Epic post- binging in a theatre

Well, I'm back, and after several long weeks of broken hearing aids, I decided to christen my new toys with a major movie binge weekend to catch up with all that I've missed.  Eight, to be specific.  Most were good, some....well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D:  A re-release of the Tim Burton classic, shown in Real-D technology in select theatres for a few weeks.  In case you haven't seen it, or have forgotten, here's a refresher:
Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloweentown, experiences something of a mid-life crisis, having exhausted all of his creative talents on Halloween.  While with his ghostly dog Zero, he wanders into a forest where he finds a portal to parallel "towns", and winds up, to his delight, in Christmastown.  He sets out on a mission to bring this "wild, exotic" holiday to his compatriots, but it's frought with misunderstandings over who and what "Sandy Claws" is, and the spirit of the day.

Bottomline:  This beloved classic is stunningly shown to great effect in 3-D.  I'm a sucker for 3-D glasses, but the $9-10 ticket might send some people over to Blockbuster to relive the fun and mayhem.

Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour:  A girl visits the grandmother of a deceased friend, where she learns about an old town mystery and scandal that is set to rock the community with an explosive end.  Spooky things happen on and around the so-called Witching Hour (midnight to 1), and as Sarah Landon learns more about the events from years past, she finds herself compelled to investigate and prevent further tragedy.

Bottomline:  Don't expect much in the way of horror (it's PG, and geared mostly to little kids) or a logical plot (psychics, paranoid brothers, and ghosts abound) or acting (the paranoid brother especially).  Still, it's safe viewing for the family, and might be a good stepping stone for kids to handle scarier/more mature movies.

30 Days of Night:  Slacker that I am, Bridget got to posting on this before I did, but I will say that it was a decent horror movie, though the vampire make-up/effects should have been better.  From the previews, the effects looked worthy of a direct to DVD release, not a theatrical exhibition.  Aside from that, it had a decent story that kept a decent pace, with, IMO, a novel ending.  And ditto on Josh Hartnett.

Gone Baby Gone:  Perhaps reminiscent of Freedomland, this vehicle for Casey Affleck directed by brother Ben has little bro and Michelle Monghan playing private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro.  They've been contracted to help in the search for a little girl who was abducted, and as they uncover clues about the home life for the little girl, and holes in the story of the mother, the distinction between doing what is right and doing what is legal proves problematic.

Bottomline:  Crap.  Mierda.  Scheissen.  And a whole bunch of other words I don't feel comfortable using here.  While the first half was fairly decent, I refer to the second portion of this movie as "The Hydra", as from one ending sprang another after another.  Perhaps this worked much better in the book it was adapted from, but Dios, it was horrible to sit through.  Easily the worst of this weekend's eight.  Taken from I believe Ending #57 is:

Patrick Kenzie:  I will never forgive myself for walking away blah blah blah
Me:  Afflecks, I will never forgive you for this.  And by "never", I mean until one of you gets casted opposite Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain 2:  Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy.

Elizabeth, the Golden Age:  Cate Blanchett reprises the role that garnered her the first of three Oscar nominations.  In this period piece on the English monarch, director Shekhar Kapur sets sight on growing conflict with dominant Spain, as Catholic Phillip II sets his eyes on seizing the English throne from Anglican possession.  Within the budding empire there also exists the threat of religious clash, with Francis Walsingham imploring his queen to obliterate the threat he sees in the Papists.  Also thrown in is Walter Raleigh, who challenges Elizabeth in a way she's not used to.

Bottomline:  Thankfully, I saw this Open-Captioned, as the dialogue in period pieces tends to escape me.  Having never seen Elizabeth, I can only guess that this performance compares favorably.  The confrontation with the Ambassador of Spain is a highlight, as is how she handles her young Deutsch speaking suitor.  As Robbie of The Malcontent notes, historical inaccuracies abound, but I imagine few will care.  Sets are great, wigs galore, and Samantha Morton as Mary Queen of Scots was a good move.  The casting of Catalan actor Jordi Molla as the Iberian monarch was also a good touch, though Javier Bardem would have been my first choice.  Though clearly he has been busy.

Across the Universe:  From Julie Taymor comes this musical dedicated to the music of The Beatles, set to a fairly straighforward story of boy meets girl, boy goes to NYC, boy gets girl, and so on, all set against the turbulence of the late 60s

Bottomline:  I'm something of a Beatles virgin, so I was hearing most of the songs for the first time.  Mistress Manson does a surprisingly good job as Lucy, with the rest of the little known castmembers doing great things with what Taymore gives them.  As the show progresses, it gets more trippy and a tad reminiscent of Moulin Rouge.  Highlights include "Dear Prudence", an inspired use of Uncle Sam, "Hold Me Tight", and about seven other songs.  The dance number featuring men in uniform and draftees in their boxers wasn't bad either.  Lowpoints:  Bono is most certainly NOT the Walrus, and the dirty hippies and their politics.

Rendition:  Egyptian-born American Anway El-Ibrahimi is detained by the US government in connection to a terrorist bombing in North Africa while he is heading home from a conference in South Africa.  He is moved stealthily overseas to be interrogated more "efficiently" under the supervision of CIA agent Douglas Freeman.  Back at home, the frantic wife of Anwar, Isabella, is trying desperately to find out what happened to her husband after he boarded his flight in Cape Town.  She enlists the help of college friend Alan Smith, an aide to Senator Hawkins, which leads her to Corinne Whitman.

Bottomline: Though very much a liberal movie, it was decent, though I could have done without Reese Witherspoon wailing like Chris Crocker (Audio is very NSFW).  Has a bit of a twist that, had I been paying more attention, I might have caught.  I'm generally a fan of most of the cast (Streep, Gyllenhaal, Sarsgaard, Arkin...okay, Reese too), so it was worth seeing.

The Comebacks:  A loser coach takes up the job of leading a ragtag football team through the beginning of the season, only to eventually play in the big championship game.

Bottomline:  Imagine a Scary Movie skewering of inspirational/popular sports movies, but not as good.  I'm all for perverted, disgusting, juvenile humor...so long as it's witty, and the jokes keep rolling.  This had a few funny jokes, but it was mostly stale, and would've been the worst of the weekend if it hadn't been for the hard work of the Afflecks.

Lord, was it a long weekend, but it would seem I'm almost caught up.  This coming weekend has the fourth Saw installment, with some cities showing the three previous chapters of the series together as a marathon on Thursday.  Tickets look to be roughly the cost of renting all three movies, so the triple feature is a fairly good bargain as far as movie theatres go.  Also opening wide is the Steve Carell flick, Dan in Real Life.  So until next time, have fun at the movies.