So far this weekend, we’ve watched Transformers and 1408. Live Free or Die Hard is still on the list, along with a couple other pictures.
What’d we think of the ones we saw? Well, Transformers was pretty much exactly what you’d expect it to be; giant robots beat the crap out of each other. Jess and I seem to agree that the last 40 minutes or so — what’s supposed to be the most exciting part of the whole show — was pretty unsatisfying. There are better, smaller fight scenes earlier in the movie. Still, for the price of a movie ticket, you get to see giant robots fighting. Shia LeBouf is pretty fucking amazing, too (especially given the limitations of the script he’s handed). And there’s nothing at all wrong with Megan Fox on a sixty-foot screen.
1408?
Oddly, we had the same problem. When the movie is small, it’s great and creepy. Weird, odd things keep happening to John Cusack’s character and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t enjoying the hell out of myself. About 2/3 of the way through, though, it’s like they threw the switch that said, AMERICAN MOVIE AUDIENCES ARE DUMB, MAKE IT BIGGER, LOUDER AND MESSIER.
In my humble opinion, they would have been better served keeping it small.
1408 was pretty creepy, though. And I raced home to re-read the original short story. I’m pleased to report that (a) good, bad or indifferent, the short-story is right where I left it, so the movie can’t hurt that. And, (b) even with going “too big” at the end, I still walked out fairly creeped out. Can’t complain too much about that, then, I suppose.
Jess didn’t think much of it, but the temperature in the theater felt like about fifty degrees, so we agreed she probably wasn’t as into it as I was. First time I haven’t brought a jacket with us in two months and it’s the only time she needed it. So it goes, eh?
Oh, I’m not actually reviewing either of these movies, but for whatever it’s worth, each is, in their own right, worth the price of admission. Neither will shake the foundations of Heaven and Earth, but as they basically deliver exactly what they promise, I don’t see how you can complain too much.
Still, here I am, waiting for a movie to come along and blow me away. Been a while, hasn’t it? Be a nice treat, wouldn’t it be?
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