the dark knight

believe the hype.

thats all i got for now. im going to need to spend some time with this one, maybe see it again, before i can give a quality review.

stranger than fiction

i hadnt seen this one since it was in theaters, but i remember enjoying it. after watching it again my appreciation for it grew even more. it is the story of a man who goes about his life as usual, but then hears the voice of someone narrating everything he does. as he tries to figure out whats going on the narrator informs that he will soon die. the rest of the film is how he deals with that information and his attempt to understand what exactly is happening to him.
this is an excellent performance by will ferrell as he plays it straight. he does an amazing job of being perfectly normal, yet hilarious. as he tries to get to the bottom of the situation effecting him we become genuinely interested and concerned for him because he is so endearing. the love story feels a bit off, but dustin hoffman is spot on perfect as a professor helping him find who is writing his story.

mamma mia!

i have absolutely no interest in seeing this movie (although diana might drag me to it...), but at the theater this weekend they had this really cool set up for the movie. they had a professional sand castle maker come in and build this. there was a sign that said that it took 10 hours to make, and it really shows! very impressive.

gotham knight

this direct-to-dvd animated film is a tie in with the new 'dark knight' movie. this film is actually a collection of six short movies about batman that loosely tie together and give a bit of information that sets us up for seeing the new movie. this same idea was used by the wachawski brothers when they released 'the animatrix' right before 'matrix reloaded' came out.

'gotham knight' features six short films about batman, each of them directed by respected directors from the japanese anime field. each story takes on a different part of batman and his persona. one features a group of kids sharing their stories of when they met batman and what they thought he was, another focuses on batmans relationship with commissioner gordon, and others involve him dealing with such bad guys as killer croc. each story is told in a unique style and with a unique animated look to it. in each of them the voice cast stays the same, so that helps keep the stand alone stories interconnected. im not sure yet how much these short films are tied into the new movie, but they are worth checking out just for the cool style and interesting stories.

the strangers

yikes, this movie is really creepy! this is a movie about a couple who have just had a bad night, he proposed and she said no. they were about to go on a road trip together and are staying at his parents house while they are gone. they return home after a party and try to figure out what happens between them next.
then someone knocks on the door. this begins a crazy string of events where three people in masks terrorize the couple.
the sense of dread felt by the couple is also felt by us, the audience. the director does an amazing job of building tension with silences and strange noises. not much happens, but we know something is going to, and it is terrifying. this isnt one of those movies that are all about torture and seem to be just an excuse to kill beautiful girls in grotesque ways (im talking about you, 'saw' movies), rather, this is a thriller that escalates with each passing moment. there arent too many gratuitous gore shots, rather, almost all the scares are done through sound. a strange sound is heard out side and the couple doesnt know what to do, and the sounds get closer.
very intense, and very well done. it had me squirming in my seat through out most of the film.

time changer

i bought this movie at the christian book store. i had been given money to buy some new dvds for my classroom. i found a few that i knew were really good and would be very helpful with teaching, but i still had a bit of money left. i looked through the fiction films and came across this one. the hard part with christian direct-to-dvd movies is that you have no idea what you are going to get. i read the back of it and it sounded interesting, so i figured i would give it a try.
the premise is this: a scientist from the 1890s creates a time machine and goes into the future to see how things turn out. i thought that sounded like a fun premise. and it is, when the man from the past arrives in present time there are some very interesting and funny moments as he tries to understand what these strange machines do 'what is a cell phone? a remote control?' the acting is bad, but that was expected, so that didnt bother me too much.
here is the real problem: this movie falls into the problem that many christian movies do, its too preachy. the main premise is good, its about a guy who talks about morality without mentioning that God is the reason to be moral. the scientist warns him that taking God out of morality will lead to bad things, and sends him into the future to prove his point. so far, it all is well. but by the end of the film the only conclusion given is that all of us today are evil and not real christians and that the only way we can save ourselves from being corrupted by modern culture is to completely remove ourselves from it. this is ridiculous, and that idea goes directly against christs teachings ('go make disciples of all nations' matthew 28:19). this film tells us that all secular entertainment is evil and by watching it we are following satan. no alternative is given, the film ends with the hopeless situation that we are all fake christians and there is nothing we can do about it. this is false, and harmful for christians to be told. no good can come of it, and no good alternative is given. i was very disappointed by this film and its irresponsible message.
i will not be showing this to my students.

