I finally felt a small poke of hunger pain four hours after breakfast... not bad at all! I ate a few peanuts to stave off any hunger before my lunch, at 11:30. It has been a hard day for me, as I'm essentially trying to detox my body from all the junk I ate this past weekend — and past week! It'll take a few days, I think, but the candy I bought for the office yesterday is calling my name...
And speaking of lunch, I bought this really great Mezze Salad from downstairs today. It has spinach, cucumber, tomatoes, olives, pita folds, and this amazing hummus! Very good for semi-pre-packaged meals and $4. I'm stuffed. I'm hoping this stuffed feeling is the Hoodia, as it's supposed to make you feel fuller faster.
***
Two hours post-lunch and I still feel very full... like I just ate. I hope I last until 4:45 when I eat a Fiber 1 bar before going to Step class.
***
Okay, 4 pm now and I definitely need a Fiber bar! Feeling some slight hypoglycemia effects, too. (This is probably due to my body used to having pure sugar of some form all afternoon.) However, after even MORE research online about the product, I find that most brands require you to take it before every meal... meaning not just once a day. I'll have to go back and re-read the instructions on my bottle, to see if it says 'once a day', to which I thought it did. Regardless of what it says though, I think I might take it before each meal, or just before breakfast and lunch, to help kick-start my system. I also read that one guy took it an hour before each of his meals... but I think my 30 minutes would suffice.
05 February 2008
Hoodia - Day 1
I'm calling this post Day 1, as I think it's the official first day I'm taking it 'properly' and it has been about one week since I've had it in my system.
This morning I changed my routine... for those of you who know me, you can imagine this was quite a jolt to handle! :) I took the pills in the morning right away, brushed my teeth, then sat and watched the Weather Channel for about five minutes to wake myself up. After that, I did my normal getting-ready stuff, and a half an hour later from taking the pills, I ate breakfast. During that half an hour, I didn't feel hunger pains at all. A good start! I had a small bowl of cereal, and although I feel pretty full now, 1.5 hours later, I felt content at the time. So far so good!
I also measured my body. Luckily, it wasn't too much of a shock or difference from what I've been for a long time. :) I measured from top to bottom, including my arms and thighs. I'm curious if my BodyPump class will yield a drastic measurement change in those limbs. I’m inclined to take a ‘before’ picture, too... but we’ll see.
Oh, this morning I had an e-mail about someone who wanted to post a message in response to my first Hoodia post... it was spam!!! Some guy who has a website about the Hoodia Sucker... saying if you consume it, it goes directly into the blood stream, works better, blah blah blah. Um, if I'm eating a sucker, and that's going into my stomach, then what's the difference between swallowing pills... that go into my stomach!? Silly. I rejected it... maybe I should have posted it for fun though. Omigod, I just visited the website out of curiosity, and it’s a TRAVEL website!!! LMAO! It’s nothing about Hoodia... it’s about vacationing... how pathetic.
This morning I changed my routine... for those of you who know me, you can imagine this was quite a jolt to handle! :) I took the pills in the morning right away, brushed my teeth, then sat and watched the Weather Channel for about five minutes to wake myself up. After that, I did my normal getting-ready stuff, and a half an hour later from taking the pills, I ate breakfast. During that half an hour, I didn't feel hunger pains at all. A good start! I had a small bowl of cereal, and although I feel pretty full now, 1.5 hours later, I felt content at the time. So far so good!
I also measured my body. Luckily, it wasn't too much of a shock or difference from what I've been for a long time. :) I measured from top to bottom, including my arms and thighs. I'm curious if my BodyPump class will yield a drastic measurement change in those limbs. I’m inclined to take a ‘before’ picture, too... but we’ll see.
Oh, this morning I had an e-mail about someone who wanted to post a message in response to my first Hoodia post... it was spam!!! Some guy who has a website about the Hoodia Sucker... saying if you consume it, it goes directly into the blood stream, works better, blah blah blah. Um, if I'm eating a sucker, and that's going into my stomach, then what's the difference between swallowing pills... that go into my stomach!? Silly. I rejected it... maybe I should have posted it for fun though. Omigod, I just visited the website out of curiosity, and it’s a TRAVEL website!!! LMAO! It’s nothing about Hoodia... it’s about vacationing... how pathetic.
