Fallen Kingdom

The Kingdom tries really hard to be a political thriller and I'll give it points for that. Rather than creating something along the lines of The Manchurian Candidate (the original that is), we get something closer to Jerry Bruckheimer (sp) meets an attempt at deep thinking.

The opening credits gave me hope. They are really well done. I was impressed with the visual style. The context of the credits made me think this movie was going to take a serious look at a political tale. The film looks great. Peter Berg deserves a lot of credit for this fact. His style gave a realistic flow to a script that sadly falters.

The plot concerns an explosive attack on a compound populated by the employees of a U.S. oil company. What exactly happens during the entire attack actually surprised me a little, so again, I thought we were off to a good start. In this story, the FBI is the lead agency whenever U.S. citizens have crimes committed against them abroad. Beats me if this is true. But, the U.S. government won't let the FBI go into Saudi Arabia (The Kingdom) because they fear an increased U.S. presence will only increase anger towards Americans and strain relations between the royal family and oil companies...er, the government, I mean.

Jamie Foxx pressures the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia into letting him take a small crew into the country to investigate. They head over and have 5 days to figure out what happened. Foxx goes out along with Chris Cooper: the bomb expert, Jennifer Garner: forensics specialist, and Jason Bateman: systems analyst. Bomb expert...sure, makes sense. Forensics, again makes sense, except Garner's character was very close to an agent who is killed over there (mmm...I'm sensing "revenge"). Bateman's character isn't given much to do other than make a snarky comment here and there, discover a website, sort of flirt with Jennifer, and get caught in a pretty bad situation.

They get help from two members of the Saudi police, one of which was assigned to be their babysitter by the local prince. It's a given that he and Foxx eventually bond over their respective love of family and a desire to protect them.

For every attempt to show us moments of "they are just like us," we get moments of U.S. bravado...often in the form of dialogue. I'm not saying that such bravado doesn't exist; it's just annoying to see it still presented without it being questioned. The movie seems to want to have its cake and eat it too. For example, a point is made that Bateman's character has been to Israel three times to visit his grandmother who lives there. You'd think, then, that his character, Adam, would have at least a little insight into the experience had by someone who lives in the Middle East. Instead, Adam is often called on doing things that are less than respectful to the Muslim officers they are working with. I'm not saying Adam can't be a dick; I'm saying, if he's going to be a dick, just let him be a dick, who cares where he's been. Adam's actually not a complete dick, he just gets some dickish lines.

The crime solving aspect seems to happen almost completely by chance. Granted, the four FBI agents are initially hampered by the fact that they can't touch anything at the crime scene, and they are constantly being watched and escorted. Still, nothing in what happens in the plot seems to point to these people being the best of the best. Chris Cooper finds a piece of the detonation device and he's the expert, yet he ends up handing it off to Foxx who takes it with him when, eventually, he and Faris (the main Saudi cop) go talk to a former terrorist. They go to the blast site with a general idea of who might be responsible, presumably because they have some sort of intel about prior bombings done by this person. As I've learned from crime dramas, bomb makers have a signature (hell, learned that one from Speed too) so you'd think there would have been a data base they could have checked and compared this part of the device to, but nope...guess not.

We never get answers to some of what happened, and it's not because they searched and just couldn't find the answers. It seems to be because that plot point was only needed to get us from this dramatic moment to the next one. We're not there to find the answers. We're there to get to the point when we can blow stuff up and get revenge.

The ads mention the final 30 minutes being super intense. Actually, it's probably the final 20-25, because the very end is rather quiet. They are intense. They are well shot, though the realistic camera movements sometimes meant you weren't sure exactly what you were seeing. We get our promised "every one will pay" moment at the end of the sequence. I couldn't really argue with one aspect of it though since I didn't want one character to die and that character survives.

In the end, a weird sort of parallel is made between what drove the FBI agents and what drove the terrorists. It was the same thing. Had the movie not tried to walk the thoughtful road along with the look-I-can-shoot-the-hell-out-of-this-car road, the finale might have had more impact. Instead, seeing the team staying the same after their experience, as well as the terrorists, just made everything seem futile. Sadly, that may have been the point after all.

You might want to wait till this comes out on DVD to watch it. There are moments worth seeing, just not enough of them to make it a really good film. Bateman's still cute though.

Two guys walk into a bath house...

I'm telling you right now...this man can work a suit.


I caught Eastern Promises this weekend. David Cronenberg (forgot to note down how to spell his name and I'm too lazy to go look for it...sorry) and Viggo Mortensen team up once again for this tale about the Russian Mob and the complications created by the birth of one child and the attempts of another to impress his father.


