Posted by
Icarus on Saturday, October 21, 2006 12:17:57 AM
There has been a great deal of heat on the blogs about this movie. Fire has been thrown from both the Right and, in response, from the Left. Is this movie as bad as some have made it out to be? I, honestly, do not know. I've not seen it. Neither have a great many folks who have been attacking it.
I do know that Michael Medved, a man I greatly respect when it comes to film, gave it a generally positive review during the last hour of his show on Friday, Oct. 20th.
Emmet of the Unblinking Eye, has described it as "
pretty darn close" to an American masterpiece.
Over at Libertas, the general
view has been one of skepticism to say the least.
All I've seen of this is the trailers and I came away from those thinking if you want to see a movie that celebrates the brave sacrifice of those who gave their last full measure on Iwo Jima then that is what you will see. If, on the other hand, you want to see a film that reinforces your opinion that the American government is chock full of cynical propagandists, then
that is what you will see.
At this point I'm not all that hot to take it in. It took me hours to decompress following the harrowing battle scenes in
Saving Private Ryan, and that was on the small screen in a well lit family room. The
Flags of Our Fathers battle sequences, I've read, are just as explicit and riveting. Call me wimpy, but right now I'm not all that up to watching brave marines be blown to bits on the big screen.
The film I'm looking forward to, based on what I've seen in the trailers, is
The Prestige. I am one of the few who actually enjoyed
The Illusionist (though I saw the ending coming from about half a mile away), and am thinking that
The Prestige may be along the same lines, or at least with two magicians having a go at each other. At Rottentomatoes.com,
The Prestige is hitting
74% positive, giving it an overall "Fresh" rating from the critics. Medved gave the Prestige, if I recall correctly, only 2.5 stars. He thought it was good except for the last 10 minutes. That's good enough for me, given I'm inclined to see it anyway.