Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

June 30, 2009 at 6:41 pm (Movies)
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I honestly didn’t want to see this movie.  The other 2 Underworld movies were pretty decent and entertaining.  I just didn’t see the point in another Underworld movie.  What is there to address that wasn’t in the others?

The movie title explains the plot of the movie.  Lucian (Michael Sheen) is the first of the Lycans.  He was found as a babe by Viktor (Bill Nighy, who also played Davy Jones) and was raised with the vampire coven.  Viktor stole blood from Lucian in order to create more Lycans.  This would be a perfect time to explain exactly what a Lyan is.  A Lycan is simply a werewolf that can transform back into human form.  Before Lucian the werewolves were unable to do this.  Anyway, to create a little drama, Lucian is in love with Viktor’s daughter, Sonja (Rhona Mitra).

Long story short, the vampires have enslaved the Lycans to be there own personal body guards during the day light hours.  But when Lucian is forced to make more of his kind and they are kept as slaves, Lucian releases all the Lycans from their jails and attempts a major break out.  A few of them survive while the rest are either killed trying to escape or are trapped to be enslaved again.  As Lucian attempts another break in to rescue not only the others, he also attempts to rescue his love, Sonja.  By this point, Viktor has learned that not only does Sonja love Lucian, but she is also pregnant.  Lucian is caught trying to save Sonja and both are chained in a basement to be punished.  Sonja is forced to watch Lucian whipped and Lucian is forced to watch Sonja die by sunlight.  This is what causes an all out war to ignite between the Lycans and vampires.  The movie then ends with the beginning to Underworld.

I like that the movie comes in full circle.  You can actually watch this one first to get the whole history and future.  The movie, itself, isn’t really that long.  It’s only an hour and a half long.  I wasn’t bored either.  The best thing about all the Underworld movies is how we can get a lot of back story without having to give up a lot of action in the process.  The effects are also amazing.  The transformation of human to werewolf looks real.  The action scenes are all blood, sweat, and just great to watch (especially if you have it on Blu Ray).  Rise of the Lycans gives you, not a basic, but the history of why the Lycans and vampires are at war.

Although the movie is really entertaining and interesting and I highly recommend it if you (like myself) like vampires or werewolves and really want a different perspective, but this movie really isn’t necessary.  If I remember correctly, this same story is told in the second Underworld movie.  I get that Lucian is made at Viktor for murdering his love and his own child.  That’s enough to cause this war between the two races.  Though I really enjoyed this movie and I am now considering buying the series on Blu Ray, it’s still not a necessary movie.

Despite that, movies are meant to be entertaining, so if you want some action, violence, a little romance, and a whole lotta excitement, I recommend watching this movie.  You won’t be disappointed!  Enjoy!

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The Tudors

June 26, 2009 at 12:18 pm (Television)
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I wanted to give a good review for once.  Most of the movies we’ve seen lately haven’t been very good and I didn’t like all the negativity I was projecting, so I’m going to review one of my favorite TV shows: The Tudors.

It’s your basic period program.  Starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers as King Henry VIII and his 40 year reign over England.  He also has plenty of co-stars as his 6 wives, 3 children, and enormous court.

I think what I really like about The Tudors is that I can look up and see what really will happen in the show.  I’m not one for surprises, so I briefly research what happens to Queen Anne of Cleeves, or his daughter Mary, and who succeeeded to the crown.  Although the show is overly dramatic, what more could you want from a TV show.

The program has done a terrific job not only focusing on his wives and general courtship of numerous women, but also the politics.  For instance, part of the reason the Church of England was created was to prevent the clergy from stealing money from the King and the people.  Cardinal Wolsey was sentenced to be executed for this very reason.  He was the King’s personal Cardinal (who had intentions of taking over the papalcy) and ambassador to foreign affairs mainly with Spain and France.  Cardinal Wolsey became a very rich man, as he did dirty deals with the French in exchange for money.  He built a palace (to which the name of I cannot recall) and Oxford College, before committing suicide.

