Tag: movie

Movie Round-Up: July 16th, 2010

Reviews

Standing Ovation:

If you like those Disney movies about singing kids, you’ll probably like this too, and so will most kids. Of the three opening films this weekend, this is the best one for families.  Not really my cup of tea, though it is highly likely I will see this some day after it shows up on Netflix.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice:

I am a sucker for magic and fantasy.  And despite him being quite awful in a number of films, I always find myself wanting to like anything that Nicolas Cage is in.  The special effects look great, and the trailer has me hooked, and even Mr. Cage appears to not be awful.  If I go to the theater this weekend, it’ll be either to catch up on an older film I missed (damn you free passes that excluded the first couple weeks of release!) or it’ll be to see this movie.

Inception:

But really, the only reason The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is at the top of my list is because I’ve already seen Inception.  I’m going to try do describe this movie without spoiling it.  Have you seen the movie Dreamscape from 1984?  In that film, specially gifted people could enter the dreams of others and try to help them defeat their nightmares.  How about The Cell from 2000?  Here, a woman who enters dreams to help people takes on the task of going into a comatose serial killer to locate his final victim before they die.  Inception has its roots in the same ground.  The mind and dreams are important.  In this case, Leonardo DiCaprio as Cobb leads a group of people who are thieves.  They call it extraction.  They enter the mind of a dreamer and get at the secrets he holds.  But they are hired to do something different this time, to plant a new idea into a target’s mind.  The movie is almost two and a half hours long and I’ve just described the first, maybe, twenty minutes, in broad strokes leaving out the juicy details, and that’s all I can really say.  That’s all I want to say, because you must see this movie.  I can’t even tell you why you should see it without spoiling the film.  Visually, the movie is stunning.  It is fabulously paced, and there isn’t a single bad performance by any actor, though in my opinion Joseph Gordon-Levitt came out on top.  Totally worth your hard earned ticket money this weekend.

Movie Round-Up: July 9th, 2010

Reviews

Predators:

I loved the original film.  I loved the sequel.  I even liked the two AvP movies despite their flaws.  This movie just looks like a lot of fun.  I like most of the actors, and Robert Rodriguez and even Nimród Antal.  I’ve already made plans to go see this with a bunch of friends, which is exactly how you should see a movie like this.  I have hopes that this movie will be great, but even if it sucks it will still end up being pretty good, if you know what I mean.

Despicable Me:

I managed to get a pass to a free screening of this movie.  I took the wife and a couple of friends, and we all loved it.  It was fun.  It was heart warming in all the right places.  It had kid humor.  It had jokes for the adults (and better yet, the jokes were subtle enough that your kids won’t be scratching their heads because they don’t get it because they probably won’t even notice them).  But hands down, the minions stole the show.  Those little yellow guys make this movie totally worth the price of admission.  This movie is available in 3D, and we saw it in 3D, but I’d say the 3D isn’t required.  Only a handful of scenes really benefit from it and none of them would hurt if it was gone.  Well, okay, there is one part that is worth the 3D.  When the movie ends, stay, as there are a few scenes sprinkled through the credits, and they abuse the hell out of the 3D.

Movie Round-Up: June 18th, 2010

Reviews

Toy Story 3:

It’s Pixar.  The closest thing they’ve come to making a bad movie, in my opinion, was Cars, and even that wasn’t so bad.  The first two Toy Story movies were awesome, and I expect no less from this third installment.  Seeing this in the theater would be a pretty safe bet, especially if you have kids.  I’m going to try, but other plans may prevail.

Jonah Hex:

I managed to see a screening of this movie and I’m glad I did.  It wasn’t horrible, but when I left the theater the thing foremost on my mind was all the potential they wasted.  I had a similar feeling after seeing Ghost Rider, which is the comic book movie I would most liken Jonah Hex to.  There were some scenes I enjoyed, but overall the film was… underwhelming.  On top of the film being a moderately entertaining squandering of potential for a good story, you get Megan Fox.  I’ve read so many people saying she is very talented and that she just needs the right material to showcase it.  If that is true, then I submit that she needs to find someone else to pick her material, because she keeps making films that are clearly unable to showcase the talent she supposedly has.  In this film she continues her career of passionless dialog delivery, inability to do accents, and blankly staring into the camera in a way that apparently turns on sections of the male population who prefer that a woman have nothing going on in her head and just look pretty.  For me, it’s the vacant stare that ruins her beauty.  I generally want to give people the benefit of the doubt, but after enough performances like this I’m going to have to assume that the people who say she has acting talent are full of shit and performances like this are all we are going to get out of Megan Fox.  All in all, I’d have to say… wait for rental.

