Recent theatrical viewings

[Rev. Powell]

JONAH HEX: A vengeful bounty hunter who can talk to the dead tries to stop an ex-Confederate terrorist bent on disrupting America's centennial celebration using proto-nuclear weapons.  Loud, dumb, and ludicrous, but at least its not boring.  Not really the big Hollywood flop I was hoping to see, but there's plenty to poke fun at; the lead character can shoot a single bullet into a wooden building and cause an explosion Michael Bay would have thought was too gratuitous.  2/5.

[Rev. Powell]

TOY STORY 3: A group of toys tries to break out of a daycare center when they are accidentally donated by their owner.  High quality, with a fine mix of comedy, action and sentimentality, just as you would expect from this series. 4.5/5.

[Rev. Powell]

WINTER'S BONE: Against dire warnings, 17-year old girl taking care of her younger siblings and sick mother hunts for her fugitive meth-cook father after he puts the family home up for a bond he intends on skipping.  Well written, better acted tale set among clannish gangsters in rural Missouri; there's early Oscar buzz for star Jennifer Lawrence, and don't be shocked if it gets multiple noms.  4.5/5.

[ulthar]

MARMADUKE (2010)

Mentioned seeing it in the other "Recent Viewings" thread but with no comment.

Imagine PRETTY IN PINK with all the characters being dogs.  That's pretty much this movie.  My children liked the dog-acting stuff, but not as much as ASTRO ZOMBIES I think.

2 of 5; unoriginal, but not quite into self inflicted gunshot wound territory.  Close, but not quite.

[Rev. Powell]

THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES (2009): A retired Argentinian barrister can't forget a brutal rape/murder case from earlier in his career, and as he's writing a novel about the case he decides to follow up on loose ends.  Absorbing drama/mystery about inability to let go of the past, for both better and worse.  Winner, 2010 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. 4.5/5.

[Rev. Powell]

CYRUS: Sweet but troll-like John wonders what too-perfect Molly sees in him; the catch is her overprotective relationship with her oddball adult son.  Reasonably entertaining oedipal romantic comedy/drama with some chuckles, well-defined characters and a pat resolution.  They call it "mumblecore" but that's just meaningless marketing; it looks exactly like pre-mumblecore indie movies.  3/5.

[Hammock Rider]

WINTER'S BONE: Against dire warnings, 17-year old girl taking care of her younger siblings and sick mother hunts for her fugitive meth-cook father after he puts the family home up for a bond he intends on skipping.  Well written, better acted tale set among clannish gangsters in rural Missouri; there's early Oscar buzz for star Jennifer Lawrence, and don't be shocked if it gets multiple noms.  4.5/5.

  I agree with the Rev. you should check this out. The characters are played by an interesting mix of locals and established actors. Just when you start to think, "These people are too pretty to be murderous backwoods inbred hillbies" along comes a real life Uncle Zeke. Dale Dickey, the Daytime Hooker from My Name is Earl plays a supporting role and she's very good.

[Rev. Powell]

Dale Dickey, the Daytime Hooker from My Name is Earl plays a supporting role and she's very good.

She was good and I didn't know where I recognized her from until just now!

[Jim H]

Date Night - Good chemistry between the leads is what really makes this film.  The plot is forgettable, some of the action scenes are dull (and the chase scene with the cars is way overdone), and so forth.  But there's some good lines, good chemistry, and some good fun.  Saw this at a local $1 theatre, and it was easily worth that.

7/10.

[ChaosTheory]

DESPICABLE ME.  Doesn't break any new ground story-wise but it's a lot of fun, with the little minion guys providing most of the humor.  Steve Carell, Russell Brand and Jason Segal are the main voice actors and they all do a good job with their characters, and the kid characters aren't too obnoxious.  It's probably the best utilization of 3D I've seen too (I have not seen How to Train Your Dragon and I've heard that's really well done as well) although I'm getting really tired of 3D.  It was kind of odd that Gru and Vector never have to deal with any heroes, just each other, but on the other hand it made kind of a nice twist on the whole supervillian mythos.  (Worst part of the movie was all the for-kids trailers that ran at the beginning. I wasn't expecting an EXPENDABLES clip or anything but wow....Beware, parents, there is some godawful crap coming your way.)
We went to a 4:00 showing on a Tuesday, which is really the best way to see a movie IMO, because we had the theater mostly to ourselves    I give the whole experience 8/10

[BoyScoutKevin]

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" w/ Nic Cage and Al Molina.

A fun film.

Haven't seen most of the actors in a film before, I was surprised at how good the acting was, but I shouldn't be surprised. Most actors are professionals and can turn in a decent peformance in a major film.

And I especially like to point out the acting of character actor Al Molina, if only because his role in this film was diametrically opposed to his role in "Prince of Persia," and he nailed both roles.

A nice car chase scene through the streets of NYC.

And that car, it's one of Nic's cars. I see that it was originally meant to be driven in the U.K., as the steering wheel was on the right. Sometimes you see cars like that driven on the streets of America. The last one I saw right that was over fifty years ago.

What is in the trailer may not be in the film. Missed the scene with the apprentice practicing his plasma bolts, and one misfires, and shatters the tea cup the sorcerer is holding.

And if one sees it, then be sure to stay to the end of the credits. A nice kicker at the end.

[InformationGeek]

Despicable Me: My thoughts about the movie are about the same as ChaosTheory's are.  The movie's plot isn't one hundred precent original, but the charm, cuteness, and constant supply of humor keeps this film going and going.  The best parts of the film are always supplied by the minions and the youngest of the girls (The one with black hair.  I forget her name at the moment.).

There are a lot of couple clever jokes in there and some interesting stuble shoutouts.  The orphange owner looks and acts like Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter 5 and the bank manager looks like the Pointy Hair Boss from Dilbert!  Concidence, I think not!

[indianasmith]

I loved THE SORCEROR'S APPRENTICE!  It was just a pure fun popcorn movie, not taking itself too seriously, and the homage to FANTASIA was just perfect. Nick Cage was very good in his role, and the finale in Battery Park was most excellent! 

I cracked up the whole row I was on when I anticipated the line "These aren't the droids you're looking for!" by about two seconds and said it out loud!

[Rev. Powell]

EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP (2010): An obsessive Frenchman (Thierry) begins filming graffiti artists for a documentary he never intends to complete; one of his subjects, the reclusive Banksy, decides to use the footage to make a documentary about Thierry instead.  Begins as a mildly diverting documentary about guerrilla street artists, then picks up when Thierry decides to become an artist himself and the film becomes a satire on the easily manipulated patrons of the art world.  There's a school of thought that says this movie is a hoax, and it's easy to see why; you may leave the theater wondering if Banksy's been pulling your leg, or whether life really is stranger than art.  3/5.

[Rev. Powell]

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT: The lives of a stable lesbian couple become complicated when their daughter decides to contact her biological father, a sperm donor.  It works so hard at trying to make a lesbian family appear "normal" that they actually become ordinary and dull; the movie only works because of pro performances by Benning, Moore and Ruffallo.  This surely won't be to many folks' taste on this board. 3/5.