Movies based on books make me skeptical. Peter Jackson did an amazing job with the Lord of the Rings movies, but many others have failed miserably when moving a story from paper to the silver screen. The only projects that tend to crash and burn more spectacularly are movies based on video games.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo isn’t director David Fincher first attempt at making a movie based on a book. His massive success Fight Club was based on a novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk, and this time he has taken on the first book in the Millennium series by the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson. In this novel-to-movie-adaption I have an ace up my sleeve: I never read the book. Neither did I see the Swedish movie adaption. So I saw The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo from the unbiased viewpoint of someone who has managed to stay clear of some of the most popular Scandinavian books this century.

Many directors would have made the movie as American as possible. Just look at what they are doing to the live action adaption of Akira: Everything will be moved from Neo-Tokyo to New Manhattan and the cast will be mostly white. What gives? Fincher, on the other hand has stayed true to the novel: The movie is filmed in Sweden and the actors have been instructed to speak with awkward Swedish accents. Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) sounds rather Finnish to me, though.

There is a lot of product placement in this movie, with Apple as usual being the dominant one. Anniken’s informed that Salander uses Apple products extensively in the books, but please – I’m pretty sure I saw Apple USB cables in the opening credits. EPSON has also paid the production company for some nice close ups of their printers and logo. Even more hilarious was the NIN t-shirt worn by one of Salander’s computer savvy friends. Didn’t you get paid for making the original soundtrack, Trent?¹⁾ It might have been Trent’s idea of a cameo, what do I know. I’m not saying product placement makes this a bad movie, but sometimes it just gets too obvious.

Fincher has a good attention to details. While doing some research, Salander digs through what I assume is her notes by typing SQL queries into the MySQL console. Humorous for me and probably a lot of other nerds since we often find ourselves using the same piece of software. A document-oriented database would probably have been a better choice of database for storing those semi-structured notes though. Yeah, I’m nitpicking, but if you’re going to try you might as well do it right.

But what about the movie, then? In my humble opinion it takes too long to get started and when it gets started it drags out. Forever. I actually thought the movie was about to end three times before it actually did. Anniken told me that the reason it dragged out was that it introduced some of the elements important for the next movie. I can appreciate that, but it still felt like it took forever – you’re not supposed to think “finally” when the end credits start to roll.

All that said, go see the movie. Be warned, though, the movie is not for the faint hearted. It’s rated R in the US and there’s a reason for that. Actually, I can think of several reasons. It might be that there’s an edited version for the US audience, because some of the scenes is certainly not approved by Concerned Women for America. Also, if you have, like me, not read the book nor seen the Swedish movie adaption, you should not go to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with someone who has. They’ll cringe in their seats when something is about to happen and unfortunately spoil some of the tension.

1) Trent Reznor, who composed the original sound track for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, is the founding member of NIN, Nine Inch Nails.

Since it happened to me, it might be that it happened to you as well: You never did see The Chronicles of Riddick. If that is the case, you’ve missed out on a hidden sci-fi-action-adventure-gem.

The Chronicles of Riddick is the story about Richard B. Riddick, who is trying to elude capture by mercenaries and eventually Necromongers, a race of conquerors traveling across space toward the so-called Underverse, a dark mirror of the normal universe where death has no meaning. Their leader, the Lord Marshal, commands his troops to overrun worlds and convert their inhabitants into Necromongers; those who oppose conversion are killed. Yes, that’s a pretty nice backdrop for what could potentially be a killer sci-fi-action-adventure right there.

I absolutely love the visual design in The Chronicles of Riddick. The attack on Helion Prime is spectacular, both visually and aurally, and every aspect of the Necromonger race is designed in great detail. Vin Diesel does an excellent job portraying Riddick, not through acting, but through being a huge pile of muscle who beats up everyone along the way. Even though Vin Diesel is without doubt the star of this movie, you’ll find a cast of familiar and not-so-familar actors and actresses who do all contribute to making The Chronicles of Riddick a movie you should see if you generally enjoy movies of the genre. The prequel, Pitch Black, might also be of interest, and there are rumors going around of the possibility of a third movie about Riddick.

There’s a vast universe being outlined in The Chronicles of Riddick. The movie, together with Pitch Black, spun off a book, a few computer games and an animated short film, but I can’t help but feel that we’ve only seen very little of the potential for creating an absolutely huge and very exciting universe based on not Riddick himself, but everything else in Chronicles. Let’s lock the guys who designed the Necromongers in a room for a few weeks and see what they can come up with!

That we got away with only fourteen thousand dead was a combination of skill and luck. At some point a flu will come that will have a much greater impact on us that the swine flu back in 2009. It has happened before and it will happen again. In Steven Soderbergh’s “Contagion” it happens again.

