2012

This is a really, really long movie. I'm pretty sure it's at least twice as long as it needed to be. What it boils down to is an elaborate version of that old game of ethics, Lifeboat, and that shouldn't take dang near three hours to play.

I need to start with the "escape from Pasadena in a limo" scene, which was so far-fetched that, rather than biting my nails through it, I was laughing. It wasn't so much disbelief at the destruction, but disbelief at the continual narrow escapes through constant peril. Evidently this was the only family to make it out of California alive. It was especially fun to see the limo catching some air. But it was kind of annoying to see these people survive so many desperately dangerous situations time and again. It's not like they were smarter, stronger, or faster than everyone else; they were just very, very lucky. And of course their luck didn't end after they made it out of California--the ultimate example being the emergence of Jackson with a gasping breath from what everyone assumed was his watery grave. Yeah, that's one of those spoilers I warned you about. But right before that moment I literally thought, Oh, come on, they've spent the entire movie priming us for the idea that Jackson will never die. He can't have come this far only to die now. (So he obliged me and reappeared).

I was really disappointed that they didn't play R.E.M.'s song "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" at all during this movie, not even during the credits. Of course the credits would have been the wrong place for it, as the movie ended on a note of hope and triumph, not doom and despair. (Yup, kind of another spoiler). But would it have killed them to put the song on the radio when Jackson was driving his kids to Yellowstone? Maybe they did and I just missed it.

Layer Cake

This might have been another Guy Ritchie film (and, in fact, this director--Matthew Vaughn--produced several of Ritchie's films). It's yet another British gangsta movie, of course, but a serious one, unlike the somewhat whimsical Snatch or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, which both had some good laughs.

I like Vaughn's transitions. (I don't know film-making-speak, so that's the best I can do). Two notable examples: first, zooming in on Craig's intense blue eyes as he sat in his apartment trying to figure out what he should do, and zooming out to see he's wearing a ski mask and has a plan; or, going from his drug-and-alcohol-induced frenzy to a straightened-out man in a suit with the swing of a mirrored medicine cabinet door. I also noticed the interesting camera angle when Craig's character was discussing guns with Gene and the scene was shot up through the glass tabletop. But . . . should great filmmaking draw attention to itself?

They obviously didn't consult me when putting together the soundtrack. Not that there was anything wrong with it; it was just not my kind of music. I was not impressed.

Daniel Craig sure has some nice arms. Cool apartment, too, with its unique fire-shaped sculpture in the fireplace.

Inkheart

Yes, this is our second movie of the day. Friday night is always movie night at our house (though most of the time we watch movies that only a kid could like, so I don't bother blogging about them--honestly, I usually don't even watch them). I'd had netflix ship us Inkheart before I decided to go see the Percy Jackson movie, and I didn't want to hang onto Inkheart until next Friday, so I figured tonight we'd have a double feature of sorts.

I read this book several years ago and I loved it. (Unfortuntely, by the way, in my opinion the sequel came nowhere near to measuring up, so even though I bought the third book as soon as it came out, I still haven't read it.) It's been so long since I read Inkheart that I really can't tell you how faithful this movie was to the book, but from what I recall, it captures all the main points. The movie isn't bad, but I definitely remember being much more absorbed by the book. Not surprising; it almost always works that way.

Eliza Bennett (the girl who plays Meggie) looks surprisingly like a young Laura Dern. It's also kind of funny to see Horace Slughorn in this movie.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

I read this book a couple of weeks ago and have been considering since then whether I wanted to make a trip to the theater to see it. Well, I figured I'd give the kids a treat after school today and we all went to see it together.

It was scarier than I expected it to be! I think I was a little more sensitive to this because I had my three-year-old with me. It's not like I wet my pants or anything. Anyway, I think the movie actually improved on the book in some cases; for instance, I liked the pearl-hunt idea as opposed to the pearls just being handed to Percy. And for once, I can't remember anything that I was really, really hoping to see onscreen that they left out of the movie. But there were a LOT of differences between the book and the movie. Obviously those in charge of making this movie didn't feel the same sort of obligation that those making the Harry Potter movies feel in being faithful to the book.

It will be interesting to see what Logan Lerman (the boy who played Percy) does in the next few years. That is, if he doesn't get stuck in a Percy Jackson time warp, as has happened with Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame. The reason I wonder is because I think Lerman looks like a younger (and cuter!) Zac Efron. Or maybe it's just the hair.

The Time Traveler's Wife

I came to this movie intentionally planning to try to view it as its own separate entity, even though I have read the book (and it was one of my favorites of the last year, by the way). I wanted to determine whether the movie was a good one on its own merit, because I knew it wouldn't measure up to the book but I thought it might be decent anyway.

I didn't like the movie's hint that Henry's time traveling was the cause of his mother's death. Unless I'm totally forgetting that part of the book (it has been six months since I read it), the accident wasn't Henry's fault. He did time-travel just at the point of impact, but his fading away did not distract his mother in her driving. And speaking of the fading away, I don't remember it being so gradual in the book. There were, of course, other differences between the book and the movie (some of which I actually liked. I'm glad Henry didn't lose his feet, and I didn't mind not seeing Henry's 15-year-old-self with himself doing whatever it was they did to each other in their bedroom), but I'm not going to bother listing every difference. I feel like the movie had all the most important points, anyway. It didn't really capture the essence of the book, and turned it into a sappy chick flick, but it was a pretty good sappy chick flick. Better than I expected, anyway!

The Hangover

This movie is funny enough, although it's not a laugh riot, nor is it especially clever. I might have laughed harder if I had watched this at about 2 a.m. (which I think is one reason why I liked Raising Arizona so much the first time I saw it) or if I was still in college (which I think is the other reason why I liked Raising Arizona so much the first time I saw it). I kind of lost interest once the mystery of Doug's whereabouts was revealed by the formerly nude Asian man. I was also really disappointed in the soundtrack--not my kind of music.

I just wish they had explained why there was a chicken in their hotel room the next morning.

Dead Poets Society

I'm just like you--aghast at the inexcusable fact that I'd never seen this movie before. It came out while I was in high school, and I'm pretty certain that every other person in my graduating class saw it. I don't know how I missed it.

I kind of thought this might turn out a lot like the book A Separate Peace by John Knowles (which, incidentally, was one of the only two assigned reading books I recall really enjoying in high school. The other one was Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, in case you felt like you needed to know.) As I'm sure you know, though, there wasn't much similarity between the two, other than both stories being about a group of boarding school chums, one of whom dies.

I only wish there were more such inspired and inspiring teachers as Mr. Keating as portrayed by Robin Williams in this movie. Or if only every person could experience at least one such teacher during their education. I think I even learned from Mr. Keating. My favorite lesson of his was about how we should constantly remind ourselves to look at things in a different way. It is only my preference for crawling into bed that keeps me from climbing onto my desk right now.