The Golden Compass
Based on the first Philip Pullman book "Northern Lights". I can't speak to it's closeness to the source material as I've never read the books.
Young orphan Lyra gets caught up in a strange story about multiple universes, dust ??, souls animals (Daemons), armoured polar bears, a tyrannical government who may or may not be religious in nature and the evil Nicole Kidman.
SFX is pretty cool. The polar bear fight was cool and the various Daemons were well crafted.
The acting was spotty. The young girl was a bit hit or miss and most of the cast are hardly on screen to care. The only decent characters was Nicole Kidman's spooky evil bitch and Sam Elliot (the coolest voice in holywood) as the sky captain.
The film itself was no LOTR, not even up to Narnia (which sucked) and spent most of the film explaining things to Lyra. Esp the exposition ending which just talks about what they need to do next then just stops........
Haven't not read the books I'm not upset about it, but I do get the impression it is probably NOT a good adaption and seriously waters down the religious aspect of the novels.
4/10
on the other hand
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Probably one of the best films of the year.
A Western Based on the fictionalised story of the last days of Jesse James it sees Brad Pitt as the eponymous outlaw and Casey Affleck as Robert Ford a Jesse James stalker who joins the gang to meet his hero.
It is a beautifully shot movie, superbly acted by both leads (Affleck in particular is amazing Oscar material). Brad Pitt as the paranoid outlaw jumping at shadows who maybe knows that the end is coming is cool, scary and at times pitiful.
It's not an action movie and the action sequences are few and far between. It's mostly a dissection of a folk hero and the man who killed him.
Brilliant
9/10
