Movies I’ve seen recently
I haven’t posted anything here in a while so this is the best I could come up with to break the silence. 🙂 I’ve seen a handful of movies lately, so I thought I’d share some thoughts.
Casino Royale
Everyone I’ve talked to about this movie seems to say the same thing (which I agree with): “I’m not a huge James Bond fan, but this was actually a really cool movie.” I’ve seen probably four or five James Bond movies, and I’ve probably had the same level of enjoyment out of all of them – just kind of mindless fun with a few laughs at the sly jokes and double entendres. But this was a cool action movie.
I thought Pierce Brosnan was born to play James Bond, but this new guy whose name I can’t remember was awesome. The problem with PB is that I think he might be a little too pretty. This guy has that quality Kevin Nash looks for in a top-draw wrestler – the guys want to be him and the girls want to be with him.
And even though there were some gadgets involved, the James Bond: Year One aspect of it meant that it wasn’t going to be packed with over-the-top ridiculous gadgetry. And I loved the exposition of how James Bond became a hardened, commitment-free ladies man.
Night at the Museum
Every preview I saw of this made it look even stupider and stupider. I thought “Poor Ben Stiller.” I thought every dollar this movie makes only contributes to the idiotification of America.
And then I saw a commercial that listed the many stars in the film. And then I saw the name Steve Coogan. And then suddenly I wanted to see it.
I talked Sara into going, even though it looked horrible to her too, only on the strength of Steve Coogan’s presence. I absolutely love him as Alan Partridge in The Day Today, Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge and I’m Alan Partridge, and Sara enjoyed him enough that she was willing to sit through the movie. I told her, if it’s awful, just imagine him going “A ha!” every time you see him.
As the movie started, I saw it was written by Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant of The State, one of my favorite TV shows of all time. So I thought this thing might actually have potential.
It turned out to be a lot better than I expected. I actually liked it. Many of my laughs came from Coogan’s delivery and his interaction with Owen Wilson, but I was pleased that at least the movie attempted to have a moral and a story, rather than just a bunch of zany stunts with wacky special effects.
Devil Wears Prada
Sara got this for Christmas and so we sat down to watch it the other day. She was really afraid that I wouldn’t like it and that I wouldn’t catch all the fashion references. I’m sure I missed a lot of them, but I liked the movie. It bugged me how Andy’s friends were such knee-jerk jerks, and Sara explained to me the differences between how they act in the book and the movie, but I think by making Andy more sympathetic, it helped the discoveries in Paris more profound.
So there you have it. I like everything, so my reviews are useless! 🙂