And here’s another really really good, really really underrated sci-fi. The Day the Earth Stood Still.
Last night we watched a movie by the name “The Man From Earth“, about which I had heard absolutely nothing before and I think Oliv had more or less accidentally come across it. Well, it turned out to be one of those movies that’s going to stay with me permanently. A fascinating idea, and some serious food for thought… apparently this movie is being compared to K-PAX, I can see why.
Great idea, great cast, great everything. I gave it 5 out of 5. If you haven’t seen it yet… you probably should.
By the way, make sure to read the Wikipedia article about the movie. Some very interesting facts in there.
So, for a few friends of mine who are apparently keeping scores on my movie reviews… 
unfortunately here’s another one for the “disappointed” list! Yes, sorry, I had such high hopes for this one… didn’t work out! =P
Sitting down to watch this movie, I actually had no idea that this was going to have anything to do with the Alien franchise. That was probably for the best because I’ve never been a fan of those movies. As much as space ships, aliens and androids are very much my thing, the Alien franchise have always lacked too much on the plot side for me. [Perhaps with the exception of “Alien Resurrection”.] Well, now it seems I have a very similar problem with Prometheus!
Prometheus isn’t without a plot, but it’s without a proper plot! The plot is like a puzzle with so many shiny pieces, put together so badly that the big picture doesn’t make any sense what-so-ever. I found the whole idea of finding those cave paintings and going after the “Architects” very interesting. Seeing them actually find the remnants of the Architects et all was also very cool. “Elizabeth Shaw” deciding to go after the Architects at the end, very very cool. And there were a lot of other very interesting “pieces”… but that’s the thing, the whole plot is in pieces! And these pieces neither go too well together nor with the rest of the Alien franchise that supposedly follow this one.
So a bunch of advanced aliens go around architecting new species… except once they create one that is not actually monstrous, they turn against it and decide to destroy it. And they do go about that in the most weird impractical backwards way possible. Oh, and the other handy work of theirs that’s monstrous and turns against them, somehow ends up in continuing conflict with humans, whereas we basically end up not seeing anything at all about the origins of the architects in the following movies…. and that’s just to bring a couple of examples.
Anyhow, I think the only way to fix this “prequel” is with a proper sequel that actually straightens a few things out and offers some answers. We’ll see if that’ll happen….
Last night we watched “Snow White and the Huntsman“. It was a bit of an unfortunate
experience… not because the movie was bad altogether, but because you could see how it could have been much better. I think the main problem was the casting.
Charlize Theron as Ravena was great. But only because she does any role great! I would sooner have watched her portrait Snow White, and there would have been many other great choices for the witch [Nicole Kidman? =P I don’t know… I just like that idea!].
Chris Hemsworth for Mr. Huntsman… ok, that worked quite well. And the rest of the cast was also pretty good.
But then, Kristen Stewart for Snow White?? I mean… whatever the bloody hell gave them that idea? Aside from the fact that she looks all wrong for the role, she is also incapable of acting! Her happy, sad, scared, and excited face are all the same face, with slight changes in how much her mouth is open.
So you have a good cast, more or less good directing, some great effects… and then you go and choose the wrongest possible actress for your main role. This, ladies and gentlemen, is how to destroy a movie. =)
I can hardly believe this… one of my favourite actors. I loved his acting in every role I had seen him in, from “The Green Mile” [which still breaks my heart every time I watch it] to his latest role in “The Finder” series. May he rest in peace.
So here’s another example of how my movie taste is so totally incompatible with… well… most people! Last night I watched M. Night Shyamalan’s true masterpiece [at least in my book], “Lady in the Water“. Apparently the rest of the world considers this movie a failure. I can’t for the life of me understand why. There aren’t many movies nowadays that have so much to say… so many messages to send, and it’s so disappointing to see how this rare one got beaten to death by the critics. I really truly enjoyed watching this movie, and I’m totally going to get me the book.
I do not like this one bit.
They’re finally making a “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie, after the comics pretty much getting annihilated and ignored in every possible way. Except they’re not consulting the people who actually made the comics interesting, and the director that they seem to have selected [rumoured so far] isn’t a favourite. Oh, and did I mention that they’ve left out some major characters like “Adam Warlock” and “Nova”? Meh.
“Abnett: These are Marvel’s characters, and they will develop them as they see fit. Like I said, it’s a huge compliment to us that they’re doing that, but I think it’s only fair to say that we haven’t really been consulted in any way, shape or form. We wrote this stuff essentially as work-for-hire, and if Marvel came to us and said, “Would you like to consult on the movie?” that would be lovely. But for now, our interpretation is there on the page.”
Read the full interview with Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning here.
Finally had a chance to watch “
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” last night [yes I’m aware of exactly how late I am with this one] and totally loved it. The plot was quite good, and the actors were great for their roles. Stephen Fry as Mycroft was just beyond perfect. It was very interesting seeing Jared Harris as Moriarty, since I’ve basically been enjoying watching him portrait the exact same character under a different name: David Robert Jones in Fringe! Does anybody else think that these two are basically the same person? =) Jared Harris is just brilliant in the roles of this evil mastermind professor who intends to end the world somehow. And of course it was fun to watch the girlie side of Mr. Holmes. 😉
The only thing that I’m not a 100% happy with, is that we still don’t know what happened or is going to happen with Irene Adler. She was apparently deadly sick, the guy who made him sick is now [maybe] dead, and Sherlock threw “the” handkerchief in the sea… so? I guess we will know when the next instalment shows up.
So I just watched “Underworld Awakening“, and oh my dear God what a disappointment! I’ve been a huge fan of the Underworld movies so far, but this last one simply has no plot! I expected soooooo much more! This totally felt like a space-holder for whatever’s coming next. Not good…. not recommended!
For the life of me I can’t imagine how they came up with a plot so weak. With all the intriguing characters either “gone” or supposedly “in ice”, throughout this movie basically nothing happens! I wonder if they’re actually going to show us either Michael or Lucian in the next instalment.
*sigh*
