Yeah, I saw those TV ads. Looks like the terrible ending I heard months ago was right all along. :razz: (Don't worry, I never gave it away, just said it was going to be a crowd killer). Anyways, I'm finally seeing Coach Carter in an hour.

On Mav's Clint Eastwood movie question - On the directing, you have to give Unforgiven lots of points - that was a great directing job. and Mystic River along with MDB.

Off the top of my hear, another Clint movie from the acting side was In the Line Of Fire.

Hide and Seek crowd report.

Look like Hide and Seek is doing very well and Alone in the Dark BOMB badly.

More report from HSX:

"Hide and Seek Sold out all over Brooklyn -- simpsonsgenius, Jan 29, 1:24
My roommate and his friends tried to see it at multiple theaters tonight but was turned away at each and every theater. When he called around he found it was sold out through the midnight shows. Looks like it's opening pretty big here in NYC."

Hide and Seek
AMC Marple 10
12:20am, 400 seats, Sold Out

Trailers
The Pacifier
Constantine
The Interpreter
Cursed
xXx: State of the Union

The audience ranged from 8-30 years old (no, I'm not kidding). The reaction to the movie was fairly positive. The majority liked it, though I heard a few people who didn't like it. I'm more surprised to see 8 year olds in midnight shows.

Movie
Hide and Seek is a great horror/thriller. It's not scary, but it's quite a good movie. I liked how the so-called "twist" ending actually made some sense, unlike recent horror movies like White Noise and The Forgotten. The twist made sense, and it didn't require you to think about the movie forever. It came instantly. I guess it was a little predictable, because my first guess in the movie turned out to be the right guess. However, the movie does a good job of throwing off the audience, so I was still a little surprised with the ending. Another positive thing about the movie was Dakota Fanning. She gave the audience a "oh my god, that's one freakin' creepy little girl" vibe. She was excellent. De Niro was good too. Overall, I thought it was well done. A few plot holes, but the movie was very well crafted, and definently better than White Noise. A-

So I guess my question is: What makes this film Rated R as opposed to a PG-13 type of movie??? I heard this was R Rated and unless it was more due to an overuse of Profanity, I'm not seeing why this was Rated R??? I'm starting to wonder whether there's a fine line to all this PG-13 VS Rated R movies and how movies are rated now.....

This film is the very definition of a soft "R". There's a couple of "F" words and a good amount of spilled blood, but nothing too extreme. With a couple of edits it could have been PG-13, but this has nothing to do with what you've been talking about lately. Most films that are edited down to PG-13 started out as hard R's.

As for the film's quality, it was okay. It was pretty slow for the most part, but it had some good, suspenseful moments. Dakota Fanning was amazing, of course. As for the much talked about twist ending, I actually liked it. I just didin't like the pointless and highly predictable twenty minutes that followed the twist. I had this insane urge to fast forward the rest of the film after the twist because I knew exactly where it was going. Like I said, it was average stuff. High production values, some good acting, a nice little twist - but it's bogged down by loads of predictability and a general feeling of "who cares?" coming off the film. I'd give it a C.

Here's a question man (warning, spoilers, don't highlight if you don't want to know): So how would you compare this to Secret Window, because it's the film I keep thinking of and have been thinking of for months. The twist is essentially exactly the same thing, it's well polished but doesn't have anything special about it, and both feature a housepet getting dead.

I'd say they're about equal in terms of quality. I liked Secret Window a bit more because it was a lot darker, but you're right, they share a lot of similar "qualities". I was actually thinking about that after the film during dinner.

Here is the brief report from my theater.

Hide and Seek sold out 4 times in 600 and 400 seaters.
Alone in the Dark biggest show had 76 people.
Are we There Yet held on very good.
Aviator had a sold out show in a 175 seater.
Sideways was doing better than last week, Million Dollar Baby held on good.

Overall, it was pretty solid Friday.

Million Dollar Baby
4:30 PM
80 percent in a 442 seater

Trailers:
Constantine
The Jacket
Dark Water
The Ring 2

The best movie I have seen in 7 years. Hilary Swank is Awesome. There is something about the way she says boss in the entire movie that has a very endearing quality. Her performance is as good as any I have seen. Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman are great too.

A++

Good to hear that. What was that movie you saw 7 years ago?

Saving Private Ryan

Million Dollar Baby
12:15
About 12 people/300 seat theater

Trailers:

Constantine
The Ring 2
Upside of Anger
The Weatherman

The Movie:

I really liked the movie. I can't say it's a masterpiece (look in the review thread for an ongoing discussion between Mavy and I as to why) but the acting in the film, Swank and Freeman, is as good as it gets.

Solid B

Saw a 10:30 showing of Million Dollar Baby tonight. About 10% full. About 7000 trailers, nothing too great looking (except Cinderella Man). The film itself is the most epic drama I've seen in some time. So beautiful. More thoughts later.

Yay! You just need to see Sideways now :razz:

Since I was in New Zealand during the holidays, it took me a bit longer to watch the final 5. This week, Vera Drake and Hote Rwanda. And if I get that chance today, I'll see Aliens of the Deep.


Friday
Sideways 1:30
A dozen or so people in a small theater.

