Julie & Julia

I enjoyed this, but with Meryl Streep I expected to. Does make you want to cook a few things afterwards.

Thoughts on James Cameron's Avatar IMAX 3D preview

As with most people, my first experience with the film is the trailer for the film which I thought was really good. A lot of feedback mentions that it reminds people of a video game and having seen the trailer a few times I get that.

But I trust Cameron. And with this free 15-minute preview, it seemed like his way of telling us while he needs to release a trailer, he nows the standard trailer isn’t the best conditions for experiencing this film. I had to experience it for myself.

The IMAX 3D scenes were from the first half of the movie. I will be seeing Avatar in this format upon it’s release. It’s just SO much better.

And I can’t wait.

The 3D makes the characters pop and seem much more real than the trailer was able to get across. In the scenes shown in the 15-minute preview, while I did find myself marveling at the world of Pandora created for the film, I was also getting into the characters and story itself. I wanted more.

December 16th seems too far away right now.

District 9

Could be the best movie I’ve seen all year. One that definitely makes you think afterwards.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

It isn’t too bad a time. I frequently thought, while watching the movie, that Hasbro must have wanted them to place about 100 or more toy ideas in there. You’ve got outfits, vehicles and weapons for air, land, sea, desert and frozen environments.

When it was over I felt that may have been the first movie that actually felt like a Saturday morning cartoon.

The Ugly Truth

There were a few really funny scenes. I think I liked The Proposal a little more, though.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

First of all, awesome film. If you’re into the Harry Potter movies, see it. You know you want to.

Comparing it to the book, this time, moreso than with any of the other films, it seems largely made up of scenes that are in the spirit of the book rather than straight from it. The big scenes are there, but the spaces in between are what I didn’t specifically recall from reading the series. I didn’t mind that. It still works and felt somewhat fresh and new to me at times.

Things are hinted at I recalled from the story itself to fill in the blanks, which I think may leave someone who hadn’t read the books thinking there’s more story there somewhere. Well, there is.

One thing I’m not sure how they could include, but I think is important, is explaining Dumbledore’s black, cursed hand. There’s absolutely no explanation in the film which leaves it up to you to make your own of it. Without giving anything away, it’s from a curse, with no cure, involved in his search for what he’s been looking for in this film.

Blood: The Last Vampire

This live action movie is based on an animated film of the same name. The animated one was good, I have it on DVD and I think it was only 45 minute to an hour. While there are scenes in the live action version that I kind of recalled from the animated one, it was definitely worse and the crappy special effects didn’t do much to help. If you have an interest, skip this one and watch (or re-watch) the original.

Ice Age 3

Meh.

Public Enemies

The camerawork in this film was so jumpy it left you feeling almost dizzy at times. Other than that the film was okay. Afterwards though, you feel like you watched a highlight reel of the movie, not really getting into the characters all that much.