Talking About Stuff, with Mike and Christiana

Had a bit of a movie marathon this past weekend. Saw four! 28 Days Later, Terminator 3, Sinbad, and Pirates of the Caribbean.

But first, a brief interlude about writing. Now that I’ve finally dragged CiaG chapter 2 out of my brain, kicking and screaming no less, maybe I can finally catch up on some of the reviews I owe people. I’m starting to feel pretty good about this one though. I’m not entirely happy with the two chapters I’ve got so far, (what else is new,) but I’m starting to click. Ginny’s mom and dad showed up fully formed, (right decent of them, I thought,) and things are starting to move forward at last. So, I don’t know if any of my regular critters are reading this, but if so, this I swear, I will crit you back! I’ve just been crazy (well, crazier) lately.

Anyway, onto the movie reviews:

28 Days Later
If you’ve not heard of this, it’s director Danny “Trainspotting” Boyle’s take on the zombie flic. This time around, the zombies aren’t actually dead per se, just infected with “Rage,” a virus that spreads through blood and saliva, turning anyone who comes in contact with either substance into a vicious, irrational killing machine inside of 30 seconds. To boot, no more of that slow-but-steady dead-man’s shuffle for these guys. They’re more like world-class sprinters.

I’m not usually very big on horror movies. Nothing against them per se, I just find that I can’t get emotionally involved in them the way I can with most other types of movies. Not sure why that is. Maybe it’s just that the things that frighten me just don’t translate well to film. *shrug* Anyway, 28 Days Later is actually pretty good, so far as horror movies go. If you’re a horror fan, go for it, I doubt you’ll be disappointed. If not, eh, skip it, I’d say. It’s not the sort of movie that transcends the genre and becomes it’s own kind of art, like say, The Exorcist or Alien, or The Terminator, or Halloween. (Did I leave some out? Let me know!) But it is certainly competently made, and achieves the goals it set out to reach. Maybe that’s damning with faint praise, but there you go.

Terminator 3;
In my opinion, the first two Terminator movies are masterpieces of a sort, the first in horror, the second in action/adventure. I enjoy each on many different levels and tend to watch them whenever I catch them on.

Terminator 3 isn’t that good, but it’s pretty good nonetheless. My expectations were lowered by some of the early buzz, but given my enjoyment of the first two, I felt obligated to check out number three, even if James “King of the World” Cameron wasn’t involved. I didn’t get a masterpiece, but I did get some pretty awesome action sequences, some unexpectedly funny (intentionally so) scenes, and a couple of well-executed fake-outs. I see enough movies these days that I can often see what’s coming pretty early on. This one had me fooled twice. A well-made exciting action movie with interesting characters and on the whole, a worthy addition to the larger story, even if it’s not quite a masterpiece.

Sinbad:
I’m an animation fan. Always have been and plan on continuing to be for the foreseeable future. I liked the previous Dreamworks animated outings (Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, (TRtED gets funnier and funnier the better you know the dialogue,) and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron) quite a bit. This one is another excellent addition to a growing library.

It’s not high art. So I’m not going to spend a lot of time discussing influences or technique or anything, but the movie is nonetheless enormously entertaining. Sinbad (Brad Pitt) and Marina (Catherine Zeta-Jones) have a lot of chemistry together and there are plenty of nifty one-liners and exciting action. The villain, Eris, the goddess of Chaos, is also an example of great character design. The movie is a lot of fun. It’s one of the movies where you find yourself spontaneously making noises like: “Oh!”, “Whew!” And at one point, “Whoops!” Or at least, I found myself making those noises. YMMV ^_^

Pirates of the Caribbean:
Far and above, my favorite of the four. But then, for the last couple of weeks, I’ve found myself suppressing giddy giggles at the thought of Johnny Depp as a drunken pirate captain. *gleeful snicker* I wasn’t disappointed either. Yay, Johnny Depp! ^_^

Oh sure, there’s other stuff in this movie too. Some nifty special effects, particularly with the zombie pirates, who look normal until seen under moonlight. Orlando Bloom sure is easy on the eyes, even when not in full elf regalia. And so on and so on.

But I came to this movie for Johnny Depp. He’s fabulous and awesome and funny and... And I’ve got a big grin on my face just thinking about him.

Go see this movie. Enough said. ^_^

Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
There are a lot of people who won't like this movie, but really, who cares about them?
The plot makes no sense, the action sequences are ludicrously implausible, and the characterization is shallow and stereotypical. But you know what else? It's a hell of a lot of fun. Once you realize that it's not about a complex story or emotional depth, you can just sit back and enjoy watching a bunch of high-spirited girls ride motorcycles and dance and beat up bad guys. While watching it, I was left thinking: "Gee, I wish I was hot and invulnerable and able to defy the laws of physics." ^_^

Over at Ain't-It-Cool-News, Harry Knowles said, (and I agree,) that when this movie comes out on DVD, you could watch the movie on "Shuffle" and it wouldn't really make any difference. The movie is all about staging interesting/exciting/funny action sequences, so if that's what you want, this movie won't be a waste of your eight bucks.

The Hulk
Eh.
Parts of it were definitely good. It certainly had higher ambitions than most comic-book hero movies, it actually shoots for some genuine emotional depth and meaning, and even better, it partially succeeds. A lot of the acting is pretty good, and the action sequences are fairly exciting too, even if some of the hulk's feats seem a bit implausible. (Note: This is only a problem if the movie makes any pretense towards realism, see above.) I think the ending was a little confusing, but for me, the movie's biggest problem is that it just didn't make me care very much. Some people will feel differently and the more power to them. Me? I'm not sorry I saw it, but I'm not going out of my way to see it again either.

On DVD
Punchdrunk Love
This movie isn't for everybody, but if it's on your wavelength, you will love it. Don't be fooled by Adam Sandler's name on the cover art, this is no goofy comedy. The writer/director is Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia) and the movie is much more in line with those than, say, The Waterboy.

If you come to this movie expecting dumb jokes and slapstick humor, you're going to be very disappointed. For that matter, if you come to this movie expecting Sleepless In Seattle you'll be disappointed. No, this is a love story for lonely outcasts.

I don't know if you fall into that category. I suspect that we all do from time to time. But what Mr. Anderson (No Matrix jokes please) has done here is a rethink of Sandler's other roles. Adam Sandler often plays a somewhat awkward, soft-spoken character with the potential for fits of rage. But in his other movies, it is played for laughs. Here, it's played straight.

Barry Eagan (Sandler) is a man with seven sisters, and it's not that they don't love him, but thirty-some years of seven-against-one has turned Barry into a timid, insecure man who occasionally kicks through sliding-glass doors. He hates himself, but he's not sure why. He's terribly unhappy, but he doesn't know what he wants. All he knows is that he is lonely and sometimes he can't stop crying. Then one day, he meets Lena.

If that sounds funny to you, rent the Waterboy. Go ahead, nobody's judging you. I don't have any problem with the waterboy, but I just want it to be absolutely clear that they are very different movies. You'll just think this one is weird. But if Barry tugs at your heartstrings instead, I think that you should give this one a look.