Meaningless deaths or just being a wuss?

I want to discuss two movies that will involve spoilers. So if you haven’t seen “Disturbia” or “The Lookout” then please skip this post.

As if anyone reads this tripe… whatever, here goes.

The first case is “Disturbia”, specifically Officer Gutierrez (played by Jose Pablo Cantillo), that gets called every time Kale, (played by Shia LeBeouf) activates his ankle bracelet. Jose introduces himself as the brother of the teacher Shia hit thus his punishment of house arrest for the summer. This story point establishes added tension to the scenes with these two in it throughout the movie.

During the climax Jose is called to the house because Shia is again beyond the bracelet boundary as he fights his serial killer neighbor, (played menacingly by David Morse), and tries to rescue his mom. As Jose is checking out David’s house David snaps his neck.

I don’t’ see the significance of this event. It served no purpose for the last 10 minutes of the movie. I found myself wondering why the creators decided to go with it. David had already been established as a stone cold killer. Would it not have been better for Jose to be disabled in someway so that Shia could save him? In a round about way this would have made up for hitting his brother the teacher. Instead I left the movie hanging Jose death, in a way, on Shia's head.

The second case is “The Lookout”. Deputy Ted, (played by Sergio Di Zio), is an expecting father who looks in on Chris Pratt, (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and brings him doughnuts as Joseph cleans a bank a night.

The scene where Sergio comes into the bank, gun drawn, as the robbers are hiding is seriously intense. His wife has beeped him because she is going into labor and you know he is fucked. Sergio gets shot and then “finished off” with a shotgun to the head.

I love the tension and “aw shit” moment that was created for the film – just awesome. My problem was any empathy I had developed for Joseph’s character to that point went right out the window, to the point that I was pissed. Was this what the creators wanted? I’m not sure. I can tell you that in my perspective the movie really lost all appeal to the point that I really didn’t give a shit what happened to Joseph. He probably needed to die as well for the movie to end well for me.

I loved the scene but I didn’t think they needed to kill the deputy. Perhaps I was supposed to lay blame on the bank robbers but I didn’t. I put it on Josephs head and it ruined the rest of the movie for me.

So there you have it. Tell me what you think. I am interested in hearing other peoples takes and angles on these two story points. I could be that I am just a wuss and need to be a hell of a lot more ruthless with my antagonists. If so, show me the way.

That is all.

-Jim

Long Weekend

I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. Hold on to your butts this is a long one.

My pre New Years resolution is too post at least three times a week from now on. Not that anyone outside my immediate family reads this blog but that doesn’t mean I don’t have shit to say. The whole “If a tree falls in the woods does it make a sound” theory will be put to the test.

Weekend football roundup:

Sorry Ducks. Season is over. Let’s hope Dixon can get healthy for the draft.

Go Cougars!!!! Great win for the Apple Cup this year.

Go Seahawks! The ball bounces funny sometimes. Thank goodness it bounces our way once in awhile. Note to Mike Holmgren: Loosen the fuck up with the play calling in the 4th quarter and trust your offense. That’s two games you’ve almost lost with your three and out run plays. I like Mike but I think he’s at the end of his career and playing a little tight. Maybe he should take a few during halftime and tug one out… loosen up a little.

Good try Philly. A.J. is gonna be sick until Sundays kick off this week thinking about those interceptions. Was awesome seeing Brady and Moss get knocked on their asses a few plays. They are still the team to beat though. By the way does anyone else have the sneaking suspicion that Belichick is gay?

I saw two movies over the long weekend, both rocked. The first was “No Country For Old Men.” I suspect most of the country, like myself, had no idea who Javier Bardem was. Well holy shit is that about to change. After he cleans house at the award ceremonies expect to see a lot of him in the future.

There is nothing better than a slow moving, deliberate psychopath and Javier pulls it off scene after scene. Anytime he interacted with another human being on screen my ass was clenched so tight I walked out of the theatre feeling like I just got pounded by a rhino. Great toning exercise though, the DVD can double as a workout tape.

