Movie Review: Prometheus

I watched Prometheus twice this weekend. I bought both tickets ahead of time, which is the first time I can remember gambling on a film like that. In this case, it did not pay off.

Long story short: I did not like this movie. Even if you view it completely separate from Alien, its story-linked predecessor, I feel that it did not succeed. Of course, if you try to link the two movies and compare them together you won't get very far because although they may be set in the same universe, they are not same genre nor scope. I read another review (by Faith Erin Hicks) that worded this difference quite well:

Alien is a taut, miniature movie focusing on a tiny fragment of working life in the future. In contrast, Prometheus is high-minded message SciFi, ruminating about life, the universe, everything.

Don't go into this movie expecting a horror film, or even an action film. It tries to be a mysterious drama, but it ends up answering all the wrong questions and left me as a viewer unsatisfied.

Another big problem I had with the story-line is that the characters consisted of supposed experienced scientists, who acted like they knew nothing of the scientific method. Several lines in the movie refer to quarantine procedure, but very little of what I would consider proper procedures were ever followed. And I don't even want to get started on the actual science behind DNA. The leaps that this tale were making were so absurd as to make me laugh out loud.

In the end, there were a couple of redeeming factors. One, Michael Fassbender continues to impress me with a performance was that truly entralling. Despite the questionable nature of the character he portrayed, he was the one of the few in the movie that I wanted to keep watching. The only other characters of note in my mind were Charlize Theron's company woman and Idris Elba's captain of the ship. All other actors, although some of them very qualified and respectable in their own rights, seemed to be delivering very flat or strained performances. The relationships between the characters didn't feel realistic and their reactions to the situation as presented were fairly ridiculous.

The second redeeming factor was the visuals. Not just the special effects, which were fantastic. But the composition and structure of many scenes was captivating.

Final rating: 4 out of 10.

Movie Review - The Sherlock sequel

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - 8

Although I can't say that this is a ground-breaking movie or even one that I will watch over and over, but it was definitely enjoyable. In fact, I liked it more than the first one and I will probably buy the bluray and watch it a couple of times.

Robert Downey Jr. does a great job once again playing the slightly off-beat genius and he is balanced very well by Jude Law. I didn't really understand their relationship in the first movie, and although there are no real surprises in this one, I think the writing did a better job of making me believe their friendship. I also was surprised by the appearance of Noomi Rapace as the gypsy and I can't wait to see her in more American films (hint Prometheus).

The most rewarding thing for me this time around was the fact that I didn't have to wait until the end of the movie to understand everything that was going on. In Sherlock Holmes, there was really only one big mystery that you were trying to solve all the way through and unless you were paying attention closely (and are a genius yourself), the answer wasn't revealed until the last five minutes. In this sequel, there is a big mystery for the end, but there are also lots of small mysteries along the way and each of those are explained very quickly so you aren't kept waiting.

Finally, I felt like I was laughing more during this one, and that is always nice. If you liked the first one, then this will definitely be up your alley. Overall, this movie rates an 8.

Sucker Punch

There has been a lot of discussion in my circles lately about Sucker Punch, which I saw this weekend, and I want to express my opinion too. Before I get into too much detail, let me state upfront that that this was NOT an awesome flick that should be applauded by all, but just that it can be enjoyed and may be worth your time and money if you know what you're getting in to. I personally rate it a 7 out of 10. For comparison, my rating for Watchmen is 9 and Transformers a 4.

I bring up Transformers because it is an example I use for comparison. Many critics have said that Sucker Punch fails to provide a deep story or interesting characters and relies heavily on action sequences. That is how I feel about Transformers -- even though there are characters you are supposed to relate to and possibly a story you should care about, I just didn't get all that. To me, Transformers was just a bunch of great special effects tied together with a shoe-string story where the audience can smile and eat their popcorn. This is not necessarily a bad thing because I really enjoy a simple, action-filled popcorn movie from time to time.

And in many ways, this is probably a big reason why I did enjoy Sucker Punch. The action sequences made me smile, even though I could see that the special effects budget was limited (Some sequences looked about a decade behind). But where else are you going to see one film that has Nazis, undead, orcs, dragons, androids, and girls kicking ass all in one place?

Yet there was enough of a story that resonated with me personally that helped me get into the film. Being female, I often feel an inner struggle between the contempt at being idolized physically and a desire to embrace sexuality. Keep in mind most of the story we see on the screen is actually the inner mind of one of characters, which I felt characterized this womanly struggle. However, one of the draw-backs of the movie is that only by paying very close attention do we get any clue of what happened in the 'real' world versus what is just going on in someone's head. I think much of the audience has confused what was supposed to be fantasy with what should be considered real. A better written screenplay might have distinguished the multiple 'worlds' more clearly to the viewer. If you can successfully separate the story elements, I think it makes for a more enjoyable experience.

