Narnia: Prince Caspian

I was kind of disappointed with the first movie. I found the actors cast to play the children, particularly the girls, distractingly annoying and thought in general it was too light-hearted. But doesn't this trailer look much better??

Catch Up on Lost in 8:15

If you've already seen all the episodes, or if you don't think you'll ever watch them (but might watch the new ones) you can see everything you'll need to know in this little ABC video. Go there and click on the "Catch Up on Lost" video. Obviously extremely high SPOILER alert.

Of course, I would highly recommend just getting the DVDs instead!

Review: The Lake House

Don't overthink it.

This is actually a pretty enjoyable romance, as long as you don't expect it to make a lot of sense. And really, who expects logic out of their romances, anyway?

The premise is wonderfully science fictiony: Alex lives in a glass-enclosed lake house in 2004 that Kate ends up renting after he's left. In 2006, when Kate's time there is over, she deposits a "Dear Next Tenant" note into the letterbox... which Alex mysteriously finds back in 2004! He's naturally confused by some of the details in the note, since it makes mention to dog prints on the deck that aren't there yet... until he sees them added by his own pet! He writes back, makes a deposit into the mailbox... and she immediately receives it! The time-separated pair fairly quickly come to terms with the magical/time-travel aspect of the mailbox and are soon passing messages back in forth in rapid fashion (voice-overs are used to spare us having to read handwritten notes). So far, I was pretty OK with suspending my disbelief on this angle, especially considering how likable the two leads are in their roles.

Where the story goes south - somewhat, at least - is in the measures that it goes to in order to keep the two young lovers physically separated for as long as possible. (Oh, and of course, the time travel doesn't ultimately work.) As even a child could recognize, the tale's probably over as soon as they finally meet up for real after which it's all Happily Ever After... So I get that the script writer doesn't want that to happen too quickly. But still. For example, Alex happens to meet (2 years younger) Kate in 2004, when he knows about their 'long distance relationship' but it hasn't started yet for her. He's already into her but she doesn't know him from Adam. This leads to a great scene in which he's able to use just a little of what he knows about her, but a lot of his own natural charm, to begin to win her heart. It's lovely how he woos her so quickly from a standing start. However, we're left to believe that this made such a non-impression on her that she never sought him out in the two years afterward, as well as failing to recognize him when he encountered him just prior to the mailbox magic starting up. Hmmmmm.

Similarly, Kate's fallen for Alex - separated by 2 years - in 2006, and yet does nothing to track him down in the present. "Hey Kate: there's this little thing called the Internet? Where you can find almost anybody? Oh, and Alex has a famous architect father, so that might make it even easier?" Now, it's possible that she feared that she'd find out that he'd died in the intervening 2 years, but all it would've taken is a single line of dialogue to make that evident. As written, it felt contrived that she didn't make more of an effort to find him than simply setting up a date for them to meet in 2006. And then when he didn't show for that rendezvous, she dumped him - by mailbox!

Which brings us to the time travel, or time paradox, aspect of the film. If you know anything about me, you know that I love time travel... and hate when it's done badly. This wasn't a butcher job by any stretch, but it didn't really pull it off, either. It seems that most of what happens, as a result of the back-and-forth communication between 2004 and 2006, doesn't change history. For example, Kate doesn't tell Alex to bet large on the Patriots repeating as SuperBowl Champions in early 2005 (if he had, he'd have made out quite nicely) or anything else equally-profitable. In fact, for awhile it doesn't appear that they can change what happened, as each new experience that Alex has - including meeting up with Kate in 2004 - seems in line with what had always transpired. And that's cool, in time travel terms. As a matter of fact, watch Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys if you want to see an excellent usage of that sort of time travel.

But that's clearly not where they were going, as one seemingly-trivial scene proves about halfway through. In it, Kate is outside her apartment building in the rain, trying to pick up some items that she'd dropped on the ground. "At the same moment" in the past, Alex is planting a tree in the dirt near where he knows her apartment building is going to be. Just like that, the 2-year-old tree appears in Kate's time, conveniently providing her shelter from the downpour. Aw, ain't that sweet! For all the silliness of that moment, though, there's a deeper implication: those two years that separate them are still fluid. This also sets up the climax of the movie, which stretches logic - even what passes for time traveling logic in The Lake House - beyond the breaking point. Which is too bad. I don't want to spoil the ending, but if you've seen it already, ask yourself: if Kate changes history the way that she does at the end, then why would she ever have done what she did at the start? Bit of a snake swallowing its own tail, wot?

