The Secret World Of Arrietty - Official Trailer

Jess and I saw this preview in the theatre before the Muppets (which was excellent, by the way) and while I’m not sure I’ll see the movie, I enjoyed the trailer if only for the Jonsi song.

azizisbored:

DARK KNIGHT RISES. I CAN’T FUCKING WAIT.

I watched Red State on DVD this past week.  It was written and directed by Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma), but it was unlike any of the other Kevin Smith movies.  It was part horror, part action, and part comedy.  It was a strange movie but I enjoyed it.

“My name is Russell and I am a wilderness explorer.”

Jess and I watched Up again this past weekend.  What a great flick.

Jess and I went to see The Town yesterday afternoon.  She had the day off, so we went to a few stores and then caught a matinee.  We both liked the movie.  It wasn’t too long, it had a good story, and it had some sweet Boston accents…what more can you ask for?

Before the movie, we saw previews for Company Men (starring Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, and others) and The Tourist (starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp) which both look like they could be good movies.  Sadly none of the previews was anywhere near as awesome as the one for Tron.

I think next on our list is The Social Network.

Now that vacation has come and gone and football season is here, I suppose summer is essentially over and along with the weather, the movie season will be changing as well.  Jess and I ended up seeing quite a few movies in the theater this spring and summer.  I think the final tally looks like this:
* Inception [absolutely see it if you haven’t]
* Despicable Me [very enjoyable]
* Iron Man 2 [what you’d expect]
* Kick-Ass [somehow this worked even better as a movie than it did as a comic]
* Date Night [pretty funny]
* MacGruber [so absurd, but really funny]
* Toy Story 3 [what you’d expect]

I’d say we did pretty well, considering I would recommend any of those movies to people.  We also saw The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, and Up In The Air on DVD, and they were all good as well.  I guess we can only hope the fall is just as entertaining.

This past Friday night, my girlfriend and I got a pizza from Bites and Brews on Elsworth Avenue.  We had been meaning to try the pizza for quite awhile and we finally got around to it.  I can’t put my finger on why it was so good, but it was.  Since Jess picked it up, I didn’t get a chance to check out the beer selection, but I hear that it is quite good.  I’ll have to make it in there to check it out.

On Saturday, we rented the movie ‘The Damned United’ from a Red Box while we were out and about.  Bill Simmons recommended the movie in a column (see it here).  It was about a football (soccer) coach in England in the 70’s.  It was a really entertaining movie.

On Monday, we watched the movie ‘Whatever Works’ which I got from the library.  It is the latest movie written and directed by Woody Allen and it stars Larry David.  It was funny, with a terrific blend of Woody Allen and Larry David humor.

Jess’s friend John came to town that night for an interview the following day, so all three of us went to dinner at Church Brew Works.  It is a great restaurant on Liberty Avenue where they brew all their own beer.  The beer and food are really good (I recommend the Pious Monk Dunkel and the Spinach & Smoked Gouda dip).

All four get the Alan & Jess seal of approval.

I get movies from the library and I have watched quite a few over the past month or so.  Here are my thoughts on those flicks:

* RockNRolla - Another Guy Ritchie movie about crime in London, RockNRolla was fast paced, funny, and gritty.  I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to fans of Snatch and Lock, Stock, And Two Smoking Barrels.
* Wanted - I read the comic by Mark Millar last year and the movie was true to the comic for the first 30 minutes and then it went in a different direction.  I found the movie entertaining, but I was amazed at how different it was from the comic.
* Bruno - I used to watch Da Ali G Show on HBO (featuring all three Sacha Baron Cohen characters: Ali G, Borat, and Bruno) and Bruno was always my least favorite.  The movie was exactly what I expected: a film in the style of Borat (a combination of staged scenes and live scenes) with really funny moments, entertaining moments, and cringe-worthy moments.  I would recommend it if you liked Borat.
* Angels & Demons - Having read the book by Dan Brown, I knew what the movie was going to be about, but I still thought it was pretty good.  It moved along quick enough that I was never bored.
* Observe And Report - I thought this movie started slow, but then had some really funny parts.  Overall, it was really stupid, but it was entertaining.  On a side note, I think I’m now firmly in my girlfriend’s “Seth Rogen really isn’t that funny” camp.
* The Soloist - This movie was the bizarro version of The Reader for me.  While watching The Reader, I never doubted that it was a good movie and while it was emotional, nothing really stuck with me after it.  While watching The Soloist, I never thought that it was a particularly good movie, but at the end, the message of the movie really stayed with me.  It is worth seeing.
* The X-Files: I Want To Believe - I watched The X-Files the entire time it was on TV, so I had to see this movie even though I hadn’t heard great things.  The movie was ok…I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it.  I think the biggest issue with the movie was that the case was simply not all that interesting.

My girlfriend and I also saw a couple of movies in the theater over the past couple of months:

* Avatar - I was surprised by how much I loved this movie.  I was expecting good special effects and a forgettable story, but I loved all of it.  The special effects were amazing (we saw it in Imax 3D).  The story was a little predictable, but being a bit of a tree-hugger, I really appreciated the “web of life” theme.  I would absolutely recommend it.
* Sherlock Holmes - The case was interesting and the action scenes were really cool.  I didn’t have any expectations going in, but I really enjoyed this movie.  I would recommend checking it out.
* Alice In Wonderland - It was Tim Burton.  It was Johnny Depp.  It was what I expected, but I enjoyed it.  I thought the Cheshire Cat was really cool in 3D.

On Friday night, my girlfriend and I watched Adventureland on DVD (I got it from the library).  The movie was directed by Greg Mottola, the same guy that directed Superbad.  While the slightly crude style of humor was the same, the movie wasn’t as funny as Superbad, but it was still really good.  While I suppose it would be classified as a comedy, the movie is also a little bit of a drama, and I really enjoyed and related to the story.  I’d recommend checking it out.