Finally, I think it is helpful to know going in that this movie has some very dark and depressing overtones, similar in my mind to Saving Private Ryan. There are lots of struggles along the way; in the end things are mostly happy, but there are many defeats as well. With a war movie like Saving Private Ryan, your expectations are correctly set ahead of time that allow you accept a certain amount of cringing and crying. However, I don't believe that Sucker Punch sets itself up appropriately for a similar amount of tragedy. You have been warned.

Movies, movies, movies

Haven't done a movie marathon in awhile, so it was nice that Justin and I finally had a weekend to rent a stack and watch them all. We didn't think of any cool themes or anything; just pulled a bunch that we wanted to see.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - 7. The special effects, as expected, were pretty spectacular. The acting was also very good. The story was even kind of interesting, but not as much as I had hoped for.

Quantam of Solace - 6. Although I had already seen this, Justin hadn't yet and of course we wanted to see it in all the glory of Bluray. Still, I don't like shaky-cam action shots, and the story was hard to follow.

Seven Pounds - 8. To me, not a realistic story, but still it was done very well. I liked the acting performances.

Taken - 7. A fairly decent single-man-revenge-action movie. I liked it better when it was Arnold blowing things up. But Liam tries so hard to look like he can kill with a punch, that I gave him the benefit of the doubt during this 2 hours. In the end, it made me not want to go to Paris.

Changling - 7. Not too bad of a movie overall; pretty much what I expected. The main reason I wanted to see it was to watch Jeffrey Donovan in something other than Burn Notice. I also think making a drinking game with that movie and the words 'my son' could be dangerous.

Who Watches?

So I have delayed a little bit on my review of Watchmen. I saw it opening weekend on an IMAX screen and I really enjoyed it. Then, I borrowed the full graphic novel from a coworker and enjoyed the reading, but not as much. Finally, I went back to the theatre again last night to watch it again in the new AMC Cinema Suites.

I'm going to rate the movie a 9 overall. I really enjoyed the feel of the film, especially during my first viewing. I did not like the graphic novel as much, mostly because it is so dated, but also because I think some of the characters were just too weak to be believed as true "heroes". I like all the changes made in the movie and I think it builds a stronger story in the long run.

The new theatre I will give a rating of 5. There were some good things -- a very comfy recliner, being served at my seat, more space, and no kids. But there were also some bad things -- the leather seats squeaked pretty loudly, some of the servers didn't crouch and thus blocked my view, some of the patrons thought that a smaller theatre meant they could make more noise, and bad food. In the end, I think I would go back, but it would have to be the right kind of movie and the right kind of circumstances.

Mini Movie Marathon

So on Saturday, I convinced my husband to go out for a change and see a movie. We started with this vague idea that we'd see one and maybe have lunch and then see if there was time for another. Sometimes it is nice to start a day with little planning in mind. He really wanted to see The Wrestler and I really wanted to see Slumdog Millionaire. I thought we'd start with his choice, but when we got to the theatre, I realized I had swapped the show times in my head so we ended up watching my movie first.

Slumdog Millionaire - Rating: 7. You might be as surprised by that number as I was while watching the movie. This is one of those few times where I let all the press and hype raise my expectations and went in hoping for something spectacular. While I did enjoy the film, it did not impress me the way I had hoped. The music was enjoyable and the acting performances were very good, and although things end on kind of an "up" note, I still left the theatre kind of sad.

So we went to Zios for lunch, where my day did not get any better. I used to love this particular chain restaurant, but things have been slowly going downhill over the past couple of years. Our lunch was edible, but just barely. The service was passable, but again, just barely. So we got in and out of the restaurant pretty quick and decided to try our luck at the theatre again and see Justin's choice.

The Wrestler - Rating: 6. There are certain aspects of this movie that I can respect, but in the end, I didn't feel that it brought anything new to the industry. This time I was not expecting as much, so I didn't come out disappointed. However, my growing depression for the day kind of exploded during that movie. My husband tried to explain it to me later -- tragedy is an accepted form of entertainment. In hindsight, I can see it and even understand -- heck, I've like many of the Hamlet films and other tragedies -- but I was not in the right frame of mind for it on Saturday.

Now that I was in a complete bummed-out mood, we decided to get some pizza for dinner and rent some "happy" movies to watch when we got home. So we got my favorite, Wheat State pizza along with 4 rentals.

