Greg Nilsen

After not getting a chance to get to the theater to catch this movie, I carved out some time last night to watch the latest installment of The Chronicles of Naria movies with my wife.  Now, let me preface the remainder of this review by saying that it’s been about five years since I last read through the entire Chronicles, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was far and away my favorite of the books.  I felt it read like an abridged Odessey, with lots of rich imagery and varied adventures in an epic manner.  

That said, I didn’t have real high hopes for the movie for several reasons:

• Hollywood struggles with storytelling, which C.S. Lewis excelled at.  It seems that you either start with a complex story that gets skimmed over, or start with a simple story that gets “jazzed up” with unnecessarry add-ins from the movie studios (see Spiderman 3, which killed that series/storyline).  The Dawn Treader would fall into the first category.
• While The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, by far the most popular of the books, was a solid movie, the follow up with Prince Caspian came across very “meh”, and very often sequels get caught in that downward spiral.
• The franchise was also switching from being Disney-backed to being a part of 20th Century Fox, and changing directors, and you never know how that’s going to play out.
• I read the book first.  I already knew what to expect and had images of how things should look.  Very rarely do movies live up to one’s imagination.

So, after watching the movie and hoping against hope, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was still an OK movie.  It clearly lacked in storytelling depth (they spent about 12 seconds explaining why they were sailing into uncharted waters, and it felt like the characters were just jumping from one island to another), and the big fight scene was overly drawn out (you’d think someone would speak up and say “they spend more time fighting the giant serpent/bug thing than they do talking to each other…what is this, LOST?”), but it was sufficiently entertaining.

The two highlights for me were the early sword duel between Eustace and Reepicheep, which I found very amusing, and the final scenes, which did manage to depict the “edge of the world” by “Aslan’s country” almost exactly as I had imagined (my brain had no land, and a mirror-like wall of water).

In the end, I do have a hard time recommending Dawn Treader unless you’ve seen the previous movies, and are a fan of the books.  The movie is like the Cliff Notes version with every fifth word redacted, and that doesn’t make for a great standalone movie experience.

Nonetheless, I do hope they continue to move forward and create the entire series.  Word on the street is that The Magician’s Nephew is next on the docket, which is a great prelude to The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and gives the whole backstory on Narnia, which should be interesting and possibly bring back those who may have been lost by the slow pace of Prince Caspian.  The Silver Chair would be another one that could be very interesting to see, which is more of an fantasy adventure in other parts of Narnia.  Let’s hope they can get a better grasp on those movies, and be able to do them justice in a 150-minute window.

Well, I just got back from seeing the highly anticipated Cloverfield monster movie, and it was definitely an interesting flick.  I really liked the perspective it was shot from and the situations they put the characters in.  Nothing was over-the-top phoney; the characters actually acted like people, which was refreshing.

It was also nice that the monster didn't stay hidden, like it has throughout the marketing campaign.  So, if you thought they might try and keep you in the dark about the monster, don't worry.  There's quite a few good shots of it.

They even did a nice job of weaving in some of the background as you see clips of video that avoided being taped over the night of the attack.  They really helped to develop the main characters, which in turn helps to drive the story.

Even the ending was fine.  If you think about the text you see at the beginning about the film being recovered in Central Park (also found in several of the trailers), you already knew about what was going to happen.

However, if you're looking for answers and everything wrapped up in a neat little package (which I'm sure many of my fellow LOST fans can relate to), then you're not going to get it.  While it is nice to know that stuff (and hopefully all the Tagruato, Slusho and TIDOwave stuff eventually come to fruition and explain where the monster came from), but having the movie come from the perspective of someone experiencing the attack (not involved in it) and the fact that the movie was going to be two hours or less, you really couldn't expect all those details when they weren't all that relevant.

So, I definitely recommend going to see Cloverfield.  Just don't go in with the expectations that it will be the greatest monster movie ever.  After all, the movie really isn't even really about the monster, it's about the people.

However, it would be really awesome if they were to put together a sister movie that explains how the monster got there, and what happened to it after the end of Cloverfield.

I just got done watching Hotel Rwanda, and I must admit that it was excellent. It deserved every bit of acclaim that it got and then some, and it should be required viewing for anyone living in a civilized nation.

Many times, it can be hard to understand the infighting that goes on in a number of African nations. ER tried to do Darfur justice in the fall, but still felt disconnected from the whole situation because it was outsiders going into the situation. However, Hotel Rwanda tells the story of the pain of a genocidal situation from the perspective of a man who was caught up in the middle, and really throws you into the middle of everything.

Oddly enough, the whole situation revolved around the distinctions of Hutu and Tutsi, labels which originate from european colonists who marked some Africans as genetically superior to others. And just like Christian denominations, there are people who will die believing that their label is the best one, and there are those who don't see the distinctions as being signifigant at all. However, the situation in Rwanda was clearly carried out to an extreme.

In all, there were two things about this movie that hit me most:

1. This only happened 13 years ago, while I was about to start High School, and I don't remeber hearing a single thing about it then and nearly ONE MILLION PEOPLE DIED in the conflict. Clearly, this says something about our, and our media's, priorities.

2. The lengths that these people had to go to to get assistance and even get to a refugee camp was mind-boggling. However, the citizens of Western countries were pulled out of the situation as soon as possible.

Take the time to see this movie, and you'll be glad you did. I may never watch it again, because it was so hard to watch the first time, but I don't think I'll ever forget it.

Saturday night I got a chance to get out and see Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby starring Will Ferrell. I was already in the mood for a stupid-funny movie, and this flick definately didn't disappoint. In fact, it was the hardest I've laughed at a movie in the theatre in as long as I can remember. And it's not just a "guy movie". My wife was also laughing so hard she was almost crying.

Once again, Will Ferrell was brilliant, and the supporting cast really held up their end. All in all, they managed to keep the movie from feeling like a spoof on a profession (like Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgandy), but instead created a good story with many hillarious moments. I found myself even rooting for him to succeed. Not many movies manage to succeed do that and keep me laughing. Plus, it's got a solid soundtrack!

Talladega Nights is well worth the trip to the local megaplex and plopping down your $9, or $15 if you can't escape that sweet, sweet aroma of buttered popcorn (I'm not sure what they put on it, but I'm pretty sure it has to be illegal because it's addicting).

Let the countdown to the DVD begin!

I just wanted to do a quick highlight of the recently released DVD for Wallace and Gromit – The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. This was a movie that I originally had low expectations for when I saw it in the theatre, but since it has become one of my favorites. And no, it's not an "Easter movie", but the rabbits are actually part of the plot.

With a great combination of story and humor, this is a great movie for children and adults alike. In addition, the outstanding claymation is well worth the viewing. The rewatchability factor of Were-Rabbit is also very high. Each time I watch this movie, I catch a new pun or joke that is subtly inserted in the background, props, or dialogue.

If you're a fan of humor or of just good, clean family-oriented movies, then Were-Rabbit is definately a movie you should check out. If nothing else, you'll probably get a kick out of the cute but crazy bunnies!