I’m going to make this quick since I’m working on some lengthier material and there are Tons of new movies this week.
30 Days of Night
I like vampires; I like vampire movies. The director’s previous movie Hard Candy was dark and deftly shot and quit a surprise. I can’t even put my name on why, but this looks bad. Not fun bad either, just poorly done. I prefer my vampires Anne Rice style – sensual and cultured and successful; these look like feral beasts.
The idea of heading up north to take advantage of lack of sun is also original, but this one just doesn’t hook me. Considering it’s the only new horror movie opening it will probably do decent business then drop off when Saw 4 comes out.
The Comebacks
I am a Huge David Koechner fan, but this looks terrible. All the recent spoof movies have fallen into similar traps. A spoof movie should not just recount events from other movies – it should reference and mock the conventions. Comedy is not made by throwing out references that the audience “gets,” it’s having an original take on it. I’ll catch this on HBO in a couple months to see if I’m right.
Gone Baby Gone
Ben Affleck’s directorial debut. I just might be the only person on Earth excited by that. I’m a big Affleck apologist – he certainly made some bad films, but I think he’s a talented intelligent guy and not surprised at all this is getting Excellent reviews. I’m expecting this to be regarded as a top-tier detective film in the future.
Nightmare Before Christmas: 3D
Nightmare is one of my favorite movies of all time, so I am very excited Disney has decided to make the re-release a regular event. The score, the animation, everything about this film is fantastic. It’s only playing over at Mall of Georgia on IMAX, but I highly recommend the trip. I went last year and I’ll be going again – it’s only out for Three Weeks, so get on it.
Rendition
In early previous this looked a little melodramatic, but I’ve read a bit more and am now expecting this to be one of the best films of the year. It’s difficult to take on such a divisive topic without preaching, and hopefully this one can pull it off. The cast is normally excellent. The director almost won Best Foreign Film last year. I doubt this will make much money, but I think it’ll be very good.
The Ten Commandments
I had never heard of this animated feature prior to looking at this week’s releases. It appears to have rounded up a handful of name actors known for being in just about anything – Sir Ben Kingsley for example (there is NO excuse for Bloodrayne), and Christian Slater. The computer animation doesn’t look very good – but there’s certainly a market for this film and if you are in it, you probably already know about it.
Sarah Langdon and the Paranormal Hour
A PG rated suspense/ghost movie involving no one I have ever heard of. I – have nothing more to say about this.
Things We Lost in the Fire
Halle Berry really wants to be a serious actress – and already got rewarded for being so, but I just don’t think she’s very good. I think Benecio del Toro can be brilliant. However, this looks like some overwrought weeper that will come and go in theaters with barely a blip. Occasionally a film like this does get staying power, but the fact I’ve seen almost no advertising doesn’t bode well.
Recap:
Nothing looks enjoyably bad this week. Horror fans – think twice about the frozen vampires. Drama fans: Rendition and Gone Baby Gone are very good bets.
People who like movies: Go see Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D.
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7 comments:
I have a question. Are you saying that the only place you can see The Nightmare Before Christmas is at the Mall of Georgia or that that is the only place you can see it on IMAX? Because I saw that it is playing in 3-D at the Regal in Kennesaw. So, if people want to see it, but do not want to drive all the way to the Mall of Georgia, they still can! However, if you are saying that it is worth the trip to be able to see it in IMAX, then just disregard everything I have already said.
I agree with you on the vampires rant. I enjoyed Interview with A Vampire, the Underworld series, and even Coppola's Dracula...all because the vampires were smart and calculating. Those movies portrayed vampirism as an enhancement, no so much as a rabid disease. And after watching the trailer to 30 Days, I think the vampires look too strange (cat like eyes??). I miss the malevolent vampire movies, with villains you can truly enjoy and even sympathize with. 30 Days lacks that and I am sorely disappointed at the lack of "horror" movies this Halloween.
Nice work.
What's up? Just wanted to let you know I went to see Gone Baby Gone this past Sunday. I think the movie was going to be good, but I walked out after 2o minutes because the F bomm was used every other word. the language was awful. But I should have known; the movie was set in New York.
I then bought new tickets to see Rendition. That was a great movie. It is kind of hard to follow; there are a lot of weird twists and turns. You have to follow the movie really close.
Thanks for all of the reviews though. What movies have you seen lately?
Ash -
I'm very sorry for that misinformation. I was under the impression you could only see it in 3-D on IMAX, which upon looking at movie schedules is definately wrong.
If you're over in the area IMAX is really cool to see, but it's quite a drive and more expensive.
Jonathan -
I think the only "new" vampire movie I liked was 28 Days Later, and it could be argued that doesn't really count.
Unfortunately if you're as sick of the Saw movies as I am, there isn't much Horror choice at all this year.
Ryan - I'm sorry about the Affleck movie. It seems like these days people confuse excessive vulgarity with "authenticity" or "grit" or something.
I'm glad that Rendition was good. It seemed like it might be a big bummer, but if it's nice and twisty I'll go check it out.
I love vampire movies as well. I was really disapointed with the 30 days of Nights. I was like what the.....! Where was the blood! Except what was smeared on them all throughout the movie and I was like.. so they are portraying vampires that do not take baths. LOL! The way it ended was poorly written as well. They all get blown up... big deal!
I actually really enjoyed 30 Days of Night, save for the side romance that had to make the movie inappropriately sentimental. Even though I'm a fan of the very elegant vampires ala Anne Rice, I thought it was interesting to explore the Nosferatu aspect of the myth. Piggybacking on Jonathan's comment, I don't think that these vampires lacked intelligence; they probably had more brute strength than brains, but I think the very fact that they found a location perfect for their sensitivity to light shows at the very least a sort of evolutionary intelligence.
As far as considering it a horror movie... Well, I think it's more horror than films like Saw or Hostel, but I agree with the other remarks about the lack of substantial horror flicks. This infatuation with special effects and seeing how gorey a film can be has really lessened the psycological spook factor of most movies.
I'm somewhat interested in seeing "30 Days Of Night", given that it's based on a comic book. I remember the hype behind this comic from when I worked at a comic book store, but Josh Hartnett doesn't really make me think "star material".
"The Comebacks" looks like a decent parody film, but can David Koechner be a true leading man, even in a parody? At most, it'd be a bad movie night rental, and at least... I'll completely forget the movie.
And finally? I've never been as big of a fan of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" as everyone else; it seems to be part of Tim Burton's gothic/emo fanwanking.
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