Movies Movies Movies

So I managed to see 3 of the 4 movies I’d wanted to see weekend before last (I couldn’t motivate myself to do a double feature on Sunday like I did on Saturday, so TMNT had to wait until last weekend). The movie I saw on Sunday was one that had come out the weekend prior, and that is Sandra Bullock’s new mystery/thriller Premonition. Sadly this was a pretty mediocre flick. The basic premise is that every morning when Sandra Bullock wakes up, she finds herself jumping back and forth between before and after a horrible car wreck that caused the death of her husband. She spends the movie first convincing herself she’s not insane, then trying to figure out how to prevent her husband from being killed.

In a word, the movie is confusing. You really have to pay attention to keep track of what’s going on, and to keep up with what’s pre-accident and what’s post-accident. And once everything finally plays out, the ending just isn’t that satisfying (especially with all the work you've put in to keep up with what's going on), and the movie just kind of ends. While an interesting idea, there were just too many things that didn’t really add up, and a lot of potential to do interesting things with the story that just never play out. There are definitely worse movies out there, but this one didn’t really impress me much.

On Saturday, I saw two much better movies. They were also two very, very different kinds of movies. The first was the sci-fi family movie The Last Mimzi. A young brother and sister discover a box sent from the future. In it are items that somehow grant them extraordinary powers. They learn from one of the items (a stuffed rabbit) that they must build a bridge to the future to save humanity. And things progress from there.

While not a spectacular movie, I’d say this is still a very solid family drama. And there’s a lot more to the story than your average animated kids’ movie, so it’s a little easier for the parents to sit through, while still being a movie that I think most kids can enjoy. It’s probably over the heads of really young children, but otherwise this is certainly a movie that the whole family can enjoy.

The other movie that I saw along with The Last Mimzy was the action thriller Shooter (which is definitely NOT a family movie). I really, really enjoyed this movie. Admittedly, it doesn’t truly stand out from any of the other action thrillers out there as far as story and direction goes, and while the acting is solid (with a great cast) there are no real stand-out performances. But there are a couple of things about the movie that I loved that made it stand out for me. The first is that the main character is a sniper, and there are a number of great scenes where he shows off his sniper skills, which I just loved (especially since I know a couple of snipers). The other part of the movie that just put a smile on my face is when they reveal that the mastermind of the big conspiracy is a Senator from Montana. This was especially gratifying watching the movie in a theater, specifically when a fellow audience member yelled out, “Burns!” when this bit of info is revealed, which got a chuckle from most of the rest of the audience (Conrad Burns, for those who don’t know, was until recently a Montana Senator (he finally got the boot during the last election) who, as far as I’m concerned, is about as corrupt as you’re likely to find in Washington, so hearing his name called out was pretty funny, IMHO).

So if you’re from Montana and you enjoy a good action sniper movie, this is certainly one to check out. And even if you’re not from Montana, go ahead and see it anyways. :)

So last weekend there was nothing new out that I had any real interest in seeing, so I managed to catch the one movie I hadn’t gotten around to seeing the weekend before, and that was TMNT (oh, and I also found time to see 300 a second time – man, I love that movie!!). After passing on it the weekend before, I had thought about just skipping TMNT at the theater (since I was never a huge fan of the original movies), but a couple of friends of mine convinced me it was worth seeing, and since there wasn’t much else out I wanted to see, I decided to give it a go. And I’m glad I did. This was an enjoyable, fun movie. The CGI is spectacular, the voice performances are solid (if they didn’t get the actors from the cartoon show, they got people who’s voices sound pretty close), and the storyline is surprisingly well thought out. And as my buddy commented to me, it was a nice surprise to see that this wasn’t a remake of the original movie, or an attempt to re-imagine or restart the franchise from scratch. The movie very much takes place after the story lines of the original movies and cartoons. Their main villain Shredder has already been defeated, and they are facing a brand new set of foes (although the Foot ninja clan still plays a part in the film).

This is another good movie to take the kids to. It’s action-packed, it’s funny, and just all-around enjoyable to watch. Oh, and here’s a little side tidbit about the movie that I read on imdb that I thought was amusing enough to share. Not surprisingly, when the movie was first released their were comments/criticisms made about this being just an excuse to push the toy line and other merchandising avenues (because hey, let’s face it, what’s the point of having a popular movie these days without cashing in on the merchandising opportunities, right?). The creators of the movie responded by saying that the reverse is actually the case here, that the movie wasn’t designed to push the merchandising, but that the merchandising that’s already out there is what prompted the making of the movie. They were still seeing strong enough sales from Turtles’ cartoons and action figures, etc. that they felt it only made sense to bring the characters back to the big screen for another go around (and from their opening weekend numbers, it looks like they were right – quite a few of those toy-buying kids rushed out to the theaters to see the movie).

Well, that’s about it for this entry. Coming up this weekend we have the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez exploitation double-feature extravaganza Grindhouse!! While I do admit this movie(s) has the potential to just be horribly dumb, I’m still super excited to see it. While I’m sure that it will indeed be really dumb (and I’m sure the critics will absolutely hate it), I’m also expecting (hoping) that it’s just going to be a hell of a lot of fun! So stayed tuned right here for that review, coming your way soon!!