The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
I just finished the book before I watched the movie. That is not to say that I am not a seasoned veteran though. I read through all of the Chronicles of Narnia series when I was about 8. This movie was amazing! It followed the book very very closely. But it had to follow closely. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was less than a hundred pages.I think that the child actors/actresses did an amazing job. I personally thought Lucy Pevensie was the best, however Edmund came in a close second at being the best. Susan was good, but not too featured in the film, just as in the book. Peter was very good as well, but it sort of felt about half way through the movie that Peter was being setup as being the next JTT if you know what I mean. Maybe I’m just jealous of people that are better looking than me ;)
I honestly thought the animals would be tough to tackle, but I really think this movie nailed it. Talking animals from beavers to Lions to mystical creatures such as orcs and nymphs. The characters, especially the beavers were endearing and the wolves were very believable.
Some may think that a movie like this with children that become kings and queens is far too unbelievable and that The Lord of the Rings is far superior. I really think that the creators of this movie did a great job of bringing you back to your childhood, so that you could feel like this is a possible thing, this whole kids fighting bit. Also, the children arent killers. You can see their weakness, which makes fighting children all the more believable.
The battle scene was the best. All creatures of all sorts come into an amazing clash. There are cheetahs fighting fauns fighting rhinos. I really like how C.S. Lewis brought in species from all sorts of different mythologies, contrary to what Mr. Tolkien thought and advised. In addition to the great battle taking place, the battle grounds are in a beautiful scene that I would hope to be Glacier National Park, MT. One of my favorite scenes in the whole movie has to be when griffins are soaring above the battle field dropping boulders as bombs. It rocks :)
The only thing I honestly wish this movie did was to incorporate the first Narnia novel, The Magician’s Nephew into this movie. The previous novel shows you so much of how Narnia came to be, how and why the Wardrobe was able to transfer you to Narnia, and how the old uncle Digory came to be in it’s posession. I think that the first novel also helps to show Aslan’s true power as compared to the queen Jadis and where Jadis even came from.
Lastly, the movie drips of Christian symbolism everywhere and I love it. I love Aslan as the Lion of Judah, a sort of Christ that gave his life to cover the betrayal of Edmund, i.e. the betrayal of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The scene where he is resurrected reminds me so much of how Jesus Christ was resurrected from death for our sins. I love how the human children are the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve. I love how the evil queen Jadis, the White Queen lures Edmund in with food and treats and the promise of being a prince, i.e. Adam and Eve tempted with the apple. For any of you out there that don’t agree with me, I hope you do, because C.S. Lewis was a Christian and that was his intent.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
This movie was amazing. I think honestly it is about a tie with its previous Harry Potter release, The Prisoner of Azkaban. What the first two movies lacked was darkness and a sense of fear. I feel that the last two installments really incorporated darkness and fear with the dementors and currently with the death of a student and a truly grotesque Voldemort. Ohhh…dare I say his name ;)Also, this movie has a more grown-up feel to it, with Hermione getting to be pretty dang hott, the ladies of Delacour being smokin’, and the ball, where there is a lot of teenage crush type business going on. Also, the whole idea of the Tri-Wizard tournament being for kids over 17 and with a risk of death and Harry’s unbeknownst involvement in it makes it a age-pushing more-mature Harry Potter movie.
Once again, this movie’s epic nature continues, with huge stadiums, deadly dragons, and the new idea of a port-key. The port-key is this thing that when you touch it, it becomes a portal to new worlds or other areas of this world. Pretty dang sweet idea, and as you’ll see, it throws a great twist in at the end.
Once again, this movie series proves to be so creative and innovative, that it continues to keep my watching eye and entertain over and over. I sware that by now I would have grown out of this Harry Potter phase, but I keep lovin’ it more and more.
Serenity
Ohhh, let the inner nerd out! Sweet God, Serenity is just a killer sci-fi movie worthy being in any geek’s prized movie collection. Serenity, as I keep calling it, is the movie that the new star wars should have been. It also reminds me of so many of the great episodes of truly wonderful series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, which I feel is the best Star Trek series ever.Ever since the old Star Wars had that great feel of a technologically advanced society that was still a little rough around the edges, with its phaser burned ships and homemade starcrafts, I have felt unenthused with the new glistening perfect 3-d rendered Star Wars series. The new Star Wars came off with too much perfection with its beautiful rolling hills, non-war scarred vehicles, perfect driods and far too many light sabers. The only thing that did help with Star Wars is that episode 3 , I feel attempted to bring that back, but I was still disappointed. Serenity, however, entered the scene with the whole Cowboy/Sci Fi adventure that had that rough, used quality to it. It answered my hopes for the Star Wars series.
In addition to its feel of reality in the post-war era, Serenity delivered with its diverse cast and excellent space-craft design. I love the whole idea of a firefly becoming a cargo spaceship and the dreaded Reaver vehicles are excellent as well. Serenity boast a killer cast, from the original show complete with a hardened ex-warrior captain, a whore with morals, a preacher, a diamond-in-the-rough mechanic, an overzealous gun crazy macho man, a genius doctor and his uber-genius, butt-kicking, slightly mental, hotty sister.