04 February 2008
Hoodia Gordonii
I have recently decided to try Hoodia Gordonii 'diet' pills. For those of you who are unaware of Hoodia, it's an all-natural, organic appetite suppressant. I figured with my high metabolism, and having to eat something every 1-2 hours, this product would be perfect for me in jump-starting my new weight-loss concentration. It had a lot of buzz about a year ago, featured on 60 Minutes and Oprah. Here's the web address if you want to learn more! www.hoodiagordoniiplus.com
I did a lot of research before buying anything, as there are a lot of brands of Hoodia out there. Many of them have extra weight-loss ingredients added, meaning they pack these pills full of caffeine and other unhealthy chemicals. I found a company that distributes only the all-natural, vegan-friendly version, with no additives except for green tea and magnesium. If you purchase bottles in bulk, it saves you money of course, but for the time being, I just ordered one bottle to see if it works.
The recommended dosage for this kind is 2 pills on an empty stomach, before a meal. I've read online suggestions of taking them 10, 20, or 30 minutes before eating, but since my morning routine consists of eating breakfast right away (to help me wake up), I decided to stick with this schedule and see if it works.
I started last Wednesday, taking the pills 10 minutes before breakfast. I also read online that it might take a few days to one week to kick in, depending on your body type. It's hard to be patient with any weight-loss regimen, but I figured I'd give it a week and see if it starts to work.
My routine in the morning is very set - wake, brush teeth, eat breakfast, fix hair, dress, leave. I figured I could take two pills right away upon waking, as my stomach will be empty from the 8 hours of sleep, and it will be about 5-10 minutes before putting cereal into my stomach. Four days of this trial haven't yielded any noticeable results...
However, on Sunday, I decided to make myself a treat for breakfast. Normally my stomach starts to complain if I wait 10+ minutes before eating breakfast. However, this particular morning, I took the Hoodia, then baked Blueberry Muffin box-mix, which took about 45 minutes total. This entire time, I was never hungry! My stomach didn't complain one bit and I never felt weak. And when the muffins were done, I ate four of them (they were pretty small), and during the fourth, I felt this overwhelming sense of being very full, like after stuffing your face at your favorite restaurant. I felt this way for a good couple of hours after, but not to the point of being in pain. :)
Because of my high metabolism, I also suffer from Hypoglycemia sometimes, depending on my eating habits. I have less than four hours to eat something after breakfast, otherwise I'll start to get weak, sweaty, crabby and shaky. It sucks, but normally I have access to food on these occasions. Well, Sunday morning didn't yield any of those symptoms! It was a good four hours before I had a big glass of orange juice, but I wasn't even hungry or hypoglycemic at the time. Then I was able to wait until eating dinner about three hours later, again, without feeling hungry.
This morning though, being back to work, I did my usual routine, and had to eat something around 10 am, like normal. I think I'll edit my morning routine tomorrow, and try the 30 minute wait before eating after taking the pills, and see if this provides the same results I had yesterday.
I'm going to try and blog a lot about my experience with this in the next month or so. It might be limited posting due to my new job training next week, but we'll see! I should really take 'before' measurements of my body as well... I'm hoping the Hoodia, along with my BodyPump and BodyStep classes will give me fast results!
Oh, and I should probably state that I'm not looking to be a super-thin size 2 or any b.s. like that... but I want to be fit and lean, which means losing body fat, which takes forever if I'm having to eat all day. :P
I did a lot of research before buying anything, as there are a lot of brands of Hoodia out there. Many of them have extra weight-loss ingredients added, meaning they pack these pills full of caffeine and other unhealthy chemicals. I found a company that distributes only the all-natural, vegan-friendly version, with no additives except for green tea and magnesium. If you purchase bottles in bulk, it saves you money of course, but for the time being, I just ordered one bottle to see if it works.
