Movie Madness

My second attempt at movie madness went off without a hitch and I broke my previous record of five movies at AMC in one day. Friday, I managed six. However, I think the original movie madness was better because the movies were simply better. That first one included “The Kite Runner,” my favorite movie of the year.

I took my mom to see “The Incredible Hulk” at 11:50 for AMC’s early bird special (still five bucks). We both really enjoyed it. The action and story were much quicker than the previous Hulk. They told the back story in about 2 minutes, while the previous took an hour.

Didn’t care much for Liv Tyler or Tim Roth, but William Hurt and Edward Norton were good. They really chose the perfect director to revive the series. Louis Leterrier (The Transporter) brought a fast-paced, explosive action style to this one and the special effects are the best of the summer.

My mom left me her bag of popcorn, so I grabbed a refill and plexed into “Son of Rambow,” which was a cute, funny story of these British kids with big imaginations. It was imaginative and artsy. It was pretty good, but failed to live up to Kite Runner caliber of which I was hoping.

On my way out of the theater, I found a large drink, so I grabbed a refill of Barq’s root beer and hopped into “The Happening” at 4:05. It was pretty crowded. I was completely ashamed to have seen this movie because the acting is so terrible.

This is easily M. Night Shyamalan’s worst movie. I just don’t think he will ever live up to “The Sixth Sense.” His story this time around is weak and flat-out boring. He put together some kind of lame story warning us that we are killing ourselves by how we treat the earth. Bunch of bull crap. Didn’t buy it for a second.

Night turned to more disturbing content than previous films as he searched for many different ways to portray suicides. Quite violent, though even with the R-rating, it is not even near as creepy as the PG-13 “Sixth Sense.” I don’t know what happened, but the suspense was not there for Night in this one. I laughed out loud at the role he gave himself (might even be more arrogant than “Lady in the Water”). He “plays” a character with no screen time or voice. He is only mentioned in the movie, yet there Night is in the credits as Writer, Director, Producer and Actor.

I angrily walked into “Kung Fu Panda,” which greatly lifted my spirits. It was a delightful, action-packed adventure. Jack Black basically played himself, which was hilarious. Great cast in this one.

Next, I checked out “Before the Rains.” It was about an Englishman building a road in India in the 1930’s who commits adultery and must answer to the tribe in the neighboring village. The drama unfolds nicely and the scenery is beautiful. I felt that it climaxed a little too soon, though.

For the sixth and final film of the day, I found “The Strangers” at 9:45. It was the second Liv Tyler movie of the day (though I didn’t realize it was her until I got home). This used some creepy long shots as opposed to jump cuts and loud music to evoke scariness, which I greatly appreciated. Other than that, definitely nothing special.

All in all, it was a great movie day that lasted about 12 hours. I know it is possible to do 7 and I think 8 might be possible. Next time, I’ll shoot for 7 flicks, hopefully better than this set.