Monday, February 20, 2006

Movies

We've been slacking in the movie department lately ... just a little too busy with work, car, etc. But this weekend we saw two decent movies (one on DVD, one in the theaters).




The first was Cinderella Man on DVD. This is the Ron Howard directed flick with Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger. Though kinda long, it was very enjoyable. The director, costumer, set designers, etc. did a great job of evoking the time period of the former boxing champion James Braddock. Howard played a little loose with the facts of Braddock's life ... especially of former champion Max Baer. But it was done for dramatic effect and does not take away significantly from the movie.

Cinderella Man is the story of depression-era boxer James Braddock. He had been a promising pro boxer with a 35-7 record who through injuries and the onset of the Great Depression had his career suffer. There was a period of time where he had to work as a a longshoreman and go on government assistance. In an unlikely turn of events, in his early 30's, he got the opportunity to fight again. What he did with these fights was nothing short of amazing. The overwhelming underdog in 4 consecutive fights, he ended up being the Heavyweight Champion of the World.

All the key acting jobs were well-done, especially Crowe and Paul Giamatti as his trainer. The movie reminded me a lot of Seabiscuit in that they were both unlikely heroes that gave hope to Depression-era common people. I'd recommend the movie if you liked Seabiscuit or A Beautiful Mind, another Ron Howard directed film with Russell Crowe.

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Yesterday, we saw The Chronicles of Narnia in the theater.




This movie is obviously trying to capitlize on the popularity of fantasy-based movies that have been recently successful (LOTR, Harry Potter). That's not so much a criticism, but rather an observation. Though I don't believe it is as good as those, it's still a good movie.

The acting is fine, mostly with unknown British actors. The special effects are generally good but not perfectly seemless.

The well-publicized religious imagery of C.S. Lewis' books is apparent in the movie. The most obvious:

  • The lion Aslan represents Christ
  • The betrayel by a Judas-like character, Edmund
  • Aslan dying for Edmund's sins and ultimately returning

That there is this imagery doesn't necessarily take away from the story for me. But it does seem a little heavy-handed at times. Overall, I would say that the movie is aimed at a younger audience that LOTR ... as were the books. It has more of a sense of wonder, say like the Wizard of Oz, than one of detail and scale, like LOTR. So, if you have younger children (about 5-12), it'd be a decent movie to see.

7 comments:

Jewish Atheist said...

I love Paul Giamatti. American Splendor and Sideways were great, if you haven't seen them.

Laura said...

I liked Cinderella Man. I'm glad Giamatti is finally getting recongnition. I couldn't help, though, through the whole movie thinking Jim J. Bullock whenever they said Jim. J. Braddock... kinda detracted from the rugged, manliness of the character for me. ;)

CyberKitten said...

Haven't seen 'Cinderella Man' but did see 'Narnia TLTW&TW' some months ago & pretty much agree with your short review. Not bad but not great either.

I did manage to see 'Good Night & Good Luck' this weekend as was rather impressed - but then I was expecting to be.

dbackdad said...

JA,
I agree on Giamatti. I'm consistently impressed by his work. I have Sideways but haven't had a chance to watch it.

Laura,
Thanks for ruining it for me. I will not be able to watch the movie again without thinking of Jim J. Bullock. :-)

Jeff said...

I thought Cinderella Man was incredible. I really loved that movie.

Handsome B. Wonderful said...

Paul Giamatti put forth an amazing performance in C.M. I hope he receives an Oscar in addition to his SAG award for this role.

greatwhitebear said...

I really want to see Cinderella Man. I am a huge fan of Ron Howard as a director, I have liked virtually every movie he's made, starting with Night Shift (yeah, back when Henry Winkler and Michael Keaton were stil young, and Shelley Long was HOT!)