The MikeCam » critique

cold mountain

Miquel Rodríguez Telep / Michael Rodríguez-Torrent — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0000

Terrific movie. Of special note is Renee Zellweger, who plays a spectacular character.

wedding crashers

Miquel Rodríguez Telep / Michael Rodríguez-Torrent — Sun, 24 Jul 2005 15:21:44 +0000

Saw Wedding Crashers last night. Pretty funny! Decent story, too, I liked it.

charlie and the chocolate factory

Miquel Rodríguez Telep / Michael Rodríguez-Torrent — Sat, 23 Jul 2005 02:14:13 +0000

Just watched this tonight. Wow, weird. And all the Oompa-loompas being played by the same guy? Kinda freaky. And the oompa-loompa dancing was off the hook. Wild. Updated songs were actually kind of cool, the songs are sort of an expected part and it’s nice that they’re not entirely as cheesy as the old movie. Depp wasn’t as disappointing to me as he apparently was to some reviewers, conversely Highmore was not as terrific, although I do think he did a very good job. Sets were fantastic, the Wonka-Jackson connection didn’t seem as pronounced to me as to certain reviewers, and overall it was a great movie.

I pity the poor kid who had to wear the young Wonka appliance.

harry potter and the half-blood prince (book 6)

Miquel Rodríguez Telep / Michael Rodríguez-Torrent — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0000

Read it. Loved it. But ohhhh the ending! So horrible! So horrible but so good. The endings of the past two books are killing me! It’s awesome, read it. Read the whole series if you haven’t already, you illiterate, degenerate bump on a log.

maria full of grace

Miquel Rodríguez Telep / Michael Rodríguez-Torrent — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0000

Okay, I have to admit it: I’m a sucker for foreign films. Maria Full of Grace is a very good Spanish-language film about a Colombian girl who takes a job as a drug mule to the U.S. It is interesting and well done, but I was surprised that her employers weren’t very rough on her at all. How close to the truth? I don’t know.

collateral

Miquel Rodríguez Telep / Michael Rodríguez-Torrent — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0000

I love to see comic actors crossing over successfully into drama. Jamie Foxx is great in Collateral, which plays out to be a very good thriller.

the west wing

Miquel Rodríguez Telep / Michael Rodríguez-Torrent — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0000

My brothers and I bought my dad the first season of The West Wing for his birthday last week. Watching (or in the case of some episodes, re-watching) it has reminded me how much I like this show whenever I catch an episode. It’s smart, well-written, and backed up by a stellar cast and great direction. Not only that, but the quest of the Bartlett White House and of the individuals in it for right is truly inspiring.

war of the worlds

Miquel Rodríguez Telep / Michael Rodríguez-Torrent — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 18:26:37 +0000

Saw War of the Worlds last week, at the ever-popular but totally lame Seymour Cinemas. I really don’t understand why all my friends like to go there, it’s not much closer than any other theaters nor any cheaper, but it’s definitely crappier… Anyway, War of the Worlds was alright. It’s good, solid Spielberg filmmaking, but the script isn’t where it’s at it. It’s hard to criticize Spielberg, all his movies have a solid feeling: well-directed, every shot carefully chosen. This was no different in that respect, but the main characters pretty much accomplished nothing, they were just bystanders. Even their very survival was simply a concatenation of extremely lucky and far-fetched circumstances, with one of the characters inexplicably reappearing at the end even after having disappeared towards certain death.

red square

Miquel Rodríguez Telep / Michael Rodríguez-Torrent — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 18:23:17 +0000

Just finished reading Red Square, by Martin Cruz Smith, a few days ago. I haven’t read any of his other work, but if this is any indication it’s worth looking into. The book starts out almost a little slow, but quickly picks up speed and turns into a great international mystery thriller. I love stories about travelling and stories about intrigue as well, so this book had me turning the pages until 5am. Pick it up if you have a chance…

the da vinci code

Miquel Rodríguez Telep / Michael Rodríguez-Torrent — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 18:17:35 +0000

A couple weeks ago I finally got around to reading that famous modern bestseller, The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown. While it was well written, a novel idea, and a great book, it had been hyped up a little too much, I think, because it didn’t seem as fantastic as everyone made it out to be. A couple of the puzzles took a little long to be revealed, once I’d figured them out, but my main critcism is the ending, which seemed rather anticlimatic. Still a very clever book, however, particularly in the puzzles and cryptography, and I’m looking forward to the movie adaptation.