The recommended dosage for this kind is 2 pills on an empty stomach, before a meal. I've read online suggestions of taking them 10, 20, or 30 minutes before eating, but since my morning routine consists of eating breakfast right away (to help me wake up), I decided to stick with this schedule and see if it works.
I started last Wednesday, taking the pills 10 minutes before breakfast. I also read online that it might take a few days to one week to kick in, depending on your body type. It's hard to be patient with any weight-loss regimen, but I figured I'd give it a week and see if it starts to work.
My routine in the morning is very set - wake, brush teeth, eat breakfast, fix hair, dress, leave. I figured I could take two pills right away upon waking, as my stomach will be empty from the 8 hours of sleep, and it will be about 5-10 minutes before putting cereal into my stomach. Four days of this trial haven't yielded any noticeable results...
However, on Sunday, I decided to make myself a treat for breakfast. Normally my stomach starts to complain if I wait 10+ minutes before eating breakfast. However, this particular morning, I took the Hoodia, then baked Blueberry Muffin box-mix, which took about 45 minutes total. This entire time, I was never hungry! My stomach didn't complain one bit and I never felt weak. And when the muffins were done, I ate four of them (they were pretty small), and during the fourth, I felt this overwhelming sense of being very full, like after stuffing your face at your favorite restaurant. I felt this way for a good couple of hours after, but not to the point of being in pain. :)
Because of my high metabolism, I also suffer from Hypoglycemia sometimes, depending on my eating habits. I have less than four hours to eat something after breakfast, otherwise I'll start to get weak, sweaty, crabby and shaky. It sucks, but normally I have access to food on these occasions. Well, Sunday morning didn't yield any of those symptoms! It was a good four hours before I had a big glass of orange juice, but I wasn't even hungry or hypoglycemic at the time. Then I was able to wait until eating dinner about three hours later, again, without feeling hungry.
This morning though, being back to work, I did my usual routine, and had to eat something around 10 am, like normal. I think I'll edit my morning routine tomorrow, and try the 30 minute wait before eating after taking the pills, and see if this provides the same results I had yesterday.
I'm going to try and blog a lot about my experience with this in the next month or so. It might be limited posting due to my new job training next week, but we'll see! I should really take 'before' measurements of my body as well... I'm hoping the Hoodia, along with my BodyPump and BodyStep classes will give me fast results!
Oh, and I should probably state that I'm not looking to be a super-thin size 2 or any b.s. like that... but I want to be fit and lean, which means losing body fat, which takes forever if I'm having to eat all day. :P
21 January 2008
New Job!
I haven't posted in forever, due to being very busy at work, as well as preparing, interviewing, and finally getting a new job! I'm still within the same pyramid here at Target (under my old bosses new boss - lol... did that make sense?), but I'll have a new manager who reports to the pyramid boss. I'm also salary now, instead of hourly, which means NO MORE CLOCK PUNCHING! I think I'm more excited about this than my raise. :)
Officially, I start today, but there's going to be a huge, timely transition... for one, because our new manager was just announced, and I'm sure she has to give her old job two weeks notice; and secondly, since we're a brand-spankin' new team, we don't have a workload yet. So today I'm still doing my type stuff... and sitting in my same cube. That's another issue... we won't be moving probably for awhile because the whole Marketing team might be doing some shifting in the next month or two. So it'll be very weird not to sit next to my new teammates. I scheduled a lunch with them today though, so I can at least get to know them.
Officially I am now a Creative Production Design Specialist! This basically means a bridge between Creative and EP (electronic production, where I am now, but in Type). I'm hoping it's about half EP work, and half Creative... design does stress me out a lot, but our team won't necessarily be doing heavy concepting or design work; rather, we'd be taking already created stuff and furthering it through our routing process. At least I hope... :)
Officially, I start today, but there's going to be a huge, timely transition... for one, because our new manager was just announced, and I'm sure she has to give her old job two weeks notice; and secondly, since we're a brand-spankin' new team, we don't have a workload yet. So today I'm still doing my type stuff... and sitting in my same cube. That's another issue... we won't be moving probably for awhile because the whole Marketing team might be doing some shifting in the next month or two. So it'll be very weird not to sit next to my new teammates. I scheduled a lunch with them today though, so I can at least get to know them.