River is to me the focus of the story. She always has been. River is a beautiful, dangerous, mental genius that “The Man”, the alliance has probed to try to use her intelligence. She gets rescued and put onto firefly the ship, unbeknowst to the captain that she is fleeing the government, not that the captain loves the alliance. She is doubted, but in the end as she becomes more mentally stable, she shows off what turns out to be her best assets. River was the coolest character, because for me, it has been since Chun Li of the Street Fighter series that a female butt-kicker has been worthy. In the end, it is River that saves the day, martial arts kicking and blasting Reavers from 360¬? around her. I gotta say, that scene left me saying, “that is sooo hot.” Until, of course, I was reminded that she was like 17. Oh well. :)
Batman Begins
I thought Batman was dead. Seriously, how many sequels need to come out before you realize that you truly are beating a dead horse. So, I thought. Batman Begins completely reinvents the wheel. With star Christian Bale as the new Batman, formerly of “The Newsies,” Batman is shown in his humble beginnings and humanity. You get to see the real Batman. For all of those people who asked how did he get his suit?, how did he get his car?, where did Alfred come from?, how did he learn how to fight?, etc. This is your answer.Batman Begins really is a clean movie. It seemed to me that the other Batmans got really warped and felt more dirty. In this new Batman, romances and action seems a little more clean. I recommended this to my Dad and my little brother and they loved it. With the exception of a poisonous gas that causes things ( including Batman ) to look rather scary and the Scarecrow himself, this movie also isn’t too shocking visually.
What this movie does well is acting, storyline, and action. Christian Bale and Cillian Murphy play very believable roles as Batman and the Scarecrow. In addition, a cast such as Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Rutger Hauer and Liam Neeson, this movie appears to have spared no expense as far as acting. The story is great. It brings you from Bruce Waynes spoiled, pompass childhood to his defeat and recreation as Batman. You get to see how his father essentially created Gotham and the politics, back-door killings and corruption that led to Bruce’s creation of his alter-ego, Batman. The story brings you through Batman’s struggles and experiments with new gadgets and explains how Bruce came into the riches and possesion of such great devices. Lastly, the action is killer and never seems to stop. From martial arts duels to stealthy knock-outs to high intensity train crashes, this movie proves to be action-filled and definitely a movie that I will own.
Another quick thought. This movie has such a feel of the first Batman with Michael Keaton. Once again it brings back the grunge and the reality of life and makes this film all the more believable.
I am actually in agreeance with you for the movies you chose (minus the painful omission of Rent). Narnia has it’s chance to redeem itself on the Magicians Nephew it states very clearly in the subtitle THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE. Otherwise it would have been THE MAGICIANS NEPHEW & TLTWATW, and that just gets too long. I hope one day you do take the opprotunity to read all the HP books so you can see what gets left out. And most of all thanks for props to my boys Joss Whedon (me being his biotch and all) and Cillian Murphey who is defenitly one actor to keep your eyes on. I heart you Toni & Rogie!
Oh bye the bye Cillian was nominated for a Golden Globe for Breakfast on Pluto. Way to go Cillian!
Good choices there, mate. I so wholeheartedly enjoyed Narnia
Awesome Daniel, Narnia lovers unite!
LOVED Narnia! Thought it was a well done movie.
Watch out, I am putting on my contraceptive glasses held to gether with a paper clip and a band aid here, full geek out. As far as the whole Serenity vs. SW, I do have to admit I have seen every one of the 6 SW in the theater when released since EpIV. I have been in love with the SW world and have even read almost all the books. As far as the non scarred worlds an no battle scars on the vehicles, Rog, you have to remember that when the Sith Lords take over the senate, they use up all of the revenue to build the Death Star. The people were taxed to death and had to do with what they had by building ships out of old war torn cruisers and such. They basically were bankrupting the citizens for their evil plot. EpIV is the depth of a depresion and the people are starting to rebel. In EpIII, the war really is still just begining. The Empire in the hands of the senate was still very prosperous and was building new war ships to combat the rise of the Sith, and really, had been in a long period of peace through out the galaxy so there wouldn’t be battle scars on ships that had never seen battle.
If there is a real need to compare Serenity to anything, Flash Gordon is the more genre true comparison since both really are based on serials from the early days of film.
I loved Serenity, but I would not begin to compare it to another movie as it is its own movie.
Batman rocked. Own it.
Good review Cory. However, I have realized that point about the pre-war, pre-depression ships. I still think that the Star Wars series lost something by being too beautiful, too perfectly rendered. Maybe it was more the fact that I feel the new Star Wars focused so much on rendering the perfect seen than they did character development and relationships.
I think what happened to the new Star Wars is what happened to videogames when the 3-D movement hit. Videogames were always about addicting gameplay and story, rarely about graphics. Then, graphics seemed to be a huge push. Every review seemed to focus on graphics and 3-D. I remember talking to kids about a new game and they’d be like “Man, that game is soooo cool, have you seen the graphics?.” I really feel like now that people aren’t so ecstatic that a game is 3D, game companies have really focused more on gameplay, replay-ability ( if that is a word ), and story.
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