The Siege

Just watched The Siege. Somehow I forgot that I had seen it before, and how great a movie it is. I probably saw it 6 years ago though, and the movie has a different impact now. The tagline of the movie was "On November 6th our freedom is history." In 1998, that was not only the release date, but also a Tuesday...

The Da Vinci Code

While trying to get into the theater for M:I3 last night, there were lots of lines and stuff. I was surprised since I didn't remember anything interesting coming out. Turns out it was The Da Vinci Code, so I think I was still mostly right. Today I watched last night's Ebert & Roeper, and they had some interesting things to say about it. For the movie it's apparently a decent Thriller, and it's told better than the book. The story isn't any more believable than the book though, and isn't presented like it should be. You can read all of Ebert's review if you want. This whole thing sorta seems like Dogma round 2. Anyways, the quotes:

"It seems as if half the world is embroiled in a controversy over The Da Vinci Code, but I really can't imagine that it will offend the beliefs or shake the faith of anyone who's a true Christian." - Richard Roeper

"This is a complete fantasy. The people who take this stuff seriously, should really — they should devote their time to something more realistic like flying saucers." - Roger Ebert

Mission: Impossible III

I went to see Mission: Impossible III with some friends, and overall it was a good movie. Could have done without the kids behind us talking though. Anyways, it was good enough to keep me entertained throughout the movie. Not to say it's at all believable or anything (it's an action movie - you're not supposed to think), but it is entertaining. It was definitely Abrams style, although those who have only seen Lost probably wouldn't know it. The whole bomb in the head thing being in both Alias this spring and this movie seemed a bit overplayed. Effects were good, and it didn't seem completely dependent on them. It'll be interesting to watch again on DVD.

Then there's the apparently new watermarking, which served its purpose of distracting me during the action scenes well. I haven't seen anything in a theater for a few months, so this has maybe been around a while. I hadn't heard of any changes to film prints though, just all the proposed digital projection ideas. Anyways, I'm used to seeing the red or yellow dots that are rather big. On this I noticed an interesting pattern of black dots. The pattern was a similar size, but the dots were smaller, taller than wide, and more of them. Not enough to be a barcode or anything, maybe an extra column. There may have been a background of some sort, but it's only up for a short time and I was trying to ignore it and watch the movie, so I'm not sure. It seemed to be in more positions on the screen, and designed to fit around the content rather than overlay (maybe in an attempt to make it less noticeable?). So far a bit of searching hasn't turned up anything on it. Has anyone else seen this or have any links to info about it?

El Mariachi

Over the past two weekends I've watched the three movie Robert Rodriguez series of El Mariachi, Desperado, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. It's a very good series in my opinion, despite the change in actors between the first two. If you're looking for something that's actually believable look elsewhere, but if you just want entertaining action movies they're awesome. The closest comparison to other modern movies is probably Kill Bill. The last one has tons of subtle funny details, which I think the first ones lack only because of budget concerns. They all are good movies even independently, but I recommend them as a series.

Underworld: Evolution

Tonight I went to see Underworld: Evolution with JoeBuck and Travis. While not a culture changing movie or anything, it's good for what it is (a very bloody action movie). If that's not your type of movie, probably want to stop reading now. My favorite part was definitely the all-in-one particle bombs. Push a button, and after a delay it starts spraying in all directions, and then sparks it. Way to use simple high explosive physics to great effect. Lots of interesting and rarely (if ever) used ways of killing people, and unlike a lot of movies they don't creatively cut it either. Like ripping the top of skulls off, jamming spikes through the chin and exiting the top of the head, and throwing into the center of spinning helicopter blades. Of course the standard vampire movie stuff of emptying clips into people with blood flying everywhere, sucking blood, and impaling are there too. They did a great job with the effects, although it seemed like the telling the story part was sorta a second thought. The sex scene definitely didn't fit and was just odd being in there. I'll definitely be getting the DVD and watching both movies together, probably with a movie night involved.