Officially I am now a Creative Production Design Specialist! This basically means a bridge between Creative and EP (electronic production, where I am now, but in Type). I'm hoping it's about half EP work, and half Creative... design does stress me out a lot, but our team won't necessarily be doing heavy concepting or design work; rather, we'd be taking already created stuff and furthering it through our routing process. At least I hope... :)
11 December 2007
Movie Review: Enchanted
Enchanted (4/5 stars)
It's a routinely classic Disney fairy tale - brought to life! The first portion of this film is completely animated, full of vibrant color, over-exaggerated characters, and lyrical songs every five minutes. Right away, the prince and princess meet, fall instantly in love while singing together and are about to marry when, you guessed it, the evil step-mother tries to prevent this matrimonial event to preserve her crown. She shoves our main character Giselle, into a fountain-well, where on the other side, exists New York City.
Hilarity ensues as we observe Giselle (Amy Adams) struggle to understand the ways of 'normal' life outside of ceaseless happiness, love at first sight, and talking animals. Upon entering New York, she immediately meets Robert (Patrick Dempsey), a divorced divorce lawyer with a 6 year-old daughter. He assumes Giselle is crazy and reluctantly decides to help her, with strong motivation from his star-struck daughter. Meanwhile, Prince Edward (James Marsden) dives into the portal to rescue his princess, blissfully ignorant to the fact that his step-mother is the perpetrator.
Life for Giselle is tremendously different in a big city, than what she is used to in fantasy-land. Adams does a wonderfully superb job of acting inappropriately naive throughout the entire film. Her facial expressions and body language are painfully over-done, but for this film, it's perfect. The first 3/4 of the movie genuinely mock Disney's artificial formula, showing us how ridiculously far-off their films are to real life events. However, because it’s Disney doing the mocking, I can give them a friendly nod for knowing perfectly how to add to their monstrous profits.
Marsden offers us a large chunk of humor in this film, already encompassing animated princely features, even though he has only a quarter of screen-time as the other actors. His subtle, yet engaging facial expressions are so quick, you really have to pay attention to his reactions. He also acquires some of the best lines in the movie, notably calling New Yorkers 'noble peasants' throughout the film. Susan Sarandon, as Queen Narissa and step-mother to Prince Edward, has a commanding voice (animated or not) and a sleek, midnight outfit that I would don immediately, if ever given the opportunity. Although she's animated for most of the film, when you finally get to see her in real life, it's worth the wait.
However, the last part of this film really took a dive back into Disney-animated dribble, but in unpalatable human form. Disney wants to make sure you remember that it’s their product you're viewing, by force-feeding you ‘popular’ moments from their classic animated films. The poisonous apple makes an appearance (as it annoyingly did in Pirates), as well as the single shoe left behind at the ball, and a terrorizing dragon (formally a queen). Normally, I'm all for dragon-appearances in any movie, CGI or animated; but all that the freshly-transformed Narissa did was blather on while trying to narrate her haughty frustrations and dispose of Robert and Giselle. Once the dragon is defeated (sorry, was that an unapparent spoiler?), Giselle realizes she would rather stay in the real world with her newly-discovered true love (oops, that was a spoiler). But not to worry, it's a Happy Ending for everyone, if you were curious... it's Disney you know!
Overall, because this film was so mockingly and consistently funny for the majority of its running time, I give it 4/5 stars. The script was a comfortable mix between animation and real-life speak, and the costumes were an exact replica of what they would be, had animated people stepped into the real world. It's just too bad the strong plot declines toward the end, turning it into a bona fide Disney flick. But the situational humor, well-executed during the bulk of the film, makes it worth seeing!
It's a routinely classic Disney fairy tale - brought to life! The first portion of this film is completely animated, full of vibrant color, over-exaggerated characters, and lyrical songs every five minutes. Right away, the prince and princess meet, fall instantly in love while singing together and are about to marry when, you guessed it, the evil step-mother tries to prevent this matrimonial event to preserve her crown. She shoves our main character Giselle, into a fountain-well, where on the other side, exists New York City.
