The Golden Compass (Movie) DAMN IT! They pulled a Two Towers on me…they moved Shelob to the next movie…I guess I can accept that, but it’s still frustrating to be expecting one kind of ending and getting another ending (ala Sky Captain). As far as book adaptations go, this one does fairly well. Switches the 2nd and 3rd acts so that Hollywood can have it’s big battle as the movie finale…accelerates time acceptably (unlike Eragorn where Saphira grows exponentially in one instant) by adding characters and adjusting where information is divulged. Is more vague on the politics of the Magisterium and it’s interaction with the Church. VERY vague on what Dust is (a long time ago…our ancestors went against authority…yeesh*). The entire character of Fra Burber is merely there to accelerate the story and I can accept that. Little bits and pieces missing, but for my money, nothing I’m really … Continue reading →

So I saw it last week and I’m only reviewing it now. Bite me. The movie is a classic vigilante story, but Jodie Foster takes it up a notch with an artist’s perspective on the whole experience. Foster plays an aural artist with a radio show highlighting the sounds of New York. But after a tragic attack leaves her fiancé dead, she buys a gun, learns the very, VERY, basic mechanics of it’s operation and tries to recover her life. Several gunshots and a near romantic relationship with a cop looking for the vigilante and you’ve got a very terse drama with good acting. Jodie Foster is SHORT! I didn’t realize how short she was mainly because I never considered Terrence Howard a tall guy. I’m pretty sure they didn’t do any Green Mile magic (have Tom Hanks and David Morse walk in a ditch while Michael Clarke Duncan towers … Continue reading →

Seeing the original first always makes it difficult to enjoy a remake. Period end of story. Despite that, this is a really good remake. It does that thing that all remakes do though….it adds more people and more travel time in which to kill them off. It also adds more dialogue. Now this isn’t necessarily regrettable, especially in this case. It gives us more back-story (for both main characters) and more dramatic tension. The biggest thing I have to complain about this remake is that because of all that that I just mentioned, you lose some of the best part of the original: the dialogue in the bridal suite between Dan Evans (Christian Bale) and Ben Wade (Russell Crowe). But the dialogue that was there was fantastic. Lots of good added dialogue, but more importantly, a lot of the original dialogue. Some nasty foreshadowing, but you know….what good story doesn’t? … Continue reading →

This movie is awesome. Highly violent and ultra slick, it follows the idea behind Urinetown: that nothing kills a musical quicker than too much exposition. As I sit here listening to the soundtrack (which is phenomenal as well), I can’t even remember the opening titles. All I remember is the New Line Cinema logo flying in, then the holes being gun shot in, and then Clive Owen sitting on a bus bench. 30 seconds later, the gun fire starts and it doesn’t stop for a good 5 minutes. There is a story going on that is really quite plausible (the only thing I really miss is confirmation of Owen’s real identity, but I can live without it) and I just enjoyed the heck out of it. A lot of the stunts were really spectacular (over 40 stunt men), but the thing that impressed me the most was the stunt coordination. … Continue reading →