It's no Ronin, or anything -- but I liked it.

God, that was amazing. Gives me chills everytime I see it (much like The French Connection).

LIked the Bourne car chase, too. Didn't mind the length at all. Was pleased to see Urban without funny hair and armoured shoulders--now all that's left is to see him in a movie where his principal expression isn't--well, constipated.

I finally saw Master and Commander and now I'm kicking myself repeatedly for not seeing it in the theater.

Although I have a feeling I might have felt seasick.

It was beautiful. I saw it twice. I get queasy kind of easy in movies (the handheld camera stuff in "Bourne Supremacy" made me ill), but got no queasiness in "Master and Commander." If it ever gets re-released in theaters, go.

I just read that 6'2 Christian Bale dropped down to 120 pounds for The Machinist. That's going to make it extra hard to watch.

I've seen footage - it's more frightening than any horror movie I've gone to this year. But I don't believe for a minute that Bale is actually 6'2" unless Frances McDormand is 6'5". Still, 120 is dangerous for anyone bigger than Seth Green.

So, it would seem that Alien vs Predator sucks.

Huh.

I saw it last night with friends, and all three of us came out feeling that it came very close to being a perfect movie.

We thought it perfectly blended elements of both series (*and* the AvP comic) in just the right amounts. This was the first Alien movie to give us well lit full body shots of the aliens that moved really convincingly, looked good, and didn't at all look like a guy in a suit.

It told a decent story in an interesting and exciting way, without overreaching or taking itself too seriously. It was well paced, and ran the perfect length (I never once looked at my watch, and just when I was thinking about doing so, the climax came and the movie was over). The acting was good, and the female lead enjoyable.

I came out of it happier than I've come out of a movie in a long time. There was some silly/campy stuff, but it was in just the right amounts and in just the right places.

I thought it was one of the most satisfying films I've seen all year.

So all because of Sean K, I went to see AvP. It wasn't bad. Definitely worth the $5.00 matinee price. I didn't really care too much about the human characters (except the female lead was OK), but the fight scenes were cool.

The funniest part of the movie was when some kids near me were talking. One boy replied to his friends/family: "That's not scary; that's action!"

This was the first Alien movie to give us well lit full body shots of the aliens that moved really convincingly, looked good, and didn't at all look like a guy in a suit.

Sean is right about this.

eta: I think it could have been much better, though. And what's up with the PG-13 rating?

I saw Collateral this afternoon, and liked it up to the point when it hit me that I wasn't going to like the ending no matter which way they went with it, because I wasn't really rooting for either character. But other than that, it's very well-directed, and Tom Cruise proves once again that playing pseudointellectual sociopaths is what he does best. If you see it, try to see it in digital projection -- it was shot on HD, and looks fantastic.

[The other neat thing about seeing it digitally is that Loews apparently has no digital commercial reel, so we saw 9 trailers, including Team America, and a Christmas family comedy with Ben Affleck and James Gandolfini. Note to movie marketing people: if your movie contains Tony Soprano hitting Ben Affleck over the head with a shovel, I will go see it, because I'm just that easy.]

If there are any Blade Runner fans out there, I have some fabulous news for you. If you want a copy of the original Vangelis soundtrack, you can download it via bittorrent from here. This recording has never officially been released and it is the absolute total and proper music soundtrack to the film. There are other versions out there, both official and unofficial but none as complete, or as perfect, as this version. The quality is awesome and needs to be heard by any fan of the movie. Get it while it lasts b/c fuck knows when you'll ever get the chance again.

So all because of Sean K, I went to see AvP. It wasn't bad.

Yep. Not high art, but doesn't even remotely try to be.

I think the good, convincing looking aliens made me so happy I was willing to overlook anything else wrong with the movie.

And actually, now that you mention it, I really care about any of the humans except the female lead, either. I really mostly cared about alien/predator part of the storyline, and the backstory to that (although the human archeological background was as silly as the "science" behind Day After Tommorow, but AvP gets away with it because, you know.... not pretending to be serious).

Note to movie marketing people: if your movie contains Tony Soprano hitting Ben Affleck over the head with a shovel, I will go see it, because I'm just that easy.

Yeah, I saw a preview for that one before AvP, and that was almost exactly my reaction, too. Seriously, if your movie contains Affleck getting brained with a shovel, especially by James Gandolfini? I'm sold.

This recording has never officially been released and it is the absolute total and proper music soundtrack to the film.

Not true - the Vangelis soundtrack was finally released several years ago.