My Photo

December 2022

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
        1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31


« Numb in Chicago | Main | Buena Suerte, Ricardo »

January 11, 2009

Comments

Thanks for the wonderful, and amazingly thorough job you did in this post. Only a couple of the movies you mention are playing in my crappy local movie theater (Valkyrie and Bemjamin Button), and I may try to see them both, although my daughter is one of those folks who told me not to bother seeing Button.

I also want to see Waltz with Bashir very badly, but it will never play here. I'll have to wait until it comes out on DVD.

I haven't seen any of those films. Although, I'd love to. I did see 7 Pounds and thought it was interesting, but it's definitely one that would change once you knew the ending. It was also very sad. Both my girls cried through parts of it.

I was curious about your reaction to SLUMDOG. I thought it was truly an amazing film. We do live in a very violent world, and there are more slaves now than at any time in history, mostly sex slaves I think. Yet there was a positive outcome which makes one feel good, a little bit. And the credits were fun to watch! I doubt if I will see Doubt because having read all about the predators at the church, and their real victims, I don't want to spend the time or money to relive this story. Perhaps I'll see it from the library. Same for a lot of the new films but I do want to see that Bashir film, Vicky Barcelona, the Wrestler and Defiance. Do I really want to be bummed out by the Revolutionary Road? I want to be entertained and if it is disturbing, I want a new angle or interesting story. A different environment...so no Frost/Nixon for me either. Everyone makes choices on how we spend our money today, something Hollywood should think about more. Or our time, is 3 hrs really necessary? Do I care about Australia, what , no aboriginies? Maybe if she fell in love with an aboriginies, that would be intriguing. I hope to get some of these on dvd from the library, if i have the patience to watch, like Bolt. Momma mia is no Busby Berkeley either. If everyone has big screens at home, they'd better make films which will get people out of their houses.

Great reviews. I loved Slumdog. I am going to see Doubt, The Wrestler and Gran Torino. I read "Revolutionary Road" and the book was fabulous. I am going to wait to see the film as I want the book to stay in my head for a long time.

Danny, great list for me to take to Kim's Video in a few months when these are all out on DVD. The only one I've seen so far is "Doubt," where Meryl Streep does the accent of her career.

You've seen more movies in the theatre this month than I've seen in the past year. How do you do it?! Thanks to your reviews, my wife and I may have to head back to the theatre soon. How much does a ticket cost these days?

David, in L.A. ticket prices range from $11 to $14 but that still shocks people in other parts of the country. I'm glad I saw all those movies in December because I feel like I have no time at all for movies this month. Of course that won't stop me from adding my two cents once the Oscar nominations come out (I still can't believe Sean Penn didn't win the Golden Globe).

Judy, I should have mentioned that there is a strong plot involving Aborigines in "Australia" and that a young Aboriginal boy is one of the best actors in the film. In retrospect, I can see the uplifting elements of "Slumdog Millionaire" but, even though I thought it was an excellent film, I found the constant violence hard to take.

Elisabeth, let me know what you think about "Benjamin Button" if you see it. I was transported away by that film but I hear a lot of people were left cold.

You knew Scott spoke French. Don't you remember, Tell No One?

Oh, duh, you're absolutely right, Adam. How did you know I'd seen that film? It wasn't even that long ago, I'm losing my mind!

She better get an Oscar nomination.

I hope by now you've had the chance to see "The Class". I saw this film and "Bashir" in Cannes last year and hands down prefer "The Class". It was funny and gritty with a fantastic ensemble cast. It also resonated well between cultures which is a huge feat for any foreign language film.

As for Bashir- I appreciate the message of the film and the animation was unique and stunning. However, I too had my eyes closed for a good part of it... I fell asleep! But to be fair I watched it a second time to make sure I didn't miss what the buzz was about- turns out I didn't miss much. Sadly the Cannes jury is rarely in sync with the Academy and Bashir just may be the more Oscar-ific of the two.

By the by... none of the other films listed at the end of your post are worth the 2 hours out of your day. Well done on sifting through the pile of good and bad winter releases.

The comments to this entry are closed.

Family

Movies