Rate the Last Movie You Saw

[srboone]

Just checked online and the IMAX presentation of the Hobbit I saw last night WAS in HFR. SO I agree with Dan's friend's assessment that it makes the CGI look less real.

[Dan Hocker]

I wasn't impressed with the 3D in TH:AUJ anyway. I did like the 3D in some of the trailers last night, though, as some of the shots had the women't breasts in 3D! Oblivion, Man of Steel, A Good Day to Die Hard were the one's shown. Usually a scene will be in 3D, but the woman's chest is in 2D.

Lets see I got The Host, The Lone Ranger, Oblivion, After Earth, Man of Steel, The Croods. I think that's all the previews, though I may be missing one.

[srboone]

We only had 3 because of the 9 min STID sneak peak...

[srboone]

Saw The Hobbit in regular 3D yesterday. The HFR makes the film seem like video game footage in comparison. The CGI looked a lot better in regular 3D, as did the characters. I'm sure HFR is the future, but it's just not there yet. Kudos to Jackson for pushing the envelope, tho. The movie still suffers from the same thing The Phantom Menacedid: a lack of heart. makes for a looong 3 hr movie.

[TJCams]

I wish going to the movies wasn't so darned expensive nowadays - I would definitely go more often. Although we have cheap Tuesdays here......

Anyways - last movie at a theatre I saw was Sinister - I think I mentioned that a few pages back.

Last night on Movie Network Encore channel - one of my favourite classic horror/sci-fi movies was on. The Thing - the original one from 1982 with Kurt Russell. Sure, the special effects are dated - compared to modern CGI, but still - I think this is a very good movie. Is it scary - no, not really.

In fact - I find it really hard to find a movie that really scares me at all. And I want to find one that will do that. Any suggestions????

[Lou Sytsma]

The Hobbit is a children's tale so my expectations for it, in comparison to the LOTRs, were modulated accordingly. From that perspective I found The Hobbit a wonderful adventure story.

I did it in HFR and recommend anyone that is planning to, adjust your expectations. 48fps brings a whole new paradigm to theater viewing. This is akin to going from silent movies to talkies or from B&W movies to color. Don't go in treating it as a HD version of a movie because you will assuredly be disappointed, distracted, and probably leave the theater downright disliking it.

Rather go in with the mindset that you are seeing a live performance with all the attendant bells and whistles that a movie brings. The clarity is startling. I treated it like seeing a play and the level of immersion was something I have never experienced in a movie theater.

There are occasional moments of seemingly sped up motion but they were very rare and never took me out of the picture.

I must reiterate the level of immersion was fantastic. I walked away from my HFR viewing feeling not like I had watched The Hobbit but that I had lived it.

A fantastic experience.

I will be doing a regular 2D viewing for comparison but right now I am very eager to see other films in this new format.

[srboone]

Django Unchained: This is Tarantino's best film--and with his body of work, that's really saying something. It's big, bloody, full of his charactersitic film references, dialogue flourishes, fiendish plot twists, and political incorectness. In fact, DU rewrites the playbook for being politically incorrect. It takes American's greatest blemish (slavery) and rubs our noses in it, forcing us to look at it as entertainment. Here we have an American spaghetti western that dares ask the question: We all know slavery was wrong; so, why did you guys put up with it for so long? This film isn't for the squeamish, it's not for the politically correct, and it's definitely not for the Spike Lee noone other than a black man can use the N-word crowd. The editing is not as tight as his previous films (his long-time editior Sally Meinke died in 2010), Leo DiCaprio seems more concerned about the outward quirks of his character and doesn't really get to the heart of Calvin J. Candie, and Foxx pales in comparison to Christophe Walz (fortunately neither tries to out do the other and their pairing really scores big), but it all pays off in a grand entertainment that is as unsettling as it is satisfying.

QT has said that he plans on retiring from filmmaking when he's at his peak, so that he doesn't have to have his last few films mar his main body of work. Hopefully there is more to come from him--with Django Unchained and Inglorious Basterds, QT has expanded his mythmaking ability beyond the mean streets of LA.

5/5

[RJK1981]

Bernie - I had been planning to check this out since seeing it mentioned on Roger Ebert's Facebook page a couple weeks ago or so. I finally got around to watching a couple days ago on Netflix instant view. It stars Jack Black, but it is definitely not his usual role whatsoever. So if you don't like him in other things, he puts in a very good, strong performance. This is a funny movie, but is definitely a dark comedy that is actually based on a true story (with interviews of the real people involved during the credits). It also stars Matthew McConaughey and Shirley MacLaine. I would have to say this is one of the best movies I have seen in a while, and definitely the best and strongest acting from Jack Black that I have ever seen. I can only hope to see him in more roles like this that displays his acting ability.

