“Smokin’ Aces” is a Viagra suppository for compulsive action fetishists and a movie that may not only be dumb in itself, but also the cause of dumbness in others.

Hmm. I wonder how they'd compare it to Crank, which I found deliciously outré in its internal oneupmanship. And which, miraculously, was the first movie in about a year to neither cause nor exacerbate a migraine of mine. If you've seen it, you'll know why that's notable.

Hmm. I wonder how they'd compare it to Crank, which I found deliciously outré in its internal oneupmanship.

Well, I've heard it compared to the Guy Ritchie school of gangster film (as opposed to failed Madonna vehicle) in its ADD stylings, but apart from Jason Statham, I'm not sure how that compares to CRANK (which I didn't see).

To quote (or more likely paraphrase) Crow T. Robot, "No one in this movie knew when to stop decorating!"

According to Zhang Yimou, the costumes and set decorations are period-accurate, with only minor concessions made to modern paint color availability. (Of course, since the play the film is based on takes place in the 1930's, he technically could have chosen a less garish time period to reset it in, but then he wouldn't have had an excuse to put Gong Li in a pushup bra, since cleavage was only fashionable in dynastic China for about ten minutes.)

I saw an absolutely amazing movie last night -- The Lives of Others, which is coming out Feb 9th and is up for an Oscar right now. It takes place in East Berlin in the early 1980's, and is about a Stasi agent who is assigned to wiretap a playwright. He very quickly finds out that this man is not under suspicion of any crime, and that the reason he's being watched is because a high-level Party official is interested in the playwright's girlfriend, and he starts to have doubts about his government for the first time.

What's really wonderful about the film is how personal and specific the story is -- it's not a polemic against wiretapping, or even really against socialism (though you do come out of the film thinking that both of those things are bad). It's a story about two men whose lives are changed by the things that happen to them. Everyone should go see it, and then go see it again.

I saw a trailer for that at my viewing of Children of Men and thought it looked very good -- and was also surprised to see/hear that there was Actual German Dialogue with Subtitles. It's rare that a trailer for a foreign film includes any dialogue at all.

I saw an absolutely amazing movie last night -- The Lives of Others

I read this as The Lives of Otters, and I got all excited.

I saw a trailer for that at my viewing of Children of Men and thought it looked very good

I saw the trailer before CURSE. It did look intriguing.

Of course, since the play the film is based on takes place in the 1930's, he technically could have chosen a less garish time period to reset it in, but then he wouldn't have had an excuse to put Gong Li in a pushup bra

And seriously, after HERO (I havn't seen HoFD yet but it sounded similarly OTT) it was definitely the oppulance he wanted revel in. Gong Li's cleavage was just a gift with purchase IMHO, albeit a very lovely one.

I saw a trailer for that at my viewing of Children of Men and thought it looked very good -- and was also surprised to see/hear that there was Actual German Dialogue with Subtitles. It's rare that a trailer for a foreign film includes any dialogue at all.

Same here. It did look pretty good.

What's really wonderful about the film is how personal and specific the story is

This is what I loved about The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

Oh man, for a brief frightening moment I looked at a print ad for Epic Movie and thought I was going to have to subject myself to it based on a photo of a cast member that looked like David Nykl: [link]

Turns out it's just Kevin McDonald done up as Harry Potter. Whew!

From the Imdb:

Connery Considers Returning As Indiana Jones' Dad

The Untouchables Oscar winner Sean Connery may reprise his role as Indiana Jones' father in the fourth installment of the film franchise - if he likes the script. After months spent refusing to comment about the new movie, which will bring Harrison Ford back as the intrepid archaeologist, Connery has told the Teletext news service he is considering playing Dr. Henry Jones again. The Scottish movie star created the part for Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade almost 20 years ago. He says, "At the moment there's nothing decided. I haven't got the script. Everything depends on the script."

Epic Movie is one of a sort who thinks imitating a movie is the same as making a joke about it. The guys who had to screen it last night assure me there are no jokes in it. Luckily I got to screen the new print we got of The Departed since its many Oscar nominatioins. My mind is still kinda sore from all the blowing.