I saw Alien vs. Predator on Saturday and I have to say I enjoyed it. It’s not like DVD buying caliber for me but I’m glad I saw it in the theatre. I kinda expected super cheese but instead I got a few parts horror, sci-fi and a bit of comedy. I’d recommend the movie to you if you have enjoyed any of the Alien, Predator or horror sci-fi genre type movies. Actually if you like huge rasta aliens looking cool then you should probably also go.

Now part of the theatre experience is always the audience and the people I happened to be watching the movie with were hilarious. At one point a few people in the audience were making the clicking purring noise of the predators which was being used a lot. The rest of the audience was laughing.

A few parts of the movie really stood out for me. The first was the researchers watching Frankenstein meets the Wolfman in black and white. It twas an homage to an older mix of monsters movies. The second was when our lead Predator made some armor and weapons from a slain alien for our human heroin. Very cool gesture. Lastly, I really enjoyed the lead predator / king / father or whoever he was (definitely older looking) gave one of their weapons to the human female who proved herself in battle.

Maybe I just have a weak spot for ceremonies dealing with honor. Perhaps that is one of the reasons I like Japanese culture.

Anyway I had fun seeing Predator and managed to do a few useful things this weekend. Pretty much finished my brothers web site. Hope he likes it!

The enema of my enemy is my friend?

Today was half good, half bad. Bad part was spending four and a half hours at the Collection dealership. They specialize in anything expensive and I find my experiences there very random. Sometimes I get things like free car rentals while they work on my car other times, like today, they take 4 hours to do an oil change, lose my car for 30 minutes and then finally deliver it partially wet on the inside from someone cleaning it. Bleah!

Today was the last straw. I’m only going to the dealer for once a year warrantee service until my coverage wears off (this year) and nothing else. I’d rather get a good job done consistently somewhere else than the excellent/horrid flip flop they provide. Vote with your business, that’s what I say. Later suckers!

Second part of my day was pretty darn good. I watched a film called Grind which was lent to me by my co-worker Warlord. Overall it was a much better film than I expected, I wouldn’t say it was something I want to own or watch again but It was perfect for a Saturday afternoon cheer up session.

Parr stayed home from her usual church trip cause she wasn’t feeling too well in the afternoon. We spent some nice time together after she took a nap and worked together on some updates to Tatakau. I think the new automatic navigation piece is going to go up tomorrow. It programmed to read in all the directories, sort by name and link to each collection. It’s going to make it that much easier for Parr to add new sections without having to update the navigation all the time. Ah, I love PHP.

Hopefully tomorrow will be more relaxing and consistent. Ooh and rainy yeah that would be nice.

There are a three unique things about this film. It’s the first hollywood picture to be simultaneously released on both regular and Imax screens. It has some of the most accurate and impressive cg effects I’ve ever seen. It is the only, and I do mean only, movie that ever made me want to beat up a cash register. Ah, but first things first…

Matrix Revolutions, in case you’ve been living under a rock, is the third installment of the Matrix trilogy. It does a fairly good good of brining together a wide a varied plot to a singular moment in time. All good things must come to an end said the Oracle and unfortunately so did the movie.

I have to say overall I did enjoy the movie very much although I think the first film stands really nicely on it’s own as a complete package. Part III seems to be incomplete without part II. Not surprising as both movies were shot at the same time but released separately. I heartily recommend you see the third film if…

• have any interest in computer graphics
• enjoyed the first movie
• hated/loved the second
• you work in the fashion industry and will be using the film as inspiration
• you hate cash registers

The CG alone is worth the admission price, doubly so for the IMAX version. I got major goose bumps and an adrenaline rush during one scene where Zion’s APU (Armored Personnel Units) are all powering up for battle. I don’t know if something in me is hard coded for war or the thrill of seeing realistic mecha (a long time fantasy) come to life affected me very physically.

Then of course there was the immersion factor for me. I think I tend to enjoy movies more than others because I open myself up to them more. I find it relatively easy to suspend belief and live in their universe for awhile. This closeness heightens my enjoyment but it also makes for some interesting emotion roller coasters. For example, one of my favorite characters ends up dying in the movie. It came as a complete shock to me and because of the circumstances I began to weep. Feelings of sorrow and denial welled up inside of me. I couldn’t believe this was happening what would I do without this person?

My sadness quickly turned to utter rage as the character died before my eyes. This was all the machines fault! Damn them to hell! Adrenaline surged and muscles became taut weapons ready to strike. What could I do, how could I strike back at the machines? It was clear for one instant… I would go to the lobby of the movie theatre and destroy the cash registers with my bare hands!

It took me a few seconds to realize that destroying the cash registers would not affect the outcome of the movie. After a few more thoughts of, “Really but what if I …. oh yeah…” I finally decided to watch the movie screen with intensity channeling my rage into hope and somehow thinking this would bolster our on screen hero.

All in all I really enjoyed this movie and while it’s not perfect or perhaps suited for every movie goer, I think most people will find it very entertaining.

Of course seeing it in IMAX with over 10,000 watts of surround sound (event speakers behind the screen, too cool) always help.