Damien at the Speed of Life

On my recent trip to Vegas I saw three movies: The Box, A Christmas Carol, and 2012. This is my vlog post review of all three.

First of all, The Box. In this film, Frank Langella plays a black suited mystery salesman carrying a black box door to door. He claims that if the homeowners press the button they will receive 1,000,000 dollars. He also makes it abundantly clear that at the same time the button is pressed, someone will die.

Cameron Diaz is one who presses the button and as she does, we see her family plunge into tumult. I could have predicted this when I heard his sales pitch. In my opinion, it starts interesting in a manner of a Twilight Zone but ricochets off into an almost psychedelic genre that is certainly outside the realm of realistic fiction. The answers to this movie’s questions are not as creative as they would have been if they stayed focused on the moral dilemma idea in a real world setting. Having said that, the wardrobe and sets from th 1970’s are compelling and handesome. The director is known for his period pieces and this one is no exception. For adaptation of story and plot, I give it a thumbs down but the images are worth the price of admission.

A Christmas Carol is Disney’s pride of the season. Jim Carrey provides the voice and body grid for Ebenezer Scrooge in Dicken’s timeless classic. From the first scene I was gripped by the images. This 1/2 cartoon 1/2 real life world really lends itself well to the tale. As I always do when I watch this story, I was reminded to put others before myself. The message they always taught me in church is what is going on here. I loved the movie and it reminds a new generation that we sould be reaching out to the “Tiny Tims” and not eschewing them. I recommend this one with a 100% thumbs up. One note of cautiion though: It is quite scary a few times so talk to your kids 7 and under about the purpose of the screaming ghosts etc. They want to show Scrooge how to be nice.

Finally, 2012. While a visual masterpeice worth owning just for rewinding sequences, the story and plot are very shallow and lacking in substance. It is often the case that effects overshadow the plot. One exception might be: Titanic. Every thing is destroyed that we once relied upon. Could this be a veiled commentary on the current state of social security disability? I haven’t much more to say on this film. It was very long and the visuals were pretty but I learned little about the characters and little about myself while watching it. I was hoping a movie about the end of the world would teach me at least a little that way. This one gets a thumbs down from me. Wait for the DVD.

Thanks for watching my VLog on these three movies. I’d love to start a dialog with you on them in the comments.