Hilarity ensues as we observe Giselle (Amy Adams) struggle to understand the ways of 'normal' life outside of ceaseless happiness, love at first sight, and talking animals. Upon entering New York, she immediately meets Robert (Patrick Dempsey), a divorced divorce lawyer with a 6 year-old daughter. He assumes Giselle is crazy and reluctantly decides to help her, with strong motivation from his star-struck daughter. Meanwhile, Prince Edward (James Marsden) dives into the portal to rescue his princess, blissfully ignorant to the fact that his step-mother is the perpetrator.
Life for Giselle is tremendously different in a big city, than what she is used to in fantasy-land. Adams does a wonderfully superb job of acting inappropriately naive throughout the entire film. Her facial expressions and body language are painfully over-done, but for this film, it's perfect. The first 3/4 of the movie genuinely mock Disney's artificial formula, showing us how ridiculously far-off their films are to real life events. However, because it’s Disney doing the mocking, I can give them a friendly nod for knowing perfectly how to add to their monstrous profits.
Marsden offers us a large chunk of humor in this film, already encompassing animated princely features, even though he has only a quarter of screen-time as the other actors. His subtle, yet engaging facial expressions are so quick, you really have to pay attention to his reactions. He also acquires some of the best lines in the movie, notably calling New Yorkers 'noble peasants' throughout the film. Susan Sarandon, as Queen Narissa and step-mother to Prince Edward, has a commanding voice (animated or not) and a sleek, midnight outfit that I would don immediately, if ever given the opportunity. Although she's animated for most of the film, when you finally get to see her in real life, it's worth the wait.
However, the last part of this film really took a dive back into Disney-animated dribble, but in unpalatable human form. Disney wants to make sure you remember that it’s their product you're viewing, by force-feeding you ‘popular’ moments from their classic animated films. The poisonous apple makes an appearance (as it annoyingly did in Pirates), as well as the single shoe left behind at the ball, and a terrorizing dragon (formally a queen). Normally, I'm all for dragon-appearances in any movie, CGI or animated; but all that the freshly-transformed Narissa did was blather on while trying to narrate her haughty frustrations and dispose of Robert and Giselle. Once the dragon is defeated (sorry, was that an unapparent spoiler?), Giselle realizes she would rather stay in the real world with her newly-discovered true love (oops, that was a spoiler). But not to worry, it's a Happy Ending for everyone, if you were curious... it's Disney you know!
Overall, because this film was so mockingly and consistently funny for the majority of its running time, I give it 4/5 stars. The script was a comfortable mix between animation and real-life speak, and the costumes were an exact replica of what they would be, had animated people stepped into the real world. It's just too bad the strong plot declines toward the end, turning it into a bona fide Disney flick. But the situational humor, well-executed during the bulk of the film, makes it worth seeing!
06 December 2007
Movie Review: Death Proof
Death Proof (4/5 stars)
Released in theater's as one part of a two-feature Grindhouse special, this film features bad-ass car chases, breath-holding stunts, and indomitable women. Quentin Tarantino directs two separate groups of young women, both harassed by a former Hollywood stunt-man, turned serial killer, played by Kurt Russell. Strange as it sounds, he purposefully murders them with his car - something I don't think I have ever encountered as the theme of a movie before.
Tarantino’s captivating story leads you by your hand, curiously through this movie, only to be disrupted in mere moments by bouts of fear, violence or shock. This plot exists in two parts - the first group of women brutally murdered by Russell, followed by a time lapse to the next group of women, unrelated to the first. Although one of the women involved with the first group feels that something is not right with this stunt-man, they ultimately brush off his behavior and unwittingly end up his victims. Next we meet the second group of girls, much more tough (physically and mentally) than the latter.
