Amph Preview of Coming Attractions: 21 Jump Street

The oscar buzz for this movie is through the roof.

 

It did well enough at the box office, too.

 

It's a brilliant movie and well deserving of all the buzz. Of all the careers that it's going to help, I think Armie Hammer is going to get a huge boost from it. Going in I had no idea he was in it, and when his name appeared in the opening credits I immediately thought "The Hollister model that was supposed to play Batman?" But in a movie filled with great performances from actors you wouldn't expect, I walked away impressed by him the most. Playing twins with conflicting thoughts and attitudes that are always together in their scenes, with your head superimposed by CGI onto another actor's body can't be easy, but he pulled it off phenomenally, no doubt with assistance from the great David Fincher. I'm looking forward to seeing him in more projects, and it's only a matter of time before he gets a role in an action/comic book flick (Superman?). He has a majestic voice.

 

I've only seen interviews and clips and trailers so far, but yeah. I've been saying this elsewhere.

Armie Hammer for Superman.

 

I definitely want to see it, also "The Town"

 

Secretariat (2010)

Tomatometer: 64

Average Rating: 6.2/10
Critic Reviews: 84
Fresh: 54 | Rotten: 30

"Rousing, heartwarming, and squarely traditional, Secretariat offers exactly what you'd expect from an inspirational Disney drama -- no more, and no less."

Audience 73 per cent liked it

Movie Info

Genre: Drama, Sports & Fitness

Synopsis: "Based on the Novel "Secretariat: The Making of a Champion" By William Nack, Secretariat chronicles the spectacular journey of the 1973 Triple Crown winner. Housewife and mother Penny Chenery (Diane Lane) agrees to take over her ailing father's Virginia-based Meadow Stables, despite her lack of horse-racing knowledge. Against all odds, Chenery-with the help of veteran trainer Lucien Laurin (John Malkovich)-manages to navigate the male-dominated business, ultimately fostering the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years and what may be the greatest racehorse of all time.-- (C) Disney"

Rated: PG [See Full Rating] for brief mild language

Running Time: 1 hr. 56 min.

In Theaters: Oct 8, 2010 Wide

Studio:Walt Disney Pictures

Directed By: Randall Wallace

Written By: Mike Rich

Cast: Diane Lane, John Malkovich, Dylan Walsh, Dylan Baker, Otto Thorwarth

Poster: OK

Trailer: Long, but interesting, at least to me

Pro: Some of the cast

Con: Director is inexperienced

Verdict: I would prefer a movie about Canadian folk hero Northern Dancer, but this looks interesting--I've always liked horse-racing, and a family member worked at the old Fort Erie racetrack. Or maybe a movie about the mare in foal to Secretariat that was horsenapped...

The trainer (Laurin) and the jockey (Turcotte) were both Canadians. Turcotte was permanently crippled in a racing accident some time later.

But I'll probably see this.

 

Red (2010)

88 per cent fresh

Average Rating: 6.6/10
Critic Reviews: 24
Fresh: 21 | Rotten: 3

Average Rating: 7.2/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 0

No consensus yet.

Audience
89 per cent want to see

Want To See: 15300
Not Interested: 1950

Movie Info

Genre: Action & Adventure, Mystery & Suspense, Comedy

Synopsis: "Based on the cult D.C. Comics graphic novels by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner, RED is an explosive action-comedy starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren. Frank (Bruce Willis), Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich) and Victoria (Helen Mirren) used to be the CIA's top agents - but the secrets they know just made them the Agency's top targets. Now framed for assassination, they must use all of their collective cunning, experience and teamwork to stay one step ahead of their deadly pursuers and stay alive. To stop the operation, the team embarks on an impossible, cross-country mission to break into the top-secret CIA headquarters, where they will uncover one of the biggest conspiracies and cover-ups in government history"

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for intense sequences of action violence and brief strong language

Running Time: 1 hr. 51 min.

In Theaters: Oct 15, 2010 Wide

Studio:Summit Entertainment

Directed By: Robert Schwentke

Written By: Erich Hoeber

Cast: Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Brian Cox, Mary-Louise Parker, Rebecca Pigeon, Ernest Borgnine

Poster: Good

Trailer: Highly entertaining

Pro: the cast, who look like they are enjoying every refried minute;

Con: director's a bit new

Verdict: I'm there.

 

Hereafter (2010)

71 per cent

Average Rating: 6.7/10
Critic Reviews: 31
Fresh: 22 | Rotten: 9

"Its supernatural storyline may seem like an odd fit for Eastwood, but Hereafter's meditative pace and poignant script highlight his strengths as a director -- and help make this one of the most unique films of the year."

Average Rating: 6.9/10
Critic Reviews: 14
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 4

Audience
wants to see
Want To See: 1838
Not Interested: 96

Genre: Drama, Mystery & Suspense

Synopsis: "A supernatural thriller centered on three people -- a blue-collar American, a French journalist and a London school boy -- who are touched by death in... A supernatural thriller centered on three people -- a blue-collar American, a French journalist and a London school boy -- who are touched by death in different ways."

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for mature thematic elements including disturbing disaster and accident images, and for brief strong language

Running Time: 2 hr. 6 min.