Aside from those flaws, though... it's a good movie! The Lake House has its heart in the right place, with understated performances by Keanu Reeves (Alex) and Sandra Bollock (Kate). This is a much more mature and - dare I say, with time travel involved? - realistic relationship than anything the pair pulled off during Speed. I definitely cared what happened to them by the end of it all... even if parts of the plot drove me crazy!

Rating: ***

The Year in Review: Funny TV Quotes

Courtesy of EW.com's weekly polls... a fairly amusing way to spend 10 minutes.

Review: 42 Up

The family and I treated ourselves to an early Christmas present this year by watching Michael Apted's 1999 documentary 42 Up on Christmas Eve. This is the 6th installment in the 42-year sojourn (so far) following the lives of approximately a dozen English citizens that began in 1964 with Seven Up! I provided a review of the previous update, 35 Up, just a couple of months ago, but seven whole years have incredibly passed for the participants already!

As Tony, Jackie, Neil, Bruce and the rest enter their 40s, the focus for many of them has naturally begun to shift toward their more intermediary role in life: being both parents of teenage or even full-grown children while dealing with the mortality of their own mothers and fathers. Several of them are still grieving over losses from years earlier, with one of them - Suzy - having ironically and sadly gotten involved with bereavement counseling just months prior to watching her mother die of cancer. Tony still wells up at the thought of his dearly departed "old mum" despite her being nearly a decade gone by this point.

The now middle-aged subjects of the documentary series are notably more reflective of the part that the film-making experience has played in their lives than they'd ever been before, even before the question is posed to them explicitly in the final moments. Several of them commented on the dread that they feel about the "every 7 years" knock on the door, and a few have even opted out of participating as they've gotten older. One can't help but wonder just how much the observer has affected the observed in the cases of these individuals, and generally not for the better. Interestingly, more than one of the grown up kids refers to the director by name this time out, revealing more comfort and warmth between subject and film-maker than has ever come across in the past. Presumably that's also a reflection of the growing maturity that comes with age, as I'm sure for years the director was simply "Mr Apted" to them.

There were fewer surprises this time around, although Bruce - previously presumed to be a confirmed bachelor by at least some of us - has finally married and found happiness with a female colleague of his, and Jackie has expanded her single-mother duties from Charlie (shown as a baby in 35 Up) to include another two sons. However, there's one moment that's absolutely delightful in its shock value. In the last several installments, we'd seen troubled loner Neil tottering on the edge of madness. He'd been squatting where he could, living off "the dole" and ruffling feathers wherever he went. It seemed better than even money, while watching 35 Up, that seven years later we'd discover Neil dead, in prison or perhaps institutionalized. Instead, we find out that he's turned his life around somewhat, and found a calling in local politics (you don't have to be crazy, I guess, but it helps!) As shocking as that turn of events is, we're treated to an even greater twist as the narration explains how Neil got there. It's revealed that, between the filming of 35 Up and this movie, kind-hearted Bruce had taken Neil into his home and provided him with at least a brief burst of stability, when the other man returned to London a few years earlier. I couldn't help but yell out "crossover!" as this moment played out before us, what with Bruce returning into the story once again in the role of hero. He positions it more as 'humble benefactor,' downplaying his own significance in the life of another. His new wife had earlier referred to him as "the nicest person" she'd ever met, and here was proof of that statement.

A small departure occurs in the final moments of 42 Up, as Apted asks many of the participants a couple common questions. First: is the English class system still in effect, as the 20th century closes out? The answers vary from person to person, with some being in the frustrated affirmative while others - the more privileged of the group - notably in denial of any such thing. The second question is about the effect that being in the series has had on the subjects, which I've touched on above.

