Movies

Secretariat - I saw Secretariat the weekend it opened. It was a good film for the entertainment and race shots, but there were some weird moments. For example, for the final stretch run of the Belmont, gospel music starts to play. Wha...? It totally killed the mood for me! There were some things they changed that I liked and there were simply some that made me scratch my head. I liked some of the racing shots though since they used real horses the entire way. Unlike Seabiscuit where the store was about the jockey, trainer, and owner, Secretariat is more about the owner (Diane Lane plays her). The story feels a little incomplete on the end of the family/husband end, but it's okay I suppose. Riva Ridge was also removed completely from the story, makes sense not to confuse people since Riva Ridge won the Derby and Belmont the year before Secretariat, but Riva Ridge also helped in the recovery of the farm. So...historically accurate this is not, good entertaining film it is. :) I'm going to buy it, but that's probably more to do with the fact Secretariat is my all time favorite Thoroughbred and watching his races on YouTube give me the goosebumps and I know how it's going to turn out! Grade: B for shear entertainment

Karate Kid (2010) DVD - Gotta hand it to Will and Jada Smith's kids...Will already stared in a film and has a CD coming out and now Jaden started in Karate Kid. It's a good remake. I enjoyed it. I will be honest and say I've never watched an entire Karate Kid film before (I've seen pieces here and there) so I can't really judge it as a remake, but I thought it was good. You could tell Jaden REALLY worked out hard to be in shape for this film because it's seriously scary what he could do physically. Seeing different places in China was also fun. It was a good film and probably good for a 10-year-old boy. Grade: B

Robin Hood (2010) DVD - Something was "off" about this film to make it truly good. I don't know if it's the fact this version is more the "prequel" to Robin Hood and not the typical Robin Hood movies. It essentially plays out how he met Marion, how he became an outlaw, why the people love him, etc and then stops once he becomes an outlaw by King John. The Sheriff of Nottingham has basically no role at all, but you can see his greed and lust for power in the 2 scenes he's in. So, it's different story wise and super long (2:20 hours), but there's just something off about it! It's got a really strong cast too (Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, etc), but it just didn't work for me. I'm not sure if it's because Crowe is so much older than you typically see a Robin Hood or the accents were off. I don't know. It just didn't all "click" for me. On the other hand, Crowe's horse through the movie is simply GORGEOUS. Blanchett also has a beautiful horse and the main antagonist too. Crowe's by far is my favorite of the 3 though. It does the high leg gallop so it just looks powerful, regal, and majestic. Oh yeah. Lots of horses! So, anyway, if you want to watch a 2:20 hour long prequel to Robin Hood (not a whole lot of fighting as you'd expect for this type of film; they're pretty short scenes when they are present), this would be the film to watch. Grade: B