Afternoon at the movies - The Four Feathers

[Derek Smart [3000AD]]

Loved it!!! Go see it. Djimon is really moving up the ladder. Oh yeah, it also has Heath Ledger in it. :D

10/10

[DennyA]

Two movies in one day?

Aren't you supposed to be writing a game, Derek? How dare you have personal fun and make us what that much longer for sweet multiplayer BC universe action.

:twisted:

You realize if the next BC game is delayed, the media will blame it on your lack of foresight not to know that seeing Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever would be two hours better spent hashing through C code, right?

[TomChick]

Uhh, ten out of ten for Four Feathers?

Derek, please, for the love of Ebert, marshal your powers of discrimination and try again.

-Tom, who hasn't seen Four Feathers but knows better

[Anonymous]

Oh, this movie tried and tried and tried to be grand and epic and sweeping and powerful, but unlike the little engine that could, this movie simply couldn't.

I liked the first 20 minutes or so, but everything after Heath Ledger goes to "The Sudan" is just lackluster.

I liked the beginning because it really captured the pomp and circumstance and, frankly, the arrogance of Great Britain at her apex. But instead of carrying over those themes and transposing them on such heavy issues as colonization, Islam, and the barbarism of war, we get a lackluster mess of a movie.

All we do get is Heath Ledger (who I don't like in the first place) stumbling around the desert with his faitful African sidekick (who just sticks out as a total 90's PC revisionist add-on. Why is this guy even helping Heath Ledger? Why does Hollywood always have the native tribesman become the faitful sidekick instead of becoming the group leader?)

The main battle sequence is bloodless in a PG-13 kinda way (hey kids, war isn't so bad, you see, there's never any blood!), and the battle itself felt listless.

The entire prison sequence, well, I don't want to spoil it, but the resolution of that felt tacky too.

It's a shame, because I liked the director's previous effort, Elizabeth. (Of course, it's hard to get a movie wrong if you've got Cate Blanchett in it, and that was her first major role.) I liked Wes Bently much better in The Claim (he looks like he lost a ton of weight for Four Feathers, cause he was a stick in the movie), and Kate Hudson really didn't have much to do.

[Lunch of Kong]

Is this movie comparable to"Lawrence of Arabia" or "The Man Who Would Be King" ?

[Anonymous]

Think "Gremlins 2."

[Derek Smart [3000AD]]

Two movies in one day?

Aren't you supposed to be writing a game, Derek? How dare you have personal fun and make us what that much longer for sweet multiplayer BC universe action.

:twisted:

You realize if the next BC game is delayed, the media will blame it on your lack of foresight not to know that seeing Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever would be two hours better spent hashing through C code, right?

LMAO!!!! I can just see it now in the BCG review ..when that bastard was supposed to be tweaking this multiplayer code, his sorry arse was parked at a movie theatre. :D :D :D

Actually, I haven't been to a movie in a while. I was supposed to go on Friday, but I got dropped into the babysitting gig while the missus and her entourage took off to Las Olas Blvd (think : spending grocery money on stuff I'm not bloody likely to notice she's wearing :roll: ) for lunch and browsing (funny how they never leave the credit cards at home when going on this particularly misleading activity).

So, here I was on Friday night, babysitting. I had strict orders to not turn on the DVD, nor play any video games - especially since I'd been caught on several occassions breaking this rule. Ever since the little one started to talk, she's found new and inventive ways of communicating with her mother - with me being the culprit of those topics. Anyway. I was supposed to be teaching her to improve her reading, watching Blues Clues (Hey Denny, just wait, you'll soon see your Baby Einstein, Bach etc etc and Blue's Clues libraries start to grow - and take up space where video games and DVD's once lived happily!) etc etc. I was determined to not break this rule this time - even when the little one sauntered into the room and plonked the PS2 and Jak & Dexter down on the carpet in front of me. I took one look at her - she looked back, all inocent and stuff - and proceeded to plug it in. At this point, I knew that if I ever wanted to see the inside of a theatre again, I had to figure out how to get out of this.

So I walked her into the kitchen and gave her some soy ice cream (she and the missus are lactose intolerant) which she loves. While she was fiddling around in the kitchen, I sneaked back to the game room and put the console away - made a beeline for her room, grabbed a book and two Blue's Clues tapes and dashed back in.

She didn't notice.

Anyway, by the time this ordeal was over, the missus decided to call and say she was going to be late because they'd moved her hair apointment to a later time and she just had to get her hair done.

I remained calm - all the while thinking of all the bad things that would happen to me - again - if I even squeaked in a protest.

By the time 7pm rolled past, my movie window was closed, the baby had fallen asleep and I had read my new issues of PC Gamer, C/C++, PC Mag etc etc and never even turned on CNN once. Lucky for me, since I was looking forward to catching the premieres of Firefly and John Doe (very good btw) which started at 8pm on the same channel - mum breezed in. Browsing bags in tow.

Sooooooooo, after all the apologies and promises I knew she had every intentions of keeping - assuming that I didn't screw up between then and bedtime, I was told that I'd been let off my Saturday afternoon babysitting gig (thats the day in which I spend the whole day with the little one - no interruptions - ok, except maybe forum browsing) and that I could go watch my movies and she'd skip her afternoon class (I didn't even know she taking a class at anything. Go figure).

So, here I was at the theatre (the Muvico near here is awesome - stadium seating, kickass sounds and everything), packed lunch and a canister of iced tea in tow, standing in line trying to figure out how the hell I was going to watch two movies, back to back, without missing parts of the second one. I opted to watch Ecks vs Sever first, which gave me about 30 mins to catch The Four Feathers. I read my new copy of Xbox mag in between.

After the first movie, I was so pissed, I almost went home. But I'd heard that TFF was good, so I figured there was still hope to rescue my afternoon.

I ended up liking TFF. So much that I told the missus about it and took her to see it this afternoon.

I had planned on seeing Trapped, but something made me see TFF instead.

Man, I hated Ecks vs Sever. This one should've been straight-to-dvd. I've seen better made-for-DVD movies than this trash.

Uhh, ten out of ten for Four Feathers?

Derek, please, for the love of Ebert, marshal your powers of discrimination and try again.

-Tom, who hasn't seen Four Feathers but knows better

heh, wait until you see it then. I think you'd be pleasantly surprised. Or not :roll:

[Bub, Andrew]

Derek,
when you're the father it isn't called "babysitting" it's called "parenting". I have bruises to show how important that distinction is to my wife. Now I preach the word on message boards.

[Derek Smart [3000AD]]

Derek,
when you're the father it isn't called "babysitting" it's called "parenting". I have bruises to show how important that distinction is to my wife. Now I preach the word on message boards.

LOL!!!! Mine hasn't caught up yet. I'm sure once that distinction catches on, I'll be at the short end of a rolled up magazine. :D

[Bernie_Dy]

Derek Smart: Fastest magazine reader and Internet writer ever :lol:

[Aszurom]

You guys really should watch "The Wind and the Lion" if you want a good arabian war movie. Sean Connery vs. Teddy Roosevelt. Ready.... FIGHT!