The movie is owned by Mortensen and Armin Mueller-Stahl, who plays the head of the family of mobsters. Mortensen conveys a cool, but always aware attitude. He continues to find subtlety within his performance and uses it to great effect in this movie. He makes you feel off balance, never quite sure of whether or not to trust him. Mueller-Stahl gives off a heady mix of menace wrapped in the guise of a kindly grandfather. As soon as he begins to calmly and gently pump Naomi Watts' character for information in regards to a recently orphaned baby, you know this man could have you killed in a second and you should really not be anywhere near him. He doesn't use a gun to threaten, he just makes it clear that he is in complete control...always.

Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel (sp...again) are both just fine in their parts, but neither one seems to jump off the screen. I blame the script, which sometimes lags. There are several moments of graphic violence, which if you are a fan of David C's movies won't surprise you. In fact, the scene where Viggo fights with two guys in the bath house was really impressive. And not just because Viggo is naked through out. The movie looks great and I was impressed by how good the Russian accents sounded. Not that I'm that familiar with the true accent, but they didn't sound like Boris and Natasha from Bullwinkle, a definite plus.

I don't know that this is David C.'s best film, but it is still pretty solid and worth checking out just to see Viggo continue to stretch as an actor...that and to see the guy get stabbed in the eye.

On a side note, I just read that fabbo Jason Bateman has joined the cast of State Of Play. I'm not sure if I've mentioned State Of Play before, but it is one of the best British mini-series I have ever seen. Sadly it is still not available on DVD (damn you BBC!!!!), so I have to be careful with my taped copy. Ed Norton and Brad Pitt have already signed on. I'm not sure I'm ready to accept Brad in the role that John Simm did so well in, but I guess I'll just have to suck it up.

Also--new Foo Fighters cd out tomorrow!!! PJ Harvey in the week following!!!! Yeah!

Which is the real D.C.?

Found out that the new season of 24 debuts on Jan. 13 and 14th. They are doing their usual 2 nights of 2 hour long episodes. The season is going to be set in Washington D.C. where Jack is going to be on trial for being a bad, bad boy all in the name of saving the country, the president, or his family...depends on what season you're watching. Anyway, I think the trial is really going to be about what has happened over the last 2 seasons.

In a bizarre twist of television plot convience, the beloved Tony A. will be back!!!! Who cares that we sort of left him for dead, he's recovered. Of course, that gunshot to the head he got a few seasons ago only kept him down for a couple of hours so what did I expect. I actually have no problem with this idea as Tony was always one of my favorite characters. I'm hoping he says "Dammitt Jack!!" in the first few moments of his appearance.

I'm going to try something new here. I'm going to attempt to put a YouTube video on the blog. Ladies and gentlemen...your president...

weirdness at work

Here's a couple of funny stories for you from my corner of dysfunction.

Tales Of Interest #1: On Mon. night, one of our managers was asked to check the men's bathroom. A customer had tried to go inside to use it, but the entrance door was locked. The manager unlocked the door and went inside, thinking some kids were just jerking us around by locking it. Oops. Did I say jerking?

When she got inside, she saw two sets of shoes in the handicap stall. I'm not clear if their pants were completely down around their ankles, but at the very least trousers had been lowered. Someone in the stall calls out, "We're busy..."

She called out, "I'm calling the cops...go get a room!" She goes out to make the call and within seconds the guys are flying out the door.

No word if either one said "I have a wide stance."

Tales of Interest #2: A young boy comes up to his mom and hands her the book Guitar For Dummies. He asks her what "dummies" means. She explains that dummy is a word used for someone who isn't very smart. She then tells him he wouldn't want the book because who wants to learn guitar from a dummy.

Who wants to learn from a dummy indeed...

We should have social services on speed dial.

Watching TV So You Don't Have To

Maybe I should call this one "watching tv because I don't have kids."

Work is the same old same old so I figured I'd write about the Emmys that were given out on Sun.

If you missed it, you didn't miss much. Ryan Seacrest hosted the show. Aren't we tired of him yet? I never watch Idol and yet I am still somewhat annoyed by him.

For the most part, the comedy was left to the comedians. Lewis Black did a great bit of snark on ways to improve television. Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart were perfect together--like a living Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. They ripped on the fact that this was the "green" Emmy awards. Stephen had a great line where he said, "if actors stop having award shows where they congratulate themselves, the Earth wins." Or something along those lines. I'm sure you can find the clip on YouTube. Steve Carrell was also quite funny. No surprise.

Everything else was rather dull. The theater in the round seemed cool for the first few minutes and it did provide for some jokes later in the evening. The musical tribute to The Sopranos was just weird to me. I kept waiting for an interpretive dance tribute to My Name Is Earl. I did however appreciate the fact that the new voting rules allowed a lot of fresh nominees into the mix.

