23 responses so far

• 1 11-06-2009 at 5:10 pm
  
  Michael said...

  Saw it today in 3D Imax and its just incredibly visually stunning. Jaw dropping in parts. Dark and scary – in ways closer to the original story – perhaps not as moving as other adaptations – but an incredible achievement in animation for sure. Really enjoyed it.

• 2 11-06-2009 at 5:39 pm
  
  Kristopher Tapley said...

  Nice!

• 3 11-06-2009 at 7:03 pm
  
  Ben said...

  Thought it was wonderful. Zemeckis really nailed it, kudos for him for making such a “dark” kids/Xmas story and for utilizing Carrey’s talents properly (not letting him chew too much scenery).

• 4 11-06-2009 at 8:24 pm
  
  Midy said...

  I was a little bit disappointed. Found it visually spectacular, genuinely scary and pleasingly Dickensian.
  However I have issues with Carey. Scrooge and the first two Ghost’s accents were jarringly off. An actor has to play truthfully, never more so that in a broader role, Mike Caine found truth playing Scrooge opposite the muppets. Ellen did it as fish, Serkis as Gollum, Robin Williams managed it playing multiple roles within the genie. I like Carey alot but I thought he missed an opportunity here coming off a bit fake when all around was so authentic.

• 5 11-06-2009 at 9:11 pm
  
  JAB said...

  Well i saw An Education tonight, and I’ve got to say it was a good movie, but if that’s our Best Picture I’ll be a bit disappointed.

• 6 11-06-2009 at 9:35 pm
  
  /3rtfu11 said...

  I saw Precious tonight and loved it. Where is the (tell us what you think) about Precious thread?

• 7 11-06-2009 at 9:47 pm
  
  Kristopher Tapley said...

  How wide did it open? Wasn’t sure if enough would have a chance to see it.

• 8 11-06-2009 at 9:52 pm
  
  Chase K. said...

  I’m not seeing it. It’s November! It’s 80 degrees here in Dallas — I’m wearing shorts, I’m sweating. I need a chill in the air, the smell of chimneys burning, overcast skies, jackets, heaters.

  I saw “The Men Who Stare at Goats” — what a piece of shit…

• 9 11-06-2009 at 9:57 pm
  
  Chase K. said...

  Oh, and I’m really having a hard time getting the “An Education” downplay. This whole, “it’s good, not great”, “meh” thing is confounding to me on a site where readers regularly flip for stuff like “District 9″ or “Inglourious Basterds”.

  “An Education” may stumble in the final moments — I certainly didn’t buy any of those few scenes, really — but for 95 minutes, it’s one extremely well-acted, sophisticated, jazzy and refined kind of film. A coming-of-age drama that reverberates like no other. Don’t get it.

• 10 11-06-2009 at 10:11 pm
  
  Speaking English said...

  ***but for 95 minutes, it’s one extremely well-acted, sophisticated, jazzy and refined kind of film. A coming-of-age drama that reverberates like no other. Don’t get it.***

  For 95 minutes it’s a ridiculously conventional, by-the-numbers coming of age drama that offers absolutely nothing new and fails to conjure up any sort of dramatic traction. The whole thing is very safe, the kind of movie that always takes the easy way out when it could have went for something more provocative. It’s light, somewhat enjoyable, but almost instantly forgettable.

  As for “Precious,” it’s opened in quite a few places, Kris. It’s not just an NY/LA thing this weekend.

• 11 11-06-2009 at 10:29 pm
  
  Kristopher Tapley said...

  It’s three cities actually. I’ll wait until an expansion.

• 12 11-06-2009 at 10:39 pm
  
  Speaking English said...

  Really? Oh. Well it came to Chicago so I’m good. :)

• 13 11-07-2009 at 5:27 am
  
  John said...

  Well, in trying to keep with anything regarding this thread, I will be SEEING ‘A Christmas Carol’ on Monday, and can’t wait! I think I’ll eat it up.

