Last night we watched Eragon. I wasn’t expecting much from a story written by a teenager, but the movie started with backstory narration (never a good sign) and moved quickly on to wooden acting from John Malkovich and the rest of the cast.
The story was crammed full of every cliché in the fantasy genre. Not one was left out. Despotic evil overlord: check. Wicked, nearly immortal sorcerer: check. Disgraced warrior becomes town drunk/trouble-maker, but has a heart of gold: check. Unknown youth becomes the salvation of the world: check.
The only redeeming point in the whole movie was the depiction of the dragon. Unlike most fantasy movies, the dragon wasn’t particularly reptilian. She was distinctly bird-like. While I don’t have opinions one way or the other on dragons, this was a unique touch.
I have no idea how this movie rated almost 5 stars on IMDB.
So when I was a wee lad there was a commercial on teevee from Beck’s promoting their dark beers. The commercial featured Martin Mull and attempted to dispel the myth that “dark beer is only for people named Gunter with thick necks.” The tag line for the campaign was “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.”
Last night, I learned that The Dark is perhaps a little frightening after all.
Anna and I watched the new Battlestar Gallactica pilot. All I can say is “that was dark.” Really dark. Particularly the part where the new President has to decide whether to take all the FTL-capable ships and escape the Cylons while leaving the non-FTL-capable ships behind. Tough decision. Tougher still to learn that the cute child she had just been talking with last scene was on one of the non-FTL-capable ships.
On the one hand, I think it speaks well of the writers and producers if they’re willing to air such a dark and gloomy series.
I think I’m going to love it.
If you’re looking for a very weird and highly disturbing movie, look no further than The Green Butchers.
It would be like Delicatessen if only it were funny. Instead it’s Danish and really depressing.
