Recent theatrical viewings

[Doggett]

Star Trek

Great fun but it took them way too long to bring the whole crew together.

The engineering room sucked, they should've kept it like the old films.

[Jim H]

Star Trek

Great fun but it took them way too long to bring the whole crew together.

The engineering room sucked, they should've kept it like the old films.

I basically agree.  Too iPody.  I'm getting pretty tired of "everything is pearly white!" shtick. 

My basic complaints: Quinto is a good Spock, but no one has as good of a voice for it as Leonard Nimoy.  Nobody.

Took way too long to get Kirk as the Captain, and then he doesn't actually do much.  It was also pretty far fetched how they got everybody into the lead roles.  Not terrible, just a bit of a stretch.

On to the good now...

Good, basic storyline.  Film has some quite funny moments.  Karl Urban is a GREAT McCoy.  Visually really good, though there is a ridiculous amount of lense flare and dust on the camera effects.  What was that all about?

Leonard Nimoy's role is really good. 

Just a very entertaining film, and on the whole considerably more accessible than the old Trek films. 

8/10.

[Doggett]

Star Trek

Great fun but it took them way too long to bring the whole crew together.

The engineering room sucked, they should've kept it like the old films.

Ithere is a ridiculous amount of lense flare and dust on the camera effects. 
8/10.

There was flare on EVERYTHING !!! :buggedout

If you ever get invited abord the bridge of the Enterprise, bring your sun glasses!
You'll need 'em !

Not enough Scotty !
If you're dealiong with gizmos and time travel, you need Scotty.

Chekov was great.

[Rev. Powell]

THE GREAT BUCK HOWARD (2009): John Malkovich as a once popular mentalist (based on the Amazing Creskin) playing half-filled venues on the downside of his career. Pleasant enough comedy/drama full of familiar faces (Tom Hanks and a large number of cameo appearances by George Takei, Jay Leno, and so on).  Featuring Tom and Colin Hanks in their first shared appearance (I'm pretty sure); I'm surprised Tom's clout it didn't get it a wider release.  2.5/5.

[Rev. Powell]

SUNSHINE CLEANING: A beleaguered single mom and her slacker sister start a business cleaning up gory crime scenes. Palatable mixture of teardrops and a few chuckles. You could get dragged to worse chick-flicks.  2.5/5.

[Torgo]

UP   ***1/2 out of ****.  Pixar really knocks this one out of the park. It only suffers ever so slightly from a 3rd act that moves just a bit too quickly at times.

[Rev. Powell]

THE BROTHERS BLOOM: Adrien Brody does well as the passive brother floating in the wake of his older sibling, a Dostoevsky of con-men, who devises one last elaborate grift to rip-off a pretty, rich and very eccentric widow. Plenty of quirky characters and comedy, and the con game is involving at first, but the film pushes its luck and wears out its welcome in a not quite satisfying epilogue/fourth act.  3.5/5.

UP: Flying a house buoyed by balloons, a grumpy old widower and a stoway cub scout go on an adventure to a fantastic land. Lots to love in this old-fashioned Disney adventure with memorable, emotionally resonant characters, thrilling animated action sequences, and plentiful comic relief in the form of dogs with collars that allow them to talk.  4.5/5.

[GilbyFromMagoombo]

I Love You Man.
Not as bad as I thought it was going to be, actually made me laugh pretty hard at times.
Plus, it has that hot girl from the Office. Not Pam, the Italian one.

[BoyScoutKevin]

"Up" It's the little things that count.

1. It's having a villain that's both scary and sympathetic.
2. It's knowing how to use music and sound effects to enhance an action sequence.
3. It's having a villain that's the mirror image of the hero.
4. It's the throwaway jokes. Both vistual and verbal.
a. Vistual. At the beginning of the film, having all the clouds morph into babies.
b. Verbal. At the end of the film, Dug saying: "I see a gray one." Dogs don't see blue cars and red cars. They see only gray cars.

And note the parallels with Charles Lindbergh.
1. The last name Muntz is only one letter away from Lindbergh.
2. Both had the first name Charles.
3. Lindbergh had the "Spirit of St. Louis." Muntz had the "Spirit of Adventure."

Another good one from Pixar. Looking forward to "Toy Story 3," which will be out next year.

[Jim H]

I also just saw Up, for the second time.  I saw it in 3D this time.  To be honest, while I enjoyed seeing it in 3D, it's used very little in the film, mostly minor touches.  If you really love 3D, it's probably worth the extra cost, but for me it wasn't quite enough. 

Very good film though.

[Rev. Powell]

DRAG ME TO HELL:  A cute and good-hearted bank loan officer is cursed by an old gypsy woman after she denies an extension on her mortgage, causing her to be haunted by an evil spirit that will drag her to hell after three days have expired. Fun spook-house thrill ride with an occult plot that's like a less atmospheric, more action/effects oriented NIGHT OF THE DEMON (1957).  I'm really confused by the claims in some quarters that this is a great horror movie and "Raimi is back!"  It was pretty much what I thought it would be, an above-average horror movie aimed at summer teenage audience who delight in jump-scares and special effects, with a few touches of black humor thrown in and an EVIL DEAD callback.  I'll be generous and call it 4/5.

Edit: It took my forever to figure out where I'd seen the guy who plays the boyfriend before.  He's the dude who played "Mac" on that recently jumped-the-shark Macintosh/Windows ad campaign.

[Jim H]

DRAG ME TO HELL:  A cute and good-hearted bank loan officer is cursed by an old gypsy woman after she denies an extension on her mortgage, causing her to be haunted by an evil spirit that will drag her to hell after three days have expired. Fun spook-house thrill ride with an occult plot that's like a less atmospheric, more action/effects oriented NIGHT OF THE DEMON (1957).  I'm really confused by the claims in some quarters that this is a great horror movie and "Raimi is back!"  It was pretty much what I thought it would be, an above-average horror movie aimed at summer teenage audience who delight in jump-scares and special effects, with a few touches of black humor thrown in and an EVIL DEAD callback.  I'll be generous and call it 4/5.

Edit: It took my forever to figure out where I'd seen the guy who plays the boyfriend before.  He's the dude who played "Mac" on that recently jumped-the-shark Macintosh/Windows ad campaign.

He's in a lot of stuff.  You might remember him as the nerdy kid in Galaxy Quest, or the male lead in Jeepers Creepers.  He's also the side kick to Bruce Willis in Live Free or Die Hard.  I think he's pretty funny in the right role, and also a competent actor.  I believe his name is Justin Long.

[Hammock Rider]

Year One. Meh.

[Ridge]

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. It had some serious Bayhem in it.

[3mnkids]

Transformers: revenge of the fallen~~ eh, it looks good but I could feel brain cells slowly dying as I watched.  I honestly didn't think that the juvenile dialogue could get worse than the first one, I was wrong.