where: CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA
when: Friday, January 7th, 2011
show: 7:30 p.m.
costs: $10.25 Ticket + $7.24 Wendy's Restaurant # 2 Half-Pound Cheeseburger Combo meal ( upsized to a medium ) before the show + $4.50 Pretzel Bites + $4.00 small Diet/Zero ( w/ Barq's & Cherry flavors ) Coke = $25.99
auditorium: 13
seat: 4th row, 6th column
synopsis/overview: Two ex-Crusaders, Behmen ( Nicolas Cage ) and Felson ( Ron Pearlman ), strike a deal with a moribund cardinal ( Christopher Lee ) to escort a maiden ( Claire Foy ) suspected of witchcraft to a distant abbey where the monks can rid her of her evil powers believed to be the underlying cause of the Black Plague.
noteworthy scenes: 1.) Forced "confessions"; 2.) The witch; 3.) Battles; 4.) Helpless, innocent victims; 5.) "Voice of the Church"; 6.) Plague victims; 7.) Sword; 8.) "I serve the Church no more"; 9.) Negotiating with the cardinal; 10.) "Now, she's sedated;" 11.) "There was no talk of a girl who passed through my village, yet the plague came"; 12.) "Services of an altar boy"; 13.) "What sins would be forgiven"; 14.) The watch; 15.) Mass grave; 16.) Milla; 17.) "Let his sacrifice not be in vain"; 18.) "Some good deeds can be done, even behind bars"; 19.) Rickety bridge; 20.) Flask; 21.) Flask; 22.) "We believe what we want to believe"; 23.) Wolves; 24.) "God would not abandon us"; 25.) The Key of Solomon; 26.) "This is no witch"; 27.) "We're gonna need more Holy Water"; 28.) "Honor is not a thing to be dismissed or forgotten"; 29.) Where are they"; and 30.) "Say what's in your heart."
audience reaction: The audience seemed to like it. And one scene ( the farmhouse bedroom scene ) scared some people in the audience.
recommendation: I didn't like this movie as much as I'd hope to. It was a disappointment to me. Wait for this to come out as a rental.
spoiler alert! In the battle scenes, the slingshot, the spear and the bow and arrow were never utilized ( even though the crossbow was used in later scenes ); and the catapult was under-utilized. There was nothing in anyway to keep the women from grabbing hold of the noose around their necks as they were being thrown over the side of the bridge--they could have saved themselves easily! When the bodies were lowered into the river, they went straight down as if they were weighted-down but they weren't. So, the bodies should have floated a little down-current, instead of being fully submerged with their ropes practically in a perpendicular fashion. The hanging victim should not have been able to move since a person hanged in such a way will have his/her neck broken and would therefore be paralyzed from the neck down. Why couldn't the Devil find his way to the distant abbey without human help? If they defeated the Devil and saved the book, why is the world still plagued by evil to this day? As for the climactic battle with the evil entities ... well, I just have this to say: Obviously, whoever wrote this never had encounters with other-worldly entities!
fyi: I don't know if you will notice it, but Nicolas Cage looks like he had his upper lip plumped-up. You have to have read what I wrote about Nic Cage in my earlier blogs to know what I'm talking about here!
If you want to know what I wrote about the Bubonic Plague in an earlier entry, go back to my August, 2009's blog on the movie, INGLORIOUS BASTERDS.
This movie is based on the legend of The Key of Solomon. The Key of Solomon is a grimoire, i.e. a magic book. It's been around for centuries. And it is even claimed that King Solomon of Ancient Israel, the son of King David and Bathseba, was the one who authored the original edition of this book. It contains spells and rituals and, more importantly, Solomon's Seals, the dozens of special symbols, each representative of a demonic entity, that King Solomon purportedly used to command and control said entities with. Before King Solomon died of old age, he repented of his idolatrous ways and imprisoned the demonic entities, along with their seals, in some kind of sealed and locked box. He had this box thrown into the deepest part of the lake. But, according to legend, after King Solomon died, someone dredged the lake and recovered the box, and foolishly opened it to set the demons loose.
Yes, if you must know, I have a copy of Solomon's Seals, collecting dust somewhere in my bedroom. I don't think it works--well, at least, it didn't work for me!
Matthew 12: 42 "( B )ehold, a greater than Solomon is here." ( American King James Version ). Jesus Christ made this comparison for two reasons: He was wiser than Solomon. Yet His own people's leaders didn't pay heed to his counsel. And because, unlike King Solomon, Jesus Christ could command and control demons anytime of day or night, and without any kind of ritualistic preparations beforehand.
word of advice: Know your enemy.
tidbits: Before going to see this movie, I had a talk with a long-time customer of mine. We got to talking about World War II. And he mentioned that his uncle was none other than Francis Stanley "Gabby" Gabreski. Who was this "Gabby" Gabreski, you ask? Well, he was the greatest WWII American fighter ace in Europe and a Korean War jet ace, too! This customer, E. W., promised me that he would come back tomorrow ( which he did ) with a signed photo of his uncle sitting in his fighter plane. The Internet has plenty of information on "Gabby" Gabreski, by the way. If Hollywood hasn't yet made a movie about this highly-decorated war hero, what are they waiting for?
I had time for dinner before the movie. So, I went to the Plaza Drive Wendy's Restaurant for burger and fries. They use sea salt on their fries now--about time, too! And I hope that they completely use sea salt on everything else, instead of the bad-for-you table "salt".
A young, slender black man dressed in a suit sat two chairs to my right during the movie. He must have been stood-up by his date. The strong scent of sandalwood cologne emanated from him--or should I rephrase that in this way: He reeked strongly of sandalwood cologne!
Attention, guys and gals: Go easy on the stuff when you're putting on your cologne or perfume, especially during the cold, flu and/or allergy seasons when people's sense of smell is less tolerant of offending smell/scents and/or allergens. Don't go around smelling like some kind of walking air freshener!
Alright, two new things for this year: Spoiler Alert and Reader Comments.
Children's movies, i.e. rated G and PG, will not be exempted from my Spoiler Alert observations anymore. Because, as much as I loved the movie, TANGLED, it had many things wrong with it that I felt I did my readers a disservice by not pointing them all out.
And some of my readers want me to include a Reader Comments on my blog. So, I will allow limited comments from now on. The key word is, "Limited." So, no profanities, racist comments, etc. And if you write something in Cebuano, I will translate it into English for the benefit of my other readers.
attention: It's The Eleventh Annual Weblog Awards time! Please do me a favor and go to http://2o11.bloggi.es and nominate my blog in any or all of the following categories: Religion, Travel, Entertainment, Most Humorous and Best-Kept Secret. Each category will have space for three nominees. You only know of my blog, and nobody else's, so just enter one nominee--me, as Cine-Man ( url: wwwcine-man.blogspot.com ). If you nominate me in just one category, pick the Entertainment one. And nominate me a.s.a.p. since the deadline is January 16th, 2011. Thank you.
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