A "The Hobbit" Movie Review

On Sunday December 23rd, I got to see the new movie "The Hobbit" by Peter Jackson at the Arundel Mills Mall Cinemax Theater. I'd been looking forward for some time to this movie. I expected it to be excellent and, it was. The movie is taken from the book "The Hobbit" written by J. R. R. Tolkien in 1938 though the movie does have some changes from the book.

For starters, the character of Thorin Oakenshield is developed far more. We see him as a brave and inspirational leader determined to reclaim his lost home. Also, we learn more about the Necromancer who turns out to be Sauron who hides in the fortress of Dol Guldur. Another change is the introduction of Radagast the Brown who is living what would become Mirkwood. It's Radagast that discovers the Necromancer and informs Gandalf of it. Another change is the orc Azog. Azog was the orc chieftain living in Moria who started the Dwarf-Orc war that culminated in the battle of Azanulbizar. We see the battle in the movie BUT, the battle takes a different turn from what Tolkien told. Tolkien has Azog killed in the battle by a young (32 years old) Dain Ironfoot. In the movie, Jackson has Thorin cut off part of Azog's arm and, Thorin assumes he dies of his wounds. Azog doesn't and hunts down Thorin and his company with the intent of killing Thorin.

None of these changes hurt the movie and may enhance it. I suspect we'll end up caring more for the character Thorin and his death scene with Bilbo in the 3rd movie will be far more poignant. Also, the movie helps tie in some of what we see in Lord of the Rings. We see where Gandalf got the Elven blade Glamdring and the petrified trolls we see briefly in The Fellowship of the Ring.

Concerning the 3D technology, I saw the movie in XD 3D. I didn't feel any nausea. I did notice that the images were sharper and, I think the colors were brighter. Those helped make the breathtaking outdoors scenes even more stunning. There are scenes that will knock your socks off in that way.

The movie itself is nearly 3 hours long but, it never drags. At the end, I found it hard to believe I had sat for nearly 3 hours in the theater. It didn't feel that long. There is lots of action with some humor thrown in to keep the movie from being too dark. We start to see Bilbo develop discover things about himself he doesn't know are there though I think Gandalf can see them. The movie ends at a good point with the band looking across Mirkwood to the far distant Lonely Mountain which is their ultimate objective. Jackson pans into the mountain and gives us a look inside where we see a huge eye open in a tantalizing glimpse of Smaug.

Overall, I'd definitely recommend this movie. Any fan of Middle Earth should be delighted with it. It is so believable and well done. Howard Shore does another fine job score wise with the movie which helps create the appropriate moods. New Zealand itself shows its best in the movie and will tempt lots of people to visit this stunning country. Hopefully, by now, the theaters won't be so jam packed though the movie still pulled in over $35 million this past weekend. It wasn't when I saw the movie though I attended the 11:35 a.m. showing. Folks may be even tempted to see it a 2nd time as I am because, there is a LOT to take in. Happy viewing all!

Prince Caspian Review

Yesterday, I finally got around to watching my Prince Caspian DVD. I very much enjoyed The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and had looked forward to watching Prince Caspian. I found myself somewhat disappointed with the movie. Supposedly, they tried to make it darker and less religious. I think they succeeded there though I don't think that helped the movie. At times, it seemed absurd how whipped the Narnians would be and then, we're to believe they some how rally one more time. Also, Prince Caspian played by Ben Barnes seems a bit of a nitwit at times screwing on Peter Pevensie's plan to attack his treacherous uncle's castle though Barnes did look the part of handsome noble prince. One interesting take the director Andrew Adamson did with the movie was make the Telmarines very Spanish. I think you can see in them shades of the Spanish Conquistadors who were equally treacherous. Adamson increased the number of special effects in the movie vice the previous movie The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe but, he did a good job of not letting them overwhelm the movie. One particularly delightful character in the movie was Reepicheep, the swashbuckling mouse.

