Recent theatrical viewings

[Psycho Circus]

RED CLIFF (2008): Absolutely thrilled (and shocked) that this came to town.  The independent kingdoms of Xu and Wu form an alliance against the invading forces of the Han dynasty, led by the power mad Prime Minster Cao Cao, and their badly outnumbered forces make a stand at the fortress of Red Cliff.  With a cast of thousands, the spectacular battles were expected, but what was not expected was the minute attention to battle tactics which makes it believable that the side with the better military strategists could defeat the side with the overwhelming advantage in troops.  John Woo is back!  This is my favorite movie of 2008, too bad I didn't see it until 2009.  5/5. 

Watched it with my dad a few months back and we both thought it was awful. I thought it wasn't well paced at the beginning and the character development was poor. It seemed Woo payed too much attention to showing off insignificant things such as bird feathers and ripples in water, which all looked CGI. The battle sequences are where this film shines, but again things got a bit too "Kung-Fu Hustle" with people flying in the air...

[the ghoul]

I saw Sherlock Holmes today.  I had to practically be dragged to the theater for this one, but to my surprise it turned out to be a pretty decent movie.  It actually reminded me a lot of the old Wild Wild West TV series.  It has very similar situations and characters, a similar tone, and it takes place in the same time period.

[Leah]

I saw Sherlock Holmes today.  I had to practically be dragged to the theater for this one, but to my surprise it turned out to be a pretty decent movie.  It actually reminded me a lot of the old Wild Wild West TV series.  It has very similar situations and characters, a similar tone, and it takes place in the same time period.

saw it today as well 

[SkullBat308]

Avatar- Was kind of leery at first but the movie was good and it did not seem like 3hrs, so I wasn't bored at all

[Rev. Powell]

NINE: Celebrity director Guido Contini finds he can't get started on his latest movie script because the women he's romantically entangled with keep bursting into song whenever he's around.  A musical loosely based on the hypothetical love-life of Federico Fellini while he was writing 8 1/2.  Although Daniel Day-Lewis is surprisingly credible as an Italian and the story really is engaging, the problem is that the music just isn't very good, so the songs felt like interruptions to the story.  There was only one song with a memorable melody, everything else was forgettable. The sets, and especially the costumes were amazing; you won't see this many corsets and fishnet stockings outside a fetish porn video!  Unexpectedly (to me) the best number features Fergie.  Penelope Cruz does give the sexiest dance you're likely to see in a long time.  Overall it wasn't as terrible as I'd feared; I just wish the music was better!  2.5/5.         

[Jim H]

I saw Daybreakers.  It was pretty good, and entertaining.  VERY reminiscent of John Carpenter's earlier works.  Some aspects of the world building, for example, remind me of Escape From New York.  Nothing is shoved in your face, and almost everything is shown to you in an intelligent and subtle way.  Great and very logical world, in fact I'd have liked to have seen more of it.  It's retro, as well, and dark, reminding me a bit of Dark City.  I also liked how a very high percentage of vampires smoke - after all, why not, when you're immortal?

Great cast, everyone is good in it.  There's actually not much WRONG with the movie (other than the normal human refugees are bland), but other than the world building and performances, nothing was quite great.  Just good and solid.  That's not really a complaint, but my praise is somewhat muted.  It is a HUGE improvement on the very flawed Undead, the previous film by the Spierig bros. 

Not as good as Let The Right One In, but it's certainly better than all the other more recent vampire films.

7/10.

[Pilgermann]

A few weeks ago I saw Me and Orson Welles.  It wasn't a great film but a very good one, and Christian McKay really did give a great portrayal of Welles.  Recommended to those with any interest in theater or Orson Welles.

Last Sunday I saw The Fantastic Mr. Fox which was really great, really entertaining.  I usually enjoy stop-motion animation and this had some excellent work in it.

