Quantum of Solace
Hubby and I went to the see the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, last weekend. He was pretty impressed; I, on the other hand, was somewhat disappointed. It wasn’t a bad movie, in fact it was a pretty good movie, it just didn’t do much for me.
From the very beginning I had a problem with the way that the action scenes were shot. In one of the very earliest, a fight scene between two men in suits, I had no idea which was James Bond, and which the bad guy, until a pause in the action. It was shot in that jerky manner that seems to be so popular right now. It’s just unfortunate that I’m no good at following that type of thing, and so was confused.
I also found the plot somewhat confusing. It picked right up after Casino Royale, a movie which I loved by the way, but it seemed that only some aspects of the story were related to the prvious movie. I was generally just a bit lost. I think the story was quite good, but as I’m not completely sure what it was about, I can’t be positive.
Another problem, for me, is that the movie was quite dark. It was lacking in a lot of the upbeat moments that make James Bond fun. Casino Royale was a much darker movie than the Pierce Brosnan bond movies, but it still had a lot of those fun moments. Quantum of Solace had far fewer of those. Which was a real let down for me, as I went to a James Bond movie looking for an afternoon of fun.
That said, I think that I’m more or less alone in this opinion. Hubby, as I mentioned above, really liked the movie. My parents, who saw it the same day, half a country away, also really enjoyed it. And I can’t say that I thought it was a waste of time or money. I just didn’t like it nearly as much as I expected to.
Mamma Mia it’s Movie Time
Thanks to the wonders of cheap, on campus, movie theatres that show movies in between theatrical release and dvd release, Sis and I went to see Mamma Mia the other night. I can’t say that it was a great movie, but I can say that it’s been quite a while since I laughed that hard in a theatre.
Sis and I were pretty much raised on the music of ABBA. I think at some point my parents got sick of Raffi and other children’s music. So they decided that ABBA was something they enjoyed, which was relatively child safe, and had a lot of upbeat rhythms that children would enjoy. As a result, we both know almost every word to every song, and certainly every word of all the really popular ones.
We both had a great time at the movie. At the start of each major musical number, we were leaning in and singing to one another. There was even some dancing in our seats. And a whole lot of laughing. Especially when Pierce Brosnan started singing. The movie was very well cast in most other ways, but I really don’t think that his singing voice is good enough for a large role in a musical. I believe Sis’s words were “why is he singing so funny like that?” before we realized it was just the way he sings.
I’ve seen the stage musical version in the past, and almost my only disappointment with the movie was a few of the numbers from the musical that were left out. However the more I think about it, the more I can completely understand why they were left out. Most of the songs removed from the movie were duets, and I supposed a stage musical can spend alot of time with two people standing around singing, however in a movie that would start to get old pretty quick. So for the most part I can forgive their removal.
The most important thing I can say about this movie is that although I only saw it yesterday, I already want to see it again. I’m definitely getting this one on DVD.
The Dark Night and Wanted revisted
To celebrate Hubby’s return home, we went to see two movies today. We started with a matinee showing of Wanted, grabbed some dinner at the mall, and the saw an evening showing of The Dark Night.
The Dark Night was really, really good. As the title suggests, it was very dark. The Joker, as played by Heath Ledger, was super creepy. I’ve heard people suggesting that it’s an Oscar worthy performance, and I tend to agree. His was not the only stellar performance, however. In fact I think that everyone in the movie acted their parts very well.
The story really worked in this movie. And wasn’t particularily obvious. I didn’t tend to see things coming but at the same time they weren’t obscure. I probably could have guessed most things if I was better at guessing and put a lot of effort in to it. I was happy to go with the flow and be surprised.
I didn’t really expect to like this movie, I was really only going because Hubby really wanted to see it. I didn’t care for Batman Begins, so I had no reason to think that this movie would be any different. But I have to say that I really truly enjoyed The Dark Night, and I highly recommend it.
Wanted I also recommend. It lived up to a second viewing quite well. It still felt as intense as it did the first time, however I do think that I originally overestimated how much of the movie was action sequence. it was definitely much more action than not though. Hubby seemed to have very much enjoyed both movies.
On another exciting note: one of the previews shown during The Dark Night was for a new Terminator movie. I LOVE the Terminator movies. I’m so thrilled there’s going to be another one. Hubby was actually laughing at me because I was bouncing up and down in my seat. Overall, we had a fun day, but I’m definitely movied out for the next few days.
Wanted
I went to see Wanted today. It was quite the experience. It’s been some time since I’ve seen a movie that violent, or that intense.
There was little stop in the action. The movie felt to me like twenty minutes of setup followed by one long action sequence, broken up briefly for a training montage. I know logically that there were a few more non-action scenes, but they were few and far between.
I’ve not probably got Hubby worried, because he wants to see it, and this doesn’t sound like the description of a movie I’d normally like. However, he has nothing to worry about. I really enjoyed the movie, and will happily go again. I’m also recommending it to anyone out there who hasn’t seen it. However, if you have issues with violent movies stay away. You will hate this.
I’m not sure why I liked this movie. It really isn’t my thing. I expected to like it from the previews, but I found the movie much more intense than I thought it would be based on them. I don’t think it’s that these previews were misleading, more that all action movies show action packed previews, regardless of how much or little of the movie is really action.
It is probably partly that I really like the cast in this movie. I’m a big fan of Angelina Jolie, and of Morgan Freeman. I really liked the actor who played the main role as well, although I’m not as familiar with him in general. I also really enjoyed the ending of this movie. I won’t say more than that, but I was very pleased with how it ended. Any other option would not have suited.
Overall, I really loved this movie. And I haven’t had nearly such an edge of my seat experience at the theatre in ages.
