Outlander

Not to be confused with the 1981 classic with Sean Connery "Outland", this story takes place a few thousand years earlier. In fact, this story takes place in what is now Norway in 700 and change A.D. Basically a group of Vikings meets a guy from the future who crash-lands his ship on earth with a stowaway in the form of a bio-luminescent dragon.

James Caviezel plays the uber-tough ET. John Hurt and Ron Perlman play warring kings and are totally convincing. Well done guys. Jack Huston plays a king wannabe and romantic competition for the space traveler. Sophia Myles is that love interest and tougher than nails daughter of the reigning king. See the story developing?

There is a thin spot in the plot that is never really cleared up, but it does not really matter. Why was this space traveler transporting the bodies of his dead family someone other than where he lived, and what caused his ship to crash? Did the stowaway cause the damage that lead to the crash? Perhaps, but that is never made clear.

With an R-rating for violence and some gore, this movie could easily have been PG-13. I'm guessing some lobbying was done to get the R-rating in the hopes of more ticket sales.

Watch this movie with someone who likes dragon movies.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

This is a pretty good monster movie. Some monsters win and other lose. The good guys are not totally good and the bad guys are not totally without merit. I like that. As super hero movies go, this was not quite up to par, but Hellboy is not really a super hero. He is more of outlaw hero, somewhere on the lines of Hancock of late.

Ron Perlman is a lot of fun to watch and listen to. The rest of the cast is fun, but one can't help make comparisons with"Fishstick" and C3PO of Star Wars fame for instance.

And I always appreciate an unexpected ending which leaves room for yet another sequel. No spoilers here, but I really didn't see the scripted ending coming. And by that I don't mean the final fight scene. That is totally predictable, but its the last 30 seconds of the movie that surprised me.

Watch this movie with someone who will not go all oogey on you when the flesh-eating tooth fairies show up.