Day 19 -- Prince of Persia

Released: May 28th, 2010

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley

Writer/Director: Boaz Yakin, Doug Miro and Carlo Bernard/Mike Newell

Description: A young fugitive prince and princess must stop a villain who unknowingly threatens to destroy the world with a special dagger that enables the magic sand inside to reverse time.

[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]

***

Most of the desert action-adventure period piece movie have started to blend together. "The Mummy" is a fantastic movie, but after that was "Mummy 2", "Scorpion King", and the meh, "Mummy 3". Even "Aladdian", despite being an animated movie followed the same sort of formula.

In Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time -- was the colon plus subtitle needed -- Jake Gyllenhaal plays Dastan, who was a peasant orphan that was adopted by the King of Persia. After a great victory, he is framed for the death of his father, and becomes a fugitive. Unbeknownst to him, he acquired the Sands of Time dagger, which can turn back time and only the holder of the dagger knows this has occurred.

The rest of the story is very shakespeareian in nature. The king's brother is the real assissian, and wants to use the dagger to go back to the moment he saved his brother from death as a child so that he can become king. It's a slight retelling of "Hamlet", and Kingsley even gives off a Scar from "The Lion King" vibe. Also, there's a character that resembles Jafar from "Aladdin" just in case you didn't know this movie was made by Disney.

Despite the Disney backing, this movie is honestly not bad. It's your standard sword-fighting action adventure, and Gyllenhaal doesn't look out of place. The only thing that bothered me was his accent because there were times -- probably near the beginning of filming -- where the accent sounds forced and rushed. I know the accent is needed because of the setting, but I would have rather had another British actor play the role.

Speaking of British actors, Gemma Arterton, had her Kelly Hu/Rachel Weisz breakout moment. Arterton is familiar to those that suffered through "Quantum of Solace", as Strawberry Fields. She is one in a recent wave of young British actresses including Emily Blunt and Carey Mulligan, who have come along in the past few years that are both beautiful and well-trained. I would keep an eye on her in the future.

This movie is the kind of stupid fun that movies like "The Mummy", "National Treasure" and "Transformers" have always made people pay to see in theaters. Everything is pretty solid, even though the writing does tend to dumb down some scenes, but that's to be expected with Disney. A very polished movies from start to finish that never had a moment where I regretted watching it.

Rating: 7/10 -- Fun action movie with Gyllenhaal for the girls, Arterton for the guys, and Sir Ben Kingsley for both. Great family flick that your kid will love, and you won't hate.

Movie Monday: Disaster Movies

I'm making an early return from my hiatus for a quick run down of my three favorite (not best) Disaster Movies, and a couple crazy underrated entries. Without further ado, in honor of Hurricane Irene:

3. Deep Impact (1998)

Maybe I have a thing for asteroids, or meteors, or space junk hitting the earth, but two of these three movies involve something from space possibly hitting the Earth and ending life as we know it. Deep Impact slides into the third spot because while it's still a terrible more, it takes itself much too seriously. It succeeds at times with emotional moments like the scene with the old couple succumbing to their fate as the tsunami rolls on to coast. It's the only story line that has legitimate closure. Unlike the awful  Elijah Wood and Leelee Sobieski ending with them running up a hill to safety with a baby.

Tagline sums it up best: Oceans Rise. Cities Fall. Hope Survives. (vomit)

Verdict: Good movie to watch if there's not much else on. Plus you get an over the top acting performance from Tea Leoni, which is almost as bad as Bad Boys.

2. The Day after Tomorrow (2004)

Great visuals. Good Acting. Emmy Rossum is actually tolerable in this role, and Jake Gyllenhaall is as dreamy as every. I love the science talk in this movie, I don't know if it's true or not, but they make it sound good.

Verdict: If you are worried about global warming, don't watch this movie. If you're worried about people thinking you have a thing for Jake Gyllenhall, then tell 'em you watch for Dennis Quaid Emmy Rossum.

1. Armageddon (1998)

Bruce Willis. Billy Bob Thornton. Steve Buscemi riding a nuclear war head. Some guy who won an Oscar with Matt Damon. If you haven't seen this movie, you are a communist.

Verdict: Rent this masterpiece movie yesterday. Great campy fun, and it doesn't take it self seriously at all. You will not stop once you start.'

Underrated: Miracle Mile and The Night of the Comet

If you haven't seen Miracle Mile, check it out because the story is sorta interesting but it's so 80's fantastic that it doesn't matter. It stars Dr. Mark Greene Anthony Edwards, and that other chick from St. Elmo's Fire. An it's about nukes and maybe commies, I'm not sure but it's worth at least one viewing if you enjoy 80's "films".

Night of the Comet is just pure, unadulterated insanity. I'm not sure if you could classify it a disaster movie, but I don't care. I've seen this movie dozens of time, but I still don't know how the movie got produced. My only guess is that it was made in the 80's and apparently people would see anything in the 80's.

Must Watch Actresses Update: Sophia Bush sits at No. 4 now because of my Hurricane Irene viewing of One Tree Hill Season 3 and Van Wilder. Great raspy voice (I think you guys have figured out my type). If you want to see an actress put in top level work while dealing with a personal problem (with her TV boyfriend and real-life Ex-husband), watch OTH Season 3. The girl pull some serious raw emotions out during the season finale. She should get more recognition than she does. I will watch anything with her in it, including that awful remake of the Hitcher.