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[estepheia]

Saw Finding Neverwhere. Very solid acting, lovely costumes, beautiful cinematography. Definitely worth my time. After watching a few previews I'd like to ask my flist the following:
What is the new Bill Murray movie like? The trailer was hilarious, but trailers can be deceiving. And what about Constantine, is that any good? I will probably miss Ray, which is a shame, but I doubt it will run much longer. Aviator I'd watch, if it didn't have Leonardo di Caprio in it. He's not a bad actor, but something about him... dunno. I just have issues. It's the same with Tom Hanks. I will normally avoid movies with him, but may make an exception.

*sigh* I want the Firefly movie now now now!

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[(Anonymous)]

Hi Steffi,
Constantine opened here in Hong Kong about a week ago (before Chinese New Year). It is entertaining enough, certainly more so than Daredevil, van Helsing, or Blade Trinity (although that one is much better than the failed second attempt of the Blade saga). I have seen a lot worse screen adaptions of comic books. As I don't know the graphic novels in this case, I can not comment on how true the movie is to them, though. I liked Keanu Reeves in this role. Yes, he is a little wooden, but the role requires it. He portrays a loner who has lost his believes in humankind and has no emotions left for anybody. He does not care about anything anymore. His single goal in life is to destroy as many hell demons as possible to redeem himself in the eyes of god to be admitted to heaven after his death. Because of his "visions" he committed suicide in his youth, but was resurrected, so he is denied entrance to heaven by default. According to conservative Christian lore (and this movie) people who kill themselves will end up in hell without fail. Because of his past death experience he knows what hell is like and he does not want to end up there for all eternity.
The plot is a little thin here. Once you learn that Constantine is just seeking a way to get into heaven after his death, it is so obvious what the solution will be. It is of course not the destruction of hundreds of demons for selfish reasons...
If you see it, make sure to stay in the theatre until the movie really ends. The last scene is after the end cedits had their run, like in Pirates of the Caribbean.
By the way, here are some other movies I have seen recently:
Elektra was OK, but I don't think that I will ever like Jennifer Garner, whatever she does.
I am thankful that finally Pixar is independent from Disney. I hated Nemo and Incredibles was not much better. I hope that without the Disney money and influence they begin to make entertaining movies again for a target audience that is a little older than 3-12.
The sequel to Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers, was even more awful than the first one. Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman seemed to have a lot of fun in their roles of a sex therapist and an emotionally liberated retired lawyer, though. But their performances could not save an otherwise uninspired and unentertaining picture.
But Closer was the epitome of awfulness this year so far. Interesting cast (Jude Law, Nathalie Portman, Clive Owen, Julia Roberts), but this farfetched story (adapted from a play) about relationships just does not work. All characters and their motivations were so utterly beyond me. This is not even worth the money to rent it out.
So much for a very biased view of recent movie releases ;-)
Lutz

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[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Oh good, I will watch Constantine then.
Thanks for warning me about Closer... I did consider watching it. Would never watch Meet the Fockers anyway since I hate Ben Stiller with the passion of a thousand fiery suns (although he was a good Starsky).
Didn't like the Invincibles. *shrug* Boring and predictable. Very formulaic storytelling. *double shrug*