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| inlareviewer |
 Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 4:23 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 1949
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Befade wrote: And if you'd ever seen Mo'Nique do her comedy acts you would not recognize her in Precious. You'd have to have alot of self confidence to portray such an ugly character.
Without ever having seen Mo'Nique do her comedy acts live, am sure that's so. Beyond incisive.
A monster mother to make Mommie Dearest look like Mother Carey's Chickens, or sump'n. (shudder).
And somehow by the end, I rather pited her as much as I hated her guts.
Which seems to me not only Mo'Nique's but also Mr. Daniels' achievement (sniffle). |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 5:12 pm |
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Funny thing, I went to see what was playing in Winnipeg. Avatar of course was there playing in a few theatres, three with 3D and three without. It wasn't at the IMAX yet. Playing there was some kind of movie about Greece and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. That should be the way to see it, I guess.  |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 6:54 pm |
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marantzo wrote: Funny thing, I went to see what was playing in Winnipeg. Avatar of course was there playing in a few theatres, three with 3D and three without. It wasn't at the IMAX yet. Playing there was some kind of movie about Greece and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. That should be the way to see it, I guess.
From what Ebert wrote, 3-D is the way to go for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Quote: “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” is the first outing for new Sony digital 3-D imaging software. I continue to find 3-D a distracting nuisance, but it must be said the Sony process produces a sharp, crisp picture, with no visible imprecision between the matches of the images. There is clear definition between closer and further elements. I've seen a lot of 3-D recently, and in terms of technical quality, this is the best.
That was well before Avatar, of course. I saw Cloudy in 2-D and thought it looked just fine, but things like the spaghetti and meatballs tornado would really be impressive in 3-D. (He rated it 2 and 1/2 stars, but his review is more favorable than that sounds. I think he just couldn't bring himself to give three stars to a movie with grilled cheese sandwich boats. |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 7:07 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
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Location: Lawrence, KS
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Syd wrote: ... to a movie with grilled cheese sandwich boats.
(instashift to Liz Lemon) I want to go to there. |
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"And take extra care with strangers/Even flowers have their dangers/And though scary is exciting/Nice is different than good." --Stephen Sondheim |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 7:15 pm |
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| The IMAX version of Meatballs is 3D. |
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| ehle64 |
| Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 8:23 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: NYC; US&A
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Blessed be our friends with Screeners:
I saw three films I've wanted to see this year last night, 1. Broken Embraces; 2. Precious; and 3. Where The Wild Things Are
Loved, liked, loved.
Precious -- Not ever being a "Mimi" fan, myself, there's no way in hell I wouldn't give her portrayal as the social worker Miss White, er, uhmm, Weiss her due. The other two lauded performances deserve accolades as well. Not too many people talking about the actual film, though. Dunno, wasn't anything very mind-blowing to me although it has only been one night and I watched it alone without a chance to discuss/have my feelings changed.
Broken Embraces -- loved, loved, loved. Two movies and a Video inside a Movie. And can we ever mention the color RED again w/o harkening back to this? Bravo, Pedro!
WtWTA -- loved, liked, loved. In order to get 1.5 hours out of a storybook that takes all of 5 minutes to read was a feat I admire. The Henson creatures were outstanding, emotional and brilliantly vocalized. The score and songs by Karen O were quite nice, too.
Hopefully for tonight, Brothers; 500 Days of Summer; & An Education -- with maybe Paranormal Activity (if'n I can get through it!) |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 1:54 am |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
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Location: Lawrence, KS
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ehle64 wrote: Blessed be our friends with Screeners:
ehle64 wrote: I saw three films I've wanted to see this year last night, 1. Broken Embraces; 2. Precious; and 3. Where The Wild Things Are
Loved, liked, loved.