Overall, Prince Caspian is a nice movie though I don't think it is as good as The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. I would recommend for those who want to understand some points better like how the Telmarines took over Narnia to read the book. I look forward to checking out the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Stay tuned for a review on that. Happy movie watching all.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

One of the ways airlines help passengers whittle the time away on long flights is movies. Such was my case on my Air Canada flight from Toronto to Tel Aviv. I looked through the airplane's movie selection (it was quite extensive) and chanced upon Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. The reviews I'd read on Rotten Tomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com) said the movie was very good and grittier than the previous Mission Impossible movies. As I've never seen of the Mission Impossible movies, I couldn't say how it stacked up to the other ones. I did find the movie very good. The story line was easy enough to follow with the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) getting the blame for an explosion at the Kremlin and, Cruise's team having to go rogue in order to prove the Force's innocence. The movie moves along very well traveling to various exotic locations with plenty of action along the way. I doubt anyone watching this action thriller would get bored with it. Some of the action sequences were pretty incredible including Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) climbing the Burj Khalifa building in Dubai. The movie also showed some humor at times such as the time one of Hunt's faulty climbing gloves comes back to taunt him as he tries to climb the Khalifa building. Cruise is well supported by the other members of his team Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner and Paula Patton who play Benji Dunn, William Brandt and Jane Carter respectively. Special mention has to go to Paula Patton who does a great job of playing a beautiful seductress at times and at other times, one bad ass butt kicking babe. I wouldn't want to get on her bad side.

Overall, the movie was a very nice action packed fast moving movie with plenty of surprises leaving you wondering till the end how the team will pull off its mission. The movie ends with Cruise accepting another mission from the IMF. Considering that the movie was the highest grossing Mission Impossible movie of the 4 (as well as the 5th highest grossing movie of 2011), I think it's very likely we'll see Cruise in action again in another Mission Impossible movie. Happy viewing all.

Movie Review

Yesterday, I watched the 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean movie. As I haven't watched the 2nd movie, I had no idea of some of the stuff the characters were talking about. Still, after the initial action, you get into the main gist of the third movie i.e. freeing Jack Sparrow from the hell Davy Jones sent him to and freeing the sea goddess Calypso so she can stop Davy Jones from his reign of terror on the seas. There are all kinds of double crosses and people keeping secrets from the others in the movie. I found there were so many that it got rather ridiculous. I also found the substory of Calypso and Davy Jones a bit much.

Rolling Stones member Keith Richards appears in the movie and I found that neat. He looks cool as a pirate captain and as Sparrow's father. While he doesn't have a major part in the movie, he does all right with the part he has. He adds a neat aspect to the movie.

Overall, I found the movie so-so. The action was good. The special effects were good. But, the story itself was a bit ridiculous. All the double crosses became a bit much. Also, the movie is long. It goes just over 3 hours. I definitely wouldn't see this movie twice and I doubt I'll buy it on DVD. It just doesn't seem worth it to me. Cheers all!

Movie Review - "The Queen"

I finally got out and saw the movie "The Queen" today. I've been meaning to get out and see it ever since I read about it in one of the royalty magazines I read. The movie is about Queen Elizabeth II and the week of Princess Diana's death. It tells the story of a lot of things that happened behind the scenes and out of the public eye. It's a fascinating movie in that we get to see a lot of maneuvering behind closed doors and the difference of values between generations as well as the enormous hype the press did on Diana's death. The British public took some of their grief and frustration over Diana's death out on the Queen. The public blamed the royals for the ostracism of Diana not realizing that Diana didn't want to play by the rules and so caused some of the ostracism herself. We see how the royals were frustrated by the two personas of Diana. The public persona was one of a princess who was very caring and supported a number of worthwhiled causes. The behind the scenes persona was of a princess that didn't want to play by established protocol and upstaged her husband Charles who was the whole reason she became the celebrity she became. If Diana had never married Charles, she never would've become the figure she became. There is no question Charles did Diana wrong in not giving up his relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles but, in royal circles it would've been expected that Diana would've turned a blind eye to it and carried on. She refused and took the relationship to the public doing damage to the royal institution. Public opinion ignored Diana's lack of loyalty to the royal institution and instead saw her as something of a saint and victim. To make matters worse, the press were quick to seize on the lack of a response from Buckingham Palace as this helped sell more papers. It didn't matter to them that their stirring things up could've harmed the monarchy. Fortunately, we see how the Queen managed to calm things down in a speech. Time helped things further. Two months after the crisis week, the issue was no longer an issue. The Queen survived the crisis and moved on though undoubtedly stunned by what had happened.

