The Movie Snob gets wet.
Noah (B+). If you are of a certain age, perhaps you too remember a movie from your childhood called In Search of Noah’s Ark, which rather sensationally depicted some guy’s story that he had stumbled across the remains of a giant wooden ship in the high snowy reaches of Mount Ararat. I guess he had trouble re-finding the exact spot, because I never heard about any subsequent expedition triumphantly sledding it down the mountain. Anyway, that movie made a big impression on me, and so I was looking forward to seeing this new movie from Darren Aronofsky, director of Black Swan, among others. I thought it was a very interesting take on the story, and pretty exciting considering that we know how it all comes out in the end. Russell Crowe (Les Miserables) makes a good Noah, a man consumed with disgust for mankind’s wickedness and with the desire to know and do the will of the Creator. Jennifer Connelly (Inkheart) plays his long-suffering wife, and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson, This Is the End) plays the grown-up version of a waif adopted by the Noah family in the pre-ark years. Oh, and good old Anthony Hopkins (Thor: The Dark World) turns up as Noah’s grandfather Methusaleh. The movie is rated PG-13 for violence, disturbing images, and brief suggestive content, so don’t take the little ones. And don’t expect complete fidelity to Genesis 6-9. That said, I was quite entertained and intrigued by the film. For a Catholic priest’s review of the film, click here.