Friday, October 14, 2011

Long time no blog . . .

So with starting my new job at USC Upstate and still working three days a week at the Evil Empire, I haven't had time to post any reviews or news. So here's a quick update of the Imaginary Cinema events of the last few months:

ROCK EM SOCK EM ROBOTS!

Real Steel turned out to be surprisingly enjoyable, even though the last 20 minutes were a blatant rip-off of Rocky, right down to the people's champion losing the fight on points.
The family drama aspects of the film were tiresome and cliched, but when the movie focuses on robots smashing the crap out of each other it manages to be good, clean mindless entertainment (as opposed to the festering crap mindless entertainment of Michael Bay's Transformers). Worth a Netflix viewing.

WHO YOU GONNA CALL?

The cinema highlight of the Halloween season was actually a 27 year old movie. We went to see Ghostbusters at one of it's re-release screenings and it was a sold out show. The audience was really into it (there was even one guy wearing a proton pack) and it reaffirmed the genius of Bill Murray. The film has barely dated and remains one of the most quotable scripts of all time. Almost makes me wish for a Ghostbusters III (but then I remember Part II).

MAN IS STILL THE WARMEST PLACE TO HIDE

The remake/prequel to John Carpenter's remake wasn't quite as bad as I feared. It did a good job of capturing the mood and look of the 1982 film for the most part. I was confused as to why there were so many Americans at a Norwegian camp and, as much as I adore her, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is no Kurt Russell. The effects were pretty good, with CG not as overused as you would expect. However, the last half of the movie pretty much degenerates into standard slasher fare, with the mimicry of the alien parasite almost forgotten about by the end. I did like that the credits scene blends seamlessly with the opening of Carpenter's movie, though.

JAR JAR'S BIG ADVENTURE IN 3D!

So everyone's least favourite Star Wars movie is coming out in 3D. Despite the trailer not being able to disguise the film's flaws anymore (and the 3D looking unremarkable) I'll still be seeing it. I'm sure Bella will enjoy seeing a Star Wars movie on the big screen, and there is 30 minutes of a really good movie in there if you know where to look (plenty of opportunities for bathroom breaks).

In final news . . . Twilight still sucks. But The Hunger Games looks awesome from the trailer.