In Theaters: Oct 15, 2010 Limited

Studio:Warner Bros. Pictures

Directed By: Clint Eastwood

Cast: Matt Damon, Bryce Dallas Howard, Cecile de France, Jay Mohr

Poster: Okay

Trailer: Not seen

Pro: Eastwood, Damon

Con: Critics do describe it as 'dour'

Verdict: Eventually

 

I'm a fan of Eastwood and Morgan, but this looks... bad. Just plain bad. I'd love to be wrong, though.

 

Saw the trailer after I posted that. And...short and not particularly helpful in delineating the film. If it had been released last week, it might have had a chance, but this weekend "RED" will crush it, I think.

 

It's only getting a limited opening I guess, but I can't see people flocking to it when it goes wide. Maybe the disaster scenes will sell it for people. But probably not.

 

Monsters (2010)

70 per cent

Average Rating: 5.9/10
Reviews Counted: 33
Fresh: 23 | Rotten: 10

No consensus yet.
No Score Yet...

Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 4
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 0

audience 91 per cent
want to see
Want To See: 2190
Not Interested: 214

Movie Info

Genre: Drama, Horror, Romance, Art House & International, Science Fiction & Fantasy

Synopsis: "Six years ago NASA discovered the possibility of alien life within our solar system. A probe was launched to collect samples, but crashed upon re-entry over Central America. Soon after, new life forms began to appear and grow. In an effort to stem the destruction that resulted, half of Mexico was quarantined as an INFECTED ZONE. Today, the American and Mexican military still struggle to contain the massive creatures... Our story begins when a jaded US journalist (McNairy) begrudgingly agrees to find his boss' daughter, a shaken American tourist (Able) and escort her through the infected zone to the safety of the US border. -- (C) Magnolia"

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language

Running Time: 1 hr. 37 min.

In Theaters: Oct 29, 2010 Limited

Distributor:Magnolia Pictures

Directed By: Gareth Edwards

Written By: Gareth Edwards

Cast: Scoot McNairy, Whitney Able.

Poster: Dull

Trailer: Not seen

Pro: Don't know

Con: Apparently an indie film. Poor special effects and it's a metaphor.

Verdict: Nah.

 

Norwegian Wood:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqiYXmpb41I

For the one or two people around here (at most) who have read the book, you know how big the book is in Japan. It turned Murakami into a gigantic celebrity and led to his temporary departure from Japan. The cinematography looks up to the herculean task of matching the book's terrific narration, and that will go a long way toward making a good film. Hopefully everything else is in place as well.

 

I relented and watched Monsters. It was a solid, if understated, character-driven science fiction film. Certainly not as good as last year's Moon, and not as powerful as the first half of District 9, but it gains points for not turning into a video game at the end like the latter. Monsters looks good, the social/political metaphors don't beat you over the head, and most importantly, the relationship works. Granted, the dialogue rarely crackles (but it does sometimes surprise a bit), but the actors have real chemistry and do manage to carry the movie without getting obnoxious or boring. And the ending really works. The movie's big failure was in the marketing -- it's clear that many people expected (quite reasonably, given the hype and the title) a spectacular effects film, what this is is a low-key character drama that happens to be set against a sf background. I'm still mulling over the film, but I'll almost certainly end up rating it ***½ or **** stars.

 

Yeah, this one's been waiting patiently in my Netflix queue for something like a year now. Can't wait.

 

127 Hours (2010)

89 per cent

Average Rating: 8.1/10
Reviews Counted: 28
Fresh: 25 | Rotten: 3

No consensus yet.
100

Average Rating: 9.6/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 0

No consensus yet.

Audience:
88 per cent want to see
Want To See: 3544
Not Interested: 476
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Movie Info

Genre: Drama

Synopsis: A mountain climber becomes trapped under a boulder while canyoneering alone near Moab, Utah and resorts to desperate measures in order to survive.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language and some disturbing violent content/bloody images

Running Time: 1 hr. 33 min.

In Theaters: Nov 5, 2010 Limited

Distributor:Fox Searchlight

Directed By: Danny Boyle

Written By: Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy

Cast: James Franco, Amber Tamblyn, Kate Mara, Clémence Poésy, Kate Burton, Lizzy Caplan

Poster: Good, if rather obscure

Trailer: Not seen it

Pro: Franco, Boyle

Con: Not for the squeamish, apparently

Read the book this one is based on, and feared it might be a genteel version of "Saw". Hopefully, Boyle is better than that.

Verdict: Possibly (waiting for word-of-mouth)

 

The word-of-mouth I've heard has been exceptional.

 

This one looks great.

 

Saw the trailer on TV the other day, and it was fairly surreal for me because I was good friends with his sister in college, and ate lunch with him a couple times pre-accident.

 

I am so stoked to see this movie.

 

Probably won't be the popular hit that Slumdog Millionaire was, but I'm betting it will get some Oscar attention.

 

Franco will finally get a nomination out of it, I think.

 

Can't wait until this goes wide.

 

I'd go so far as to say he'll win.

 

At this point I think Firth is the safe bet, especially since he probably should have won last year (I would have voted for Renner, personally).