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TheConfounder
Reviews
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
A good, though loosely adapted, movie
"The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" gets seven out of ten stars from me. A good film, although a few of the scenes early on seemed a little thrown together. For instance, in the scene of the people of Lake-Town gathering after the death of Smaug, a lot of information is thrown in by an unnamed character and just rushed over in order to move the story along. There is a totally unnecessary scene near the end of the film between Legolas and his father to make an obvious tie-in to the Lord of the Rings. Since the end of the movie ties it in perfectly, why the one between the two elves had to be there I just don't get. And, the entire film could have just written out the Alfrid character and I wouldn't have cared at all. I know his cowardice was supposed to be comical relief, but he ended up just being annoying.
But, other than that, the battle scenes lived up to the hype and the death of Smaug at the beginning is done very well with his face the main focus and the fire "going out." I will definitely be seeing this again while it is in theaters.
Superman Returns (2006)
The little boy returns
As the news reaches the masses that the space shuttle has not released from the airplane, I knew what was coming. Sitting in my seat at the theater, I watched as Clark Kent looks up at a television screen, keen determination entering his eyes. And then, as Jimmy Olsen turns to find Clark gone, another transformation takes place. As soon as Clark Kent opens his shirt while running down the street revealing the red and gold "S," the adult sitting in my seat ceased to exist for a brief instance of time. All of a sudden, I was a six-year-old child again, watching Superman take to the sky to save the day. All during the next five minute sequence, I caught myself almost holding my breath as Superman brings the aircraft to safety. Superman had returned, and so had the little boy I once was. Once again, the child that watched in amazement when Christopher Reeve donned the red cape and took to the skies was seeing his hero portrayed on the big screen. When the airplane is lowered to the ground, I wanted to stand and cheer. Tears had formed in the corners of my eyes. The child in me that had been suffocated by teenage years of responsibility and seemingly killed off by the 9 to 5 working world was alive again. Bryan Singer did more than make a superhero film. He brought back the child-like innocence that has become washed out of many of us. The presence of facts over imagination. The ideas of logic trumping faith. These were gone. Once again, I believed that a man can fly. Will Brandon Routh be revered in the role as Reeve once was? Will Kevin Spacey remain in our minds as Lex Luthor, the villain that we love to hate? Only time will tell. There is only one thing that I know for sure right now. Superman is back, and I couldn't be happier.
The Da Vinci Code (2006)
Beating around the ol' proverbial bush
Well, I finally went and watched this film just to see what all the fuss was about in the media. As a Christian, I figured that this must be some mind-blowing doctrinal thing, but it turned out that it was just something that the Mormon doctrine has been saying for years ... that Christ was married and had offspring. If this movie wins any big awards, it will have to be for the controversy it stirred up, much like "Brokeback Mountain" did last year, and not because of the film's concept. Overall though, I enjoyed the film as it made for a good story. It seemed that it took them forever to just get to the point in some places, but the action scenes were put in at just the right times to keep you interested in the film. I hadn't read the book, but it was pretty easy to figure out that Ian McKellan's character was The Teacher and that Sophie was supposed to be offspring of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. I assumed this halfway through the film, but I sat there for the last hour anyway. Ron Howard pulled off a good show despite what critics with their personal religious agendas may be saying. But I was a little disappointed with Tom Hanks' performance. Tom is such a great actor and one of my all-time favorites. But in this film, he seemed a little wooden in areas. Certainly not "Forrest Gump" or "Saving Private Ryan" material. When he was in the museum, it seemed that, at some points, he was simply reading off of the cue cards with very little emotion. But to take back an earlier point I made, I think that this film is worthy of one Oscar nod, and that would be the nominating of Ian McKellan for Best Supporting Actor. He is always entertaining, and he fit his role in this film very well. He was the bright spot of the film and did not disappoint.