Miscellaneous

My Grandma Reviews: "Vantage Point"

By jeremyblachman

"Don't ask me what the name of this movie was.  It just came into the theater two days ago.  About someone trying to assassinate the President, I don't know, I think I fell asleep.  I don't know why we saw this movie.  The title had two words."

"Vantage Point?"

"Yes.  That's it.  It was about an assassination attempt on the President, but, oh, thank god he survived.  I'm kidding.  No one watching this would care if he survived.  It's not a personal movie.  It's a very, uh, limited movie.  It's only about this one thing, nothing else happens.  It opens up where everyone is going to this summit meeting and someone tries to kill the President and that's it.  And they think he's dead but then they find him in a seat of a vehicle and he's alive.  I think I fell asleep, because it seemed like it was over in a minute.  And nothing happened.  But everyone else said nothing happened, so I don't even think I missed anything.  I'm glad you don't want to run for President.  People are always trying to kill the President.  You know, I think about this sometimes.  There's been so many assassination attempts on Presidents throughout history -- Lincoln, Kennedy, Reagan, and so many others -- but I wonder sometimes, and it's terrible to even think this, but I wonder why no one has tried to assassinate the current President.  His popularity is so low, and there are so many people -- I go to the senior center and everybody hates him, everybody talks about how terrible he is.  Of course, I don't think the people going to my senior center have the energy to kill the President.  But still, I wonder why there hasn't been an attempt on his life.  I mean, I'm glad there hasn't been, but you would think, with so many people so angry about his administration, there would be.  I really wonder why anyone would want to be President.  It's so dangerous, and everyone ends up disliking you, you have no privacy, and the money isn't even that good.  They don't get paid that much, they all have money from other things they've done.  But I think it's about wanting a legacy, wanting to be important, wanting to go down in history.  But it's too much.  It's more than one person needs to take on, at least for any normal, sensible person.  That's why I can't get too excited about anyone who runs for President.  I think there has to be something wrong with someone to want to be President, has to be something that's not getting fulfilled in their lives, some tremendous need for power or respect, or something.  But anyway, this movie didn't touch me at all.  It was just this one moment, over and over again, it didn't go anywhere at all.  But one thing I do have to say, they certainly know how to create havoc, people leaving the place, getting in their cars, the whole movie was that, just getting away from the crowd there, where they're having this.  The photography of the confusion on the roads, people trying to get away, that I have to admit was done very well.  I don't know how they film cars going one way, and other cars going the other way and people piling up on the highway.  The drivers they must get to film this thing.  They must be crazy drivers.  The whole movie seemed to be about cars going one way and the other way.  And it's something you marvel at, but then it gets boring.  And there was nothing else in the movie.  There was no other part of the plot.  I want to see something personal, something about a family, something where someone in a family does something so horrible that you can't help but be drawn in.  Now they just have these movies with chase scenes and I really couldn't care less.  I don't recommend you seeing it.  You should see something better than this.  We let [friend who picked Fool's Gold] pick the movie again.  That was a mistake.  Me and [other friend] should learn our lesson.  Next time, she is not picking the movie.  You remind me if I forget: don't let her pick the movie!"

Full post as published by Jeremy Blachman's Brand New Weblog on February 23, 2008 (boomark / email).