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Master and Commander (A)

I was definitely worried that this movie was going to be a Russell Crowe vehicle to do his broody action hero thing. Which it was. But I have to say Crowe did a great job and the supporting cast was outstanding. Particularly the kid actors, I'm happy to report.

I love period pieces. You can tell that they really made huge efforts to maintain accuracy. The attention to detail is outstanding. I also really appreciated that it wasn't battle scenes interspersed with filler. It did give you the sense that being on the high seas was a lot of hard work, moments of good camaraderie, moments of dark tortuous hell, and eventually after a good long chase there would be some action.

Hadley complained that it was missing something. After thinking about that, I think it would have been even better if there were a few more scenes of the boys sharing 'war stories' which could have provided even more depth and intrigue.

I especially enjoyed it, being myself out at sea on an island in the South Pacific, at the mercy of the big weather - thinking about all the original settlers that arrived here by similar means.

Acting: A
Direction: A
Editing: A
Script: A
Cinematography: A
Soundtrack: A
Effects: A

Peter Pan (B+)

A really fun movie. We saw it with Emory, which was a real treat. He loved it. He was laughing all the way through and quoting scenes afterwards.

The kids were fine, they didn't ruin it, but I was always conscious that they were kids acting in a movie. The pirates, especially Captain Hook, stole the show. They were brilliant. And the real fun is the croc. Definitely captured the magic of Peter Pan in a vivid and authentic way.

Acting: B+
Direction: A
Editing: A
Script: A
Cinematography: B+
Soundtrack: B-
Effects: B+