Movie #397 - The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
2003 - Rated PG-13 - 1 hr 50 min
Director: Stephen Norrington
Starring: Sean Connery, Naseeruddin Shah, Peta Wilson, Tony Curran, Stuart Townsend, Shane West, Jason Flemyng, Richard Roxburgh, Max Ryan

One of the first in a wave of Alan Moore comics to go to the movies, this one's not the best of the bunch.  It's not awful, but it does get a bit campy at times.  Ooh.... all these characters from fiction fight crime together!

But honestly, why is Tom Sawyer fighting crime?

United by Connery's Alan Quartermaine, the troupe is formidable... but also a bit twisted.  Deception and betrayal runs amok and soon, it all falls apart.

As adventure movies go, there's much that's pleasing to the eye and much to rev up that adrenaline level.  As plots go.... meh.  Connery's the best thing about this one, if you ask me.

Movie #381- From Hell

From Hell
2001 - Rated R - 2 hr 2 min
Directors: Albert & Allen Hughes
Starring: Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, Ian Holm, Robbie Coltrane, Ian Richardson, Jason Flemyng

More Johnny Depp!  (And more deleted posts that I have to rewrite and try to make sound good again. argh!)

Based on the Alan Moore graphic novel of the same name, this one's set with the Jack the Ripper story as its backdrop.  Really, it centers on a broken investigator who needs the case to really prove to himself he's worth something.  Enter Heather Graham as Mary Kelly, the prostitute most famously known for being the Ripper's final -- and goriest -- murder.  Hooray.  Of course, she's cooperating with Depp and they fall for each other. Of course. 

Leave it to Moore to turn a grim, gruesome bit of history into a love story.

Still, it's very, very good... just not necessarily accurate.  They blame the Freemasons --- or rather, a Freemason -- and I'm sure that doesn't help their reputation much. Don't believe it though, because Freemasons didn't kill prostitutes, guys. That's just nuts.