What was the last movie you saw at the theaters?

Brick, which was excellent.

The Da Vinci Code

16 Blocks, mainly because The Da Vinci Code was sold out. A bit cheesy, but entertaining enough. A solid 3 star popcorn movie, anyway.

The Last movie would ATL, because my friends wanted to see it. It was a crappy movie.

Art School Confidential.

Zwigoff nails it again...

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Great review, i saw this last week, you have put my thoughts about the movie into words. Thanks Pikey

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I just saw the Da Vinci Code and i agree with RottenTomatoes.com, the movie was godawfully sucky..Tom Hanks is a letdown in this one.

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Down in the Valley (2006 - David Jacobson)

The valley of the title is L.A.'s San Fernando Valley, and this is a sort of modernized twist on some basic themes of The Western. Unlike two other recent movies that also did this, Tommy Lee Jones' The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and Wim Wenders' Don't Come Knocking, this movie falls a bit flat. Edward Norton stars as Harlan, a thirty-something drifter in ranch duds who wanders into Los Angeles. He is quiet, polite and conducts himself as if he were a character in his own personal movie. This cowboy act is sincere enough it seems, but definitely an act. What it is masking and how firmly he's entrenched in that fantasy is the crux of the drama. Working for minimum wage at a gas station, he meets a seventeen-year-old-or-so girl named Tobe (Evan Rachel Wood), which is short for October. She is instantly charmed by his whole persona and gentleness, so she invites him to accompany her and her friends to the beach. After an idyllic day together she escelates it to a sexual relationship, which the cowboy is happy to oblige in. Back home, Tobe's father, a corrections officer named Wade (David Morse), is none too happy with all of this of course, and he makes no secret of his displeasure. Tobe also has a younger brother, Lonnie (Rory Culkin), a shy and sullen kid who likewise is instantly charmed by Harlan's persona. A clear conflict between Wade and the other three is drawn up, and what might have just been a story of forbidden lovers turns into something darker and more fantastic by the last third of the picture.

It's not a bad movie, but it's not a terribly good one either. Norton, one of America's best young actors who has basically been absent from the screen for the past few years, is good as the deluded Harlan, even if the script has his character take some leaps and turns that don't make a whole lotta sense. Evan Rachel Wood, who rightfully exploded onto the scene as the lead of Thirteen a couple years back, continues to impress as a fine actress who's not yet even twenty. Unlike the twists of fantasy the script requires Norton to deal with, Wood's characterization is totally believeable on every level. Rory Culkin, who was so excellent in You Can Count on Me as a pre-teen, is continuing to prove he's a good teenage actor as well, and is well cast as the impressionable boy looking for a friend and a father. David Morse, who first gained fame as one of the most likeable and gentle characters on the hit '80s TV show "St. Elsewhere", has in the last ten years or so especially made quite a second career playing bad guys (12 Monkeys, The Crossing Guard, Dancer in the Dark, 16 Blocks, etc.) and does get to add a dimension of understanding and complexity by the finale here. There's also a couple good actors in smaller roles that amount to cameos, namely Bruce Dern and Geoffrey Lewis, but mostly this is a four-character piece. The performances are all good, but the last half of the movie is a bit too contrived and the writer/director can't maintain the proper tone or balance in Harlan's characterization to pull it off.

Worth a rental down the line, but compared to Wenders' and especially Tommy Lee Jones' recent efforts, a distant also-ran.

GRADE: C+

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Just saw The De Vinci Code on Saturday. It was pretty good, but not as good as the book-of course!

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Well I just came back from a early showing of "XMEN 3: THE LAST STAND" and thought an early morning review might be interesting.

As with the previous two XMEN movies the core players are there with all the personalities viewers have come to expect over the years. On top of this we are introduced to a few more mutants that, as in the last movie, moves the story forward more, but in the end still leaves tensions, questions and core issues unchanged. One thing is for certain this movie delivers the action as there is very little screen time given to back story, such as Dr. Hank Mccoys’ past or Warren Worthington the Thirds confusion about his own STAND. Which seems kind of disappointing and confusing. Angels motivations within this movie and from Dr. Mccoys brief but impressionable portrayal in "X TWO" to this ones.

