Can't wait to see this trailer on the IMAX screen tomorrow night.

edit: In the time between when I watched the teaser and when I posted the video, it got taken down. If anyone finds a good link, post it in the comments. It will be in front of The Dark Knight though.

edit 2: Film School Rejects has a copy up. Go! Go! Go!

edit 3: Found new version to embed.

Being a fan of Night Watch (not to be confused with this terrible movie) and Day Watch, once I found out that director Timur Bekmambetov was in charge of Wanted, I was sold. And, perhaps, Scotsman James McAvoy had a teeny bit to do with my wanting to see the movie.

I barely knew anything about Wanted when I walked into the theater, except that it's about a guy who is suddenly thrust from a boring life into a world of professional assassins. And, that basically is the premise. Wesley works in a cubicle and is living the Office Space life with a witch of a boss. He has a girlfriend, who cheats on him with his work buddy, and he has almost no money. One day at the store, a beautiful woman approaches him to let him know his father, an assassin, was just killed, and that the man who killed his father is now after him. The man in question arrives and a shootout and car chase ensues, and soon Wesley is told that he has inherited everything from his father and can join the assassination crew, who (get this) receive the lists of whom they are to kill by reading flaws--which translate to binary-- in a fabric that is pieced together by a giant loom. No joke.

When the movie first started, it felt a little bit hokey. The first big scene where the audience was exposed to the special assassin tactics (they are actually born with the ability to sort of experience the world in slow motion by adapting the speed of their own bodies) made the audience laugh. There's a lot of time spent in exposition at Wesley's work, which seemed like it could be edited down a bit. And McAvoy's American accent sounds a little bit odd as well.

But, when the story gets moving, all the hokey feels like a friendly hokeyness, like you might experience while watching a humorous Asian action film. It's kind of like Fight Club meets Kung Fu Hustle.. or maybe Rumble in the Bronx would be a better comparison.

Anyway, the idea of weavers (Josh, when the movie started, I thought they were using "weavers" in the Robert Jordan sense, but they were actually talking about guys who weave fabric!) and the loom of fate, as I like to call it, are ridiculous. But the movie has a fun sense of humor and some great action sequences. One certainly laughs at some of the ridiculousness, but once I saw a certain sequence with rats in it, I was sure that the filmmakers wanted (hey, that's the name of the movie!) us to laugh.

By the end, we all walked out thoroughly entertained, even despite the fact that the movie's big secret was revealed while the sound went out in our theater. If I were you, I'd probably wait to see it at the cheap theater, but obviously, only for those of you who like weird, funny, sometimes tasteless, and sometimes bloody action flicks.

Here it is (sigh).

The more I see of this film the more disappointed I prepare myself to be. From the looks of this footage, Zack Snyder has turned the most complex and sophisticated superhero story in the history of comic books into a glitzy CGI-fest.

I don't mean any personal disrespect to Snyder. I think he did well with 300, a comic book that is itself all style and little substance. But for a movie to capture the subtlety of Watchmen it must have a director who is willing to resist the temptation for big special effects shots and create a realistic world populated with authentic human beings, and I just don't see that here.

What I do see are lots of special effects and flashy CGI shots.

I understand that this is just a trailer, and it may be playing up the action to get people interested, so I'll reserve final judgment for when the film comes out. I have to say, though, that I'm not expecting much. It may turn out to be a fine summer action blockbuster, but I doubt it will come anywhere near the subtle complexity of the source material.

mental_floss Blog » The Quick 10: 10 Random Facts About Disneyland

"The Happiest Place on Earth" is 53 today. I'm sure it's no where near as crowded as it was during my first week of working there on the 50th anniversary. As much as I sometimes dislike the place, I love it even more. It's one of the places that I will always have fond memories of, that while it's changed quite a bit in the last 53 years, it still has an element of timelessness to it. There's something special about going there and being able to stand in the same spot in front of the castle that I stood when I was three years old, holding my father's hand and looking in wonder. Maybe I'm just a big sap, but if you've been there more than once, you probably know what I'm talking about.

There's going to be a panel at Comic-Con with Dan Akroyd and Ernie Hudson. It's during another panel I really want to go to, but I might just skip that.

Wow, I thought I'd be up to almost nothing this week, but actually, I've only been home long enough to sleep and watch the premiere of Project Runway.

Monday at work, we all went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant to celebrate some birthdays. That night I went grocery shopping and figured I'd rest, but Ric was up for a movie, so we went to see Semi-Pro. Review to come, as always! The list gets longer and longer.

Tuesday, we had an office party at work for the birthdays. That afternoon, I got an IM from Tina, an old friend from high school, who said that Gina, another one of my friends from high school, was in town and they wanted to have dinner together. I have missed almost every time they have invited me to hang out because I'm either out of town or already have something I have to go to. So, they finally caught me on a day when I had no plans, and we all caught up with each other at the Yard House in Irvine. After the restaurant, we asked the Merry-Go-Round attendant to take our photo, and she actually let us ride for free before the photo shoot. That was nice of her. It was good to catch up with old friends, although also a little bit weird to realize how much time has passed and how many things have gone on in our lives that we missed out on.

Here we are, 5 years after the last time we saw each other (my wedding) and 10 years after the last time we hung out together. I think I'm the only one who looks almost exactly the same. I don't like change:

Wednesday we didn't have any parties at work, but we went to a financial advising appointment and then had movie night with Ryan and Amy. My dad called last-minute to say that Stray Dog needed some food, so we make a quick stop before movie night to pick up some food from the store and drop it by my parents' house. My dad had taken the dog to get groomed. He's a cutie. Anyone want to adopt a friendly abandoned dog?:

On top of all that, we're meeting up with Kristen tomorrow evening. I'm hoping that I'll have time enough tonight to actually see the upstairs of my condo and do some dishes too.

Seinfeld - Season 6

The Annotated Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

I had a dream last night that Eric wrestled a pudgy, older Ultimate Warrior. Seriously, I have no idea where that came from.

Last night I saw Hellboy 2 with Curtis. It was all kinds of awesome. If you haven't seen it yet, go. Guillermo Del Toro is my hero.