That sounds fairly positive, all in all.
ehle64 wrote:
Precious -- Not ever being a "Mimi" fan, myself, there's no way in hell I wouldn't give her portrayal as the social worker Miss White, er, uhmm, Weiss her due. The other two lauded performances deserve accolades as well. Not too many people talking about the actual film, though. Dunno, wasn't anything very mind-blowing to me although it has only been one night and I watched it alone without a chance to discuss/have my feelings changed.
wadehle, dollink, why should your feelings be changed? That's a reasonable subjective reaction. It's not a cinematically groundbreaking film, really -- yet it seemed unusually raw and honest (though Armond White clearly disagrees). All I know is that it got me in the solar plexus, by the end crying uncontrollably (once more with feeling: like Dorothy Parker afore me, I can't possibly love anything more than that, no longer being able to cry except in a cinema or a concert hall or an opera house or a theatre, but I digress).
ehle64 wrote:
Broken Embraces -- loved, loved, loved. Two movies and a Video inside a Movie. And can we ever mention the color RED again w/o harkening back to this? Bravo, Pedro!
ehle64 wrote:
WtWTA -- loved, liked, loved. In order to get 1.5 hours out of a storybook that takes all of 5 minutes to read was a feat I admire. The Henson creatures were outstanding, emotional and brilliantly vocalized. The score and songs by Karen O were quite nice, too.
ehle64 wrote:
Hopefully for tonight, Brothers; 500 Days of Summer; & An Education -- with maybe Paranormal Activity (if'n I can get through it!)
Haven't seen Brothers or Paranormal, but (500) Days and An Education are also among my favorite 2009 moovees. Both are relatively small-scaled and particularized, quite possibly what I most appreciated about them.
And somewhere in the mix, once all is seen and done, just might be Avatar, which the Documentary Filmmaker took me to see at the Cinerama Dome tonight. Not wishing to offend those who adored the storytelling, will just say that the screenplay's clichés were not entirely inappropriate for a Sci-Fi-Graphic-Novel-Gone-Environmental/Sociological/Anti-Military-Industrial-Complex Allegory; it represented, for King of His World Cameron, a full literary step up a notch. Not so much charitably-inclined toward the nearly 3-hour length -- it elicited several watch-checks from me, and my heinie went numb well before the climactic battle. Yet, am hard-pressed to determine just what he could have cut, since the primary point of the enterprise appeared to be to Dropkick Us Into Another World and Make Our Jaws Drop, which it did with astonishing adeptitude and unprecedented 3D expansiveness. I walked out infinitely more satisfied having experienced it than I did The Great Big Boat Movie (no further comment there). "You've never seen anything like it" is an understatement. Truly immersive, often gorgeously so, it's always lovely to see Sigornia (RIP, Joe Franklin) Weaver having herself a ball, and if it struck me as more wholly visionary and sophisticated in its overwhelming execution than in its narrative, I still had a good time.
Trailer watch: The new Angelina Jolie action thriller looks sort of excitable (and her lips remain aerodynamic); the new Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz action thriller looks sort of execrable; and the final Shrek chapter will probably be less fun than it makes itself out to be, even in 3D, but the trailer made me giggle.
Next up in the hasty scramble: Crazy Heart and Serious Man (see, willybeeds, I finally broke my tic) and The Messenger and Broken Embraces on screeners, Up in the Air and Single Man and Mr. Fox in the moovee house. |
Last edited by inlareviewer on Sun Jan 17, 2010 11:19 pm; edited 1 time in total
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 4:19 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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ehle64 wrote: WtWTA -- loved, liked, loved. In order to get 1.5 hours out of a storybook that takes all of 5 minutes to read was a feat I admire. The Henson creatures were outstanding, emotional and brilliantly vocalized. The score and songs by Karen O were quite nice, too.
Your thoughts on WtWTA echos mine. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 5:09 pm |
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Wade and Inla........these are indeed scrambling times.....trying to see all the award-worthy films. Let's see:
Broken Embraces was definitely a very rich film......I especially liked the humor.....the proposed vampire film called Give Blood about donation centers supplying their employee vampires with their daily drink. And the director changing his name after going blind to Harry Caine.
