Ooooh, a new Iron Man 2 movie trailer debuted Sunday night. Is it May yet.

On a Saturday night without the kids, we went to see a late showing of The Blind Side, a 2009 film starring Sandra Bullock. We attempted to see it back in mid-February on Presidents’ Day, but there were no seats. My wife later went to see it a week later with friends, and enjoyed it. I hadn’t seen it yet, and she wanted to see it again. Of course, this time around on a Saturday night, the theater was nearly deserted. I suppose a lot of people in February wanted to see it when we wanted to see it.

I knew very little about the movie, as opposed to most other films I’m interested in. I’m usually watching the trailers, reading reviews, and sometimes even checking out the plot synopsis (up to a point.) If you were unaware, it’s a film based on a book, about the story of a family in Memphis who take in a down-on-his-luck and impoverished teenager named Michael Oher, get him back on his feet, and he ends up becoming a star football player, and who later gets drafted by the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens.

It was a decent movie starring Sandra Bullock, who plays the mother who takes in Michael Oher. I like her in most roles, and I thought she was good in this movie. Oscar-winning good? Yeah, I don’t know about that. However, she was entertaining, and certainly one of the central stars of the movie, along with relative newcomer Quinton Aaron (who played the young Michael Oher.)

The Blind Side (2009)

Lame.

I’m a fan of Futurama, and wasn’t happy with Fox’s cancellation of the series. Although I didn’t like the 1st movie that Matt Groening’s team put out, Bender’s Big Score, I thought I should at least watch the rest of the direct-to-DVD movies. Futurama as an animated television series was smart, funny, and great in-jokes.

Uh, yeah, this next installment, The Beast with a Billion Backs, was pure and simple lame. I didn’t like the story. I didn’t like the jokes. As a matter of fact, I thought it was a waste of my time. I give it one star. Very disappointing.

Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs (2008)

After much anticipation, I finally remembered to rent 9, a film based on a story by Shane Acker. It’s an animated story that I first noted back early last year, that looked like a great story and cool animation. It features an all-star cast — Elijah Wood, Martin Landau, Christoper Plummer, Jennifer Connelly, Crispin Glover, and John C. Reilly, just to name the biggies.

After all that anticipation, after watching it, I was a little underwhelmed. Maybe it was the big build-up, but I did also read that other folks gave it mixed reviews. I felt that near the climax, the story collapsed somewhere along the way. I haven’t exactly put my finger on it. I wasn’t entirely invested in the characters the way that I should be, and the ending itself was half-baked. It’s a rental for the animation, but the story could have made this film more than the sum of its parts.

9 (2009)

We had the day off for President’s Day again this year, so we wanted to grab a quick lunch, and see…… The Blind Side starring Sandra Bullock. We were in a rush, so we scarfed down fast food as we drove to the theater. We got a little lost, but found our way soon enough. We stood on a long line at the ticket window, but my wife found the automated kiosks, purchased tickets, and rushed to the theater. Movie hadn’t started yet — it was still previews! We walked all the way in, but found that the theater was packed. All that remained were the lame-ass front row seats, which I’m sorry, are pointless. If no one wants to sit there, why keep that row?

We decided to hang around an additional 50 mins to see Valentine’s Day, a Garry Marshall rom-com starring a shitload of big-name Hollywood actors and actresses. This was not the first choice for either of us, but we made due. You can gather the premise by watching the commercials. The movie involves the intertwining storylines of a multitude of characters.

I’ll go out on a limb, and say it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever seen. My wife was able to predict most of the plotlines, but there were too many stories IMHO. Young teenage love, senior love, unrequited love, infidelity, childhood crushes, marriage, engagements, and on and on. Out of all of the intertwining stories and characters,  I thought the Topher Grace and Anne Hathaway characters were the most interesting. Everyone else was just blah.

Valentine's Day (2010)

Our next movie in the Netflix queue was Dreamgirls, a 2006 film about a trio of black female soul singers making into the music business in the 1960’s, focusing on the inevitable rise and fall of their careers. I was a little surprised to learn:

1. It was a musical. I didn’t know anything about this movie, except that it was a Motown-type film and there would be singing.
2. The film came out way back in 2006. That’s four years ago. I knew I was behind on my movie watching, but wow, four years ago.
3. Eddie Murphy was in this movie?

 The movie had an all-star cast — Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé Knowles, Eddie Murphy, and Danny Glover. This film also introduced Jennifer Hudson, who was pretty phenomenal. I was very surprised that Eddie Murphy had an important role as James Thunder Early. Frankly speaking, he hasn’t had a good role in a film in years. Seriously, years, and yet he was quite good in this movie. I enjoyed the film, and the movie itself really popped out on my standard definition TV. I would love to see this DVD again on an HDTV, and see it in all of its glory.

Dreamgirls (2006)

Another movie in the can. Once the kids went to sleep on a quiet Friday night, we sat down to eat some Pappa John’s pizza, and watch our latest Netflix movie, Away We Go. It’s a 2009 Sam Mendes movie starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph, with respected supporting actors/actresses like Catherine O’Hara, Jeff Daniels, Allison Janney, and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

The premise of the story is that Krasinski and Rudolph are a couple who are about 6-months pregnant. Living near Krasinski’s character’s parents, they originally planned to have his family nearby to help. Turns out, the parents are soon moving to Belgium long term. Our intrepid couple heads out to visit various family and friends around the USA and Canada, in order to find a suitable home where suitable locale with family/friends that would be best for their future daughter. They end up travelling from place to place, finding these various people to be odd, or off their rocker, or whatever, unable to find the perfect spot.