The other unique aspect of this part of the series is being enjoyed this evening (the next night): the DVD contains a commentary track by director Apted! I've only watched two or three commentary tracks in my DVD experience so far, but this was a no-brainer. When the material is as fascinating and engrossing as the Up Series, who in their right mind wouldn't want to hear what the creative force behind it has to say about it? On it, we learn how the original Granada TV episode came about - and the Canadian connection on it! - how it had never been intended as a recurring series, and how difficult it's proven to be every 7 years to get many of the subjects on-board. Apted very honestly admits to screwing up the editing of the footage, in 28 Up, of Nick's wife Jackie, and how that mistake has hurt the series as a result. She's not only refused to be photographed ever since 28 Up but has also forbidden shots of their son. The director's consistently open and honest about his successes and failures throughout the commentary, making for an amazing insight into the process.

If you're a fan of the series at all, you'll be sucked into the commentary track every bit as fully and willingly as you've been with each of the individual films. This is another in a great series of films!

Rating: ****

Fare Thee Well, Journeyman

It sounds like, barring some fan-driven, Jericho-like resurrection, Journeyman has gone the way of so many short-lived shows before it. At least NBC didn't follow in the despicable footsteps of Fox (see: Drive) and refuse to air the last few episodes. Instead, fans were treated to an extremely entertaining double send-off last week, with new 'zodes on both the regular night of Monday and a finale on Wednesday.

While the show started a bit slow (for me, anyway), it continued to improve virtually every time it aired a new piece of the puzzle. The last few installments really hit some high notes, including making the time traveling more personal - when Dan's actions lead to both peril in his own home, and emotional heartache when he inadvertently erased his own son from existence! - and beginning to answer some of the core WTF questions. If the writers had been willing to really deal with the ramifications of what the hero was doing, I think I'd probably consider this one of my Top 25 TV shows, since I'm such a fan of time travel. As it is, that one weakness kept me from getting completely drawn into Journeyman, but I'm still going to miss it... quite a bit!

I particularly liked that the plot and setup were both allowed to evolve, rather than continually reverting back to the status quo. Even just the fact that more and more of the supporting cast were becoming "believers," rather than simply playing the same old Scully-card, over and over, earned some affection in my heart. I also appreciated that the show's continuity itself was always being referred back to, as if the characters in it were actually leading lives, and not just there to provide the backdrop for each week's drama in the past. I guess that style of TV writing's not as uncommon as it was a few years ago, but it still struck me as rewarding to the returning viewer, as Vicki and I were.

If you never checked the show out, but have a chance to do so in re-runs (or streaming from NBC.com), I'd recommend you invest a few hours. It's worth it. And while the finale that we got didn't come even close to resolving all of the mysteries, it did wrap things up nicely enough to provide some closure. And the last scene's a beauty!

I gave the Journeyman premiere only 2 and 1/2 stars, but I'm upping my rating on the series itself.

Rating: *** 1/2

Do Yourself A Favour

Watch this freaking trailer. You'll be glad you did!

Jackson And Tolkien: Together Again!

Great news today that over the next two or three years, Peter The Lord of the Rings Jackson will executive-produce a pair of movies based on The Hobbit and its sequel (?). I remember when the third and final LotR installment came out on DVD - with the usual additional material for us all to enjoy - and there was that inevitable feeling of disappointment over the run ending. Someone (maybe me, maybe whoever I was talking to about it) asked, "Why wouldn't Jackson just do The Hobbit?" That seemed like a natural next step for him to take, if he wanted to build on the momentum that he'd established on LotR.

There was a dispute (over proceeds from those movies) to settle first, but now that that's taken care of, it's full speed ahead. To which I say, "Yay!"

I'm sure there's news on this in lots of different places, but I read about it here.

This Presumably Means Something To Kid Dork

It's all gibberish to me but then again, I'm not what you'd call a Doctor Who fan!

Among us we have someone "who" is rather into that show, though, and maybe he'll find this interesting...

"Let's Put A Smile On That Face..."

If you haven't seen it yet, go here to view the latest trailer from The Dark Knight. I love so much about what I see in it, including:

• how differently Heath Ledger is playing the Joker (compared to Nicholson)
• how the trailer doesn't really give anything away (beyond: it's Batman vs the Joker! duh)
• how perfect Christian Bale continues to be in both the Bruce Wayne and Batman roles
• that it all looks so real whereas the previous series of Batman movies had been so over-the-top
• that they've brought back Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman, two of the best parts of Batman Begins
  

My fingers are firmly crossed on this one...

