Friday, December 14, 2007

The Golden Compass

Is it bad that while I'm watching a movie these days, I'm actually writing a blog post in my head? I've become "that guy". I f@%&ing hate "that guy".

Anyway, went to see The Golden Compass" this evening and was entertained, but ultimately, underwhelmed. It had the same problems that the first Harry Potter film had, it rushes from plot point to plot point without giving the story any breathing room to draw us in. The best thing about the book was the world that Pullman built in it. He didn't explain that this was an alternate Earth, or what daemons were or any of the things that the movie explains in the opening narration. The reader was allowed to discover these things for themselves and the world of the book was very well realized. A few other thoughts, since I can't be arsed to write a full, well reasoned review:
  • Daniel Craig is dreamy. I mean, I'm straight as the day is long, but I can gaze into those baby blues of his for days. They better get on the stick with that next Bond flick.

Gaze into the dreaminess of my stare!
  • I think the Nicole Kidman-bot only has two emotion switches: "Wounded" and "Sinister". She was in full "Sinister" mode in the movie and her performance was very good for an android.
  • When reading the book I was expecting the world to look much more sooty and "steam-punky", but it was very clean and sci-fi. Kinda threw me off.
  • I don't think that Christopher Lee actually filmed his scene for this movie. I think the just re-purposed some of his footage from one of the Star Wars prequels. I mean, the only reason his scene was there was so people would say, "Hey look, Christopher Lee!"
  • People were bitching about the ending as soon as it was over. Firstly, to the jackass who said, "Well that ending sucked!" No, you suck jackass, because you were kicking my seat throughout the entire movie. One more time and I would've broken your foot. Anyway, the ending was kind of anticlimactic IF you've read the book. If not, it seems perfectly sensible, especially if you expect them to make the next one (which, after the first weekend's gross, doesn't seem very likely).
  • My take on the whole Catholic League brou-ha-ha: If you think your kid can be turned into an atheist by watching one movie and reading a few books, well, then perhaps you as a parent and your local priest aren't exactly doing your jobs. I mean, it's not like there's anything else, in fiction or reality painting the Catholic Church as some type of sinister organization.
  • It certainly looked very nice and the production values were very high. Just figured I'd mention it since someone obviously worked very hard on it.


  • Anyhoo, it's certainly not bad, and it goes by very quick, but I'd recommend you to just skip it and read the book.

KWIK KOMIKS REVIEWS



    Nova #9

    Space Hero and a Talking Russian Dog take on the cosmic undead at the edge of the universe. Pretty much as cool as is sounds.



    X-Factor #26

    My inner 12-year-old is really excited about this new X-Force (as seen here in this part of the current mega-X-crossover). I want to punch that kid.

No comments: