New Movie

Saw an advanced screening of Sweeney Todd last night - thought
it was pretty good; nice film adaptation of the Broadway musical and think
it'll be nominated for at least a few Golden Globe Awards (e.g., best musical,
best actor, best costume/makeup, best visual editing, best cinematography,
etc.) Would recommend it if you're fan of the musical and/or open to the dark,
bizarre type of movie typical of director Tim Burton (e.g., Edward
Scissorhands, The Nightmare before X-mas, Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Planet of
the Apes, Corpse Bride, etc.). And think I'll be taking a pass on Golden Compass - pretty much always agree with the Rocky Mountain News and they give it a C-.

New or Recent Releases

Finally saw a decent movie today - 3:10 to Yuma. Although it had some silly moments (e.g., Crowe's character having to wear the handcuffs almost the entire movie), overall thought it was a good film that nicely showed what it meant to be a man in the ol' west and the respect he gained from a train robber for his pride and convictions. Before today, don't think I've seen a movie I really liked since Sicko and that's hard to compare to a fictional drama of course. Didn't like many movies that were hyped - e.g., Golden Age, Valley to Elah, etc. Valley started well, but pretty much disintegrated about halfway through after a hollywood chase scene, and Golden Age never really had a chance - just an opportunity for the studio to make more money after the great original movie - Elizabeth. Probably only really looking forward to Gangster of NY although Gone, Baby, Gone may be decent since it's based on a novel by the same author as Mystic River which of course should have won the Best Movie Oscar that year, but for the undeserving hero worship for Peter Jackson and his adventure movies. And then made the mistake of hooking Eastwood up the next year by giving the movie, him, and his cast probably undeserving awards for Million Dollar Baby (with the exception of Hilary Swank).

Older Movies

Finally getting around to watching a lot of the older movies that are supposed to be so great (e.g., Bad Seed, All About Eve, Roman Holiday, etc.), but at least some of them don't seem to be so hot. For instance, it seems like many of these so-called great movies require a great deal of fantastical plot elements that just don't jive with real life at all (e.g., good friends making inexcusable mistakes; parents acting totally clueless about their children; good friends valuing money over friendship; corrupt cops, townspeople, politicians, rescue workers, etc - which are major plot elements of All About Eve, Bad Seed, and Ace in the Hole). Of course, kind of give a pass to writers/directors where that's their genre - unpredictability, corruption, and the darkness present in the human heart (e.g., Billy Wilder and Hitchcock). From good recommendation, I'll be checking out A Star is Born and Funny Girl this week (Judy Garland, Streisand, and Omar Sharif). Think I love Sidney Poitier, Billy Wilder, and Hitchcock movies the best so far with a special exception for Breakfast at Tiffany's and West Side Story of course (e.g., Patch of Blue, Mr. Tibbs, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Strangers on a Train, Spellbound, Vertigo, Rear Window, Sunset Blvd., Irma La Douce, etc.) with special mention to A Children's Hour (Audrey Hepburn, McClaine, and James Garner) and Night of the Iguana (Burton, Ava Gardner). Think some of the best movies were plays first (e.g., Children's Hour and Iguana).

Just checked out the original "Sleuth" - definitely a good film - nice interplay between Caine and Olivier - sure it made an excellent play. Can't imagine the remake coming close to this film especially when the remake is only 1.5 hours - huh.

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