Forgive me for I have sinned…I went and paid money to see Jupiter Ascending. And you know it was not all that bad for a sequel to The Fifth Element.

There was a sort of ‘Fifth Element’ feel to the Galaxy, or was that just me? The movie itself was alright, but again…and this keeps happening lately…I am reminded of what I don’t like about the state of movies nowadays.

There used to be art in making films. If the script was not right you simply did not go ahead until it was. It was understood that the story was the most important thing, but not so much anymore. Now it seems like it’s all about visuals and stars and money concerns. I get that movies need to make money but there used to be artists making them, artists that did not want their names on a polished turd, just to get ahead or make money. They gave a crap about their craft.

I guess what I am trying to say is that this is no Indiana Jones, but it’s not all that bad either. At least it wasn’t a sequel or something derived from another property just for the sake of a recognizable name, like Battleship or High-Ho Cherry-O.

I liked that it was original and it did feel like the filmmakers were taking a leap. I kept telling myself ‘this is Space Opera’ and that went a long way towards forgiving what at times was simply not otherwise impressive. The visuals were top notch but the aliens themselves are one dimensional, just the usual bad guys are very bad and the good guys fart lightning. Continue reading »

Forgive me for I have sinned…I went and paid money to see Seventh Son. And you know it was not all that bad for a sequel to True Grit.

It was a bit hard to get into though.

You know how sometimes you lose the remote and find yourself watching a low budget fantasy and think to yourself ‘if only they had a larger budget to work with and someone in it who’s name I recognized’ that it would not be so bad.

Then at some later date you see Seventh Son and realize why you don’t work in Hollywood.

The casting was off right from the start.

Enjoying movies requires that you suspend your disbelief and such, and that can be quite a chore when Julianne Moore looks a little too much like Julianne Moore. At least she got dressed up as a Valkyrie in The Big Lebowski, but here she is made to work with nothing but some dark makeup and turning into a dragon from time to time. I guess you just have to keep reminding yourself she’s some big bad-ass fantasy witch. I kept at it and eventually she seemed to be OK for the part. No, not really.

Of course Jeff Bridges reprises his role as Rooster Cogburn (True Grit), but the character himself just didn’t seem right. Again, not Jeff’s fault, he nails the cantankerous old coot. I was just hoping they would write in a new character. Continue reading »