Previous month: December 19, 2004 - December 25, 2004
Next month: January 2, 2005 - January 8, 2005

Two sisters and May

Play surprised us by delivering some of the movies we order last Saturday already. We weren't expecting any before Monday, so it was a pleasant surprise.

May is a tale of a young girl, whose life is lonely because of her handicap (a lazy eye!). But, as her mother says, if you don't have any friends, you'll have to make one. She gives her a doll, which then becomes her only friend. So, I guess nobody is surprised if May is somewhat socially challenged, when she meets some real people.

The movie starts peacefully and picks up speed at somewhere mid-movie. May's a bit weird. The movie isn't really scary - we found it more funny - but in the end it turns pretty nasty. It's 18+ for a good reason. It was a good movie, though not really worth buying. We had to, because it's not available otherwise and with the reduced price from Play it was worth it.

Our other movie, Janghwa, Hongryeon aka A Tale of Two Sisters is a another filmatization of an old Korean folklore tale. Now here's a creepy horror movie! Two sisters return from a mental institute to their dad and horrible step mom. It's not a happy family. Weird things (unexpected sounds, opening doors) start to happen right away.

The director is good when it comes to scary - the movie works well in that respect, especially the sounds are creepy. The plot is clever and interesting - but all I'm telling is that this is one of those movies where watching it again will provide a whole new experience as you know what's going on.

It's straight to my horror movie top five, no questions asked. If you're at all interested in chilling horror movies (as opposed to silly horror movies), this one is a must. DreamWorks has the rights to make a new version of it, but I don't think it can be this good. The complicated plot will probably see some simplification, I'm afraid. That remains to be seen.

1.01.2005 klo 13:04 | Be the first to comment | TrackBack (0)

Asteroid near miss

NASA's Near Earth Object Current Impact Risks page says the MN4 asteroid has a probability of 3.8e-05 % or 1 in 26,000 to actually hit the Earth. It's Torino Impact Hazard Scale level is one, A routine discovery in which a pass near the Earth is predicted that poses no unusual level of danger. December 24th CNN (Scientists study orbit of newly found asteroid) said the asteroid had a 1 in 300 probability of hitting us and a Torino rating of 2. At it's peak MN4 had an impact probability of 1 in 37 and Torino rating of 4.

Here's a timetable of impact probabilities for interested parties:

2004-12-24: 1 in 300
2004-12-24: 1 in 62
2004-12-25: 1 in 42
2004-12-25: 1 in 45
2004-12-27: 1 in 37
2004-12-27: 1 in 26,000

(source: 2004 MN4 at Wikipedia)

Asteroid 2004 MN4 reduced to Torino zero, says UK NEO Information Centre. So I guess now it's time to breathe a breath of relief. We're safe again.

This all has been quite interesting, hunting for information. After all, MN4 was first asteroid to have a Torino rating over one. In the end it was the first asteroid to drop from Torino four to Torino zero, too, but that's just good. It's a good question whether or not such warnings should be announced at all - why publish the scary news of (almost) certain death in 20-30 years time when the probability of such news being cancelled next week is much higher than the probability of the impact?

Anyway, MN4 is still predicted to pass within the Moon's orbit in 2029 and is still a minor risk when it returns in 2053. However, the current highest risk is once more 2004 VD17, which has an 1 in 17,000 probability of hitting us within the next 100 years or so (highest probability being in 2091).

28.12.2004 klo 14:00 | Be the first to comment | TrackBack (0)

Christmas movies

Christmas was movie time, with lots of time and movies to watch. Christmas in general was fun, with traditions upheld. Good food, tons of candy, lots of clever gifts... What else do you need in the end?

Village of the Damned is a new version of a movie from 1960. I find it hard to believe the movie was made in 1995, it has a bad eighties look in it. It isn't the sharpest of movies, but entertaining enough to be watched once. It's about a village, where every inhabitant blacks out one day. After that many women are pregnant and give birth to weird babies. The plot works, but I've seen better. As an interesting fact you might be interested to know that this was Christopher Reeve's last movie before his fatal riding accident. I'm quite sure he won't be remembered from his part in this movie!

Creepshow was another Christmas gift from my brother, though this one was from last year. We finally got around and watched it. Two-hour length has kept us away... It has five stories in the style of old horror comics, all written by Stephen King. King also stars in one of the clips, making it clear it's better for him to be an author. Leslie Nielsen makes a curious appearance in a rather serious role in perhaps the best story of the all. Unfortunately that story is somewhat marred by silly undead, but it's still weird in a good way. Seeing Nielsen so serious must have something to do with it. Not a classic, but ok for seeing once.

Deathwatch was a rented flick. Behind the silly name lies a horror movie set in the trenches of World War I. I like that, as the First World War was in many ways an interesting war and is a lot more fresh as the second one. In this movie group of British soldiers find a German trench where evil things happen. It's an European movie with crappy ratings in IMDB, but I enjoyed it. The trench is a creepy place with lots of rats, mud and rain. We were surprised (in a positive way) to notice Andy Serkis (aka Gollum) in the cast, his character was pleasantly insane. Jamie Bell does a good lead role as a young kid. The movie reeks atmosphere and metaphor and the WWI setting is quite fresh indeed.

Schoolday of the Dead aka Shisha no gakuensai was an important film: it proves that all Asian horror movies aren't good. It had a confusing plot, which made some sense in the end but still felt pretentious and artificial. The movie wasn't scary, just somewhat silly.

The Office Christmas special, in the other hand, was absolutely brilliant. One of our favourite shows got a good end. I got the Office boxed set as a gift from Johanna, so we'll be watching the show second time soon. It's certainly worth another round. I've also ordered the Black Books box, which actually has lots of episodes we haven't even seen yet. I'm looking forward to returning to our favourite book seller.

27.12.2004 klo 15:25 | Comments 1 comment(s) | TrackBack (0)