Almost 3 months into the year, and we haven't had any posts about new movies people have seen.
I don't remember if it was December or January, but I really enjoyed the new True Grit. Thankfully, they didn't try to remake the John Wayne classic. Instead, it was a new adaptation of the novel. Good work all around.
Last night, I went to see Red Riding Hood. First, this is not for kids. It is NOT the fairy tale most of us heard as children. It's an older legend that I believe predates the fairy tale. They did include a dream scene wherein Valerie (Red) asks Gradnma the usual questions: "What big teeth you have." It was kind of hokey, but I understand why it was done. Gary Oldman delivers his usual engaging performance. Julie Christie (anybody remember her?) is Grandma. It's not scary so much as it's mysterious. Who's the big bad werewolf? Even if you're tired of vampires and werewolves, this one's worth it if only for the scenery. I love the sets and the photography. There's a celebration scene that could have been shorter, but other than that, I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Thanks for the review Moviewriter-heheheh. I liked the scenery in the trailers. In only the best way, recalled cinematography+look of Harry Potter films, Narnia, Lord of the Rings and films that have that outside epic sprawl. On the to-see list. By the way- the Roger Ebert-Battle L.A. link in the other movie thread-you were right. I DID enjoy it and found it hilarious.

One of my friends who saw Red with me enjoyed it but thought it was like a combination of The Village and the Twilight series. Catherine Hardwicke directed the first Twilight movie. But since I haven't watched any of those, the similarities don't bother me.

Saw "The Adjustment Bureau" last week. Not sure if I liked it or not. It was strange, in a "Shutter Island"/"Inception" kind of way. I think I need to see it again.

Woody, Gary Oldman is such a chameleon, literally. He never looks like the same person in any of his movies. He's almost unrecognizable from movie to movie. They showed an interview clip he did and he said he's changed his haircolor so many times that he forgets what the natural color is. He can play anything (and he does.)

Oldman is such a good actor-deserves to be in the DeNiro, Hoffman, Eastwood, Nicholson, Streep et al-club. Played terrorist so convincingly in AF-1 that I hated him and cheered when he got his come uppance. Good even in the HPotter films.

Just rented The Next Three Days with Russel Crowe. I love thrillers anyway, but so often they just fail to get it right. Leaving you wondering just how they did this or why did that not to that kind of thing. The screenwriter on this one seems to have really thought it though.

Rented "Unstoppable" and "Book of Eli." The former was good, even though I saw it in the theater last fall. I couldn't get into the latter.
It took too long to get going, and when it did, I couldn't hear anything. I think my player has an audio muffler or something because I always have to raise the volume on the TV. Normally, I set it around 30-35. For Eli, it was above 40 and I still couldn't hear the dialogue. I gave up after about 40 minutes.
This summer's theatrical releases look awful. Maybe, just maybe the new Transformers movie has some potential if only because I liked the first two. There's some positive buzz about Super 8, but I'm not sure I want to see that.
Otherwise, it looks like junk, more junk and worse junk. Zookeeper? Hangover 2? (Was the first that good?) Bad Teacher?
This is sad.

I agree Woody. I liked "Unstoppable" a lot. It was a bit of a surprise for me. Had me on the edge of my seat for most of the movie. "Eli" was just okay, and that's painful to say since I like Denzel a lot and I've had a not so secret crush on him for many years now. But, I did enjoy the surprise in the end.

Also not impressed with the summer movie line-up, although I'm hearing good things about "Super 8." I think the combination of Steven Speilberg and J.J. Abrams may be worth a shot.

I'm not into super hero movies, so that eliminates the new Xmen and Green Lantern movies right off the bat.

There's also some buzz being generated about "Tree of Life," with Brad Pitt in the lead.

I haven't heard about Tree of Life.
I remember watching the Green Lantern animated series as a kid but unlike most superhero stories, I don't remember anything about it other than the suit. Last night's ESPN SportsCenter was sponsored exclusively by the movie. They showed the full-length trailer, interviews with the lead actor and some of the production team. It reminds me of when the new Cowboys stadium premiered the Avatar trailer.
Anyway, it doesn't make me jump and dance wanting to go, but it has possibilities. I'm a science fiction fan from back in the day, and historically, this would be right up my alley. I think my main apprehension about this is it's just one in a glut of comic book heroes getting to the big screen. Other than Christian Bale as Batman, and the first Iron Man (I haven't seen 2), I'm not impressed.
Thor looked cheesy and awful in the ads. And Captain America? Forget it.
So I'll say this, regarding Green Lantern the movie. If I find out that a friend wants to go, I'll join him or her. But I won't make a point of going by myself.

Transformers Dark of the Moon. Wow!
Nicely done all around.