What interested me greatly with this film, is that rather than give the first group of women just an opening scene of the film, Tarantino spends about half of the movie with character development for these girls. Unconventionally, most films would demonstrate the killer's personality and power with unknown, expendable victims. What Tarantino does is greatly increase our hatred for the antagonist, so at the end of the movie, you feel a great deal of satisfaction when Russell is dealt with in a satisfactory way.
Even though the previews for this film didn't do it any justice, my main interest for seeing this movie was Zoe Bell. I saw her awhile back in a documentary called Double Dare. It features the lives of some famous stunt-women, starting off with Jeannie Epper and her family's history of Hollywood stunt actors. Zoe Bell, a New Zealand native, becomes the featured girl of the documentary, and the camera follows her from the final episode of TV show Xena: Princess Warrior, to her audition with Tarantino, and ultimately the production of massive fight-scenes in Kill Bill, as Uma Thurman's stunt-double.
In Death Proof, Bell plays herself, visiting a fellow stunt-woman and two friends in the U.S. In what (unfortunately) feels like an hour, we see the girls interacting together, setting us up for the big car-chase climax of the film. I highly enjoyed seeing Bell perform deadly car stunts, at full speed, while acting very naturally for her first time. She absolutely loves what she does, and shows it without restraint while playing herself, with enjoyable giggles while trying out new stunt equipment in Double Dare. I can’t help but adore and admire this woman! :)
Russell, on the other hand, isn't an actor I have ever cared for, or care to see in any movie; but he didn't bother me at all in this film, and I actually enjoyed his portrayal of unpredictable, calculating stunt-man Mike. Towards the end of the show, you start to realize what a deeply disturbed person he has become - or was it out-of-work boredom that has provoked his lust for murder?
Tarantino's thing lately has been featuring intensively strong women in his films, giving them fight scenes normally reduced to stereotypical male roles. In a couple scenes, these women are lusty and sexual; but presented by a stronger character, it's always of her own accord. Either way, I love what he has been doing for women in films, and highly anticipate his next venture.
Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. The acting was natural, the characters intriguing, the stunts are the most realistically done in any film for a long time (no CGI!), and I can never resist movies that feature girl-power! However, some of the character development felt a little stretched thin, which made the under-2-hours film feel a bit long at some points. And although you can fast-forward through a lot of the mid-movie jabber, this film is worth seeing, even just for the perfectly-coordinated, vengeful car chase!
Released in theater's as one part of a two-feature Grindhouse special, this film features bad-ass car chases, breath-holding stunts, and indomitable women. Quentin Tarantino directs two separate groups of young women, both harassed by a former Hollywood stunt-man, turned serial killer, played by Kurt Russell. Strange as it sounds, he purposefully murders them with his car - something I don't think I have ever encountered as the theme of a movie before.
Tarantino’s captivating story leads you by your hand, curiously through this movie, only to be disrupted in mere moments by bouts of fear, violence or shock. This plot exists in two parts - the first group of women brutally murdered by Russell, followed by a time lapse to the next group of women, unrelated to the first. Although one of the women involved with the first group feels that something is not right with this stunt-man, they ultimately brush off his behavior and unwittingly end up his victims. Next we meet the second group of girls, much more tough (physically and mentally) than the latter.
What interested me greatly with this film, is that rather than give the first group of women just an opening scene of the film, Tarantino spends about half of the movie with character development for these girls. Unconventionally, most films would demonstrate the killer's personality and power with unknown, expendable victims. What Tarantino does is greatly increase our hatred for the antagonist, so at the end of the movie, you feel a great deal of satisfaction when Russell is dealt with in a satisfactory way.
Even though the previews for this film didn't do it any justice, my main interest for seeing this movie was Zoe Bell. I saw her awhile back in a documentary called Double Dare. It features the lives of some famous stunt-women, starting off with Jeannie Epper and her family's history of Hollywood stunt actors. Zoe Bell, a New Zealand native, becomes the featured girl of the documentary, and the camera follows her from the final episode of TV show Xena: Princess Warrior, to her audition with Tarantino, and ultimately the production of massive fight-scenes in Kill Bill, as Uma Thurman's stunt-double.
