Below The Beltway

As I said last week, this weekend was pretty much of a bachelor weekend for me, and the choice of movies reflects that.

First up, there’s The Day After Tomorrow, an environmentalist’s dream of a disaster epic from the director of Independence Day. As with ID4, the star of this movie isn’t the plot, which is supremely silly, or the acting, which, lacking Will Smith, isn’t nearly as good as Emmrich’s first blockbuster, but the truly stunning scenes of disaster and destruction. Whether its Los Angeles being destroyed by a seemingly endless line of killer tornados, or New York City being flooded and then flash frozen by a superstrom from the Arctic, the movie lets us sit back and watch as the symbols of Western/American civilization are humbled by Mother Nature. The sight of the Statute of Liberty and most of the New York skyline buried under tons of snow and ice is on a bar with ID4’s alien destruction of the White House, New York, and Los Angeles. But that’s really all the movie is about; cool special effects. The plot basically makes it clear that this is all our (i.e. America’s) fault for not listening to Greenpeace and driving hybrid cars sooner. Even the Cheney-esque Vice President signs on to the environmentalist meme in the end. Propaganda ? I guess; but, in the end, its silly propanganda.

Next up was Batman Begins, the latest incarnation of the Batman saga. I was not a fan of the Michael Keaton/Val Kilmer incarnation of the Caped Crusader. I thought the movies bordered on silliness and really didn’t stay true to the character. Batman Begins was, it seems, meant to address both of these complaints, and does so well. The movie tells the story of how, and why, Bruce Wayne became Batman in a way that recasts Batman as an avenging angel. Its quite obvious that this is the first in what will hopefully be a new series of films retelling the story of Batman in a way that, hopefully, won’t devolve into the type of silliness that the last attempt did. So far, they are off to an excellent start.

Speaking of retold superhero stories on the silver screen, after seeing this preview, I am really looking forward to the return of Superman.

Finally, I didn’t rent it, but 1999’s Armageddon was on TNT last night. I’ve seen this one dozens of times and still enjoy it.

Technorati Tag: Movie Reviews