(Does anyone else think of that old Monty Python bit, Erizabeth: Episode Thlee, the Almada? That’s literally all I remember.)
[spoiler free]
Went to see it today. I’ll not add much to the volumes of stuff written on this movie already…
Comic Book Guy: Last night’s Itchy & Scratchy was, without a doubt, the worst episode ever. Rest assured I was on the internet within minutes registering my disgust throughout the world.
Yes indeed. Thank you Simpsons.
Actually, I enjoyed the film very much, although it didn’t have that end-of-an-era gravitas I was rather hoping for. I agree with whoever said that the movie kinda goes along, then after a certain scene things really start to pick up, and I was more or less riveted for the rest of the movie.
I was bracing myself for really wooden acting, and aside from a couple of cringe-worthy moments, it was actually not that bad. Ewan McGregor continues to be the man who can do no wrong in my eyes, and it was nice to see a lithe and sprightly Obi-Wan.
Actually, the gee-whiz moment came during the opening previews. You see, in spite of being an intelligent person, I am sometimes very slow on the uptake. It’s just that when I go to a movie theater, I don’t really think ahead, know what I mean? It makes for nice moments of delight, even though my companions usually think I’m a little dim.
So we’re watching this preview, and there are these four British children who go to live with this mysterious, humorless gentleman called The Professor, and they play hide-and-seek in the creepy cavernous house… and I’m thinking that this preview has a Secret Garden/Lemony Snicket vibe, and then I’m thinking how much I enjoyed reading the former, but I haven’t read the latter, because it sorta feels like a Roald Dahl experience, and I don’t cotton to those books so much… and the older boy is counting 98, 99, 100, and yada yada yada, until the sweet little girl opens a door, and at the end of the otherwise empty room stands a large piece of furniture with a sheet over it, what could it be, oh, it’s a huge, ornate wardrobe.
And then I gasp.
And then R says, “You’re just now figuring this out?”
Eh, leave me alone.
The preview looks promising, although the CGI gives it that glaring sheen that plagued the first two Harry Potter movies. My big worry about this movie, which I’ve actually talked about from the pulpit, is that they’ll totally screw up Aslan. I’m sure I’m not the only one worried about this. It’s a theological problem, not just a cinematic one.
“Is he quite safe?”
“Safe?! Who said anything about safe? Course he’s not safe. But he’s good. He’s the King.”
He does look properly powerful in the preview, but I’m worried about what’s going to happen when he opens his mouth. It did inspire a little prayer in the middle of the darkened theater… “Please, let it be good!”
26 Responses to “episode III”
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I’m more dense than you. And confused. What/when/where/who/how? was that prayer (please let it be good) directed to?
Follow the link…
You’re not dense, because you haven’t read the book(s). I’ve read them, and recently, so I should have known better/sooner.
Ah - so!
It does look great, doesn’t it? I hope it is.
But about that Jedi children death scene…
j/k
when our kids were younger i read both roald dahl and the c. s. lewis’s narnia series to them over breakfast. in elementary school our son asked us if we’d put it in our will that he got all of the roald dahl books when we died. we gave him the books when we downsized to the townhouse. (i didn’t want him to be hoping for an early demise so he could get the books.)
at least one child has bought the boxed narnia set for herself. i’m not willing to part with mine yet so they moved w/ us to the townhouse… and noone has asked that we give this set to them in the will.
i think i might just need to see that movie three times, once w/ each child, to reprise the experience of reading the series to them (twice i think) in their childhood. so i really hope it’s good too.
I saw the LWW preview on TV, then watched it again on the Internet. I thought it looked great!
WRT Aslan’s voice–they originally hired Brian Cox, then let him go when he “lost a lot of weight” and didn’t sound the same. Last I read, they had auditioned Jason Isaacs, Timothy Dalton, Sean Bean, Gerard Butler, Ian McKellen, and Ralph Fiennes for the part, but no final decision has been made public. Needless to say, Brian Cox’s people say it’s a bunch of hooey that his voice has changed…
At my house, we think Ian McKellen would sound too old; we’re open-minded about the other possibilities, although we are big fans of Sean Bean.
