Holiday Weekend Movie Discussion
Today is Boxing Day, the traditional post-Christmas day when Britons punch the shit out of each other for gifting yet another fruitcake. All of the holiday brouhaha is over, and we can go back to being grumps and assholes, the brief Krimble spasm of joy having evaporated.
But this isn't really about the holidays, it's about what you saw over the holidays. Some of you have family traditions to see movies on Christmas, while others of you are hellbound heathens who totally spat upon the birthday of our Lord Jesu Christos and ate Chinese food and saw a film (I ate Chinese food! Yang Chow in LA's Chinatown - get the Slippery Shrimp or the Slippery Chicken!).
The big opening this weekend was The Darkest Hour. Just kidding! Nobody saw it and it didn't screen for critics. I might go see it today just because I loathe myself. And because some of you might want to read my review (this is the fantasy land in which I live). Did you celebrate Christmas with the alien invasion of Moscow movie? Tell us about it below.
The real big movie, in my book, was War Horse. I loved it to pieces, and you can read my review here. I think this is a film that'll be splitting audiences - those who are willing to go for an old-fashioned heart-tugging journey will love it, while the folks who feel too cool for that will despise it.
Then there was The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. My review is here, and I hated it. While the film looks good it's impossibly dull, with a central mystery that has zero interest and even less tension or urgency. The character of Lisbeth Salander continues to fascinate some and repulse others; I find it fascinating that a character so obviously created as a sexual fantasy by the author of the original Swedish book is being held up as an example of kick-ass feminism (then again, Wonder Woman was created as a fetish character by a man as well).
Tintin opened in America this week; I didn't get around to reviewing it yet but we have two other reviews - one from Dan Whitehead and one from Sam Strange - that sum up how I feel. I think the movie is a joyful adventure movie whose biggest flaw is that it's too exhausting. The 3D is pretty great.
Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol went wide this weekend. Feel bad for those who had to see it in regular theaters, because this is a movie that truly shows off the wonder of REAL IMAX. It was noted on Twitter (by whom I forget) that this film and the prologue of The Dark Knight Rises proves Hollywood backed the wrong horse when they went big on 3D. Enormous IMAX screens are the most immersive form of filmgoing.
And there were still holdovers from last week, including Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shitshows, Alvin and the Chipmunks and The Sitter. Talk about all of them here!