Trailers
Millions
Hitch
Hitchhiker's Guide

The Movie
Not the biggest fan of Election or About Schimdt but damn, I loved Sideways. An incredible film that managed to break my heart more than once. And it's funny too.

A+

Saturday
The Aviator
3:30
Sold Out

Trailers
Hitch
Sin City
Hostage

The Movie
A good effort but it lost focus in the third act. Scenes like the Hell's Angels filming, the Hollywood crash, and the CT Party ignite the film. Great acting by Cate and Leo.

B-

Saw Hide and Seek at 10:15 Saturday night. It was about 60% full in a 400 seater. This was my first go around with a student ID I tinkered with to say I was 17 (just had to use some tape and print up my name/date/ grade a few times to match) and it worked like a charm, for me and two others (one of whom was 14!). Trailers were:

The Pacifier (Considerable laughter, not as good as some of the previous reactions I've seen)
The Interpreter (Some buzzing afterwards)
The Amityville Horror (TONS of talking, just watch as this opens above 25 million)
Kingdom of Heaven (Decent amount of talk afterwards, not as much as The Aviator)
xXx: State of the Union (Somewhat quiet, half the crowd seemed excited the other half didn't care)
Fantastic Four (WAY better reaction then I expected to this trailer, tons of talking)

As for the movie, it was pretty much exactly what I expected. Not awful, but hideously bland and cliche. There was absolutely nothing new or original about the entire movie, though Dakota Fanning was good. The build up was decent (except for all the red herrings... ugh) and the secret was revealed decently, but the movie went downhill fast from there. I won't go into any more details, but I guess I'd give it a C-.

I saw M$B at noon, yesterday (The Majestic 20). Not completely sold out. Maybe around 50%.

I can't really say much more that would be of any use to anyone who's considering it. Just, consider what EVERYONE else has said. It's truly one of the better dramas (American Beauty, Schindler's List, and a couple others are a tad bit better). The technical aspects of the film are impeccable. As loyal stated, the screenplay isn't great, but I didn't focus too much on it. Easily an A.

I still need to see Aviator and Sideways...

Hide and Seek
1:45 show, 500-seat auditorium, about 100 people.

Trailers
The Fantastic Four
Kingdom of Heaven
The Interpreter
The Pacifier
The Amityville Horror
The Ring Two

ATTENTION: MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD
Movie
I didn't have high expectations, and Hide and Seek still did not quite meet them. The film wasn't terrible, but I found it poorly paced and the fright factor was about a 2 on a scale of 1-10. People going to this movie looking for some sort of scare will be sorely disappointed. Although I correctly predicted the twist ending before I saw the movie, it still doesn't change the fact that that his movie treats Emily, terrifically portrayed by Dakota Fanning, terribly. Her character is really just a little girl, and the movie throws so much cruelty and fear towards her for the sake of a cheap twist that I was beginning to become upset. DeNiro is really slumming here; he brings absolutely nothing noteworthy to his performance. This is the textbook definition of "phoning it in." Famke Janssen, Elisabeth Shue and Dylan Baker randomly appear and disappear to no effect of the plot. As I said before, I thought Dakota Fanning was wonderful in this film. She has very little dialogue, and does most of the acting with her eyes and glances. Fanning is clearly the best thing about Hide and Seek, which sports gaping plot holes that it does not attempt to explain. Overall, not a very good film. C

Aliens of the Deep 3D IMAX
2PM Show
Sold Out

As I young boy, I was obsessed with the ocean. I would read book after book about sea life. I would stay up late at night to watch Arthur C Clarke talk about the mysteries of the deep. All through secondary school, I knew I would attend a university to study Marine Biology, in particular mammalian life.

Then I caught the acting bug, and soon after, film. But I never lost my love of the ocean. Just three weeks ago, I dove in some 12 meters of South Pacific water in New Zealand. My heart ached, I am meant to be in the ocean.

Jim Cameron seems to have a similar love for water. Since The Abyss (perhaps as early as Piranha II), he seems to have water constantly on his mind. After Titanic, he continued to dive the historical wrecks of the ocean, improving the technology throughout the years.

As a follow up to Cameron's last Imax film Ghost of the Abyss, Aliens of the Deep Imax 3D does not disappoint. Thanks to the 3D, incredible animals seemingly fly across and out of the screen including giant protoplasmic "aliens" and untold fields of microbes and shrimp.

If I was to have any complaints, it would be that the film at 50 minutes runs too short (but considering the cost associated with 3D IMAX processing it's somewhat understandable). I also thought the narration device failed to connect, perhaps because the scientists, though young and diverse, come across as nerdy and more or less uninteresting. I also failed to see the point of spending nearly 10 minutes talking about the sun, humans, and animal life on the land, when really the story could and should have started in or near the water.

There's been some discussion about the third act and ending to the film. The film tells us that by learning about alien life in the darkness of the oceans, humans will be better prepared to explore the depths of space and alien worlds. And it shows us what an exploration to Europa, one of Jupiter's moons would look like. It's all very exciting up until what looks like a lost reel to The Abyss pops up. I didn't dislike the ending entirely but it did open a can of worms that a 50 minute film isn't prepared to deal with.

One would guess Cameron and the co-director expected a "wow" response to the final shot but it came across as more "oh".

I highly recommend this film for fans of space travel, Jim Cameron, and the dark, dangerous abyss.

A-