I think my only problem with the show is time.  When the program begins in its first season, King Henry and Queen Catherine have been having marital problems for some time and the King meets Anne Boleyn soon and begins to court her.  Historically, King Henry courted Anne for about 7 or 8 years before he finally divorced Catherine.  The meeting of Anne and ultimately their marriage, and the divorce to Catherine and her death, as well as Anne’s execution all happen in seasons 1 and 2.  This was an appropriate time length of what was probably 10 years or so in history, but when he marries his 3rd wife Jane Seymour (who dies giving birth to Prince Edward from what is believed to be an infection) happens in the first few episodes of the 3rd season and then he marries Anne of Cleeves in this season as well.

It’s very difficult to keep up with all the characters because eventually King Henry eventually executes many of his close friends.  People such as Sir Thomas More (who wrote Utopia and was greatly involved in the English politics of the day), Cardinal Wolsey, Anne Boleyn, the Duke of Buckingham, and others were executed by the end of season 2.  The longest running character, other than the King, is the King’s accountant, Mr. Cromwell (I believe his name is).  He is also pilfering money from the King and is soon executed probably by the end of season 3.

I’ve been watching the series from the beginning to try to catch people I’ve missed.  For instance, King Henry’s sister, Princess Margaret, has disappeared from the show.  She is not a main character, but shows up as a political ploy.  Henry married his sister off to the old King of Portugal.  In the show, she is completely disgusted to have to marry a man nearly 3 times her own age.  The program depicts her as quite reluctant and that she eventually murders the Portugal King and returns to England just days after their wedding.  Furthermore, Margaret has an affair with Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk and one the King’s closest friends.  Upon returning to court, Henry has learned of this affair and banishes both Brandon and Maragaret from court.  Maragaret is hardly seen in the following seasons.

Since this is a Showtime television program, there are many sex scenes.  But unlike True Blood, The Tudors is too over the top.  What would you expect from this time?  King Henry was a very handsome, athletic man, as history would say, in his younger years before he got sick.  He jousted, played tennis, and was quite a romantic (He wrote several love notes to Anne during their courtship which are nearly all but lost, some of Henry’s letters were retained, but Anne’s are lost in time.) while he was young.  Not to mention that some of the prominent men at court were married and had extra marital affairs on the side.  All though I could probaby do without the sex scenes, there aren’t completely over the top and not every episode of fraught with sex.

The Tudors, although may be a historically inaccurate at large, is still very entertaining, thought provoking, and entertaining, which is what a TV show is suppose to be.  All in all, I will continue to watch The Tudors.  Although a program like this is bound to end eventually in a couple of seasons, I will enjoy every minute of it.

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True Blood

June 24, 2009 at 8:51 pm (Uncategorized)
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My favorite goes-bump-in-the-night monsters are vampires.  I’ve read the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice over and over.  I like the Twilight books, BUT only the first book, the rest, you can tell, are meant for high school girls.  My favorite movie of all time is Interview with the Vampire and I have seen every episode of Buffy and Angel to make anyone cry.  I have also seen the old Dracula movie with Bela Lugosi and the newer movie with Gary Oldman (see my review here).  I also own the original Buff the Vampire Slayer written by Joss Whedon, which, need I remind you started the whole Buffy craze of the 1990′s.  So, when I heard there was a new show had the vampire theme, I jumped on the bandwagon.

A brief summation of the show is that basically vampires live among us and right now there is a bill in Congress being debated upon on giving vampires full rights under the law.  We also find many of the myths about sunlight and stakes are true.  The show’s title comes from the synthetic blood developed by the Japanese (of course!) that gives them nutritional value, so that vampires can become “mainstreamed” in society.

The story isn’t half bad.  I’ve almost finished the first season and am in the middle of someone committing murders all over town.  Our characters are Sookie Sackhouse (Anna Paquin), Bill Compton, Jason Sackhouse, Tara, Lafayette, and Sam.  You have others that drift in and out, but aren’t really that important.  They all live in the town of Bon Temps (to pronounce ‘Bon’ form your mouth like you are going to say ‘bong,’ but leave off the ‘n’ and ‘g’ sounds and Temps is pronounced like Tom, but without a heavy ‘m’.  It means ‘good times’ in French.) nestled in Renard parish and if you know your geography and your culture you can guess that this is Louisiana.  The sweet Southern state in which yours truly resides.  And this is where my problems with the show come in.

