Tag: movies

The Chronuicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe opens this week right before the 8000 lb gorilla, King Kong. Will the christian allegory beat out the gentle giant? With the current reviews of Narnia, it seems to have the edge. Lots of good reviews and hardly any naysayers.

I have watched Narnia. It’s good. Yet, I don’t know if it is a PG movie. This will be a bore to any kid under the age of 8. Lots of talking. The action doesn’t happen until the end, and some of it is downright scary.

Tilda Swinton was perfectly cast in the role of the White Witch Queen. As a youngster, I read the books. Narnia was the best fantasy world for me as a little kid up until I read Tolkien. While Narnia has its charm, Middle Earth has depth and history beyond compare. Anyway, the White Witch Queen of Narnia scared me as a young child. I think she was one of the more creepier villians in the books I read while growing up. Just her iciness was chilling. I can still remember. If you had not read the books, she was introduced in what was basically the prequel to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Magician’s Nephew. In that book, she was much younger, and the description of the world in which she was from was terrifying and desolate. She was much a part of that dark world and shows it in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Tilda Swinton is also creepy. Look at her in Hellraiser as Gabriel. Look at her in Elizabeth. Icy. She brings that to the role, and she scared me.

Overall, the movie was good. Don’t bring your young children to it because it would bore them. The battle was cool. And it was overtly a christian tale.

4 of 5 stars

Derailed. The main character is portrayed by Clive Owen. I have seen a lot of his movies and upon further viewing I realized that I can’t stand this guy. He makes me not like him. Every character he plays is a schmuck including King Arthur.

If you have seen plenty of movies, this film will not surprise you. It basically writes itself. The twist wasn’t even a twist and you could’ve guessed it 30 minutes in. Maybe they should’ve gotten an even less familiar face to be the villain. Or maybe they should’ve offered the roles to Eric Roberts and Shannon Tweed, because this felt like a direct to Skin-a-max movie. Now that I would’ve not minded to see.

2 of 5 stars.

Looks as if its boffo boxoffice numbers for a certain four eyed wizard with scar on his forhead. Yes, it’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire making bank this weekend. And of course I had watched it. And it was disappointing. The reviews lead us to believe that it was dark and a good rendition. I didn’t think it was. A death doesn’t make it dark. And it is not as good as the previous Potter movie.

I was somewhat bored. At least, I knew the story and where it’s going which kept me up.

3 of 5 stars.

And seeing the movie, I had to read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. And it was good. Very good. I am waiting for the last one. And I can’t wait. Rowling has basically abandonned the school story line. Harry going to Hogwart’s only as a prop to do his stuff. It has become more interesting and a little bit more mature. No longer concerned with daily school chores, Rowling has focused on telling the story. And what a story! The plotting in the last 3 books (from goblet of fire, order of the phoenix and half-blood prince) is very tight. She has weaved a very interesting story and the twists and turns are very hard to see. Yes, you all know that AD bites it, but that Horcrux twist was amazing. The only thing is that she kind of gets you confused when she has to describe a battle.

A+

Zarutha was just like Jumanji except not as good. I believe it lacked the David Allen Grier laugh machine, the hot Bebe Neuwirth, and the eccentricities of Robin Williams. (I don’t believe I just said I miss Robin Williams in a movie!) What we end up with is Dax Shepard.

I always thought that Zach Braff was Dax Shepard. Or is it the other way around? Throughout the movie I thought it was Braff. I even waited until the credits to see if it was. It was not. Yet, I thought he went by a pseudonym to avoid being stuck in a stiff holiday film. Just look, Zach or Dax. They roll off the tongue the same way. Either way with that dude in it, Zathura was a snore.

It would’ve been better as a 4 player game same as Jumanji.

3 of 5 stars.

Prime. I thought the movie was written and directed by Ben Younger. who also did Boiler Room. I thought that he had starred in it also, because that would have gotten him close to fool around with Uma Thurman. It would have been his best chance.

Anyway, it was a nice movie. Not a full blown funny movie, but a charming film. It lost its way in the last third. In fact when a movie skips ahead a year, you know that the writer couldn’t figure out how to finish it off relying instead on a cliched plot device. The bittersweet ending was predictable, but still touching. I like it when the guy doesn’t get the girl. Put this in your NetFlix queue if you have the chance.

3 of 5 stars.

The Weatherman with Nick Cage. I did not like his character. I felt like shouting out, “It’s over. You failed at your marriage. Get over it.” I also did not like the relationship that the weatherman had with his father. I didn’t understand it. Plus, it seemed as if the father should’ve shaken his son a little bit more. Damn get your son on target. With that said, it wasn’t a bad movie. I laughed. Funny thing about it I thought it was an Alexander Payne film, but it was a Gore Verbinski.

This had Oscar try written all over it. I don’t think it was great, but it was good. If you can get over the nastiness that was the characters.

3 of 5 stars. (I would give it a half a star if I gave them out).

Since it is spook time here in the US, I thought it would be grand to catch a “scary” movie. So I caught the remake of The Fog. I don’t know why.

I don’t know why they had to remake it. The original was perfectly workable scary movie in its own right. I don’t know why they had to make it PG-13. All the scares were removed. I don’t know why they cast Selma Blair in the Adrienne Barbeau role. She’s no where near as old to have a son. What, was she 12 when she had her kid? That’s a frightening thought.

Anyway. Not scary enough. Dumb plot twists. Dumb casting.

2 of 5 stars.

Stick to reading ghost stories this Holloween.

What better way to start celebrating the scary holiday than some cheesy animated film. I am a fan of Wallace & Grommit. Also of animation. Stop motion is fun to watch. I thought the movie, though, was too long by a half hour. Wallace & Grommit are best as a short film. This was a bit stuffy too.

3 of 5 stars.