Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter
This wasn’t quite a romp through history but it did, in a weird way, touch on actual events while portraying Southern plantation owners to be vampires and their slaves their hapless victims.
Wow, how much more fun can you have at the movies?
It seems that vampires murdered Abe Lincoln’s mother and he becomes a revengeful vampire killer. This guy was busy. Along with a couple of trusted friends, Henry Sturgess (Dominic Cooper and Will Johnson (Anthony Machu) he battles on while trying to secure his place in American history.
Lincoln married Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and later she became the first President’s wife to be called The First Lady.
No surprise here that the producer was Tim Burton—this show is not only gory, but it’s gory in 3D.
The absurd story line is oddly compelling in a strange way and likely more graphically entertaining than the book by Seth Graeme Smith, but while it takes you from the boy Lincoln to the night he leaves for the theatre, it leaves no time for character development and we find Lincoln cold and uncaring.
His wife Mary, however; was actually a follower of spiritualism and believed the living could contact the dead. I doubt even she would have believed just how many dead could be contacted. In real life, Mary suffered from depression, anxiety and paranoia. Hmm, I wonder—no, it couldn’t be.
This took $16 million at the box office in its first weekend and will likely soon be gone from the theatre leaving us to ask once again: “Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?”
Best Line: “History prefers legends to men.”
I give this two reels
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
I also saw Seeking a Friend for the End of the World and I have to be honest here, I am not a big fan of Steve Carrell and I’m still not.
Keira Knightly is really good playing the ever frustrating female lead but she’s so frustrating and silly that you really don’t much like her either.
An asteroid is to hit the earth in three weeks and the predictable way in which many prepare is just not funny. In fact, with a couple of exceptions, the whole thing isn’t funny—how funny can it be if you have three weeks to live. But they tried to make it poignant and funny and romantic and it was a hard sell.
Not to mention, that Carrell in any sort of love story is less than plausible on a good day. Poignancy is captured somewhat when the son and dad meet after many years, but this one just doesn’t quite make the grade.
So, if the end of the world seems imminent, don’t waste your time going to this one—if it looks like we are to keep spinning, then maybe if you’re stuck for something to do.
I give this one and a half reels.