I love my Louisiana.  We have one of the richest cultures in the union and yet Hollywood seems to think they know that culture better than we do.  First off I hate how everyone in this show speaks with that stupid, like-we-ain’t-got-no-brains, stereotypical Southern accent.  I, myself, have a hint of that twang when I talk, but not everyone here sounds like that.  Furthermore, Louisiana is known, not for her deep Southern roots, but for her cajun culture.  Cajuns speak with a sort of country French accent.  It’s thick, rich, and hard to understand unless you’ve heard it all your life.  And where Sookie and Bill and everyone else are suppose to be living, they all sound like they are from Georgia, which is actually where that Southern twang (think Shelby from Steel Magnolias) completely resides.

Louisiana has plenty of parishes in which to choose, so why did they feel the need to create a new one?  I’m still perplexed as to where Renard parish would actually be.  I’ve noticed that it’s close enough to drive to Monroe, Shreveport, and Baton Rouge in one night.  This is possible, but highly unlikely that you would drive from Monroe to Baton Rouge and not spend the night.  It’s about a 3 or 4 hour drive.  Also on the topic of location, the little bar where Sookie works is in the middle of the swamp.  Our swamps only exist in the very south of the state; New Orleans and down.  There aren’t any swamps up in Monroe, Baton Rouge, or Shreveport.

During the opening credits, I love the different images (even if they aren’t from Louisiana) that seem to capture the essence of the state.  However, an image of a child wearing a Ku Klux Klan uniform is not something this state is very proud of.  And it is certainly not something we Louisiananians like to be known for.  Yes, the KKK is a apart of every state’s history here in the South, but the only people proud of that are those who are a part of it.  There is no need to show this image, it just hurts us as a culture.

Another problem I have with the show is that all Southerners seem to be drunks.  This is not true, but we do drink (beer, mostly) quite often.  I think it is only in the South in which we serve sweet ice tea with every meal.  It’s known as Southern table wine and no matter who you are, you always drink sweet ice tea with your dinner and beer with your friends after.

Aside from the culture, I don’t like how the vampires are portrayed.  It’s sort of oxymoronic to think of them as “people” who should have equal rights under the law and to make a special brew of synthetic blood in order for them to retain nutrition without killing innocent people.  However, vampires are the living dead; zombies in the most basic sense.  They are not really people and they don’t need nutrition to sustain a life which is not there.  I hate how the terms of death and life are interchangeable when dealing with the vampire characters.  And also their fangs are the wrong teeth.  Vampires are known to have incredibly sharp canines, which are the 2 teeth away from your front incisors not the ones right next to them.

The fact that the town is called Bon Temps just means someone did not know too much of the Cajun French culture to come up with something else.  Laissez Bon Temps Rouler (Let the good times roll!) is what we use during Carnival Season and is probably the most well known phrase across the US.  There are plenty of other words and names (which most of the cities here are named after people) they could have used for the town’s name.  Hell, they could have picked Vermilion parish and a little town called Maurice in which to set the story.  It’s exactly like Bon Temps.

My last complaint is that there are quite a few nude scenes that don’t even need to be in the show at all.  I think HBO is trying to keep up Showtime in this respect.  One of my favorite programs is The Tudors from Showtime.  Yes there are nude scenes in The Tudors, but knowing Henry VIII to have courted many women it’s to be expected.  I didn’t need to see every girl’s breasts in the town of Bon Temps.  It brings the story line to a screeching halt just to push sex into the program.

Strip away the lame attempt to capture Louisiana culture, that stupid Southern twang that Yankees think all us Southerners have, and, if sex needs to be in the story, a nice suggestion without going over the top, would have created a pretty decent show.  Sorry HBO, but I think True Blood is a hit and a miss.  Soon I will grow tired of it like I did with the Sopranos and Dollhouse and will continue to watch other programs that entertain me, not just gross me out.

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The Duchess

June 21, 2009 at 12:22 am (Uncategorized)
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We recently received this movie in the mail via BlockBuster.com.  I actually was really excited to this.  I was expecting something a long the lines of the Tudors and I enjoy “period” movies, especially if they are based on “true events.”

