Re: Now Playing At a Theater Near You

Wilhelmina Sun Aug 26, 2012 4:01 pm

I like a lot of Woody Allen movies, but To Rome with Love isn't one of them - as I found out today. This thing has two redeeming qualities, and those are Jesse Eisenberg and Penelope Cruz. No, not even Rome really makes an impression. It's just basically...there. I'll stop right now before I get into the not one, but two sorta metaphysical plot lines 'coz they make my head hurt.

Fiammetta Sun Aug 26, 2012 8:37 pm

Premium Rush is exactly as good as everyone says it is. It really is held up by its camerawork and editing more than its plot or acting, and I don't mean that as a slam. JGL was great, but of course it was hard not to quietly resent him for being one of those biker douches, anyway. As one guy put it as everyone left the theater, "He never left that bike, and it was still good!"

whatthedeuce Tue Aug 28, 2012 1:52 am

So it's actually good? The trailer looks exciting, but I expected it to get poor word of mouth for some reason. I guess JGL probably thinks it was worth getting hit by a taxi last year then, huh?

curryalley Tue Aug 28, 2012 11:42 pm

I saw both Premium Rush and The Bourne Legacy today. Premium Rush was almost good - it came close to being fun and they made some clever choices >>

Spoiler:

but the movie suffered from an unbelievable villain and the screenwriters couldn't quite figure out how to make a 90-minute movie about a bike messenger. It just missed for me but is worth renting for anyone who wants to see it.

As for The Bourne Legacy... oh man. The Bourne movies made a splash because of clever action sequences presented in exciting new ways. So to make a Bourne movie with almost no action was rage making. When I wasn't bored out of my mind and checking my watch to see how much longer I had left, I was angry the had the nerve to call this a Bourne film. Jason Bourne and his rolled up magazine would kick Aaron Cross's ass. Plus everything Edward Norton said came across as complete gibberish.

whatthedeuce Wed Aug 29, 2012 3:39 am

Seriously?! The trailer makes it look like it's a nonstop action kinda movie! I was really looking forward to it, but now I think I'll wait until it gets to the cheaper theater in a month.

mokey75 Mon Sep 03, 2012 10:12 am

Celeste and Jesse Forever. I thought it was kind of a mess - ramble-y, it felt a lot longer than it actually was, and by the end, I kind of wanted to divorce them. But then there were parts that were very good and felt really real. The end,

Spoiler:

I think there was a much better movie in there somewhere.

Raksha Mon Sep 03, 2012 6:11 pm

I saw Bourne Legacy a while ago and I really liked it, actually. I know it clearly left some questions open (intentionally, for a sequel, I felt) but it didn't bother me. And it had enough action for me. I dunno, maybe I'm just easy to please these days.

curryalley Sat Sep 08, 2012 3:18 am

I just saw Lawless and it wasn't nearly as ridiculous as I thought it was going to be - I quite enjoyed it. Tom Hardy and Shia LaBeouf are both incredibly watchable and the thing manages to be entertaining but the whole movie collapses if you spend any time thinking about it. Best not to do that. With that being said, I was surprised that

Spoiler:

I wasn't bored and I liked it well enough but, like I said, it only works if you don't think about it too much.

Wilhelmina Sat Sep 08, 2012 7:28 pm

Bad Username wrote:Step Up 4. Yep, that's right. I spent money to watch the sequel to the sequel to the sequel to the movie that launched Channing Tatum. And it was AWESOME! The plot was totally clichéd and predictable, and cribbed kind of heavily from Dirty Dancing, but the dance scenes were incredible, they were flash mobs turned up to 11. I recommend it for anyone who even remotely likes dance movies.

Seconded! And it wasn't just the dancing, the acrobatics during the finale were bananas! I do appreciate however that they managed to work in some fine modern dance. Also: Peter Gallagher!

jensa Mon Sep 10, 2012 12:11 pm

Took the spawn to see Raiders of the Lost Ark in Imax. Still such a great movie. In fact, I would say it is better than 99% of the movies out today. Harrison Ford was insanely handsome back in the day. I mean, he is still pretty good looking, but man, back then, total swoonage.

Wildog27 Fri Sep 14, 2012 4:22 pm

I saw it last night as well and was struck about how good it is, nostalgia aside. The pacing of it moves so quickly, especially the scond half, and the dialogue was so snappy. My total favorite line is Indy saying, "I don't know. I'm making this up as I go."

TiffanyNichelle Sun Sep 16, 2012 4:39 pm

I went to see For A Good Time, Call last night. It was really cute and funny.

