Posts Tagged ‘Fanboys’

Even the Third Reich is disappointed with the ‘Avatar’ trailer

August 28, 2009

Let’s dismiss for a second how sad the idea of an “Avatar Day” is (on any number of levels, pick one) and analyze the hype surrounding this mammoth cinematic event with our serious faces on. Avatar…

– allegedly cost $237 million to finance
– stars an Australian actor we’re told is a champ back home, but who just sort of popped up stateside this year (hi!); first playing a robot, now playing a marine, and soon to be playing a Greek warrior (range!)
– took 15 years to make it to theaters (James Cameron wrote the first draft in 1994)
– looks like Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, but with giant blue cats

Does that cover it? I think we’ve covered it. Get your tickets now* before they sell out!

*Don’t buy tickets to this thing. At least not now, in August, four months before it’s released. Really?

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Posted in Movies | 5 Comments »

Haiku Review: ‘Watchmen’

March 31, 2009

You would see (or not see) this movie with or without two Lifting Fog reviews, but ours is still an important voice in American film criticism and worthy of scrutiny. Or so my grandmother says. Don’t worry, this review is free of bright blue genitalia!

watchmenfinalposterImperfect – I know.
Makeup and music – I know.
But HERE. And not bad!

A loyal patron of arthouse cinema, I saw Watchmen three weeks ago when it first opened. It hardly moved me, and I left fully prepared that weekend to offer a perfunctory “it is what it is” review with a clever title like “Don’t Watch The Watchmen” or “You’ll Be Watching Your Watches Instead.” As great as either of those would have been, I didn’t get around to the review.

One week later I sat down to watch the movie again, this time in IMAX. (You say “sucker”; I say “generous soul.”) It seemed right to offer Watchmen, a film so unavoidably tangled in decades of hype and expectation, a second chance. And sure enough… I sort of didn’t hate it. In fact… I kind of sort of liked it. Don’t worry – my fanboy license is already in the shredder.

Defense of an unpopular position after the jump!

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Posted in Reviews | 11 Comments »

Do Not Go Gentle Into That ‘Dark Knight’ (Part Two)

July 23, 2008

The fun continues with a close examination of opening night psychology. Fanboys, we’re under the microscope.

It should come as no surprise that I was part of the midnight crowd. 10:30 crowd, even, given the time the party posse and I headed down to Lincoln Square to wait outside. The line was huge, snaking around 68th St. all the way to Amsterdam – not an exciting prospect. It was made worse by the fact that we had each unknowingly bought tickets to separate theaters. While I give credit to AMC employees for running a remarkably tight ship on opening night, I found it kind of ridiculous that they wouldn’t accept us all into one theater. Left with no other option but to trade for the tickets we needed, I was quickly forced into action. For a while, I looked like an idiot – barking at strangers, asking them to check their ticket stubs and possibly – please? – trade one theater for another. I got a lot of skeptical looks. Even aided by the usher I dragged along, some people were still convinced I was trying to scam them. Do people do this? Eventually, I snagged the necessary tickets and we were all able to sit together. It felt only appropriate that it took Batman-esque detective skills to make this possible. (more…)

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Posted in Movies | 2 Comments »