writeifulTo: "Fang, Claw N" <redwolves@therimail.com>
From: "Technical Support - FeralNet" <cbf@feralnet.net>
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2006, 09:41:04 GMT -0800
Subject: Re: Well, THIS sure takes me backOn Sun, 22 Oct 2006, Claw N Fang wrote:
> We should get together sometime. Want to jump up here next weekend?
Silly wuff! I haven't seen your new place yet. You'd have to come get me, but as long as you're visiting anyway, let's hit the Cineplex near my apartment. I like their popcorn.
> We could hang out in the UDist some and then catch a movie. _Holding Fire_ just started.
Oooh! New Kat Crowne movie! I love love love Kat!!! She reminds me so much of who I wanted to be. She makes it look so easy. Of course, the high lasts for maybe ten minutes after the movie. Then I remember how it all came crashing down for us ... yeah.
So, yeah, I guess I'm just trying to say, I'm sorry about Claw. How can he go back to that? But at the same time I hope it works out. Somebody needs to have that dream.
... I don't mean to get all depressing on ya, pal. I also wanted to remind you how lucky you are to live in Seattle. You get to read V&V in the paper instead of online. BOTH of them are worshipping _Holding Fire_ this week. So it really MUST be good .... hehehe.
Sunday work for the movie? We can meet for Indian lunch buffet first and maybe hit that arcade in Santa Clara?
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Strange City, issue 24 vol 3, Oct. 18, 2006
----------------------------------------
Regular Features
* VIRTUE AND VICE: Movie Review
'Fire' Flies
Kat and Ess' latest a visual achievement.
Opens: Friday, 10/18 Summary: Time-mage mercenary Don (Rob Esalandra) captures phoenix Alicia (Katherine Crowne) for a neo-Nazi group seeking to revive Hitler with her powers. After learning this, Don and Alicia team up to foil their plans. AT A GLANCE (out of 4 angels/devils) ANGELS: 3.5. Pro: Sheer visual poetry; engrossing. Con: Action cliches, leaden acting. DEVILS: 4.0. Pro: Year's best - high-intensity; original. Con: Still no Kat nude scene. |
VICE: It's the third issue of the month, and you know what THAT means, loyal readers ... Action movie review!
VIRTUE: But this time, we've got a little surprise in store.
VICE: That's right. For eight long years, I've schemed, plotted, tempted ... and this is the week it all pays off. Yes! I have turned Virtue to the Dark Side.
VIRTUE: That's not what I meant.
VICE: It's what happened. You like action movies now.
VIRTUE: I liked THIS action movie. What, I'm not allowed a little venal sin once in a while?
VICE: The road to hell --
VIRTUE: -- is paved with digressions. On to the movie!
VICE: Oh, fine. Holding Fire -- once anticipated as the year's hot summer blockbuster -- finally opens this weekend after some production delays and on-set injuries. The rumor mill's had plenty to say about it in the meantime. All you need to know is: It's worth the wait.
VIRTUE: It stars both Katherine Crowne and Rob Esalandra, although to be honest, I wonder if their biggest contribution to the movie wasn't their star power.
VICE: Point taken. They're in no danger of Oscars for their roles. Although doesn't it show how far theri actors have come that Kat and Ess can be used that way?
VIRTUE: Give me a break. Ten years since the Changes. Show me a theri who's taken seriously as a dramatic actor. Show me the theri directors and producers.
VICE: Show me the theri critics with the longest-running movie column in this newspaper's history!
VIRTUE: Smartass.
VICE: As always. So what else did you hate about the movie that converted you?
VIRTUE: That's just it. I didn't hate the movie. I was expecting to -- I wanted to. The character development is cliche, the plot consists of bigger and bigger explosions, the acting is wooden --
VICE: Keep in mind she's said this about every action movie for eight years, folks.
VIRTUE: But this isn't a movie about the characters, or even about the action. This movie is art in motion, and that's so groundbreaking you can forgive it for the rest.
VICE: Preach it, sister!
VIRTUE: Amen. Even if the actors phoned this one in, they sure LOOK good up on the screen.
VICE: That's thanks to directors Larry and Andy Wachowski, who have been looking for a chance to break into the big time since their sci-fi cult hit in 1999.
VIRTUE: Wait, who? What?
VICE: You never heard of The Matrix?
VIRTUE: Of course not. Who watches science fiction these days?
VICE: I keep telling you, come to the dark side. We have better parties.
VIRTUE: Or at least better effects. Holding Fire's big concept is bringing time magic to the screen. Ess may not be a great actor, but as a mage, he steps into that role with fantastic flair.
VICE: Agreed. And they realize this -- the film wastes no time, so to speak, getting to the good stuff. Right from the first scene, where Ess and Kat's characters are fighting in the sequence that ultimately results in her capture, they're pulling cinematic tricks that drive the action home. The scene where he stops time and runs behind her, the camera panning with him? Pure gold.
VIRTUE: The story develops in two parts -- a flashback, as she's sitting in her holding cell, of the cat-and-mouse game Kat and Ess played as foes. Then he helps her break out, and the rest of the movie has them join forces against the group of real bad guys.
VICE: If you thought time and fire made for some awesome visuals in opposition, prepare to get your mind blown when they team up, because you ain't seen nothin' yet.
VIRTUE: It was a relief the visuals scaled up so nicely in the second half, to be honest, because the inevitable romance subplot fell flat. Kat and Ess really had some sparks going, some great smoldering glances, when they were playing opposites. But once they tried exploring that ... ouch.
VICE: Hey now. The chick-flick standards are for next week. By action-movie standards, they were Romeo and Juliet.
VIRTUE: Ha! As if. If you're not careful I may have to drag you to an actual Shakespeare performance sometime.
VICE: Anytime, if we can go back to my place after --
VIRTUE: Still no.
Virtue and Vice, an angel theri and a demon theri, bicker about the latest movies every week in Strange City, and occasionally even get around to reviewing the ones they watch. Send them love or hate mail at vv@thestrange.com.