jibber jabber 

oh yeah…since i’ve been to quite a few movies in theatres lately so i’ve seen a lot of trailers and there’s a couple that actually look interesting.

the kingdom – this one caught my eye mostly because michael mann is attached to the project. the trailer has that same kind of feel as traffic or syriana. its got that yellow tint, shaky cam, but its also kind of the first movie i can think of to be set in the current middle east chaos.

american gangster – this movie looks like a nice epic tale. my only beef is that denzel washington is in it. he’s like robert deniro with his one look. the outraged, head trembling, spittle spewing jowls flapping look. i’m not sure if my interest in the movie will outweigh my dislike for denzel.

war – this looks interesting solely because of jason statham. he’s just a good action star.

finally managed to go see it last week. loved it.

before we set out to see it though i had to get steph up to speed so i tied her to the couch and forced her to watch the first two bournes and then we set out to catch the third.

insane foot chase through tangiers. crazy car chase in nyc. a crazy fight using a hardcover book as a weapon. yeah its a damn good movie.

funny aside, the car chase scenes were filmed using a suv with the stunt driver strapped to the top of the car so they could get proper interior shots of matt damon.

i had to sit on this for a day to fully absorb the experience that is the simpsons movie.

so the basic story is that homer causes an environmental disaster that has terrible ramifications for springfield and his family. of course being the simpsons nothing is that simple and the story keeps driving relentlessly along bringing joke after glorious joke.

highlights (that i can remember, there was so many):
the opening chalkboard sequence
how the president makes decisions
bart’s execution of homer’s dare
bart and flanders
martin

anyways, if you like the simpsons you’ll love the movie and even if you don’t like the simpsons, its still a wickedly funny movie.

i went into this with pretty low expectations. movies rarely live up to their books but it wasn’t half bad.

the age of the kids is disconcerting now. dudley looked nothing like he did last time out. i wonder what’s going to happen for the last two.

the new character, dolores umbridge, was downright creepy. potter still comes across as a whiny little bitch but i guess that’s his character.

the movie itself had a much darker tone. some fun special effects but unlike some of the other summer blockbusters, they were part of the movie, not the raison d’etre for the movie. the big wizard fight at the end was pretty well done.

the biggest compliment for the movie is that it didn’t get all bogged down in all the goings on at order’s house like i felt the book did.

now i’m just anxiously awaiting my amazon shipment of the 7th book…

i gotta say, i wasn’t super stoked on going to see this but now i’ve very glad that i did. one of the best movies of the year so far.

things get off to a hillarious start with the new Pixar short Lifted. an gut-bustingly funny tale about a young alien out for his first alien abduction. everything about it was just top notch.

the movie itself…its just such a good story. funny, poignant, not smarmy or cliched. the animation was fantastic, the dishes looked absolutely good enough to eat. the characters; from the main character remy, the evil chef, the undead food critic were all so good. it was also really cool to see paris in animation.

i don’t think i can heap enough superlatives on this movie. just go see it.

watch it here. can’t wait! i love how they put Ralph Wiggum in the 20th Century Fox shot.

caught up on some movie watching in the past month and have been negligent in my duty of boring everybody with my uninformed opinion so now you have to suffer through a bunch.

oceans thirteen
thoroughly enjoyable if you can suspend your disbelief (their solution to the big “problem” is absolutely ludicrous). its a good caper flick and soderbergh always makes very stylish, slick and polished movies. everybody is perfectly coiffed and stylish with fancy (although improbable) technology. but the bottom line is the movie was fun and never took itself too seriously.

the departed
can’t say i’ve ever been much of a scorsese fan but this was a damn good movie. the characters were great, the story was well told and i found myself clenching my jaw in anticipation. a little excessive in the gore but it helped the story and i guess the greatest praise is that i didn’t notice or pay attention to the styling, art direction or cinematography cause i was too wrapped up in the story.

the fountain
always been a big aronfsky fan. this movie was a little too convoluted for my liking. interesting story; i like the inter-connectedness of the different time periods but ultimately i think the slowness of the pacing killed it for me. great art direction and cinematography though.

spiderman 3
blah… i was hoping for more. i never followed the comic much but was always intrigued by venom but this movie did nothing to satisfy that curiosity. i’m sure this movie cost a shitload but it didn’t come out on screen. spiderman swinging through the city still looks retardedly CGI-ish. sandman was a waste of time and a stupid character. the whole harry/green goblin story line was just lame. but the part of the movie that was the absolute worst? when spiderman’s coming to the rescue of MJ and as he rushes to the scene of the big fight, he pauses on a rooftop…in front of a giant American flag blowing in the wind… bitch please!

happy feet
better than spiderman 3. but that’s not saying much but hey, its a kids movie and i cared more about little mumbles than i did about peter parker. they should have labeled it an animated musical though.

the good shepherd
i started it and then started browsing the internet and eventually turned it off. i can’t remember the last time i turned off a movie.

the holiday
its a romantic comedy. i had no choice. jack black is always singing in his movies. didn’t love it, didn’t hate it which is a positive review right? right?

so my allergies have kicked in something fierce so this past saturday i spent my afternoon with kleenex shoved up my nose watching movies while my girlfriend mocked me by calling me “plugs”…how’s that for support?!

watched the Last King of Scotland and Forrest Whittaker puts in an amazing performance as Idi Amin. he’s that guy who is your best friend, charming, disarming and then next thing you know you’re caught up in some bad shit. he does such a good job with that role making you like him despite his evilness.

i wasn’t too familiar with the whole Idi Amin saga so i had to do a little wikipedia research to see how much of the movie was fact versus fiction. turns out its VERY loosely based on real people and events but the underlying horror of Amin’s regime rings true.

the movie itself is quite compelling but it left me wishing that dr. nick had done something to redeem himself. oh well…