SUNSHINE

I went to an advanced screening of "Sunshine." Same director as "Trainspotting," "The Beach," and "28 Day Later" so I knew that it couldn't be awful. I'm still on the fence about how good I thought it actually was though. Thankfully a cheap romance wasn't threaded into the plot. And the movie played beautifully (thanks to help from NASA I believe) with the imagery of the sun. Basically in the future our sun is going to burn out, casting Earth into a solar winter. "Sunshine" looks at a last attempt to reignite the sun and save mankind. There are several good twists that keep you on the edge of your seat, but still seemed to move a bit slow at 108 minutes running. I won't give away the ending, but one of the major underlying concepts that drives the film is that we are just star dust...ashes to ashes. So yes, you should go see it. It is a beautiful film, but probably not going to be a huge summer blockbuster like "Die Hard 4" or "Transformers" because it is much more of a movie (in a pure artistic and raw sense) than just pure entertainment aimed at filling the theaters.

SUNSHINE

IMAX: 300

Movie theaters are incredibly disconcerting. The first issue is the popcorn: munching, crunching, lip smacking. A close second are the crinkling candy wrappers--opening the package slowly does not make it quieter. Just do it. Also don't forget the straw adjustment and ice shuffle...slurp. Make it past this and the trolls and I think I might be able to actually listen to the movie dialogue. Braving all of these I went to see 300 on IMAX in Lincoln Square.

Let's be honest, 300's attraction is not the A-list cast or clever scripting; it's the cinematography. That's why it had to be seen on such a large screen. The refreshing and well-designed costumes, the SFX, and computer generations all combine into the editing of imagery that is breath-taking. I would go back for a second viewing, but not in the theater. And if you can't watch it on the big screen, what's the point?

Screening "Pan's Labyrinth"

I went to a screening of "Pan’s Labyrinth" last night, the latest movie from Guillermo del Toro. The plot quickly delves into a sophisticated fairy tale about a princess destined to return to her netherworld kingdom and be reunited with her father. The real beauty of the film is that it simply tells a good story without relying heavily on special effects or some Hollywood formula. The end of the movie, as with all fairy tales, does end on a happy note but left one major question: did this story really happen? or do we construct these fantastic tales as a coping strategy? How much of our own reality is fabricated to cope with our environment? Can, and do, we convince ourselves that we are living in a better--or worse for that matter--world than actually exists?