Do yourself a favor this summer blockbuster season, and see Inception.

We saw it last night at Atlantic Station.  My overall impression of it is that it’s got a few script irregularities, but if you’re willing to lose yourself in it, it is a beautiful, rich, imaginative film.

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Spoilers ahead!

Last night I went to go see Splice starring Adrien Brody at Atlantic Station.  It was a free showing, and so despite rumors that the movie was going to be shit, I was excited to see this new sci-fi/thriller.

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Friday night after a particularly stressful day at work, I drive over to Las Margaritas on Cheshire Bridge Road to have a mojito (no, not a margarita) and meet up with some old friends who have come into town. Later that night we go back to grab the boy and some liquor from the store near my house, and then back to another friend’s house to play Beatles Rock Band into the night.

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Movies seen this weekend:

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Reasons to see this movie:

• Sam Worthington. Although he has the same accent no matter where he is and what world he’s on, he’s still yummy and seems to hold his own weight in these movies he’s recently been in
• Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes, cast as brothers. Zeus and Hades, respectively. I squealed with excitement seeing them together. Both phenomenal actors. Have they been in movies together before this? If so, why haven’t I see them?

Complaints we will inevitably hear about:

• The plot is poor. Granted, this is a remake. But it’s overblown and silly in some parts, riddled with clichés and ridiculous scenarios.
• The 3D seems gratuitous. Although the movie would be just as silly without it, I found myself almost wishing it was in 2D. The camerawork wasn’t done well enough for me to enjoy the 3D, and all, sometimes giving me a headache as monsters tore apart humans, as spears were thrown… Ugh. Please just stabilize the camera and quit making me feel cross-eyed. Thanks.
• Ralph Fiennes’ Hades seemed to just be a raggedy version of Voldemort. Everytime Hades flourished on screen I found myself waiting for him to scream out Avada Kedavra!!!!
• I know this is a remake, but I wonder if in the original they had changed the Perseus legend as much as they did in this one.  This story resembles almost nothing from what I remember of Perseus from my Greek mythology class (save for taking Medusa’s head and visiting the witches). Whatever. You can argue that it’s the writers taking creative liberties, here.
• I dislike how Io is Perseus’ reward for doing everything right… versus Zeus bringing back his dead family. First, because it seems sexist to me that a woman should be rewarded like property (although whatever… you can say that back then it was different), but second because in mythology he married Andromeda, anyway… why the change?

What more do I have to say? This movie is a big-budget action film, but poorly written and poorly executed. If you’re looking to kill an afternoon over the weekend, by all means. Go see it. I would go just to see Sam Worthington running around in a tunic, but that’s just me.

Most of this movie seems to have been made simply so the CGI artists could say to us, look what we can do! I suppose if you take this as straight entertainment, then it’s fine, one of those so-called “popcorn movies.”

But if you’re looking for something deeply moving… skip it.

This weekend was a good one. I think one of the highlights was seeing The Crazies, but it was more than just seeing this movie. It was the new theater that we discovered: Northlake Movie Tavern.

The good things about this theater:

• They serve food
• Their tickets are cheap ($5.50 for matinee, $7.50 for 3d movies during matinee times)
• They’re fairly close (I-285 and Lavista Road, which isn’t terribly far from my apartment)
• They show decent movies (versus older movies, or the ones that have not done well at the box office)

I think a cheap but decent theater is worth noting, especially these days when a typical matinee will run you about $20.

Anyway, we saw The Crazies and while we didn’t order any food, still thoroughly enjoyed the film.  Basically, it’s about a small town who begins to experience a strange illness that quickly leads to its containment from the outside world.  The military steps in to monitor the containment while a small group of survivors struggle towards freedom.

I liked the movie, even though it was definitely a B-grade film. I mean, why wouldn’t I like it? The disease that the town contracts turns people into mindless zombie-like creatures (well, really the disease makes them crazy… hence The Crazies. But the symptoms resemble zombie infection as well!), and lots of gore and shocking violence ensues. That and the focus is around a small band of people who fight for survival… My kind of film.

But it’s dark and appropriately scary.  And had Joe Anderson. You may know him from Across the Universe (as Max), and The Ruins (as the German guy who gets his back broken).  I feel like this is a guy to watch, as he does a good job with even the most minute role. Even though The Crazies was technically a horror film, there were several moments when I found myself moved by the raw emotion he’s so good at portraying.

Anyway, that was the weekend. Good times.

I don’t think I posted about the movies I’ve seen lately in theaters.

I’ve been going to a lot of premieres and sneak previews lately because the people in my office do it. This was also something that a person and I used to do in college when the school newspaper would give out the same free passes. Down here, it’s something of an underground phenomenon. I’ve started noticing the same faces, the same groups of people.
There’s the wise Asian man (so my friend calls him), who is always in line first and always has a tranquil smile on his face. He helped us out once when we were lost and confused during one preview movie.

There’s the obnoxious woman who can’t stand when people don’t queue correctly. She complains about everything including cutters. Evidently you’re only allowed to cut one person in line. Any more than that is wrong. Great way to justify a slightly immoral act…

There’s a group of old people that always talk about the premieres they attended and why didn’t you attend this movie because I got a pass to it and last night I was at this preview and it was really crowded and they didn’t give out free stuff… I tend to tune them out after a few minutes because they chatter amongst themselves. I always wonder, how do these people get to all these previews so early? Do they not have jobs?

