Movie of the Week: The Count of Monte Cristo

"A young man, falsely imprisoned by his jealous 'friends,' escapes and uses a hidden treasure to exact his revenge." IMDb

The Count of Monte Cristo has been one of my favorite movies since I saw it in theater when it first came out.  I have seen it countless times, and I'm sure I will watch it many times in the future.  It's one of those movies where if you tell me that you haven't seen it...we're watching it.  I don't care if I already watched it earlier that day, we're watching it, cause you gotta see this...and I will probably spend most of the movie annoyingly looking at your face to see if you're enjoying it as much as you should be.  Yeah I'm that guy...

So, not only is this movie brilliantly cast, well acted, and paced wonderfully, but this type of story should have a special place in the heart of anyone who's ever felt like they have gotten the shaft before. It's a story about revenge!  Who hasn't ever wanted to serve someone their comeuppance on a nice frosty plate?  A frosty plate of doom!  I suppose for me, specifically, I love this movie because I've always been the fat kid who got picked on and stuff, so I happen to find the idea of somebody who disappears for a long time, reinvents himself, comes back unrecognized by his foes, destroys their entire world, AND THEN EXPLAINS THE ENTIRE PLOT IN A DRAMATIC AND PRECISELY TIMED MONOLOGUE!!!...*deep breathes*...quite appealing.  

So yeah, I don't want to give anything else about this movie away.  Just go watch it.  And if you've seen it already, fuck it, watch it again....Also the guy who plays Superman in the new Man of Steel movie is it is as a kid.  That doesn't really add or detract either way, but I figure I can at least keep this shit current.

Movie of the Week: The Time Machine (2002)

"Hoping to alter the events of the past, a 19th century inventor instead travels 800,000 years into the future, where he finds humankind divided into two warring races." IMDB

The Time Machine (2002) is a modern remake of The Time Machine (1960) which was a film adaptation of an H.G. Wells novel published in 1894.  Oddly enough, the novel was titled The Time Machine.  You'll never guess what it's about...

This movie is one of those remakes that I really and truly like apart from the original because they are very different movies with different stories and story telling styles.  The 1960 film was very much like the novel, both in story and voice. The main character was H. George Wells (that name sounds familiar for some reason)  He has invented a time machine because he could and wants to go do things and see stuff...ya know, time travel-y stuff.  He doesn't really have a reason for building his machine other than to say, "See!?  Told ya I could!"  The entire story is told in the form of a flashback which he is describing to his friends who stand around, sip brandy, and probably remember how cool it was to own people. I won't spoil if for you, but it's pretty good. Now, in the remake, our main character is a man named Alexander Hartdegen.  He is kind of an absent minded professor type with a love for math, pocket watches, and a woman named Emma.  On the very same night he proposes to her, she is murdered for her engagement ring.  Alex doesn't take this well and spends the next four years inventing time travel in order to prevent Emma's death.  Unfortunately, because temporal causality is a bitch, nothing he does can prevent her death.  So, instead of dwelling on the past, he sets out to find answers in the future, so he can dwell on the past...in the future.  The rest of the movie ensues.

The two movies do share some common elements of the original story such as the end of modern civilization caused by stupid humans, evolved races of future people like the Eloi and the Morlocks...hell, there's even a time machine! (fucking duh)  There are even a couple of nods to the fans of the original movie such as the scene with the clothes changing on the mannequins outside his workshop, and the crystal nob on the time machine control handle. However that's pretty much where the similarities with the original story end.  This movie has a completely original story which I very much enjoy, even with the colossal plot holes at the end.  Watch the movie and see what I'm talking about why don't ya?!