The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, etc

 I recently saw new David Fincher version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo in theaters.  I highly recommend it.  Given the option between seeing the American verison in theaters or the Swedish one on Netflix, you should drop the money to see it in theaters.  Among other reasons, this is the kind of smart, sexy, grown up movie we want to see Hollywood make, but only stupid schlock for kids makes blockbuster money.  Send a message to Hollywood, pay some money to see this movie.

After I got home, I watched the original on Netflix.  The acting is perhaps better than the American version, and the direction is good (but its no David Fincher).  Also, bonus, there's three of them.  Generally I don't mind subtitles, but because the action moves so fast in this movie (which is a great thing), there were a couple of times I had to rewind to catch some dialog.  The movie is different enough from the American version that it wasn't a waste of time to see them both.

The first movie was better than the sequel (The Girl Who Played With Fire), but #2 was still very entertaining.  The acting and script were tight and gripping, but not as "edge of my seat, come home from the theater and watch it in Swedish" gripping as the first one.  I haven't watched the third one yet.

A+ for the Fincher verison of Girl With the Dragon Tattoo in theaters.  A for the Swedish version.  A- for The Girl Who Played With Fire.

Practical Magic

Practical Magic is one of my favorite movies ever (although the book is much better, darker and stranger).  It's the story of two adult sisters, Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock, who happen to be witches.  Sandra Bullock, the older of the two, has renounced magic, and is trying to live a sedate, normal, suburban life, but the world has other plans.  This is technically a romantic comedy, but the real sparks come from the completely believable sister relationship between the two leads.  Stockard Channing and Dianne Weist are fantastic as the elderly aunts.  Aidan Quinn is a very good as the romantic lead, with a folksy, down-home, protective vibe that I don't really find appealing, but I imagine is very sexy for middle aged hausfraus.  Mostly what I love about this movie is the magical realism and the awesome sets and production design.  Also, keep an eye on everyone's hair; the more magic they do, the thicker, wilder, and more awesome the weaves get.  Bonus: a tasty fine, very young Goran Visnjic in a sexy role as a "vampire cowboy" bad-boy love interest for Nicole Kidman.  I think this was one of his very first American roles.  A- for witches, probably B for anyone else.

Strange Days

Strange Days (no longer available to stream) is a weird, awesome, compelling movie.  It stars a very wide range of people before they came to wider attention.  Ralph Fiennes (excellent as always), Vincent D'Onofrio (creepy and convincing), Juliet Lewis, Angela Basset (smokin') , etc.  It came out about the same time as Johnny Mnemonic, and it's a lot like that movie would be if it didn't suck.  Set 5 minutes in the future, on the eve of Y2K, I really love all the small background details.  Ralph Fiennes is an ex-cop who now deals black-market VR disks.  It's a little slow at the beginning, but don't give up on it until the who-dunnit kicks in around the half way mark. B+

Borgia

Do you miss the show Rome?  The beautiful costumes and settings?  The intrigue and sexy collusion?  Borgia is a pretty good substitute.  It follows the papacy of Rodrigo Borgia, aka Pope Alexander the VI.  The girl in the white veil in the picture is his daughter, Lucretia (Lucrezia).  You've probably heard of her; there are swirling legends of her poisoning her husbands, sleeping with her brothers, and murdering a swath across Europe.

The show is well written (it's written by Tom Fontana, the creator of Oz), and the production valus are extremely high, but the acting sometimes leaves something to be desired.  This isn't the Showtime show with Jeremy Irons, it's a European production.  According to IMDB, they came out at the same time (both this year), so I don't think either is based on the other (I guess it was just in the Ether?).  I recommend this series strongly to fans of Rome or similar shows, and look forward to seeing the Showtime version when its available to stream.  B+/A-

Day Break

I started watching a really interesting series that Netflix just got (in fact, it seems like they jut got a lot of new TV, so expect a lot of new TV reviews over the next few weeks.  It's called Day Break.  It stars Taye Diggs (so, so tasty) as a police officer who's been set up for murdering a DA.  He is arrested for the crime soon after he wakes up.  Thing is, he keeps living that same bad day over and over (Groundhogs Day style).  I'm only on the 4th episode, but it's really good so far.  Very complicated plot, with lots of twists and turns, and mystery.  Every "day" you learn a few new clues.  Good cast, interesting idea, strong mystery, lots of action.  I'll keep you posted as I watch more.  B+ so far.

Agora

Here are some things I like: the Library at Alexandria, pretty costumes, Rachel Weisz, ancient Rome, conic sections (a math thing), philosophy, hot guys in togas, Christians portrayed as illiterate brutes. Turns out, if you put all of those things into a movie, you get Agora.  Rachael Weisz stars as Hypatia, a geometer and philosopher.  This movie is lusciously beautiful, costumes, settings, cinematography, all of it is detailed and lovely.  It is a little slow in the middle, and it seems pretty preachy on the whole "religion breeds violence" theme, even for me, but it's a great movie about an interesting time period.  Also, the directing is sometimes a little try-hard.  Well worth watching.  B+, but A- if you're into math or ancient Greece.

Other Post Apocalypse Recommends

Here's some other post apocalypse shows I've loved in the past:

Without a doubt, Battlestar Galactica is the single best post-apocalypse show ever.   One of the very best shows ever on TV (with the exception of the last few episodes).  If you have ever seen the old version, please don't let you turn you off of this.  The show is a sexy, gritty, exciting, emotional ride from start to finish (well, almost to finish).

I usually don't like space-opera, and I took some convincing before I tried this show.  Please don't let that happen to you.  I'm not playing around, this show is AMAZING.  I've been re-watching this show. and  I had forgotten just how fraking awesome it is.  In some ways, it's even better the second time around.  Seasons 1 and 2 are much better than 3 and 4, but it's all great. A+ for season 1, A for seasons 2-4. D for the final episode.

Jeremiah: This TV show opens about 10 years after a plague wiped out all the adults in the world. The two main characters, played by that guy from 90210 and that guy from the Cosby show (who got really hot!) travel around the post-apocalypse world doing good and searching for Valhalla.  The show has high production values, and is especially interesting in the first season.

While not all the episodes are written by him, the show was developed by Michael J. Straczynski (the Babylon 5 guy).

I hear it's based on a graphic novel, which I always intend to read, but haven't yet.  B







Jericho: This show takes place after a nuclear strike, in a small midwestern town.  The first season I like, but after that it gets bogged down in complicated meta plot.  B for the first season, C+ after that.
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Jericho_Season_1/70058426?trkid=2361637