a whole lotta nothing

lazy sunday to the max. i guess jim's bachelor party damaged me a little bit. usually i post these blogs at like 4am the morning after... but i was tired yesterday.

got up at the ass-crack of 3pm in the afternoon. i baked a crappy pizza with a rising crust and zoned out in front of the tv like i was baked. after i snapped out of it, i called up danny for a trip to the old kerasotes theater to watch a little film called vacancy (movie review to follow). aymeei sun worked a floorset and then closed down express, but still had the stamina to meet danny and myself for the last showing.
we then ended the night at the quality diner known as steak and shake. one thing i now know for sho, is that aymeei is a strict older sister... but only out of love, i think (j/k). she told us about how she regulated her little brother's birthday sleepover party. at the end of the night, she pulled that shit where she sat on a stool and watched all the kids until they all fell asleep... like a prison warden. genius.

i had starbucks prior to the film, and so i had a rough go at falling asleep. usually, 30 minutes of flipping between sportscenter and censored clips of girls gone wild puts me out, but last night i didn't get to bed 'til 5am. shite.

vacancy : C-
when i first saw the teaser for this film, it made me very anxious. i really felt like i wouldn't be able to sit through it. but then it began to intrigue me and i wanted to watch it so that i could answer one question... "who is filming them, and for what purpose?" i was curious at how creative the story could become, and if there was some profound commentary of the sort of perversion that perhaps could take place in remote rural places. again, i wanted to get mind fucked by this movie, as i enjoy thinking. the trailers seemed to set this up perfectly, but would it pan out?
we've seen this story before... car breaks down, characters are stranded in some remote location, crazy shit ensues, characters escape... or don't, the end. watch texas chainsaw massacre, judgement night, the hills have eyes, etc. what made vacancy succeed, is the suspense associated with the plot. for the most part, all loopholes were resolved without being too obvious, and so i didn't spend much time questioning the decisions made by the characters. both luke wilson and kate beckinsale had great performances and were very realistic in their roles. please be advised, the next paragraph contains spoilers so don't proceed unless you want to ruin your viewing.
where vacancy failed was the progression of the final 10 minutes of the film. excessive emphasis was placed on the dead antagonist, played by frank whaley after he was shot 3 times by beckinsale's character. it felt as though the director, nimród antal tried too hard to force unnecessary suspense at the conclusion of the film. at the moment the credits began to roll, i heard whispers of patrons commenting, "that was the end?" i felt like the solid storyline and suspense were ruined by this horrible conclusion... and worst of all, the question that i wanted answered, was never resolved.
it is because of this lack of creativity, that i was truly disappointed. what made it worse, was that previous to the last 10 minutes, i was on the edge of my seat. and, like many films nowadays, the trailers/teasers revealed much of the plot as well as some crucial turning points in the film. the first hour of this film earned it a B+, but the failed resolution rendered it worthy of only a C-.