Weekend movies

Saw a bunch of movies over the holiday weekend.

With the kids in theaters:

Narnia/Voyage of the Dawn Treader - I saw the first movie, but not the second one (Prince Caspian), but this third installment stood on its own just fine.  Quite visually beautiful and a fairly involving story, with terrific secondary characters, especially the mouthy cousin.  I was a bit surprised that the first stop the ship makes is on an island overtaken by slave traders - that seemed like a rather mature topic for a family film!  But my kids didn't seem traumatized by it.

Gulliver's Travels - not bad, but not amazing.  A little too much Jack Black being Jack Black - mugging for the camera, dancing to rock n roll.  Emily Blunt, as the princess who finds her voice, is definitely the best thing in it, IMHO.

Secretariat - saw this at the local discount theater and I just loved it.  It was too talky for the kids, but I thought the story was involving and moving, and really entertaining.  Great cast, great performances, and not *too* Disneyfied.

On video with Caleb:

King Arthur (2004) - the Clive Owen/Kiera Knightley version. Quite good. Interesting - sets the story in the 5th century, when the "real" Arthur is believed to have lived, as the Roman Empire is fading from Briton, and removes all the magic and wizards and such. Clive is always delicious (though he is given a few too many Braveheart-style speeches), and Kiera is especially wonderful (the love triangle with Lancelot is presented very subtly, which I liked). The movie added some Romans (Clive) versus the locals (Kiera) plot, which reminded me a lot of Avatar, but in a good way. We watched the Making Of video and that was amazing - they spent a lot of money to make it authentic, but sadly, it didn't do well at the box office. Kind of surprising, considering the cast and the subject matter. Audiences are so fickle and unpredictable - they probably quite reasonably thought this would be a monster hit.

Centurion (2010) - similar setting and characters to King Arthur, a few hundred years earlier; the Romans fighting the Picts (Scottish locals).  Great acting and costumes, and glorious setting (filmed in Scotland and England).  Super bloody, but also great dialog and characters.  Worth watching, though I had to hide my eyes several times.

Dominic Sena double feature: Swordfish (2001) & Gone in 60 Seconds (2000).  Just a coincidence that we picked out 2 movies directed by the same guy.  Both were good, but not great.  Swordfish started out well, fresh and smart, but the first half was definitely better than the second half.  Gone had a great cast and some witty dialog, but it went on too long and could have used better editing.

On video:

The Back-Up Plan (2010) - Jennifer Lopez vehicle, with a yummy love interest played by Aussie Alex O'Loughlin; good but not great; some good moments, but uneven, and (as always) super contrived.  Pregnancy and childbirth turn out not to be as funny as this team thought it would be.  And as always, they skimp on the falling in love part - it seems to happen mostly off screen - why exactly did these two people decide they were perfect for each other?  Not a classic, but not a waste of time either.

The Sleeping Dictionary (2003) - surprisingly affecting drama set in Borneo in the early 20th century - Hugh Dancy is delicious as the naive British bureaucrat and Jessica Alba is quite compelling as the half white/half native Selima, who Hugh falls for.  Great cast and gorgeous setting.  My only complaint was the overly accepting attitude of the jilted wife (played by Emily Mortimer), who didn't seem to mind her husband leaving her for his first love.  Bonus - unexpected and very hot sex scenes.

North & South (2004) - a BBC miniseries from an (apparently) famous novel by Elizabeth Gaskell, set in the 1840s in an industrial town in northern England (a fictional city that is supposed to be Manchester).  Follows the P&P plotline pretty closely, which isn't a bad thing, of course.  The stars have good chemistry, and the commentary is a bit sharper than P&P - about working conditions in factories and unions and such.  Very worthwhile - I'll have to see other productions based on her books: Wives & Daughters, and Cranford.