A self-taught critic and genuine movie geek
I’m wondering just how annoyed that guy I overheard after the first movie is, now that the trilogy is done and it’s pretty clear that they should have stuck with the original plan and made two movies instead of three. I hate to say it, I know people are enjoying them and all, but this installment in particular didn’t really do a whole lot for me.
Continue reading “The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies”
As everyone was leaving the theatre, I heard a man asking his companions — in what seemed a very annoyed tone — if he would have to come back again to watch the second part (The Desolation of Smaug, due in 2013). “Well, of course,” was the reply, though either his companions didn’t know or didn’t have the heart to tell him that there’s now also a third part, namely There and Back Again, due in 2014. I’m a little nervous about the whole back and forth between two movies and three, since already the pacing occasionally seemed a bit off in this one.
That’s the longest title I’ve had to type out yet, I think. But admit it; you’re humming the theme right now. You can’t help it. There are people in Outer Mongolia who know that tune. And it’s all back — the hat, the whip, the wild stunts, and the uniformed bad guys. Okay, this time they’re Soviet soldiers instead of Nazis, but close enough.
Continue reading “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”
Once upon a time, a little girl lived with her father way up north, in a cabin hidden away deep in the woods. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? Don’t let it fool you. Sure, dad Erik Heller (Eric Bana, Nero from Star Trek) teaches little girl Hanna (Saoirse Ronan, Atonement) everything she needs to know to survive in their chilly refuge.
Continue reading “Hanna”
I — I don’t know where to start. It’s all so strange.
I’m best at the Tudor time period, but I’ve also read a lot about Eleanor of Aquitaine and her sons because — let’s face it — Eleanor was the coolest European noblewoman ever. She told the King of France to take a hike, and he did. Eileen Atkins makes a pretty good Eleanor, don’t get me wrong. The acting’s good all around. But the history. Oh, the history.