Happy Fourth of July, everyone! I hope everyone stays safe during this holiday season. I’m fairly certain in your neck of the woods, the temperature has hit the triple digit mark (if not, I envy you) and rain is something you do with dollar bills. Please be careful with the fireworks, have a well-cooked hamburger for me and have fun. I still have to go into work, but I am anticipating a slow day like most holidays. However, the holiday pay will more than make up for the boredom I am going to have to suffer through.

Well, I promised you a review of the movie “Prometheus” (now that I finally remember it). OK – if you thought about seeing it because it was touted as a prequel to “Alien”, then you will be in for a bit of a disappointment. As a direct prequel, it doesn’t really work and to me. The creature was a bigger horror when we didn’t know what the Xenomorph was. No doubt, Erich von Daniken is going to ride this new wave of popularity for a while with his “Chariot of the Gods” getting a modest tip of the hat from the movie. Now, if you go in with the idea that this is the pitch of a re-boot for the franchise, then this movie is good. The performances from the actors were what I would expect – with David Fassenbender being the best exception. His David has been the creepiest android in the franchise – which will no doubt serve as an oft-repeated cautionary tale. Overall, if you absolutely have to see this movie, I would wait until it is released at Red-Box to see it. So far, out of the summer films I have seen, “The Avengers” is the best by far. “The Dark Night Rises” is the next on my list. I might catch “The Amazing Spider-Man” over a weekend matinee, but I think it’s a little soon for a “re-boot”.

And that’s another thing that slightly rankles me: the idea of a re-boot. Movies aren’t computers. You don’t have to turn them off for thirty seconds to make them better (however in the case for some movies, thirty seconds isn’t long enough. ‘Spawn’ – I’m looking at you.). Why not call it what it is: the cash-grab. Yes, some movies are better after they’ve been re-done (Christopher Nolan’s Batman series comes to mind), but some of them don’t really hit the mark like they should. Spider-Man is an example of what’s wrong with it. I loved the first two Sam Raimi films (I’ll tell you what I would have done with the third in a later posting) and I am a Marvel fan ’til I die. I don’t think that a reboot is warranted as far as ‘we need to do something to re-charge the franchise!’ It was fine enough as it was. However, having said that – I can see why it would be needed if their intention was to get all the Marvel movies together in one universe as it were, like they are doing with ‘The Avengers’. That makes sense, since the original movies were done through Sony and can’t be ‘linked’ as it were. I can appreciate that, but ‘re-boot’? Really?

Well, I need to get back to the novel, so again – Happy Fourth of July, be careful and have fun.

Sincerely,

Seething With Apathy