Saw Some "Treasure"

Phil and I woke up early this morning to run to Wal-Mart and buy a bunch of stuff we still needed for the Christmas Party. When we finished that, we headed to the NEW AMC Castleton Theatre (which will NEVER replace Castleton Arts) to see what the new theatre was like, and to catch "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" in DIGITAL!!!

I was over playing poker WAY TOO LATE at Troy's last night, and had no chance of catching a screening last night, but this film was HIGH on my priority list this year, and probably #1 at Christmas.

First, the theatre LOOKS beautful! Nice high lobby ceiling, some nice comfortable couches and chairs in one part of the lobby. Down the hallways they have some nice murals of various directors - showing the director on a set, giving his name and the name of the movie. Scorsese, Spieldberg, and Lee are the three I remember off the top of my head. The concession stand has BEAUTIFUL digital marquees - but, they aren't new, Landmark has had the exact same ones since they opened. But, it still looks better than regular concession marquees. I was disappointed that they don't offer pizzas - like Greenwood - since I hadn't had lunch, and was looking for something to eat at the theatre that would fill me up.

The presentation was very good. Nice LARGE screen. PERFECT picture. The digital sure does look amazing. The only problem with the presentation was the SEVEN trailers before the film (including "Speed Racer", which doesn't look as good as I thought it would, but I do still want to see it...), followed by a 7 or 8 minute short CARTOON starring Goofy!!! Before THIS FILM!?!?!? Seriously? Put that in front of another animated movie, or a true kids film. But, as an adult, don't ruin "National Treasure" for me with a long cartoon. It was a good and funny cartoon, I laughed a lot, but I would have preferred to watch it at home, when I was watching other animated shorts with Goofy in them! Anyways, the start time was 12:00pm, it was 12:25pm before The Disney Logo actually hit the screen to signify the start of the film.

The chairs SUCK. That's really the only true complaint I have about the theatre. It was SO UNCOMFORTABLE!!! It felt like I was sitting on a board the entire time, I constantly found myself shifting and trying to get comfortable. It never happened. I hope after this busy holiday season, and lots of people coming in, that they might lose some of their stiffness and become a little more enjoyable to sit in. Granted, I'll probably only go there and pay their fee for movies that I really want to see in Digital. Why pay for it, when I can still see it other places for free? But, there will be some things that I have to see in Digital. Just like there are some movies that I have to own on HD-DVD.

When we went to the theatre, I told Phil this: "I just don't want it to suck. I can handle it not being as good as the original, I just don't want the film to be complete crap."

It's not as good as the original.
But, it's NOT crap either.
So, I was pleasantly surprised with the film.
I laughed a lot. I still enjoy Riley and his side-kick comments.
The story is a little weak, but not really bad. It's just not as big and built up as the original one was. There's not as many clues and mysteries to solve. And there's not as much of a sense of danger as in the original. I LOVE Ed Harris and the character he plays. He fits in well, but at times did just remind me of playing a Sean Bean clone. While his intentions and motivations are different, he pursues Nic Cage and follows him very much the same. There's really no big plot twist in this one, not that there really was one in the first film, but when they get to the bottom of the pit and convince Sean Bean and his men that they need to go to Boston, that was kind of a good "pull the wool over their eyes" moment. Not one of those this time. It's much more simple, and much more "straight-lined" in their pursuit of things.

Bruce Greenwood plays the President! (You STILL haven't watched "Nowhere Man", have you??? SHAME ON YOU!!! What is your problem???) I wish he was in more of the film, but I enjoyed what he did. It's funny, I've loved this dude since 1994, and it seems like every couple of months I am mentioning his name in something new (and, then mentioning "Nowhere Man" which IS AVAILABLE ON DVD!!!). I'm very, very glad to see him getting this much work. He deserves it.

They left it open for a sequel. I recently read where Nic Cage wants to take the next film (if they make one), but I don't know if the "opening" they left in the film would actually take him to where he said he wanted to go. Either way, IF/WHEN the make the third one, I'll be interested to watch it too.