Commentaries - December 2007

The last day of the year - 12/31/07

Yup, today's the last day of the year, and I'm pretty proud to say that, since today I've posted by two last reviews, I've managed to do something I'd planned the first day this site became operative: I've written exactly 100 review for GG's Movie Reviews. Yes, I'm proud, and yes, I can't believe I actually managed to do it. It's been long hours of hard work, movie-watching and researching, but it's all been worth it.

But the great thing is, people have actually been reading them. About 100 people have been entering the site each day and, although I know that by today's standards that's not a lot, I guess it's not bad given the fact that I haven't been promoting the site and that it's quite hard to find in the likes of google or yahoo!. Yes, I have to thank you, readers, for entering the site and reading my reviews. Not everyone likes critics, some people even think they're mindless morons who don't know a thing about movies and that only like to criticize them. Well, they're wrong.

Anyway, I don't wanna write a large commentary this time. All I have to say is that Christmas was awesome, I spent it with my family - and my girlfriend on the 26th -, I received everything I wanted and I'm about to buy a freakin' Wii in the next couple of weeks. (There are tons of them here in Peru.) Today's gonna be amazing too: I'm going to a friend's house and spend New Year's Eve and the first hours of 2008 with my friends, and tomorrow I'm gonna be with my dad. (Sadly enough, I'm not seeing my girlfriend until the 2nd of January. Life isn't always fair, I guess.)

All I have left to say to you, my readers, is the following: have a great new year's eve, take care, don't drink too much - and if you drink, please don't drive - and have fun. Hope you'll return next year - I mean, in two days, hehe - to continue reading my reviews. I have a couple of them ready for posting on the 1st, and the first movie I'm watching in 2008 is I Am Legend, so expect my review of that flick pretty soon. See you next year!

Sebastián "GG" Zavala

A little bit of everything - 12/19/07

The last few days - or couple of weeks - have been pretty interesting, since there have been many news regarding upcoming, high-profile films such as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull or The Dark Knight. For example, there's the release of the Indy's flick's teaser poster; the release of a couple of new pictures from the Batman flick and the release of the teaser trailer; news regarding the Dragonball movie adaptation which has been shooting for a couple of weeks, by now, such as the casting of Chow Yun-Fat as Master Roshi; or, more interestingly, the announcement by New Line Cinema and Peter Jackson that they have come up with a deal, and that Jackson and his partners will be producing a movie adaptation of The Hobbit, as well as a sequel, although the LOTR filmmakers won't be directing the flick.

Yes, these have been pretty surprising news. I'm particularly excited about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. As a fan of previous Indy adventures, I'm hoping this fourth and supposedly final film will be as memorable as any of the other flicks - especially the first one - and that Lucasberg won't be ruining the franchise. The few pics that have been released look pretty good - Harrison Ford definitely doesn't look too old for the role and Shia LaBeouf doesn't look bad at all - and the teaser poster is, well, amazing. You know, it's Drew Struzan... I'm really happy the man has come back to make the posters for the movie. Actually, I'm happy many of the people who worked on previous Indy adventures have returned for this final movie - Spielberg, Lucas, Ford, producer Frank Marshall, composer John Williams and many more. This makes the making of the movie feel more of a making of an Indy adventure than the filming of an average adventure flick like National Treasure and its upcoming sequel. (I will be watching Book of Secrets in a couple of weeks when it's released here in Peru, although I won't be going with too many expectations.) By the way, for those who have a Facebook account, I have a group about Indy IV, where I post news regarding the flick and where you'll be able to discuss many things about the upcoming adventure. Check it out, it's not bad at all.

Now, regarding I Am Legend, I was really surprised by how much money it grossed last weekend. Yes, I was expecting it to be a success, but not break records and gross more money than Lord of the Rings 3. I haven't posted a review of the movie because it hasn't been released here in Peru - as far as I know, it's only playing in the U.S. and in four other countries - but I won't be long until it arrives at Peruvian theatres. I was also surprised by the performance of Alvin and the Chipmunks. Even though it has received abysmal reviews, I guess families are always looking for "safe", children-friendly movies to watch at theatres. (Although I don't know how watching a chipmunk eat a piece of poo is "children-friendly.") Regarding these types of films, I do agree with critic James Berardinelli: there are family films, and there are children films. Family films are G-rated or PG-rated movies which manage to entertain adults and kids alike. Children films are crappy movies which only manage to entertain the youngest members of the family. It seems Alvin and the Chipmunks belongs to the former category, so I'll definitely won't be watching it. Also, given director Tim Hill's previous efforts - the sequel to the crappy Garfield movie, for example, both belonging to the "children film" category - it's no surprise few people actually enjoyed Alvin.

Anyway, it's been a pretty busy week, and I'm sorry I haven't been able to write that many reviews. Yesterday was my prom party (it was really amazing) and I arrived at home at 6:30 am... today I slept until 2 pm, so I feel zombie-like. The rest of the week, since I've just started holidays, I felt pretty lazy and sleepy. Today I decided I had to "work", though, and since the National Treasure sequel is about to be released, I watched the first installment and posted a review. The movie is not precisely a masterpiece of adventure - even the first Mummy movie is more enjoyable - but it's nevertheless a suitably compelling flick. Trailers for the sequel are kinda corny, but I don't think the movie is gonna be that bad. At least it has the presence of a couple of respected thespians. (Ed Harris and Helen-freakin'-Mirren.) What will be my next review? Who knows, but I'm pretty sure you'll be able to read it in the next couple of days.

Sebastián "GG" Zavala