Good movie. I won’t give it a “great” because of the ending. I’ve taken to staying put after movies too listen to peoples reactions as they leave. I heard a lot of confused grunting and murmurs. I had flashbacks of the Soprano’s final episode. Overall I enjoyed it.

The second was “The Mist”. It was not what I expected, but in a good way. I liked it, it made me think, and I was disturbed by it. I kept going over in my head what I would have done.

For those of you on the fence about whether or not to go see it I will say this. The “Mist” and the creatures it brings are, in my opinion, secondary to the characters, humanity, and what happens when you put them all in a pressure cooker and turn up the heat. Good, good movie that I will never watch again.

Good reactions from the audience. Been a long time since I was at a movie where people clapped and cheered at pivotal moments. Lots of positive chatter, it’s a thinker.

Audience disturbance wasn’t too bad. My wife would be so proud of me. I restrained myself from turning around halfway during a movie as the ass hat behind me couldn’t handle being “off the grid” for more than an hour so he had to start texting someone. At least have the courtesy to turn off the key stroke beeps dick head.

Moment two was when some lady beside me (a grunter) decided to wait until the movie started to unwrap her ungodly loud cellophane wrapped candy or whatever the fuck it was. Me and another guy on the other side of her leaned forward and stared at her until she stopped. Good times.

Note to moviegoers: Unwrap you shit during the trailers.

For those of you who don’t know what a “grunter” is. It’s the person that grunts every time something happens during the movie like a revelation, gory part, or they are just plain fucking confused. Annoying as hell.

I had a lovely moment when I tried to open my bag of Reeses Pieces. I couldn’t find the pre-cut tear on the package so I grabbed it at the seems and pulled. I must have had a defective package cause this thing was fucking welded shut. It was too late to get the jaws-of-life from the car so I cowboyed up and tugged that fucker like I had a pair…

If you’ve never seen an explosive shower of Reeses Pieces in the dim flicker of a movie light your really missing something. The way the tumbling pieces catch the light as they come crashing down loudly on the cement floor is just…beautiful.

Note to self: Unwrap your shit in the lobby.

Took my son to see Santa Clause. He could barely contain himself until we walked into the room where Santa was sitting. The awe and reverence as he walked up to Santa, hoped on his lap and gave him his list was just priceless. It was a good day.

I video taped the whole thing, I guess I lingered a little long on “Santa’s Little Helper”. When the wife reviewed the tape she congratulated me on the nice “leg shot” I got. Nice of Santa to include something for the adults.

Writing:
Finished the preliminary outline and busted out 15 pages this weekend. Even the wife commented that this one seems to be coming easier for me. We will see.

Going to finish catching up on Sam and Jim go to Hollywood this week. I am really enjoying their podcast.

That is all.

-Jim

Band-Aid Sauce

My son came to me other night and requested a band-aid for a small cut underneath his pinky-toe. I of course referred him to his mother. As my dear wife was about to place the band-aid he stopped her. “No mommy, you forgot the band-aid sauce.”

I am in the other room and hear this statement so I poke my head in the room. “Did he just say band-aid sauce?”

With my wife and I puzzled about this mystery product my son hops off the desk and goes to the hall closet and grabs the tube of Neosporin.

“See Mommy, band-aid sauce.”

I will be telling this story to my grandchildren.

Writing is moving forward. Glacially but moving just the same. I’ve switched gears and working on my techie comedy.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Best of luck to the WGA and AMPTP next Monday at the table.

-Jim

A shout out!

Thank you to all the WGA writers out there sacrificing today so that scrubs like me who hope to join your ranks tomorrow can benefit. If you were picketing in Seattle I would join you.

Let’s hope both sides can get some compromising done and everyone can get back to work feeling good about the next three years.

-Jim

The disturbing truth...

I added a new link to the blog today. “The Guild” is a hilarious online series about a group of gamers. It’s really good, really funny and disturbingly accurate on a few levels.

http://www.watchtheguild.com/

Check it out when you get the chance.

-Jim