So after a long break, I am back. Really missed out on seeing a few movies that I wanted to catch in the theater, but the way things are going they will be out on DVD/Blu-Ray in a few months, But let’s talk about the movies I have seen.
First up, is the The Town, directed by Ben Affleck, and stars Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall and according to the ads and trailers, Blake Lively, but she is barely in it. The story is about one of the suburbs of Boston, I believe it’s Charleston, which according to the text you get at the beginning of the film, has a real high crime rate for bank robberies. Affleck (the brains) and Renner (the brawn) are the two main guys in a team, and after a recent bank heist, they end up taking Hall ( a bank manager) as a hostage and end up letting her go, but Affleck decides to keep an eye on her. She gets interviewed by Don Draper himself (Hamm), who is the lead on a FBI task force team who are out to stop this group of bank heists. But I have to say that the bank heists take a back seat during this movie, this is more a movie about brotherhood, family and honor if anything. Some of what happens next can be seen in some of the trailers and ads, but I feel most people would be able to figure out ahead of time what is going to happen in the end. The story is not perfect, and the overall acting is decent, all though there are a few times where the Boston accents are so thick, it almost seems like they are over exaggerating them a bit. All I can picture is Affleck and Damon in Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, where they are supposedly filming Good Will Hunting 2. Hamm was able to somewhat distance himself from Mad Men a bit, there was a few times where Don Draper seemed to come out during the movie. If you want to see a great bank heist movie, this is not it, but I still thought it was a decent movie, and I would say that if your out and going to see a movie, this would be a decent movie to see. Otherwise I think you could most likely wait until it comes out on DVD.
Next up, I took my parents who have never seen a recent 3D movie in the theaters, to go see the re-release of Avatar in 3D, at our local Lie-Max. The ads say that there are 8 minutes of additional footage, and for those that already have seen it, what your really missing out on is: more of the creatures, a somewhat extended sex scene, and the scene that really stuck out in my mind, a scene involving Tsu’tey after he falls at the end of the movie and one of the Na’vi death rituals. But overall my opinion of the movie, is pretty much the same, the visuals are amazing, and the story is not so much. But I do recommend that if you can see it in IMAX 3D still, that is the best way to see it, not on your TV at home. If it’s not play at your local IMAX, I am sure if you wait a few more months, he will re-release it once again, with some more footage. And by the way, my parents enjoyed the movie, in case any one was wondering.
And the last movie for this batch of reviews, is Tom Ford’s directing debut, A Single Man, starring Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, and Matthew Goode. The movie is about Firth, who is gay, and just recently lost the love of his life in a car accident. He struggles each day to get over the past, and with all of the flashbacks in the movie, we can see why he is struggling. He has very few friends, but Moore plays his neighbor who seems to be the only lady in his life, and she has issues of her own. The overall feel that I got while watching this movie, is that it seemed like a very long fashion commercial that had a story to it. And I mean that in a good way, it was shot with an amazing look to it, and it went to great detail to show off every little detail of these people and their life. I only got to see this on DVD, but I have to say that I can only imagine how amazing this would look on Blu-ray on a nice TV. This movie is not for everyone, just because I feel most will think it’s a slow movie, and they may find the way it is shot a little distracting, but if you consider yourself a movie geek and really enjoy Oscar type films, I think you will really enjoy this. It’s not a happy film, so you may want to have a comedy or something funny ready to watch after this. It’s no Dear Zachery, but it’s still a sad movie.
Well I think that is going to wrap it up for this batch of movies, I should be seeing a newer movie tomorrow with some friends and then the Milwaukee Film Festival starts this week and I am going to see “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” and “Buried”. So I am looking forward to both of those.
So until next time, go out and see a movie!
Sean
