Golden Compasses, Golden Ages, and a Time Machine

In twenty four hours, I came across three movies that are really, really exciting:

The Golden Compass (trailer) is a new film that is due to premiere on December 7. Based on the Philip Pullman novel and produced by New Line (the Lord of the Rings production company), this is apt to be a fantastic fantasy epic.

The book is truly wonderful, the story of a young girl in a world similar to late 19th century Europe, but quite different as well with kingdoms of bears, steampunk-style flying machines, witches, and animal familiars. The book itself is one of those that you simply cannot put down, with intrigue and action (not cheesy action either - nifty, interpersonal action) around every bend. And did I mention that there's a healthy dose of steampunk in this??

Also, the cast seems spectacular: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig (Bond), and Eva Green (best witch ever).

If you want to talk about amazing casts, though, nothing can really top Elizabeth - The Golden Age (trailer). It is the sequel to the 1990's Elizabeth, which was a great film itself. The sequel has brought back a critical mass of the old cast, with Geoffrey Rush (Captain Barbossa of Pirates infamy) and most importantly Cate Blanchett (Galadriel from LotR), probably the greatest actress of the first decade of this century, as Queen Elizabeth. Oh, and Clive Owen (think the stunning Children of Men)is in this too.

The first film was the story of the Virgin Queen's rise to power; this film is the story of the first few years of her shaky rule, and her various conflicts with Spain (ahem...the Armada and all). From what I can tell, we have a Cate-cum-Queen who has found her inner strength to rule, but has to deal with a lot of shit hitting the fan at once and as a result has some degree of melancholy and drama with Clive Owen (who should be Francis Drake, not bloody Walter Raleigh).

Check out the videos on the film's website - they show just how awesome Cate Blanchett is.

Even better, Elizabeth - The Golden Age comes out October 12.

Lastly, an old film: the 1960 production of The Time Machine (trailer). I caught this on television last night, and could not stop watching. No actors of note here, but the adaption of the HG Wells novel is the primary draw.

While it is faithful to many aspects of the book, it updates the plot to accommodate 1960 realities: the time traveler first visits 1917, then 1944, the years of the two great wars of the 20th century. This Time Traveler is forlorn about humanity, about how it is constantly warring, and using science to find new ways of killing men faster and more efficiently. So he also visits 1966 (the "future" at the time), and just barely escapes the nuclear annihilation of London. (Later on, the air-raid sirens used in 20th century London come back to have importance to the 802nd century eloi and morlocks.)

What 1960's culture thought its future would be is fascinating in and of itself. But this film raises some issues about war and time and life and death that are still relevant today, and would be relevant to generations of men both past and future. Well worth watching, as long as you can get over the cheesy-by-today's-standards morlock costumes.