Last night Jenn and I settled in for our Sunday Night Comfort Food and Movie time. That is to say, we had vanilla malts from Ritter's, popcorn, and pizza rolls for dinner in front of the TV. The movie for the night was "National Treasure". This was a really fun film to watch. It reminded me a lot of an Indiana Jones film, only centered on US History rather than religious artifacts. It was also nice to see Nicolas Cage break his string of bad movies. Jenn is an enormous Cage fan, and she has been rightfully disappointed with his films over the last couple of years.
The movie plot centers around a great treasure hidden by the Knights Templar to prevent it from falling into the control of any single person. The Free Masons took responsibility for protecting the treasure and keeping it secret. The treasure came to the US with the founding fathers, who were also Free Masons. The last of the Free Masons passed the secret onto the patriarch of the Gates family, and ever since the family has felt compelled to find the treasure. Cage plays the youngest of the Gates line, and is quickly double-crossed by his partner after finding the first in a series of clues that takes the setting to many important sites in American history such as the Liberty Bell, the olde north church, and The Declaration of Independence.
Jenn and I both really liked this one. It was just the reat mix of action, intrigue, and mystery to keep us interested.
After Jenn went to sleep, I watched Alien vs. Predator. Ï'm a fan of the Alien series of movies, and I was interested in seeing this one as soon as I saw the previews. The first alien movie was awesome, and I remember watching it with my dad. It scared the crap out of me, but it was a great movie. The second alien film was just as good, if not better. The third alien movie was a little flat for me. It wasn't necessarily bad, but it wasn't taking the story anywhere either. And the fourth alien film? Well, let's just try to forget that one, I think it's for the best. Still, even after the extraordinary stink-fest of Alien 4, I had hope for AVP.
AVP is set in 2004, when a satellite for the Weyland company picks up a strong thermal change in Antarctica. The satellite takes images of a heat signature that outlines walls that appear to be a temple. Charles Bishop Weyland, the founder of the company, seeks out a team to help him explore the site and make his last great claim in history. The temple appears to be hundreds of feet under ice, but when they arrive they find that a tunnel has already been burrowed to the site. What follows is a three-way clash between the humans who are trying to understand the significance of the site, the aliens who are struggling to escape, and the predators who are on the hunt.
I was very happy with this film. As a fan of the alien series, this movie really helped to expand on the world of the aliens. I've never seen the Predator movies through in a single sitting, but I may have to now. And, as with all Alien films, the ending leaves open the possiblity of a sequel. Heres hoping!
2 comments:
I have to say, you may enjoy AVP more after you watch Predator. I'd never watched Predator all the way through (just seen bits and pieces), but when I watched AVP with my dad, he explained things from Predator that helped the plot of AVP. I think it's funny that the 2 movies you saw were the 2 movies my dad got for Fathers day! I loved National Treasure. I thought it had enough of a plot to keep it interesting and enough humor to keep it light. And a little bit of McGuyveresque ingenuity. Great!
I have to add my Kudos to National Treasure. I was practically raised in Rainbow, an organization for the daughters, etc. of Masons, and then immediately joined Eastern Star upon reaching the proper age. So coming from such a strong Masonic background, I was intrigued to see how much of that culture they implemented in the movie. I remember a few times in the movie thinking, "Wow! I'm not the only one who knows this stuff!" It was definitely a neat movie, and when it came out on DVD, Lars and I owned it the next day.
I think I'll pass on the AVP though. I get nightmares WAY too easily. :)
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