Kung Fu Panda - Rating: 9. This is just what I needed. An enjoyable comedy that included the awesomeness of Kung Fu. Nothing like the mixture of laughter and action to make me feel better.

Death Race - Rating: 7. After a movie with more laughter and some action, we switched to one with more action and only some laughter. Again, when you start a movie with low expectations, usually you won't be disappointed. This one actually surprised me a little and I enjoyed it more than I anticipated. And I was literally laughing my head off at the disclaimer shown at the end of the film. For some reason, Hollywood executives think it is more likely that someone will try to duplicate the stunts of cars with Gatling guns, rather than say, the similarly crazy stunts in XXX. Their logic is .... well, laughable.

WALL-E - Rating: 8. Another enjoyable Pixar animation that made me laugh at their prediction of overweight humans on a star-cruise-line. Oh, and I can't wait for the pizza plants!

So that was enough for one day. We saved the fourth rented movie for later, and ended up watching it last night.

Max Payne - Rating: 4. Not much to say about this one.

Movies

Another thing I have been really lax about lately is posting my movie reviews. Some of that is because I don't feel like I see great movies very often, and some of that is related to the general work stress and seasonal depression. But since I'm in the mood, I figure I might as well post a few recent ones.

We had some friends over and watched Reign of Fire last night on the new projector. (Oh yes, we finally upgraded to a Play Station 3 and HD projector so that we can view Blue Ray movies.) I still really enjoyed it and will rate it an 8. I mean, who can scoff at dragons?

We also recently watched Shoot 'em Up, a kind of action movie farce that had me laughing hysterically. Despite the moments of pure humor, I will only rate this one a 7 because there were a few strange scenes that felt unnecessary to me.

Sunshine

I saw Sunshine last night and am still unsure of how much I liked it. It has a very similar feel to 2001, but with more interesting characters and more recent technology. Yet the visual style was at times very compelling and at times very annoying. Although I respect a director that doesn't show everything right away -- i.e. keeps the monster/bad-guy off-camera for awhile -- there is a point at which I am ready to finally SEE everything, even in gory detail. With this movie, I was disappointed because there never was the big "reveal" in the end. Yet, I'm such a Science Fiction fan, I'll probably watch it again and may even end up buying the movie because I enjoyed the story. Thus, we come to a final rating of 7.

Keeping up with the Potters

Well, I've obviously been keeping myself busy again and haven't updated this site in awhile. Many of you may know that I was skeptical of the Harry Potter books when they first came out. But a couple of years ago my sister got me hooked by loaning me the audio versions. I listened all the way through the sixth at that time, and recently decided I needed to hear them again so the story would be fresh in my mind for the apparent end of the series just released a few weeks ago. After I got through the fourth book for the second time, I went to see the most recent movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I'm going to rate this movie a 7. I need to review my ratings of all the earlier ones, because I believe this is the best movie to date, but it's still not nearly as good as the books. Now I have to finish listing to 5 and 6 so I can finally start hearing the new story and find out how it "ends". Don't tell me anything yet!!

Busy as usual, but it will fade

Work at the office is still pretty crazy, but I am hopeful that the overtime will drop-off this week. With that, and working on my sister's invitations, I haven't been reading any poems lately. However, just last week Justin decided he wanted to watch the Lord of the Rings movies again. I believe I've rated them all a 10, because they are all so awesome, yet after about the 10th viewing I can now see the sections where the story drags a bit. Anyway, one of my favorite parts is in the third movie, Return of the King, where the Steward of Gondor asks Pippin the hobbit to sing him a song. I know it's pretty sad, but the music and the way it is sung is so artful, I figure it passes for a poem this week:

Home is behind.
The world ahead.
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadow to the edge of night
Until the stars are all alight
Mist and shadow, cloud and shade.
All shall fade.
All shall fade.

Martial Sillines

Based on recommdations from a couple friends, I watched Kung Fu Hussle the other night. It took me awhile to warm up to it, but I think it was pretty enjoyable in the end. I'm only rating it a 7, however, because some of the "fu" went just a little over the top for me. I relate it as being very similar to Fong Sai Yuk with Jet Li, howevever, that didn't seem quite as outrageous for some reason. I probably should watch that one again soon so I have a better comparison.

Super-heroes

I had a comic-filled weekend that actually started late last week with the Fantastic Four. I'm rating this a 7 because it was enjoyable, but just didn't give me a "wow" feeling. Obviously, I thought it was good enough to go see Rise of the Silver Surfer this weekend, which I am also rating a 7. It really carries in the same vein as the first, which means that it was a well-written story but didn't have enough action to keep me on the edge of my seat.