Lost Finds A New Home

I think it's good news that ABC has announced that the eight Season 4 episodes that were made before the WGA Strike will air, starting Jan 31st, 2008. Unfortunately it means that the sixteen-episode season will be broadcast in two parts, rather than the desired one, but at least we get some new Lost after a nearly-unbearable eight month absence!

And for those who can't mentally convert future calendar dates into days of the week, January 31st is a Thursday. Lost is indeed moving into the current Grey's Anatomy slot of Thursdays @ 9:00 p.m.

A Very Good Blogger

Diablo Cody, writer of the recent release, Juno - a film I have been very eager to see - is also a new columnist for EW.com. Here is her first post about the fantasies vs. realities of life on the road. I really enjoy her style of writing: intelligent, straightforward, and shameless. My kind of girl!

Bionic Woman: Broken Down And Sold For Scrap

Word is: Bionic Woman has been cancelled.

We'd continued to watch it from its premiere on, but only Vicki was really enjoying it. One of the funnier things about the show was how the pilot episode promised/threatened this whole subplot about the younger sister being some kind of uber-hacker (she'd been told by the authorities that she "couldn't touch anything connected to a modem," or something equally 1990s-ish) which, as far as either of us in this household could recall, was never mentioned again!

Not that I'm saying that's why it was chopped, but the show in general struck me as somewhat amateurish... Like how they could never be consistent in terms of how her bionic parts worked, or how familiar she was with same.

This news warrants a solid meh! in response, I think.

Oh My!

Ummmm... yes, please?

Review: No Country for Old Men

The movie opens with one of the best segments of narration you're apt to hear at the cinema all year. Tommy Lee Jones, local Texan sheriff, sets the tone for the whole piece by describing a 14-year old boy he once had convicted of the murder of a young girl.

[The following is straight from Ebert's review; I couldn't find this quote anywhere else.]

The papers described it as a crime of passion, "but he told me there weren't nothin' passionate about it. Said he'd been fixin' to kill someone for as long as he could remember. Said if I let him out of there, he'd kill somebody again. Said he was goin' to hell. Reckoned he'd be there in about 15 minutes."

The first three quarters of No Country are about what you'd expect given the setup: Josh Brolin's character (Llewelyn Moss), a poor Texan who lives in a trailer in the desert and spends most of his time hunting, stumbles across a handful of dead bodies, a truckload of heroin, and $2 million in cash. That sounds like a Coen movie, doesn't it? Unfortunately, sums of money that great do not allow their finders to live in peace. Moss soon finds himself on the run from a crazy yet uber-effective assassin, superbly portrayed by Javier Bardem. There is more suspense and tension (gore is scary, but so is pure insanity) in these scenes than one could hope for.

But then, something major happens at about the 100 minute mark and the whole tone of the movie changes. This is when you, as the viewer, must decide whether to be merely bored by the admittedly anti-climactic final quarter, or to accept that the true purpose of the film goes far beyond violence and mayhem.

Let's go back to that zinger of an opening speech. In it, the sheriff also reflects on what the older generation would have made of the incomprehensible violence happening in today's world. Later on, in a pivotal discussion with his uncle, he realizes that what's happening now is really nothing new - those characteristics have always been a part of human nature, and there's nothing he can do to stop it. This country is no place for men like him.

The ending leaves something to be desired for many who watch it, but if you haven't been overwhelmed by the fake blood and fancy stunt work, you should be able to appreciate that it is pitch-perfect. In conclusion, Fargo was a masterpiece; this is better.

Rating: ****

I'm Already Lined Up (In My Head, At Least)

What's not to like?

In fact, this poster's release has inspired me to start an "Upcoming Movie Events" section to track dates like this (for those days when you need just a little extra reason to live).

#30. Educate others.

On Tuesday, Industry Minister Jim Prentice will rise in the House of Commons to introduce Bill C-36 or C-37, commonly referred to as the Canadian DMCA. Apparently its terms are even more strict than the U.S. legislation, which itself is considered Draconian:

There will be no flexible fair dealing. No parody exception. No time shifting exception. No device shifting exception. No expanded backup provision. Nothing.

