Movie Reviews

We recently rented three new ones. Going to watch the last one tonight and return all three.

First off we have "Flags of Our Fathers". Wow. Great movie about the truth behind the famous Iwo Jima flag raising photo. A movie that shows the sacrifice and horror of War and the political BS that is always behind it. It's told from the point of view of the son of one of the men in the photo, interviewing his Dad's old military buddies for a book he's writing. It's told in flashbacks from each man's point of view. I'm waiting for the companion piece "Letters from Iwo Jima" to come out on DVD soon. It's supposed to be a telling of the conflict from the Japanese side. Should be interesting.

Next we have "The Prestige". A movie about two rival Magicians in Victorian England. It's a movie about obsession mainly. About having that narrow focus that is so narrow that you forget there's other people in the world. Good cast. It's great to see Hugh Jackman doing everything he can to not get permanently type-cast as Wolverine for the rest of his career (although that might not be a bad thing with the Wolverine solo movie coming out soon.). Some of the stuff he's done has sucked, Swordfish and Van Helsing, but he's been good in them. Also stars Christian Bale (the new Batman) and David Bowie as Nikola Tesla. Michael Caine is in it as well (so you know it can't suck that bad....he's like Sean Connery. Put him in a movie and you will at least get a shining performance.) and Andy Serkis (better known as Gollum....or at least the voice and the body model for Gollum).

Lastly we have "Flushed Away". Very funny film. The singing slugs are the funniest part of the movie actually. It's like Shrek (hey it's from the same folks) in the way there are layers of humor.