Catching up on past movies Part 1.

I started the blog this year, so lets review some of the biggest movies of the last 6 months and see where they lead. Since most of these will have sequels or will beget sequels I feel they are worth looking back on.

Ghost Rider – no one could be more perfect than the comic book loving Nicolas Cage (he named his son Kal-El) and this will have a sequel. Question; Is anyone better in “comic book” type and western movies as a supporting actor than Sam Elliot (Blade, Wyatt Earp)

Rocky Balboa – Okay, ignoring the fact Sylvester Stallone/Rocky is a little too old, this movie strongly exceeded all my expectations, though I do wish Little Marie and Rocky’s son could have been played by the original actors.

Casino Royale – A blonde Bond and who cares. Daniel Craig harkens back to the 70’s when men were men and stunts weren’t CGI. Similar to the Bourne series, this movie becomes a battle of wits and physical skills. The best part is the gag of Bond breaking into M’s codewords or house. Too bad we don’t find out what M stands for. If Craig stays long enough, he may become the top Bond and I am a Bondophile.

Eragon – definitely a sequel coming since it is the first of three books. Though we are still waiting for book number 3, this is in the vein of Harry Potter - kids love it, adults like me get a thrill also. The best thing was seeing Jeremy Irons be a good guy, rare if you follow movies in the last decade.

Alpha Dogs – Yes. Justin Timberlake can act, and mmm, the girls look good. Based on a true story, I was impressed by the story and the acting all around. Great movie but not uplifting. Highly recommended and can’t wait for some of these guys to work together again. Timberlake proves he can expand his repertoire past “Dick in a Box” and is ready to be a major actor following in the footsteps of

Over the Hedge – Animation that entertains children and adults is a tough balance, but they did it here. Whether it is due to story or the voice actors, I don’t know. However, in general a William Shatner monologue should be in every movie.

The Da Vinci Code – I didn’t want to see this in the movies, the book was too good, but I was impressed anyway. It was much better than expected, raked in the dough around the world, and the sequel is in the works.

Pirates of the Caribbean Part 3: Journey to the End of the World or the end of my wallet.

Johnny Depp plays his usual fantastic Jack Sparrow and I couldn’t wait for the pirate version of Ken Watanabe. What happened? A mythical goddess pops out of nowhere and fades into the see taking an extra half hour to cover all the story lines in a movie that was way too long. Without even a hint of this in the second movie, it was a lead anchor on the an incredible action movie.

Years ago we complained when movies were too long, now they are too long and no one says anything. A sequel doesn’t have to be longer than the movie before it, just good (hopefully better) and in itself a contained movie. No one wants to be disappointed so the studio throws in everything it can, but when that is just a Chinese buffet where we eat too much a lunch we are not in for a five star meal.

Knightly becoming a pirate queen in a twist of fate bought about by Sparrow was perfect, the multiple Jack Sparrow crew was great, the final whirlpool battle was fantastic. Why oh why couldn’t they have made this 20 years ago and cut anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and made us walk out going “WOW”. This phenomenon is also seen in Spiderman 3.

Would I recommend seeing this movie? If you liked the first two yes, but try to catch a matinee and save some money, or wait until the DVD comes out and watch it on a big screen TV and decide when you want to have an intermission.

David Chase - You got us....

Sopranos Series Finale

One word…WHAT. Okay so David Chase thinks he is an artiste but still needs/wants to leave the future open for a movie or miniseries back on HBO…so you don’t have to destroy your fans. We know you like the open ended ideas – see the Russian, Adriana, Carlo flipping, fine, but you could have tried to appease us.

No matter what happened, your original 13 episodes became 8 seasons and though the quality had an up and down feel, we were on a journey together. You had a year and a half to make a short season and give us a sense of closure but one last joke was left. How many people thought their Tivo, DVR, VCR, cable box died on them?

I loved 95% of the last episode. The problem is the 5% that wasn’t up to par, was horrible and drags down the rest. This 5% included AJ turning a 180 from a depressed man ready to fight a war after losing his car to laughing and eating chips with his girlfriend, the out of nowhere introduction of the FBI’s agents mistress, and the infamous last scene. Yes we are talking about it but not in a good way.

The last 3 episodes of the series could have made every negative review and thought fade, but all Chase did was make us wonder why nothing happened at the end. If David Chase comes out and says the “black” was Tony being shot and he is dead and no movie is ever made, then my thought may change, but a single gun shot sound could have made the ending relevant in a way we haven’t seen in forever. However, a lead character dying hurts syndication and we know both David Chase and James Gandolfini have never made money like this.

To be continued…