Checking out this and "The Muppets" later this week.

"My Week with Marilyn" on the docket for next week sometime, and "Melancholia" on the to-do list for the week after. I love the time between Thanksgiving and the end of the year for movies!

Trouble in Paradise. terrible title. i have no idea how they decided on that. however, this is a pretty good movie even if it takes a while to get moving. there're a few scenes that don't really seem like they're part of the same movie and take time to bridge, but once the main characters find their mark it moves pretty quickly. some of the double entendres were clever, especially for the time period.

for anyone who's seen it, is the implication that lily is in on gaston's plan even when she's yelling at him? cause it seems like she is convinced he's in love with colet through that whole final scene. then he leaves the room with her, comes back to talk with colet and then there's the very last scene in the cab. i wasn't sure what they were going for there.

I guess I couldn't expect this to be amazing...but I wanted it to be amazing. Conan has always been a kind of a character I've dug. When I was a kid I saw the movies, have read the original book, and have even dappled in the comics. It really has the potential to be an amazing franchise. Unfortunately, it seems like the blank canvas that lays in front of filmmakers concerning Conan are pretty daunting. There was a point in which Robert Rodriguez was going to re-do Red Sonja. I think there was even a teaser trailer. I thought, "wow, maybe someone who likes to make fun films and take chances can do this up right". But, alas, Mr. Rodriguez decided to opt out and Red Sonja and hopes for a new Conan film fell through. Oh, there's always been speculation about King Conan. Bringing back Arnold to reprise the role, but its been too many year and John Milius seems not too interested in writing and directing another one. Even the Wachowski Bros. wanted to reboot it.

So, here we have a new Conan. But then I saw Marcus Nispel was the director and all hope for anything extraordinary fell away. Its not that he's not talented, I just couldn't see how his vision would come to pass.

But it is what it is. Its an adventure film, with tons of CG, and lots of swords cutting off heads and limbs. And really, that's probably what the studios wanted. Its probably what most people wanted. And, to be honest, if you view it in that cross-section then its ok. It doesn't really hold water to the older films, but I can't decide if they're better or if I'm caught in a nostalgic fog. In the end, it simply exists. Its not great, but its not the worst thing I've seen. But, as someone who digs the Conan mythology, I can't help but be disappointed, and hope for another generation director to pick of the pieces and try to make it work.

As a btw, I saw the trailer for John Carter on Mars. I really wish that Conan had that much money thrown behind it, because it looks a lot how I wish Conan would've turned out. Minus the space ships and aliens




This is Miranda July's second film, and I can safely say that probably 90% of you will be pissed off within the first 5 minutes of the film. This is exact artsy fartsy type of stuff that polarizes people about "hipsters". Its weirdness, mixed with performance art, mixed with kitsch. The problem is, its actually a pretty-well written film once you step back and look at it from a distance. Its exactly why I really loved Me and You and Everyone We Know. While you're watching it, you can't believe whats going one and you're trying to understand and comprehend how this got funded. Then you step back and realize that July's quirky filmmaking actually hits a nerve in your body and you connect with something in the film.

Had an evening to just chill by myself this week and decided on this.

My first foray into the films of Mike Leigh. I'm not sure if this was a nod to the joy of being happily married and being with right person or the sadness of getting older and being alone with no love or affection.

The title suggests that life just goes on no matter what but man, I found it pretty depressing. Whoever played "Mary" was brutally good.

For anyone that has seen this, is this pretty typical of Leigh's films?

I really liked this. And I agree, the actress who played Mary should've gotten a best supporting award. She was fantastic.

Off the top of my head I can only think of two other Leigh films I've seen---Secrets and Lies, Topsy Turvy. Both were very good as well and in a similar vein. Topsy Turvy was more of an outright comedy, though. All his films have a very free-flowing, improvisational feel to them.

Haven't seen Another Year yet, but I recommend Naked and Life Is Sweet as my two fave Leigh films. I often get Leigh's early work mixed up with Ken Loach, another UK director with a similar preference for improv and harsh reality (Riff Raff and Hidden Agenda are well worth checking out).