There are several surprises to this movie that one can only guess at from the extensive advertising campaign. One has to give much credit to the distributor and production companies for keeping these secrets. Most movies to this war horse are given away too much of the story in trailers and clips. The differences in this case may be subtle to some, especially those who know more than me about story lines explored by the comics. To me though, it was refreshing and I hope that HOLLYWOOD doesn’t stop, but improves on the practice.

Does the title "THE LAST STAND" mean that there can never be another XMEN story? My STAND is definitely NOT. There is still story to explore and I suspect that another movie depends on the profits and the willingness of actors to go there. From the audience reaction some clapping and laughing throughout the movie indicates to me that the franchise still has legs.

One spoiler is just too tempting to keep. Mr. Lee gets his obligatory cameo in this one too, in case anyone was wondering.

grade: B+

Mission: Impossible 3....huge dissappointment. Phillip Seymour Hoffman had the potential to be the most awesome villian, and it was completely squandered because of bad writing and Tom Cruise's big fat ego.

Before seeing that crapfest though, I saw two excellent films back to back. Hard Candy, which is absolutely incredible and thought provoking...quite unsettling at times as well. Ellen Page was amazing and I believe she has a very bright future. I also saw The World's Fastest Indian, and you just can't touch Anthony Hopkins, even in old age he is still one of the finest actors that has ever lived. So those two were great and more than make up for MI3.

X-Men 3 wasn't to bad 7.5/10

X-Men 3. Hell of a way to start the summer. I get to see Over the Hedge tomorrow. In THX!! Woot woot.

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Faust (1926 - F.W. Murnau)

Last night I went to a screening of Murnau's Faust, which had a live musical accompaniment of an original score by the Italian Gatto Marte Quartet. They primarily play piano, violin, bassoon and double-bass, but they also used instruments as odd as a didgeridoo and a gazoo throughout. This was not a traditional score, obviously, but an eclectic mix of styles that actually worked perfectly set to Murnau's strong visuals. Murnau uses only the basics of Gothe's play in constructing his dark fantasy. The Devil makes a wager with an Angel that he can corrupt the doctor, Faust (Gösta Ekman), so he brings plague and pestilence to the village. After seeing so many die and unable to help them, Faust loses his faith in God and science, and in steps Mephisto (Emil Jannings) with an offer: if Faust signs over his soul, he will be granted the power to save the dying. At first he will not accept, but eventually agrees to have a one day trial. He is able to help, but the townspeople turn against him when they see his ability is on loan from The Devil. Mephisto then gives Faust his youth back, and helps him seduce a beautiful princess. Just before he is going to consumate his lust, Mephisto informs him that his day is up. Faust agrees to make the deal permanent.

Murnau was one of the medium's first great visionaries. His striking impressionistic style coupled with an aptitude for special effects are on full display in Faust. The second half of the story, where Faust falls in love with an innocent girl (Camilla Horn) and Mephisto does his worst to make sure nothing but pain and tragedy result, is not nearly as strong as the set-up, and at two hours the meandering second half does make the movie feel overlong. But at this special screening in particular that hardly mattered, as even when the story faltered the amazing score and fascinating performance by Gatto Marte made for a Hell of an evening.

Gatto Marte does travel the world with this presentation, so if you see it screening in your town give it a look.

X-Men III, i loved it (see movie tabs)

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saw xmen3 friday night...loved it...fast moving and maybe best in series..

chicagofrog ...hope you stayed until the end of the credits...nice surprise there....

glad you liked it too.
and yep i saw it, i *always* stay thru the credits.

That would be the DaVinci Code, and i can't say i was disappointed but it was too overconcious for me.

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Saw Art School Confidential a couple weeks ago, worth seeing, funnier than Ghost World, wouldn't rank either as particularly great but they're both a lot of fun.

Saw X-Men with the family last friday. HaHa. This one was pretty funny too.