Posts Tagged ‘movies’

Vantage Point

// February 28th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // entertainment

Allen and I spent a few bucks to see Vantage Point, which looked like a decent enough thriller from the trailer:

And it was, decent that is. Not great, not good, but okay. It was entertaining enough.

Vantage Point demonstrates how random acts can unravel the best laid plans. The story unfolds several times from different characters point of view. You often see the same scenes again, but with a bit more information than before. This annoyed the heck out of some people in the theatre and Allen pointed out that if they didn’t do that, the whole movie would have been over in 30 minutes. So, if you plan on going to see it, expect to re-watch scenes or you’ll be utterly annoyed. The instant replays didn’t bother me, but I’m easily amused.

So, I didn’t mind the repeats, but what was unbearably awful were the acting “skills” of Zeo Saldana who played a news reporter at the beginning of the film. How hard is it to play a news reporter? I always thought news reporter was probably the easiest role an actor could get, but this marks the second time in history that I’ve seen one portrayed by someone who apparently never saw a news cast in their life. Ugh! Thank goodness they blew her character to bits. Yeah, that’s not a spoiler. It’s an act of mercy.

Okay, I have to cut this short ’cause Survivor is on. What? I said I’m easily amused.

There Will Be Blood

// January 13th, 2008 // 10 Comments » // entertainment

I went and saw There Will Be Blood last night which is based on the 1927 novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair. The story is about a two sociopaths: an up-and-coming oil tycoon at the turn of the 20th century and a priest. While that may seem juxtaposing, both characters mirror one another in their ugly struggle to gain power over each other and everyone else throughout the film. This is a very character driven and lengthy movie and it isn’t for everyone. During long stretches where not much seemed to be happening, it occurred to me that I should probably be bored, but I wasn’t. It had just the right amount of suspense to carry my interest through.

Very notable is the performance of Daniel Day-Lewis who plays the protagonist villain and the dark, eerie score which seemed to become a character of its own after the first 20 minutes of the film where no dialogue is spoken.

I liked it and was glad that I saw it, but I didn’t love it. I’d watch it again if someone rented it, but I don’t know that I’d buy the DVD. Here’s a trailer that accurately sets the inauspicious tone for the film.