Movie Happenings of Late
With the Christmas holiday and having 4 days off in a row, I had some time to relax and remember things that made me happy, such as watching movies. I just haven't had time to spend on movies lately. However I realized just how much I missed them.
We took in a double feature on Friday. We saw The Spirit and The Day the Earth Stood Still
The Spirit was an odd but fun movie. It was done in the blue screen manner like 300 with some beautiful art design. The story was interesting. In some ways it had some corny moments. I have never read the comic book, so maybe that is part of the way the comics are written. Samuel L. Jackson was his usual gregarious self. I enjoyed Gabriel Macht as the spirit. He did a good balance of earnest crime-fighter and seemed very good at handling the goofy moments without coming off as a jackass (excuse my French). He was a cat lover so he gets brownie points. Lots of gorgeous women in beautiful clothing as well. It was entertaining so I'll buy it on DVD.
The Day the Earth Stood Still was a good science fiction movie. I will be honest, I went to see it because I love Keanu Reeves. He was excellent as the alien/human who comes to reason with earth, but then has to destroy the humans when he realizes there is no reasoning with them. He looked great in the suit he was wearing. Jennifer Connelly was good as the scientist/mother. Jaden Smith (Will and Jada Pinkett Smith's son) was good as her stepson. I wanted to hold the boy down and shave his head though. His hair was crazy and uncombed and it drove me crazy. The special effects were good. However it was a very somber movie for me. I'll buy it because I love Keanu though. I do have to add that they showed some completely awesome trailers with it: Star Trek, Terminator: Salvation, Fast and The Furious, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which looks divine. This summer looks to be a very awesome movie season (I hope, I hope!)
We watched The Scorpion King 2: Rise of A Warrior on Christmas evening. My sister Netflixed it. It was entertaining. It felt like a combination of all the sword and sorcerer, ancient adventure type movies, and seemed to borrow from various mythologies. The bad guy was not a good actor. He is a wrestler, and right now I'm thinking that The Rock is probably the best wrestler turned actor of the bunch. Jesse Ventura was pretty okay. But Randy Couture should work on his wrestling career because acting is not his strong suit. The guy who plays Mathayus in this was gorgeous. Very pretty and very good with the fighting/stunt scenes. Anyway, it was a nice way to spend an hour and a half. Not the best movie I've ever seen, but not the worst either.
Also on Friday, my sister and I finally watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I loved it. It is the best movie so far in the series, but also very dark. I think this movie is probably too intense for the younger viewers. And the intensity wasn't just with the magical part and the Dark Lord. One of the most disturbing aspects was the cruelty displayed by one of the teachers at the school. She was truly sadistic and awful. To treat children that way is just wrong. It was really hard to watch the kids suffering under an awful lady like her. But thankfully things worked out. Harry's journey is a difficult and painful. He is really having to find new levels of strength, yet he is also helping his friends prepare for the trail ahead. I love that these movies emphasize the power of friendship and having those who love and care for you. They also emphasize that magic has limits but also should be governed by ethics. If I had kids I would have no problem with them reading the Harry Potter books or watching the movies, but I definitely would think twice about letting a young child watch this latest installment because of the intensity and the downright evilness of the villains. My sister suggested a marathon of Harry Potter before the next movie comes out. That sounds great to me. I'd love to go back and reacquaint myself with the characters in this world. It's such a fun and interesting series, and definitely a favorite for me.
Also we finished watching Snow Globe, which is an ABC Family Christmas movie with Christina Milian. It was a bit silly but very cute, and had some good lessons about being proud of where you come from and being content with what you have instead of always reaching for dreams that are not grounded in reality. That is not to say that we shouldn't dream, but don't give up on what you already have in your life, because that can be pretty awesome as well.
So those were my movie adventures of last week. Hopefully with another long weekend ahead, I'll get to watch some more movies this week. And one of my new years resolutions is to watch more movies next year.
With the Christmas holiday and having 4 days off in a row, I had some time to relax and remember things that made me happy, such as watching movies. I just haven't had time to spend on movies lately. However I realized just how much I missed them.
We took in a double feature on Friday. We saw The Spirit and The Day the Earth Stood Still
The Spirit was an odd but fun movie. It was done in the blue screen manner like 300 with some beautiful art design. The story was interesting. In some ways it had some corny moments. I have never read the comic book, so maybe that is part of the way the comics are written. Samuel L. Jackson was his usual gregarious self. I enjoyed Gabriel Macht as the spirit. He did a good balance of earnest crime-fighter and seemed very good at handling the goofy moments without coming off as a jackass (excuse my French). He was a cat lover so he gets brownie points. Lots of gorgeous women in beautiful clothing as well. It was entertaining so I'll buy it on DVD.
The Day the Earth Stood Still was a good science fiction movie. I will be honest, I went to see it because I love Keanu Reeves. He was excellent as the alien/human who comes to reason with earth, but then has to destroy the humans when he realizes there is no reasoning with them. He looked great in the suit he was wearing. Jennifer Connelly was good as the scientist/mother. Jaden Smith (Will and Jada Pinkett Smith's son) was good as her stepson. I wanted to hold the boy down and shave his head though. His hair was crazy and uncombed and it drove me crazy. The special effects were good. However it was a very somber movie for me. I'll buy it because I love Keanu though. I do have to add that they showed some completely awesome trailers with it: Star Trek, Terminator: Salvation, Fast and The Furious, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which looks divine. This summer looks to be a very awesome movie season (I hope, I hope!)
We watched The Scorpion King 2: Rise of A Warrior on Christmas evening. My sister Netflixed it. It was entertaining. It felt like a combination of all the sword and sorcerer, ancient adventure type movies, and seemed to borrow from various mythologies. The bad guy was not a good actor. He is a wrestler, and right now I'm thinking that The Rock is probably the best wrestler turned actor of the bunch. Jesse Ventura was pretty okay. But Randy Couture should work on his wrestling career because acting is not his strong suit. The guy who plays Mathayus in this was gorgeous. Very pretty and very good with the fighting/stunt scenes. Anyway, it was a nice way to spend an hour and a half. Not the best movie I've ever seen, but not the worst either.
Also on Friday, my sister and I finally watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I loved it. It is the best movie so far in the series, but also very dark. I think this movie is probably too intense for the younger viewers. And the intensity wasn't just with the magical part and the Dark Lord. One of the most disturbing aspects was the cruelty displayed by one of the teachers at the school. She was truly sadistic and awful. To treat children that way is just wrong. It was really hard to watch the kids suffering under an awful lady like her. But thankfully things worked out. Harry's journey is a difficult and painful. He is really having to find new levels of strength, yet he is also helping his friends prepare for the trail ahead. I love that these movies emphasize the power of friendship and having those who love and care for you. They also emphasize that magic has limits but also should be governed by ethics. If I had kids I would have no problem with them reading the Harry Potter books or watching the movies, but I definitely would think twice about letting a young child watch this latest installment because of the intensity and the downright evilness of the villains. My sister suggested a marathon of Harry Potter before the next movie comes out. That sounds great to me. I'd love to go back and reacquaint myself with the characters in this world. It's such a fun and interesting series, and definitely a favorite for me.
Also we finished watching Snow Globe, which is an ABC Family Christmas movie with Christina Milian. It was a bit silly but very cute, and had some good lessons about being proud of where you come from and being content with what you have instead of always reaching for dreams that are not grounded in reality. That is not to say that we shouldn't dream, but don't give up on what you already have in your life, because that can be pretty awesome as well.
So those were my movie adventures of last week. Hopefully with another long weekend ahead, I'll get to watch some more movies this week. And one of my new years resolutions is to watch more movies next year.
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