A+

[srboone]

Les Miserables: I have never seen the stage production of this, but was excited about the way it was filmed. The cast sang as it was filmed, not sung in a studio and then sychronized with the acting. What this does is lend an intimacy to all of the performances--along with all the sour notes (and there are a lot of them). Jackman comes off best--he is a seasoned musical stage performer; he isn't an Alfie Boe or any of the great tenors that have performed the part of Jean Valjean, but he is very, very good (and likely to give Daniel Day-Lewis stiff competition for Best Actor). Hathaway shines as the doomed prostitute Fantine and Samatha Barks makes quite an impression as Eponine. But poor Russell Crowe. His years of fronting rock-n-roll bands didn't prepare him for this role. He is the least effective actor in the movie.

The biggest problem with the movie is the direction. Tom Hooper, dispalying none of flair that won him Best Director for The King's Speech, delivers an in-your face entertainment that scores during the "big" songs, but makes you uncomfortable to the point of tuning out during the more intimate numbers. The result is an uneven experience that has soaring highs and really deadening lows. It makes 157 minutes feel like...157 minutes. I sat in the middle of the theater; maybe if i had sat in the back row, putting as much distance between me and the screen as possible (mimicing "the 4th wall" of the theater), the effect may not have been so dramatic. Perhaps, but I think the movie will play better on a smaller screen.

3/5

[srboone]

I have boxes and boxes of uneaten cereal in my house that will probably just go to waste. General Mills has a promotion where you buy two marked boxes of their cereal and you get a free movie ticket worth up to $12. So I spend $9, and I get $12 toward movie tickets. And since the theater I go to lets me keep any unused portion of that $12, I can buy 10 boxes of ceal for $40 and get $60 worth of movie tickets. Then, since the coupon is treated like a credit card, it goes onto my AMC Stubs card which gets me $10 for every $100 spent and I get about 16 prime time movies for the price of 10. At least until 31Jan.

Some people use their math skills to better Mankind. I use mine to score movie tickets.

Aaaaaaanyway,

Silver Linings Playbook: A terrific foul-mouthed, screwball, romantic comedy. Bradley Cooper does some real acting in the film; Jennifer Lawrence is absolutely adorable (these women are actually scary in real life, but never mind that); and Robert Deniro creates a comedic character on par with his best work playing disreputable types. On top of all that, you won't be hoping that Chris Tucker gets run over by the rush hour traffic! Smart, sophisticated, and just plain fun, SLP should not be missed. I'm glad I ignored my desire to just get some sleep and went to go see this (even though the couple sitting next to me kept popping their knuckles for two full hours).

4/5

[jester05jk]

Nice move Squire. I tend to do the same if I want something from somewhere and they do the whole "spend $100 get $25" or whatever. I'll buy a gift certificate so I get the bonus after I figure out how much what I want will cost.

Donate those boxes to a local soup kitchen or something.

[srboone]

I probably will. Just the box tops are open, the codes are printed on the insides of the boxes; the plastic bags are still sealed. I find Trix disgusting anyway (the cheapest of the cereals that have the movie tickets).

[Sock Monkey]

Finally got out to see Skyfall! Definitely one of my favorite Bond films and lived up to the high expectations set for it by the great word of mouth. Unfortunately the movie-going experience was marred by a couple that decided they wanted to talk the entire time instead of watching the film. Basic etiquette just seems to escape some people...

[srboone]

Skyfall is the first billion-dollar Bond Movie! And without China!

[srboone]

Texas Chainsaw 3D: Why do I keep going to these things? One, because it's a midnight showing; and Two, because I know that at some point in my lifetime a good horror film that uses great 3D visuals will be released. Alas, this is not it; but's it's one of the better remakes/reboots of horror calssics.

The film begins with a prologue that is a stunning 3D transfer of highlights from the 1974 classic (sprinkled with modern reenactments) and sets up the current film as a sequel to the original (ala 2009's Friday the 13th offering), ignoring the tepid 2003 remake and the darkly comic 1986 TCM2 sequel/spoof. What follows is an hour of formulaic, gory, stupid-decision-ridden story of 4 people bound for Newt, Texas to reclaim the the lost legacy of our heroine. Then, the last half hour of the film is about as brave, audacious, and ridiculous as a horror film can get. But it works; partly because it contains an almost unbearably intense scene in which an officer follows Leatherface's trail to his lair. The 3D effects range from average to great, though there were a few missed opportunities for some really spectacular ones. The final twist is predictable, but should not be divulged here, in case some actually want to see this in the theater.

At it's worst, it's mind-numbingly dull; but when it clicks, it's a sight to behold.

3/5