MiddletownJournal.com

‘Prince Caspian’ strengthens the Narnia series

By Eric Robinette | Friday, May 16, 2008, 08:00 AM

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian becomes one of the rare sequels to better its predecessor, although it takes a long time for the new movie to roar as loudly as its familiar lion.

The first Narnia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, was a solid if tentative fantasy. Considering how revered C.S. Lewis’ book is, the film often felt more like an adaptation of a Narnia imitator than the genuine article.

The sequel impresses with a strong opening sequence that cleverly sets up the story and displays a more vibrant visual style than the first film. The title character (Ben Barnes) flees from his evil uncle, King Miraz (Sergio Castellitto), with the prince unwittingly summoning the four Pevensie youths back to Narnia.

Only a year has passed in their time, but more than 1,000 years have gone by in Narnia, with the Pevensies finding the land they knew in ruins, after centuries of oppression. They join forces with Caspian so he and the Narnians can claim their rightful place.

After the promising beginning, the sequel begins to lose its way, threatening to repeat the mistakes of the first movie. For too long, Prince Caspian lacks urgency. When the kids get to Narnia, there’s not enough of a sense of wonder or astonishment. Their reaction is too subdued, as if Narnia were a place they saw all the time. Slack pacing doesn’t help matters either; the movie could have stood to be tightened in several places.

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Listen to me on the radio!

By Eric Robinette | Thursday, May 15, 2008, 01:59 PM

The Buggles said that video killed the radio star, but on Friday, I will become a radio star talking about a certain kind of video - namely movies.

The folks at WMUB radio in Oxford have very kindly invited me to appear on their show called WMUB Forum. Myself and NPR film critic Bob Mondello will be talking about summer movies and film criticism in general.

If you can’t pick up 88.5 on your dial, you can listen on their Website. (Look for the links in the upper left-hand corner.) The show will broadcast at 9 a.m. Friday and repeat at 7 p.m. If you happen to miss it (and how sad would that be?), the Web site does archive their shows.

So take this opportunity to know what I sound like, and to listen to a little back-and-forth about movies. If you like, you can give me a little back-and-forth here and let me know how I did, he said somewhat nervously.

This is Sir Critic, signing off for now.

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What do you expect from the new Narnia?

By Eric Robinette | Thursday, May 15, 2008, 08:45 AM

I’ll post my review of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Friday morning, but first I wanted to get a sense of what people are expecting from the second C.S. Lewis adaptation from the Disney team.

I know the history of most film franchises pretty well. but I’m not exactly what one would call steeped in Narnia lore. I know far less about it than I do the worlds of Indiana Jones, Batman, Iron Man, or even Speed Racer and Get Smart. I haven’t read any of the Narnia books, and I’ve only seen the 1979 animated movie and, of course, the 2005 feature film.

What I can say is that I hope the new Narnia movie is better than the first one. I liked the previous film, but for an adaptation of such a beloved property, I found it curiously mild. It was clear that Andrew Adamson, who co-directed the first two Shrek films, was still finding his feet as a live action director. The pacing was uneven, and for all of the detail lavished on the production, it came off as a junior version of The Lord of the Rings. And there is NO way on God’s green earth it should have been nominated for the Visual Effects Oscar instead of Revenge of the Sith.

On the positive side, I very much liked the cast. All the Pevensie kids were charming, and Tilda Swinton was excellent as the White Witch. The overall production was quite impressive-looking, even though the digital animals sometimes looked dodgy.

My hope is that Prince Caspian moves a little more briskly and has much more tension, but I want to know what you think. What do you hope for from the sequel? Is it a good idea for there to be hints of a romance between the prince and Susan, which I understand is an invention of the movie? If you must include revealing details of the plot, kindly provide spoiler warnings.

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Let’s temper those Indy Jones expectations, OK?

By Eric Robinette | Wednesday, May 14, 2008, 11:03 AM

The big day is more than a week away, and the air is thick with anticipation - and yes, dread over Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

(Phew, that title. I’m gonna have tendinitis by the end of June).

There’s no question whatsoever that the movie is going to have an enormous opening at the box office. One projection has it making a breathtaking $172 million in its first five days.

Ah, but here comes the important question: Will the movie be any GOOD?

Early reviews that have posted at Aint It Cool News and other sites generally have a tone of “Weellll, it’s not BAD, but…” That has sent some fans into convulsions, with some already berating George Lucas for ruining their lives yet again. Because if anything in the movie is bad, it MUST be George’s fault, even though he ah … isn’t the director of this series and never has been. These early reviews have even prompted a news story of dubious merit in The New York Times.

