Prior to this past summer, a movie had to be a big “tentpole” picture to warrant the “midnight” movie treatment.  However, this summer saw the rise of midnight movies on Thursday nights almost every week.  So, on the week that everyone was rushing to see G.I. Joe at midnight, I was meeting up with Lisa, David, Daniel, and Heather to see…..

wait for it……

Julie and Julia

I know, you are shocked and amazed; you may even be asking yourself, “But Matt, surely this was sold out in advance if they were doing a midnight show?”  Well, I prefer to think of our outing as an almost exclusive premiere.

We get to the Festival Bay Carmike Cinema and find our theater.  Aside from 4 other people, we were all alone for the showing.  That was fine with me, as it meant that we would not have to deal with rude audience members.  So we settled in and started the movie.

Julie and Julia is the story of a woman who seemed at a loss as to what to do in life while all of her friends were becoming huge successes.  After a night of bemoaning her situation to her boyfriend, she turns a passing interest in cooking into a full-blown experiment of cooking for one year like Julia Child.  What follows is a deftly managed tale of two women trying to find a place in the world and making the most of opportunities.

What truly makes this movie is the casting.  Meryl Streep was wonderful as Mme. Child, with great support from Stanley Tucci as her husband.  Amy Adams allowed me to generate goodwill towards Julie, even though I wanted more of Julia’s story; besides, Julie was a brat in the movie.  While I would not classify this as a comedy, there were a number of comedic moments.

As the more faithful readers know, it is not just the movie I review, but the surrounding experience.  I enjoyed the company I had, which is a good thing considering what happened.  With about 30-45 minutes left, the film broke and came to a stop.  OK, no big deal, the projectionist will see this and fix it.  We waited about 5-10 minutes until we realized that no one was up there.  What followed was a 30-minute quest to find someone who worked in the theater.  After recruiting mall security, an employee was located and the movie was fixed.  As we began watching, I noticed an employee enter and stand off to the side.  I figured he was there to give us passes as we left the theater once the movie was over.

NOPE….

He actually came over to us and handed us passes and TALKED to us during a DIALOG-heavy movie.  But he was gone quickly.  Then the next issue hit.  The A/C was turned off well before the end of the movie, creating a very hot theater.  The next day, I found myself doing something I had not done before with regards to theaters – I sent an email to Carmike Cinemas outlining the issue.  To their credit, I was promptly sent two free passes to any movie.

Good job, Carmike.

My advice: See it if it is still playing – otherwise, definitely catch it on DVD….

I should know better by now….

Whenever Rich and I decide to meet up for a movie, the ones I pick end up being better than the ones he picks.  This is particularly true when I pick one movie and we change to his choice at the last minute.  This happened a couple of weeks ago when meeting at The Plaza Cinema Cafe for a cheap movie.  He decided he wanted to see Pandorum, admitted that it would be awful, and yet I still agreed to see it.

Imagine a spacecraft….drifting in space…..with the crew in hypersleep.  Something wakes them up and they realize things have gone horribly wrong.  If this sounds familiar, then you are correct.  I just described Alien from 1979, which also applies to this movie.  What follows is a convoluted mess that involves mind games and boogey men.  Even Dennis Quaid couldn’t save this movie…

My advice: Never let Rich pick movies, and skip this one completely…

The curse of any actor is to become “typecast.”  Do too many of the same type of role or the same character, and you end up not being able to do anything else.  Katherine Heigl is in serious danger of being typecast.  Her last two movies involve her being a single woman not able to find a guy and then screwing it up when she does find one.  27 Dresses was the first one, and The Ugly Truth is the second.

Heigl plays a morning show producer who can manage everyone’s crises but her own.  Along comes Gerard Butler who predictably turns her world and thoughts of men and women upside down.  What follows is a 1 1/2 hour serving of cotton candy, leaving you wondering why you went to see this in the first place.  Heigl has an unapproachable look about her that follows from role to role, making it hard for me to believe that she could be anything but an “ice princess”.  Yes, there are a couple of laughs, but ultimately not worth the time to sit through.

My advice:  wait for cable – even women jonesing for a rom-com will be left wanting….

This one is a couple of months late…..

In a summer lacking comedies for adults, The Hangover provided some much needed relief during the first half of summer.  Ed Helms got a lot of the credit for this movie, but all of the cast pitched in.  Cameos by Mike Tyson and Rob Riggle helped raise the absurdity bar without going too far.  This is one that must have the credits watched all the way to enjoy, but be prepared – this movie more than earns its “R” rating.

My advice:  check this one out if it is still playing and you will feel no pain….

In my review of Inglorious Basterds, I talked about improv and Quentin Tarantino.  It is interesting that on the same weekend, I see a movie made by Tarantino’s partner and friend, Robert Rodriguez, and am once again thinking of improv games.

But I am ahead of myself…..

Over the years, Rodriguez has done what Tarantino could never do – cross over to the family market.  His success with Spy Kids let him work with other kids stories to see what would work.  Such is the case with Shorts.

Shorts is movie about the effects of a wishing rock on a group of people.  Readers of The Monkey’s Paw can already see where this story is headed.  However, the story is not told in a linear fashion.  Much like the game Chapters that is played at SAK Comedy Lab, Shorts is a series of chapters to a story that have been jumbled up.  The execution of this style came off better than anticipated and I give Rodriguez credit for trying it.  The other thing I give him credit for is not putting all of the jokes in the trailer, including some nice wordplay with character names.

Is it predictable?  yes

Is it lame at times? yes

Will this be on constant repeat in DVD players? Yes

My advice:  Take the kids one afternoon and relax – remember what you wish for may not be exactly what you had in mind…