Wow, tonnes of movies are out this week! A nicely timed release for Halloween in 2 weeks is Paranormal Activity 3 which I will be very keen to see. After loving the chills and thrills of the first one, I was dubious about the second movie and only caught it on DVD somewhat later. The second one was, surprisingly, on a par with the original in quality and frights. The third one goes back even earlier in the lives of Katie and her sister, to when they first encountered the um, well, I shouldn't say unless you've seen the movies. The review in the Courier Mail indicates that the third one amazingly keeps up the standards. So I'll be there, probably next week but it is out today.
The big movie of the week is Contagion, a hard science drama about a virus that spreads rapidly around the world, but focusing more on how quickly fear and paranoia travel through our world. This is a newie from Stephen Soderbergh (Traffic) who seems to have taken a break from his ultra low budget, low profile movies made of late. Starring Jude Law, Matt Damon and Kate Winslet this should be a solid movie, if a little frightening. Did you wash your hands before touching your face or eating today?
Big dumb fun is promised by The Three Musketeers, which must be the 347th version of this story. What makes this one different is the fact it's been directed by Paul WS Anderson, the much maligned Brit director (second only to Uwe Boll in criticism levelled - google both these guys and see for yourself!) who has been responsible for such big dumb fun movies as Resident Evil, Death Race (2008 version), Mortal Kombat and Alien vs Predator. So it should be totally crackers with the action moved to flying galleons rather than ground bound swordfighting. Orlando Bloom as a pompous, mustache twirling baddie gets my vote, especially as Movember approaches!
There is a movie out on George Harrison, some of my friends' favourite Beatle. "George Harrison: Living in the Material World" is a title that rivals the Pirates series for length and it's almost as long as a couple of them combined. Clocking in at 3.5 hours, you'd have to be a dedicated fan to sit through this documentary that mainly charts his career with a few side trips into interesting stories. One plus of this is that it's directed by the legendary Martin Scorsese so fans of his Rolling Stones doco might like this too.
Finally there is the new Woody Allen movie out, Midnight in Paris. Starring Owen Wilson as the Woody Allen character is a great start to marking this movie out as an improvement over the last couple which have been disappointingly bland. Not what you'd expect. Owen is a screenwriter who is churning out Hollywood scripts by the numbers but longs to show his true creative talent. On a visit to Paris with his fiancee and her conservative parents, Owen manages to find some time alone to stroll the old city and miraculously travels back through time to the 30s where he meets some of his artistic heroes such as Picasso, F Scott Fitzgerald, Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway. Early mail says this is a magical return to form for Woody.
The big new DVD release is Pirates of the Carribbean: On Stranger Tides, which is out in every conceivable version you can think of - dvd, bluray, 3D bluray, packs with the earlier films. Whichever option you choose, it's good big dumb fun.
I saw that coming for Paranormal activity. I loved them both and enjoyed them more at home than the cinema, because you have to turn your lights off and go to bed after.
ReplyDeleteContagion could be ok if the can separate it from all the other movies of that type. I haven't seen a preview but sounds un original so far.
The Three Musketeers can lick my balls. and for that matter so can all the other movies. I didn't even know Pirates of the Carribbean: On Stranger Tides had even come out at the cinema.