Good times. Let’s go back to my guess earlier last month:
I was going to pick Troy for my third movie for May that I’m really looking forward to… But c’mon… Vampire movies that I actually enjoy are few and far between (Underworld was one of the few I really enjoyed). I’m not a big vampire movie guy at all, but if Van Helsing is half as good as Underworld, I’ll be happy. Besides, Troy is the kind of movie that could be really good (inspirational, great fighting, like LOTR) or just a run of the mill Braveheart wannabe cashing in on a testosterone-induced need to see heads get chopped off.
Overall? The movie was very, very good. I know it’s gotten really bad ratings, but I honestly believe that’s because the critics, and likely many audience members, are approaching it in the wrong way.
It’s not a horror. It’s not a thriller. It’s… It’s an action comedy.
I was there with Ryan and a coworker. Awesome couple of guys. We had a lot of laughs before the show (and, sadly, during). For instance, Ryan let me in on a bit of insight he had (damn, told him I wouldn’t steal this): people are generally strong in a few things and weak in others. I told him my strength was business and IT. My weakness? Ballet. I suck at ballet. See? It evens out!
Anyways, Ryan was saying that it’s more like Indiana Jones than a typical action movie and he’s right. It didn’t take itself seriously at all. In fact, it reminded me a lot of a Simpsons episode. A lot of 1-liners and cultural and movie jokes. It wasn’t just poking fun at itself, it was poking fun at horror, thriller and blockbuster movies.
A lot like Shrek in that way I guess.
The movie was good, though, because I learned something. Apparently vampire chicks get naked when they go into vampire form. That’s interesting, but what’s really interesting is that they have no nipples! I’m fairly sure this is because no vampire mom in their right mind would breastfeed (I mean c’mon, Junior’s teeth are 8″ long!!!)!
A really good, fun, cheesy movie.
If you don’t mind loads of silly occult stuff, don’t mind naked nipple-less vampires and can appreciate what is essentially a comedy, you might just really enjoy this movie.
Otherwise? Take up ballet.
May 8th, 2004 at 1:00 am
Jeremy, Jeremy, Jeremy…. you got my theory wrong (and I said you could borrow it).
My theory was, that people who live parts of teir lives on the leading edge (e.g. IT) usually have other areas where they were on the trailing edge (e.g. I didn’t get a CD player until 1997, or a DVD player until January of this year). My theory is that the leading edges are usually balanced by the trailing edges.
VERY fun evening… can’t wait for the next flick to dissect.
–Ryan.
May 8th, 2004 at 2:41 am
Jeremy, you are going to get a lot of really strange searches finding your blog based on the keywords in today’s post. You do realize that!
May 12th, 2004 at 8:11 pm
word
August 23rd, 2004 at 6:58 pm
[...] re near rocking my socks off. Van Helsing: I was looking forward to a good Vampire movie. And I got it. Not a typical Vamp movie, but one that didn’t take itself seri [...]