Confessions of a Liberal Puritan

So I went to the theater to see "Lincoln" this afternoon (Excellent! And more engaging and human than I'd expected) and then stayed to see "Oz the Great and Powerful", which I ended up enjoying more than I'd thought I would, given the very "Meh!" review I'd heard on NPR this morning.

"Oz", is a good, visually rich and affecting Sam Raimi movie with some gently quirky humor (in fact, I couldn't help likening it in tone to a MUCH kinder and gentler "Army of Darkness", at times), but I agree with the NPR reviewer I heard this morning about James Franco's performance as the central character being just not up to carrying the weight that this movie places on his shoulders.

( If only Bruce Campbell was still young enough to play this role...! (no spoilers) )

Apart from that one caveat (that it feels to me as though James was trying to fill Bruce's shoes and coming up short too often), I did enjoy seeing "Oz" and I give it an overall positive recommendation (worth seeing for matinee prices, but maybe not for a full price ticket).