We saw War of the Worlds tonight. It's really good. I might write a spoiler review tomorrow because I think some people out there are going to bitch about it and I want to tell them that they are stupid. I'm not saying that everyone who doesn't like it is stupid, but if you don't like for certain reasons, then...yes, you are stupid. I like Tom Cruise's character, but not because he is likable, I just like how the character is handled in the script. Be warned, though, this is not Independence Day. War of the Worlds is much more Signs than ID4. In my review, I will also talk about Independence Day and explain why people who bitch about that movie are also stupid and no fun. I'm coming to the conclusion that if you can't describe to me in detail why you don't like a movie citing specific examples of transgressions that violate some quality barometer of yours, then you don't really know if you liked it or not. You probably asked someone like me if I liked it, and then decided to agree with me because I had good reasons for liking it or disliking it. This is part of the reason I like to see movies early and try not to read too many reviews. I don't want to be influenced by them. A few people collectively decide to shit on a movie, and all of a sudden it's cool to dislike that movie. Well, I like to put my opinion down in writing early on so when people change their minds in 10 years about a movie and decide that it is good afterall, I can print out where I said it was good when it first came out and shove it in their mouth. I 'm not sure where this is coming from. I guess I'm just tired of people (and I'm looking at you, Mr. Internet Browser) being so negative about films. Sometimes films are crap, and sometimes they are really good. In my opinion, War of the Worlds is really good. It's tense, it's scary, and the effects are outstanding. Go see it and then tell me what you think, if you've got the guts.

posted by Travis at 11:30 PM

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Friday, June 24, 2005

I went to see Batman Begins again with Mike and Yoshi last night, just to make sure I wasn't caught up in hype and it really is that good. It is. Even as a movie outside the parameters of a comic book adaptation, it is really good. The performances, the music, the costumes, the direction is all top notch. Whether you're a Batman fan or not, you should see it. It's just a really good movie.

Kim and I saw it in Sherman Oaks the first time. That is our standard Arclight back-up theater. The Burbank AMC is more convenient for Mike and Yoshi, so that was the theater of choice last night. I typically don't go to Burbank anymore because the parking is bad, the crowds are bad, and you can forget about enjoying the movie if you go on a Friday or Saturday night. Since it was a Thursday night, though, I was hoping for a good experience. Well, as the opening commercials were rolling, I saw the luminescent red dot of a laser pointer scar the screen. I can't believe kids are still doing this. They were doing this 10 years ago and it wasn't funny then. Even when it should have been funny to me, when many other things that annoyed people my age back then were funny to me, it wasn't. Thankfully, there was no pointer during the movie.

However, we were treated to the ear-piercing squall of an unhappy baby. The movie started at 9:50pm on a Thursday. It's a PG-13 movie. The entire theme of the movie is fear. Don't take your goddamn 3 year-old to see it! The mother of said child then proceeded to take the kid, not quite out of the theater, but just down the exit hall a little, presumably so she could continue to watch the movie. I know this is a tired and old rant, but maybe if we keep complaining about it, some of you parents out there will get it. If you can't get a sitter, you don't go to the adult movies. My favorite memory about cinema child abuse is still the lady who carried one child and lead a barely mobile second child into an afternoon matinee of Jason X. Now that's parenting!

posted by Travis at 9:15 AM

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Monday, June 20, 2005

If you went to Variety.com today, you might have seen my ad.

So far, from the stats on the site I can track, the ad did not do well...not well at all. So, I may try another one in a different direction. I won't be doing a print ad because a vast majority of the readers of my site are apparently greedy deadbeats who can't part with even a small portion of any of their precious precious money. My family gets a pass because they funded my initial strike into Los Angeles and my subsequent months of unemployment. To those that gave, I thank you. As for the rest of you, you had better hope you never need to ask me for money. I know some of you are laughing and perhaps thinking I'm not talking about you. Well, unless you sent money, I'm looking right at you, Big Daddy!

However, all is not lost. You can still contribute to this on-going campaign by clicking the button at the top left that says PayPal Donate, and perhaps find some redemption in my eyes.

posted by Travis at 9:18 PM

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Thursday, June 16, 2005

Batman Begins is excellent, and you need to see it as soon as possible. There are some neat surprises in it that will leak out, so you need to get into a theater this week to see it. Don't read reviews or any more press on it, just do what you're told! It's very good, trust me.