In Death Proof, Bell plays herself, visiting a fellow stunt-woman and two friends in the U.S. In what (unfortunately) feels like an hour, we see the girls interacting together, setting us up for the big car-chase climax of the film. I highly enjoyed seeing Bell perform deadly car stunts, at full speed, while acting very naturally for her first time. She absolutely loves what she does, and shows it without restraint while playing herself, with enjoyable giggles while trying out new stunt equipment in Double Dare. I can’t help but adore and admire this woman! :)
Russell, on the other hand, isn't an actor I have ever cared for, or care to see in any movie; but he didn't bother me at all in this film, and I actually enjoyed his portrayal of unpredictable, calculating stunt-man Mike. Towards the end of the show, you start to realize what a deeply disturbed person he has become - or was it out-of-work boredom that has provoked his lust for murder?
Tarantino's thing lately has been featuring intensively strong women in his films, giving them fight scenes normally reduced to stereotypical male roles. In a couple scenes, these women are lusty and sexual; but presented by a stronger character, it's always of her own accord. Either way, I love what he has been doing for women in films, and highly anticipate his next venture.
Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. The acting was natural, the characters intriguing, the stunts are the most realistically done in any film for a long time (no CGI!), and I can never resist movies that feature girl-power! However, some of the character development felt a little stretched thin, which made the under-2-hours film feel a bit long at some points. And although you can fast-forward through a lot of the mid-movie jabber, this film is worth seeing, even just for the perfectly-coordinated, vengeful car chase!
05 December 2007
Movie Review: The Mist
Stephen King’s The Mist (3/5 stars)
When I saw the previews for this movie on TV, I thought “meh... another ‘scary’ movie I’ll probably never see”. But when I read the official review on the Strib website, it was brought to my attention that Frank Darabont directed this film. He's most known for graciously adapting two Stephen King novels into films, being The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. Right then, my expectations and desire to see this film (in theaters) greatly expanded.
However - yes, there's a 'however'... sad, huh... the movie was not even worth the $5 twilight show. It started out curiously, but twenty minutes into the film, they showed the first instinctual, blood-thirsty creature. Now, if you're going to make a film with this creepy mist where you can't see an inch in front of your nose, obviously one should take advantage of this situation to scare the sanity out of people, and let their minds come up with what's killing the characters off (regardless of the novel). But once this [opposite of "scary" word here], poorly-executed, CGI monster showed up, I knew from then on that the movie would be a disappointment.
I have not read the book, mind you, nor have I ever finished any Stephen King novel, but from the Netflix reviews online, people say that the ending of the book is definitely not as appalling as the ending of this movie. Without giving anything away, I will say that I did enjoy the unexpected turn of events. The main criticism is that it was for shock-value - a Hollywood ploy to make the film more dramatically enticing. But by the time you reach the end of this film, you'll be aching for an incredibly out-of-character moment, that it'll be hard NOT to appreciate. This movie runs a little over 2 hours long, but I never felt the need for a bathroom break. Yet, there are a lot of painfully slow dialogues between characters, and I felt a strong desire to yell at them to get over it and move on with the show.
The plot of this film is human nature in the midst of something supernatural - something King-readers (or viewers) will understand. You’re more afraid of what's happening inside the store, where a large group of townspeople are trapped, more so than the invisible, instant-death-giving creatures outside. Humans pitted against other humans in times of survival-induced stress really demonstrate the vast differences in personality, and what odd reality the less stable-minded people will conjure up. Of course, for these peoples' unfortunate luck, the town's hypocritical, 'god-speaks-through-me' religious-fanatic is inside the store as well. Played irritatingly beautiful by Marcia Gay Harden, you will literally stand up and cheer when something ultimately 'bad' happens to her (for a moment, I wasn’t sure it was going to happen at all!). The rest of the actors are not well-known, which creates a great mystery of who will live and who will die.
