I recently went to see Toy Story 3 in 3D.  Personally, I think the whole 3D thing is getting a little out of hand.  Yes, I saw Avatar in 3D, and I enjoyed it.  But I just don’t see myself rushing out to every movie because they’re showing in 3D.  To make matters worse, the previews of up and coming movies were all 3D movies too!  (I saw my first preview for the Smurfs movie.  Wow… that brings back some memories!)

Of the three movies in the Toy Story franchise, I would say that this one was the least special for me.  It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it.  I did.  But it just didn’t seem to have the level of appeal that the other two did.  I can remember when I saw the first one.  I had resisted seeing it because I didn’t think that the premise of a bunch of live toys was really going to do it for me.  One of my friends kept telling me “You have to see it!  It’s awesome!”  So I finally relented, and he was right… as he often is.  By the time the second one was released, there was no doubt that I wanted to see that in the theatre.  They really are great movies for kids and parents alike.  But this one… mmm… it’s good.  I liked it, but I just wasn’t blown away.  Maybe it was because of the 3D.  I don’t know.  I don’t particularly enjoy sitting there with glasses on, and I don’t feel that the movie really took advantage of the 3D capability at all.  The only “wow” moment for me was when they went down a rollercoaster.  Other than that… honestly… it barely even registered that it was even showing in 3D.

It’s been widely reported, so it’s not really a spoiler… but… when Buzz gets switched to Spanish mode…  THAT was hilarious, and probably the most memorable moment of the movie for me.

I hate to say it, but I think that I could have waited to see this when it came out on DVD.  And I definitely could have done without the 3D.  I really hope that this isn’t going to become the trend.

I watched a cute movie last night.  (500) Days of Summer. It’s a low budget romantic comedy (of sorts) about two people who meet at work… a girl who doesn’t believe in love and the boy who falls in love with her.  What could possibly go wrong there?  I could pretty much sum it up with this scene…   they work for a company that designs greeting cards, and the boss calls the boy into his office to ask if anything has happened in his life recently, and reads one of the new cards that he submitted…

Roses are red, violets are blue…

Fuck you, whore!

I was a little worried that I wasn’t going to get a chance to see Iron Man 2 in the theatre!  Every time that I wanted to go see it, it didn’t match up with someone else’s schedule.  I was even prepared to go see it myself if I had to!  (Yes, I know.. how lame)

But tonight was the night!  And what did I think of it?  Very good!

Here’s the back story of me and Iron Man.  I’m not a comic book guy.  I don’t really know anything about the “official” story of Iron Man, and that’s just fine with me.  When I saw the first movie, I really had no expectations, and was pleasantly surprised.. blown away, in fact!  I probably could not have named anything that Robert Downey Jr had been in until that point, but when I finished watching the first Iron Man, I was hooked.  On Downey, and Iron Man!

I’m not going to bother reviewing the movie.  I will say this.. the effects are amazing (how often do I say that? Haha!), Scarlett Johansson looks amazing (sorry, couldn’t resist!), Mickey Rourke plays a very believable bad-ass, and the writing is top notch!  Most of the dialogue is very good!  Watch the exchanges between Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow).  It’s very clever.

But my favourite line in the whole movie was delivered by Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell)  “I’d love to leave my door unlocked at night, but this ain’t Canada.” How awesome is that?!?

Now, I’ve heard some people complain that they didn’t like the movie because Tony Stark was too cocky or full of himself.  And to those people I say… “SO???? ISN’T THAT THE WHOLE POINT?”   Yeah, he’s an self-absorbed, arrogant ass.  Sure he’s a narcissistic bastard.  Absolutely, he’s a horrible womanizing hound.  But that’s how *I* need my Tony Stark to be!  I don’t want him to be all dark and mopey.. in touch with his inner self… If I wanted that, I’d watch Spiderman or Superman.  No, Tony Stark is a brilliant, arrogant, wildly rich man who enjoys his position in Life immensely, and anything less than that would be untrue to what *I* think it means to be Tony Stark… or Iron Man!

I’d welcome any thoughts on the matter 

Go see this movie! 

Sat down to watch Law Abiding Citizen.  If you haven’t seen this yet, let me offer some caution…

If you’re at all squeamish about onscreen violence, think long and hard whether this is a movie that you’re really interested in watching.

I don’t require a movie to be violent for me to enjoy it, but I don’t relish violence strictly for violence’s sake.  Take the Saw series for starters.  I have no use for something like that.  That violence disturbs me, and I can’t watch it.  But for most movies that have blood…  I can deal with it, if I have to.  Particularly if I’m expecting it.

I wasn’t really expecting it from this movie.

Gerard Butler plays a man who has some very legitimate reasons to dislike the justice system.  Jamie Foxx plays a prosecutor intent on moving up the ladder as quickly as he can.   They both have very different views of what constitutes “justice”.

And that’s where things get messy.  Some of the violence is pretty straight-forward.  You can see it coming a mile away, and choose to look away or whatever.  But there is also at least one scene that is so sudden that I was stunned.

This is a movie that I had actually considered seeing in the theatre, and I’m just as glad that I didn’t.  This isn’t a bad movie, but it’s not for everyone.