a couple of reviews from A View from Mars:

A Sound of Thunder (B-)

First off, this is probably going to be the only place where you see this movie receive this high of a grade, if you even knew this movie was in theatres. I like to think that even bad movies can be distinguished from the even worse movies. This grade is reflective of a good "bad movie." So now that we have that straightened out, onwards with the review. This film is based on Ray Bradbury's short story of the same name and deals with basically the same issues of time travel in the corporate environment. A corporation has exploited time travel to cater to the wealthy and provide them with a trip back 65 million years to hunt dinosaurs. Well something happens during one of these trips and sure enough the future or rather the present is altered as was warned could occur. The remainder of the movie pushes the characters to deduce and rectify the situation and yes, we all learn that even something as insignificant as a butterly flapping it's wings on one side of the world could cause tidal waves on the other side. At the very least, this movie gives you plenty of opportunities to hunt and pick out the ambiguities. My favorite being the wonder and cluelessness of the characters as to why the future present has radically altered given that they just discussed the ramifications of even a miniscule accident occuring during one of their trips back in time. I recommend waiting for the 2 copies that will be on the Blockbuster shelves in no time.


The Constant Gardener (A-)

A wonderfully directed/edited/well shot movie that involves you as the viewer without coming off as overly complex and hard to follow. This film starts you off with the Ralph Fiennes character losing his wife (Rachel Weisz who has come a long way from The Mummy) in an accident somewhere in desolate Africa. We don't exactly know why, but the film progresses and explains itself mostly through flashbacks. Fiennes plays something of a diplomat for the British government and Weisz an activist with an unapologetic agenda for almost everything. The two meet and marry as opposites do and then spend a large portion of their time together in Africa. While there, we soon realize that Weisz has discovered a large pharmaceutical company up to no good in an effort to save money (Merck, anyone?). Is this what led to her inevitable death? Fiennes goes on a trek to figure this out and at the same time comes to grips with other parts of his life involving the wife he discovers he didn't know enough of. This is an exceptional movie especially after coming off a summer filled with mindless crap. The acting was superb with much kudos going to Fiennes' stoic and yet enriching emotions. However, the treat for me was that this movie was an unorthodox love story played out in a political drama, something of a combination I haven't previously seen effectively done. I'd be curious to know how Le Carre's novel compares to this adaptation. Definitely worthy of a look.