I've read that some Christian groups are boycotting this movie due to what they say are some anti-religion themes in the books. I think the biggest reason this movie has bombed, though, is that a lot of people are just burned out on fantasy flicks. There have been a lot of them over the past few years.

I know, if I see one more talking bear or otter I'll scream.

I finally saw Reign Over Me last night, a movie I had been wanting to see all year but didn't get around to watching until yesterday, and it's hard to say I enjoyed it because of the tough subject matter but it definitely touched me emotionally and I'm glad I did finally see it. I thought I knew what to expect based on the previews but it delved so much deeper into sadness, tragedy and mental illness that I'm not quite sure what to make of the movie exactly. It was just extremely moving to me and I applaud Don Cheadle, Adam Sandler, and everyone else involved for making such a sad and mournful movie that leaves you thinking about your own life and others as well. I hope the academy remembers it next year but it wouldn't surprise me any if they didn't. Reign Over Me doesn't exactly scream Oscar I think but you never know.

Here's an annoying tidbit from I AM LEGEND. I thought the movie was really good overall, but (and this has no bearing on the plot so read on) during an early scene whereby someone is being interviewed on a CNN-type show, a sports scrawl is running and one of the items reads "Giants lose to Patriots for second time this season, 23-7". Since when do the Giants PLAY the Patriots twice a season? Is the NFL schedule format changed by 2009? It can't be a Super Bowl score because the scrawl would certainly reflect that.

Yeah, it's very minor - but NOBODY involved with the film realized how dumb that was??

yeah, it should be the Jets!

Saw The Last Sin Eater yesterday, my first Michael Landon Jr. directed movie based on a novel by Christian author Francine Rivers, and overall found it to be really creepy, very confusing right up until the end when everything finally came together and started making some sense, and ultimately extremely rewarding as well. The scenery was beautiful at times, the message of the story was tinged with sadness but also hope and truth as well, and for literally the whole two hours I was at the edge of my seat in suspense waiting for what was going to happen next. As far as Christian related movies go I'm not sure if The Last Sin Eater surpasses End of the Spear in my mind but it comes real close. I doubt if many people have even heard of the film but I really think they should.

By the way, I just realized that in the past 4 years there has been one great Christian movie after another. First with The Passion of the Christ in 2004, then with The Exorcism of Emily Rose in 2005, then in 2006 it was End of the Spear, and finally in 2007 with The Last Sin Eater. Just thought it was kinda interesting is all.

btw...isn't it amazing that I Am Legend had the biggest December opening ever beating LOTR's!

Combined with the Chipmunks movie, the top 2 films of last week cleared over $120M bucks.

And how did the Chipmunks movie break $40M!!??

The Golden Compass sunk to new low levels with a paltry $9M this past weekend and is now officially a bomb in the US. Its that Kidman I tell you.

The real star of I Am Legend is a deserted and abandoned New York City. I sat there wondering "how did they do that?" If it's CGI, it's amazing. They even shot a scene inside the old Tower video outlet, which was around the corner from the store on B'way and W. 4th. As per usual with sci-fi movies, I had a few problems with the logic of the plot. I would've liked more background story on how things got to where they were.

I thought the Chipmunk movie was godawful. The one funny bit was when Alvin inhaled helium from a balloon, and it made his voice lower. And as a hardcore ICEr, I enjoyed seeing the 45 picture sleeves and album covers roll by during the credits.

I agree with Jimbo on the "Deserted NYC" scenes. Breathtaking. Now THAT is what CGI should be used for.

Wouldn't be fun to have one day in a deserted NYC? To have the whole place to yourself.

Just a suggestion, but maybe the topic of this thread should be changed to remove the movie titles in parenthesis. When I first joined this board I didn't click on the thread for ages because I literally thought it was just about those two movies. Perhaps that was silly of me, and as my wife will gleefully tell you, I do tend to take things too literally at times ... but there might be one or two others out there who don't realize this is an ongoing discussion of current movies.

A reasonable suggestion, Glenn. I've changed the thread title to better reflect the direction the thread has taken. I'm sure Michael, who started the thread, won't mind!

Or maybe, start a new thread once a month for those releases...???

Whatever you guys feel like doing is ok by me.

I kind of like having the discussion all in one place. It allows us to continue discussions of theatrical releases when they come out on DVD without having to hunt through monthly threads.

But it really doesn't matter to me that much. What I really wanted to say was that I am going to see Sweeny Todd this evening and I couldn't be more excited.

I agree!

I saw Juno last weekend and I really enjoyed it. One warning though, I love hyper-witty banter probably more than 99% of the population and I didn't think I was going to make it through the first 15-20 minutes. It is VERY artificial. Once over that hump the movie is very funny and at times quite moving. There are some nice touches to the story.

Sweeney Todd blew me away. I have seen the show in 5 different productions including the original with Cariou and Lansbury and I have played in one production. This is different in tone and meaning than any of the others but exactly what it needed to be as a film. The cuts were all perfectly understandable and once I got what they were doing I didn't miss anything. I knew what was going to happen every minute of the movie and I was still riveted. Depp was very good and decent enough as a singer. Bohnam-Carter gave was entirely different from every other Mrs. Lovett that I have seen. She fit the tone of the movie perfectly. The only problem I had with the entire production was the fact that she really could not sing the part. I didn't mind that her voice was weak (really so was Depp's) or that she didn't hit all the notes. Her acting covered those flaws. Her big problem was that she couldn't get all the lyrics out and she wound up swallowing some of the great lines. So I won't buy the soundtrack. But I can see myself going to see the movie again and I will set the DVD, when it comes out, next to the filmed Broadway production. The movie more than held its own.

I just saw a trailer for a movie called In The Name Of The King which opens in January.

It looks like The Transporter Goes To The Dark Ages.

wow! Walk Hard-The Dewey Cox Story did terrible at the box office. Only $4M!!?

Eight place!!?

And who are these people that like the National Treasure movies?

Actually, I thought the first one wasn't bad in a "Dan Brown Lite" kind of way. A real Saturday matinee type movie. Haven't seen the new one yet, though.

I agree, I liked the first one as a fun action-adventure. I don't know if I am going to pay full price for part II though.

December drives me crazy. I want to see: Atonement, There Will Be Blood, The Diving Bell, The Butterfly, Charlie Wilson's War, The Savages, Kite Runner, Persepolis (animated feature), The Great Debaters, and National Treasure: Book of Secrets. Taking in those unauthorized double features at the megaplexes helps in this regard. (Last Friday, I paid to see Sweeney Todd, and then snuck in to Dewey Cox.)