Friday, January 9, 2009

MOVIES FOR THE WEEKEND

REVOLUTIONARY ROAD tomorrow afternoon.

Maybe GRAN TORINO on Sunday. If not this weekend, then next weekend for sure.

Only those two, plus DEFIANCE and THE WRESTLER, remain until I can officially call 2008 over and done with for new films.

I'm looking forward to posting my final best of the year picks, my own personal Oscar nominations, and the final reviews of the year for a lot of the recent award contending releases. Stay tuned...

8 comments:

Wayne said...

"Revolutionary Road" looks FANTASTIC!

Did you see "The Visitor"? Finally caught up with that one the other day...I seriously loved that movie.

Actionman said...

Yes, I saw The Visitor when it first showed up on DVD. I enjoyed the film overall, but loved Richard Jenkins' performance. McCarthy successfully avoided the inherent schmaltz in the material and made a very compelling and entertaining film. It's not in my top 10 of the year, but I was very impressed. Have you ever sen The Station Agent? A terrific little film that's worth checking out if you haven't seen it.

And yes, the RR trailers are great. My sister saw it last weekend and he thought it was excellent. She said the performances from Leo and Kate were phenomenal.

Wayne said...

Still have tons to see, but based on the 2008 pictures I HAVE seen, "The Visitor" would EASILY make my top 5.

Haven't seen "The Station Agent" yet. Need to...soon.

Leo and Kate. No complaints from me.

Actionman said...

Did you see Let the Right One in or Synecdoche, NY?

Wayne said...

:( No. not yet. Either of them.

Actionman said...

Synecdoche is a wonderful mind-fuck.

Let the Right One In is the best vampire film I've ever seen and the biggest movie-going surprise I had all year. The more I think about it the more I just love it. I am very wary of the planned remake, even if I was a big fan of Cloverfield. There's just no reason to remake this film, other than to make a buck. It's like the idea of remaking Oldboy -- just asinine.

Joel said...

No, that's technically wrong, Nick. It's about the idea of remaking Old Boy...with Will Smith. And I think that Matt Reeves will have it covered, when it comes to "Let the Right One In" :P I plan on renting that next summer.

Actionman said...

ANY idea of remaking Oldboy is wrong. The themes will not translate to AMerican audiences. And then all we'll be left with is a gimmicky thriller with no emotional heft. Trust me.

Let the Right One In, much like Oldboy, was a perfect piece of filmmaking. Nothing will be gained by remaking it. Cloverfield was a terrific monster movie, but nothing that Reeves has ever done suggests he's able to handle character depth and emotion the way that Let the Right One In would require him too.