I don't know if there's going to be a showing in my area, but I've heard that there will be Mamma Mia! Sing-a-Longs in some theaters. I hope I can find a theater! I'd love to do it. I had trouble not singing when I saw the movie last month.
Other movies- I will probably see Hamlet 2 on Monday. It looks like a total scream!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Heard the Thunder yet?
I saw Tropic Thunder today. It was awesome! Hilarious, though not as funny as Pineapple Express. It's a great send-up of war movies and movie making in general. Five actors are dropped into the jungle by their director to make their performances more realistic- when the director is killed by an old land mine, they have to try to make their way back to safety. They are captured by heroin producers who think they're actually DEA agents out to shut them down.
The beginning is a series of fake movie trailers to introduce the audience to the actors- Ben Stiller's Tugg Speedman is an action hero who wants to be taken seriously; Robert Downey Jr.'s Kirk Lazarus is an Australian bad-boy Oscar winner who is so method he has his skin dyed to play a black soldier; and Jack Black is the star of gross-out comedies who wants respectability. They're joined by a rapper-actor (named Alpa Chino- genius!) who is rather offended by Lazarus and a young newcomer who idolizes the older actors.
It's great fun to watch these five actors struggle with the reality of their situation. There's a lot of movie-style blood and gore, though it's used for laughs rather than to scare. The funniest part of the movie is the film's financial backer- played by an unrecognizable Tom Cruise. He's vulgar and selfish, and has no problem with letting his big stars die rather than pay ransom demands (to collect on insurance later). Nick Nolte also appears as the phony war hero whose book the film-in-progress is based on, and Matthew McConaughey is Tugg's agent.
The beginning is a series of fake movie trailers to introduce the audience to the actors- Ben Stiller's Tugg Speedman is an action hero who wants to be taken seriously; Robert Downey Jr.'s Kirk Lazarus is an Australian bad-boy Oscar winner who is so method he has his skin dyed to play a black soldier; and Jack Black is the star of gross-out comedies who wants respectability. They're joined by a rapper-actor (named Alpa Chino- genius!) who is rather offended by Lazarus and a young newcomer who idolizes the older actors.
It's great fun to watch these five actors struggle with the reality of their situation. There's a lot of movie-style blood and gore, though it's used for laughs rather than to scare. The funniest part of the movie is the film's financial backer- played by an unrecognizable Tom Cruise. He's vulgar and selfish, and has no problem with letting his big stars die rather than pay ransom demands (to collect on insurance later). Nick Nolte also appears as the phony war hero whose book the film-in-progress is based on, and Matthew McConaughey is Tugg's agent.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
What? What? WHAT????
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is being moved to July 2009!
http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/ap/20080814/121875456000.html
If they're holding it back this long, it had damn well better be good.
http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/ap/20080814/121875456000.html
If they're holding it back this long, it had damn well better be good.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Funniest movie of the year!
I saw Pineapple Express last night. I have never laughed so hard at a movie. I laughed until I cried- my make up was a disaster by the end.
imdb.com summary: "A stoner and his dealer are forced to go on the run from the police after the pothead witnesses a cop commit a murder." That's the whole plot right there. It needs no other description! This movie is definitely not for people easily offended by drug humor and bad language. Drug movies aren't my thing, but I got the jokes and just laughed all the way from the first joint smoked (the Pineapple Express of the title being tested by the military) to the last case of munchies (the potheads scarfing down breakfast in the last scene). Seth Rogen and James Franco are a scream as pothead and dealer, respectively. Danny R. McBride steals the show as the dealer's supplier...who is so out of it he manages to survive being shot multiple times! There were some terrific and hilarious fight scenes, and a car chase that left me unable to breathe because I couldn't stop laughing.
I think Cheech and Chong and Harold and Kumar have some competition! The stoner action comedy...I never thought such a film could be so damned funny.
imdb.com summary: "A stoner and his dealer are forced to go on the run from the police after the pothead witnesses a cop commit a murder." That's the whole plot right there. It needs no other description! This movie is definitely not for people easily offended by drug humor and bad language. Drug movies aren't my thing, but I got the jokes and just laughed all the way from the first joint smoked (the Pineapple Express of the title being tested by the military) to the last case of munchies (the potheads scarfing down breakfast in the last scene). Seth Rogen and James Franco are a scream as pothead and dealer, respectively. Danny R. McBride steals the show as the dealer's supplier...who is so out of it he manages to survive being shot multiple times! There were some terrific and hilarious fight scenes, and a car chase that left me unable to breathe because I couldn't stop laughing.
