Golden Compass

This imaginative roller coaster ride has more downs than ups.  I went to see this today and left feeling entertained, as one is supposed to after watching a movie.

The movie follows a little girl who can read a golden compass.  

The end was of course a cliff hanger.  

I would not bring little children to this movie, due to some of the long dialogue scenes that set up the actions scenes.  Okay, I guess I have mixed feelings on this film.

Nicole Kidman, of course, did a fantastic job.  But something was missing in the picture.  Maybe it's just me, but I think this movie should have stayed a book.  I hesitate in saying this one was bad, because it was entertaining.

Star WARS Episodes 4-6

Star Wars introduced the world to the imagination of George Lucas.  The characters he imagined reined on the silver screen in 1976 and has lasted many developments of technology.

Now before the enhancements Stars Wars was a good movie.  I guess I am a purist because I did not like the classic movies with the digital enhancements.  

There was something sweet with the costumed beasts and stop motion photography.  It was the best for its time period.  

I remember sitting on the front seat of my father's pick up and watching on the drive-thru screen.  The garbage scene scared me.  The space fights took my breath away.

When George Lucas decided to enhance the original movies with digital effects, it was like adding color to beautiful black and white motion pictures.  The color took away the shadows and the ambiance of  the black and white motion pictures.  It should have never been done.

The enhancements made the movies bad.  But the originals are still good if you watch them with out the digital enhancements.

Magnolia,Legend and Top Gun

This movie reviewer last night watched Magnolia, this movie was a huge snooze. Tom Cruise trying to make a long moralistic movie did not stand. He played as a self awareness guide. <---and that is being nice.

The movie was simply bad.

But since I had nothing to say about Magnolia, I will review two of my favorites.

First, "I have a need, a need for speed." And since I live on a Navy Jet Base with jets screaming over head, I am living the dream. I am not speeding around learning the art of dog fight at the Naval Top Gun School but as a young girl sitting on the living room floor with my girl friends we swooned. This movie has a special place in movie history, it made girls want Naval Pilots. This was/is a good movie.

Second, My all time favorite and they have not made one quite like it, LEGEND. With Ona the fairy having a crush on the boy (Tom Cruise), who would rescue a princess (Mia Sara) from goblins, this movie was made to tickle the brain. It purely entertained with Tim Curry's deep voice under the huge devil horns. And the unicorns. I wish they made more movies with unicorns. Oh well, this girl has favorites. This movie was/is good.

But why could Tom Cruise not pick great movies likes these, Top Gun And Legend, so far he has become too commercial. This might make movies but it does not make true fantasy art.

The Last Legion

I watched this DVD this weekend. I was happy to see Colin Firth, Ben Kingsley and Aishwarya Ria in this action adventure.

The movie is about the rescuing the last emperor or is it about traveling to get Excalibur or is it a love story?

The movie has great actors but I don't think this was the story to be made into a movie. If I watch a movie and have to look up the details a couple of days later, it is a bad movie.

I like the actors. Especially Aishwarya Ria, but the story had action and dialogue but the action got in the way of the dialogue or the dialogue was getting in the way of the action. The movie was confusing and it did not have good pacing.

This is a movie that if you just want mindless watching, go ahead and watch it.