[[imdb:0317740 The Italian Job]] is a reworking of a late sixties film of the same name. Plot elements are shared, but these are two very different movies.

It was a fun movie, not very deep or original, but the fast pace and action keeps it going. Charlize Theron is gorgeous as ever as the ethical safe cracker, and Mark Whalberg, Jason Stratham, Mos Def, and Seth Green all make up the gang of “criminals with heart”. Edward Norton pulls off a pretty good bad guy, similar to his role in The Score.

The driving is top notch, especially considering that much of it is done by the real actors, not stunt drivers. I find that very impressive, Charlize Theron did her own reverse 180 in a small warehouse. Badass.

Had a really great time last Friday when Tanya threw a dinner party for a small group of work people. It would have been fine bigger, but the resulting gathering was very cozy and intimate, and fun. Good food, flowing booze, great conversation, and much regaling — a success by all accounts, in my opinion. We definitely have to do that on some sort of regular basis.

Cass had some people over for dinner on Wednesday as well, which was also very nice. The dogs are still very cute, although spoiled like crazy. Quite coincidentally, Elizabeth’s beau, named Beau, has a brother named Jake. Cass’ dogs are named Jake and Beau, weird eh?

My trance records arrived early in the week, although I still don’t have my turntables. I stand poised to win an auction that will remedy that situation though, so here’s hoping I don’t get outbid. I created an account on discogs.com, so now you can peruse my collection and my wishlist.

I also bought the Kurzweil K2600 synthesizer that I’ve been lusting after for years. I got it used and upgraded from a guy posting on eBay for a significant discount, so I’m quite excited to actually get it. It will be the workhorse and backbone of my studio, especially compared to my existing (very specialized virtual analog) JP-8080 synth. I’m leaking money like a sieve at the moment, but I’ve been quite frugal in general so I don’t feel so bad. These big purchases will tide me over for another year or so

The rather famous Drum and Bass DJ Dieselboy is doing a show in Raleigh this evening. Drum and Bass really isn’t my sorta stuff, although I do like some of it. But, I have heard that he’s a great DJ, and it couldn’t hurt to watch a master in action, right? But now that I’m listening to the only CD I have of his, I dunno, I don’t really like this. Crap Gonna have to find something to do this weekend.

All sorts of craziness at work. We’re trying to fill a new engineering position, but are having lots of trouble finding either qualified or cheap candidates. Honestly, we’re having trouble finding many applicants, good or bad. Maybe the Trinagle isn’t the hotbed of technology that I thought it was? I’ve finally moved into my real office now, which is very cool. It has room for potentially two other engineers, and the office furniture we got is freaking awesome. Pictures on my moblog.

[[imdb:0258068 The Quiet American]] is the second movie adaptation of the Graham Greene novel about an older English journalist living in Vietnam in the early 1950s with his young Vietnamese lover. A love trinagle ensues with a visiting american, described as quiet at one point, as well as the beginnings of war between the communists and French.

Somehow this movie reminds me heavily of [[imdb:0104507 Indochine]], mostly in its atmospshere (probably not surprising, both were filmed in Vietnam). Phillip Noyce did a great job with this film. And it seems really well written, you keep vascillating in how you feel about the characters and their motives.

Michael Caine does a superb job as Tom Fowler, the transformation we seem him going from austere to vulnerable is moving. Do Hai Yen is gorgeous, intriguing, and wistful. I’ve never been able to get a good lock on Brendan Frasier, is he a good actor or not. I bought his performance in this movie, that’s for sure.

The score was really terrific, I’ve added it to my Amazon wishlist. Composer Craig Armstrong wrote some truly haunting melodies, I’m going to have to keep my eye on him. After a little digging I discovered he also did the Molin Rouge and Romeo and Juliet soundtracks, and also collaborated with Massive Attack, all soundtracks and CDs that I really liked.

I didn’t have high hopes for [[imdb:0298814 The Core]] — I chocked it up as a rehash of most every other disaster flick out there. Thankfully, it was better than that, but not by much.

Its definitely a sci-fi movie, weighed heavily with special effects, but characters are fairly well written, and well performed by the likes of Aaron Eckhart, Stanley Tucci, Delroy Lindo, and Hilary Swank.

The pseudo-physics are slightly distracting, although they far outweight other blockbuster disaster films such as Armageddon. Overall the movie was entertaining, and not so full of itself that you end up resenting it.

I absolutely loved HBO’s Mr. Show, so when its creators and writers took some of their recurring characters and turned it into [[imdb:0258100 Run Ronnie Run]], I was keen to see it.

One of the best parts of this movie was people spotting. Many of the show’s actors have returned to the screen. There are also many cameos by all sorts of strange people, Gary Shandling, Jeff Goldblum, John and Rebecca Stamos, Dave Foley, Mandy Patinkin, the South-park creators Matt and Trey, Ben Stiller, Scot Thompson, the list goes on and on. Bob and David obviously have a big following in Hollywood, or move in the right circles.

There are some very funny bits to this movie, but it is not non-stop hilarity. It is definitely one of the better comedy-sketch-show-gone-movie adaptations I’ve seen, especially comparsed to SNL’s miserable failures. It is definitely crude and obscene at points, but I was laughing quite hard at too many points to count.

If you loved Mr. Show, you’ll like this movie. It isn’t quite as good as the show, but its good enough to entertain.