Saturday, October 11, 2008

The Green Mile

I'm not a big Stephen King fan at all but I do have to say my all time favorite movie has to be The Green Mile. As a matter of fact tho I have never even read his books on the Green Mile and John Coffey but I simply loved this movie. And it's not something I'd even associate with Stephen King.

Based in the 1930's during the depression Tom Hanks (Paul Edgecombe) plays a security guard on death row called the Green Mile. What an outstanding performance by Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan who plays John Coffey, an 8 foot tall man who was brought in for the rape and murder of 2 little girls. As the story goes along, the real story of John Coffey and the 2 little blonde girls comes out. Afterward the guards are struck with a moral dilemma as to what to do with John Coffey. Also starring in the movie is David Morse (Brutal), Barry Pepper (Dean Stanton), Doug Hutchison (Percy, csi fans will recognize him as Nick's stalker), Bonnie Hunt (Jan, Paul's wife) and a small part by Gary Sinise (John Coffey's lawyer). This movie definitely is a must see. Altho I've never read the books by Stephen King, I think I'm gonna have to pick them up one day and read them to see how much of a difference there is between them and the movie.





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Friday, October 10, 2008

Gladiator

If you're into the barbarian movies, you'll enjoy Gladiator. With Russell Crowe playing lead as Maximus what could go wrong?? Set in the times of Roman Emperor Marcus Auerlis (also known as "the wise"). General Maximus Decimus Meridius is a good and loyal friend to the present Emperor Marcus Auerlis until his death, he's captured and enslaved because he refused to accept the new emperor, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) who is also the son of Marcus Auerlis. Maximus works himself up thru the ranks of Gladiator to his final match facing the emperor Commodus for his final match.

Over all a great movie with some damn fine acting. Russell Crowe, Richard Harris, better known as Dumbledore from Harry Potter, Joaquin Phoenix, known for his role as Johnny Cash in Walk the line, all with some pretty fine creditials under their belts. Altho there's some pretty gory scenes in this movie, I've seen far worse in the so-called horror movies like Elm St.



One of my favorite scenes in this movie is when Commodus finds out his plan to kill Maximus had failed.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Conspiracy Theories

Gotta love those conspiracy theory movies! One of my favorite ones has to be Conspiracy Theory with Julia Roberts and Mel Gibson. He plays a wacky cab driver who writes "conspiracy theories" he thinks up himself and publishes them to a paper, low and behold one of his theories hits the nail on the head, she plays a US Government official who Gibson's character is in love with and he keeps taking his theories to her. Eventually you find out some other little secrets to Gibson's character but I won't give away secrets. It really is a great movie for sure. My latest favs being The Bourne Trilogy. The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. This however, might be a cross between Conspiracy Theory and The Universal Solider (with Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren). Another for Julia Roberts would have to The Pelican Brief, where she plays a student who wrote a paper on the assasination of 2 Supreme Court Justices, as it turns out everyone who's read this brief ends up being murdered except Denzel Washington plays the news reporter she takes her theory to, to get it published. First tho I have to say, who the heck knew Matt Damon could actually act!?!?! And he's good at it too...LOL...I love the way they actually integrated the movies with each other rather then make it look like new parts to his life. Jason Bourne (Damon) is an experiment wrong array. It starts as he's pulled out of the water by a fisherman, having 2 bullets in his back and amnesia, he needs to discover who he is and what happened to him. This is however, a movie you do need to pay attention to. I have this bad habit of wandering away or trying to do other things while a movie is playing but in the blink of an eye I missed quite a few very pertinent things in it and had to watch it over again. And the final scene in the second movie is actually a scene in the middle of the third movie, they just elaborate on it more. However, I do believe they may come out with a fourth one to it due to the strange way they left the things with the Nicky, she also worked for the same organization that Bourne was in. A secret organization in the government that was training killers. Bourne being their first pet project. Robert Lundlum, the author of the Bourne Trilogy died however in March of 2001 leaving behind outlines and rough drafts of future books which are being published by "ghostwriters". So if they do make a fourth edition to this serious, I wonder, will it be just as good or will the "new writer" come out in it instead?