Kiera Knightley stars as Her Grace, Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire or G, as she was called for short.  I’m not the biggest Kiera Knightley fan.  I enjoy her movies, but she tends to be overshadowed by excellent actors such as Johnny Depp and Stellan Skarsgard.  And the biggest compliment to her is that she looks so much like Natalie Portman (whom I find to be an excellent actress).  Knightley is not a terrible actress, quite the opposite, she’s rather good, but in the movies I’ve seen she allows herself to become washed out by other actors and leaves her character in the cold.  I honestly think Elizabeth Swann was just a pretty face to stir up romantic interests.  She was not needed for the story to progress.

This movie is no different, except what washes her out isn’t other actors.  The story itself is simply dull.  I’ll come back to that.  Knightley is our main character, so she cannot be washed out by the other actors because they support her.  She also wears an elaborate wardrobe and speaks quite sophisticatedly to her male counterparts in politics and delightful conversation.  I didn’t know anything about the Duchess of Devonshire’s history, but this movie indicates that she was the English Marie Antoinette.  Instead of shoes, Her Grace was known for delightful conversation and her self designed wardrobe.

The movie begins interesting enough.  Georgiana (pronounced George + Jane + uh) is not yet 18 and is married off to the Duke of Devonshire (a much older man, of course).  She is told that her duties as wife is to be loving, kind, and to produce a male heir.  Upon giving birth to a boy, she will then be compensated.  Yes, ladies and gentleman, she will be paid to have a baby.

Well, there are little ripples and then huge tidal waves in her and the Duke’s marriage.  A little girl named Charlotte comes to live with them a few months after their marriage and we are led to believe that this little girl was fathered by the Duke.  Not only that, but the Duke’s extra curricular marital affairs are made quite clear when a shot of a maid’s naked behind is seen running down the hall from the Duke’s bed chamber.

The story is basically how Georgiana deals with such obscenities.  Do not forget that during this time, affairs were still scandalous, though the men ran around often.  In trying to deal with his extra marital affairs, G finds comfort in her friend Elizabeth Foster, known as Bess for the rest of the movie.  Bess comes to live with the Duke and Duchess because she was divorcing her first husband.

Long story short, the Duke ends up having an affair with Bess, which causes a huge rift in G’s marriage and her friendship with Bess.  I saw this coming from a mile away.  The worst part was that G could send her away from her own home.  The Duke would not allow it.  It seems that G had the first publicized plural marriage, so to speak.  Bess lived with them until Georgiana’s death and married the Duke after it.

It is during this time that G has an affair with a local politician, Mr. Grey.  Up to this point G has had 3 children (2 girls: Harryo and Little G) and 1 son (Hart) with the Duke.  She also gives birth to another daughter named Eliza fathered by Mr. Grey and ended up giving her away to Grey’s family.

There really is no climax.  The emotion in this movie is not only over the top, but overwhelming, and not even close to making me feel upset.  I understood that G was angry that her husband’s mistress decided to live with her and also move her own sons in as well.  I was also upset that she had to stop her affair with Mr. Grey due to impropriety and scandals in the papers about it.

There really is not much more to make of this movie.  If there was a climax, I missed it, and if there was a plot, well I missed that too.  I really felt like I was watching a documentary about their marriage than a movie.  The worst part about that would be the documentary might actually be more enjoyable.  Her Grace sounds like a fascinating history lesson, but she does not do well on the silver screen.

The movie was approximately 2 hours long, short compaired to most and by 50 minutes I was checking the timer to see how much longer I had to sit through.  I was interesting to find out what happened, but since she became friends with Bess again and decided to accept all that was happening to her, I was disappointed with the ending of the movie.  I was, however, relieved for it to be over.

Knightley delivers a so, so performance at best.  She did well capturing the essence of Her Grace as a witty and charming socialite, but added no more interest to the story than that.  It was difficult to connect the actors to the time period because, as my boyfriend said, Knightley looks too modern for the role.  It was also hard to connect with the character on any type of level, emotional or otherwise.  I was just waiting for the movie to be over, missing plot and climax all in the process.

I wouldn’t really recommend this movie.  You’re probably better off reading about Her Grace, the Duchess of Devonshire or finding a documentary on her.  At least then you will have true facts to work with and not just a soddy Hollywood money maker.

P.S.  An interesting tidbit is revealed at the beginning of this movie.  Georgiana is born of the House of Spencer.  She is a direct relative to the late Princess Diana (also born of the House of Spencer).

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