Inkheart and Underworld

Recently, I have seen two fantasy movies at the theater. Last weekend when I was visiting P in West Hollywood, we decided to see Inkheart at Grauman's Chinese Theater. I have read the children's book Inkheart the first book in the Inkheart Trilogy (Inkheart, Inkspell and Inkdeath)by Corniela Funke. Corniela Funke was voted by Time Magazine to be one of the top 100 most influential people in 2006. Although she now lives in LA with her family she is originally from Germany and worked as an illustrator and social worker before crafting notable children's books such as the Theiflord and the Inkheart Triology. Inkheart the movie was fairly faithful to the book. Brandon Frazier was as darling as ever as Silver Tongue Mo and Helen Mirren did an excellent job as the amti-social bookwork Aunt Elinor. And the panoramic cinematography was breathtaking. Overall, I enjoyed the film. However, I suspect it will soon be on DVD because the historic theater was virtually empty.
A brief mention of Grauman's. I love old theaters and Grauman's is a prime example of the glory days that pre-stadium seating multiplexes theaters enjoyed. In my opinion, movies are always just a bit better in these theaters. They hearken back to times when going to the theater was a social event that people actually got dressed up for. I remember my first movie theater experience. I was four years old, wearing a dress and new shoes that pinched my feet. We saw Gone With the Wind at the State Theater in Idabel. My family had just moved to Oklahoma and we were living in Millerton with my aunt. My mom and aunt scrubbed the kids, left the husbands and home and made the twenty mile journey into Idabel for the event that was memorable enough for a four year old to retain--I am sure that the pinching shoes had somehow enhanced the memory.
Gruaman's is a splendid theater with intricately carved walls and ceilings. The red and gold decor made me wish I was wearing something more sophisticated than my jeans and sweatshirt. But alas those times have come to an end unless of course you are invited to a premier.
On Friday I texted J to see if he would like to see Underworld: The Rise of the Lycans. I got back an incredulous text checking to see if I was serious and still in possession of being me. I stopped for a second to ask what kind of image I exude? Obviously, one that wouldn't think of watching Underworld. I must work on my image, I think.
I must admit Underworld would probably have never hit my radar, except for the fact that I have a tendency to watch movies the Karmic Way. What this means is that I rarely check show times to see movies. I like to just show up at movie theaters and what ever is on that is within my waiting time range--about 15 seconds--I see. Underworld just happened to be one such film. Rise of the Lycans was not quite what I expected. It is actually a prequel of the other films--so no Kate Beckinsale until the last 10 seconds at the end. It was action packed, darkly filmed and set in the deep dark days of Eastern Europe. The English actress Rhona Mitra plays an excellent Sonja and looks enough like Kate Beckensale to see why Victor would have saved her when he killed the rest of her family because she reminded him of his precious daughter Sonja. Rise of the Lycans is a Romeo and Juliette-esque story of forbidden love. If you have seen and enjoyed the other films, you will this one as well. If you haven't seen them, this one is a good place to start.