Overall, I thought the movie "The Queen" very well done. It was fascinating to see all the moves that went on behind the scenes. The movie is definitely one for adults. I think kids would find it boring and wouldn't understand what all the fuss was about concerning Diana's death. Another reason the movie appealed to me is because I'm a bit of an anglophile. I love England and find it a beautiful and fascinating country. London still remains my favorite city. If you're a fellow anglophile, I think you'd find the movie fascinating in that regard. If you want to see the movie, you may have to hunt for it as the number of theaters showing the film is dropping. I guess the newness has worn off and other new movies are coming out. Still, the movie is one that might be worth looking for. If you're an anglophile or are simply fascinated with the British Monarchy then you'll want to see "The Queen."

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

I watched Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events today. I haven't read the books associated with the movie so I can't say how the movie compares to the books. I thought Jim Carrey did a nice job of playing the evil Count Olaf. Also, I liked the people who played the Baudelaire children. I thought some of the other characters very strange in the movie. I think there were also some interesting scenes such as when the kids figure out to save themselves from a train and a house that is disintegrating all around them. The kids would've done the tv hero MacGyver proud. Those were the parts I think I enjoyed most.

Overall, I wasn't very impressed with the movie. I'm definitely glad I didn't bother to try to see it at the movie theater when it first came out. I do feel it is a family movie or one for kids though it does carry a PG rating. I would rate the movie as so-so and definitely not worth buying. I don't know if there are any plans to make any more movies from this series. If there are, I hope they do a better job next time. For this movie, I'd say if you don't have anything better to watch rent it otherwise, I'd recommend you pass on this one. It's definitely not one to write home about.

Prince of Egypt

I watched Prince of Egypt today. Ok, I know it's been out a long while but I'm terrible about watching movies. You can ask my sister Ellie. I remember raving about The Matrix and, she reminded me that by the time I got around to watching it, it had been out a year and a half. Anyway, in regards to the cartoon movie Prince of Egypt, I thought they did a really nice job of it though they definitely took some liberties. For example, Moses wife didn't go with him to Egypt. She later visited him after he had led the Israelites out of Egypt and as I remember, she didn't stay then either. Also, the Israelites wanted to kill Moses when they got to the Red Sea and saw Pharoah's army hot on their tails. Still, the essence is right about God hearing the cries of his people and him choosing Moses to lead them. Moses did perform a number of miracles which ultimately resulted in Pharaoh releasing Moses' people.

If you don't like Judeo-Christian religious stuff, you won't care for this cartoon/movie. If you do, I think you'll enjoy it. I know I did. It is a nice story and, the artwork in it is pretty decent. You should be able to find the movie for rent at various video rental stores. I don't know what it would cost you if you wanted to buy it though it should be less than $18 or $20. It has been out a while. I would definitely say Prince of Egypt is worth renting or buying and watching.

The Greatest Game Ever Played

Recently, I watched the movie The Greatest Game Ever Played by Disney Studios. It is typical Disney in that it is good wholesome family film. There isn't any wholesale violence, swearing, or sex in the film which makes it unique sadly among today's standard movie fare. The movie is about a young boy named Frances Ouimet who lives in early 20th century Boston. He lives across from a golf course and dreams of playing golf. His idol is Harry Vardon, the great British golfer. He tries to break into the game but he is met by massive class bias as well as a disapproving father who considers golf a waste of time. Because of a deal made with his father, he gives up his dream of playing golf and pursues a career in business but fate has other things in store for Frances. The U.S. Open comes to the very course that Frances used to play at. Friends at the course offer him a chance to qualify for the Open and he decides to take it. Frances qualifies only to suffer another problem when he loses his caddy who is offered more money by someone else. A spunky 10-year old ends up taking his place. This 10-year old at times nearly steals the movie as he has some hilarious lines. Later, in the tournament, members of the club committee suggest that Frances dump his caddy but he refuses and thereby begins a friendship that will last a lifetime.

As the tournament progresses, Frances slowly crawls to the top of the board and finds himself tied with his idol Harry Vardon and another British golfer. When the fourth round finishes, it is a three way tie and the rules committee decide on an 18-hole tie-breaker. To the astonishment of the crowd, Frances goes head-to-head with Vardon and the other golfer staying tied with them for over 15 holes. Vardon tries a psychological maneuver but thanks to Ouimet's caddy, Frances doesn't fall for it and takes the lead by 1 shot. Vardon however isn't done and the tension continues. The other British golfer falls out of the competition after putting a ball in the trees and it becomes a battle between Ouimet and Vardon. It'll go down to the very last hole and the very last putt.