And as to the CGI, it’s a heck of a lot better than the costumed lion in the BBC version!!
The Jedi children death scene… it’s gotten talked about so much, I was expecting this gruesome bloodbath, when in fact the scene was short and quite restrained. I didn’t find it gratuitous… it’s certainly not a barrel of laughs, but I thought it set up a twisted irony–that Anakin would slaughter these kids as part of an attempt to save Padme, the mother of his own child(ren).
That was one of my greatest excitements about going to see Episode III in the theaters. I wanted to see the trailer for the Narnia movie. But this theater didn’t play it!!! I was so disappointed!
I have been reading the Narnia series, again, in preparation for the movie. I am already to The Last Battle. And I’m worried about how different people and creatures will be handled, but I’m pretty sure it will be good. I mean, they have an excellent story to work with!! And, as Songbird said, the Aslan in this movie can’t be as bad as the Aslan in the BBC version. And I’m sure that the Lucy in this movie will be a million times better than the Lucy in the BBC version. That actress has tainted my mental picture of Lucy for years.
I’m not familiar with the Lucy in the BBC version, but the child in the movie preview is a-dorable!
Also, WETA is doing the effects (LOTR f/x company), so I’m excited.
Why am I the only mo’fo to have not seen this trailer?
N/M
they just posted it on www.apple.com/trailers
Looks really good. I’m going to have to refresh myself on the books.
The bad guys kinda look a little too much like Orcs though.
The BBC Lucy was just, oh, wrong. Overbite. Too close in size to the other three kids. Not magical.
I’m starting a support group for those that never really got the whole Chronicles thing. I can’t even remember who Lucy was.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels the same way about the BBC Lucy, Songbird!
My parents just recently moved to a new house and since their cable wasn’t hooked up yet they were looking through some of the older movies at the house. I had video taped the BBC versions, and so they watched it. My mom and I commiserated about that Lucy. She did have that overbite and just seemed whiny and obnoxious. Lucy, in the book, always struck me as more righteously indignant, especially when the others didn’t believe her about Narnia… Anyway, I’m babbling in someone else’s comment box. I should stop…
And PPB, I can’t believe you are not familiar with the Chronicles!! You should read them, they are amazing and I’m sure you would enjoy them!!!
i read them as a child, just didn’t like them. i think i’m the only person in the world who feels this way….kind of like people that hate pizza. it happens sometimes.
There are people that hate pizza?
shocking but true
I should ‘fess up that I read the Chronicles for the first time as an adult. Hard to say whether I would have liked them as a child or not… I generally was not into those kinds of books, although I loved Wrinkle in Time, so who knows.
Confessing here, too. I read them for the first time in college. I wasn’t a big fan then, but they grew on me after two or three readings. I really do like them now.
i read them first in my thirties. this little once-upon-a-farm girl hadn’t even heard of them in my youth.
My third-grade teacher read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe aloud to our class, and from there I dove into the rest. They are incredibly significant in my reading, thinking and theological formation. Interestingly, the Systematics professor at Andover Newton said the last of those was not uncommon!
And as some of you know, one of my children is named for Lucy. Okay, she’s *named* Lucy, after this particular Lucy, who I wanted to be.
our daughter just got a new pup and named her scout for scout in to kill a mockingbird. isn’t it fun to name stuff/kids/pets/houses?
Hey revmother, if you want a good laugh, go check out the discussion that’s taking place in the SW thread on Derek’s site. We’re delving into the religious symbolism of the SW Universe. It’s winding to a close (I think) and is actually pretty insightful.
Matches…I’m so proud of you!
PPB -
I read the chronicles as a child and just didn’t get into all that much either. I have intended to re-read them for years, feeling fairly certain I would “get it” now. Guess I will have to get to work before the movie comes out. I was the same way with Lord of the Rings - tried reading it in 4th and 5th grade and never really caught on. My little kid mind couldn’t take it all in. Loved the movies and feeling guilty that I didn’t re-read the books before seeing them.