After these very decent movies, I decided to ignore the critics and saw Ghost Rider. A rating of 3 seems almost too high. It seemed to me that the special effects team spent so much time on the graphics, that the production may have been rushed for everything else and they just threw a bunch of scenes together.

Pirates - Ho Hum

On Memorial Day, I went and saw Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End with several friends, and I have to say it didn't really impress me. I'm rating it a 6 because there are a few things I still like about the overall trilogy, but really it doesn't live up to the first movie. I mean after awhile even Jack Sparrow gets old. So then yesterday, I made up for the theatre disappointment by watching Garden State at home. I had forgotten some of the little details which made my rating a 9, but I was enjoyably reminded why it does deserve such high praise.

Movie Catch-Up

I haven't been keeping up with my movie ratings lately. Let me try to rectify that. Just last night we watched Casino Royale which I was really enjoying up until the last act. If the movie had ended after Bond won the poker tournament, it would have gotten a lot higher rating that the 6 it ended up with. Plus, I still think Pierce Brosnan is the best Bond ever. Last week we watched a couple of action movies -- one surprisingly good and the other unbelievably bad. I was not expecting much from Crank but the excellent editing and funny story bits left me rating it an 8. Unfortunately, we followed this up with the Protector, which my rating of 2 should say it all.

Spidey's back!

So yes, I went to a midnight showing of Spider-Man 3 Thursday night/Friday morning before I left to visit my brother this weekend. I did enjoy the movie, but not quite as much as I hoped. I think part of that was the fact that I was really tired when I saw it, so I'm going to watch it again at some point. For now, my rating is sitting at an 8, but that's not final.

Updated Review

Well, I got to see 300 again with Justin recently. I am finalizing my score at 8. Upon second viewing (and discussion with Justin), I realized that there isn't anything really new and exciting about this movie other than the visual style. The story has a lot of expected outcomes to it. This doesn't bother me too much because it is based on history, and the truth is, this is the kind of movie that I really enjoy -- big action, decent fight scenes, interspersed with just a touch of drama and maybe romance. There were the obligatory sex and Hollywood scenes, but I don't they detract from the better half of the movie. Although I realize this will probably not get into my top 10 favorite movies of all time, it is still one that I will buy to own and watch several times.

Worth watching

Finally, something worth going to the theatre for -- 300. Yes, I was pretty excited when I first saw the previews, but tried not to get my hopes too high. This time I was not disappointed. I'm going to rate it an 8 or a 9 -- luckily for me I'll get to see it a second time with Justin so I can finalize my score. I don't want to give too much away, but if you liked Sin City, or Gladiator, you will probably like this one too.

What'cha watching?

By the way, you may have noticed that I haven't posted a movie review in awhile. This is because I haven't watched anything memorable lately, as well as the fact that I've been ensnared in TV-land. In addition to keeping up-to-date on Heroes, Justin and I have caught up on House, Boston Legal, and are almost there with Numb3rs. I am really enjoying the last, not only because it shows one of my early loves in a good light (mathematics), but it also has a nice balance of drama, comedy, suspense, education, and character development. I am very glad that it hasn't gone too "soap opera" yet -- the characters get their short moments, but they don't dominate the episode plot-lines. And how can you look down on an entertainment medium that teaches about the uses of graphs, equations, data collection and more!

Night sleeper

We watched The Night Listener last night. I'm rating it a 4, because it was just plain boring. The story felt like it belonged in an hour episode of the Twilight Zone and not a full-length movie. Plus, there were several story elements that just felt "shallow" -- like they'd plant a friend here and there, but you'd never learn much about their personalities or anything. Not one of Robin Williams' best, to be sure.

Top Movies of 2006

Using a combined score from both my and Justin's rating, here are the highest ranked movies we saw in 2006. The titles should link to IMDB, and the rating should link to our comments. Some of these were released in late 2005, but they didn't get on last year's list. For more movie ratings, visit our home page, http://www.justinandangie.com.

Rank	Title	Angie Rating	Justin Rating
1	V for Vendetta	8	8
2	Inside Man	7	8
2	Little Miss Sunshine	7	8
4	Capote	7	7
4	District B13	7	7
4	Fearless	7	7
4	Jarhead	7	7
4	Kiss Kiss Bang Bang	7	7
9	Devil Wears Prada, The	5	8
9	Illusionist, The	6	7
9	Mission Impossible 3	6	7