Michael Sat Sep 2 18:28:58 2006
Barnyard: Original Party Animals
Um. Good music, funny moments, real possibilities -- crappy movie. Download this one off BitTorrent in a few months. It was definitely assembled by a committee. The "plot", such as it was, seemed a cringe-worthy afterthought. A real shame; the definite Far Side influence indicated some serious potential.
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Emsworth Sun Sep 3 12:48:31 2006
Re: Barnyard: Original Party Animals
The fact that the bulls have udders still boggles my mind.
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Michael Mon Sep 4 22:51:54 2006
Re: Barnyard: Original Party Animals
> The fact that the bulls have udders still boggles my mind.
Yes, we'll not go there.
Look: the 7-year-old liked this one, and the music was really pretty good. It wasn't a *bad* movie, per se. Just ... not anything as good as it should have been if the world didn't suck so bad.
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Emsworth Tue Sep 5 10:09:37 2006
Re: Barnyard: Original Party Animals
> Look: the 7-year-old liked this one, and the music was really pretty good.
> It wasn't a *bad* movie, per se.
Beats Care Bears in Wonderland, I suppose. This and "Ant Bully" were the only two summer CG films I avoided entirely, though. And for that I am grateful.
I really get the feeling that the cubed, Larsony livestock would have worked better in 2D. I've often argued that computer animation shouldn't be afraid to caricature, but what I saw in the ads suggested a slew of Little Tikes/Weebles refugees. Just very garish. The sort of thing which a strong plot or break out characters *might* be able to overcome, but from all I've read, there was nothing to suggest it, at least not sufficiently for me to fork over 7 bucks.
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Michael Wed Sep 6 19:52:56 2006
Re: Barnyard: Original Party Animals
> The sort of thing which a
> strong plot or break out characters *might* be able to overcome
A theory which remains untested. Believe me.
> not sufficiently
> for me to fork over 7 bucks.
Not even close. But try the pain of $28 if you think 7 would be too much. There's just so little that we all like at this stage of everybody's lives.
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Emsworth Wed Sep 6 20:20:11 2006
Re: Barnyard: Original Party Animals
> Not even close. But try the pain of $28 if you think 7 would be too much.
> There's just so little that we all like at this stage of everybody's
> lives.
You probably won't, but if you do move back to the states, try to find a second-run theater. Really *good* ones are rare, but the thing I miss most about El Paso is the one in walking distance. They had a Tuesday special. Their regular ticket prices were one dollar (as opposed to $2.50 to $3.00 even at other second-runs). But Tuesday? All day and all night, all movies are fifty cents *Fifty cents*!
That's how I saw Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Pirates of the Caribbean, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Last Samurai, a lot of terrible animated features, and some gems like Over the Hedge. I miss it so, since if it was a good to great movie, I felt I had a bargain and was still able to see the movie in a theater setting. If it was lousy, I was out less than the price of a vending coke. Naturally, lots of families take advantage of this, and in one unfortunate case, a rowdy daycare mob of 20 sprats who kept crawling over their seats around me and throwing stuff at each other. Still, it's a great thing. Concession prices are pricey, naturally, but even then, while 3 bucks for a small soda and six for a large popcorn seems high, even that's cheaper than the big first-run chains. Someone, and the mentality may be limited to El Paso but I hope it exists elsewhere as well, seems to have realized how many movie buffs on limited incomes, to say nothing of moderate to large families, want to go to the movies, and thus are making up for the prices by selling more tickets, to say nothing of group rates. Smart idea.
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Michael Thu Sep 7 00:15:09 2006
Fricking movie industry
> You probably won't, but if you do move back to the states,
Dude, we're in Florida. Last I checked, still a state (ha). But we're heading back to Indiana, I guess.
B-town used to have a dollar cinema. Kerasotes bought it and closed it. Then they bought the Von Lee, a near-campus movie house which had been running since the 50's. And closed it. And then resold it with a clause in the covenant that it can never be used to show movies again. It's been vacant for five years.
I love the American movie industry. They take whatever's good in life and strangle all the life out of it they can. Then they overcharge you for the rotting husk they throw at your feet. And they call that entertainment.
> Smart idea.
Oh, and then they had a second-run movie in the mall? (My wife used that one to see Pirates of the Caribbean 25 times before I forced her to switch to DVD.) So Kerasotes sold that, too, and the mall sold that entire end of the mall, to put in a sporting goods megastore. Which is, of course, exactly what Bloomington needed, a town of 35,000 people and 35,000 students -- a sports megastore. Instead of cheap movies.
But no, I'm not bitter.
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Emsworth Thu Sep 7 09:17:40 2006
Re: Fricking movie industry
> Dude, we're in Florida. Last I checked, still a state (ha). But we're
> heading back to Indiana, I guess.
Yeah, but last time I asked, it wasn't clear if it was even semi-permanent. Is it? You nomadic types, wandering with the wind, disorient me.
>But no, I'm not bitter.
The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Much like papayas out of season, I suspect.
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Michael Sun Sep 10 23:04:29 2006
Re: Fricking movie industry
> Yeah, but last time I asked, it wasn't clear if it was even
> semi-permanent. Is it? You nomadic types, wandering with the wind,
> disorient me.
Believe me, living it is even more disorienting. I wake up not knowing what continent I'm on, I see people on the street and think I recognize them, only to realize I'm thinking of someone from a different country entirely. I have flashbacks of scenes from everywhere, sort of an inverse deja vu.
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