I was disappointed that Jenna Fischer didn't win. I really thought she did an amazing job last year on The Office. She makes Pam so real you end up feeling very deeply for the character. Sometimes in shows, character arcs seem to fade in and out of episodes. A huge amount of credit goes to Jenna and the show's writers for their success at having Pam's transition go through the entire season. The few big epiphanies came at just the right moments, otherwise it was a subtle and realistic progression from one point to the other. Speaking of the writers, I was also glad to see the episode "Gay Witch Hunt" won best comedy writing. It is seriously one of the funniest damn episodes I've ever seen in all of tv.

FYI: The season finale of Burn Notice is on Thurs. so don't call Jackie. Ha, ha.

Also, found out that HP5 comes out on DVD on Dec. 11

Okay, it's after midnight and I should be getting to bed. I pretty much become grumpy within minutes of entering the store so it never helps to be tired grumpy before I get there.

a bit bruised

What do you put on a bruised ego?


Yesterday I got a phone call from the manager of the Bloomington receiving department. He wanted to tell me that he was on the committee responsible for bringing up receiving issues with corporate. He told me that he was going to the first meeting in Oct., and if I had any concerns I'd like brought up, I should get them to him before then.


My first thought was: Why wasn't I asked to do this?


I have been a receiving manager at least 3 or so years longer than this guy. I work in a significantly larger store, hence a larger receiving department. My department was one of the few in the district actually finishing our deliveries by the end of the day. I remember this guy calling me with questions when he first started out...and HE gets chosen to be a part of this group?


Now, the fact that I'm not sure I would want to be a part of this group has no bearing on the fact that my ego has been bruised. I didn't even know such a group was being created. I don't know if I was even being considered. The store this guy comes from is the one our District Manager came from so maybe she pulled for him. Maybe they wanted someone from a small store because they had larger stores represented already?


All I do know is that I was annoyed and a little hurt, probably for no reason other than my ego could use some bolstering right now and this seemed like a little poke in the gut. Errrggghhh....

Money is the root of all evil today.

Hey gang. Not a whole lot to report as I spent most of my weekend watching seasons 2 and 3 of Arrested Development. Hence the pic of the yum-tastic Jason Bateman. He's grown up well eh?

Just a quick story for you:

Recently I went on vacation to Arkansas. I took two of my remaining 6 days of time off. When I return, it took a while before I looked at my paystubs. First, because it's like pulling teeth to get someone to open the drawer to get to them. Second, because I have direct deposit I don't need to access them in order to have money.

I noticed I didn't get paid for either of my two days off. I left a note about one of the days figuring I'd just use the other to have one final full week of vacation. One of the ubers decided to add my prior unpaid vac. day to my last week of vacation. Fine, not a problem. Or atleast, there shouldn't have been a problem.

For reasons that probably involve the sacrifice of small animals and the laying of hands upon the shrine of the CEO, the company doesn't just pay you the extra vacation hours on your next check. Instead, it gets logged onto your next check and they do a paid out/cash advance at the store. Why? Fuck if I know.

I got my paycheck for my final week of vacation and notice that somehow, even with 48 hours of time listed, I made less than the check from the week prior when I had just over 40 hours. Hmmmmm. Looks like a screw up to me. I scan over the usual listings of amounts taken out for taxes, etc. when I notice a paid out of $85.

Strange, I never got handed this elusive $85. I asked the supreme uber about it today when I got to work. Seems someone did the paid out while I was on vacation. Obviously the most logical time to do it. Then no one bothered to tell me about it. There was an unsealed envelope in the locked change drawer up front with my name written in small letters on it. The envelope had been shoved to the back of the drawer. I'm wondering if anyone would have ever told me about it had I not discovered the discrepency.

I'm surprised anything functions in this place.

WATCH IT:

Arrested Development--all three seasons--everyone is brilliant, but my faves have to be Jason Bateman, Michael Cera and Jessica Walter. NO TOUCHING!!

LISTEN TO IT:

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club--Berlin--I think this is the best song on the new album. Great to have on while driving.

READ IT:

Too tired. Read something later. Sleep now.

OH--the quote "You watched it. You can't unwatch it." is from Futurama. The "contest" doesn't seem to be going well, so from now on I'm just going to tell you who said what.

Drinking...only without liquor

Didn't have a picture relevant to today's blog so I just decided to pop up one I took of The Forum in Rome. The building to the far upper left is called The Wedding Cake. It's a big, white building that, when originally built, did not appeal to those who wanted to preserve the antiquity of this area of town. The Wedding Cake reference is a bit of a slam, but apparently people have eventually gotten used to the place.

