7/50: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

I wasn't sure what to think about this film heading in. I really hadn't heard too much about it, which for a film of this nature isn't a good sign. Plus, I really had no background about the film because I had never played the video game for which it was based on.

That being said, I sort of enjoyed Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. No it wasn't epic or anything of that nature, but it was a fun and exciting film.

Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) is adopted by the king, and he and his two brothers take on another kingdom after finding out they are supplying illegal weapons to their enemies.

Upon overtaking the kingdom, Dastan finds a special dagger on one of his enemies - a dagger that proves very special. They also come across Princess Tamina (Gemma Aterton), whom his father agrees should become Dastan's first wife.

As the king and his subjects begin to celebrate, Dastan gives his father a gift that he received from his brother, which ends up killing his father and Dastan is blamed - but escapes with Tamina and the special dagger.

I won't give anything away, but the rest of the film really has a lot to do with the dagger and what it can do. Dastan obviously must prove to his brothers and the rest of the kingdom that he didn't kill his father.

It was actually a very fun film, which had a lot of action and some great comedic scenes as well, especially from Sheik Amar (Alfred Molina), who runs a gambling establishment based on ostrich racing.

Sure, it wasn't Oscar worthy, not many of these blockbusters are. But, it held my interest throughout and Gyllenhaal actually did a decent job as an action hero.

Grade:

6/50: The Fugitive

The Fugitive is yet another film that I am very much ashamed that I have not seen. I mean this came out in 1993 and stars one of my favorite actors - yet here I am 18 years later finally tossing in the DVD.

Dr. Richard Kimble's (Harrison Ford) wife is killed after a benefit dinner at their house. Kimble was called into work for an emergency surgery after the dinner and upon returning home fought with his wife's murderer - a one armed man.

Law enforcement, however, didn't believe Kimble's story and he was convicted of killing his wife. As he is being transferred to prison, the bus transporting him and a handful of other prisoners crashes and is hit by a train. Kimble escapes and becomes a fugitive on the run.

U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones) and his team are brought in to capture Kimble and bring him back to prison. Kimble's main goal is to stay out long enough to track down the one armed man that killed his wife, bring her to justice and prove his own innocence.

Great acting along the way by both Ford and Jones. Tons of great action scenes and a powerful story of a man seeking redemption for both himself and his murdered wife.

It was fun to see so many actors in bit parts that are now more recognizable, such as Julianne Moore and Jane Lynch to name a few. Always nice to see Joe Pantoliano as well - really enjoy him as an actor.

Grade:

5/50: Shrek Forever After

OK. I have stated before how much I love the Shrek franchise. The first Shrek is one of my favorite cartoons of all time. And, I have liked each additional Shrek along the way as well - probably each a little less than the previous.

I think it is good that this last one was, in fact, the last Shrek. Shrek Forever After was decent. I laughed a few times and it was sort of cool to see what exactly would have happened had Shrek not rescued Fiona. But, it sort of fizzled out and didn't have that certain special something that the other films had before it.

In a look back we see that Fiona's (Cameron Diaz) were about to make a deal with Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohrn) that would give him their castle and rule if he could have their daughter rescued. But, before they signed on the dotted line, they get word that their daughter has been rescued - by Shrek (Mike Myers) of course from the first film.

Back in present time it is the ogre babies birthday party and Shrek is really freaking out. He loves his family and friends, but he longs for the days that he was feared and was a normal ogre. After freaking out at the party, Shrek starts walking home and gets picked up by Rumpelstiltskin - he makes him feel at home and gets him to sign an agreement that would give Shrek one day as his old ogre self and all he would have to give up is a day from his past - so Shrek agrees.

Well, it turns out that the day Rumpelstiltskin got rid of was his birthday - so Shrek was never born. And, in this new world, Rumpelstiltskin is now the ruler and witches terrorize everyone. Fiona and other ogres are trying to lead a rebellion against Rumpelstiltskin; Puss In Buss (Antonia Banderas) is a fat cat; and Donkey (Eddie Murphy) is singing and pulling a wagon for the witches.

There is only one way to break the spell and it is up to Shrek to figure out what it is before the day is over - or things will remain this way forever.

Like I said, not a horrible film, but compared to the Shrek's before it there is really no comparison. Also, I am not sure who this Walt Dohrn is. Did they run out of money on this film? Why could they not get a well-known voice for the part? Also, I think it would have been a fun idea to have Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow) return when everything changed - it would have been a great way to tie all of the movies together.

Grade:

4/50: Inception

There is nothing like a good mind f@#k in the morning. And that is exactly what Inception was able to do for me.

I had heard the praise. I had read the reviews, but I did my best to stay away from any possible spoilers. I still didn't think it would be as good as it was. It may have even surpassed The Dark Knight as Christopher Nolan's best film.

So, let me try and explain a little bit about what story Nolan is portraying. Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) are both able to move around inside other people's dreams. They are so good, in fact, that they are even - technically - thieves inside these dreams.

Cobb is a fugitive of the United States and really wants to return home to his two children. He is approached by a business man, Saito (Ken Watanabe), that promises him a safe return home if he can pull off something that is thought to be impossible - inception.

Saito wants his business rivals' son, Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy) to break apart the company once his father has passed away. The only way to do that is to go deep into Fischer's dreams and plant this idea so that he believes he has thought of it himself.

The way this is done is so crazy and imaginative that I won't even type about it - just go see the movie. I will only mention that the rest of Cobb and Arthur's team consists of Ariadne (Ellen Page), Eames (Tom Hardy) and Yusuf (Dileep Rao). Ariadne is the 'architect' who puts together the world inside the dreams - which again you need to see.

DiCaprio was incredible in his role as Cobb and once again I was blown away by Joseph Gordon-Levitt - he just continues to be one of the best young actors in Hollywood. It is sort of funny how in this film you end up truly rooting for the bad guys - it takes a great story and casting for that to work as well as it did.

Grade:

Who? What? Where? #10

You are all too good. I thought for sure I would at least need a few guesses last week, but Matt came through yet again correctly pointing out that the character to the left is in fact Samantha from Grandma's Boy.

Jess, however, came through with the actress as she identified Linda Cardellini.

Congratulations to you both. I am not longer saying these are hard, because they apparently are not. But, I will still do my best to stump you all.

The concept is simple: each week I will place a photograph of a character within a film. It is up to you (the participant in the game) to tell me the following:

1) The name of the actor (or what the actor goes by in his acting profession).

2) The name of the character in the movie.

3) And, the name of the movie.

Each correct answer gets you a point - so if you get all three correct on a given week, you can get three points. I will keep a running chart each and every week. As of now, this will be played for bragging rights only - but we shall see what the future holds.

So here is week #10:


Standings:
Matt - 11 points
Jess - 6 points
Mrs. Kano - 5 points
Fletch - 4 points
Nick - 1 point