Late-year Movies

[roywhite]

Feedback on some recent releases? such as
Sherlock Holmes
Up in the Air
It's Complicated
The Young Victoria
Alvin and the Chipmunks; Squeakquel

Apparently movie attendance over the Christmas weekend was outstanding.

My wife and I saw Up in the Air, which I liked a lot; she was less enthusiastic. Good performances, a good look at the Americana of the traveling business class, and some emotional content.

I'm interested in what Jason and others have to say about the current crop of films.

[blazindw]

Feedback on some recent releases? such as
Sherlock Holmes
Up in the Air
It's Complicated
The Young Victoria
Alvin and the Chipmunks; Squeakquel

Apparently movie attendance over the Christmas weekend was outstanding.

My wife and I saw Up in the Air, which I liked a lot; she was less enthusiastic. Good performances, a good look at the Americana of the traveling business class, and some emotional content.

I'm interested in what Jason and others have to say about the current crop of films.

Apparently it was the biggest box office weekend EVER. $278 million dollars at the box office domestically. Avatar led the way with $75 million, but Sherlock Holmes was not far behind at $65 million. I believe it's also the first time that 2 films have made over $60 million in the same weekend, but I'm not sure on that.

The Chipmunks sequel made $50 million. That's incredible...tons of people at the movies this past weekend.

[BlueDevilBaby]

For the first time since I can remember, my family has not gone to the movies on Christmas day. So many that we all wanted to see, too.:( Maybe this weekend.

[Jim3k]

Feedback on some recent releases? such as
Sherlock Holmes
Up in the Air
It's Complicated
The Young Victoria
Alvin and the Chipmunks; Squeakquel

Apparently movie attendance over the Christmas weekend was outstanding.

My wife and I saw Up in the Air, which I liked a lot; she was less enthusiastic. Good performances, a good look at the Americana of the traveling business class, and some emotional content.

I'm interested in what Jason and others have to say about the current crop of films.

Up in the Air reviews at this thread: http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?p=341297#post341297

[roywhite]

Up in the Air reviews at this thread: http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?p=341297#post341297

Thanks, Jim, I enjoyed your comments. By the way, I read that 22 of the people in the movie were individuals who had actually been fired or downsized.

[JasonEvans]

Jim already linked to the Up In The Air thread, which contains my thoughts that this is the leading contender for Best Picture. It is a great film and a good time at the movies.

I saw Sherlock Holmes with my kids and all of us enjoyed it. The plot was a bit complicated at times for my 10 and 13 year olds, but they still liked the film. Some of the story twists and turns start to fall apart if you think about them too much but this is a popcorn flick, not great cinematic art and as a popcorn flick it does just fine. It has a sequel written into the story and I suspect we will see one in the next year and a half.

The actors are having a good time and do a decent job with the exception of Rachel McAdams, whose character seemed misplaced and does not jive well with the rest of what is going on. I was a little bothered by Downey Jr's accent and staccato way of talking in this role. It sometimes made him hard to understand and produced a somewhat flat performance at times.

Still, bottom line on Sherlock is that it is a good movie and works for a wide audience (teens, men, women).
http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/10010659/photo_38_hires.jpg


I have not seen the others yet. Sorry!

The reviews for Alvin are pretty bad and I doubt I will bother to see that. I am a bit shocked at its boxoffice take so far. Did people think the original was any good?

The consensus on It's Complicated seems to be that it has a great cast and has some nice, funny moments but the story is predictable and not original.

I've heard very little about Young Victoria. It feels like we've had a lot of films over the past few years about the trials and tribulations of being a princess/queen in England. Sigh, such a difficult life!

--Jason "go see Mr. Fox before you see Alvin... please!" Evans

[Billy Dat]

"The Fantastic Mr. Fox" is fantastic...great to look at and very much a Wes Anderson movie - which I know is a plus for some and a minus for others.

[roywhite]

Two thumbs up for this comedy which my wife and I saw last evening. It's laugh-out loud funny; in fact, can't remember the last movie I attended where the audience laughed so much.

"It's Complicated" would not really describe the plot, but the performances by Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, and the supporting cast were very good.

There may be a bit of a generational gap in enjoying this movie; we are directly in the age range of the main characters, but perhaps younger viewers would not relate quite so well to some of the humor.

Other views are welcome, but this movie was good fun.

[JulesInLA]

Two thumbs up for this comedy which my wife and I saw last evening. It's laugh-out loud funny; in fact, can't remember the last movie I attended where the audience laughed so much.

"It's Complicated" would not really describe the plot, but the performances by Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, and the supporting cast were very good.

There may be a bit of a generational gap in enjoying this movie; we are directly in the age range of the main characters, but perhaps younger viewers would not relate quite so well to some of the humor.

Other views are welcome, but this movie was good fun.

Spot on! It's especially funny for those of us with just out of the nest kiddos.