The creatures themselves are actually quite intriguing, sans the first one they show which I mentioned earlier. Their faces are subtle mimics of our skulls, and according to ONE line in the movie (with no back-story), they come from an alternate dimension. I deduce that these monsters are in a 'Jurassic' stage of their evolution, as their sizes range from four-foot long insects to ginormously-tall 'striders' (think brontosaurus, but with long legs instead of neck). I was highly interested in understanding the creatures' origins, as they are the reason the mist has arrived (and why the mist in the first place?); but the movie gives us no other explanation, besides their appearance being the military’s fault. I suppose I'll have to read the book, eh? :)
Overall, I give it three out of five stars. The script was stretched-out to the point of being unrealistic, the dialogue ran long and dry, and the CGI in one part of the film was terrible (these days, poor CGI doesn't cut it, even if it's only five minutes of the movie). I did enjoy the IDEA of survivalist-tension between groups of characters in the store, but it wasn’t executed very well. The ending was nicely unexpected, but not enough to make me watch the film ever again, or recommend it.
When I saw the previews for this movie on TV, I thought “meh... another ‘scary’ movie I’ll probably never see”. But when I read the official review on the Strib website, it was brought to my attention that Frank Darabont directed this film. He's most known for graciously adapting two Stephen King novels into films, being The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. Right then, my expectations and desire to see this film (in theaters) greatly expanded.
However - yes, there's a 'however'... sad, huh... the movie was not even worth the $5 twilight show. It started out curiously, but twenty minutes into the film, they showed the first instinctual, blood-thirsty creature. Now, if you're going to make a film with this creepy mist where you can't see an inch in front of your nose, obviously one should take advantage of this situation to scare the sanity out of people, and let their minds come up with what's killing the characters off (regardless of the novel). But once this [opposite of "scary" word here], poorly-executed, CGI monster showed up, I knew from then on that the movie would be a disappointment.
I have not read the book, mind you, nor have I ever finished any Stephen King novel, but from the Netflix reviews online, people say that the ending of the book is definitely not as appalling as the ending of this movie. Without giving anything away, I will say that I did enjoy the unexpected turn of events. The main criticism is that it was for shock-value - a Hollywood ploy to make the film more dramatically enticing. But by the time you reach the end of this film, you'll be aching for an incredibly out-of-character moment, that it'll be hard NOT to appreciate. This movie runs a little over 2 hours long, but I never felt the need for a bathroom break. Yet, there are a lot of painfully slow dialogues between characters, and I felt a strong desire to yell at them to get over it and move on with the show.
The plot of this film is human nature in the midst of something supernatural - something King-readers (or viewers) will understand. You’re more afraid of what's happening inside the store, where a large group of townspeople are trapped, more so than the invisible, instant-death-giving creatures outside. Humans pitted against other humans in times of survival-induced stress really demonstrate the vast differences in personality, and what odd reality the less stable-minded people will conjure up. Of course, for these peoples' unfortunate luck, the town's hypocritical, 'god-speaks-through-me' religious-fanatic is inside the store as well. Played irritatingly beautiful by Marcia Gay Harden, you will literally stand up and cheer when something ultimately 'bad' happens to her (for a moment, I wasn’t sure it was going to happen at all!). The rest of the actors are not well-known, which creates a great mystery of who will live and who will die.
The creatures themselves are actually quite intriguing, sans the first one they show which I mentioned earlier. Their faces are subtle mimics of our skulls, and according to ONE line in the movie (with no back-story), they come from an alternate dimension. I deduce that these monsters are in a 'Jurassic' stage of their evolution, as their sizes range from four-foot long insects to ginormously-tall 'striders' (think brontosaurus, but with long legs instead of neck). I was highly interested in understanding the creatures' origins, as they are the reason the mist has arrived (and why the mist in the first place?); but the movie gives us no other explanation, besides their appearance being the military’s fault. I suppose I'll have to read the book, eh? :)
Overall, I give it three out of five stars. The script was stretched-out to the point of being unrealistic, the dialogue ran long and dry, and the CGI in one part of the film was terrible (these days, poor CGI doesn't cut it, even if it's only five minutes of the movie). I did enjoy the IDEA of survivalist-tension between groups of characters in the store, but it wasn’t executed very well. The ending was nicely unexpected, but not enough to make me watch the film ever again, or recommend it.
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