Movies

Over the past couple of weeks, I indulged in a few movies.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith -- suspend belief to see this movie. It's an action/comedy, and will in no way explain all the tabloid covers featuring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. The pace of the movie was pretty good, with humour and action well timed. The latter half of the movie however, did descend into a free for all shoot-em-up, with the bullet proof Jolie and Pitt killing a lot of people. Moral of the story: if you want your marriage to work, find a common enemy and kill them.

Batman Begins -- this is a Batman movie for the comic book fan. The performances of everyone was pretty good, with the exception of Katie Holmes. I don't get it -- what's so hot about her? Her acting is nothing special -- and she has a twisted smile. The movie could have carried on just fine without her. Not many people will get the story -- the whole thing with ninjas and Ra's Al Ghul will be lost on most of the general public. If you've been following the Batman comic however, you'll be aware of the storyline -- more or less, and the movie won't seem as an unbelievable Batman movie.

The Incredibles -- great movie! But I'm of two minds about its future as a franchise. It was so great that I'd hate to see it sullied by sequels, prequels and spinoffs -- but there is a rich world filled with stories there to be exploited. Pixar has managed to not screw up any of their sequels as yet, and they have practiced control in how much they milk the franchises they create -- which is a surprise, considering these are Disney vehicles. Regardless, I will be able to watch the DVD again.

Metropolis -- the third time I've seen this movie, and the second on DVD, and it's still a great movie. The animation is stunning, the score is stunning and the story not that bad. The anime is an update of Fritz Lang's Metropolis. While it tries to deliver the same heavy handed social and political message, some of it got lost because this is anime, and the rich, beautiful colours used didn't help. If you're a died-hard pretentious type, any remake of the original is probably personally offensive. If you regard the original as a great movie, but are open to an update and a different interpretation, give this one a shot. Just don't go in thinking anime are cartoons for kids.

The Matrix: Reloaded -- I'm not going to say much about this one. Enough has been said -- however, the movie does bear repeated watching. Every time I watch it, I find something new -- I get some deeper understanding of the story I didn't before. The trilogy remains an amazing piece of work. Some interesting trivia I gleamed off IMDB:

The special effects for the movie cost $100 million US, and in part, involved the wrecking of some 300 cars that GM donated to the movie.

The movies mentioned having 12 hoverships in Zion's fleet, of which 10 are shown or mentioned in the films. Their names and captains are: Osiris - Thadeus; Logos - Niobe; Nebuchadnezzar (Neb) - Morpheus; Mjolnir (Hammer) - Roland; Caduceus - Ballard; Gnosis - Ice; Vigilant - Soren; Icarus - Ajax; Brahma - Kali; Novalis - Tirant. The other two ships as per concept artwork are the Ganesha and the Vishnu.

The freeway exit sign passed during the freeway chase is the same sign that you would pass on the real-world highway 101 if you had just left the headquarters of Oracle Corporation and were heading southbound on 101.

I, Robot -- also saw I, Robot on DVD. Not a thought provoking movie, although quite entertaining. I first saw this when it was in the theatres. I suggest a read of the Isaac Asimov books to prepare yourself for the movie may be a good thing -- or afterwards if you want to understand what it was all about.

Canadian Bacon -- this is a classic, and when I first saw it, many, many years ago, I didn't even know who Michael Moore was -- and that this was his film. The movie is surprisingly still relevant after a decade -- which is scary.