'Clash of The Titans' Review

Sam Worthington as Perseus. Watch the preview: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/clash-of-the-titans/36930/main

I have fond memories of the '81 version. Although the special effects might look dated by today's standards, to me the best part of the movie was the fun watching Sir Lawrence Olivier as a crafty Zeus toying with the lives of mortals while protecting his half-human son Perseus played by Harry Hamlin (who went on to star in TV's LA Law) and outwitting his fellow and notable Olympians including Claire Bloom as Hera, Maggie Smith as Thetis, and Ursula Andress as Aphrodite. And who could forget Ray Harryhausen's wonderful stop-motion animated creatures. This was his final film and his Medusa was the crowning achievement in a long career including The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad and Jason & The Argonauts. Watch the preview: http://www.videodetective.com/movie_trailer/CLASH_OF_THE_TITANS/movie_clip/P00183052.htm
>>The previews for this new version prepared us for a high tech extravaganza filmed in 3-D. There were a few story changes. I guess Anthony Hopkins or Ian McKellen were busy so Liam Neeson was hired to play a dour Zeus who's upset because the mortals below don't respect the gods and need to be taught a lesson. He does well enough but he doesn't have the charm or humor of Olivier's old rascal. Instead of plotting against his goddesses, this Zeus is pitted again his brother Hades played by a mannered Ralph Fiennes who seeks revenge for being banished to the Underworld. The rest of the gods seem to be window dressing as they take a back seat to the feuding brothers. Avatar's Sam Worthington replaces Hamlin minus his flowing locks. In a interview Worthington said the filmmakers deliberately avoided the earlier hairy look. This Perseus is rather sullen and hates the gods who killed his adopted family. He refuses his father's help and offer to become a god in Olympus. He has no time for a story book romance with the Princess of Argos whose peril forces him to save her and her city from Hades's wrath.
>>The same creatures (and some new ones) from the first film are here but are computer generated to have more movement and the film's bigger budget allows for more spectacle. The film was converted into 3-D and really doesn't add a lot to the visuals. It's like watching through a Viewmaster but with movement. A throbbing music score accompanies the action. If you like these sword & sandal fantasies, you should enjoy this one. The reviews have been mostly negative but this Clash is a big hit. It's nowhere as bad as they said.

'The White Ribbon' Review & Portsmouth NH

Watch the preview: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-white-ribbon/38469/main?icid=movsmartsearch

It's been almost six months from our last trip to Portsmouth NH. We needed a good reason for another jaunt so we checked the schedule at The Music Hall for April. Michael Haneke's acclaimed German film The White Ribbon was playing the Sunday after Easter Sunday. An added reason was that our favorite inn downtown, which is a quick walk to the theater and our frequented stores, had an off-season rate that was almost half of the highest/summer price. So we made reservations and departed at 7:00AM. Before we left town, we stopped to get the newspapers to read in the room (Sunday is not Sunday without my NY Times), and coffee for the ride.
>>The drive was uneventful and relaxing. Instead of going directly into Portsmouth, we took the route through Seabrook and the Hamptons so we could eat at our favorite Breakfast place in Hampton and hit certain stores. At a small book store I traded in a bag of audio books on CD for a book about the rock group Cream and Martha got the Shutter Island paperback since we saw the movie. We stopped at Dress Barn to get Mom a belated 92nd birthday gift (the store has a large selection of petite sizes for Mom & Martha; I sat in the car reading the papers). The weather was sunny and at 70 degrees.
>>We got to the Sise Inn http://www.siseinn.com/index.html about 12:15PM but it was too early to check in. So we parked there and walked downtown for some serious shopping. I carried two bags of DVDs & CDs to trade in at my favorite shop, Bull Moose Music. I got $95 of store credit and browsed for two hours. I found almost everything on my short wish list and a few surprises: 1. A Criterion edition of A Christmas Tale, an acclaimed recent French film about a dysfunctional family's reunion: this film was on the top of my list. 2, A double CD of Joan Armatrading's hits (She's playing in Portsmouth in July so there's another trip planned.) 3. A DVD Armatrading concert 4. The Essential Philip Glass CD -used. 5. a Robyn Hitchcock CD/DVD concert. 6. A used DVD documentary about Roman Polanski. 7. A used DVD documentary about Robert Evans, a film producer. 8. A DVD called Gods & Monsters with Ian McKellen playing James Whale who directed the first two Frankenstein movies. All good prices and I still have $7 of credit left for another visit.
>>Martha met me at 2:15 after her shopping and we checked in at the Inn. We unpacked and rested until it was time to go to the theater to catch the movie's 3:30 showing instead of going to the 7:00 one. There's a nearby cafe/bakery that has a special offer: two movie tickets & $29 worth of food for $40. http://www.popoversonthesquare.com/menu/bakery.html
>>The White Ribbon was nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar and rightly so. The story takes place in a German village before the outbreak of WWI. This seemingly peaceful town becomes riddled with strange occurrences. A doctor is injured when his horse is tripped by a hidden wire. The Baron's son is kidnapped and beaten. The doctor's son who's mentally challenged is almost blinded. Other acts of cruelty involve animals but in both cases, we only see the aftermath of the violence. It's enough to keep you thinking about the reasons for them. Why are certain people chosen?
>>On the surface the adults and children seem respectable but the young school teacher has his suspicions as to who is causing the incidents and confronts the pastor (who doesn't practice what he preaches) for answers. The movie slowly unwinds for almost two & a half hours as incidents keep you offguard. It was filmed in color that was desaturated to achieve an eerie effect like looking at old photographs or a silent movie with sound. There's no movie score except for people singing and playing instruments. All this created an unsettling effect as you begin to question each character. A remarkable film worth seeing again. Imagine Village of the Damned without the sci-fi but that's not really accurate. It's creepy in a different way that sneaks up on you. Some reviewers have noted that the film shows how these people could later evolve into Nazis and I can see that here.... Here's a good article about the director and his film:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/movies/01klaw.html?_r=2&scp=2&sq=the%20white%20ribbon&st=cse

>>When Martha first heard about this film, she didn't want to see it because she read about violence done to children & animals. The violence is not explicit except in a few brief scenes and she couldn't stop talking about the movie for days. One of the ushers talked to us about it giving her own theory about the plot. We went to the cafe for a light dinner capped off with Indian Pudding with a dollop of vanilla ice cream (a New England treat) and returned to our comfy room to later watch Celebrity Apprentice.
>>After a deluxe continental breakfast buffet (included) downstairs in the Inn, we checked out and drove to the nearby mall to the big Barnes & Noble. I'm happy I bought my items downtown because the French film DVD and the Armatrading CD were $10 more at B & N. I bought an audio book and Martha bought two books. We browsed in a few other stores and at Ocean State Job Lot I found the DVD for Starting Out In The Evening for $2! I reviewed the movie in an earlier entry. We headed to Al's Seafood in NorthHampton for twin lobster dinners (two one-pounders, great fries, and coleslaw for $19.95 - a real deal.)
>>A few months ago we heard about a fire on the boardwalk at nearby Hampton Beach http://www.hamptonbeach.com/ so we wanted to see the damage. The sunny, breezy beach had a few kite flyers and the waves were pounding the sand. We walked to where there was a block containing a favorite gift shop but all that was destroyed and in the process of being knocked down behind a fence. We headed for home after spending two relaxing days and less money than usual.