Movie Round-Up: June 11th, 2010

Reviews

The Karate Kid:

I’m not a big fan of remakes.  That said, I don’t mind when someone takes an old story and changes it up a bit, because, you know, that’s sort of what all stories are since the dawn of time.  Everything can be boiled down to “it’s a love story” or something similar, the important part is where the story goes, the details.  The trailers look decent enough, and having recently watched the original I can say I’m glad someone is remaking this to get the themes of the film out there to a new audience, because honestly no kid today would enjoy watching the original.  The hair alone!  Oh, the humanity!  I’ll probably see this on DVD because there is only one movie I will see this weekend and it is…

The A-Team:

I’ve probably watched the trailer to this film a few dozen times.  I’ve seen all the old shows, in fact I’ve watched all five seasons through Netflix Instant in the last year.  I hum the theme song whenever I make a plan because “I love it when a plan comes together.”  I was excited for Iron Man 2, but this is the film I’ve been dying to see.  As long as the trailer is indicative of the whole, it looks like they’ve captured the spirit of the show extremely well.  The action, the comedy, everything.  So, yeah, I’ll be seeing this one this weekend.

Saturday Cinema: THEM!

Random Thoughts

Saturday Cinema will be, every Saturday that I’m able, me picking a movie available for streaming on Netflix, watching it, then talking about it in the comments.  Won’t you join me?

This week I’m going all the way back to 1954 for THEM!

The inhabitants of a small Southwestern town feel the fallout when radiation from bomb tests creates giant, mutant ants that descend on their community. Facing human extermination, a team of scientists scrambles to figure out how to stop “them.” Filled with creepy creatures large and small, this 1954 sci-fi spectacular is one of the most influential horror films of all time — and also captures America’s mood at the dawn of the Atomic Age.

Movie Round-Up: May 14th, 2010

Reviews

Just Wright:

This actually looks pretty decent, and I’m a fan of Queen Latifah, but I’m always hesitant to pay full price for a romance film on the big screen.  Movies like this are just generally better sitting at home cuddled up on the couch with a girlfriend or wife.  I’m certain I’ll see this at some point, just not this weekend.

Robin Hood:

This story has been made into a movie so many times that you’d think I would be tired of it.  And yet, every one seems to find something new to bring to adds a little life to the tale.  Certainly this one looks action packed, and I like most of the cast.  However, the reviews around the Internet seem to indicate that this is barely a tale of Robin Hood and more a tale of the Magna Carta and the events that surround it.  This news both saddens and intrigues me.  If I can find the time and a few spare dollars, I might make my way to see this at an early show this weekend.  If not, I’ll catch it on Netflix for sure.

Letters to Juliet:

As previously established, I’m a sucker for romantic comedies.  I got to see a screening of this film a few weeks ago, and I really enjoyed it.  Amanda Seyfried puts in a much better performance here than she did in Dear John.  Here I actually believe her and that she is falling in love, whereas there she seemed wooden and unsympathetic.  Plus, here you get Vanessa Redgrave too, who does a fantastic job.  And the whole movie makes me want to visit Italy.  Anyway, completely worth seeing if you like to catch your rom-coms on the big screen.  Had I not gotten to see it for free, I’d probably have waited for DVD, but since I did get to see it for free, it was great to see with a full house and a crowd willing to laugh out loud.

Movie Round-Up: April 30th, 2010

Reviews

Furry Vengeance:

I have to admit, since I’m a Brendan Fraser fan, I have a slight inclination to see this film.  But seriously, unless I had a gaggle of kids to entertain, there is just no way I’m paying to see this in the theater.  One day when it shows up on Netflix Instant, I’ll watch it, and it’ll probably be funny as long as I don’t think too hard about what is going on.

