the weekend wrap...

caught 3 flicks each day; three very different flicks. today i went down to Facets to catch Robot Stories, a small budget indie flick by Greg Pak with Asian Americans cast in most of the primary roles. it's actually 4 short films that feature the idea of robots in different scenarios (incl. a slew of Takara Microman toys from Greg's personal collection in the Robot Fixer piece - awesome to see Micronauts so prominently featured on the bigscreen!). this was really cool and after the viewing the co-producer Karin Chien held a Q&A w/the audience which was also very, very cool. this one is highly recommended whenever it comes to your city.

yesterday i went with a group of friends to take in The Passion of the Christ. by now there should be no surprises about that one. it's bloody violent to the point of overkill. the feature itself is decent for how it's portrayed yet i felt it could've been so much more. also i wish monica bellucci wasn't cast b/c everytime she was on the screen i couldn't get past her being monica bellucci (i've been crazy about that woman for years!). but definitely worth seeing at least once. and there's at least one take-away: the Satan Baby! yeah!

Friday night (saturday morning actually) i finally saw Kinji Fukasaku's long anticipated sequel his '00 cult-hit Battle Royale - Battle Royale II: Requiem. and while it was still entertaining it wasn't half the movie that the original was. i expected this after reading many a review beforehand so my expectations were tempered going in and yet i still found myself disappointed thru-out the viewing. Riki Takeuchi (Dead or Alive trilogy) replaces Beat Takeshi in the sensei role and totally overplays it compared to Kitano's lowkey, subtitle performance that really made BR1 an instant classic (i still can't believe that Riki's only a few years older than me!). overall BR2 is still a worthwhile flick yet pales in comparison to the original but recommended viewing nevertheless.

in other movie news i picked up 6 PVDs in the ballbuster 2 for $20 sale. in no particular order i snagged Underworld, X2: X-men United, Chicago, Pirates of the Caribbean, Cabin Fever, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. it's slim pickings at BB for me b/c i already have most of the available PVDs. was temped on several occasions (hit a few BBs in the area) to pick up Kangaroo Jack (akemi!) but just couldn't do it.

before hitting Facets today i picked up 3 tickets for the following metro shows: Distillers (3/25), Wolfsheim (3/29), and Fantomas (4/11). ran out of cash for the Bodom and Neubauten shows next month. have to get those later. i'm pissed that the Soil show is a 94.7 Zone show (94 cent tickets) b/c it's already soldout and My Ruin was just added to the tour. dammit! i need to get into that show! i really hate when so many shows hit around the same time... i'm too old for this. oh yeah, the Sopranos season premiere was decent. yippee, back to the grind tomorrow. and btw, i'm sick again and my neck is still sore. more yay!