I liked Precious for its window into inner city life. Having taught mostly black kids for 18 years I had an affection (and cringe) for the life alot of them lead. As for story, it's how a teenage girl trudges her way through that difficult environment (it ain't no Juno).
My radar is focusing on Hurt Locker. Should I drive 2 hours to see it on the big screen or wait? And Avatar. Should I see it at the IMAX when my son says it's a vertigo inducing film? Should I wait for the Brothers dvd? Just one certainty. I will see A Single Man and It's Complicated. No screeners in sight. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 6:51 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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Quote: And Avatar. Should I see it at the IMAX when my son says it's a vertigo inducing film?
Betsy, you must see it on the Imax screen. Don't worry about vertigo. I didn't experience any. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 6:55 pm |
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| you'll be the first to know if I throw up............ |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 7:01 pm |
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| The Hurt Locker works on the small screen. Avatar must be experienced in IMAX 3-D or not at all. |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 7:05 pm |
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Befade wrote: Wade and Inla........these are indeed scrambling times.....trying to see all the award-worthy films.
Quote:
Broken Embraces was definitely a very rich film......I especially liked the humor.....the proposed vampire film called Give Blood about donation centers supplying their employee vampires with their daily drink. And the director changing his name after going blind to Harry Caine.
Quote: I liked Precious for its window into inner city life. Having taught mostly black kids for 18 years I had an affection (and cringe) for the life alot of them lead. As for story, it's how a teenage girl trudges her way through that difficult environment (it ain't no Juno).
Quote: [My radar is focusing on Hurt Locker. Should I drive 2 hours to see it on the big screen or wait?
Quote: And Avatar. Should I see it at the IMAX when my son says it's a vertigo inducing film?
Quote: Should I wait for the Brothers dvd? 
Quote: Just one certainty. I will see A Single Man and It's Complicated. No screeners in sight.
Meanwhile, the mater and I just got back from Up in the Air, which (gasp) I liked more than she did (her words, and I quote: "Good, not great, didn't take me anywhere new, when are we gonna see that country-western movie with Jeff Bridges?" She's such a card). Clooney, the Chanel of Heartthrobs, is certainly in his element, engaging and adroit, with some marvelously informed timing and reactions. (The blow dryer made me snort my Diet Coke through my nose). The use of real downsized peeps is an inspired touch. Was also duly impressed by both femmes, La Farmiga as effortlessly multi-layered and compelling as ever, Li'l Kendrick affecting and funny, creating a whole person beneath her brittle, clipped comic surface. Undeniably a Timely Film For The Now, with a sizeable measure of earned irony in how the story plays out, surely Jason Reitman's most accomplished work to date. However, it's only been a couple of hours since it ended, yet I'm struggling to recall much of the details. It sort of nudged itself into high-end telemovie territory by the last series of reversals (though the whole sister's-wedding business was funny-touching at once). Liked it very much, am not sure that I exactly loved it, but am still very glad to have seen it. |
Last edited by inlareviewer on Sun Jan 03, 2010 7:12 pm; edited 3 times in total
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| Marc |
| Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 7:07 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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For all the naysayers who were sharpening their knives for Cameron, it looks like he gets the last laugh.
Official numbers show Avatar's projected North American cume, after only 17 days in release from 20th Century Fox, will be $352.1 million. And with an international cume of $670.2 million, its worldwide box office figure should be $1.02 billion coming out of this weekend.
Could Avatar reach $2 billion? I think it has a chance.
It looks like Harvey Weinstein may lose the money he made on Inglourious Basterds on the boxoffice stinker Nine. So far, Nine, which cost $80 million to make, has taken in a miserable $14 million worldwide and is sinking fast. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 7:10 pm |
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Quote: Avatar must be experienced in IMAX 3-D or not at all.
Absolutely. I do not expect that Avatar will do all that well on DVD. It's not a film you'll want to own and watch on a tv screen after experiencing it in Imax. Cameron has done something no one in Hollywood has managed to do in recent years. He has made a movie that is forcing people back into movie theaters. No one I know, has described Avatar as a "rental". |
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