At the Movies

  • Prince of so-so …

    Besides Robin Hood, the other movie that I’ve seen so far this summer is Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, which of course is based on the popular video game.

    In this movie, the orphan boy Dastan is rescued from the streets by the king and raised as one of his sons. Flash forward several years, and Dastan has morphed into Jake Gyllenhaal (love the abs, hate the hair). Dastan and his brothers decide to go against the king’s wishes and sack a holy city. Eventually, Dastan comes into the possession of a mystical dagger that lets its owner turn back time. The dagger is guarded by a beautiful princess, and she and Dastan spar back and forth as they try to unravel a conspiracy about the dagger and who wants them both dead.

    This isn’t a terrible movie, but it’s not a great one either. Some of the fight scenes are cool, and Dastan and the princess have a good rapport. Other than that, it’s a lot of Ben Kingsley chewing the scenery as Dastan’s treacherous uncle and Alfred Molina being annoying as a guy who loves ostrich racing (seriously).

    Wait for this one on cable. 

    My grade: C-.

  • ·

    An epic clash …

    2 Comments

    There have been a whole lot of remakes lately, and one of the latest is the new Clash of the Titans movie. It hasn’t gotten fantastic reviews, but part of me still wants to see it.

    Why? Because every time we had a movie day when I was in school, we watched one of three movies — The Princess Bride, The Neverending Story, or, you guessed it, Clash of the Titans. So I have a certain nostalgic fondness for Harry Hamlin, stop motion animation, and a golden owl. Inconceivable, isn’t it? 😉

    I think this is part of the reason why remakes are so popular these days. You have folks like me who have fond memories of the original TV show or movie — a built-in audience who will go to the theater and tune in to see the remake. Easy money, in other words.

    Sometimes, the remakes are better; sometimes, they’re worse. And sometimes, the original should just be left alone. I hear there’s a Karate Kid remake coming out this summer. I’m sorry, Jackie Chan, but you are no Mr. Miyagi.

    There are some other remakes in the works too — The A-Team movie, of course, along with Hawaii Five-O and The Rockford Files. I’ll watch all three of these because I’m a sucker for a good action movie or a cool detective show. And yeah, I’ll probably go see the new Karate Kid too. Who knows? Maybe the villains will still be the guys from Cobra Kai. We shall see …

    What about you guys? Which remakes are you looking forward to this year? Share in the comments.