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Double feature movie day
Sep. 4th, 2005 11:43 pm... Sort of.
Went to go see a couple movies today: "A Sound of Thunder," which pretty much got panned by the critics, and "The Brothers Grimm," which (I think) also got panned (but I'm not sure).
Here are my reactions to both movies (no spoilers for the movies):
"A Sound of Thunder": Based on a Ray Bradbury short story that was apparently shown on the Ray Bradbury Theater, this story's premise is that in a certain year, time travel has not only been perfected but is now also being exploited as a very lucrative scheme... lucrative, at least, for one.
In the Ray Bradbury Theater version, which was (I think) only a half hour or so, a group of time travelers goes back to prehistoric times. The group is given specific instructions while on their journey: do not touch anything, do not leave anything, and do not bring back anything. When the group returns, they discover that the time they left (aka the present) has been totally disrupted: people are reading and writing gibberish (as well as a few other things that I forget). The cause is discovered, and the guilty party is executed (via gunshot) on the spot. End of story.
Fast-forward to the 2005 movie version. The basic plot is the same, but the story goes in a different and expanded direction. Instead of ending where the Ray Bradbury Theater ended, the movie takes a different turn, to where one of the main characters tries to figure out what happened, then determine what, if any, can be done to make it right.
Overall, I heard the main problem a lot of people had with "Thunder" was that they couldn't figure it out. But having seen the Ray Bradbury Theater version before I saw the movie, I had no problems following the plot. Overall, it was okay, but the story was dated... and they really need to get better-looking cars for futuristic vehicles. :) Not bad... worth seeing in-theater once, on dvd once... but I don't think I'd spend the fund-age to get the DVD (when it comes out).
"The Brothers Grimm": Remember the Grimm fairy tales? Well, "forget all you know... or think you know... the power to control the world is in which finger?" (Quick: where did that quote come from?) The basic premise: Will and Jake Grimm travel around regaling (and conning) people with tales of witches, wizards, sorcery and so on. But when they find a town in France where their stories are apparently true, it's up to them to figure out if they can bring a happy ending of their own.
Personally, I liked this movie. The plot is somewhat formulaic, where actors suddenly end up having to play their parts for real -- kinda like Galaxy Quest -- while I saw what seemed like references to a couple other movies ("Lord of the Rings" and "The Princess Bride" come to mind). I'm not going to tell you where those references come into play... you'll have to see the movie for that. :)
But if I had to choose one over the other, I would certainly pick "The Brothers Grimm" over "A Sound of Thunder"....
Went to go see a couple movies today: "A Sound of Thunder," which pretty much got panned by the critics, and "The Brothers Grimm," which (I think) also got panned (but I'm not sure).
Here are my reactions to both movies (no spoilers for the movies):
"A Sound of Thunder": Based on a Ray Bradbury short story that was apparently shown on the Ray Bradbury Theater, this story's premise is that in a certain year, time travel has not only been perfected but is now also being exploited as a very lucrative scheme... lucrative, at least, for one.
In the Ray Bradbury Theater version, which was (I think) only a half hour or so, a group of time travelers goes back to prehistoric times. The group is given specific instructions while on their journey: do not touch anything, do not leave anything, and do not bring back anything. When the group returns, they discover that the time they left (aka the present) has been totally disrupted: people are reading and writing gibberish (as well as a few other things that I forget). The cause is discovered, and the guilty party is executed (via gunshot) on the spot. End of story.
Fast-forward to the 2005 movie version. The basic plot is the same, but the story goes in a different and expanded direction. Instead of ending where the Ray Bradbury Theater ended, the movie takes a different turn, to where one of the main characters tries to figure out what happened, then determine what, if any, can be done to make it right.
Overall, I heard the main problem a lot of people had with "Thunder" was that they couldn't figure it out. But having seen the Ray Bradbury Theater version before I saw the movie, I had no problems following the plot. Overall, it was okay, but the story was dated... and they really need to get better-looking cars for futuristic vehicles. :) Not bad... worth seeing in-theater once, on dvd once... but I don't think I'd spend the fund-age to get the DVD (when it comes out).
"The Brothers Grimm": Remember the Grimm fairy tales? Well, "forget all you know... or think you know... the power to control the world is in which finger?" (Quick: where did that quote come from?) The basic premise: Will and Jake Grimm travel around regaling (and conning) people with tales of witches, wizards, sorcery and so on. But when they find a town in France where their stories are apparently true, it's up to them to figure out if they can bring a happy ending of their own.
Personally, I liked this movie. The plot is somewhat formulaic, where actors suddenly end up having to play their parts for real -- kinda like Galaxy Quest -- while I saw what seemed like references to a couple other movies ("Lord of the Rings" and "The Princess Bride" come to mind). I'm not going to tell you where those references come into play... you'll have to see the movie for that. :)
But if I had to choose one over the other, I would certainly pick "The Brothers Grimm" over "A Sound of Thunder"....