Michael Geist

Read

• Digital Copyright Canada
• faircopyright.ca
• Online Rights Canada

Contact

• Irene Mathyssen, MP, London–Fanshawe
• Glen Pearson, MP, London North Centre
• Sue Barnes, MP, London West

Martin on Alfred

Freaky/amazing.

Review: The Notebook

Several years ago, one of the women I worked with recommended a book called The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. I'd never heard of it, and it didn't sound like the sort of book that I'd seek out, but she plopped her copy into my hands and said, "Just try it and see what you think." By the time I was about ten pages into The Notebook, I was hooked. I whipped through it over the next several days and found it to be a very moving story, especially in terms of making you reflect on your own life and how things might play out there.

When the film version of The Notebook was being cast, it was considered quite the news story hereabouts that both leads in a big Hollywood adaptation were from southern Ontario, which was then made even more sensational - I guess - when those two young up-and-coming stars began dating in the real world. There's no doubt that Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams make an attractive couple, both on and off the silver screen. (Ironically, it was just recently revealed that they've broken up. Tinseltown continues its proud tradition of chewing up and spitting out relationships, it seems.) Each of them has individually carved out nice starts to their careers, and I wouldn't be surprised if they both do well, in the long run. They're certainly both excellent in The Notebook.

The story here is quite simple: boy and girl meet, fall in love, and then are separated by the machinations of her parents before finally meeting up again, nearly a decade later. Meanwhile, in a parallel story, we're shown the couple at the end of their lives, where she's suffering from Alzheimer's and he's trying each day to help her remember their time together by reading to her from a notebook of their pasts. It's the sort of thing that the hard-hearted among us will write off as sentimental claptrap without ever sampling it, but it really doesn't ever fall into that category. For one thing, the scenes set in the past are so full of the heat and vagaries of young love that you can't help but begin to understand why the senior version of Noah would be so willing to spend most of every day trying to earn just a few precious minutes of time with his mostly-lost Allie, there in the retirement home to which her disease has consigned her (and to which he's voluntarily followed her).

As well, there are at least a couple of scenes that wisely play against our expectations and serve to remind us that this isn't a made-for-TV serving of paint-by-numbers writing. In one, Allie's mother shows up just as her daughter has drifted back to Noah in the days leading up to her marriage to another man, and the viewer naturally anticipates further nasty attempts on the older woman's part to control her daughter. Instead, we learn that she, too, had experienced a "summer love" in her youth, had been turned from that path by parental interference, and now at least has gained the perspective to look back and wonder, "What if?" She follows up this surprise by delivering to her daughter the 365 letters from Noah that she'd ensured had never made their way to Allie years earlier, along with providing the space and time for the younger woman to make her own decision.

Similarly, when Allie meets the woman who Noah has half-heartedly taken into his life while pining away for his true love all these years, it could so easily have been written as a cat fight or "bump in the road" for their re-emerging relationship. (If you've ever watched Grey's Anatomy or any of the other on-again/off-again relationship series, then you probably know what I mean!) Instead, McAdams shows her acting range in service to a great script, as Allie warmly greets her supposed-but-not-really rival with compassion and more than a dollop of sympathy, recognizing in the other woman's expression just what her own absence had created for the poor, pitiful creature. More than any other scene in the film, this one made me fall in love with the character of Allie: that she'd react with such maturity, insight and depth, rather than the jealousy and childishness that we generally see displayed in fictional situations of that sort.

The other moment that really stood out for me was actually removed from the film and only showed up on the DVD as a Deleted Scene (but was in the book, I believe). In it, old Noah is told by a nurse in the retirement home about another couple whose story overshadows even his own. This other pair, he's told, saw the man lose his true love to another, with whom she'd gone on to have a family and live out her life, before eventually succumbing to the effects of old age and being "sent away" to the home by those to whom she'd given everything. And that was when her old suitor had shown up again, having waited all that time for her, and began to court her all over again! That tale, along with Allie and Noah's, are the stuff of true love!

It's certainly true that I'm an old softie when it comes to stories like The Notebook, at least when they're done well. And this one's done very well indeed, in my opinion.

Rating: *** 1/2