A Nightmare on Elm Street:

In 1984, slasher flicks were nothing new.  Jason was making abandoned summer camps unsafe, and Michael was making Halloween a little scarier, but with Wes Craven’s Freddy Krueger even sleeping in your own bed became a place you couldn’t hide.  And since Jason and Michael both got a reboot in recent years, giving Freddy a new start was a no-brainer.  Thanks to 43kixAtlanta, I got to see a screening of the new Nightmare this week.  What they’ve done here is to take the original film, push the characters around a little (just nudges, nothing huge), clean up Freddy’s make up (it looks like burns now and not pizza) and excise most of the one-liners.  The new film is darker and more serious.  Freddy’s origins are altered a little, and I think with good effect.  Overall, the new film is fun and scary.  It lives in the same neighborhood as the original, but under a broken street light.  If you like horror films, and you aren’t so in love with the original that you plan on hating a remake just on principle, I recommend going out to see it.

Movie Round-Up: April 23rd, 2010

Reviews

Oceans:

What would Earth Day be without a documentary about the planet or animals or both?  These movies always look impressive, but not a single one has actually gotten me in the theater to see them.  I’m not exactly sure why.  I like nature.  It just seems odd to spend $10 to watch something I could see on TV.  Is this in 3D?  It probably should be in 3D.  That might get me there, but still unlikely.

The Back-up Plan:

I feel a little bad for Alex O’Loughlin.  He’s featured prominently on the poster, but he didn’t get above the title billing with J.Lo.  Sure, he’s not as big of a super-duper-mega-star, but still, he is the male lead in this romantic comedy.  Which I happened to see thanks to GoFoBo.  So this is a movie about a woman who has decided to go ahead and get pregnant using a sperm donor and within an hour of being inseminated meets the perfect guy.  First she doesn’t tell him, then she does, then they decide to give it a shot, then things don’t work out, then they do, and so on.  You don’t go to these sorts of films for shocking twists and turns, you go for the funny.  And surprisingly I found this movie to be pretty funny.  Also, the most graphic, wince inducing, yet hilarious birthing scene I’ve ever watched.  If the premise of this movie sounds good to you, then it’s probably worth your money to go see it.

The Losers:

It was a busy week, with The Back-up Plan, a movie that doesn’t drop until mid-May, and this one.  (Thanks again GoFoBo!)  Like last week’s Kick-Ass, this film is based on a comic book.  I’ve never read the comic, but I saw the movie and it feels like a comic.  The action is way over the top.  Despite the large amount of violence in the movie it keeps its PG-13 rating by keeping that violence as clean as possible.  That doesn’t really hurt the film, and in fact helps keep it lighter and fun.  All in all, I enjoyed this movie a lot and I’d say it’s worth seeing on the big screen.

Movie Round-Up: April 16th, 2010

Reviews

Death at a Funeral:

I really enjoyed this film… when I saw it nearly three years ago.  Perhaps I might watch it on Netflix someday, but film remakes done so close to the original that aren’t from foreign language originals do not get my box office dollars.  The original was just so brilliant that I don’t see this one improving on that.

Kick-Ass:

This movie, however, will earn my money.  From the first trailer I’ve been wanting to see this, and I tried very hard to get myself in to a free screening so I could review it for release (and then probably go see it again), but I didn’t.  Still, normal folks trying to be superheroes just sounds awesome.  Can’t wait.

The Joneses:

Getting a limited release this week (around 190 screens) is a film about materialism.  Since I managed to see a screening of this film (thanks Film Metro!) I can tell you that the trailer is one of those “not quite true” trailers.  The Joneses is about a company that does self-marketing by putting a team in a neighborhood and then having them show off products and increase sales in the area.  They aren’t exactly salesmen, they aren’t selling specific goods, but they market a lifestyle and drop comments about how they like certain things and work that jealousy angle that gets people to go buy stuff they don’t need.  Demi Moore plays the lead of this sales team, and David Duchovny is the new member.  The basic story is that Duchovny at first doesn’t get how it works, then he proves he’s the best at it, and finally he feels bad about what they are doing.  Along the way there are a number of funny moments, as well as a few dramatic ones, and a few tragic ones.  Overall, I really enjoyed the film.  It might not be for everyone, but as someone who is pretty much beyond his “keeping up with the Joneses” phase and is working on recovering from the damage, it hit home.  I only wish they’d made this movie about fifteen years ago.