40Cent @ the movies

[Centurion40]

The Mrs and I took 40Jr. to see Hotel Transylvania on the weekend.  It was the best Adam Sandler movie that's been made in years! I really enjoyed the vibe of the flick and even had a couple of laughs.  That said, Madagascar 3D still holds the top spot for kids cartoon movies this year.

29 out of 40

[MIGMaster]

Checked out Taken 2 last night - almost straight non-stop action. Not a bad flick would be easy to pick some holes in it if you wanted to, but as just a night out it was fine.

[Centurion40]

Finally got to see Act of Valor On Demand.  The acting was terrible (mostly) but I thought it was a ripping yarn, and the scene where the fast attack boats arrive on scene to provide covering fire gave me wood.

[Windigo]

Finally got to see Act of Valor On Demand.  The acting was terrible (mostly) but I thought it was a ripping yarn, and the scene where the fast attack boats arrive on scene to provide covering fire gave me wood.

careful... in another thread Starz and LB are talking about dull cutting instruments

[Centurion40]

Meh, I'm already circumspect.  ::)

[TheCommandTent]

Finally got to see Act of Valor On Demand.  The acting was terrible (mostly) but I thought it was a ripping yarn, and the scene where the fast attack boats arrive on scene to provide covering fire gave me wood.

I think I came to a similar conclusion after watching the movie. :)

[Barthheart]

Saw Cloud Altas today with my wife at a matinee.

Great flick... but won't be for everyone. If fact to my surpise my wife actually enoyed it and wants to buy it.

Great visually. Acting is par for the talent but nothing Oscar worthy.
The story and the cinematography however are stunning. The visuals are breathtaking.

Well worth seeing. 35/40.

[Centurion40]

Went to see Argo the other night.  It was pretty good, not as good as "The Town', but still pretty good.  I could have lived without the deliberate American self-effacement (CIA/State Dept officers confessing, amongst themselves, that Iran is powderkeg because they propped-up the Shah and the SAVAK), but nothing is perfect.

All-in-all, it was a well crafted, well acted movie.  An interesting and compelling story.  Sure, it was a bit over-the-top and overly dramatic at times (like the scene where the band of fake movie-makers are making their way to the Swissair flight and then that flight's departure from the airport), but I've got to give it a thumb's up.

32 out of 40

[Martok]

Thanks for the mini-review 40Cent.  This one's on my list, so it's good to know you like it. 

[MetalDog]

Want to take my girl to go see this, but Alabama/LSU and USC/Oregon are on tomorrow night.

[MikeGER]

Mike @ the Movies
Yesterday i took the 'Expensive Other' (TM), who likes to impersonate a Bond girl with her wardrobe (and looks;) ) on some occasions, to the movies to see Skyfall.
(...to learn some new dirty tricks for 'mysterious cabal conspiracy groups' ;) ...No!)
I really enjoyed the eve.
The film was so refreshing old school for mature onlookers. (where cuts are 3 to 5 sec long and not that music-video 0.8 sec cuts flashing style  synchron to the beats of some underlying (c)rap-music tracks, you have to endure in mediocre action movies nowadays)
The stunts, chases and firefights were good 'Bond style' but not total.out.of.this.world exaggerations.
(magazines run empty, not each and every car explodes, cover vs concealment, jumps are doable, and Lady M buiding WW2-type-IED's when in need, cool ... well, bridge-drop not so much)
I also liked that Bond is vulnerable, showing some ageing and has to fight with his physical condition limits to achieve a victory in a brawl, compared to classical old Bond movies. Good job Mr. Craig!
The villain is brilliant played by the actor, who gave that psycho-hitman in 'No country for old man'. Real creepy insane guy. 
Very good entertainment.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I watched the Total Recall remake last night.  On the plus side, it has Kate Beckinsale in her undies and she seems to have perfected the high speed crotch first sliding face tackle.  Biel also looked good but was far too clothed.  The set design for the Colony was pretty cool in a Blade Runner sort of way.

Everything else kinda sucked.  You know your film is in trouble when it compares less favourably in terms of a plausible world than an Arnold film with psychic mutants on Mars.  In the new version, most of the planet was rendered uninhabitable from chemical weapons.  All that's left are Britain and Australia.  For some reason, the working class slobs make a daily commute between the two via a high speed train the runs through the centre of the earth.  And gravity shuts off at the core for some reason.  Doesn't get stronger as you approach the core or anything.  It just stays constant all the way to the middle, then shuts off, then reverses.
Also, for some reason, despite the fact that autonomous robots exist and are widespread, new robots are hand welded by working class slobs who commute to and from England and Australia just to do this job.

Action scenes were mostly weak (except for the fight scenes with Beckinsale. Those were quite well done) and the characters were dull and flat.  It's pretty sad when the leader of the rebels in the new film has less charisma and fewer lines than a stomach muppet from the original.

4/10

[MikeGER]

-on a side note

  And gravity shuts off at the core for some reason.  Doesn't get stronger as you approach the core or anything.  It just stays constant all the way to the middle, then shuts off, then reverses.

the blue line is the gravitational acceleration g as a fuction of the radius r  (wiki-diagram)

...you only have to deal the the sphere that remains under your position in the shaft, the gravitational pull from the sphere layers above you is compensated by that layers which are symetric on the other side of the core.
at the center its pulling from all sides, so zero is correct.
btw. a jump in the shaft works like a pendulum, if you would jump into the shaft (no air) you would take up  speed, reach maximun speed in the middle, and would slowed down on the way out, until you reach  a speed of zero again on the other side (a electro-magnet may grap your spacesuit boots, an airlook is shut, you do a half somersault and you could step outside)           

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I went to see Looper today (cheap-ish Tuesday).  Very enjoyable film.  I wasn't too sure what to expect and I kind of enjoyed how they avoided all the discussions of paradoxes associated with time travel. 

Interesting view of the future (2044 AD) as well.  The movie never really explicitly says anything (one character from the further future warns another to change his plans to relocate to France and advises him to choose China instead) , but strongly hints at the fact that the US suffered a major economic collapse.  US cities look like a version of present day Detroit.  There are glimpses of shiny new high tech, but for the most part, everything's just a beat up, run down version of present day stuff with jury rigged fixes.  China, on the other hand, is booming and there everything is clean, new, and vibrant.   There were a few missteps in the second act (the firefight between Bruce Willis's character and a bunch of gangsters at their base was pretty cheesy), but overall it was well done.

8/10

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I watched Skyfall today.  I do not understand the hype.  Perhaps I bought into the hype going in and was expecting too much but when I left the theatre, I felt disappointed.  The bad guy was uninspired (Sean Bean did a much better job with the same archetype in Goldeneye).  The "babes" did nothing for me.  The tone of the film was a lament for Britain's former greatness but it felt like false sincerity to me, especially with the "reveal" at the end that anyone with half a brain should see coming from the first 10 minutes of the film.

Still, the set up for the next film has promise.  All the pieces are in place (even though I HATE the choice for Moneypenny.)

Worst of the Craig Bonds so far.

5/10