National Treasure 2: The Book of Secrets

I'm not sure why I wanted to see this movie. I did not like the first particularly well. I am completely tired of Nicolas Cage, particularly with his new ridiculous hair. And, it was a sequel. I guess it is the kind of movie I like, so guiltily, I wanted to see it. It did not surprise me. It was OK. It was vaguely entertaining in spots. But, it was also bad. I don't like Jon Voight. He was bad. Nicolas Cage still has terrible hair. The "funny" sidekick was not. Ed Harris put in his typically good bad guy performance and Helen Mirren was very good, but I like her anyway. The movie was very Scooby Dooish. It was Disney and seemed written by Disney's typical audience. Oh well. Maybe if they come out with version three I will be able to avoid it. Probably not.

The Golden Compass

I liked this movie, also. There were some really cool visuals, the bears were good, the spy flys were good. I haven't read the book in a while, but it felt like the movie was a bit anesthetized. There didn't seem to be anything even vaguely controversial about it. Nicole Kidman was really good as the icy Miss Coulter. Lyra was decent. I hope they go ahead and make the others, because this really played like a setup kind of story, a prelude rather than an actual story. The fight for the kids near the end was good, though. Pretty good, not great, I think with a bit more story I would have liked it better.

Enchanted

Two in a row with Olivia. This was better than Fred Claus, in my opinion. In fact, I liked it. I thought Amy Adams was good, playing the fish out of water very well. The prince was also really good. Patrick Dempsey played his Grey's Anatomy character, essentially. The girl was ok. There were some funny moments, some fairy tale jokes that fell flat. The clean up scene with the pigeons rats and roaches was very good, though. And the song in the park was good. Susan Sarandon was decent in the bit she played. The movie seemed to espouse anti-romaticism, which is not a bad thing, I think. Maybe that kind of thinking would prevent some unwanted experiences. I liked the damsel rescuing the prince in distress angle, though I don;t think of it as original. Nothing unpleasant here, nothing great, either.

Fred Claus

I enjoyed this movie, though I don't think it was particularly good. It was sort of a Vince Vaughn vehicle, which is fine, cause I like Vince Vaughn and he was funny. There were also some good supporting cast moments, with Ludacris, Paul Giamatti, and the little kid. Kevin Spacey was great. I really thought he showed out. I also like one central tenet of the movie, that generosity should not be based on the performance of the individual, but should come no matter what. Get rid of the naughty or nice list, receive a gift no matter what. I like that sentiment and it's parallels with mercy, rights, dignity, freedom. I can treat you well whether you deserve it or not. A good thing to think about when we talk about throwing people in Guantanamo and throwing away the key. So, a decent movie, but nothing spectacular. And if you don't like Vince Vaughn, maybe not even decent. Though Kevin Spacey really did a good job.

August Rush

This was advertised as a very schlocky movie and it came through, very schlocky. It was quite a major league cast, Robin Williams, Keri Russell, Johnathan Rhys Meier, Terrence Howard, Mykelti Williamson and Freddie Highmore. I am not a big fan of Highmore, although I liked Finding Neverland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This role was a difficult one, it asked him to do a lot, hear music noone else could hear, exude joy, but I did not like his performance. Particularly his weird smile. Not a fan. The music was enticing, I enjoyed listening to it. One note sounded false, though, taking an elementary theory book and usign it to learn how to write all manner of musical expressions. Having recently been aroun numerous elementary theory books, there were a lot of symbols that were clearly not available. (I have no problem accepting that he was a musical savant and the first time he touches a guitar can play it and play it well, or the first time he puts music on paper it is a completely orchestrated symphony, but knowing eighth rests from an elementary theory book? I think not!) I thought Rhys Meiers was good, I thought Robin Williams was decent. I liked some of the ideas that were brought up, though I don't like some of the conclusions reached. Music is in your soul. There are wild people who can help you come to terms with it and appreciate it. But in order to truly "do" it, you must go to the academic body and learn the "proper" structures. I don't know if I buy that. Not to mention a whole lot of hokum. But, it was OK. And, I liked the music.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in The Room

This has sat on my DVD player for a long time and I finally got around to watching it. I did not like it so much. I feel like the goal of a documentary is either to get people to emotionally connect with the subjects, or to explain what happened in a particular situation. I think this one assumed a preexisting emotional connection, or, assumed some knowledge of the situation that I did not have. Perhaps if I had known more about it going in I might have enjoyed it more. But, as it is, it di not explain what happened very well, at least not to me. I don't leave the film feeling like I have any greater knowledge of the situation, other than some implication that Bush gets tarred in the scandal. Which is fine, but I wish it had been more explanatory. Oh well.

No Country For Old Men

I liked this movie a lot. It was a very pretty movie. The cinematography was good. I really liked listening to all of the Texans. They sounded really good. I thought Josh Brolin was good, I certainly thought he looked straight out of Texas. Tommy Lee Jones was very good as well, a bit reminiscent of a depressed Andy Griffith, only in Texas. Woody Harrelson was very good too, though I have seen him as Texas cowboy before, he certainly pulls it off well. And, Javier Bardem was very good as an alien in this landscape. Furthermore, all of the bit players were good too. Lots of good performances. The story was interesting, all in all, it was a very good movie. I highly recommend it.

Beowulf 3D

OK, I was looking at this movie, the time I wanted to go see it just happened to be a 3D version, so, fine, I'll try that. I go to buy my ticket and it turns out it costs more, well, that's lame, but, I'm here, I'll check it out. Then I walk in and the guy asks if I have my glasses yet. Great, I am gonna be wearing ridiculously lame 3D glasses and this is gonna be ridiculously stupid. Well, I was wrong. The glasses were plastic and fit over my glasses, not the lame paper ones. They did not make everything look blue and red, like every other pair of 3d glasses I have worn, and there effect on the movie and the 3D trailers was stunning. I actually did jump when a particular flashlight looked light it was about to fall on me. Visually amazing. I highly reccomend checking it out sometime if you haven't seen Digital 3D. As for the movie, it was pretty good. I had gotten a refresher on the story from Dad prior to going to see it and it adhered to the story quite well. I would like to go back and check it out. IT is pretty straight-line, but the action was exciting. Though animated, it is certainly not child-friendly, with lots of suggestive material. But, it was a fun thing. And Digital 3D rocks.