  On a sidenote, saw ‘An Education’ last night with a friend and a fairly packed house.

  I really liked it. Though, it NEVER would have made it in in a year of 5. And I’m starting to doubt it making it in for 10.

  It’s just not dramatic enough? For all the heaviness IN the plot, I feel like there was too much restraint used.

  Technically, it’s beautiful. The acting is great. Mulligan, lived up to the hype, for me.

  And hear this – I thought Saarsgard and Cooper were better than Molina in their supporting roles (yes, I barely consider Saarsgard supporting).

  I just thought there was more TO their characters that impressed me. And sans the soliloquy scene, Molina just chews the scenery.

  2nd side note, I didn’t get the impression that te movie went over amazingly well with the audience, though my friend LOVED it.

  Those are my impressions.

• 14 11-07-2009 at 6:56 am
  
  JAB said...

  It was a well-crafted film, but I only see An Education DEFINITELY getting Mulligan a nomination. There’s no way Sarsgaard and Molina will both get nominations, one of them getting it would be a victory. I’d actually LOVE to see Rosamund Pike get a supporting nod, her character constantly left me wanting more, in a good way. I suppose the screenplay and the costume design are worthy of notice.
  But I mean…that movie was only 95 minutes long? It felt much much longer.

• 15 11-07-2009 at 7:07 am
  
  Chase K. said...

  Really? So Carey Mulligan is conventional and safe in this movie? Nick Hornby’s script, which offers rich, natural dialogue and paints a perfect portrait of 1960’s suburban life for women — that’s conventional?

  I just don’t see it. Scherfig’s direction is magnificent, as the world to Jenny is so vividly portrayed in its seductiveness, smoky, sexy, fashionable, jazzy — the art direction and John de Borman’s lensing is fabulous.

  John — Really? Cooper over Molina? No way. And if “An Education” is doubtful to make the 10 this year, what gets in? I mean, if films like this don’t get in, what will at this point? — and don’t say “Nine” or “The Lovely Bones” or “Avatar” sight unseen…

• 16 11-07-2009 at 8:24 am
  
  John said...

  Yes, Cooper over Molina, in this instance.

  I thought Cooper’s Danny was witty, sly, snakelike, yet charming, & mysterious. I found more nuance in his performance than Molina; and was always interested to see what he’d do or say next. His chemistry with Mulligan was stellar, as well.

  Molina – Good performance. But he just kind of stamps around yelling (somewhat) humorous lines (that fell flat with the audience I was with). His last soliloquy, as I mentioned, was very good, though.

  I’d have nommed Molina twice by now. So a nom for him this year is ‘fine’ with me. I just wouldn’t put himon MY ballot this year.

• 17 11-07-2009 at 8:32 am
  
  John said...

  Chase K., as for what else gets in, I’m expecting/hoping/thinking a variation of these:

  Up, Up in the Air, Precious, A Serious Man, Inglourious Basterds, Bright Star, Hurt Locker, and possibly An Education.

  Like you said, wilcards will be Invictus, Nine, Lovely Bones, A Single Man, Brothers, a foreign film, a blockbuster, etc.

  I still think An Education (which I DID like, just didn’t outright love) could get in Top 10.

  I just think it’ll be tougher than expected – now having seen it.

• 18 11-07-2009 at 1:25 pm
  
  Andrew said...

  I love how this conversation did a total switch into “An Education”! What about “A Christmas Carol”? I want to know more reactions!

• 19 11-07-2009 at 10:49 pm
  
  Rare Addict said...

  While I went into the film feeling pretty apprehensive, I came out pleasantly surprised. The imagery is dazzling, yet disturbing, and Carrey is absolutely brilliant as not only the old miser himself, but the three ghosts as well. It’s too bad that he can’t get an Oscar nomination for his performance (yeah, I went there, and unabashedly), since this is technically an animated film.

