howie’s halfpipe

Last night I went into the city to see ‘The Dark Night’ with a bunch of peoples.

First stop was the Sydney City RSL club for some dinner. It didn’t disappoint.

tom booked the tickets for the 9:20pm session becasue he wanted to see a movie in Greater Unions new ‘G-max’ cinema.

You walk in and think wow this is a bit posh. Big seats with lots of space between them. Little tables. It all looks rather swanky. That is however until you actually sit down.

The seats are hard and there is no recline in the back rest whatsoever, then there is the little table. A nice idea but there is a light in the middle of the table that shines in your face the whole movie. and it the seats are so far away from each other that if you want to pass some popcorn to your buddy you have to call a taxi to give you a lift.

But worst of all is the incline of the cinema. The cinema is almost flat, infact once you are sitting in your seat it feels like it’s uphill to the screen. the seats are so tall that you cant even see the bottom half of the screen. so asi talk about the movie below i’m only commenting on what i saw, there could have been much more that i missed out on.

G-max is dumb.

The top half of this film was great. Heath ledger as the joker was amazing, he really was creepy and did an awesome job. There was explosions, and shooting and Batman’s cool bike.

There where some dumb bits too, this dumb machine that worked like sonar through the whole city’s mobile phones. It was a dumb machine.

I think the transition for two face was a bit poor and too sudden.

But overall a great film, well worth a watch.

Infact I might have to go see it again at a different cinema jus tto see what happens in the bottom half of the movie.

5/7

Last night Jenny andi saw ‘Hancock’.

It was pretty good.

It started out quite funny but then midway through it stopped being funny and went a bit to serious for my liking and by the end it was all a bit to soppy and disney.

I like the concept of a drunk reckless super hero. And will smith was good at it.

4/7

Tonight in an attempt at winding down from a mammoth week of work and moving house, wife and i headed off to the flicks to see ‘Get Smart’.

I read a review the other day saying that if you go in to thie film expecting it to be like the much loved tv series you will be dissapointed but if you go in to it just to watch a funny spy movie then it will entertain you.

I wasn’t all that entertained, i had a couple of laughs but on the whole i wasnt impressed. The teenage girls in the cinema all laughed quite a lot so maybe i’m just getting old and grumpy.

3 / 7

Today I was in the city for a work thing, I scored the job of standing at the resource table. It was pretty cruisy, listeing to music and chatting to people if they came to my table.

When it came to pack up time I did the usual. (pull out your phone and pretend to be on an important call)

But you can only do that for so long, i packed up some signs and moved some tables, then a female colleague of mine cam over to me as she was just verbally abused by a man when she went and asked if she could pack up that table he was sitting at. She asked if i could go over and have a go. So i went over and quietly asked the man if he wouldnt mind helping me pack up the table and chair. He didnt take to kindly to me asking that and stood up and swore at me a bit telling me it was his table, he then took a swing and punched me quite hard in the arm. Part of me would like to say he punched me in the head casue that would make the story more exciting but i’m kind of glad he only punched me in the arm. It was a good hit!

Being the super violent man that I am, I decided it was best to walk away.

In the end we let him sit at ‘his’ table for a while and someone a bit later had a go at packing it up. After some more verbal abuse he eventually let the team pack up.

In other news i saw ‘Vantage Point’ this evening, it was pretty good altough i was getting bored of watching the same thing over and over.

3.5/7

After work wife and I went to see ‘run fatboy run’.

It was a fun movie, simon pegg does good films, and this was no different. It was much more tame than ‘hot fuzz’ or shaun of the dead’ but it was still really good.

The story was predictable but tha didnt matter casue there was lots of funnies and quirky characters.

5/7

Sam and i just saw ‘rambo’.

If i had to sum this film up in two words i would use ‘wet’ and ‘bloody’.

It was a pretty damn violent film with people exploding, limbs flying across screen and decapitated heads on sticks.

Sly was old, and luckily he didnt say much. I was impressed for a film directed by the main character that he didnt take all the screen time. It wasnt the best film, it was pretty much just violence and gore. It was a definatly just made to cash in on the rambo name.

but it was still worth watching, and quite short. The whole second half of the film was one continuos shot of rambo walknig down his dad’s driveway.

4/7

I could tell as I entred the cinema that this was not going to be my type of film. There was a lot of teenagers, a lot of whom were being noisy and anoying. I took my seat away from my allocated one.

During the movie i laughed once and i cant even remember what it was that made me laugh. I can see how people would enjoy this film, lots of sex jokes and lots of little quirky one liners so the entire teenage population will probably love it. Only a 2/7 for me.

