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If I ever doubted how much my wife loves (which I don't after she moved to Pittsburgh with me), it is gone.  Last night she had the idea that we go see the A-Team.  Not because she wanted to see it (I actually believe the opposite to be true) but because she knew I would like it.  After watching G.I. Joe last fall, I was a little scared about seeing a movie based on a show from my childhood. 

I came in with very low expectations, and with that said, it was a really good movie.  Not the best movie ever made but a good couple of hours.  I wasn't optimistic about seeing Liam Neeson as Hannibal, but he did ok.  I was however really impressed with the casting for Face and Murdoch.  Bradley Cooper did a great job of playing Face bringing a great conman-esqe presense to teh character.  The part I like the most was Murdoch played by Sharlto Copely.  I didn't recognize Copely at first, but then it came back to me when I saw he was in District 9.  I don't really know his back story about how he got into acting as IMDB only lists him in a 2005 movie I have never head of and then District 9 and the A-Team.  I'm looking forward to seeing his next project (and hopefully in an A-Team sequel.

If you liked the TV show, I recommend seeing the movie either in the theater or at least on DVD.  If you haven't see the TV show, it may not be the same as someone how knows the characters.  Lucky for you, all six seasons are streaming on Netflix (I'm rewatching them now).

Last night I wanted to go see a light hearted comedy, something I didn't have to think about for some quick laughs.  It seemed a little childish, but we choose Kick Ass... Kid Super Heroes???  How silly could it get?

In this case, I was wrong about the movie, it was a rather dark comedy about kid super heroes, definitely not the light hearted 90 minutes I expected.  While the premise is a bit odd, awkwardness displayed by Aaron Johnson was perfect for the part.  I thought Nick Cage's Big Daddy was good although I thought it could have done without the Batman reference.  It was funny, but a little unneeded as the rest of the characters seemed very unique (although I can't claim to be a huge comic book buff).

If you miss this in the theater, I recommend adding it to your Netflix queue.  This is a nice dark comedy set on a rather odd premise.

While I miss the dollar theater I used to go to back in Texas, Jenny convinced me to go to the movies today.  There wasn't much playing but the one thing that I wanted to see was Alice in Wonderland. I like Tim Burton's movies in general so I thought it would be worth it to spring for the 3D tickets.  That was of course before I realized that two 3D tickets would cost me $28.  Since I'm still used to the $1 per ticket price, there was a bit of sticker shock.  But I digress, as for the movie, it was pretty good.  I liked the idea that this isn't a remake, it instead is a sequel to the previous movies based on the book.  That being the premise, Burton was able to pull off a different story line with the same characters compared to what has been done before.

Visually, the movie was pretty impressive.  Perhaps not as breathtaking as Avatar, but very good none the less.  One thing that I could have done without though is the 3D.  In Avatar, I found some scenes very difficult to watch and although that occurred less with Alice, there were still some times where I found myself closing one eye to make it easier to see.  I think I'm done paying the extra for something that is just distracting.  The scene I remember being most impressive in 3D in both Avatar and Alice are the credits.  They looked really cool in 3D but I don't see the need to pay $3 or $4 just to see them.  I'll try 3D again in a couple of more years when they can improve the technology a bit more.

It amuses me how the news keeps reporting how much money Avatar is pulling in.  A ticket for an evening showing of Avatar at my local multiplex is $14.  This obscene price makes the total box office a little meaningless doesn't it?  If you consider that Star Wars brought in $798 million, then the $429 million that Avatar has brought in after 4 weeks isn't too impressive.  World wide there must be thousands of more theaters than there were 30 years ago and when you adjust for ticket prices (A little bit of research shows that the average ticket in 1977 was a little over $2), Avatar would need to bring in more than 4 and half billion dollars to be as popular as the original Star Wars.  So until the news starts reporting the total ticket sales or adjusts for differences in price, I'm going to keep ignoring the gross sales.

As for the movie, the story was a little lacking (which apparently Cameron tried to make up for with length) but if you can get through slow pace and the unbelievable setup in the first hour, then you can sit back and enjoy the last hour and half.  The is nothing mind blowing about this story like we saw in The Matrix, but the special effects are simply amazing.  I saw it in 3D which looks amazing most of the time, but also hurts my eyes in others so while I can do without that, the computer animation is simply believable (not unbelievable like in the aforementioned Star Wars.  You can't tell where the actors end and the computer begins.

It is expensive, but this is a movie you need to see on the big screen.

A normal holiday tradition around here is to go see a movie while everyone else is home with their families.  Apparently around here, that is a pretty common idea.  We went to see Sherlock Holmes at a sold out theater.  This just reinforced my rule about not seeing movies on opening day.  Robert Downey Jr. was great in the movie but he would have been better if I didn't have to sit in the front row.

Downey does a great job of playing troubled characters.  He added a great deal of complexity to the character that another actor might not have been able to.  If you are already a fan, this is a can't miss.  However, if you aren't a fan already, you may want to wait for this to come out on DVD.

I want to applaud the screen writers, Johnson, Peckham, and Kinberg for not being tempted to throw in a "Elementary my Dear Watson" (even out of context).  I think back to the Get Smart movie that tossed (or perhaps forced ) in all the catch phrases at the expense of the movie.  This was well done all on its own.  I look forward to the sequel (which was certainly left open by the ending).

Nothing much to do here in Texas on a Wednesday night so I want to dollar theater.  I had already seen most of the movies there to tonight was Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant.  For a dollar, I'm still undecided if it was worth it, but for any more than that, it certainly isn't.

I'm a big fan of John C. Reilly and although he did have some good lines delivered in his typical over the top style, he couldn't make up for a weak plot.

Not much more to say about this.  Since it is already at the dollar theater, you probably won't have to time to catch it while it is still in the theater, but don't worry about that.  And if you miss it on DVD, you'll be ok too.  If you see it on cable next year and have nothing better to do, sit back and enjoy.

Hooray for the dollar theater near my hotel.  I was bored tonight so I decided to go catch a movie.  I had heard some mixed reviews about Zombieland, but for $1.75, it can't be that bad, right?  I'm not big on horror movies but the comparisons to Shaun of the Dead as well as having Woody Harrelson gave me enough incentive to go see it.

To the point, I thought it was great.  The appearance of Bill Murray really put it over the top for me.  It isn't the best movie ever made, but it was very enjoyable for the 88 minutes it ran.  The Texas and Redneck jokes at the beginning were especially great since I saw this while in Austin.

I'm still not sold on Jesse Eisenberg though, he always seems like he is playing Michael Cera's character.  The only other movie I remember him from is Adventureland which was a painful 90 minutes and perhaps that just left a bad opinion of hm in my mind.

Anyway, if you don't mind some gore (well a lot of gore) and like zombie humor, this is a pretty entertaining movie.