The Seeker

With all the hype over the Harry Potter chronicles it's not surprising that someone would try to jump on the bandwagon in sorts and cash in on it. The Seeker is about a boy who learns that he is the last of a group of immortal warriors who have dedicated their lives to fighting the forces of the dark. He has to travel thru time to get 6 signs to give the Light power. It's sort of a weird movie. The concept of it isn't too bad but the acting in it is horrendous!! I can't even compare it to anything cause I don't think I've ever seen anything with such bad acting in it. I guess it wouldn't be too bad if you were a 5 year old tho, you might like it. As I said the concept of the movie wasn't a bad idea, it was just the over-acting and lack of talent that did more bad then good. For anyone who's watched any of Harry Potter tho, you'll know that Harry was called "The Seeker" on the Quidditch team he was on. And as the Seeker it was his job to "seek" out and capture the "Snitch" (a little gold ball with wings) before the other team's Seeker. It's Will's job in The Seeker to travel thru time to find "signs" which are round little balls of gold light. When Harry found out he was "a great wizard" he was only a teen as is Will Stanton. Harry's best friend from school is Ron Weasley, the youngest boy in a family of 7 children (6 boys 1 girl), their father being a "civil servant" who liked to tinker with things from the "muggle world" Will was also from a family of 7 (6 boys and 1 girl). I'm unsure what Will's father did but it was along the same lines as Mr Weasley.

If you choose to watch this movie, don't have high hopes of another "Harry Potter" type but more along the lines of The Muppets.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Troy

Troy, The Movie

MMMMMMMMM Brad Pitt!! AND Eric Bana together.....what a fantasy :D Well after watching this movie, it really would be a nice fantasy.

However there are quite a few differences in the movie and the book, The Iliad. Still a good movie tho.

In the movie it's stated that Agamemnon brought the kings together for it which really isn't true. Helen had many powerful suitors and her father was too afraid to pick one of them for her husband in fear of offended the others. Odysseus convinced him to make a contract with the other suitors that made them promise that should anything happen to Helen, the other kings would assist in getting her back. When Paris kidnapped her from Menelaus, they were bound to honor their promise and help to return her. When Paris was born, it was predicted that he would be the downfall of Troy, so he was sent into the mountains without any knowledge of who he really was. Aphrodite was the one who promised him the most beautiful woman in the world and started the Trojan War.

In the movie Patroclus is Achilles's cousin but in the book he is his lover. I'm glad they made the change in the movie tho, cause I just couldn't picture Brad Pitt with a male lover (not that there's anything wrong with that).

In the movie Briseis is a member of Priam's family which she actually wasn't. She was simply a slave girl that Achilles in fact did fall in love with and Agamemnon did steal from him. And she didn't kill Agamemnon like they said in the movie. Agamemnon actually made it back home where his wife and her lover murdered him.

Altho Hector was a great warrior in his time, after he killed Patroclus, he didn't actually come out to face Achilles as easily as the movie depicts it. Achilles chased him around the walls of Troy 3 times before he actually stopped to fight him. Hector never killed Menelaus either or Ajax. Ajax committed suicide after Odysseus was given Achilles armor over him.

Now I understand that a movie has only a couple of hours in it and there's alot to the Trojan War then time would permit in a movie so they have to condense in down. But this war took about 20 years to finish and not the few months or so that is depicted in the movie. And Helen helped in it's destruction along with Odysseus. All in all tho, I do like this movie and it is worth it to watch.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

A Little Retro

I was a little bit bored today so I decided to root thru the DVDs to see what was good to watch and came up with the 1985 Miniseries of North and South. I've watched the made for tv miniseries on it as well as read the books by John Jakes which are North and South, Love and War and Heaven and Hell. And I loved them both. There are differences between the movie and the books, which is understandable as they do have edit it for TV. There is a lot more in the books then the movies but I still loved them any way.

As you probably well know the North and South miniseries is about two families, the Hazards from Lehigh Station Pennsylvania and the Mains from Mont Royal South Carolina. And their struggles to keep their friendship thru out the civil war. If you haven't read the books or saw the miniseries then I highly suggest you do, to both reading the books as well as watching the shows. The miniseries had some pretty big names in it too, Patrick Swayze, Lesley Ann Down, Kirstie Alley, Jean Simmons, Teri Garber, Genie Francis, David Carradine, Inga Swenson, Georg Stanford Brown, Robert Mitchum, Morgan Fairchild, Johnny Cash, Gene Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, David Ogden Stiers, Mitch Ryan, Forrest Whittaker, Parker Stevenson, Lloyd Bridges, Olivia de Havilland, Linda Evans, Hal Hobrook, Lee Horsley, Wayne Newton, James Stewart, Michael Dudikoff, Robert Englund, Robert Wagner, Billy Dee Williams......to name just a few. And with a star line up like these awesome actors how can you say no to watching it.

A couple of things they do that I don't really care for is changing the actors. I realize some times it can't be helped but it's too bad the same actor/actress didn't last thru out the entire 3 movies. For Book 3 the actor for Charles Main was changed and the actress for Isabelle Hazard changed for each movie. And the fight scenes were kinda cheesy, but considering the time this movie was made it wasn't too bad.

Friday, June 20, 2008

So it's been awhile since I've posted on here. Been doing different things lately and if you want to check it out, try my website. MollysPlace


Be back later to post some more, at the moment I have to go to the real job that does pay.