I went to see Monsters versus Aliens tonight. It was in 3D and it was great fun in a childish sort of way, where there are no consequences nor after effects to seeing the movie. Now I’m rapidly typing, trying to see if I can beat Clifford to a movie review.
I think the movie hit a chord with my infancy. Perhaps I saw too many B-movies when I was growing up. I saw references to Godzilla, Creature of the Black Lagoon, The Blob, The Fly, Attack of the 50-foot woman, The day the Earth stood still, Ghostbusters not to mention other classics like Dr. Strangelove (one of the best movies of all times).
I really liked Dr. Cockroach, who is voiced by Hugh Laurie and has the maddest evil scientist laugh you could imagine (straight from Black Adder). There is also the evil coffee machine. Much more evil than this one.
My favorite quote:
“By Hawking’s chair”
At least this is what it sounded like, uttered in a perfect British accent by Dr. Cockroach. If you have ever lifted that chair with a group of people (I was once asked to help in this way), you probably know that it is quite a heavy chair, so this is quite a statement. It’s as cliched as it could be, but you wouldn’t expect anything else. I think the best thing about the movie is that it does not pretend to be anything other than what it is: an assemblage of cliches and reminiscence of early cult horror B-movies from all times. It’s in 3D, and there are plenty of eye popping effects. The evil guy is truly evil, and the good guys are truly good in their own way and there is no fear to be had, at all.
If you’re into Spielberg, be prepared for a new twist on “Close encounters of the third kind”, and the priceless “ET. Go Home” sign spotted on a missile. You will remember passages of Men in Black. Having Steven Colbert play the President is really funny. Bob is great.
Best thing of all, if you live in California, for a change a movie destroys San Francisco rather than Washington D.C. or New York. Makes you feel like you are part of the (movie) world.
What happens if you don’t go see it? Absolutely nothing.
The movie reviews from the NY. Times and L. A. Times agree that this is pleasant pap with no aftertaste. And I really needed some of that pap today.
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Excellent, I was going to take my daughter next weekend, now I have no doubts (I am sure though, as usual, most of the clever references will be lost on me). Thanks for the review, David.
Awww man, I haven’t seen MvA, but I did want to comment about coffee and the other thread is closed so..
I would at least try drip coffee that came out of that mad scientist coffee maker, though my heart belongs to Vietnamese style coffee. Water, just fresh from boiling, poured through heavenly Cafe du Monde dark french roast with 10% chicory grounds. A bit of brown sugar and some soy creamer rounds it off (or if you’re getting it in the wild, it’ll likely be mixed with condensed milk).
My vietnamese coffee maker in the cheap-ass World Market variety, so I’ve had to take to actually running the coffee back through the grounds a second time to actually get it dark and caffeinated enough for my evil ways (it’s supposed to drip slowly but it tends to run through the first time, hence the re-cycle). On the other hand, with my technique I can make an ounce or two of coffee so dark that it’s still bitter after 6 ounces of cream has been added. I tried just doubling the dose of grounds from 2 tbsp to 4, that makes it dark enough but then you are wasting grounds, because there’s enough in there to brew a second cup at full strength. It’s less messy to just double brew with 2 tbsp.
The best part is, this rig is small and portable, so if I’m stuck in an EM lab at some point in my future with a horrible Dr. Coffee (might as well be Dr. Evil), I can just make my own with some hot water. And watch all the other techs be jealous of my powerful brew.
Seriously, I went from drinking a quart of store-bought soy coffee a day to less than two full cups of my current rocket fuel, and sometimes that’s almost too much.