2/7

animated characters interacting with live people doesnt work very well, acutally it worked well in ‘who framed rogder rabbbit’ but thats about it

A few years ago tom and i decided it would be a good idea to eat KFC on new years day cause that way food can only get better for the rest of the year.

So today we did just that with a bunch of other buddies too.

After lunch we headed to the movies and watched ‘No country for old men’

It was a pretty violent film, lots of blood but also a lot of comedy. It wasnt Shaun of the Dead kind of funny gore. It was more the quirky characotrs that made it funny. Tommy Lee Jones was a retiring sheriff and he was quite droll and funny. It was a bit all over the place this film, a lot of it didnt seem to have a lot of direction but for some reason it was really interesting and engaging too.

5/7

1. The Darjeeling Limited
2. Bee Movie
3. Death at a Funeral
4. Michael Calyton
5. The Kingdom
6. Bourne Ultimatum
7. Die Hard 4.0
8. Amazing Grace
9. The Simpsons Movie
10. Transformers
11. Transformers (I saw it twice casue it was soo good)
12. Ocean’s Thirteen
13. Shrek the Third
14. Pirates 3
15. Spiderman 3
16. Shooter
17. Hot Fuzz
18. Music and Lyrics
19. Wild hogs
20. Man of the Year
21. The good shepherd
22. Miss Potter
23. Pursuit of Happiness
24. Flushed Away

‘The Darjeeling limited’ was a bit of a weird one. First there was a short film with one of the charactors that was in the main film, then there was the main film.

I’m not really sure what to make of it, i think quirky is a good description. 3 brothers going on a bonding journey that doesnt really work out as planned.

lets say 3 /7

I was expecting this movie to be pretty funny and clever, I was quite dissapointed, it was boring, not really funny.

2/7

This morning wife and I went and saw death at a funeral. it was quite funny.

5 / 7

then this afternoon / night I was at impact07 a dance thingy put on by some buddies, I was a cameraman for a 3 camera live mix. It was a bit of fuin although my camera was in a crap spot casue at the last minute i had to moce becasue the OH&S nazi came and shafted me. which was  a poo casue all the cables had been taped down and i couldnt really move far. so now i have a sore back. Not really sure if the mix will be good, have to ask tom he was mixing.

now i’m tired.

Last night wife and went to see Michael Clayton

It was a good film, I was really enjoying it. I wsa trying to get comfy in my seat and in the process put my hand on something, I fiddled with it a while not really knowing what it was. Eventually i picked it up during a bright bit in the film to see what it was. It was a chicken bone! it was gross!

Anyway the move was good, clooney is a hottie.

5.5 / 7

This evening I saw ‘The Kingdom’ with Tom.

It was fantastic, a really good film. I love a film that has convoys and explosions and helicopters. Of course in the end the Americans came in and saved the day. It wasnt as gory as i expected, not to say there wasnt some full on killing but i was expecting more gore and more confronting.

6/7

myself, wife and sister inlaw just saw ‘The Bourne Ultimatum”

It was good, it had the same excitement as the first 2, lots of fighting, shooting, dodging of capture and sly plans to find his identity. I’m not convinced it was the best bourne i think supremacy is my favorite.

6/7

Tonight wife and debbie are going to go watch ’sicko’ the new Michael moore film about the US health system.

My problem is that I dont really like moores films, none of them have excited me and i havent left any o them feeling like i had just watched a great film. But then who knows this one could be good and it is another film for the year but is it worth risking it.

My other option is i could go watch something else while wife and sister in law watch sicko but the options at the same time arnt great. chuck and larry, liscene to wed, black sheep

or do i just get a dvd and go home?

anyone want to watch a movie tonight?

wife and i got a free pas to see ‘amazing grace’ so today we did.

It was ok, not the most fantastic film i have ever seen. I find it hard to get into movies set so far in the past. I’m just not much of a period piece person.

This is the sort of film that if you are a Christian you are probably supposed to be really moved by it, the inspiring William Wilberforce standing up to injustice and fighting to abolish slavery at the same time battling with himself and eventually overcoming his self doubt and triumphing.

Its a great story, and because of him slavery was abolished. But i didnt really feel moved or inspired by it. and if a films story doesnt grab me i find myself just disecting the other atributes of the film, the camera angles the sound the acting.

It wasnt a bad film, just not a howie film. you may love it.

3/7

Today wife and I went to the city to visit homer at the movies.

Before we saw the movie we had some maccas and ran into prawn, there was this guy saying ‘howie’ I had no idea who it was. They shook my hand and we chatted for a bit. took me a while to realise it was prawn. so hello prawn.

The simpsons movie was really good fun. It was funny and a bit more naughty than the tv show which was cool. Not to give it all away but there is some nudity.

I’m gonna give it 6/7