  The only thing that I think will disconnect some viewers is that Zemeckis seems to have taken out much of the heart of the film, and has instead put his primary focus on the horror aspect of it. That said, as a horror story, it’s absolutely terrific.

  Definitely check it out, folks, and in IMAX 3-D if you can. Just don’t expect to be in a very “Christmasey” mood afterward, as I found this to be much darker, and more terrifying than previous adaptations.

• 20 11-08-2009 at 5:37 pm
  
  movielocke said...

  The best christmas stories are dark, at heart. Not “I hate christmas’ like Bad Santa or Four Christmases or Deck the Halls or whatever dreck film we get in a given year. That’s why dark stories like “It’s a Wonderful Life (a story about suicide) or Christmas Carol work so wonderfully as holiday films. It’s not about the joy of liviing, but about having a reason for living. I think that’s why fear of death often permeates the strongest christmas movies.

  Christmas Carol is easy to get wrong, a lot of adaptations strip out much of the darkness. Scrooge becomes more comical, miserly rather than dreadful. An endearing old crab rather than a severe and rather threatening man with an inordinate power of life and death over his underling.

  And one needs to point to an early scene to show that Zemeckis absolutely got it perfectly right. When Scrooge points to Cratchit and tells him to get out of sight or he’d lose his situation. Job loss was a death sentence in 1840s London, not just for the bread earner but for the entire family, and Zemeckis communicates that to us in this scene just by Scrooge’s contempt and Cratchit’s terror long before we see the specifics of how thinly Cratchit skates the edge of life.

  By and Large I was absolutely stunned and thrilled by the language and dialog, so very faithful to the original, and visually the film was an incredible feast. Emotionally the film managed to reach me as many times as the best live action adaptations of the story and I think Zemeckis also got more of the darkness and faux-horror of the original story onto the screen than any other.

  In many ways I think it’s the best version I’ve seen of A Christmas Carol, and it is certainly the best IMAX or 3D experience I’ve ever had.

  The only caveat is that while I liked some of the producer added segments (because producers, unlike children, are all ADD and need to be distracted constantly or they start whining and crying so they had to add stuff to help keep them quiet and pliable) sometimes they felt a little over the top and out of place (and went on too long) such as the horses, the only real element that I felt was overdone (but still, largely, worked).

• 21 11-08-2009 at 6:55 pm
  
  Chris138 said...

  Just saw it, had a lot of fun. I want to experience it in 3D now, just for kicks.

  I would also give it 3.5/4 stars.

• 22 11-09-2009 at 6:38 am
  
  Mike_M said...

  I enjoyed Christmas Carol, I didn’t go see it in IMAX 3D, but caught it at a theater about 2 weeks old using Real 3D and the 3D was kind of lackluster. I did not think the extra price was worth it at all. Maybe it pops more in IMAX 3D.

• 23 11-09-2009 at 12:52 pm
  
  John said...

  Just saw it (and no, no ‘An Education’ talk this time, haha. Though, there should be a what did you think of ‘AN Education’ thread, no?).

  Christmas Carol … Good. I enjoyed it (mostly).

  The animation was absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous.

  I liked Carrey. I liked Oldman, & the rest of the big name cast. Only … was there a reason that with exeption to the big name cast (whose faces were all amazingly detailed) that all other characters has very fake looking faces (not enough attention spent on them, I guess).

  I started to tire of the film towards the very end of Ghost of Christmas Present, and for most of Christmas Future.

  But the beginning, (most of) the middle, & end were very well done.

  I loved the dialogue. I looovvveed Marley’s corpse, his ghost, the first ghost, & the first scene with the Gost of Christmas Present.

  I would NOT recommend this film to kids younger than 10. Seriously, I would not. Which is kind of troubling; marketing-wise. I don’t know.

  But overall, I appreciate the film highly without outright viscerally & emotionally loving it.

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