Finally, we met a new one last night. The really annoying guy who told a friend’s fiance that he should move his crutches so that people could get by. Uh, sorry, but we purposely chose an aisle seat for the guy so that he could leave his damaged foot out in the aisle. But we apologized for inconveniencing people like him that so desperately want to get out and socialize on the stairs. Sorry. He also kept up a loud running commentary through the whole movie, gasped inappropriately when one of the characters turned out to be gay (instantly losing any and all respect I might have given him as another human being), and then began tapping my friend on the shoulder to dole out random movie facts during the course of the film. I might have let this last one go, except he also eavesdropped on several of our conversations and got excited when it sounded like we’d said something was free.  We won’t be sitting next to the guy again, if we can help it.

Anyway, most times I’m happy to be one in the group of people I see these movies with. Mostly, I like that they’re free.
So these are the ones I’ve seen with a brief review.

• Edge of Darkness – Okay action, okay premise. Mel Gibson is a decent actor, although he’s been out of the limelight for a while. This movie included two things that I predicted without realizing it, but the ending wrapped up unexpectedly and nicely.
• From Paris With Love - I normally don’t like Travolta or Rhys-Myers (I think he’s got a little of the crazy eye going on and it scares me), but I liked this film. On par with Crank, although Travolta carries it most of the way. Enjoyable.
• Dear John – Like I posted on Twitter, this movie is further proof that Channing Tatum should be seen and not heard. Not only is he only a passable “actor,” he was not helped by a weak script based off a Nicholas Sparks book. As an ultimate insult to this movie, I have no desire to  read this book.
• Valentine’s Day – Just saw this last night. A cute movie. Didn’t think the characters interacting was as natural as in other films. Sometimes a bit cliche and predictable. Liked the twist dealing with Bradley Cooper’s character. Did not like Taylor Swift.

So most of these have been okay, at least. The last one was not my style, but… Valentine’s Day IS coming up. And I got a free shirt out of it. I think people who actually like the holiday might like this one. Not a total waste of an evening.

The weekend:

• Saw the new Jackie Chan movie, The Spy Next Door, at 10 o’clock in the morning on Saturday. Meh. It was all right. Nothing to really write home about. Mostly, the movie was for kids, although I’m not sure how many kids will actually be entertained by it.
• Also went and saw Daybreakers, which I’ve waited for ever since seeing its preview a few months ago. I don’t think this movie has been very widely promoted, but it stars Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe. In a nutshell, save your $8 (or $10, if you don’t make a matinee) and wait for it on DVD. The movie had great ideas, but poor execution.
• Went out for brunch on Sunday, to a place called Urban Pl8 close to GT downtown. It was in what looked to be a converted warehouse and was sparsely decorated and chilly.  I ordered the crabcake served on their own biscuits with a slice of fried zucchini. Then there’s another biscuit and polenta with cheese and green onion. The food, frankly, was superb, and we walk away full and content.

These are the books I’ve been reading so far this January, carried over from last month:

• Circus of the Damned – Laurell K. Hamilton
• The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
• The Lunatic Cafe - Laurell K. Hamilton
• The Road - Cormac McCarthy

I’m seeing The Lovely Bones tonight with some people from work and a boy, so hopefully we’ll get in. I can’t wait to see what they’re going to do with the movie, since the book was heartbreaking at its best and absolutely soul-crushing at its worst. It had beautiful language and a transfixing premise. I’d highly recommend at least the book to someone who doesn’t mind reading about difficult subjects, and I’ll let you know tomorrow whether or not the movie is worth seeing. I’m hoping it will be.

SPOILERS!

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It’s been a really long time since I’ve been to a movie premiere. The last time was probably sophomore year in college, when I used to basically live in my best friend’s room. We’d get movie tickets on Wednesdays and then attend the premieres usually on Thursday nights, sometimes the next week on Monday or Tuesday.

It was something exciting, you know? Being some of the first to see this new film, even if it wasn’t that good. You can’t help but feel a little bit special, to be part of this group. I know it’s silly. Sometimes it’s the little things in life that count.

Last night, I hurried through a shower, threw on some clothes, and reparked my car at Atlantic Station within fifteen minutes. By that time, I was nearly late to queue up outside our theater at Regal; I met up with my (technically) boss and her fiance, who greeted me by name. I was surprised. I’ve only met him twice, but the simple fact that he remembered my name when so many other people who actually work in our office do not (variations or names that sound kind of like Katherine do not count), that my opinion of him as a great guy went up quite a bit.

After waiting in line, getting our bags checked, and then being briefly frisked, we went in. The brief time we sat down waiting for previews and the movie to start was actually not very awkward. I don’t know what I was expecting–maybe I just assume that since I’m a lowly administrative assistant, that my HR manager will simply deign to have me along, not actually as an equal, but just someone she did a favor for.

Not that she’s a bad person at all. Quite the opposite. I suppose I’ve been worrying too much about fitting in, being liked by people. I’d hate to be that person that’s either annoying, unlikeable, lazy, etc. Nor do I want to be the one who takes themselves way too seriously.

So I expected that since she was there with her fiance, things would be a bit reserved and formal, like at work. But I was wrong. I felt totally comfortable (we have a lot more in common than I initially realized), and it translated over into us sharing popcorn, reminiscing about playing video games, and chatting idly about our phones and other various things. I enjoyed myself.

I think that was my favorite part, aside from watching the movie, which in itself, was not all that great. I didn’t expect it to be fantastic though. We saw My Life in Ruins, which is another Nia Vardalos film.

All I can really say about it was that it was cute. It had its moments, but generally I felt it a bit cheesy and like it reached for something, trying to draw the laughs out of us instead of charming us with good writing… Oh well. The Greek guy, Poopy, was pretty hot, and this was probably one of the things I enjoyed most about the film.

Overall, it brought me right back to being in college and traveling far and wide for premieres. A good night, with hopefully more to come in the near future.