If you like a suspenseful golf story or of one of the underdog coming from behind, this movie is for you. It is also a movie that sends a beautiful message of persuing one's dreams in the face of great obstacles. It is a really nice film and I enjoyed it. It is definitely an excellent family film. That said, I don't know if it's worth the $18 or $20 some stores are asking for it. I might wait until it comes down in price before I buy it. I do feel it is worth renting and seeing. If you want to see a nice film that'll leave you feeling good at the end, check out The Greatest Game Ever Played.

Movie Review - The Dish

Yesterday, I finally pulled out a movie I'd bought on the spur of the moment and watched it. The movie is called The Dish. It is about a group of Australians and one American who run a communications relay station in Parkes, Australia. This station became the primary communications station which forwarded to the world television images of Neil Armstrong's historic walk on the moon. However, as the movie tells, there were some major glitches and the historic moon walk was almost NOT televised. These glitches as well as struggles between the Australians and the American give the movie its conflict. The movie also is a time capsule of how things were in Australia in the 60's as well as the world. To those of us who find laptop computers and cell phones blase, it is an eye opener to see a time when the standard calculator was a slide rule! It also gives us a benchmark on how far we've come since that Armstrong's historic moment. Since that time, we've sent mechanized probes that have explored the Martian surface and explorer spacecraft to the very edge of our solar system. There is talk of sending a manned mission to Mars. The mind boggles how far we've come and yet the first truly great step was when Armstrong stepped on the moon. Space travel from that point was no longer the stuff of science fiction writers. This movie gives us picture of those incredible tumultuous times.

I believe the movie was created for the Australian market but I think Americans would enjoy the movie as well. It shows some of the funny quirks of the Australians as well as some of the differences between American and Australian english. Repeatedly, one of the Australians on the team have to translate for the American when one of the other Australians starts using Australian English terms. It can be very amusing. Overall, I'd rate the movie as very nice. It is something to watch on a day when you want to want to watch something relaxing and funny. I'm not sure how easy it would be to be able to find the movie at your local video rental shop but, if you can't find it there, you should be able to buy it cheaply at Movies Unlimited or some other big internet store that offers lots of movies for sale. I believe when I bought the movie, it cost less than $10.

Movie Review - The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

I'd heard good things about The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and I decided to check it out. Today, I took my friend Tami to see it. If you are a liberal, an atheist, or someone who hates Christian theology, this movie is not for you. C.S. Lewis became a devout Christian and loaded the story with Christian allegory. At one point in the movie, the Lion who's name is Aslan (I don't know how that may have a tie into Christianity) is beaten, shorn, bound, and executed. He later vanishes and rises from the dead. The stone that he lay on in death is broken. The two girls who play the true daughters of Eve stand by his dead body and grieve for him. All of these have clear associations with Jesus Christ. There are other allegories which I won't cover in this review. I think if you're a Christian or someone wants to take a kid to a movie that sends a good moral message, this movie is for you. I found it absolutely fantastic. The story itself is outstanding. The special effects done by WETA Workshop for top notch, and the fight scenes are very exciting. I would strongly recommend this film to anyone barring the three groups I mentioned at the beginning of this blog. I definitely plan to buy it when it comes out on DVD. I also plan to buy and read the books which I've never read.

On a slightly different topic, while watching the previews, I found out that a second Pirates of the Caribbean movie will be coming out this summer. I thought the first one was fantastic and I look forward to the second one. Johnny Depp plays an awesome pirate. Based on the preview, it looks like it's going to be another great movie. We'll see. Keep your eyes alert for this new forthcoming flick.

