City of Ember Review

City of Ember had a dismal run at the box office. It had a production budget of 55 Million dollars but hasn't even made 8 million since it was released last October. I think it the guy who promoted this movie is the also the agent for the Lochness monster and Bigfoot. Like most movies based on a book it may have a hard time living up to the reader's imagination, but fortunately for me I didn't have any expectations to compete with.

The movie is a story of an underground City called Ember. It was designed to support life for 200 years until it is safe for it's inhabitants to return to the earth's surface. The problem is that the architects escape plans from the city have been lost for decades. The main generator is breaking down and the city is worn out and is almost out of resources. Those who suspect the end is near are not allowed to venture out or find a way to escape. Two teenagers come across the box containing the escape route but it's contents have been damaged and they are forced to put together the puzzle pieces throughout the movie as they race against the clock and corrupt leaders who are trying to stop them.

I thought this movie did a great job portraying the feel of an underground city. It was dark and archaic and depressing and reminded me of life in the former Soviet Union. The massive sets and stages used to portray the city were impressive. The visual imagery was my favorite part of the movie. There was not one strikingly attractive character in the entire movie. The only cute face was the little toddler Poppy. It seemed that they were trying to make Ember as visually unappealing as possible and they even carried this over to the casting. (No offense to the actors.)

I enjoyed the first part of the film much more than the latter. That seems to be a common complaint I have with many movies. There were several bothersome details I could pick apart but I think I'm going to cut it some slack since it's a sci-fi film aimed at a younger audience. I've always been a Bill Murray fan and it was weird seeing his cast as the corrupt mayor but he did a good job despite the odd lethargic nature of his character.

If you are looking for a movie to take the family to then this is probably a good choice. It's rated PG and there are some intense moments, but it's a happy ending. It's not the greatest movie and it certainly has it's shortcomings but overall it was entertaining. I'd give it 7.0 out of 10 stars.

Enough With The Remakes

When I was young I remember hearing the song "Satisfaction" performed by Devo. It wasn't until years later that I heard the original song from the Rolling Stones. I was surprised at how slow their version was and couldn't believe that it was the real thing. I felt kind of cheated that I was first introduced to a copy as opposed to the original. I'm reminded of this when I hear people refer to the Bach Toccata as "the Haunted House commercial music" or people referring to Carl Orf's Carmina Burama as "The Sean Hannity Theme."

Raiders of the Lost Ark has always been one of my favorite movies. There is a scene when the pasty Nazi shows up with his thugs at Marion's bar in Tibet. During the fight scene one of the bad guys is pointing a gun at a defenseless Indian Jones and then we hear it go off. The bad guy falls over dead and it turns out he was shot from behind before he could kill the hero. It was cool then but I wish they would have copy written that scenario because I have seen it a lot since then in other movies and it's totally predictable now. The sad thing is that Speilberg probably got the idea from some old action movie he saw as a kid.

Why can't movies be more original and why do we always have to copy or remake stuff? Did we really need to make movies based on TV shows like The Dukes of Hazard, The Addams Family, Dragnet, Starsky and Hutch, Dudley Doo Right, Bewitched, and the Flintstones? I guess I can understand if someone wants to pay homage to a TV show and make a movie, but how many of these were any good? Most of these kind of movies are horrible. I do have one exception I am willing to gamble on and that is the Land of the Lost Movie coming out later this year. I can't criticize a movie that features my namesake.

I'd like to encourage movie makers to be more original and stop doing so many re-makes. If they do I pledge to improve my blog too. I'm hoping for more creativity and originality in movies, but until that happens I guess I can expect to see movies like Growing Pains, Chips, and Night Court in the future.

The Golden Compass Review

The Golden Compass is based on The Northern Lights which is the first book from Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy. My first introduction to it came last year when I received an e-mail forward warning of subtle messages and a hidden agenda for this movie. It said the author was an atheist and wanted to off sett the work that CS Lewis had done with his Narnia movies by creating an anti-religion movie. I was curious to learn for myself if these claims were warranted. Unfortunately I never got around to seeing it until now. Here's my review.

This fantasy story features a young orphan girl named Lyra who lives in a kingdom that is ruled by the Magisterium. As the governing theocracy they try to suppress knowledge of a parallel universe and a substance known as dust. Each character has an animal counterpart that is always with them (kind of like their spirit) which they refer to as their daemon. Lyra is given an alithometer or golden compass and sets out on a journey. I never could understand exactly what her quest entailed or where she was going from scene to scene.

