Monday, June 20, 2005

Some Movies

I saw some movies this past weekend. Everyone seems to be blogging about "Batman Begins," and I saw it, so I'll join in. It was OK. It was good, in a summer-blockbuster-y kind of way: lots of explosions, gadgets, iron-jawed heroes, slimy villains, last second escapes. The usual stuff. Was it great? No. Actually pretty formulaic. The script didn't make a whole lot of sense. (Why didn't Bats bring the antidote with him in one of his gazillion pockets instead of having to schlepp whats-her-name back to the Batcave to save her sanity? Just so they could have a Race Against Time?)

I might have liked it better if, the day before, I hadn't seen "Howl's Moving Castle." Truly amazing. I have no idea why, in Cincinnati, this movie is tucked away in the local art-house cinematheque instead of being out there at the Jumboplex where America's kiddoes can see it in droves. It had all the excitement of "Batman" — no, make that twice the excitement — and a ton of imagination, of which "Batman" had zero. Some of the visuals had the quality of dreams, and the characters all had character. Three cheers for Miyazaki.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't you ever forget something at home? Even something important?

I certainly thought Batman Begins was more than okay, especially for the comic book movie genre.

May go see Howl's now that you've recommended it... appropriate for all ages?

EMC said...

Some of the images might be a little freaky for pre-schoolers -- but basically suitable for all ages.

EMC said...

Could well be, RR -- my brain cells aren't what they used to be, either.

bob jones said...

Haven't seen either of those movies myself, but did you see "Hotel Rwanda" (2004)? -- that knocked my socks off.