We follow the pandemic through all its phases, from first contact on Day 1 to a vaccine is eventually developed and distributed. We do this through the eyes of many different people, all who are affected by the pandemic in one way or another. This is nothing new, but Soderbergh’s twist is that very few of the stories are interwoven on any other level than that they are related to the pandemic: Someone doesn’t meet someone else who change their life forever. Some of the people we meet actually go ahead and die instead, which is also very un-Hollywood and certainly very un-American.

The cast of Contagion is great, with a lot of familiar faces who all do an excellent job. Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Winslet all come together to make the movie believable fiction. The film only lasts for about an hour and forty minutes and while it’s good to watch a movie that doesn’t drag things out for ever, I can’t help but feel that the movie should have dived even deeper down into the science of the virus itself, the massive challenge it is to find a vaccine and the immense task it can be to keep a desperate population at bay.

I don’t think the solution would have been to extend the movie. My impression is that we simply follow too many people and that the stories thus get too short. A little more depth had been great, shaving off a story or two might have accomplished that.

But apart from this, Contagion is a great movie that blends together everything that a great movie should have. Excellent photography, a killer soundtrack, a (somewhat) original script and a top-notch cast. Whoever said Kate Winslet can’t act has to see this movie.

I’m trying something new in this entry. Spoilers that won’t actually spoil anything if you haven’t seen the movie! Some parts of the movie naturally influenced my impression of it, but I can’t tell you about because it could potentially spoil the experience for you. But you might have seen Contagion already, not running that risk. To read the spoiler, simply hover over the black area below.

Spoiler: One logical flaw really bugs me. I’m surprised that they didn’t ask for Beth Emhoff’s (Gwyneth Paltrow) belonging and check her camera. Revealing that she shook hands with the chef in the Macau casino probably would have saved them a lot of time in finding the source and developing the vaccine.

The game is probably great entertainment as well.

In other news; we’ve moved to the new apartment and are about half-way done painting the old one. It’s been an exciting month…

Megamind

We’ll start off with some animated action. It’s from DreamWorks. Can it possibly fail?

But wait! There is more.

Tron: Legacy

I’ve got a confession to make: I never saw the original Tron movie. That’s some nerd. I honestly have to say that I’m not too sure about this trailer, but I’m guessing I’ll try to trick Anniken into going with me to this one. The original sound track is by Daft Punk, and it’s one of the better movie sound tracks I’ve heard. If you have Spotify installed, you can give it a go here.

Battle: Los Angeles

Ah, aliens and the apocalypse. Two things that match just right. This movie looks like it’s able to match both subjects quite well. I can only see one thing wrong in the trailer and that’s Michelle Rodriguez. For some reason I just can’t stand her, it could be because she’s always playing the tough chick who’s mad at the everything, but who is very soft on the inside of her hard shell. All she needs is the tender love of a man to bring out the kitteh.

Family Guy: It’s a trap!

I’m immature, I enjoy Star Wars and I like Family Guy. Even though you won’t be able to watch this one in a cinema theater, the trailer’s worth a look.

Cowboys and Aliens

This one can easily go both ways: Crappy Movie of the Year or perhaps we’ll end up leaving the cinema feeling up being adequately entertained.

Cars 2

My nephew will go completely off the hook when he realizes there’s a new Cars movie coming next year. Judging by the amount of Cars merchandise he’s got, he has practically sponsored this new movie.

So, off you go. To the movies!

Case closed. It has to be said that Anniken asked me several times if I wanted to join her, but after a while she got convinced that her friend would most likely enjoy it more then I would. I’ve got a very nice girlfriend.

Let’s start with the new server. I realized that the server that is currently running this site and two other doesn’t pack enough punch to handle the odd requests peaks I’m seeing. Every now and then, the one-liners are being picked up by some site, sending quite a lot of people this way. The last time this happened, about a week ago, the server got totally clogged when it ran out of memory. The reason? Only half of the 1GB chip in the box is discovered by the motherboard. The result? Swapping madness and total break down. The solution is to build a new and better box that will handle the peaks and then some. This will cost me a hell of a lot more than paying someone to host the site, but where’s the fun in that!? Now I’ve almost got all the parts I need (all I’m missing are some cables and the ones I received in the mail today were all useless – I have to learn to read the specifications properly before ordering), and I’m working on a small How To so that other people can also build their own home server. More to come.

The movie I went to see was the Norwegian “Tomme Tønner“. It’s heavily influenced by the style that Guy Ritchie uses in his movies, and it has its moments. They are brief, but they are still moments. Onc scene in particular actually made me laugh until I cried and that’s not something that happens often to me at the movies. Don’t get your expectations go through the roof, though, but you should still go see it. Maybe just to support Norwegian movies.

