Finally it's time for the "Kill Bill vol. 1" review!
This movie didn't need to be cut in two as the first volume went by like that *snaps fingers*. "Kill Bill vol. 1" is told in the usual Tarantino manner of jumping back and forth in time. However, it's not used as much as in e.g. "Pulp Fiction". It doesn't have the usual excellent Tarantino'ish dialog either. In this movie actions speak louder than words and that's actually very, very entertaining. The movie is divided into chapters. One of the chapters is even told as anime which worked great. It's correct that the movie may have needed some substance but let's hope we get that with vol. 2. I'd gotten the impression that Uma Thurman was killing non-stop throughout the movie but that's not the case. There is a lot of blood and gore in the movie but as the movie moves along it seems more and more natural. Hell, I would even say it seemed natural from the first minute. I think Tarantino may have some hidden message about how violence has become a natural part of the world we live in, a message you could say he builds into every film he makes. However, this movie takes it to the extreme and that is exactly why it becomes entertaining and funny. It's simply so violent, overdone and out there that you can't help but laugh.
The music is always an important element in Tarantino movies and this is no different. Get the soundtrack, you wont regret it.
This first volume ends with a great cliffhanger which only makes me want to see vol. 2 even more!
If I had to rate this on the Tarantino scale of 1-6 it would get a 5. "Pulp Fiction" is a 6/6 and is his best movie thus far. "Kill Bill" will perhaps get up there when seen in full length. We'll have to wait and see. Until then, vol. 1 offers awesome entertainment from start to finish. Uma Thurman's killing spree is an enjoyable ride through blood and severed heads and legs. And we're only halfway there. We still don't know the entire backstory. We didn't even see Bill's face in vol. 1.
If I had my hopes up for vol. 1, oh you have no idea how much I anticipate vol. 2.

I just finished "Dark Water". A good movie but not excellent. Hideo Nakata has a way of telling stories at a slow pace where he lets the horror work from inside the mind of the viewer and not so much on the actual screen. I didn't think the movie was all that scary but indeed spooky and creepy. Quite an accomplishment when Nakata uses water, a red bag and a little girl in a yellow raincoat to scare the viewer. But it works! However, I'm not sure I actually got the movie as the ending was a bit weird. So, if you liked "Ringu" and generally like movies from Asia, "Dark Water" is indeed recommended.

Finally I'm done with all the books on my syllabus! I finished "High Maintenance" and read "Getting Mother's Body" over these past two days. A decent book but not the best this semester. So from now on all focus will be on the exams and my specific topics of interest.

I got one DVD today all the way from Hong Kong namely "Dark Water" which is a horror movie from the director of "Ringu" (or "Ring" if you will).
"Kill Bill"...tomorrow...

I just watched John Carpenter's "Halloween" from 1978 once again. Absolutely terrific horror movie that I can only recommend. And why is it so great? Well, first of all the music is excellent. Simple yet effective. It helps set the mood of the movie extremely well and is totally spooky most of the way. Secondly, it's great how you can always hear the killer Michael Myers' heavy breathing whenever you see him (you mostly see him from the back). The brilliance is that you also hear it when he's around but you don't see him. Kinda like in "Jaws" when you know the shark is around as you hear the theme of the movie. However, it works so much better in "Halloween". Also, Michael's breathing never changes. It's the same as he's standing, walking and killing. Get it, watch it, love it!

80 pages to go in "High Maintenance". Still it fails to interest me but it's not bad. It's very weird actually - it's well-written, funny at times yet the story is painfully uninteresting.

We lost another wrestler over the weekend :/ Stars from the steroid era are dying at an alarming rate. RIP Road Warrior Hawk. WHAT A RUSH!

WWE's latest pay-per-view No Mercy was the usual mixed bag of good and bad. Most was bad and overall the show wasn't all that good. 2 great matches and the rest was forgettable. RAW from yesterday was much better. One of the best RAWs in a long time. Nothing, besides a weird Kane interview, was bad and the crowd was hot (which always helps). And they're already building for Survivor Series. Oh my!

I pre-ordered "Terminator 3" today. That and "Dogville" will no doubt be the DVD highlights in November. And finally, "Kill Bill" in 3 days...can't wait.

I finished "Erasure". Terrific book indeed. I started reading Jennifer Belle's "High Maintenance" today which is one of the final books of this semester. The flashy cover tells me that the book "will have you rolling on the floor". It's a quote from "Cosmopolitan" so I don't know if you wanna believe it. The book seems like an easy read since I went through the first 100 pages quickly. I haven't been down on the floor with the purpose of rolling yet but who knows if I will later. The book is enjoyable but doesn't strike me as being something you would read at the University. Compared to the other books I've read this semester this doesn't have any intellectual value and it comes off as nothing but Sunday reading. Something you read and go "well that was it". It's an uninteresting story of a young woman who has left her husband and now has to make it on her own. She gets an apartment and a job as an estate agent. She has met a new man who is already with another woman but he swears he's about to break up with her. I don't wanna be sexist or anything but this is a total chick book and I bet most girls would read it and go "oh yes, I certainly recognize that feeling". Lacking experiences with PMS, I so far fail to develop interest in this book. However, like I said it's an easy read and it's not boring or anything. So far it just hasn't made an impression on me.

I'm one of the few people alive today who doesn't believe the "Lord of the Rings" series is God's gift to cinema. I watched the first one when it came out on DVD and I liked it. I didn't love it, but I thought it was good. 1 year later, I tried watching the second one but since it picks up where "Fellowship of the Ring" ended I didn't remember anything from the first movie. Result: I was completely lost and within 30 minutes I was confused and bored. So today I decided to give it another chance. I watched "Fellowship of the Ring". Still, a good movie but not OH MY FUCKING GOD!-good. I will give "The Two Towers" another chance sometime next week.