Movie Reviews

"Sahara": Is it possible for Matthew McConaughey's teeth to be much whiter? Hehe. This movie was fun to watch, but quite predictable. I had read the book by Clive Cussler years ago. Generally, I like Cussler, even if his books are pretty formulaic. I don't think they travel well to the screen, though. His characters are a little too unbelievable, almost too campy. Cussler's books are filled with tons of description and minutiae that just can't really translate into a movie.

One thing I did not like about this movie was the length--it was almost an hour too long. Again, in a book, the impossibility of each and every crazy scenario works, but not so much in a movie.

Cussler apparently campaigned against the movie:

"A battle over the film's release persists, however, with Cussler saying
that he never approved the movie script - a violation of his contract with
Paramount."

"Cussler recently remarked, 'It's no secret that I sued the producers
because they went right ahead without my approval. All I can say is I don't know
whose book they adapted, but it wasn't mine.' " (quotes from here)

"To End All Wars": This gut-wrenching movie is the story of POWs who are forced to build the Thailand-India railway during WWII. I caught this movie on Starz! and although I knew it would depress me, I watched it anyway. The movie has an uplifting ending, though. It's not just a tale of brutality--it's a tale of forgiveness and redemption, and how if we cannot forgive those who wrong us, we are destined to become just like them.

"Saw": Expecting gore? Expecting horror? Lose your expectations! This movie is really a mystery thriller, much of it told in flashback. Will the two prisoners of the psycho escape their prison, or will they turn on one another? I found this movie to raise some very interesting--and disturbing--questions about how far you would go to keep on living. There are a few freaky scary bits, but nothing that is too gross-out. (DH had been told by a coworker that it was the goriest horror film he'd ever seen--it's not, not by a long shot. I've seen ickier things on the Sci-Fi channel.)

DH & I both enjoyed it, and we plan to go see "Saw II" in the theater.