Today was sort of a crappy day. I wasn't in the best mood when I came in the door and things did not improve. I don't want to bore you with the details, but suffice it to say a major project was taken on with little to no planning. Sadly, this lack of planning seems to be the norm at work. My little corner of the store is being over run in part because of the lack of planning and the seeming lack of concern over the lack of planning. Once again we go "oooohhh...we can make shit loads of money...let's do it!" without considering the logistics of the actual undertaking.

If I were a drinker, I would have gotten plowed after work. I am amazed I haven't become an alcoholic or drug addict at this point. Instead, I stop by the grocery store after work to get my fix. Frozen pizza. Little to no effort on my part, which in my mind is a treat after slogging at the job. I almost decided to combine the heart-attack-in-the-oven with the what-the-hell-let's-add-yet-another-chin ice cream, but the thin, cute high school girls hovering by that part of the frozen food aisle made me reconsider.

Is it wrong to want to smack most of the people I run into?

FRODO CRIME UPDATE:

Got some much more accurate info regarding the hobbit. Seems he got 12 months probation and only had to pay back what he stole. Once again, you need to get confirmation when the story sounds too good to be true.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF WHY OUR TRAINING AT THE STORE SUCKS:

Warning: This will make more sense to my fellow co-workers, but I'll try to tell it so all can appreciate it.

When we pull returns at work, we have this handheld scanner we use. You scan the barcode and if the title is due out the scanner makes a deedle-deedle sound. You then look at the screen and see how many copies you leave on the floor and how many copies you pull.

The other day one of our somewhat ditzy employees was scanning returns to place them on the correct shelves in back. I happened to walk near where she was and noticed she was scanning every copy of the 1 title she had. After she scanned about 4 or 5 of the same book (hearing the deedle-deedle each time), she looked up at me and asked if the sound would stop when she'd scanned the number she was supposed to return.

Errrmmm...yeah. See, the TITLE makes the thing beep. It will beep for every damn copy until we in back actually process the return. She thought the scanner would just know when she'd reached the number she was supposed to pull.

Think of it like this...it would be like placing an item into the copier and hitting the copy button every time assuming it would stop copying on its own when it reached a number only you knew (and which you hadn't entered into the copier).

WATCH IT:

Arrested Development: I'm almost done with season 1 on dvd. It's really sad this show didn't make it past three seasons as it is easily one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

LISTEN TO IT:

Nine Inch Nails "Starfuckers Inc.": Currently...seriously, I'm at the chorus right now...listening to the live version...good angry music for my angsty, frustrated soul.

READ IT:

Esquire magazine: The current issue features a great story on the To Catch A Predator show and just how much the line between being a journalist reporting the story and one creating the story is being blurred on this program. I've never seen a whole episode, but this article covers one I'm glad I missed. One of the "suspects" killed himself. The entire process leading up to his death was a fiasco. Read the article and you will question just whether or not this program, or any that follow its style should be allowed on the air. Let me just say this...of the 23 men "arrested" none of them could be prosecuted because certain legal parameters were not met. I'm not talking little tiny writing at the bottom of the page legal issues. I'm talking basic requirements that were not seemingly considered...all for the sake of television and ratings.

Super Quick

The other day I stopped by the info desk to help a customer. She looked to be around 20, was chewing gum and BONUS! she was texting into her phone. I want to smack phones out the of hands of those who text while expecting to interact with another human being. I just think it's really frickin' rude.

Anywho, she says she needs help finding some textbooks. Now, for some insane reason, students around here seem to think we carry textbooks in regularly. This inaccurate perception probably has to do with the fact that our corporation "owns" the local college bookstore. None the less, we ain't got crap here...unless you are a nursing student, which is a whole other nightmare. I ask her for the first title and she says:

"Mechanical Dyna-mix and something..."

Errmm...what the hell?

She spins her piece of paper around and I just have to be snarky and correct her on her idiocy...'cuz it's fun and she looks like a perky sorority girl.

"Mechanical DYNAMICS and Results. I'll check." I say. Ends up the search was for her boyfriend who was "sick" and couldn't get his own freakin' books. When she became confused by my questions regarding which editions she wanted, she called her boyfriend and I had to talk to him on her phone. I had to go over all the shit I went over with her in regards to shipping times etc. Sadly, this mechanical engineering student didn't understand the concept of Labor Day. He didn't comprehend how not getting a delivery on Labor Day meant adding an extra day to the expected arrival date of his books.

Seriously, are people getting dumber or what?

I was tempted to ask the girl if you could get a free toy at the bottom of the Dyna-mix box.