Captain Jack Sparrow. What a character. I saw this in the theater years ago - and what a refreshing surprise it was. Rather than watch it again on TV last night, we popped in the DVD at my in-laws house to avoid the commercial breaks.
The first movie is the best, before the story is bent, twisted, and complicated to extend the plot into a trilogy. This one is highly recommended.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
2003, 143 minutes, directed by Gore Verbinski
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Sunday, December 23, 2007
The Golden Compass
Ugh. Regular movie theater - at a mall, even, just before Christmas. Obnoxious parking. Previews (yes, the previews) started 10 minutes after the published start time - the movie was 20 minutes late. At least the place is mostly empty, since the film has been out for weeks.
The Golden Compass is supposed to be the atheists' answer to The Chronicles of Narnia, or something like that. Whatever. I don't care for the controversy either way. In this latest film, my biggest complaint was the inability to pick an audience. Half the film sounded overtly condescending, like I was being lectured at. The other half was adult-oriented violence. I couldn't tell if this was intended for kids or not. The plot lines are very formulaic ("prophecy of the witches" and whatnot), and little to nothing unexpected occurred. I suppose I'll keep watching the series - in the same way I'll probably keep watching the Narnia movies - just to keep occupied until the major studios find something worthy of replacing the gap caused by the end of the Lord of the Rings cycle.
The Golden Compass
2007, 113 minutes, directed by Chris Weitz
I created the "adventure" tag for this movie, then discovered that I couldn't go back and apply it to any earlier posts. While some of those movies, like Sunshine, for example, might be describing a part of an adventure, it just didn't have the scope of travel, or of vast locales, that I need to use the term. I'd make the label "epic adventure" but then I couldn't apply it to The Golden Compass, either.
The Golden Compass is supposed to be the atheists' answer to The Chronicles of Narnia, or something like that. Whatever. I don't care for the controversy either way. In this latest film, my biggest complaint was the inability to pick an audience. Half the film sounded overtly condescending, like I was being lectured at. The other half was adult-oriented violence. I couldn't tell if this was intended for kids or not. The plot lines are very formulaic ("prophecy of the witches" and whatnot), and little to nothing unexpected occurred. I suppose I'll keep watching the series - in the same way I'll probably keep watching the Narnia movies - just to keep occupied until the major studios find something worthy of replacing the gap caused by the end of the Lord of the Rings cycle.
The Golden Compass
2007, 113 minutes, directed by Chris Weitz
I created the "adventure" tag for this movie, then discovered that I couldn't go back and apply it to any earlier posts. While some of those movies, like Sunshine, for example, might be describing a part of an adventure, it just didn't have the scope of travel, or of vast locales, that I need to use the term. I'd make the label "epic adventure" but then I couldn't apply it to The Golden Compass, either.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
I Am Legend
This was my first experience at the new Alamo Drafthouse at the Ritz. I attended the Last Night at the Alamo in my pre-blog days (and have three original Alamo seats - fourth row, just left of center - to prove it). But I was a bit miffed by how the Heroes of the Alamo Foundation was handled during the transition, and the tickets for the opening night gala at the Ritz went on sale while I was in Japan.
Buttnumbathon submissions were also while I was in Japan, and the weekend before last I was unsuccessful in winning a standby seat. (The number after mine was called, grr.) So here I am, finally, to see a first-run film that sounded right up my genre.
Overall, this was a good film, I guess. I think the director wanted to say something epic, but the script he had to work with was the zombified corpse of the 28 Days Later script. Years ago, Independence Day was new, exciting, epic. I felt this could have been the same thing, but the script just didn't support it.
And don't let me start on the on-again off-again pseudo intelligence in the antagonist.
I Am Legend
2007, 101 minutes, directed by Francis Lawrence
Buttnumbathon submissions were also while I was in Japan, and the weekend before last I was unsuccessful in winning a standby seat. (The number after mine was called, grr.) So here I am, finally, to see a first-run film that sounded right up my genre.
Overall, this was a good film, I guess. I think the director wanted to say something epic, but the script he had to work with was the zombified corpse of the 28 Days Later script. Years ago, Independence Day was new, exciting, epic. I felt this could have been the same thing, but the script just didn't support it.
And don't let me start on the on-again off-again pseudo intelligence in the antagonist.
I Am Legend
2007, 101 minutes, directed by Francis Lawrence
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