Hugo. i had no intention of seeing this until five people in two days all said, "it's really good." and last night when i told two other friends that martin scorsese directed a movie in 3d that's based on a children's book, they thought i was joking. but i liked this quite a bit. it was sort of slow to begin, but it looked awesome. the 3d was excellent. then once the plot started to form, i saw what everyone's raving about. although, i'm not sure this is for little kids. i think they'd be pretty bored by it. (i haven't read the book. is that for little kids?) also, i loved the old movie footage that they showed.

Shame. this is intense. i had a feeling while watching it that reminded me of requiem for a dream in that i'm pretty sure i'll never watch it again. (although, i have seen requiem a couple times since then.) the direction makes it uncomfortable to watch, even when characters are doing very mundane things like staring or singing. there're some excellent long shots and a few terrific scenes, but i was rather underwhelmed by the end. the climax here just didn't really add up for me. i understand what they were aiming for; i'm just not sure it was reached very effectively.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. this is a pretty good movie. it relies on the audience being very attentive and picking up on every detail, which is probably why the people who walked out did so. and even knowing that, i had a little trouble following a couple subplots. but the story moves along at a cool methodical pace and the acting is excellent. this is probably the most understated i've ever seen gary oldman. he's especially great. the one thing that did bother me is that the audience is never really given an opportunity to make a logical guess about the payoff. you know it's coming, but there aren't really many hints about it until after the reveal when there is a flashback that works only because of what the audience now knows. but i still quite liked it.

Attack the Block was tons of fun.


Super 8 was cool for most part...ended up being a bit disappointing in the end though. The kids all did a pretty good job.


Tucker and Dale vs. Evil was also tons of fun as previously discussed on this board. Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk were awesome together and had great comedic timing...wouldn't be surprised to see them work together again.





...ahem, *cough*...also got dragged to see that shitty News Years Eve movie by my girlfriend...it was absolutely brutal. We also saw the Muppet's movie which was better, but some of the musical numbers were pretty cringe worthy.

I've heard this comparison from a few people...one of those hard to watch but great films. I've been meaning to watch Hunger for a while now.

I watched Melancholia twice this weekend. German love-death romanticism with a 21st century poisonous flavor. Or really nihilism more than romanticism. Evil, mean-spirited film. Powerful images and performances. Dogma 5: 25%. Gotterdammerung: 50%. Kitsch: 25%. The shadow twin of the Tree of Life. Way fucked up.

Watched Margin Call. Great, perfectly crafted film. Subtly makes you want to blow up Wall St.

Its hard to articulate why this film should be seen. On one hand, you look at it as an American auteur placing his vision forth of an intriguing story. But then on the other hand, you see this simply as a needless remake of an already competent film. Either way, you should make the effort to see this. I admit, I'm a Fincher fan, so whatever the man has his name attached to, I'll bite. When I heard he was taking a stab at this material, I was bewildered and excited (much like when Gus Van Sant announced he would be doing a shot-by-shot remake of Psycho).

The thing is, its not so much that Fincher brought some amazing vision to the table. To be honest, its probably one of his more dull films visually. While there is an inherent beauty of a snow white laden Swedish locale, this didn't feature any incredibly iconic shots which I could pull from his other films. That's not necessarily a bad thing either. The plot is so dense, that you don't want to be heavy-handed shot-wise. There definitely was a finesse.

Acting was superb, obviously with Rooney Mara being the stand-out. If you've seen the original films, you start to think that no one could step into the shoes of Lisbeth Salander other than Noomi Rapace. Her coolness and vulnerability oozing off the screen. Mara, however plays Lisbeth slightly differently. Unlike its Swedish counterpart, this film doesn't explain fully why Lisbeth is how she is. Bits and pieces are revealed, but nothing until the end is revealed fully. So, when Mara is playing Lisbeth she is vulnerable, and slightly unhinged. In the Swedish version you felt as though Lisbeth was living up to a certain expectation. In this, you think that maybe Lisbeth should be institutionalized.

