The Magic Satchel

So I’m hoping to beat Mr. Thunder to the punch here: The Dark Knight might have just surpassed Xmen 2 and Iron Man as my favorite comic book movie ever. It was everything it should have been: dark, violent (how did they manage to score a PG rating?), twisted, fast-paced, story-driven (not explosion-driven)… it was almost perfect. I really can’t wait for the next installment! The only thing that bugged me about the flick was Christian Bale’s Batman voice. I mean really, we know he’s tough, but that’s because of his actions, not his computer-tweaked growl. But hey, I can forgive that one little gripe for the awesomeness that is The Dark Knight!

And the “but”: the trailer for Watchmen alone was worth the price of admission. That’s easily my most anticipated flick of next year, although the new Terminator might be pretty cool too. Everyone has until March now to take a read through the graphic novel… I’ll loan it out if you’re interested

ugh.

I know I likely had my expectations set a bit too high for this movie as it is the latest installment to one of the fabled favorite trilogies of my youth, but when you come out of it saying “well, we’ve definitely seen worse movies” you are really reaching to find that silver lining.

I can’t fault Harrison Ford as he delivers a fairly standard and solid Ford performance as an older Indiana, but I can only imagine how he must have struggled to choke out some of the crap he was forced to say. I picture him getting the final script, reading it through and wondering what he had done to deserve a punishment like this.

“So I return the skull and then.. wait.. what movie are we making again?”

pointless and most times unbelievable stunts (and not in the good way like some of the earlier films), a weak script (from Lucas? the hell you say!), CGI that very obviously looked like CGI and out of place for a movie set in 1957, and it was all rolled together with something that I guess could be called a plot but I wouldn’t blame anyone if they got it confused with swiss cheese.

For those that have seen it, I’m sure you’d agree that it almost seemed like they were trying too hard to live up to the Indiana legacy (eg. bringing back people from the earlier fims)… trying and failing.

I don’t know where to begin with pointing out what is wrong with this movie, so I’ll just leave it up to you to decide if you want to go see it.

If you do, I can’t say I didn’t warn you.

4/10

Die Hard 4: Live Free or Die Hard… summer blockbuster #2 off my list and I have to say I was quite happy with what I saw.

At this point, Die Hard doesn’t really require a lot of explaining or character development. We know who the major player is and the main objective of the movie is pretty clear… John McLane must hurt / maim / kill as many bad guys as needed to save the day, and destroy as much property as humanly possible while doing it.
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This may spoil (save?) the viewing of the movie for some people… if you don’t care, just click on the link to read more.
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Huzzah!! My new passport came in the mail today, so I’m officially on my way April 4th at about 3pm. I could kiss you all I’m so happy!

To top things off my brother IS coming along. We travelled very well together on our Cuba trip last year, and I’m stoked to spend 3 weeks with him across the pond. Add to that my new and improved MP3 collection and I’m all set!

By the way, if you haven’t seen “Stranger Than Fiction” yet I highly recommend it. I realize Will Ferrell isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but he does an excellent job in this film. Now if only I can find myself a copy of Children of Men…