Movies & the Countdown Plan

My thoughts on a few movies I've seen recently:

1) Five Weeks in a Balloon - A little boring at times, especially considering that Jules Verne (on whose book it is based) wrote adventure stories. Not so bad, but not leaving me without much to remember it by. And you know I only watched it in the first place because Barbara Eden is in it.

2) Inkheart - This one was like a play arena, a setting for all the goodness of stories that we love to take in. And I didn't even realize Andy Serkis was in it, so getting to see him in a non-CGI (Gollum) role was nice. So escapism, heart, all of that sort of thing are in here in a very non-heavy way.

3) X-Men: First Class - About time I watched this one; it seemed like I had been waiting to forever. I don't know if you can go wrong what with having James McAvoy play a younger Patrick Stewart: now that was entertaining. The plot itself didn't draw me in much; it was much getting to see these characters at an earlier stage and the start of the school that was fun. But, then, I'm not sure majority of people do care more about the plot than the characters in any of the X-Men movies.

4) Nosferatu - I watched this one on Halloween. Unfortunately, though, I started it late at night when I was already more tired than usual, so I couldn't take it in as much as I wanted to. Watching a 1929 silent movie (it had a music score, but that's different) when you're falling asleep isn't the best idea. But it drew me in when I could keep my eyes open. There is something amazing about watching how acting, cinematography, and all were so different eighty years ago. Dracula/Nosferatu himself was that combination of creepy and funny you get from watching a full-blown out horror movie from decades ago.

5) Season of the Witch - Now this is the movie I ought to have watched on Halloween if I wanted to get scared (which I didn't--that's why I just watched what I did). I'm not exactly sure what made me want to watch this movie in the first place, but there it suddenly was in my Netflix instant queue, so I turned it on one night. I thought the "action movie" thing about it would be a comfortable way to spend my evening. I recalled that the trailer seemed a little creepy, but since it was only PG-13, it couldn't be that bad, right? But the thing is, I'm terrible about the scary elements, even too heavy suspense. So at some point during this movie, I asked myself why I was watching it or why I hadn't at least had the sense to watch it during daylight instead of alone in the dark in the middle of the night. But I had to see it through to its end, lest the monsters be allowed to live, so to speak. When it was finished, I went off and watched a couple of videos by The Hillywood Show to clear my mind before going to bed. The verdict on the movie? It's that combination of historical, supernatural, action, horror, not-exactly-spiritual thing. It was okay, I guess. It probably could have been a little better; I certainly don't think I'd be interested enough to see it again.


And now for my plan to countdown to "that movie" that is coming out in less than two weeks. In order to prepare for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 I will be posting on the following:

1) Sometime in the coming week, I will watch the first three movies again. Then I'll talk in general about their successes and shortcomings, in terms of what I think the latest movie will or should do.

2) The soundtrack comes out on Tuesday, which I just pre-ordered. Although I did have a chance to listen to it once when it was on the official Facebook page a couple weeks ago, I will listen to it again, just once more. I'll then compare it to the others, guessing at what these differences/similarities mean for the final movie.

3) I will watch all three Twilight parodies by The Hillywood Show. I think the differences among these three coincide with the differences among the three movies, so I will expand on this idea.

4) I will reread Breaking Dawn. I don't expect to have the time to read the whole thing (please give me a break--we're reading Pardise Lost in one of my classes: I just don't have the time or energy to do too much reading of my own), so I will set my goal at the first two sections. Everyone seems to think that's where this movie will stop, anyway. Like I did for the last two movies, I will make up my little list of what I think the movie will need to do.

Until then.