Monday, June 16, 2014

PAD #21: Of Zombies and Dragons (and Vampires, too)

I was able to get out and see How to Train Your Dragon 2 yesterday, and it was just plain awesome.  The movie really did a lot of expand on the lore of the dragons, to the point where even details of the first movie make a bit more sense.  The villain I feel could have been handled a little better, but he was over-all as menacing as he needed to be.  Hiccup goes through the movie convinced that if he can talk to Drago, then he can convince him that his methods are wrong, and that there's no reason to fight this war.  After-all, he was right the first time everyone disagreed with him, so he's certain that he's right this time.  Needless to say, part of the crux of the movie is Hiccup learning that some enemies simply cannot be reasoned with, and the means by which he learns this lesson will definitely leave an impact with some people.

I was browsing at Half-Price the other day.  Technically I was looking for the first How to Train Your Dragon, since my dad hadn't seen it and I wanted to get him up to speed before we all went to see it the next day.  It most certainly wasn't a convenient excuse to watch the movie again (or maybe it was).  Anyway, I ended-up just having to get the movie at Best Buy (it was on sale, so score on that), but while I was browsing at Half-Price I stumbled across a gem that I can't believe I hadn't gotten up until now:  Shaun of the Dead.  Screened it today to make sure that some jerk hadn't sold it to Half-Price to unload a broken disc (it's not exactly feasible to screen every movie they get, so it can happen).  It works just fine, and I was able to add a movie that needs to be in any zombie movie collection.

So yeah, that's two awesome movies I got this weekend that I should have gotten ages ago.  I've always been kinda slow about buying DVDs (and I guess these days, Blu-rays).  I guess I just don't watch movies at home all that often, so it never feels like a priority.  Still, it's nice to have a good collection of seasonal flicks, like zombie movies for May, or horror flicks for October.  Not the kind of horror you're likely thinking about, though.  No slasher flicks, and not even that many ghost-type flicks.  They're too cliche and just tend to not work.  Rather, I like movies like Let Me In or 30 Days of Night.  Let Me In because it tells a love story where the couple winds-up together in the end, but it can hardly be called a happy ending because of the ominous implications about their lives that the movie alludes to, and 30 Days of Night because it's just so visceral.  I suppose it could be classified as a "slasher", but it does so in a way that works.  Most slashers are so sloppy about introducing characters that it's hard to give a crap when they get picked-off, and the villain's motive is usually bland.  Granted I haven't seen any of the classics yet, but the slasher genre has never really done it for me; with 30 Days of Night being an exception.

Well, that'll wrap things up for tonight.  Thanks for joining me for today's PAD, and I'll see you tomorrow.  Until then, game well.

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