journey to the center of the earth

ive seen quite a few movies in 3D, 'nightmare before christmas', 'beowulf', and 'U23D'. all of which were a lot of fun. so, going into this movie i knew it would be a good time, and i wasnt disappointed. they bill this as the first live action 3D movie, which it is, if you dont count
'U23D'.
the story line follows the book closely, in fact the characters in this movie are familiar with the book and use it to navigate during their journey, which is actually a fun way to interpret the source material. brendan frasier does his usual role as the poor mans indiana jones which he perfected in the mummy movies. he and his nephew go traveling to find if the book is true. the meet a travel guide and start their quest. all the different situations they find themselves in are fun and done well. as a whole this movie does a good job of telling the story and keeping the action going. it even stops periodically to give us a little character development, which is quite unexpected from a film like this. but, it must be admitted, the star of the show is the 3D effect. it is done well and really adds a ton to the experience. some of the best stuff includes a mine cart ride and some mysterious floating rocks.
its a fun little movie that doesnt take itself too seriously, which, given the plot is a good thing. i would have to say that it is actually worth seeing in the theater because it would loose a lot without the 3D effect. the movie deserves 3 stars, but in 3D, id give it 4.

theaters

ive found myself with a lot of free time when i go visit diana. often ill have a day free, but diana doesnt get out of work till five or seven at night. well, that doesnt stop me from visiting. ill often come down even when she is at work and go see a movie, and meet up with her when the movie is done and she is out of work.

the theaters i usually go to are the cinemark 14, and the movies 6 theater. the cinemark theater is full price, but the movies 6 theater is only a buck fifty! score! so ive been taking advantage and seeing all kinds of cheap movies that i would otherwise skip, or wait for video. i wish they still had one of these cheap theaters down by me, but id probably waste too much time there...

street kings

jeffry lee and rex saw this one when it first came out and raved about it for weeks afterwards. when i saw it at the dollar theater i figured it check out what the hype was all about.
i got to say, i was not impressed. the story is one ive seen told many time before: a cop who doesnt play by the rules gets under the skin of one of his higher ups, a plan goes wrong and he finds corruption in the police force. the bad boy cop with morals has to get to the bottom of it, bringing down everyone along the way. this is one of those movies that takes place in a world where everyone is corrupt and crosses and double crosses everyone. its been done before, and its been done better. with all the twists and turns it supposedly has, i found it to be very predictable and knew the ending after about twenty minutes of the movie. keanu reeves does a good job, and its cool to see forrest whittaker in a role where he has to be a bit tough. but those things are not enough to save this formulaic mess.

hellboy 2: the golden army

there are few films i love more than 'hellboy'.
ive loved the comic book for years and obsessively collect all things hellboy. so when the first one came out i was as giddy as a school girl. i saw it in the theater three times, each time dragging more and more friends with me. i loved the story, the characterizations, and really loved del toros direction. ive followed his stuff ever since 'mimic' and 'the devils backbone'. when i first heard he was doing 'hellboy' i was ecstatic. after the haunting and beautiful film 'pans labyrinth' he came back to make another one! i have been almost more excited for this film than 'dark knight'.
the amazing this is: 'hellboy 2: the golden army' is even better than the original! now that the characters have been established, del toro is able to further develop their relationships and the teams dynamics. the story is basically this: a prince of the mythical world is sick of their peace with humans and tries to enlist the help of the golden army to take them down. hellboy and the gang have to step in and save the world.
the effects are amazing, especially the plant monster that is unleashed in new york city, and everything is so visually lush and detailed that it almost needs to be seen twice just to take it all in! the different characters each get their own important story arc that leads them to change and grow in realistic ways. hellboy, as usual, is moody and hilarious. this time we get to spend a bit more time with abe and see him try to make a bit more of a life for himself. the action is amazing and the different creatures they must face are so perfectly realized and fully formed. this is definitely a world that is lived it and believable. except that it is amazingly unbelievable.
shoot, all this talking about it makes me want to see it again. hmm, i think i will...

the pursuit of happyness

i recently happened to catch this one. i had heard so many good things about it, and most of them were right. this movie is an uplifting story about a guy who goes from very little to nothing to riches based entirely on his hard work and determination. will smith does an amazing job of conveying his characters determination in the face of difficulty.

the lookout

ive been wanting to see this one ever since i saw a preview of it, but i dont recall ever seeing it at any theater...
the set up is really quite interesting: the main character was a star hockey athlete in high school until a horrible car accident left him with brain damage. he has since been trying to get buy with terrible short term memory. a group of guys befriend him in order to take advantage of the fact that he works as a night shift janitor of a bank. the story is good and the attempted robbery is interesting, but the real show here is the actors- joseph gordon lewitt is always good, and jeff bridges does an amazing job as his blind friend.

next

i pretty much knew this one was going to suck, but it was on encore, and i couldnt fall back to sleep, so i figured id give it a shot. the story is about a guy who can see into the future, but only two minutes ahead. the government wants him for something that isnt really explained well. he doesnt want to help and uses his visions to avoid them. until he doesnt. then he helps them. except that he doesnt. it wasnt that good, so i didnt really feel compelled to try and make sense of it all, i just went with it. the only thing that saves this from a one star rating is the fact that jessica beil is in it, and shes really hot.