I don’t think this was the best movie, per se. It was a decent rental. I liked Krasinkski and Rudolph in these roles, and I personally liked the characters they played. They didn’t have much, but they were two likeable people in love, surrounded by a sea of nutjobs. I could relate to them, even though they had “cardboard windows.” They were both approx 33 years old, deeply in love, and not exactly at the pinnacle of wealth and power. I’m 33, deeply in love with my wife, and not exactly rich and powerful. We don’t have the perfect life.  In the movie, they don’t have a particularly perfect life, and openly question, “Are we fuck-ups?” Hey, when you’re at this stage in your life, and you didn’t have the “perfect” life, you’d wonder if you were a fuck-up at times too.

In addition, the supporting actors/actresses establish those characters very well.  I will say that I could have done without the folksy, earnest soundtrack, which is starting to get cliched in some of these indie movies.

So final assessment — it’s a decent rental.

Away We Go (2009)

I took the day off today, and met up with my friend Doug to see James Cameron’s big CGI epic Avatar.  Even better, we saw it in IMAX 3D. I’ve actually not seen any mainstream movies in 3D that have recently been released (the last being a kids “educational” 3D movie over at the Liberty Science Center last year.) I had time to watch some trailers for upcoming movies which were in 3D as well, and they looked great. Hey, maybe I should see more 3D movies.

The plot of Avatar plays out much like Dances with Wolves or The Last Samurai. From Wikipedia:

The film is set in the year 2154 on Pandora, a fictional Earth-like world in the Alpha Centauri planetary system. Humans are engaged in mining Pandora’s reserves of a precious mineral, while the Na’vi—a race of indigenous humanoids—resist the colonists’ expansion, which threatens the continued existence of the Na’vi and the Pandoran ecosystem. The film’s title refers to the genetically engineered bodies used by the film’s characters to interact with the Na’vi.

So, without giving any big secret away, while the humans may see the Na’vi as savages, they are actually a sentient alien race with ties to nature, which we don’t.  Throughout the movie, there are some definite Native American themes, as well as the injustices done to them.  Nature is good. Humans are thoughtless and crude. We should be one with the world.

Overall, although the movie is long (clocking in at 162 minutes), I felt it went pretty fast. While the themes are nothing new, the movie itself is gorgeous. I read online that the movie is 40% live-action, and 60% CGI. I did hear previously that James Cameron had the movie studio executives nervous with the high price tag ($280 milllon?), but since he’s approaching (or reached) the $1 billion mark in sales, I guess he’s laughing all the way to the bank on this one.

I would recommend watching this movie in IMAX 3D. It’s a beautiful-to-watch movie, and entertaining. Watch it. Dive deep into it. Don’t spill your popcorn.

Avatar (2009)

As per Ipe New Year’s Eve tradition, my wife and I ignore all the regular hoopla, and settle in for a nice, personal evening. This NYE, we celebrated it with drinking wine and watching Adventureland, a 2009 film written and directed by Greg Mottola (yes, of Superbad fame.)

The move takes place in 1987, and is about a recent college grad Jim (Jesse Eisenberg.)  He was to go to Columbia for graduate school, but needs to raise money over the summer, so he begins working at the Adventureland amusement park in his hometown of Pittsburgh, PA. While working the summer, he meets various people working the park, bonds, and experiences an interesting summer. He also meets Emily (Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame), and falls for her. You know, one of those deals. Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig also star in this movie, but they are only supporting cast members.

This was a pretty good movie. It’s similar to many other movies in this vein, but it was still an interesting movie to watch.  I liked the direction, the acting was rather excellent by non-famous actors/actresses, and it was entertaining. Best of all? I loved the 80’s soundtrack.  According to the Wikipedia entry, 41 songs were licensed for use.  The original film soundtrack on iTunes doesn’t have all the songs, but I will have to check out the rest. Here’s the listing of songs [from Wikipedia]:

Additional songs

A selection of the songs not included on the soundtrack album:

• “Here She Comes Now” by The Velvet Underground (plays during the opening credits)
• “Breaking the Law” by Judas Priest
• “Taste of Cindy” (acoustic version) by The Jesus and Mary Chain
• “Limelight” by Rush
• “Bastards of Young” by The Replacements (opening sequence)
• “Here I Go Again” by Whitesnake
• “Blister in the Sun” by Violent Femmes (used in the trailer)
• “Tops” by The Rolling Stones
• “So It Goes” by Nick Lowe
• “Let the Music Play” by Shannon
• “Point of No Return” by Exposé
• “Obsession” by Animotion
• “Dance Hall Days” by Wang Chung
• “I Want Action” by Poison

And that makes 42 movies for Joel in the year 2009. It’s a wrap!

Adventureland (2009)

I watched movie 41 of the year 2009 on cable TV — My Super Ex-Girlfriend. It’s a terrible 2006 movie starring Luke Wilson (before he was shilling for AT&T) and Uma Thurman (who I mistakenly thought could do no wrong.) The movie also stars Anna Faris and Rainn Wilson.

Oh, did I say terrible? Did I let the cat out of the back? Whoops, my mistake.  The movie is terrible. The premise of the movie is that Luke Wilson starts dating Uma’s character, but she has a secret identity of….. G-Girl! “G-Girl” is a heroine who can fly, invulnerable, etc. However, Uma’s character is fruit loops, Luke breaks up with her, and the story is all about what would happen if your crazy ex-girlfriend used her super powers to get revenge on you. You know, like throwing your car into orbit.

Yeah, I kid you not.  The movie was dumb. Forced laughs, and nobody was interesting. Rainn Wilson’s character was a jerk, but not even an interesting jerk.  I can’t believe I liked Anna Faris better in her Wayan Bros. farce movies. And this was directed by none other than Ivan Reitman. Dammit, man, he directed Ghostbusters. Sad.

Don’t waste your time on this movie on TV.

My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006)