items tagged with Ian McKellen

THE DA VINCI CODE

Throughout Ron Howard’s The Da Vinci Code – based, of course, on Dan Brown’s staggeringly successful novel – Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou continually find themselves in dimly lit rooms, gloomy cathedrals, and the occasional underground tomb. When the characters finally do venture outdoors, their visibility doesn’t much improve, as almost the entire movie takes place at night. And during the film’s two-and-a-half-hour running length, deprived of nearly all natural (and even artificial) light, I never craved a nap so badly in my life.
Read More About Sensory Deprivation: "The Da Vinci Code" And "Just My Luck"...

X2: X-MEN UNITED

Most reviewers disliked the original X-Men, Bryan Singer’s Marvel Comics adaptation that earned money but little critical respect in the summer of 2000. I, on the other hand, loved the original, so much so that, three years later, it still merits regular rotation in my DVD player.

ICE AGE

Movies with charm have been in such short supply this year that the animated Ice Age feels like a shot of pure oxygen. Visually, the film is lacking the detail of a Shrek or a Monsters, Inc., and it’s a bit on the goody-goody side, but it’s a completely enjoyable, amiable good time at the cineplex, particularly if you’ve been looking for a movie to take the family to that’s less saccharine than Return to Neverland and infinitely smarter than the likes of Big Fat Liar and Snow Dogs.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring has now been out for so long, has made so much money, and has been reaping so many critical accolades – it was just named the AFI’s Best Picture in its inaugural awards ceremony – that I’m not sure much more needs to be said about it.