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This isn’t all that new, but I just got around to watching it. Some of the reactions are pretty great.

If you still haven’t seen the Urban Explorers documentary by Melody Gilbert, the Riverview Theater is showing it on December 6th at 7pm. If you miss that, it’s coming out on DVD soon. Either way, don’t miss it.

I just went to see American Gangster. Loved it. It’s hard for me to give an objective opinion right now, but I think I agree with most reviewers, giving it 7.5 or 8 out of 10.

Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington were excellent and Ridley Scott did a good job directing the film, but I saw three problems.

Keep in mind that the film is set in the late 1960′s and early 1970′s.

1) During a street scene, there is a banner for a store visible that clearly has a web address on it. I think it was something like carpetetc.biz. Can someone double check when they see it?

2) RZA’s Wu-Tang Clan tattoo was clear in one scene, which isn’t a huge problem, but kind of threw me off and jolted me out of the story for a minute.

3) Early in the movie I saw graffiti by “KUMA” a graffiti artist whose pieces I’ve scene in Minneapolis and New York. The piece looked exactly like this:

kuma, originally uploaded by neongreen.

Plus, was this style of graffiti even around then? I’m not 100% sure, but I don’t think so.

Granted, these aren’t major movie mistakes, but they all stood out to me without looking.

Buscemi as a New York paparazzo?! Can’t f-ing wait!

Don LaFontaine

Today, after months of anticipation, I finally saw 300.

I was severely disappointed.

It’s an adaptation of a graphic novel, so I didn’t expect much depth, but there was virtually no character development and was like watching a sequence of cut scenes from a really good video game.

I was so bored after the first hour that I almost left. I’m glad I stayed to see the ending, because one of the final shots is as beautiful as any I’ve seen in a film, but overall, I found myself regretting the time and money I lost seeing this movie.

I did appreciate the production quality of the film, with the exception of the heavy metal battle music and Xerxes’ voice, which sounded cheesy and overly processed. Other than that, the set design, costuming, cinematography, and audio was all very good.

I’ve cooled down since I left the theater, but my immediate review to a friend was this:

Total garbage bullsh*t. Visually great, acted marginally well, but thought it was as throw-away as any episode of Too Close For Comfort.

Rating: 5.5/10

Wow! I was really surprised to see that RottenTomatoes.com has the new Jim Carey movie, The Number 23, coming in with only 9% positive reviews. Or am I? I’m not sure.

“Gimmicky numerology plus Jim Carrey minus narrative coherence equals The Number 23.” – Justin Chang, Variety

I definitely wasn’t planning on running out to see this film, but the trailer didn’t look that bad.

I stayed up way too late last night watching Flags of Our Fathers. I really enjoyed it. The war scenes were especially well directed and I never grew tired of them, even though I’ve seen this sort of thing a couple of times before. I’m a sucker for World War II films.

What I like most is that it brings the viewer into the minds of the soldiers and tells the story behind the famous photo from their point of view, showing the conflict of emotions and driving home the point that nothing about war, even a victory, can be truly understood by the people back home who look on from afar.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10. I can’t wait to see Letters from Iwo Jima.

Thanks to the Riverview Theater, I had a chance to see all four nomitated documentary short films. If you have the chance to get out to see them, I highly recommend it. It’s hard to pick a favorite, because they’re all good for different reasons. But here they are in my order of preference:

1. Recycled Life
2. The Bloood of Yingzhou District
3. Two Hands
4. Rehearsing a Dream