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I have to start keeping track of what induces me to move a particular movie to the top of my Netflix queue. This time it was "Ain't Them Bodies Saints," which someone must have persuaded me was a must-see. It's not. This story of a man (Casey Affleck) who goes to prison for a crime his pregnant girlfriend (Rooney Mara) committed just didn't quite do it for me. I honestly don't know what the point of the movie was; it was so slow that I thought I must have missed something. I like Affleck well enough (although Andy had a terrible time understanding his quiet drawl), but there just wasn't much to keep us interested.

Yesterday the whole family went to see "Noah." I didn't know a thing about it (except of course that it was going to be a retelling of the biblical story of Noah's ark). A dat later and I still don't know what I thought about the movie! I'm glad I saw it, and it was interesting and exciting and thought-provoking, but it was also really strange—particularly "The Watchers," which did not feel even remotely biblical to me as portrayed, more sci-fi-ish. I mostly enjoyed the struggles of the various characters to follow their hearts and convictions. I'd be interested to hear what any of my readers thought of the movie. (Although if you're going to say you didn't like simply because it doesn't follow the story exactly as presented in Genesis, you can hold your breath. This isn't a documentary, after all, and the story in the Bible, even if you believe it is true, is very short and leaves room for plenty of details to be fleshed in. I'm all for filmmakers embellishing existing stories as they wish.)

Comments

[Wendy]

I am feeling terribly tempted to see "Noah" just because it has become the hair in the peanut butter sandwich of people I don't like. And that's pretty much good enough for me, even if it were a mediocre flick. Same reason I bought "The Satanic Verses" and watched . . . dang, what was it called? . . . that Willem Dafoe movie from eons ago that got the religious right all worked up into a froth?

[Steve]

I have not seen the movie but can totally see a link between biblical and sci-fi. Totally.

[Karen]

I guess what I meant is that some special effects in this movie seemed like they belong in a bible story and some didn’t (again, it was “The Watchers”).