I dug it. Saw it in Imax+3D. Very nice experience. My first time at an IMAX theatre. The wife and I go almost every weekend. We've seen Thor, and Green Lantern all in 3D.

I get the feeling that Michael Bay sat down and thought: "How much stuff can I throw into this and still make it good?"
Where does one start?
Better detail in the transformers' faces
Weaving the Apollo 11 mission into the storyline
The weaselly human traitor
The voice of Spock uttering one of his most effective lines in the entire Star Trek universe
And plenty of excitement throughout

It's funny, because at least a couple of times last week, David Letterman had actors from the movie on his show. And they always showed clips with no action and no robots.

It's funny because I kept telling my wife I recognize that voice but I just couldn't place it until he uttered that famous line! I knew right away then!

I see some people are ripping the new girlfriend because she's not a convincing actress.
I'm like, who cares? It's Transformers, not Titanic.

I didn't rip her but I was like "oh, so he gets hot girls now?!" Still a geek with no job! They could have just left the romance out!

I'll let the romance slide. I don't think they spent too much time on it. Without the romance, he doesn't get that goofy job that. If there's one thing that turned me off, it's that once was enough for the whole "I saved the world and I'm unappreciated" bit.

Saw "Bad Teacher" recently. I thought it was pretty funny. Justin Timberlake as the geeky teacher was great. Not to sound like a prude, but I was a little surprised at what they got away with saying and doing in that film, but, like I said, it was funny. Raunchy humor still tops that stupid preteen-body parts- body-fluid humor any day.

Saw "Horrible Bosses" on Friday night. Again, more raunchy humor, but it was hysterical. Jennifer Anniston was hilarious as the dentist who is sexually harassing her dental assistant.

Looking forward to seeing "The Help" when it releases next month. I read the book last year and liked it a lot. I hope the movie does it justice.

Mary, they had an open casting call last summer for The Help, setting up in several locations around here. Some scenes were shot in Greenville, Greenwood, Clarksdale and Jackson.

Cool! Did you try out? Are you ready for your close-up?

It wasn't much of a tryout. They had people go in with a photograph, fill out a brief questionnaire and leave contact information. No interviews. No reading of lines. Quite a bummer. And no, I didn't get a call, lol.
I did try out for another independent film about 3 years ago called The Dynamiter. I was on a short list of people to play a sheriff who was always on this kid's (the dynamiter) case, but I think my stage experience hurt me. The director was very clear that acting experience of any kind would be no advantage. And this movie was made with ALL local people, set in a little place called Glen Allan, which is about 30 miles south of town. That reminds me, I need to call the director to see how things are going.
More and more producers are shooting films away from the Hollywood machine, so there will be other opportunities.

Yeah, Hollywood is too expensive. The people who do location scouting do a very good job of having cities and towns stand in for other places. What a cool job that would be.

On the other hand, that can also bomb. When the TV show "24" supposedly moved locale to DC, clearly that was not DC. Nothing about that said DC and it that was really lame, as far as I'm concerned. They were still in LA. Sometimes the locale is treated as another character, like Hawaii 5-0, or Baltimore City in "Homocide", or NYC in "Law & Order."

Remember "The Fugitive", in the scene where Harrison Ford's character disappears into Chicago's St. Patrick's Day Parade? The Chicago scenes were all Chicago, but the suburban scenes, I think were shot outside of the state of Illinois.

Do you know where they filmed "The Help?"

My understanding is the bulk of it was filmed in Greenwood, Miss., with some scenes shot in Greenville, Jackson and Clarksdale. I'm not aware of any other locations.

Saw "The Help" over the weekend. I thought it was pretty good. For the most part, it was pretty close to the book. You know how you read a book, and in your mind, you've created images of what you think the characters look like, and then the book becomes a movie, and you hope the characters live up to what you've imagined them to be? Well, in this movie, I think they did live up to it.

Viola Davis gave a wonderful performance in the lead character of Abilene. I only recall seeing her once before, in "Doubt", and that performance earned her an Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category. I would not be surprised if she earned another one, this time for Best Actress. Octavia Spencer, who I've only seen in supporting bit roles, was also good as the sassy Minnie. (The pie scene was hilarious!)

I'm glad you enjoyed it, Mary. It's been getting a lot of attention in my part of the world because it was filmed here, and a lot of local people were cast as extras.
I might have gone if some friends who went asked me to join them, but otherwise I'll pass.

I went to see "The Thing" yesterday. Good job. Odd that it's set in 1983 but leads into John Carpenter's "The Thing" which was released in '82.

Saw "The Debt" last month. It starred Helen Mirren, and also featured Jessica Chastain as the younger version of Helen Mirren's character. (Chastain also plays Celia Foote in "The Help.) BTW, you can't go wrong if Helen Mirren is in the movie. Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, and another actor who I don't recognize are retired Mossad agents. The film flashes back to their younger days when they were active and hunting Nazi war criminals. This is an espionage thriller, and by the end, you realize what the debt is that has to be paid. Very good movie.