In other and music-related news, I’m happy to announce that Biffy Clyro is coming to Norway! Not only are they coming, they’ll be here in two-ish weeks time, on February 1st. That’s some great stuff right there. Even though their last album is not as smashing as the previous one, I’m not missing out on this. And to make everything even better, they are appearing on the Norwegian TV music show Lydverket on February 3rd. I’ll be in the audience, and so can you.

Anniken is still out and about on her 4 months journey. Personally, I wouldn’t mind if she got back tomorrow, but there are still two and a half months left until she returns home. Today she and Pernille, who she is traveling with, left Buenos Aires and flew to Costa Rica, which will be their base of operations for the remainder of their trip. Argentina was nice, but I think they are really looking forward to sandy beaches and umbrella drinks. Over the last two weeks, while they have been staying in the Argentine capital, we’ve been in touch every day using MSN and Skype. And I’m very happy we’ve got access to the wonders of modern technology or else I probably would have gone mad. Now, however, MSN and Skype use will be a more limited, as they will be moving around quite a lot and internet connections might be harder to find. Finger crossed, though, and there’s always text messages and land lines.

Even though Anniken is far, far away, she is in my head pretty much all the time, and sometimes she even manages to occupy it when I sleep. It gives me that tingling feeling, from the tip of my toes to the top of the longest hair on my head. It’s 78 days left. There, I’ve started to count down.

But since I’m not sick yet, the game is still in its plastic wrapping. Nothing wrong with playing the game while I’m not ill, of course, but since being home sick can be quite boring, I need something to do if it happens. I do have some excellent PC games I can play, but they are all strategy games that require some level of brain activity and that’s usually not my strong side when the fever kicks in. But where did all those great strategy games come from?

Well, basically it’s all Valve‘s fault. You might know them as the creators of The Best Computer Game Ever Made, Half-Life, but they also run a digital game distribution service: Steam. The service was launched back in 2003 and today it provides games from a wide range of developers. The beauty of everything is that most of the games can be downloaded and played as many times as you want, as long as you’re logged on to the Steam service. Games you’ve already downloaded can even be played without logging in. No more having to worry about crap like DRM activation and where you hid the game DVD.

My “problem”, however, is that they have some ridiculous sale offers at times. What about Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: The Complete Edition for only €19.99? Or AI War: Fleet Command for less than half that price? If you have a decent PC, enjoy computer games and great deals, you should get an account right away.

In other, but somewhat related, news I should probably warn you about the movie Zombieland. While the trailer might look sweet – don’t they always – the movie is not really cinema worthy. You’re better off waiting for the DVD.

But something even better than reading a Stephen King book is to watch Neill Blomkamp’s movie District 9. I’m pretty sure this is the best movie I’ve seen so far this year, and I won’t be surprised if no one will make a better before the year ends. Unless that movie 9 or maybe even Up can match it, that is. They’re very different movies, though.

Anyway, let’s get back to District 9. It all started with a short movie called “Alive in Joburg”, directed by South Africans Blomkamp and his friend Sharlto Copley. Because of Alive in Joburg, together with other work by Blomkamp, he was offered to work with the movie adaption of the Halo video game together with Peter Jackson. Unfortunately, the Halo movie was put on hold because of lack of funding. But this got Jackson and Blomkamp talking about other projects and result of that discussion is District 9. Here’s Alive in Joburg from YouTube:

If watching Alive in Joburg doesn’t make you want to run to the nearest cinema and watch District 9, I’ve taken the liberty to copy/paste an excerpt from the plot summary on Wikipedia:

In 1982, a large alien spaceship stops above Johannesburg, South Africa. Reports suggest that the ship became stranded after a command module separated from the ship and dropped to Earth, nowhere to be found. After cutting their way inside, an exploratory team discovers a large group of unhealthy and leaderless arthropod-like species. These alien creatures, derogatorily referred to as prawns, are taken from the ship and housed in a government camp inside Johannesburg called District 9, which soon turns into a slum. In the first decade of the 21st century, Multinational United (MNU), a private military contractor, is placed in charge of policing and relocating the now 1.8 million aliens to District 10, a new camp 240 kilometers northwest of Johannesburg.

Brilliant stuff. When you didn’t think it was possible to come up with a new idea for a movie, it just suddenly happens. At least I’ve not heard of any movie plots like this one.

District 9 starts out as a documentary, but after a while it changes genre into a full blown action movie. Writing more about the plot could spoil some of the movie for you, so I’ll shut up now so you can actually go see it. So, in the end, this is not much of a review, but the main message I’d like to get through here is that you should really, really see this movie.

By the way, if you suddenly get a strange crave for cat food after you’ve seen District 9, fear not – it happened to me as well.