I just got back from The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.  I feel kind of conflicted on it at the moment.  It probably won't end up as one of my favorite Terry Gilliam films, but it's certainly one of the more interesting and bizarre that he's done.  I need to see it again sometime soon.  Try to see it if it's playing near you 'cause it probably won't be out long or in many cities despite some star power.

[Rev. Powell]

I just got back from The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus... Try to see it if it's playing near you 'cause it probably won't be out long or in many cities despite some star power.

Yeah, that worries me.  I usually can only catch one movie in theaters per week, and I'm sure ANTICHRIST will only be in town for one week (surprised it's here at all).  If I knew for sure IMAGINARIUM would be in town next week, I'd hold off on it until next week.   

[Pilgermann]

Last night I saw Up in the Air.  It's very amusing and enjoyable, and although I get the feeling that it's already overrated by the critics I do recommend seeing it.

Earlier this afternoon I saw Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.  I was shocked and pleased to see this playing in town (and it's going to be gone after tomorrow) 'cause I love me some Herzog.  While it won't go down as one of my favorites of his (for now), it's worthwhile just to watch Nicolas Cage as a drugged-out, hunch-backed cop doing what he can to score more dope.

[Rev. Powell]

THE LOVELY BONES: A murdered 14-year old girl watches her family search for her killer from the afterlife. With it's mix of fantasy, drama, teen girls and murder, Peter Jackson's latest superficially hearkens back to his wonderful HEAVENLY CREATURES (1994); unfortunately, the originality and intensity is gone, replaced by Hollywood sentimentality.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Finally got around to seeing "Sherlock Holmes"

Singularly unimpressed.

It didn't help that of all the characters in the Holmes canon, Irene Adler is my least favorite.

And the plot line, that was old when it was used in 1985's "Young Sherlock Holmes," which actually showed a little bit more originality than this film.

Oh, I might have been more impressed, if this was the first Sherlock Holmes film, I had seen, but after all the Basil Rathbones, Christopher Plummers, Christopher Lees, Matt Frewers, Peter Cushings, Michael Caines, and Jeremy Bretts, all of whom were more capable in the role, I was just . . .

They just ought to retire the character and promise not to make any more films about him, but, unfortunately, it looks like we'll get a sequel to this.

But looking back, after leaving the theater, what surprised me, was how unimpressed I was in any of the action sequences in the film. I thought last year's "A Christmas Carol" had more impressive action sequences than this one.

Still there were a couple of nice moments in it.

Liked Lestrade's doublecrossing his boss. The unexpected is always nice.

And note Watson's (Law's) limp in the film. A nice homage to Doyle.

[Rev. Powell]

CRAZY HEART: Has-been country star Bad Blake is stuck in a holding pattern of singing his ancient hits in dives and bowling alleys and drinking himself to death until he decides to clean up hie life and career.  Jeff Bridges superlative performance is always fun to watch and makes it easy to root for him; add in some comedy, a June-November romance, and an uplifting ending and you have a real crowd-pleasing drama.  Going in, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this one as much as I did.  4.5/5.

[BoyScoutKevin]

"When in Rome" w/ Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Anjelica Huston, and Danny DeVito.

A pleasant diversion, if nothing more, with a couple of nice surprises.

I was surprised at how well I thought it was written.

And darn, but Danny DeVito is surprisingly vertically challenged. He was even shorter than most of the women in the film. I guess it just goes to prove that you don't need to be tall to be an actor.

[Pilgermann]

Just watched the new Wolf Man a little while ago.  The scenes of the werewolf tearing folks to bloody shreds are the best parts I'm sad to say.  The script is the weak point; there's a good cast with nothing to really say or do.  There's a good deal of lame CGI, too.  I do think that the werewolf makeup is pretty classy, though, since it kind of resembles the 1941 monster.  If you're gonna watch a new release this weekend it's probably a better choice than the dreadful looking Valentine's Day, just don't go with high hopes.

[Trevor]

I see your little green running man has run away again....