And it is funny. There where so many times I found myself laughing out loud, at the unexpected, at outright silliness, at stuff that was supposed to be funny. There were moments that made me gasp, that made me smile, that made me want to choke someone and that made cringe. This truly is one of the best Anime shows I've watched in a long time. They're out there, you just have to dig for them. I'm not one for the fluffy cutesy Anime, nor am I one that likes to sit through really tweaked stuff. I like well rounded stories, and this one is very well rounded it. Just be patient with it and pay attention. If you're unable to sit still for more than 10 minutes, this is NOT the show for you, so do not bother.

Of late the most hated phrase I hear is,"This is stupid." This is generally said by someone with limited attention span, and without the ability to coherently string together the nature of WHY they find 'it' stupid. I've found that "This is stupid." translates to, "I don't understand this, nor do I want to try." And it's immediate after trying something they're not comfortable with. If the person had tried several shows, or several chapters in a book, and then said,"This is stupid. Here's why..." Then I wouldn't be so annoyed. But the phrase,"This is stupid." in my book is the equivalent of a food fussy toddler not wanting to try new foods because NEW isn't in their safety zone. While I understand the toddler; adults .... you have no excuse. Teens have an excuse. Their brains are rewiring themselves, and being accepted is the most important thing on their agenda until they figure out that being confident in themselves, and LIKING themselves will make you a heck of a lot more popular than going with the flow. Unfortunately, most teens need to figure this out on their own, otherwise they never get it.

Adults? You should be past this point. If you've tried the carrots and don't like the carrots, then fine. At least you tried it. If you see the carrots and point at them in horror shrieking,"EWWWW!" without ever trying them... well. ... You're ... a sad piece of ... we won't go there.

... work is sometimes an interesting observation experiment. *sighs*

My other most hated phrase? "It's not MY job!" .... annoying.