Movie Review - Sahara

One movie my sister Ellie recommended to me was "Sahara." It stars Matthew McConaughey, Penelope Cruz, and Steve Zahn. It is a comedy action movie. For my sister, I think the big attraction was seeing McConaughey flex his muscles in the movie. My sister pointed out that guys would enjoy some nice shots of Ms. Cruz. After promising her I'd get around to watching it, I finally sat down yesterday and watched the movie. I found the movie very entertaining. It has plenty of action, some nice laughs, and an easy to follow plot. It is also only 2 hours long which makes it easy to sit through. The story is McConaughey and Zahn play two deep sea treasure hunters while Ms. Cruz is a doctor for the World Health Organization. The two come together when McConaughey and Cruz are drafted to give Cruz a ride to Mali so she and her boss can investigate what they think initially is an outbreak of an unknown plague. After McConaughey and Zahn drop Cruz off in Mali, they go off in search of a Confederate Civil War ironclad that somehow made it to Africa (to be honest this is highly unlikely but it does make an interesting story) and then travelled along the Niger River inland until it became stuck far inland. The crew of the ironclad all die of unknown causes. McConaughey and Zahn run into unexpected opposition from the Malian military forces who attack their boat. Cruz is also attacked and her boss is murdered by the Malian Army. McConaughey realizes the Malian forces that attacked them were after Cruz and go off to help her arriving in time to save her. The three then seek to escape the Malian military by fleeing to Toureq rebel territory. It is here Zahn finds a drawing that depicts the lost ironclad. It is also here that Cruz discovers that people aren't dying of a plaque at all. Instead, it a deadly toxin that is getting into the water supply some how. The three then go off in search of the ironclad which is located by an abandoned fort. They find the fort and while looking around, they discover an unknown waste disposal plant that they break into and find out is causing deadly toxins to seep into the underground water supply. The director of the plant doesn't want people to know of the plant and it was he that tried to stop Cruz from entering Mali and identifying what was making people sick. When the three adventurers break into the plant the plant manager captures the three. He keeps Cruz while sending McConaughey and Zahn to the evil President of Mali who presumably wants to kill them after they killed 7 or 8 of his soldiers rescuing Cruz. The two escape and go back to rescue Cruz. When the two reappear, the plant manager decides to destroy the plant and take Cruz with him to presumably keep her quiet. McConaughey succeeds in rescuing Cruz after fighting an evil turbaned fiend. Zahn manages to keep the plant from exploding so they can presumably stop the toxins from entering the water supply. The action doesn't end there. They still have to find the lost ironclad which is carrying a fortune in Confederate gold.

While leaving the plant, the three are attacked by the evil ruthless Malian President in his attack helicopter. The three escape to the fort where McConaughey conceives of a plan to foil the evil President. They use explosives to uncover the ironclad which they promptly climb into. Once inside, they discover the evil President's attack helicopter has armor piercing bullets. They decide to shoot the President's helicopter down using one of the cannon in the ironclad (the story does get a bit farfetched at this point, I mean these folks are really going to know how to fire an Civil War cannon, come on). After one misfire, with the ruthless President deciding he is going to take our heroes out himself, McConaughey manages to fire the cannon without killing himself. The shell goes through the helicopter windshield, lands inside the helicopter, and after the few suspenseful seconds, explodes. Good bye evil President. Naturally, after that the evil Malian Army surrenders and our adventurer's Toureq friends show up. Lastly, McConaughey gets the girl. We see him at the beach with Cruz. Cruz undoubtedly delights her male fans at this point by wearing a very nice two piece bikini. The movie ends with them rollicking playfully in the sea.

While the story does get seriously farfetched at times as I noted, it does move along, and has some good laughs. I found it a fun movie and would definitely recommend it anyone. The movie is now out on DVD. Cheers!

Movie Review - Pirates of the Caribbean

My sister Ellie and my friend Tami would be shocked. I finally broke down and watched a movie. I own something like 60 or 70 movies on DVD and haven't watched at least half of them. Some of them I've owned for over 2 years or more. I've been promising my sister Ellie that I would finally watch "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Sahara." Well, I finally watched "Pirates of the Caribbean" and here is what I think of it.

"Pirates of the Caribbean" is a fun movie. If you want lots of double crossing pirates, sword play, cannon fire, and treasure, "Pirates of the Caribbean" is for you. I found it a very fun movie to watch though I did take issue with its subtle moral measure that people aren't entirely evil. The hero played by Johnny Depp is a case in point. He is a pirate who robs ships and kills people but we find that he also has a kind and brave heart. It is impossible to not love his character. The other hero in the movie played by Orlando Bloom (re: Legolas in the Lord of the Rings movies) finds this out in time. If we go by this moral message, we can say Saddam Hussein wasn't all bad because he did take good care of his mother and loved his wives while he calmly massacred the Kurds and the Shia. The fact is some people overall are pure and simply bad. Pirates for all our idolizing of them were for the overwhelming part BAD and deserved what the punishment they got. However, as long as we ignore this moral message, we can sit back and enjoy this really well done fantasy tale movie. Barring the subtle moral message, I very much enjoyed it and would heartily recommend this movie to anyone who wants to watch some fun escapist fare.