The Ghost Writer (2010)

When this movie came out, I debated on seeing it. It has one of my favorite actors, Ewan McGregor playing as the main character, the ghost writer. However, I passed on it since it just didn't seem too interesting at the time. On my flight to Seattle they were playing it, and the man sitting next to me said it was pretty good, so I plugged in my headphones and watched.

Ewan McGregor is a ghost writer hired to help the former prime minister write his memoirs, but at the same time the minister is involved in controversy. The prime minister locks himself inside his mansion on a remote island to stay away from reporters and invites Ewan to stay there to write the novel. However, not only is there war controversy there is controversy with the fact that the previous ghost writer had died before finishing the novel.

Although an airplane was not an ideal place to watch the movie, I still don’t feel that if I would’ve been in a theater that I would have felt any more interested. The pace was slow,I didn't care about the characters, their affairs, their pasts or anything. It was a bland movie altogether. Not much action. Just a bunch of news, protesters, and an ending action sequence. The first five minutes where Ewan wasn't allowed to take the memoirs out of the room and they were locked up in the mansion and the last five minutes where the conclusion and end credits occured were the only intriguing moments in the movie to me.

Rating: 2.5 stars

Back From Cali

Annnnnnnd I'm back. I had an amazing time in California. I did not want to leave. It was gorgeous, always sunny, and comfortable temperature-wise. The first two days were spent at beaches and the second two were spent at movie related locations.

The third day of the trip, I went to Universal Studios where I rode the Backlot Studio Tour bus. On this tour, I got to experience Peter Jackson's 3D King Kong experience. It actually felt like I was in the middle of a fight between King Kong and a couple of dinosaurs. The falling part was a little gimmicky, but the rest was amazing. Then of course the remainder of the tour consisted of viewing sets and props that were in Serenity, Desperate Housewives, and War of the Worlds. Of course there were lame jokes and other gimmicks, but overall it was an interesting experience. The theme park was a lot smaller than I expected, but I had a great time!

The next day I went to Hollywood. It is not as glamourous as it seems. The streets and stores were a little run down, there were a lot of homeless people, and some of the stars on the sidewalk were cracking. But when you think about it, it is a city... However, seeing stars on the sidewalk, the Hollywood sign, and handprints/footprints at the Chinese theatre were amazing.

On the plane ride, not only did I get to watch some films (The Hurt Locker and Just Wright), I got to write some reviews! Not a ton of them, but at least I'm on my way to catching up. In addition, Netflix put out their iPod touch application on the third day of my vacation, so I tested it out and watched a couple of stand-up comedian specials (Daniel Tosh and Christopher Titus).

Now that I'm home and I'm going to start work tomorrow I decided to have a day to myself after my errands. So, I went and rented 12 dvds for $3.40 (heck yeah Family Video) and watched half of them already while doing laundry and getting ready for tomorrow (although I had seen all except the last half hour of one and two others were about an hour long).

The movies I rented and am currently watching include: The Hurt Locker (the end of it), The Lovely Bones, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Seth MacFarlane's Calvacade of Cartoon Comedy, Nerdcore Rising, A Single Man, Gia, Igby Goes Down, Repo! The Genetic Opera, Camille, Brideshead Revisited, and The Boys are Back.

I still have a little bit left in my day, so while I wait for my hair dye to set in (yes, I'm dyeing my hair while typing this) I might type up a review or two.

Hello from Cali

California is gorgeous and I have no idea how I'm going to leave it! I didn't think I would watch any movies, but I did. I saw The Hurt Locker on the plane and a couple of comedy shows on Netflix. If this next flight is similar, hopefully there will be a movie on it as well. Many stories to come once I get back and don't worry, I did get some reviewing in!

I am going to discontinue posting for now due to the fact that it is hard on an iPod.