Weekend Viewings

Well, I know I'm behind the curve on these, but here goes:

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

Blah, blah, BLAH. Who in their right mind thinks George Lucas can DIRECT? It was all I could do to stay awake during RotS, and it was midafternoon on Saturday that I watched it. I know I'll probably have to turn in my Geek Card, but ...

How many light sabre duels do we really need in one movie? The action was filler between exposition dialog (I really don't like so-called "action" movies that are dialog driven) - the action did nothing to advance the plot.

George Lucas direction style:

words, words words. explanation. quick cuts to different locations or characters. Visually impressive action sequence that is over-the-top to SHOW US what we were just told is happening SOMEWHERE ELSE.

This was not what made SW: ANH a lasting favorite. I could go on, but I won't.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

I enjoyed it, but I felt that it was not as good as it could have been. I liked that one of the background actresses was the actress that played Trillian on the BBC stage version years ago, and the only character who did NOT panic when the Vogons were about to destroy the earth (a little old lady at an outdoor cafe) was Douglas Adams' mother. THAT kind of stuff made this a very, very cool flick.

Kicked the pants of RotS, that's fure sure.

Batman Begins

Best of show. Even my over tired, over worked, stressed wife stayed awake for this. It was engaging. Like RotS, you basically know where it will end up, but this one proves (in contrast to RotS) that GETTING THERE is the fun.

Thanks for the recommedation, guys, (Skaboi and Odinn, I think made recent references). This was a good one.

Seen on TV:

Halloween H20. Ok, in edited for TV format. My 3 yo watched it.

The Poseidon Adventure: This is the remake that was on NBC tonight. They kept enough of the original to make things recognizable, but added too much JUNK to a basic good story.

For example, it was not a giant wave that rolled the ship, it was terrorism. I got the feeling that the producers just did not that whole man-against-nature thing, and thought man-against-man made better natural disasters. Anyway, then we got a pseudo-half arsed explanation involving such nautical engineering terms such as "metacenter" as a response to the question "why did the ship roll." To add insult to injury, later in the movie, the exact same question, with the exact same response (very very nearly word for word), was given by two DIFFERENT characters. This was very lame.

But overall, not that bad (in a fun disaster flick sort of way). Goofy lines, weak attempts at modernizing (like a victim emailing an "SOS" to her Christmas Card List) and the whole semi official-ease of the resuer Navy Seals and their controllers in the Op Center all contrive to make this one fun to watch. I loved the line where the Seals were on-station in their helicopter, and the Col. at the Op Center asked them to say their fuel status. WTH, dude - their there.

I do wish Hollywood would get it through their thick skulls, though, that in general real exposions don't involve big fireballs. Also, I still have not figured out why decks HIGH (after capsize) were flooded when lower decks were dry as bones.

Compared to the original, no way. But, compared to Category 7 (of which I did not even watch the second half), the new Poseidon Adventure gets a big thumbs up.

Post Edited (11-21-05 20:35)