Author: andy

So, Brooke and I wanted to see a movie this past weekend, but there wasn’t much out that we wanted to see (or hadn’t already seen), so Brooke looked through the movies playing at the Tivoli, which is a theater in town that plays independent or limited-release films. Anyway, one such movie caught our collective eye: “CSA – The Confederate States of America.”

The movie is told through the vantage point of a British documentary, recounting the alternate “history” of America where the Confederates won at Gettysburg, causing France and Britain to enter the war on their side and defeat the Union Army. The South burns the North and reconstructs it in their image, solidifying slavery’s grasp on the country. The “history” is recounted from that time up to present day, discussing how slavery continued here and how they took over South America, sided with the Nazis in WWII (i.e. they didn’t fight with them, but they also didn’t intervene against plans for “world purity”), and became the sworn enemies of Canada.

The neat thing about the movie was the “commercials” interwoven with the movie, taking place about every 15 or 20 minutes, coinciding with what you’d see if you were watching TV. These commercials included a high-tech shackle that contained a GPS unit so you could track your slave if they escaped…

Anyway, it was a pretty good movie. Since it was released in 2004, it’s unlikely that you’ll find it many places, but you may run across it in some video rental places “off the beaten path”… Either way, it’s worth looking for if you get a chance.? Certainly an interesting take on roads not taken…

…thankfully…

Josh and I went and saw “X3” today, and I must say, I was pleased.? I had read a few reviews before seeing it, saying such things like “lots of action, little ‘heart'”…or “not quite Bryan Singer, but still worth the popcorn”…? Personally, I thought it held its own very well with the other iterations.

The story mostly deals with a mutant that’s discovered that can “mute” the powers of other mutants, allowing for a cure for mutant-ism.? Some mutants are cool with this (mainly, Rogue…) while others (just about everyone else…) isn’t.? This theme allows for a large number of ethical issues to be brought up, and they were.? I thought there was a pretty good mix of “issues” and “action” thrown together in the movie; while the action in “X-Men” and “X2” were generally spread throughout, this one really concentrated the brunt of it at the end (I mean, there were action scenes in the movie, but they seemed relatively short except for the ending…).

My only real complaint was with the very beginning…? I read a few reviews mentioning the digital effects used to make Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart look 20 years younger…and while Picard’s were done relatively well, I thought McKellan’s was a bit too obvious.? For the rest of the movie, the effects were pretty damned cool…especially the Jean Grey – to – Dark Phoenix transformations…? The action was well-choreographed and many favorites (Colossus and Storm) got much more “face time” than in previous movies.

I’ll make one thing perfectly clear, though: you must stay through the credits to watch the scene played at the end.? It is absolutely imperative.? Honestly, I thought the movie was “pretty good” when the credits started…and by the very end, I had to upgrade that analysis…’cause what was left hanging from earlier (threads that weren’t quite tied together…didn’t quite make sense as to why that scene was even in there…) was dealt with…and in spades…

Go see it in the theaters.? Don’t wait for the DVD release.? Buy it when it comes out, though…it’s a keeper…

Brooke and I saw “The Da Vinci Code” last night (for free, incidentally), and I must say that it was pretty good.? For some reason, I knew I’d like it in the end, despite what many reviewers were saying…but having read the book (Brooke read it twice, even…) and watched plenty of TV shows over the past year dealing with some of the issues brought up in the story, I was interested in seeing it on the big screen, putting a visual to the words in the book.

The movie, overall, was pretty well done, I thought.? I’d say it stuck with the book a good 90% of the time.? There were many times I thought that the words spoken on screen were taken directly from the book, as well as the transitions from scene to scene…but there were some other times where Ron Howard took a few “liberties,” especially in the specifics of the ending…but none of these changes were particularly distracting, unlike a movie I saw last Christmas…? I especially liked the way Howard added some digital effects so that we could see what was going through Langdon’s mind as he tried to crack the various codes…

Anyway, I thought it was a good movie.? From the perspective of someone who read the book and was interested in the subject matter, it was good.? If you haven’t read the book, or if you’re expecting some glorified action movie, then you may not…? It did have some suspenseful moments, but no truly crazy car chases or gun fights…although, there was a lot of running…

“The Da Vinci Code” is simply another good reason why you shouldn’t trust the critics in all matters…not that I do…ever…? 😛