Ogwaros Iwenâl

This is simply incredible.  Gorgeous and functional.

Fred Claus – I’m not sure why I watched this one, but I was surprised how it wasn’t 100% terrible.  It was mostly awkward.  Not quite a kids movie, not quite a movie for adults.  I liked Kevin Spacey as the terribly clichèd evil lawyer trying to shut down Christmas because he didn’t get a present from Santa when he was a kid (oops, spoiler alert!).  Oh the irony that it was a Superman cape that he had asked for and not received.  Who knew this was the origin story for Lex Luthor?  On that note, Superman Returns was terrible.

Not recommended, at all.

Star Trek II – The Wrath of Khan – It really surprised me how little I liked this one.  I remember it being my third favorite Star Trek movie, and yet the movie is so bland.  The cinematography – particularly the scenes of Khan on the Reliant – just bores and revolts me.  The score by James Horner is okay, but is entirely inappropriate for Star Trek.  The whole “Kirk feels old” theme is really hamfisted in its implementation.

The movie really has two things going for it – actual submarine space battles, and life/death on a starship (particularly the death of Spock).  It does both things extremely well, but they don’t fully make up for its shortcomings.

The premise: Take the plot of a movie, book or TV show and reword it to totally misrepresent the original work.  This is similar to the idea of trailer recuts I posted a while back.

The results: Hilarity.  Be sure to read the comments as well.  While a lot of the people seem to be missing the point, there are some gems buried in the comments.

As for my own untitled work:  Boy moves to a magical underwater city, becomes a great leader, lives forever.

Grave of Fireflies – Children struggle to survive in WWII era Japan.  Wanted to hate it, wanted to dismiss the inevitable tragedies, but in the end I couldn’t do it.  The ending got to me a bit.  Not fantastic, but good.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture Director’s Cut – Instead of going to see the new Star Trek movie, I’m going through the old ones again.  The first movie is great in its director’s cut form.  At some point I’ll have to watch the original theatrical version, just to really appreciate how much the director’s cut tightens things up.  Wonderful soundtrack.  Just don’t watch it late at night – not exactly the most action packed of movies.

The Final Cut – Robin Williams is a Cutter, a man who takes the best parts of a person’s life, cuts away all the unpleasant ones, and compiles them into a memorial video upon the person’s death.  This career path was influenced by a traumatic event in his childhood; one whose reality is called into question when an old friend appears in the memories of a recently deceased client.

The movie introduces some interesting ideas about the pros and cons about having your entire life recorded.  Williams does a surprisingly decent job in his role.  Unfortunately, rather than simply focus on this character the movie decides to try to balance this with a thriller plot, and does so poorly.  You will figure out the ending a good hour before it happens, and all you can do is watch as it skids there.  What a waste.

Hitman – Timothy Oliphant tries to play an action hero.  Due to various circumstances (script, direction, editing, and his own acting), he fails.  Based on the hit (HAR!) video game series, this movie offers up a bunch of uninvolving conspiracies and lifeless action sequences.

The best moment?  When the hero crashes through a hotel balcony door to find two kids playing Hitman.  The movie does this without any trace of irony or humor.  As if a movie that was adapted from a video game needs to nod to it by featuring the video game in the movie!

Not even the lead actress cavorting toplessly (multiple times!) can save this one.