12 Angry Men

During the weekend, my family and I watched the movie ‘Inception’. It’s a clever movie that one reviewer called ‘The Matrix’ meets ‘Ocean Eleven.’ In fact, it’s very slick and entertaining. Despite its visual appeal and special effects, I still think the ‘Dark Knight’ is the better movie. Christopher Nolan is a director I am getting to really like due to his original vision for the Batman movies but also his movie like ‘The Prestige’ which I thoroughly enjoyed. Long ago, we watched this film together but my family did not particularly like it. But we all agree that ‘Inception’ is good movie – way above the usual fare. In fact, we think that it’s more intelligent and authentic than Matrix II and Matrix III which was more special effect driven.

We watched ‘Inception’ on Friday evening. I rushed home from the gym and ate dinner then rushed to the cinema. We barely made the 8 pm show. ‘Inception’ is one of the few movies that we watch at the movie house. Normally we borrow the DVDs or watch in the Internet when it’s available. We make exceptions if the story is good, made by a good director with exceptional special effects that warrant enjoyment in a big screen. Movies we watched in the cinema were: the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Harry Potter movies, James Bond series, Matrix, Star Trek and Avatar. All other movies we watched in the television via DVDs or in the computer.

Going back to ‘Inception’, the reviewer enjoyed more Angelie Jolie’s latest movie ‘Salt.’ According to him, ‘Salt’ is more enjoyable due to Jolie’s performance and the action and story is more or less straightforward. There were a lot of gaps in the plot but were overcome by the action sequences. On the other hand, the reviewer thinks that ‘Inception’ was over complicated being a story about a dream within a dream within a dream. I agree with the reviewer as I like Angelie Jolie and will wait for the movie in DVD.  She is the type of actress that people see mainly die to her presence. Nevertheless, ‘Inception’ is a great movie because it’s a ’thinking’ movie so I brought the kids for the enjoyment of it.

The next day, we watched the Saturday afternoon matinee of the play ’12 Angry Men.’ The play was staged by the Flatrock Playhouse – the national theater group of North Carolina. The play was staged in the old courthouse of Hendersonville, giving the play a rare authentic feel. It was great drama and is the first American theatrical production we saw. The play illustrates the American jury system, expertly played by an ensemble cast with great subtleties. This is more educational compared to the movie ‘Inception.’ My family again enjoyed the show and afterwards we attended church and ate dinner in a Chinese buffet. I like these short field trips to small towns in the Carolinas – visiting caves, watching ball games or plays.