Daniel Craig and the rest of the cast are good, but we can all admit their main goal was to be competent and get their lines right. Obviously Lisbeth was the focus of casting. Hence, why Craig was cast. Recognizable, yet not a huge enough name to command attention off of Mara when they're both on camera. Which, is why Fincher was smart not to cast Pitt, Clooney or heaven forbid Cruise (who were all rumored to be in the running for the part).

Overall, its a worthy remake of your time. I enjoyed it immensely, and can't wait to see it again. It might not be the film Fincher is remembered for, but it will certainly be one he can be proud of.

the Artist - Went in to this expecting it to be something I might not enjoy, but It was really really good.

So basically you didn't like it as much because they kept the reveal a secret up to the end instead of giving it away in the previews, or making it all fairly obvious ala Dragon Tattoo?

FR - I thought the best parts of GWDT were the visuals (save the one or two terrible cgi shots of Stockholm) I made it a point to not even know the plot of the source material, and then the two reveals at the end were pretty obvious from the first time you hear about the girl's disappearance and the alibis. I too, love Fincher, and this film would be middling to awful without his steady hand and innovation at the wheel - even if the title cards were an obvious exercise in "we CAN do this do we MUST do this"-style.

Harry - of the few films I've seen this year, Margin Call is the best. My one quibble is how they keep the Penn Badgely character around. I like how his presence allows the middle manager character (the Brit almost-albino) explain the perspective of middle and lower rung Masters of the Universe but lets face it, they would have tossed him from the room early on.

But the Irons' character is priceless, and he is absolutely amazing. Wherein films of the past would have played that roll for bombast (Michael Douglas in Wall Street, Alec Baldwin in Glengarry) he underplays it, and his monologue at the end comes the closest thing to explaining moral relativism, and even my own personal thoughts on the way the world works. Just brilliant and crushing. Wanna go occupy Golden Gate Park, brother?

My 10-year-old read the book and was the one who was the one that really got me to the movie.
He loved the book and the movie, both.

It's an odd book: a 500-page novel, that is more than 1/2-filled with beautiful pencil (pen-and-ink?) illustrations. Something of a hybrid of a traditional novel and a graphic novel. I haven't read it, but have flipped through it and it looks very cool. As I said, my 10-year-old loved it.

It is for kids. Patient kids.

Oh yeah - and The Descendents looks terrible. I think Alexander Payne kind of sucks, but I'm sure that it will veritably shit Oscars come Awards time.

part of the appeal to me for movies like this is for the audience to play a role similar to the problem-solving protagonist and be given a lot of the same information. this just keeps the viewer in the dark a little bit more. when you watch it a second time, there's really no eureka moment. i still liked it and i don't fault them for the way it played out. i just think that element adds to repeat viewings. some people don't, though.

Mission Impossible IV was a lot of fun. Maybe the best of the franchise, but I don't know. I liked III, but I think this was better. II was terrible, but I guess the first one was pretty good.

Anyway see this one if you want to see a great action flick. Brad Bird's first live action movie, and I think he knocked it out of the park.

I saw it in IMAX last night, and really enjoyed it, though my man crush Sawyer had far too little screen time.

I don't disagree but I also hate it when it's so obvious, or the big moment isn't really that big - not in terms of characters' reactions but in terms of causation in the first place.

Agreed on all counts, though I don't really remember 1 or 2 much.

i was gonna post about this. great payoff at the end. we had the misfortune of sitting three rows behind some yahoo who thought he paid to see a disaster flick a la Armageddon, so we had to endure his insufferable and very audible comments about how "slow and boring" he thought it was.

best part was at the very end when the lights came up...my date and i were pretty blown away by the final scene, as i assume many others in the theater were, and this guy gets up and faces the crowd and bellows "WELCOME TO THE WORST MOVIE OF 2011 HYUK HYUK."

i don't think a single person looked at him on the way to the theater exit.

i felt similarly. when it started, i thought it was way too close to singin' in the rain. but it was really well done and very enjoyable.

the scene when peppy looks at the film in the hospital totally reminded me of the end of cinema paradiso.

the trailer is beautiful. I should probably seek it out.

In the last week, I saw My Week with Marilyn, which was really good and Fincher's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which was good, but not great.

This was pretty awesome.



Great acting, but hard to follow and moved at a snails pace.