Now being filmed in my hometown:
Haunted

If any of you liked the "Saw" series, actor Tobin Bell has just been announced to play one of the characters. They're using local people for extras, including a few athletic types as the menacing "Axemen." Leslie-Anne Down and Maxwell Gail (Wojo from "Barney Miller") are also in it.
It's funny the things location people see. The exterior of our courthouse - think gothic architecture - will be the entrance to an insanse asylum, while the interior will serve as legal offices and such.

Know what you mean, the Christmas film Prancer was shot in my home town back in the 80's. The director was from the area and had said he always wanted to due one in the area. The thing I found odd at the time was that they would use one house for the outside shots and and different house for the inside shots and if memory serves me right the even used a third house in a small town a few miles away for yet another shot. Having watched a lot of making of's on DVD's I have bought over the years I understand now that that is common practice.

Throw them all in jail. How hundreds of people could keep quiet and not have a moral conscious is hard to believe. Both grad assistant McQuerrey and the janitor saw the monster raping boys in the shower. He's guilty, it's quite obvious.

How he is out on bail for a bond that was never posted makes no sense. Unless, of course, the judge was a contributor and booster to Sandusky's 2nd Mile foundation which he used to lure little boys into his dark, sick fetish. Throw that judge in jail too.

Child molesters are the lowest form of filth on the planet. He'll get his when he gets in jail unless he commits suicide beforehand.

Just realized I posted this in wrong thread. Sorry. Not sure why there is a time limitation for editing so I could delete?

Probably to keep people from deleting a post (I did that once a few years ago) after someone else responded to it.

saw two movies (well, one, listened while my wife watched the other one)

1) the Help. That's the one I was casually listening to, sort of. was busy with other stuff. Wife said it was pretty good, but not up to all the hype. I can't say. Growing up, I actually never knew ANYONE that had a live-in nanny, black or white. I guess more money would be involved in that class of people. And yes, I realize it's about far more than that, friendship between races when that was very uncommon. Glad we no longer live in such a vanilla world.

2) Super8. This is a speilberg, has hints of ET, Close Encounters, etc. Even a touch of Stephen King's Stand By Me (the good buddy relations) etc. GREAT train wreck special effects. Outstanding.
The story was good, the banter between the kids was funny as heck in spots, sweetly deep between the two main characters.
BUT.... it is a sci-fi, so if don't like aliens type movies you won't like this one.

Thats all from here.

Tony

I was curious about Super8 but never quite sure I wanted to see it. You've convinced me that it's worth a look.
I live in The Help country. Some people complain that it's too one sided. Some say it's historically inaccurate. I think it's as accurate as it needs to be, as it's mostly one person's perspective on her relationship with her nanny. Most people I know who've seen it say it's moving and funny.
I passed on it simply because I've seen the black maid taking care of white children shtick many times, in various forms.

I watched Super 8 recently and I liked it. It's a collaboration between Steven Speilberg (no intro needed) and J.J. Abrams (Lost, Fringe). You can definitely see both of their inputs in this movie. It works though. It reminds me a little bit of ET, but has the mystery of Lost.

I read the book, The Help, and saw the movie as well. I enjoyed both. For the most part, it stayed true to the book. But Woody, if you think it was just black maid taking care of white children, you're doing it a disservice.

Saw "The Ides of March" recently with George Clooney, Paul Giamatti, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Ryan Gosling (Didn't realize Ryan Gosling was such a cutie. How'd I miss that?) Great cast! Anyway, it makes you think, especially with the upcoming Presidential election.

Mary, I know it's about more than that. I just haven't seen anything to make me want to read or watch it.

I just saw Sherlock Holmes - Game of Shadows. Another stellar outing for Robert Downey Jr. Several others who have seen it say they like it better than the first. I was so impressed by the first one, I'm not sure I agree with them. But it definitely is well done.

The wife and I saw Sherlock Holmes a couple weeks back. Very good movie! Downey does a great British accent! We saw MI4 this past weekend. While it was good, I did not like the added bit a comedic relief! Not a fan of the 'bumbling fool' type roles!

I'm not interested in MI4. Based on the trailer, it seems way over the top in regard to cliched action movie visuals. They had a formula that worked in the earlier movies, but it looks like this time they deviated from that formula to go for the "WOW" factor. I'll watch when it comes to cable.

I loved the first but have yet to catch the second but will do so soon. If you enjoy the whole Holmes thing you might want to check out the new BBC version. Puts Holmes and Watson in a modern setting. I found it on Netflix, but think that PBS ran it as part of the Masterpiece Theatre series. I found it very enjoyable, there is just the one season thus far a total of three made for telly films.