Raksha Wed Sep 19, 2012 6:59 am

The French departments at the local universities here (Washington State in the town where I live and U of Idaho 8 miles away across the border) have teamed up together to bring a French film festival here. They're showing one every Tuesday night for the next 6 weeks and the first one was tonight. I went with my mom and a few of her friends from her French class to see the The Women on the 6th Floor, which was delightful. It was a really sweet, funny movie about a middle-aged business man in the mid-1960s who hires a new maid named Maria just off the bus from Spain, who lives on the top (6th) floor of his building with a bunch of other Spanish maids who work for the other rich people in the building. He ends up befriending them all and falling in love with Maria and the movie is about the way this changes his life and how he relates to other people. It totally avoids the whole horrible Manic Pixie Dream Girl Who Teaches An Uptight Man How To Love boringness. It's just a really fun, lovely film. Highly recommended!

darthtall Fri Sep 21, 2012 2:24 am

It's not technically playing yet, but I got to go to a free advanced screening of Pitch Perfect tonight. SO GOOD, Y'ALL.

I went in with fairly low expectations, thinking all the best bits might have been in the trailer, but I basically never stopped laughing. I think you could actually characterize it as the Platonic Ideal of Glee - slightly cracked-out, but super-entertaining with great music. Also, Rebel Wilson is the Actual Best.

I'm planning on shelling out the $8 to go see it again when it comes out for real, and we were already demanding the dvd version as we left the theater. It will be mine.

laddical Fri Sep 21, 2012 2:40 am

That's.... interesting. Because based solely on the trailer, I was wondering who Anna Kendrick had pissed off.

But if it does "Glee" one better, I may be okay with making it a night out with my wife.

Kiran Fri Sep 21, 2012 10:49 am

I read the book it was based on and found it fascinating (its a true life account of a year in the lives of three major acapella groups). Its been getting great early buzz so I am excited to see it.

whatthedeuce Fri Sep 21, 2012 5:34 pm

I've been wanting to see Pitch Perfect since I saw the preview 2 months ago. I'm really glad to hear it's that funny!

queenofdenile Fri Sep 28, 2012 12:22 pm

Can I just pop in to say how pleased I am that Won't Back Down is getting panned? Because I'm very pleased.

Cutebutpsycho Fri Sep 28, 2012 1:56 pm

There's something about Won't Back Down right now that bothers me. But I think it's the whole anti-union thing that I've been having to live with for the past year or so (I hate living in a battleground state).

Kiran Fri Sep 28, 2012 2:16 pm

I thought Waiting for Superman made some salient points about the importance of good teachers but I am so for unions as I grew up in a union family that even that was problematic for me. This movie REALLY bothered me because of that aspect but also the white saviour aspect I got from the trailers. That and, thought shes an excellent actress, I already find Maggie Gyllenhaal unbearably smug, I couldn't imagine her on the press tour for this film.

Carrie Ann Fri Sep 28, 2012 2:21 pm

Kiran wrote:This movie REALLY bothered me because of that aspect but also the white saviour aspect I got from the trailers.

YES. Is that not what the movie is about? Because it certainly comes across like, "White lady moves into majority black neighborhood, is appalled by the level of public education that black kids have had to put up with forever because of an indifferent system, and saves the schools so that her poor little white child doesn't have to suffer just because they happen to live in that neighborhood. Black people everywhere rejoice and thank her for her benevolence."

**blixie** Fri Sep 28, 2012 2:49 pm

white saviour aspect

Actually Salon described it more like Magical Red Neck. Which I admit made me LOL.

bosoxgirl Fri Sep 28, 2012 3:58 pm

The French departments at the local universities here (Washington State in the town where I live and U of Idaho 8 miles away across the border) have teamed up together to bring a French film festival here. They're showing one every Tuesday night for the next 6 weeks and the first one was tonight. I went with my mom and a few of her friends from her French class to see the The Women on the 6th Floor, which was delightful. It was a really sweet, funny movie about a middle-aged business man in the mid-1960s who hires a new maid named Maria just off the bus from Spain, who lives on the top (6th) floor of his building with a bunch of other Spanish maids who work for the other rich people in the building. He ends up befriending them all and falling in love with Maria and the movie is about the way this changes his life and how he relates to other people. It totally avoids the whole horrible Manic Pixie Dream Girl Who Teaches An Uptight Man How To Love boringness. It's just a really fun, lovely film. Highly recommended!

Thank you for this recommendation. I borrowed the dvd from my local library and I loved it! It just made me really happy.

laddical Fri Sep 28, 2012 10:07 pm

Hotel Transylvania. Some very nice gags, the kids enjoyed it, and the plot was decent for the first 2/3, but then they obviously had no idea how to end it. And the "group rap" at the end... I would rather Adam Sandler done another "making shit up as I go along" song, but at that point I was just glad it was over.

Raksha Fri Sep 28, 2012 10:22 pm

Yay! I'm so happy you liked it, bosoxgirl! So far, that film is still my favorite out of all the films in the festival.

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