Characters pop in and out the movie with little explanation or development. I had a hard time relating to or caring about most of them. I'm not a big Nicole Kidman fan but I thought she did an excellent job portraying one of the villains. There are cool special effects and a very talented cast, so I was surprised that the movie never kept my attention. The movie may be visually entertaining but is hard to follow if you haven't read the book. There are Deamons, Gyptians, Gobblers, Samoyans, polar bears, witches, and I 'm still trying to figure out who they were or how they related to each other. Then there is dust. I'm not sure what that was all about either.

I'm sure fans of the book will think I was not bright enough to follow the story but I place the blame on the movie. I actually watched the DVD twice in an effort to make sense of it. I had a feeling they took a complicated and detailed story and edited it to death until it didn't make sense. I was later relieved to hear people who read the book criticize the movie for rushing the story and omitting important parts including the ending. They also claimed that the movie studio toned down the any controversial message in the story so as not to offend their audience.

I did pick up on some anti-religion themes but I was looking hard for them. That has nothing to do with the low rating I gave this film. This movie was definitely not Golden but maybe Bronze. I only give it a 5.7 because it is confusing and disjointed. I really wanted to understand this film but I struggled through the entire movie (both times.)

Eagle Eye Review

When I went to see Eagle Eye I wasn't sure what to expect. I had only seen part of the trailer and I just knew it was about two people who were wrongfully accused of crimes they didn't commit and were on the run from the law. I found it was much more complicated than that. Warning: if you haven't seen it yet here come the spoilers.

Many of the scenes reminded me of other movies. The main character played by Shia LaBeouf gets a phone call from a stranger warning him of eminent danger and instructing him what he must do in order to escape. He ignores the advice and ends up in custody and is questioned by a hard nosed official just like The Matrix. The surveillance and spying technology reminded me of Enemy of the State and we've seen the manipulating of traffic lights and equipment in Live Free or Die Hard.

This movie's premise is not original either. This is the same plot from 2001: A Space Odyssey, War Games, I Robot, and Stealth. Half way through the movie we learn that the manipulating lady on the other end of the phone is actually a computer. Aria is a top secret government computer that goes bad and takes matters into her own hands and formulates a complicated assassination plot.

Eagle Eye is action packed and intense but obviously unrealistic. There were some interesting conspiracy theory themes that were appealing and it made me wonder how much big brother watches us and what technology the government really has when it comes to surveillance and spying. Despite the over the top fake details I still enjoyed this movie. It may not be original but it was entertaining. Besides how can you not like a movie where the star of the film plays identical twins? I guess we could add The Parent Trap to the list of previously mentioned movies while we're at it. I give it 6.9 out of 10 stars.

The 25 Greatest Movie Villains

There have been thousands of villains in the movies over the years. Some are more memorable than others and some are certainly scarier than others. Below I have listed my top 25 scariest movie villains. Feel free to add any others that have scared you in the comments section.

1) The Joker-The Dark Knight (2008)
2) Hal 9000-2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
3) Maleficent-Sleeping Beauty (1959)

4) Don Lope de Aguirre-Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1964)

5) Commodus-Gladiator (2000)

6) Mrs. Iselin-The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
7) The Wicked Witch of the West-The Wizard of Oz (1939)

8) Freddy Krueger-A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
9) Darth Vader-Star Wars (1977)

10) Alonzo Harris-Training Day (2001)

11) Norman Bates-Psycho (1960)

12) Hannibal Lecter-The Silence of Lambs (1991)

13) Hans Beckert-M (1931)

14) Darth Sideous-Revenge of the Sith (2005)
15) Michael Meyers-Halloween (1978)
16) Mr. Potter-It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

17) Baron Harkonen-Dune (1984)

18) Samara-The Ring (2000)

19) Agent Smith-The Matrix (1999)
20) The Terminator-The Terminator (1984)

21) Darth Maul-The Phantom Menace (1999)

22) Queen Bavmorda-Willow (1988)

23) Magu-Last of the Mohicans (1992)
24) Tom Powers-The Public Enemy (1931)

25) Jack Torrence-The Shining (1980)