brief movie reviews

1/11/2006 04:54:00 p.m.

In the last week and a half I've seen two movies, Thumbsucker and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. What did I think of them? Well, Thumbsucker was an adolescent-angst movie that proved to me that while Keanu Reeves may not be a brilliant thespian, at least he can act like someone other than Ted Theodore Logan. Also, just because you fill a movie with Big Names doesn't mean it's going to be great. The film was solidly OK in my book, though a couple of the characters were full-out unsympathetic and the teenage hero gets toyed with by more than a couple of people. It was a decent film, but I don't know if I'd watch it again.

Narnia was well-done, with some stunning visuals and great acting, especially from the kids that went through the looking-glass wardrobe into the Other World. The animals were all brilliantly done, and ran the gamut from cute and cuddly to regal to downright spooky. The White Witch (played by Tilda Swinton, who was also the mother in Thumbsucker) was cold and cruel. There were moments when I could tell that it was based on a childrens' book, moments where things went a little too easily or took a little too much on faith for my taste, but it was still a good, solid movie. I'd probably watch it again.

My friend Kevin has a simple binary scale for movies: It sucked or It didn't suck. Neither of these two movies sucked, though Thumbsucker had me concerned for a while there.

Looking forward now to the new Underworld film. I just hope I'm not expecting too much from it...