I have time to kill, it's dead and buried. You've got guts to spill, but no one trustworthy...

First full day of work in like four months today and boy was it great! Uhhh, I must still be high off of the steak and Newcastle I just had for dinner. Work was average, it was nice to see some people I haven't seen in a while, but it's nice to be able to sit back, crack a brewski, eat some good homecooked food, and blog for a little bit.

Some thoughts:

-I've been thinking of writing a script. Seriously though, bear with me. I've had sparks of inspiration for the past, oh I'd say year and half now about a movie that I would LOVE to make had I the money/resources to do so. It would be a Clerksesque flick about working in a grocery store. I have a collection of random scenes filed away in my brain that I've thought up while at work, mostly just little minute long scenes that I could maybe cobble together into a movie if I could come up with a satisfying plotline to tie them all together. I'm thinking maybe a cold war between the Walmart Supercenter and Pick N Save (where I work) going hot while one Walmart checker and one Pick N Save stockman carry on an illicit affair under the crossfire R&J style, shenanigans ensue. Or an everyman stockboy falling head over heels in love with a pretty customer and trying to win her love despite their differences, shenanigans ensue. Or perhaps an internal rebellion between the employees and the management and a young stock clerk's search for inner peace while the shenanigans ensue. I don't really know yet, I'm leaning more towards the first option with little bits of the others thrown in, but in any case, there's going to be shenanigans. I need to learn how to write a script, then I'll post a few of the scenes I've got outlined here for my blogreaders' criticism/praise/plagiarism. The main problem I'm forseeing is keeping the movie accessible to people who've never worked in a grocery store, but most people have never worked in a convenience store, a la Clerks, and that movie is loved by millions, so maybe I won't even have a problem with that. The key is coming up with witty dialogue, because I sure can't do sfx or nudity. Well, maybe nudity... ;)

- I still haven't done that essay/diatribe/rant on womens' asses yet. I should do that... ( | )

- While I like being back at home, I miss the apartment and my roommates already. Drew? Ryan? If you can hear this, swing away... swing. away.

- I watched Collateral with Megan and her friend Michelle last night. I saw it in the theatre, liked it, saw it again on dvd, loved it. Michael Mann is such a good director, and Tom Cruise really steals the movie with his character Vincent. There isn't a single thing in the entire flick that he does that doesn't scream "badass." If you haven't seen it yet, and can handle a slow-paced movie, go see it. If you like Collateral, I also HIGHLY recommend Heat, which was also written and directed by Mann. Probable the best cast this side of Pulp Fiction, it's got Robert De Niro, Tom Sizemore, Ashley Judd, Val Kilmer, Danny Trejo (yeah, I said it), Dennis Haysbert, Tone Loc (yeah, actually he's not that great, but say his name like it's spelled, it's fun), and a little known method actor named Albert Pacino.

- Speaking of Val Kilmer, I watched Spartan the other day. Not bad, but not great either. I'd give it a 6/10. Kilmer isn't that great in it, some of his lines make you wince just hearing him say them so woodenly, almost like he had a notecard below the camera that he kept cheating off of. But the action scenes are realistically shot, no bullets spraying everywhere and people actually aim and don't shoot from the hip, which I'm always a fan of.

- Speaking of movies, thought I'd share my top five with everyone. Here goes
1.) Boondock Saints
2.) Heat
3.) Fight Club
4.) Pulp Fiction
5.) High Fidelity
I have a spreadsheet with every movie I can remember seeing with weighted grades for Acting, Directing/Cinematography, Replay value, and Overall Impression on a scale of 1-10. I think that the indicator of a good movie, at least for me, is that I'll watch it more than once. I'm also I believer that bad acting does not ruin a movie, and that it's the direction more than the acting that makes or breaks a movie. Overall is just a catchall category that brings in everything else, like how well the movie fits together, if the ending is good or terrible, if the pacing was good or bad, if it had meaning behind it, if it made me think, etc. My formula goes something like this: (Acting*1)+(Directing*2.5)+(Replay*4)+(Overall*2.5) = final rating. So Boondock goes :
(8*1 [not the greatest acting, but pretty damn good, and Willem Dafoe rocks)]) + (8*2.5 [Troy Duffy does a really good job with camera angles and especially music, and there are several scenes that are among my favorites out of any movie I've seen]) + (10*4 [This is the one movie that if given the choice of any movie EVER, I would prefer to watch. It's also the one movie that I tell people who haven't seen it to see. Granted, it's not for everyone, but I love it]) + (10*2.5 [Overall, the movie is just incredibly solid and is still entertaining after probably a dozen viewings. It has flaws, yes, but I can overlook them. Also, when I first saw it, I had to sit in my chair for like ten minutes after the end credits, because the ending is just that powerful. I was a bit more idealistic back then and agreed with the movie's philosophy much more strongly, but that initial impression was enough to give this movie the best overall rating]) = 93. I only give a score of 10 once in any category, because 10 is the best of the best of the best, and should be the movie to base all other ratings in that category off of. I believe Heat has the best Acting score, and Memento has the best direction, while Boondock has the other two. It's a good system and works if you're a fan of lists, which I am. You can enter the formula into excel and copy-paste and it sorts everything based on the results of the ratings you enter. You do need a small amount of skill with Excel to make it work, but it's not hard by any means. What can I say, I have way too much time on my hands.

I usually TRY to avoid IMDb message board rants at all costs, but this one struck me as intelligently written and very enlightening. You might have to register with IMDb, but it's worth it, and IMDb is a great website for movie buffs. Read it if you dare.


Well, I've pretty much bored all of you into oblivion, so I'm going to quit now. Take it easy.

SOTM: Alkaline Trio - Time To Waste