Joe brought a copy of Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief. I had read the book a few months ago, sort of liked it but wasn't crazy about it, and was curious on how the movie came out. Joe has always said he liked it. He'd been to the theater to see it. I hardly ever get to the theater. Just waiting to go see the next Harry Potter film. I'm more contented to see things at home. Zeus, played by the cool Sean Bean, is missing his lightning bolt and he's all cranky. You'd think a god could keep hold of his shit. You wouldn't leave that kind of thing just lying about. Zeus blames Percy Jackson, the son of Poseiden and Catherine Keener, who doesn't know he's a half-god and doesn't have the lightning bolt. You can't argue with a god like Zeus, he's kind of a dick. Percy gets attacked and the secret is out. Percy is son of an immortal Greek God. Pierce Brosnan, Percy's wheelchair bound teacher is really a centaur, and Percy's best friend is a Satyr. His mom takes him to a special camp for demi-gods but she can't enter the place and is kidnapped by Hades. Percy discovers some more about his new situation and his powers. He's good with water, being the son of the god of the seas and all. Still he doesn't have the lightning bolt and now Hades wants it. He's willing to trade Percy's mom for it, or kill her, he doesn't much care which. Steve Coogan plays Hades. I've liked him in some other things but here he's a weak Hades, more foppish rock star than god. The movie is packed with effects from one end to the other and some are prettydarn good looking. The movie moves along briskly and there isn't much wasted time between action scenes either. There's lots of good sets and places to see. Director Chris Columbus is used to making big movies what with doing the first two Harry Potter films. Many HP fans think they are the weakest and they maybe right. I still like them after repeated watchings. I think they fit the feel of the first two books quite well. Things change with Azkaban, and Alfonso Cuaron was a good choice to change the direction of the films. Like the HP books the Rick Roidan novel was pretty heavily edited to create the movie version of Percy's story. Mostly I enjoyed it, might even buy a copy if I got it cheap.
I had been jonesing to see World Without End for the last couple of weeks. I don't have a copy so most likely the last time I saw this was at the MST3K Live show in July 1992. I didn't hardly remember any of it. The version on the DVD is wide screen. It's from a two pack, with Satillite In The Sky, that Sperhauk found for 3 bucks. We picked it for the second feature. Hugh Marlowe and Rod Taylor are part of a crew that's going on a trip to circumnavigate Mars. They run into a storm in space and bury the needle on their space speedometer. Over a hundred miles a second. They pass out and awaken after they crash in some snow. Below the snow line they discover it's earth and they are way into the future. People have mutated into ugly one eyed cavemen who attack with clubs and spears. Luckily the 4 astronauts have guns with them. They find that the mutants aren't the only humans. Some have been hiding in caves for centuries, living peaceful lives, at least until the time travellers come. The guys find some romance in the future. All the ladies are pretty and dress in short dresses. Kind of like those Vargas girls above. Vargas is credited in the film for set sketches. Those might be nice to see. The men from the past also find some trouble in the future. One of the cave dwellers is jealous that the head man's daughter likes one of the time travellers better than him. He commits murder and frames the outsiders. Isn't that always the way. Luckily one of the women had seen what really happened and the guys are saved. The guilty guy runs out of the cave only to be clubbed to death by the mutants. Fitting punishment. The guys chase the mutants away, by killing the leader in mortal combat, and start an above ground community. It's written and directed by Edward Bernds. The movie is fairly low budget, much of the movie is shot outdoors and all the interiors amount to a few very plain sets. Still, it does the job. The guys get attacked by a pair of huge mutated spiders at one point. They are pretty funny looking. The script isn't too bad, a bit on the cheesy side, science accuracy ignored of course. Gave me a chuckle and had an ok ending. Worth the trouble to watch, maybe even again in 18 years.