Movie Review Monday - Men Who Stare at Goats

I know it's no technically Monday anymore... but it's close enough. I'm going to start reviewing a random movie here on this blog every week. If you have a movie you'd like me to review let me know. I'll be rating on a scale of One to Ten. This weeks movie is:

'Men Who Stare at Goats.'

From the moment I saw the poster for this movie I could not wait to see it. It is chalk full of actors whom I love. ie: Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Kevin Spacey... you have to love them. Then I saw the trailer and wanted to see it even more. Witty dialogue, quirky humor, and truly unique premise. I thought I was in for a treat. Then it came out in theatres. I wasn't able to see it... and I didn't hear much about it. Then I forgot about it... for a while.

Then I walked past a redbox and saw it there, then I rented it, then I watched it. Now I'm reviewing it.

Overall I'm going to say that it's a good movie. Maybe not quite as good as I had hoped, but still quite excellent.

Here are the reasons it is good:

1) Great low stress acting - No super amazing acting moments, but beautifully simple and honest reactions.

2) Incredible dialogue - The dialogue is very honest and believable. It never feels forced or contrived.

3) Jeff Bridges - This man can do no wrong in my book. He is amazing and then some.

4) Everyone else - No weak links in the actor line-up. Great to see these guys playing characters they don't normally play.

5) The Announcement at the Beginning - "More of this is true than you would believe." So awesome.

6) The Dancing - You just have to see it. It's fantastic.

Here are the reasons I probably won't watch it again for a while:

1) The Story is About the Reporter - I understand why it had to be that way... but, (no fault of Ewan McGregors) he's not the interesting one. I was more interested in the psychic powers of the soldiers not the journey of the reporter.

2) It's Fairly Slow Moving - Don't watch this while twittering or playing pacman... you'll get bored. Make sure there are no shiny objects to distract you.

That's about it! Other than that it's a fantastic movie. I think I have to give this movie a 7ish out of 10... If you haven't seen it yet, do.

-Travis_

Angels and Demons

I saw Angels and Demons last night, and I have to say I loved it. I've never read the book, but I thought that the story telling by Ron Howard was phenomenal, and the Acting by Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Stelin Skarsgard, and really the whole cast was suburb. Dan Browns writing is so great at grabbing audiences, and keeping them on the edge of their seats. Angels andDemons had me guessing the whole way through.

I've heard that some book fan's are a little upset about some inconsistencies, and even some major characters being completely left out. To them I say: so what? My wife has read the book and she explained some of the major differences (ie: the description of the bad guy, the wheelchair guy, the love story etc...) and to be completely honest with you if any of those things had been left in the movie it would've been too much. Dan Brown's storys are so complex already that anymore relationships, or plot twists, would've been overwheliming, and too hard to follow for the average movie-goer. I give kudos to Ron Howard and the writers for simplifying and only keeping what was needed to tell the story.

Without giving away too much of the story allow me to tell you some of my favorite things:
1- Tom Hanks. He has always been one of my favorite actors, and I think he can do anything. He nails this younger version (even thoughTom is now older) of Robert Langdon. Without going overboard he subtly makes us believe that this character is actually 'that good'. When he finds the clues we don't say "oh that was convienient..." we say "this guy is awesome!"
2- I have to say that Ewan McGregor was perfectly cast! I can't think of anyone better to play the role of the Camerlengo. His performance was excellent.
3- I think that Catholics will be very pleased with the way thier church was portrayed overall. I know that there was a lot of fuss over The Divinci Code, but I feel that both Ron Howard and Dan Brown were very delicate in the way they handled religion in this movie. This is a fictional movie, I hope people remember that.
4- The ending was great. But then again the whole movie was great. You laughed, cried, cringed, gasped, cheered, and in the end you were completely satisfied. It was $7.50 well spent if you ask me.

I give it an A-