Movie Monday - Tuesday Two-fer

Last night, about 20 minutes after Christopher and I got back from a movie, I was settling in and getting ready to write a nice Movie Monday blog post, and then... well... the power went out. This would have been no problem if I had plugged in my computer to charge before we left. But, as you've probably guessed, I hadn't. So now it's Movie Monday on a Tuesday. And before anything goes wonky tonight, I'll cut to the chase:

First, the movie from last night: "Prometheus." It's sort of a prequel (but not really) to the "Alien" movies. Which means that, when I said to the guy at the concession stand that I was looking forward to a good romantic-comedy, he got really nervous for a few moments.

The movie was kind of fun, and visually cool (although... bloody and gory in ways I could have lived without - especially in 3D), but also oddly boring at moments, and never really seemed to get its feet under it. I mean... It started out well enough, but it left holes everywhere it went. (And I don't just mean holes of the "an alien just blew out of my abdomen" variety.)

Overall rating: C. It has a really good pedigree, and it's just really sad that it didn't live up to it.

The second half of the "Two-fer" is from last week. It was also a visually stunning movie, with plenty of room for interpretation, but definitely nothing like the first. Last week, I saw "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel."

This is a movie about a group of British pensioners who are enticed (for various reasons) into trying out a retirement home in Jaipur, India. The only problem is that, when they get there, they find that the brochures had been photoshopped, and that nothing is quite as it seemed.

It's the kind of movie that really only gets made by the British. After all, it was a travel movie, as well as being a bit of a romantic-comedy, starring >gasp< people over the age of 25. Which, of course, means that I spent half the movie marvelling at Judi Dench and Maggie Smith and Celia Wilton and Penelope Wilton (and the menfolk - Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, and Ronald Pickup - but we all kind of expect men to age and still be in movies, so I didn't really focus as much on them). Dev Patel (you'd remember him from "Slumdog Millionaire" if you saw him) and the stunning Tena Desae play the youthful counterpoints as the owner of the Hotel and his girfriend.

But the movie is as much about the transformative power of travel, and change, and new experiences, as it is about any of the individuals. There is romance in each generation, as well hardship and understanding. There are amazing moments where the cultural divides are crossed (with and without words), and - although I really don't have any desire to go to India - I found myself watching the movie and dreaming of travel.

Faraway travel.

Travel with no strings attached and all of the possibilities that go with it.

Me, Christopher, the pup (well, maybe?), and the world at our feet.

While I watched "Prometheus" and thought "Wow, that looks like an interesting place to go," I never found myself thinking "I should go explore some place I've never been." But, when I watched "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" I not only wanted to travel somewhere new and interesting, I also felt like - if I went there - I'd already know something about it and that it would be easy for me to enjoy.

I also, somehow, felt like I might know more about myself by watching that movie. And that, as they say, is priceless.

Overall rating: A+. If there is any way that there could ever be a sequel, I'd give it another +, just because.