I saw one of the Thin Man movies (forget which one). I liked it a lot, except for the racist sight gag involving the dog.

Captain Critic (all our insults combined!) doesn't seem to hate The Polar Express

I love the New York Times on Polar Express:

Tots surely won't recognize that Santa's big entrance in front of the throngs of frenzied elves and awe-struck children directly evokes, however unconsciously, one of Hitler's Nuremberg rally entrances in Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will." But their parents may marvel that when Santa's big red sack of toys is hoisted from factory floor to sleigh it resembles nothing so much as an airborne scrotum.

They showed a clip from the movie during Gilmore Girls last night. It was awful. Not only did all the characters look totally freaky, but they must have hired the cheapest composer in Hollywood. The song sucked, and Tom Hanks cannot sing

It was HIDEOUS. I kept waiting for it to stop and it ... kept .... going ... a .... little .... longer.

Really, if you WANT to write a Busby Berkley number about hot chocolate, okay, I can feel that. But a)the song needed more than five freaking words if they were going to drag it out that long, becausre the lyrics were insanely annoying; and b)it looked like they took the cups back before the children could have POSSIBLY had time to drink it, which is just mean after all the song and dance.

Plus, the animation process creeps me out on a very visceral level. It's one of those movies that makes me glad I don't have kids and cannot be dragged to it.

Yeah, the Polar Express thing just bugs me -- it looks so wrong somehow.

They showed a clip from the movie during Gilmore Girls last night. It was awful. Not only did all the characters look totally freaky, but they must have hired the cheapest composer in Hollywood. The song sucked, and Tom Hanks cannot sing

This is why I love my Tivo. So far, my favorite Polar Express review is from New York Magazine, purely for this opening line:

Strap yourself in and try not to vomit, because this is more of a theme-park event than a movie

DH and I saw Beyond the Sea last night, and it was every bit the excessive ego trip for Kevin Spacey that we expected. I ended up liking it in spite of myself, just because it was so ridiculously overblown that my choices were either (a) go with it or (b) continue to roll my eyes until they fell out of my head. There's about an hour in the middle that has almost nothing to redeem it (why do people keep casting Kate Bosworth in things when she really can't act and isn't even all that pretty?), but the music is fantastic throughout, and the beginning and the end hinge on this utterly absurd framing device that you can either hate outright, or shake your head and just accept that, yes, it sucks, but it sucks in an oddly endearing way.

Really, the only good thing about this film is the soundtrack. I enjoyed most of it in spite of itself, but I wouldn't blame anyone who wanted to smack me for recommending it.

Thin Man, Third Man -- both good, but very different styles. I'd recommend both, but not together as a double feature.

OTOH, my current double feature is Costume Dramas -- Forever Amber and Barry Lyndon.

The Third Man is the bestest the most awesome movie EVER and everyone should watch it RIGHT NOW.

Except, crap. Now I'm earwormed with that spookily cheerful zither music.

OTOH, my current double feature is Costume Dramas -- Forever Amber and Barry Lyndon.

Fred, in the imortal words of Joel Hodgson, you are one freaky mammajamma.

Re The Third Man: What. Vonnie. Said. Asscaps and all.

Polar Express? Uncanny Valley, all the way. I've been gritting my teeth through previews of it at every movie Hec and I have taken Emmett to since approximately April, terrified to make a sound lest Emmett suddenly be overcome with a desire to, like, see it or something (it's one of his favorite books). It looks like 96 minutes in the Uncanny Valley, with bonus Leni Riefenstahl as a gift with purchase. I'm madly in love with the last paragraph of Stephanie Zacharek's review in Salon:

I could probably have tolerated the incessant jitteriness of "The Polar Express" if the look of it didn't give me the creeps. The movie is more meticulously detailed than real life is -- even the characters' eyeballs have texture. Their skin moves with the pliability of warm latex, and it glows with an alien sheen. If nothing else, "The Polar Express" wears its dollar signs all over the screen: Appliqu&eacutr;ing all that wonder on, with such tight little stitches, sure is labor intensive. And if you think I'm being too tough on "The Polar Express," you're probably right. So I ask you to look at this rapturous holiday idyll with the eyes of a child. Just please give them back when you're done.

I may need to use the last two sentences as a tagline.