nightmare before christmas

saturday i went with a group of people to go and see the rerelease of nightmare before christmas, this time its in 3d! ive been looking forward to this ever since i first heard that it was coming out.
i have seen the movie many many times, and have most of the music from it lodged permenantly into my memory (i have been known to periodically break into 'this is holloween' singing). i actually remember going to see this one when it first came out, back in 93. if you havent seen it yet, you really should. the story is simple, but well done. it goes like this: there are towns based on each of the holidays (easter town, thanksgiving town, etc.) and the leader of holloween town stumbles into christmas town and decides that he is going to bring christmas to holloween town. needless to say, trouble ensues. the story is well told, the visuals are amazing, but the real show here are the songs! all written and composed by danny elfman (he did the batman movie theme, and the simpsons theme).
the movie by itself looks amazing, but the 3d effect makes it even more impressive! the 3d stuff is really well done and makes the movie even more fun- when jack explores christmas town, when he is being shot at in his sleigh, and other scenes have an incredible 'wow' factor. the fact that the movie is only 76 minutes long actually works quite well in this situation- much longer and you would have a big headache from the 3d effect on your eyes. the film is only availible in limited release because its only in theaters that have 3d projectors. but if you get the chance to see it, go for it! it is a unique and amazing experience!

in theaters now

i havent really been to the movie theater in a while, but id really like to go soon. there are quite a few new movies out that id love to see. im sure i wont get to all of them before they leave the multiplexes, but i hope to catch at least one or two. in no particular order:

the departed- ive seen martin scorsese's last few films and ive been quite disappointed (gangs of new york, aviator) and ive begun to think that he has lost his eye for telling a good story, but i keep hearing such good things...

the illusionist- you have to love ed norton, and the movie just looks mysterious and interesting. oh, and jessica biel is super hot.

the guardian- its got ashton kutcher in it, which is a big turn off, but its also got kevin costner, and ive loved every movie ive seen him in (yes, that includes waterworld and the postman).

one night with the king- i dont know very much about this movie, but what i do know is that its a big budget account of the story of esther. sounds like its at least worth a look.

nightmare before christmas 3d- this one i will definately see in the theaters- many times! this has got to be one of my all-time favorite movies, i can sing along with every single song (ok, so maybe i shouldnt watch this one in public...)

the prestige- the commercials for it look great, and the talent involved is unbeatable. the director did batman begins and momento. now thats a resume you can trust! also, who doesnt love a good old fashioned twisty and turny movie with magic and cool actors? im in.

let me know which, if any, of these might be worth my hard earned money...

horror movies

the other night i watched a movie called 'wolf creek'. if you are unfamiliar with it, its an australian horror film that came out a year or two ago. its about a few college kids who decide to take a road trip through australia. it all starts well and good, of course, but then their car dies and they rely on the kindness of a stranger to help fix it. only the stranger isnt too kind. it soon turns into a blood-and-guts free for all until the bad guy kills almost all of them.
this plot and style seem to be the latest style of choice for horror movies, and i just want to say that i dont particularly care for it. im not sure exactly when this gorefest became the new standard. i would guess around the time of 'saw'. before this, the popular style was remakes of japan horror movies that always involved a psycho child (usually a girl with black hair in her face) which is best exemplified in 'the ring', and 'the grudge'. but the new style seems to be more torture horror. the scares dont really come from a place of fear anymore, rather, it seems that the scare comes from disgust and uncomfortable situations. instead of the bad guy chasing the good guys, its a bad guy inflicting the most gruesome pain the screenwriter can think up. thats not horror, thats just gore porno.
the problem is, none of these movies are actually scary. they are creepy and unsettling, but they are not scary. i guess i just prefer scares over gross-outs.
maybe its just me. a lot of people seem to like these movies, so maybe i just dont get it. i did really like the movie 'saw', but maybe thats just because it was the first one to really dig into that style, and all the rest have just been returning (unsuccessfully) to that idea.

crank

one of the newest movie ive seen in the theaters was the movie 'crank'. its been a while since i saw it, but then again its been a while since i have posted...
when i saw the commercials for it i saw that it had jason statham in it. i didnt need to see or hear anything else about the movie, i was already sold! he is one actor who i really love watching. he has a strange charisma about him that i really dig (i would say he has the same draw for me that the Rock does).
i totally loved the transporter movies. the first one is a classic- the action starts out unbelievable, and then gets crazier as the movie progresses until it get to the point of cartoony silliness. the second one isnt quite as good, but the action is still quite cool. when i saw the previews for crank i could tell right away that this one was going to be just as ridiculous. and it was. times ten!
the movie is pretty much the unrated version of the transporter movies. the action is ramped up, the swearing is ramped up, and the sex is ramped up. but what makes it so great is the fact that it revels in its absurdity. its so over the top that it actually turns into humor. ive never laughed so hard during an action movie! heres the set up: hes been injected with a poison that will kill him if his adrenaline falls. thats it. pretty much the movie 'speed' as speed! though out the movie he does hilariously crazy things to keep his adrenaline pumping. everything from pounding down the red bull, to shouting out racial slurs in a room full of black people just so they will fight him. i really enjoyed the movie, complete with an outlandishly unbelievable ending. definitely one that i will be buying- i cant even imagine the crazy deleted scenes that will be on the dvd!