I think Cheech and Chong and Harold and Kumar have some competition! The stoner action comedy...I never thought such a film could be so damned funny.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Top 20 favorite movies? Only 20?
That has to be the hardest question anyone could ever ask me. On a message board I frequent, there was a discussion of favorite movies of all time. One poster joked that choosing only 20 was like trying to choose a favorite child, and I agreed! 
Here's my top 20...in no order.
Citizen Kane
Rebecca
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
LOTR trilogy (I count it as one)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Amadeus
American Beauty
A Christmas Story
Apollo 13
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Star Wars
Terms of Endearment
Beauty and the Beast
Chicago
Back to the Future
When Harry Met Sally
Manchurian Candidate (original)
Rear Window
Vertigo
West Side Story
Honorable mentions- Wizard of Oz, Time Bandits, Ghostbusters, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Spaceballs, Blazing Saddles.
Recent favorites like Atonement, Little Miss Sunshine, Sweeney Todd, WALL-E, and Hairspray will probably sneak into my all time favorites list eventually!
Here's my top 20...in no order.
Citizen Kane
Rebecca
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
LOTR trilogy (I count it as one)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Amadeus
American Beauty
A Christmas Story
Apollo 13
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Star Wars
Terms of Endearment
Beauty and the Beast
Chicago
Back to the Future
When Harry Met Sally
Manchurian Candidate (original)
Rear Window
Vertigo
West Side Story
Honorable mentions- Wizard of Oz, Time Bandits, Ghostbusters, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Spaceballs, Blazing Saddles.
Recent favorites like Atonement, Little Miss Sunshine, Sweeney Todd, WALL-E, and Hairspray will probably sneak into my all time favorites list eventually!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
No surprise here!
The Dark Knight topped $400 million in record time- just 18 days! It took 43 days for the previous record holder, Shrek 2, to make that much. In another few days, TDK will become the highest-grossing comic book film ever, beating the first Spider-Man! Wow. I wonder what the final total gross will be- maybe around $500 million...but I doubt it will beat Titanic's record.
In other Dark Knight news, Morgan Freeman was in a bad car wreck on Sunday, and is still in serious condition. Here's to his speedy recovery!
In other Dark Knight news, Morgan Freeman was in a bad car wreck on Sunday, and is still in serious condition. Here's to his speedy recovery!
Friday, August 1, 2008
The Dark Knight
May be spoilers ahead...
Oh, my goodness. That was the best Batman movie ever. MUCH better than Batman Begins. And yes, Heath Ledger's performance makes the movie great...totally chilling, utterly unforgettable. His Joker is amazing, full of malice, bitterness, cruelty, and dark humor. But the other performances were damn fine too- Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman; Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon; Michael Caine as Wayne's loyal butler Alfred; Morgan Freeman as Wayne's gadget guru Fox; and Aaron Eckhart as D.A. Harvey Dent. And Maggie Gyllenhaal is far superior to Katie Holmes as Wayne's childhood friend, Rachel.
There were lots of scary, tense bits (such as the hospital evacuation and the the ferries playing chicken with bombs), and Dent's transformation into Two-Face is gruesome and sad. There's plenty of action and noise, but it's not gratuitous. For a comic book-turned into film, this one has a lot of emotion, too. The death of Rachel tears at Bruce, and drives Dent into madness.
What a shame we'll never see Ledger on screen again.
Quotes:
Harvey Dent: You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
Joker: Here's my card. *tosses the joker playing card on the table*
Oh, my goodness. That was the best Batman movie ever. MUCH better than Batman Begins. And yes, Heath Ledger's performance makes the movie great...totally chilling, utterly unforgettable. His Joker is amazing, full of malice, bitterness, cruelty, and dark humor. But the other performances were damn fine too- Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman; Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon; Michael Caine as Wayne's loyal butler Alfred; Morgan Freeman as Wayne's gadget guru Fox; and Aaron Eckhart as D.A. Harvey Dent. And Maggie Gyllenhaal is far superior to Katie Holmes as Wayne's childhood friend, Rachel.
There were lots of scary, tense bits (such as the hospital evacuation and the the ferries playing chicken with bombs), and Dent's transformation into Two-Face is gruesome and sad. There's plenty of action and noise, but it's not gratuitous. For a comic book-turned into film, this one has a lot of emotion, too. The death of Rachel tears at Bruce, and drives Dent into madness.
What a shame we'll never see Ledger on screen again.
Quotes:
Harvey Dent: You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
Joker: Here's my card. *tosses the joker playing card on the table*
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