I ran into Joss Whedon in the comic book store yesterday. If you don't know, Joss is the writer/creator/sometimes director of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on TV as well as the short-lived Firefly. He also wrote and directed the Firefly movie (strangely titled Serenity) which is due out in September. Currently he is writing Astonishing X-Men for Marvel and working on a Wonder Woman movie. Anyway, I didn't take up much of his time. I just told him I really liked what he was doing with Astonishing X-Men and asked him a couple questions about Serenity. He seemed like a very nice guy and very at home amid the madness of a comic book store at noon on a Wednesday.

posted by Travis at 12:03 PM

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Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Batman Begins comes out tomorrow, and the word is that it's excellent. Kim and I are going tomorrow night. I just recently read Batman: The Long Halloween which is kind of an unofficial sequel to Batman: Year One, but only because it has some of the some gangster characters. These stories (along with Dark Victory, Hush, and The Dark Knight Returns) have become the Batman stories that even people who aren't comic fans should read. My sister gave me Hush for Christmas, and then immediately took it away from me to read it before I left to come back home. Anyway, Batman Begins is supposed to be more along the lines of these stories than the other movies, which is a good thing. I still have yet to ever see a Batman comic that shows anything like what Joel Schumacher put on the screen. Kim is excited because Christian Bale will probably have his shirt off some.

Over the weekend we saw a couple of movies. We went to see Mr. and Mrs. Smith and watched Riding Giants on DVD. Mr. and Mrs. Smith is actually pretty good. The story holds absolutely no surprises, but the script is very very good. Whoever did the dialogue polish on it is to be commended. Anyone out there who is interested in screenwriting should go see it and take note. Mr. and Mrs. Smith is a perfect example of how subtext brings life to dialogue. The conversations are almost always about two things. It's very smart. And the action is pretty good and it has some pretty funny moments in it. It's like a romantic comedy with guns and car chases.

Riding Giants is a documentary about the history of big wave surfing. It was made by Stacy Peralta who also made Dogtown and Z-Boys and was one of the original Z-Boys that invented vert skating. Riding Giants has some amazing footage of surfing in Hawaii and plenty of interviews with the people responsible for taking the sport up a notch. After watching it, I am almost inspired to try surfing. The way these guys talk about it with such reverence, and the number of times they are willing to risk severe damage and death just to participate, makes me think there may be something to it. However, I fear I may be too old to start surfing. The movie's definitely worth renting.

posted by Travis at 9:09 PM

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Friday, June 10, 2005

Phase 1 is complete. I just pulled this ad off a google search, so they are out there now. We're hoping to have another campaign going next week. Your money at work, Nicky!

posted by Travis at 11:45 AM

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Well, not getting as many donations as I hoped for (one, so far), but I have faith. Maybe you can't find the button? It's in the upper-left hand corner. Maybe you're not familiar with Paypal? Click the button and if you don't have an account you can set one up in less than a minute. You can also take money off a credit card with Paypal, so essentially, you can use credit for donating.

I'm hoping to run the first web ad next week if I can get it ready in time.

I haven't been able to find High Tension at a satisfactory theater yet, so we may not see that this weekend. We are going to see Mr. and Mrs. Smith Saturday afternoon.

posted by Travis at 8:59 AM

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Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Well, so far the Google ads are a huge bust because none of you guys want to buy illegal DVDs or weird stuff on ebay, I guess. I read a recent story about a screenwriter buying an ad in the Hollywood trades resulting in a script sale. Sounds like a good idea to me. However, buying an ad in the trades is a fairly expensive proposition. So, I come to you, the faithful GiaS Readers...all 12 of you. If you believe in the script, if you believe in me, or if you just have way too much money these days, I urge you to donate to The Cause. Rest assured that any and all money sent will be put towards marketing The Alpha and getting it in the faces of the people who can do something with it. You'll notice in the top left corner there is a Paypal Donate button. It's the easiest and fastest way to send money in the world. All donations that are received will be reimbursed 150% upon sale of the screenplay. So you can look at it like an investment of sorts. It may pay off for you, it might not. And, how about this...the person with the most money donated overall gets...some kind of gift ...thing.

Seriously though, we may be spending lots of money to market this thing in a bigger way soon, so any help anyone can give is appreciated. And, yes, I'm serious about the return on investment.

posted by Travis at 2:27 PM

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Monday, June 06, 2005

My friend Ben called me out about not posting, so here it is. I actually had a paid writing gig that took up some time (I'll post about that when it comes out), but that is still a poor excuse for neglecting the site. I'll also be changing it back to the normal graphics this week, however, I might keep an option to reskin the site if I can figure out a way to do it easily.

I was sick last week so I spent some time at home. When I was a kid, my mother would rent a big stack of movies and games to keep my mind off being sick while home from school, so I continued the trend by heading to Blockbuster and renting a couple of Xbox games. I picked up Fight Night 2004 and MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf. Both are very good. Fight Night has the best boxing game mechanics I've seen, and MechAssault 2 is lots of giant-robot destruction and heavy metal guitar riffs (they play a Korn song during the final boss battle). I also watched the first season of The Wire on DVD. Damn that show is good. I'll need to get the second season on DVD soon, even though I didn't think it was as good as the first. Good stuff. My illness flew by.

Kim came home on Thursday night, so we took Friday off. When I got her home from the airport she kissed me a bit before mumbling something about "vengeance" and getting on World of Warcraft to PvP (Player vs Player). She's a special girl.

posted by Travis at 8:55 PM

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