Lucas was so scarred over the beating he took on the Star Wars prequels, he’s already on the defensive about the new Indy, saying “Don’t expect the second coming.”

And you know what? He’s right. Besides, we’ve already had our less than great Indiana Jones movie. It was called Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

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Waiting for DVD - not always a good idea

By Eric Robinette | Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 01:03 PM

Some comments I got on my Speed Racer review, and some I heard elsewhere recently, got me to thinking about the whole “I’ll wait for DVD” mentality.

Regular readers of this blog know that I strongly advocate the theatrical experience. At the same time, I know a lot of people don’t have the money/time/patience to venture out to the megaplex. And whether they like it or not, filmmakers know that most people will first see their movies on DVD.

That said, the way people categorize “wait for DVD” bothers me. It seems that when people hear that a movie isn’t so great, they say “Well, I’ll wait for the DVD” -as if somehow the movie won’t be so bad on DVD as it would be in the theater.

Excuse me?

I suppose the reasoning here is largely economic. People reason that if they just rent a DVD and the movie turns out to be mediocre (or worse), then at least they won’t have blown a big chunk of dough on it. All well and good, but does that mean that if you wait to see, say, Jumper at home, that passage of time and the lowering of the price suddenly makes the film better? I doubt it. A bad movie is a bad movie no matter where you watch it.

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Today’s DVDs - new Denzel, old Indy Jones

By Eric Robinette | Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 08:44 AM

Today’s new DVD releases are a bit of a mixed bag, but there is one new release that is very much worth seeing, and a new release of an older set of movies that might be useful if you’re looking to play catch-up:

The Great Debaters: Yes, a movie about a lot of students talking can be thrilling in the hands of a perfect cast and a confident director like Denzel Washington, who builds his second film, about a 1930s debate team, to a deeply affecting finale. It might sound like movie “medicine,” but it doesn’t feel like it. GRADE: A

Untraceable: Clever story idea of a killer who makes his Internet audience culpable in his murders goes badly awry when smart characters become really, really stupid. Not even Diane Lane escapes the IQ drain. Full review: GRADE: C

Also out today

Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection: Here comes the inevitable double-dip just before the new movie comes out, to be followed by the inevitable triple-dip when the new movie joins the collection. If for some reason you didn’t pick these up on DVD already, now’s your chance - and this time the movies are available separately. There are some new bonus features, but if you have the box set that came out a few years ago, then, from everything I’ve heard, this new set is pretty superfluous. Purchase accordingly.

Mad Money: Diane Keaton, Katie Holmes and Queen Latifah play Federal Reserve employees who plan to steal money that’s about to be destroyed. I didn’t see this one, and a tagline like “They’re having the crime of their lives” doesn’t make me want to.

Youth Without Youth: Francis Ford Coppola’s first movie in 10 years made nary a ripple after critics collectively said “He waited 10 years to make THIS?” Still, I might check it out because Coppola does a commentary, and even his commentary on his bad movies (e.g. Finian’s Rainbow) is fascinating.

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No, Speed Racer, no!

By Eric Robinette | Friday, May 9, 2008, 08:07 AM

Speed Racer is a great, big beautiful contraption of a movie - that has a maddening habit of breaking down repeatedly. It has the body of a Ferrari, but the engine of a Pinto.

Some people will love this movie; others will hate it. I loved it and hated it. I loved it for its dazzling design and effects, and I hated it for wasting all that innovation on a threadbare story.

I knew Speed Racer would be a movie of extremes, but the extremes cut both ways. What works in the movie is very good, but what fails in the movie is often very bad. The Wachowski brothers, the creators of the Matrix trilogy, have written and directed a Frankenstein monster of a film that’s only half alive.

Unsurprisingly, the Wachowskis have made a technical marvel. The art direction looks like a Roman candle factory gone haywire, but in a good way. If nothing else, this just might be the most colorful movie ever made. Rather than being blinding, the movie is eye-filling. There’s something wild to see on almost every inch of the screen.

Even more impressive is the editing style, which seamlessly segues from shot to shot, creating brilliant collages of imagery. This is as much a revolution for digital editing as JFK was for cutting on film. Early on, when young Speed imagines himself in a race, and every object in the scene except him is a pencil drawing, I smiled and said “wow” out loud. I thought I was in for a great ride.

Then the story had to intrude, and the caution flags went flying.

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