A tale of three movies

Stealth...This one was a free rental from Blockbuster, so I can at least be glad I didn't pay for it, although it stole two hours from my life which I will never get back. I suppose I shouldn't be that hard on it, since it is not like I was expecting "Citizen Kane" or something. It had the required quotient of fancy flying and explosions, but the movie's "happy ending" was somewhat ruined by the fact that the United States had apparently just started a war with Russia and North Korea and released an enormous cloud of radioactive gas into Pakistan. But hey, at least the leading man got his woman!

Fantastic Four...Another movie in which the fact that it was free helped make up for the fact that it half-sucked. Let me be more precise: the first half of this movie was terrible, and the second half, when we finally get to see some CGI-rich superheroism was rather entertaining, in a fast food candy kind of way.

Narnia...Finally, a winner. This movie was wonderful, and I am truly glad I opened my mind enough to go see it. I was put off by the expected "Christian" aspect of the movie and the fact that it was being touted as such, but while some may wish to take such an interpretation from the film, it is not required. Or to put it another way, if "Narnia" is a Christian movie because a lead character is resurrected from death and returns to fight the good fight, then "The Matrix" is a Christian film as well, since Neo returns to life! Forget any of that -- Narnia is a wonderful, entertaining story with beautiful effects, amazing magic and characterization, and is just an amazingly well-spun tale. There are so many memorable moments and scenes, and it is one of the best movies I have seen this past year.