hancock

going into this movie i wasnt quite sure what to expect. after seeing the previews i had one idea, but having read all the stuff about it leading up to its release, it seemed like it wasnt what it had claimed to be.
turns out, both are right. the movie, based on the commercials and ads, seems to be about a super powered guy down on his luck who doesnt really care about helping people anymore. its true, but heres the thing: the commercials really only show the first half hour of the movie. the story takes some huge twists and turns through out the film.
now, i dont really want to comment on those story points in case anyone plans to go see it, so i will keep this review fairly vague. over all i enjoyed the movie. the twists were not what i expected, or necessarily wanted, but i figured i should just go along where they were taking me. smith does a great job as the lead character, but as seems to happen in almost every movie he is in, jason bateman stole the show. his family man who wants to help hancock change his public image is hysterical! he certainly gets all the best laughs. and charlize theron, who is oddly completely absent from the commercials, does a good job as batemans wife. the story has many plot holes and inconsistencies, but much of it is forgivable just based on the fact that its different and interesting. the cinematography, on the other hand, almost single handedly ruins the movie. it looks like this movie costed 12 bucks, and was filmed by a 12 year old. that, unlike the story, is unforgivable.

ratatouille

i finally got around to seeing this one. i had seen the first twenty minutes with my nephew jackson before, but it was almost his bed time, and we never got to finish it.
ive really enjoyed all the pixar movies, and this one was no exception. the story revolves around a rat who has very discriminating tastes. he doesnt want to eat the same trash that the rest of the rats are happy with, he wants real food. he gets split up from his group, and ends up in a restaurant where he helps guide a cook to make some amazing dishes. its all done in that standard pixar way of great characters, touching story, and just enough humor to keep a smile on your face. what is really amazing is that i rarely noticed the computer graphics. it seems that pixar has gotten so good that i often forgot that it was animated, and instead just sat back and enjoyed the story. quite a long way from the old 'toy story' days...
the whole story about the food critic was so well done that the whole thing just came together and went into a completely unexpected place. it didnt end as i thought it would, rather it was more honest, and better than a sappy ending. well done, guys.

wanted

the ads for this movie looked really cool. it gave it the look of a new 'matrix' kind of movie. its not. the idea behind the movie is that there is this guy who has a really boring life, and then one day he is told he has a connection to this secret assassin organization and he has special powers. obviously he is reluctant to believe them. but as the movie goes along he begins to trust them and believe that he really might be a super powered guy after all. there are some important plot twists along the way that i am going to leave out so i dont ruin it for you.
the story is pretty basic, but its the special effects that get all the attention in this film. its rightly deserved, the effects are pretty cool. the idea of bending bullets is a very cool one, and it is done quite well in the film as the main character trains to learn how to do it. the film is very well directed. its done by a russian filmmaker who rose to acclaim after making 'daywatch' and 'nightwatch', a couple very strange films about vampires. he does a good job of telling the story and showing us the different parts of the action. all of it is well and good, except for this: the film has no heart. its style is one that i like, its less 'matrix' and more 'crank', or 'shoot em up'. but all of its really well done parts do not add up to something greater. it just falls flat. it tries to incorporate a message to it at the end, but with no connection throughout, the message ends up feeling mean instead of challenging. there are ideas thrown around that are in a similar vein as 'fight club'. that movie had style and substance, this one is lacking in the latter. all in all, it left me with a feeling of 'gee, that was neat! so?' and really, a fate deciding loom? seriously?!?

the mist

i had heard really great things about this movie, but i was still a bit skeptical, it is an adaptation of a steven king story after all...
the story revolves around a guy who goes to the grocery store and while hes there with his son a strange mist comes into town and brings some weird creatures along with it. its mostly a study on what happens to people when they are trapped together in one place and have to try and figure things out and get along. the characters are kind of hokey, but they play out fairly well with each new situation that comes up.
over all it is a straight forward thriller, but it steps above that at the end. the ending is very unexpected and well done. i thought it was going to go a certain way, but it ended quite a bit differently then i thought. the problem with almost all steven king stories is that they have a good premise, but they all fall flat at the end. this one does not suffer from that fate, rather, the ending made the whole movie worth watching.

donnie darko

ive seen this one before, but it was many years ago, and i didnt really remember it. last weekend rexy came down early to see me, so we watched it before the other guys came. rexy has been obsessed with this movie for a while, so i figured i should give it another try and see what his fuss was all about.
as it turns out, its pretty good! the story is about a boy who has strange things happen to him. hes diagnosed at being crazy and goes to see a shrink regularly, but as the story pans out, maybe hes not so crazy... it deals with some strange time travel type stuff and a six foot tall rabbit that talks to him. it was pretty cool, but i just couldnt really get into it. i guess it will just stay as rexys thing...