Monday, December 28, 2009

Holiday Movie Time

So what have people seen lately? I have seen two over the long weekend.

First up was Avatar. We saw the standard version as one of my friends has an eye condition which makes the 3D version a confusing experience. The effects were spectacular and the world was visually extremely rich (although, in one of those things that annoys only me, I could not envision any geometry of stars, planets and moons that would create the variety of things you saw in the night sky). The political allegories could get a little tiring and should have been more subtle...don't need to be beat over the head with them quite so much. Still, I probably will go back and see the 3D version.

The other was Up in the Air. I saw this on Christmas Day and was surprised the theater wasn't totally packed. Excellent movie with compelling characters, well written and fine performances all around. It's really a movie for our times as the lead character is a hired gun who goes around the country firing people.

I travel quite a bit for my job (not as much as Ryan Bingham, George Clooney's character) and was amused at how similar some of our travel routines are and how many of the airports I recognized. It inspired me to look at my frequent flyer accounts. Now Southwest doens't do miles and I had to think about past travel before I flew enough to get accounts and, to the best I can estimate, my lifetime miles are...well, as Ryan says, that is a personal question!

So what other movies should I see? Other potential movies on my list are Nine, Sherlock Holmes, and the Princess and the Frog. Am I missing any good ones?

7 comments:

kkdither said...

I'm a bit out of date. I watched Blades of Glory this evening. It is one of those movies that I would not have picked, but was recommended by at least a handful of people. I figured I had better try it. I laughed, but I don't think I could EVER tell someone to rent that one.... Now Napoleon Dynamite, there is a good movie! ;>

OrbsCorbs said...

Sorry, can't afford first runs anymore.

In fact, I'm going to splurge in a few days and rent some DVDs.

What kind of 3-D glasses do they use for Avatar? Colored or polarized?

hale-bopp said...

The use the polarized lenses but the new RealD glasses are circularly polarized while the old ones are linearly polarized (like your sunglasses). It is a much nicer 3D effect and you don't have to keep your head perfectly straight with circularly polarized lenses (you could even stand on your head and still get a good 3D effect...not that I can imagine why you would want to do that during a movie!)

So even with polarized glasses, there are different types now (there are also the battery powered LCD glasses that use the polarizing properties of LCD screens...I have only seen one movie using these types of glasses and that was at the Imax in Orlando).

Bill said...

Orbs, the Racine Library has a lot of movies to borrow. Very convenient. Have you ever seen House of Games by David Mamet? The Spanish Prisoner? (not about a Spanish Prisoner!)

Anyone consider going to see live theater anymore?

Snowdance is great, I know. I've also discovered that you can go to the Milwaukee Rep for $10 if you get there about 30 minutes before "the curtain goes up".

kkdither said...

House of Games is my all time favorite movie. I've seen it over and over...

"When you have done something unforgivable, I'll tell you exactly what to do. You forgive yourself."

I don't think the library has this movie.

hale-bopp said...

House of Games and the Spanish Prisoner rock! I have been a longtime fan of Ricky Jay, the magician/con game expert that collaborated with Mamet on both those movies (and star of the one man show Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants as well as others).

OrbsCorbs said...

Thanks for the info, hale.

Bill, I borrow movies from the library. Some of the shoot-em-ups that I like they don't have, though.

I don't know why, but live theater has always made me feel a little bit uncomfortable, like I'm worried that the actors will embarrass themselves. Isn't that strange?