National Treasure -- 2004

National Treasure

(2004)

Rated PG for violence
My Rating: 5 Stars

Nicholas Cage
Diane Kruger
Justin Bartha
Sean Bean
Jon Voight
Harvey Keitel
Christopher Plummer
Stewart Finlay-McLennan


Summary:
“In 1832, Charles Carroll was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence...” It is with his last breath, this man bequeathed a clue to the one person he could: Thomas Gates. “The secret lies with Charlotte”, it read. The clue passed from his feeble hand to Thomas' sturdy one was to a treasure... a treasure beyond imagination.

Since that say, the Gates family had been searching relentlessly for it. Convinced of it's existence while others laughed at them; searching when all hope seemed gone... but finally, one of them seemed to be getting somewhere: Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicholas Cage). He had gone through his boyhood years hearing stories about his family's history and had decided at a young age that he would follow in his forefathers' footsteps. But with one small difference: he was going to find the treasure.

After years of studying and training, Ben Gates believed he had finally found Charlotte. The Charlotte was not a woman but a ship. With the help of his navigator/computer/science geek, Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) and his sponsor, they discovered that the whims of nature had most likely landed and trapped her in ice, North of the Arctic Circle.

Sure enough, The Charlotte lay there, waiting for them. But it wasn't treasure they found in her; only a beautiful meerschaum pipe with this legend inscribed on it: “The Legend writ. The stain effected. The key in Silence undetected. Fifty-five in iron pen. Mr. Matlack can't offend.” After Ben realized where the next clue was located, he wasn't sure what to do. But he did know that stealing it was out of the question and said so. Unfortunately, his sponsor was as unscrupulous as he was wealthy and proceeded to destroy The Charlotte... with Ben and Riley in it.

Surviving this, the two made their way back to civilization. They knew they could not let something of such importance fall into the hands of Ian Howe but no one would believe that the most guarded document in the United States of America could be stolen. After trying all law enforcements in Washington D.C. and anyone else who might have even a small chance of thwarting Ian, Benjamin Franklin Gates decided that in order to do what is right, he would do something wrong:

He would steal the Declaration of Independence before Ian could.

What I Liked:
1: Two of my favorite actors, Sean Bean and Stewart Finlay-McLennan were on this film. Actually, I must admit that everyone on this film was wonderful. This is the first film I saw Nicholas Cage in and it remains my favorite. He's good in this character.
2: I love Riley. He's hilarious. You really have to be good to pull off an act like that... facial expressions, tone of voice... etc. etc.  
3: The humor. It's clean.

4: Speaking of clean, this movie is definitely a family film...
5: Even though this film revolves around masonry, etc, it doesn't ever sanction or judge the society. It leaves that up to the viewer.
6: The story was very unique and very interesting.
7: The fact that this is one of the best films I've ever seen.
8: Having a very light romance was good.
9: There is enough adventure to be interesting but not so much that kids get too scared.
10: The historical value to this story. It would be a good one for history class.
11: Very little language.

“We probably have our own satellite by now.”

What I Didn't Like:
1: Abigail's clothing is sometimes a little revealing. Nothing horrible, though.
2: One time, Abigail and Ben were changing their clothes in a store and you can see their shoulders above their prospective doors. Nothing that a screen cover can't take care of.

Things To Know:
1: There is some language but it's pretty light.
2: There is a reference to Abigail being pregnant (she's not).

This film made me interested in studying further on the subjects mentioned and read the full version of the Declaration of Independence. As I mentioned above, this film might be good for learning history in a fun way.

“Uh Ben, thee.. the mean declaration lady is behind you.”

Ghost Rider -- 2007

Ghost Rider
(2007)

Rated PG-13 for horror and frightening images
My Rating: 3 Stars

Nicholas Cage
Pete Fonda
Sam Elliot
Eva Mendes
Wes Bentley

I rented this film because it has Nicholas Cage on it. But I must say that the best thing about this movie was Sam Elliot. :-)

Summary:
Johnny Blaze (Matt Long/Nicholas Cage) and his father (Brett Cullen) were motorcycle stunt-men. They had been following and working in the carnival for years together, winning many awards for their stunts. Life was a one long adventure in one city after another; fiery hoops and glowing praise and  monotony. Then Johnny met Roxanne. She was the love of his life; there was no doubt.

The course of true love is rarely smooth: Roxy's father proclaimed that young motorcycle stuntman  wasn't good enough for his daughter and made plans to take her out of Johnny's life forever. But he didn't know his daughter's will. The couple made plans to elope and would have gone through with it... if something hadn't happened first.

Johnny discovers that his father, the invincible Barton Blaze, has cancer... in fact, is dying. Johnny realizes suddenly how much his father means to him and as he angrily works his grief out on his bike, he wishes with every ounce of his being that he could help his father.

With that wish, the devil shows up. Of course, Johnny doesn't realize that the middle-aged man using a cane is actually the man from hell, so when he offers to heal Barton Blaze using Johnny's soul as payment, Johnny agrees to the bargain. The next morning, Johnny's father is in perfect health. If it hadn't been for that, Johnny would have thought the last evening's proceedings a dream. A dream that turned into a nightmare: an accident that never should have happened; his father's still body; evil laughter filling the carnival tent. Hours later, Johnny meets the devil on the road and is told that nothing must come in between them and their contract: no family, no loved ones. He works for the devil now.

Just him, the devil... and a desire to die that is so strong it almost consumes him.

But little did either of them know... when someone gives up their soul for love instead of selfishness and greed, the curse becomes their power.

What I Liked:
1: The devil is shown to be almost as evil as he truly is. It makes the viewer realize that he is nothing to laugh at.
2: The acting was fairly well done.
3: Very little bad language.
4: There was some boy/girl stuff but they kept it clean. It was refreshing that way.
5: The legend/Sam Elliot. Nicely done... I enjoy both.
6: The humor. There are times that I actually snickered. “Call me old-fashioned, I'm funny that way. Human sacrifices make me uncomfortable.”
7: The score. I love the cowboy song and I really like how they use it with 'modern' music. The mix is great.
8: Some of the scary stuff was new to me. Kept me on my toes. :-)
9: The justice.

What I Didn't Like:
1: I kept getting the feeling like I wasn't getting all the details of the story.
2: There were a lot of 'givens'... several threads untied at the end of the film.
3: Some bad language.
4: Roxanne is under-dressed a couple of times. It does nothing to help the movie.
5: The way Johnny took care of two of the bad guys... I'm afraid I didn't quite catch the significance of his methods.
6: Theology was pretty bad. Lol. It was worse than Indiana Jones.

The reason I'm probably unfamiliar with Ghost Rider is due to the fact that I haven't read the comics or brushed up on my knowledge of legends. This film is definitely for people who know the story beforehand. If you're a Marvel comics fan, you'll probably love this movie. :-)

One of the funniest lines on this movie was when the woman is getting robbed and Johnny shows up, ablaze. Both she and her captor look at him for a long moment, then she grabs her purse and says, “Uh...thanks!”

Okay, you will have to watch it in order to find this amusing. :-)