The DaVinci Code

The DaVinci Code was… long. Not entirely without merit, just… long.

As one of the two or three people on the planet who hasn’t read the book, I was able to go in without any preconceived notions or expectations and see it just as a movie, and not as the behemoth it has become.

For a thriller it really seemed like there wasn’t too much going on. Things seemed to pick up when Ian McKellan made his appearance in the film, but as for Tom Hanks, he may not have been the right guy to hold this together. Maybe his character was supposed to be a little boring, but he doesn’t seem to do much but stand around and have things happen around him.

I did enjoy it a little bit, and it did make me want to read the book, but if you already read the book, and most of you already have. You probably won’t enjoy the movie too much.

On a side note… there have been dozens of articles about all of the claims made in The DaVinci Code and how the church and church group is reacting to them and protesting them.

The DaVinci Code doesn’t claim that Mary Magdelene was Jesus’ wife anymore than George Lucas claims that the ‘Force’ is real and alive in todays world.

Pardon my phrasing, but the movie is god damn fiction. It doesn’t claim anything other than in this fictional world, here is what happens.

And why does everyone protest against the movie going crowd and not the book reading crowd. More people will surely read the book than see the movie. Are the movie goers somehow more susceptible to protests than people who read books?

X-Men: The Last Stand

There are going to be two different camps when it comes to this movie, I believe. Those who know the X-Men from the comics and those who know the X-Men from the movies.

Now, I feel I’m kind of in the middle here. I read the X-Men for years, but not during the time of the Phoenix Saga, which this takes some of its plot from. So, of course, I liked some of it and didn’t like other parts.

If you grew up on the comic books, you are not going to like the way a few of the characters storylines go. Completely leaving comic book continuity with several of the characters will anger many an X-Men fan. Especially since the direction the characters go in is not an improvement over the comics.

Now if you only know the X-Men from the movies, you probably won’t care about what happens to these characters. They weren’t being used to their potential and you have no idea what they should or could be contributing to the storyline.

Trying to get past all of this… the movie is still enjoyable. Fantastical battle scenes with really great special effects. Although there was alot of wire work. You might not be happy if you don’t like wire work. And a really neat sequence where Professor X and Magneto are made to look 20 years younger. Pretty successfully, too.

I’d recommend this to most of the people I know, I think you will all enjoy it.

An American Haunting

Now, I have to say initially that this is not a bad movie. It has good performances and it’s sufficiently creepy, and my problem with the movie is not really with the movie itself.

But I don’t want to give too much away here, so I will warn you if I say anything plot revealing.

An American Haunting is supposed to be based on the only recorded instance where a spirit caused the death of another person.

Now, to anyone who sees this movie. Is it not completely obvious what is going on here? I mean, if these are the events that happened could they not be explained away in minutes.

Spoiler ********

Is it just me or is it obvious that the daughter is faking everything so that there is enough commotion in the house to keep her father from molesting her? And the day after he dies the poltergeist suddenly stops showing up.

Will someone please let me know if I missed something, or if you agree I am right on target?

I don’t understand how this even grew to a legend.

Poseidon

Poseidon, Poseidon, where did you go wrong. A weak remake of a campy, but very fun, 70’s disaster movie, Poseidon seems to be missing some back story and character development that might have made this a good movie.

Of course the special effects are good. When you put out that much money to make a film now a days you know the special effects will turn out ok. But today, with audiences being bombarded with amazing special effects in every summer movie, you need a bit of a story if you want your movie to stand out from the rest.

A fire fighter hero turned into mayor… ok, what happened? A recently broken up older gay man about to commit suicide but changes his mind when he realizes he’s going to be killed… what was going on in his head? We’ll never know. A gambler who spends so much time on cruise ships he know the layouts of the floors… uh, ok.

It’s almost as if when the movie was being written, a one line backstory was developed for each character and thats all they went into the movie with.

Now if all you want to see is a disaster film, then you’ll probably enjoy this, but if something more substantive is what you are looking for, you will probably want to pass. You’ll be a little bored.

Mission Impossible 3

When I look at Michael Jackson over the past several years, I always think the same thing… God damn that guy is talented, why the hell does he have to be such a freak?

It really seems to me that Tom Cruise is going in that direction. He isn’t there yet, but everytime I talk about him with others I find myself saying, “Yeah, he’s a little off, but he can make a damn good movie.”

And that’s what I believe. Hopefully for his sake (I think) he will calm down a little bit and get back to being a movie star, because that’s what he does best.

With all that’s been going on in the news and world with Tom Cruise, alot of people are going to miss what turns out to be a pretty damn good movie. Far superior to the mess that was MI:2 and on par, probably better, than the first one.

JJ Abrams crafts a nice story rerturning the series to it’s ‘team’ roots, successfully adding a few new and a returning character into the mix and actually having them involved in the movie.

Amazing stunts and Special FX are to be expected and certainly show up in this film, including, for me, a stomach churning jump from building to building that looks great.

This movie good enough to oversome whatever bad press its star is receiving and I would recommend any movie fan go see it in the theater as this is the kind of movie that is best experienced on a big screen.

Dear Sharon Stone

Since I didn’t actually go see Basic Instinct 2 you might completely disregard my thoughts, but please, don’t make Basic Instinct 3.

Don’t direct it, don’t have meetings about it and don’t even let it enter your thoughts.

Maybe everyone involved needs to realize that Basic Instinct drew such a large audience because of Michael Douglas and not you.

Stop trying to force what you want on the audience and go find a great project to get involved with, like your Basic Instinct costar Jeanne Tripplehorn did with Big Love

Jeez, let’s catch up already

I realize I will never catch up and become current, especially with summer movie season here, if I don’t just go through and do this huge batch of reviews with just a couple comments on each.

So without delay, here is my catch up review list.

Failure to Launch

Cute and good fun, recommended. I’m really starting to like Matthew McConaughey. Terry Bradshaw was great.

Ultraviolet

Ok story, couldn’t get into the special effects. Skip it.

Brokeback Mountain

Really good movie, very sad, didn’t deserve best picture.

Slither

Very funny film, well worth the trip to the theater. Although no one saw it. I highly recommend it.

Lucky Number Slevin

Really good movie, good cast, go see it. Bruce Willis continues to entertain me.

Benchwarmers

Stupid funny, not too horrible, but wait for video or cable.

The Sentinel

Pretty good thriller, but easy to figure out ending. Go see it.

Thank You for Smoking

Very funny independent film, go see it if it’s playing near you.

RV

Funny, goofy, Robin Williams’ best in a while.