The Flurry of movies since my last post

Ok, kids, this is how it all goes down.



Mall Cop: 5/10. It was awful. The acting was decent, but the whole thing was trying to hard to be the next "Night at the Museum" style movie. Let me make it simple: I liked "The Master of Disguise" better. Utter fail.



Another Cinderella Story: 7/10. Good dancing. Decent acting. Much better than the Hillary Duff version.



Catch Me If You Can: 8/10. Overall, an excellent movie. Tom Hanks doing a bronx accent failed, though.



The Ghost and Mr. Chicken. 9/10. Don Knotts comedy. How can you go wrong? This movie is classic stuff, with a "scary" twist thrown in. A must see for any Don Knotts fans.

Breaking over to the TV realm, first up is Psych. 9/10. That show is pure comedic genius. If you are looking for a serious crime drama, steer away from this one.

Monk: another 9/10. This show is closer to the serious crime drama heretofore mentioned. But the balance on this show occasionally throws me for a whirl. For instance, a deep serious episode, all about Monk's deceased wife, followed by an comedic episode about who knows what.

24: 10/10. Jack, Tony, Chloe, and Bill, starting their own jig. How can you go wrong?

LOST: Supreme best TV show. Period. This current season is confusing, but it's much better than Jack, Kate and Sawyer sitting around yelling at each other. Not that I didn't like the entire second season.

Stay tuned for more.

The Anatomy of a Movie

I'm going to attempt to break this down for you step by step.

First, you get the voice over of the main character that only appears at random parts of the movie as a necessary afterthought by the director.

Then, you get the "stare past the camera so we can see your face" few shots.

Also, a bit of forced dialogue to introduce some points.

Then, the change or chase. Almost every movie I have watched begins with a change or a chase. Sometimes both.

This is followed by the adjustment scenes, which, retrospectively are setting up...

The main climax. Occasionally there are scenes of comedy added in between.

The resolution. This point can include either violence or romance. Occasionally comedy, but most directors have the sense to steer away from that.

The finale. This is usually the wild card. Insert whatever is necessary to tie up the loose ends or set up for a sequel.

Now, if you're wondering, yes, this is the exact format that Twilight follows. I enjoyed the movie immensely, though I complain about Rob Pattinson's "Edward". Overall, it was a much better movie than my low expectations for a "book-to-movie". The soundtrack was perfect, (although they only played about 10 seconds of "Clair de Lune."), the camerawork was superb, and most of the acting was spot on. The only cause for anyone to complain that I can see is the "sped-up" movements of the vampires. But after careful consideration, I can't think of a better way to do it. Besides cutting away from them to avoid having to show their quick movements, but such a maneuver would be a bit too 1930's for my taste. In conclusion, Twilight is an excellent movie, and well worth watching.

Shaken, not stirred.

Ever go to a movie, expecting one thing, and totally seeing something else. This happened when I went to see Quantam of Solace. Not the best action movie I've ever seen, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. I enjoyed the stylized fighting over the "Grab the book next to me and shove it down your throat" style fighting found in the Bourne movies. The score was good, beautifully complimenting the movie, but not memorable.

But what really surprised me was the comedy. I went into this movie expecting "Let's see Daniel Craig launch an Aston Martin off of a cliff", and instead I watched an Act-com. My (I hope original) term along the lines of Rom-com, and Act-com is an Action movie with so many humorous bits thrown in, you have to give the writers some credit. The sparks flying between Judy Dench's "M" and Bond was so superbly written, I think the action scenes could've been terrible, and I would've still enjoyed the movie. The action scenes were, however, well filmed, and made the comedy a sweet bonus.

A small something on necessary death.

I'm assuming that I'm not the only person who thinks deaths (in movies, mind you) are sometimes necessary. For example, we'll tackle the case of Boromir from "The Fellowship of the Ring." Boromir was the next in line for the stewardship of Gondor. He was excellently portrayed by Sean Bean. And was one of the easiest characters to relate to. However, his death was inevitable. If he hadn't died, there are almost endless numbers of possibilities to the political struggles that would've arisen between Boromir and Aragorn, if both of them had survived. However, Boromir did, in fact, die, trying to save two of his friends. A character that would've become evil died doing the right thing. To loosely paraphrase "The Dark Knight", You either die a hero, or live long enough to become a villain. Just a thought.