Tag: Matt Damon

Movie Round-Up: October 22nd, 2010

Reviews

Paranormal Hereafter ActivityHereafter: (official site)

For about the last decade, Clint Eastwood has been knocking them out of the park as a director.  Sure, he has some great films from before that too, but the last ten years have just been great.  Matt Damon’s decade hasn’t been too shabby either.  Those two elements had me interested in the film… then I watched the trailer.  A reluctant psychic, a woman with a near death experience and a boy who lost his twin brother.  I’m very interested in how their stories intertwine, what the lynch pin is going to be.  This is a must see film for me.

Paranormal Activity 2: (official site)

I saw the original with absolutely no knowledge of the film going in, and that was probably the best way to see it.  If you know too much about it, most of the film is ruined.  It is a slow burning build up with a few tense or eerie moments building to a chaotic and partly ambiguous end.  You have to be willing to get swept into the story.  So with that experience in mind, I had avoided all mention of this film.  I wanted to see it with no expectations.  And I did… and it was good.  Once again, if you are interested in this movie, don’t watch the trailer, don’t read any reviews that actually talk about the film, just go see it.  See it and just let go, relax and watch the movie unfold.  Had I not seen it for free, and having enjoyed the first one so much, I’d easily have paid full price for this.  And I might, since the wife was sick and couldn’t go to the screening.

Movie Round-Up: December 11th, 2009

Reviews

The Princess and the Frog:

Pass.  I mean, the trailer for this didn’t exactly excite me.  It is more for kids, more for girls I think, and I just didn’t really seem to care for much of what I saw.  Maybe I’ll see it on DVD or something eventually.

Invictus:

I was completely unaware of Nelson Mandela’s attempt to utilize the South African Rugby team to unify his country behind a common love.  Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon are both incredible, and not knowing how things turned out made the sports parts exciting.  Thumbs up.

Me and Orson Welles:

Not a wide opening, but since I did see a screening I wanted to mention it.  Set during Orson Welles’ production of Julius Caesar at the Mercury Theater, Zac Efron plays Richard Samuels, a high school kid who dreams of acting, who runs to the city and talks his way into a small but important roll in Welles’ production.  Welles, played fantastically by Christian McKay, runs roughshod over his company to get the vision he wants.  Richard falls for Sonja Jones, played by Claire Danes, a production assistant, but she has her eyes on a future career in theater and movies.  There isn’t a lot of action here, but there is a lot of heart and humor.  However, the real reason to see this film is to see McKay playing Welles.  Completely worth the price of admission if you are in to that sort of thing.

Movie Round-Up: September 18th, 2009

Reviews

Love Happens:

So I’m looking at the list of this week’s releases and I say to myself, “What is Love Happens?”  I hadn’t heard of it. No commercials, no previews. And it’s not like it is some low budget thing starring no names. Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart are in there.  Anyway, it looks like a nice romantic comedy drama thing. I’ll probably see it, but maybe not at the theater.

Jennifer’s Body:

I love horror films, and I dig Diablo Cody’s writing style, so I want to see this. But it does have Megan Fox in it, who I think is one of the worst actors in the biz today who gets parts purely on her looks, and I’m on the fence.  Sorry Diablo, I’ll probably be waiting for DVD on this one.

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs:

This movie looks like a lot of fun for the whole family.  But not being a Pixar film means I won’t be rushing to see it.  DVD.

The Informant!:

I got to see this film at a free screening.  It is… interesting.  More a character study than an actual story, it stars Matt Damon as Mark Whitacre, an executive at ADM in the early 90’s who blows the whistle on lysine price fixing.  But its not about the price fixing as much as it is how Mark goes about the whistle blowing.  It turns out that he’s bipolar and an embezzler and a fairly compulsive lier.  The unfolding of his actions and deeds and the performance by Damon is the reason to see this film.  It is, as I said, interesting, but not a particularly good film.  You won’t be on the edge of your seat, you won’t be howling with laughter, but you’ll be raising an eyebrow and snickering as you watch the whole situation spiral out of control.  I’m not sure I’d want to pay full price for this, but its definitely worth a DVD rental, or even a matinee if you are into this sort of film.