Roger Ebert: National Treasure: Book of Secrets

C'mon! What's not to like? They are like The Da Vinci Code without all those annoying French accents.

Of course, The Da Vinci Code was like Foucault's Pendulum without any real intelligence required.

spin or blowback I'm more than willing to suspend reality for a few dollars and some movie entertainment that seems a lot longer in coming this year.

Thanks for the seed Brian.

They are not the Dead Poets Society.

To be honest, I found the stunts and special effects in Dead Poets Society to be pretty unbelievable, too.

jmack02: This is not lost on Ebert. From his review of "Live Free or Die Hard:"

It's been said by our friends, and by our foes: Movies plus cars equals America. Well, car stunts plus a star like Bruce Willis equals a good action movie. A scene like the one in "Live Free or Die Hard" lets crazy-gifted stunt drivers bend the laws of physics, geometry and adrenaline to create a moviegoer's contact high. And since it seems to be achieved with a minimum of computer legerdemain and a maximum of ingenious skill, the scene triggers the satisfyingly old-fashioned vibe audiences used to get from action-movie entertainment they believed people had risked their lives to provide.

…

In the middle of a summer season already exhausted with sequels depending too much on visual effects, here's a throwback to remind you what American movies can do best. Enough of the ghost pirates and silver surfers! Up with cool stunts and car crashes! Real action films may be the wave of the past but, as this one splendidly shows, they'll live free before they die hard.

There's nothing wrong good 'ole plain fun explosions, car chases, and guns-a-blazin' action movies. They're pure entertainment. Of course, having a bit of a plotline doesn't hurt even action films. I think that a certain amount of suspension of logic and physics is assumed going into any action film. However, it seems the "National Treasure" series pushes this just a bit too far.

The main reason I don't watch action films anymore is that the characters and situations have become more comic book

Absolutely nothing wrong with comic books, dude.

True that EPH. I enjoy a dumb movie from time to time.

This one has 'hungover Sunday, On-Demand' written all over it...

The Franklin Scale of 1 to 10. Tenbeingbest ! LOL memories!

Yeah, I thought RT was just a critic aggregator site (like Metacritic, which I prefer because it has different types of media). What's a bit funny is that as of typing this, Roger Ebert is the "Spotlight" section on RT's site. I suggest everyone read that interview. The guy is great.

i wasnt clear and was just making the point even stinkers can be fun.. but on RT, they have "user" ratings as well.. I find the "user" ratings to be more helpful..
many sites do this liek gamespot.. i find the "user" ratings there to be more accurate of what i can expect to experience.
I ignore the professional reviews, agrigated or not.

There are no "user" reviews on RT. All reviewers are accredited, although they do separate out the "cream of the crop" into a sub-set of the rankings for each movie. (Cream of the crop being the mainstream reviewers: Ebert, NY Times, etc.)

From the RT website:

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I like the aggregated reviews on RT, and how they determine if each review was "fresh" or "rotten". The Tomatometer is simply the percentage of "fresh" reviews out of the total number of reviews. It's usually a pretty good gauge. For example, a movie with 10% or less fresh reviews is almost always guaranteed to be a stinker. Likewise, 90% and above there's a very good chance it'll be worth watching. I find anything in the 30-70% range is where I have to read several reviews to get a truer feel for why certain critics liked or disliked a movie. These are usually the movies that either you're interested in them or no, and that should be your motivation for seeing/not seeing the movie.

Metacritic, however, does have user ratings.

The movie was good, it was not as great as the first movie. There were few too many clues and portions were less plausable. My 13 year old liked it and I am glad that I saw it on the big screen...

Idolatry is the religious worship of idols, or excessive or blind adoration, reverence, devotion, etc.

How does a statue of Abraham Lincoln equal idolatry? Do folks worship it? Should we not have statues commemorating anyone at all?

Has the whole world gone mad?

How does a statue of Abraham Lincoln equal idolatry?

Obviously you have not yet sacrificed a donkey or an elephant on the steps of the memorial and spent cold nights scantily clad on the mall twisting and swaying to banjo music while the spire of the Washington monument aligned with the north star.

How did you get your citizenship?

How did you get your citizenship?

:) I was born here. Guess I missed the sacrifice and dead president worship. Will someone remind me the next time it happens? I want to make sure I ask off work the next day -- gonna be a big night. :)