Reviews

I had seen the earlier film, East is East, though I didn't remember it till I visited this site. So I enjoyed this picture all on its own.

And it stands on its own quite well. I found it well written, well acted and a fascinating look into traditional Pakistani culture. Lately all one hears of Pakistan is war and conflict. So it was a real pleasure to see the people through their own eyes.

I thought the acting was superlative especially the Mr. Khan and his wives, though young Sajid does an excellent job and has much to do in the movie.

I thought it was terrific. I liked that a message in it is that in matters of the heart we are all pretty much the same. Outstanding

Yo Moviegoers, I just saw the best movie. Slumdog Millionaire. It's playing at the incomparable Palm Theatre. This is a fantastic romantic adventure.

It tells a fascinating story of two brothers, Jamal & Salim from a slum in Mumbai, Bombay to y'all stuck in the 20th century. This is an epic that does not disappoint as it follows the boys and a girl they befriend.

Jamal befriends and ultimately falls in love with Latika but life is not simple for orphans running loose in India and the kids have some serious scrapes. Jamal is on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and how this uneducated slumdweller can answer the obscure questions is the spine of the plot.

Powerful romance, action adventure, fascinating glimpses of an exotic culture, great story, beautiful photography and people. Ya gotta see Slumdog Millionaire, it is wonderful. It's at the Palm.

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Yo, Moviegoers, My honey was determined to see either Australia or The Day the Earth Stood Still. I voted for the latter since it's an hour shorter, but she wanted the epic romance, oh well.

How bad was it? Well, pretty bad. Now it did have it's moments and I can be a sucker for lost children and women in peril, and it plucks those heartstrings with vigor but also with every cliché they could squeeze into a nearly three hour epic.

Baz Luhrman who made Moulin Rouge, which I loved, made this turkey. Both star Nicole Kidman, mad for her, but Luhrman's cleverness enhanced Moulin Rouge, but just sucked the life out of Australia. And did I mention that it's a bucket of clichés?

Really disappointing. But Christmas brings up a lotta great choices. The Palm has Cadillac Records from Detroit and the, not to be missed, Slumdog Millionaire from India. Also could'a seen Seven Pounds with Will Smith or Sean Penn in Milk.

So skip Australia unless you're desperate for a bodice ripper.

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Yo Moviegoers, Pineapple Express is a bomb, no, not da bomb, a bomb. It's not very funny at all. And it isn't just me, I didn't hear a lot of laughter comin' from anyone else at the show either.

This is the movie that Seth Rogin wrote with his friend when they were twelve years old, seriously. And it plays like it was written by a couple of stoned teenagers. 'N I don't think being stoned would have made it any funnier

Don't get me wrong I've got nothing against juvenile humor. I loved Get Smart, American Pie yada yada yada. But Pineapple Express was not only not funny it got rather ugly with some extensive unfunny gratuitous violence.

Sorry but no one with an IQ over 90 is likely to enjoy this turkey. For a good time this weekend my money is still on Mamma Mia! Pineapple Express, think Cheech and Chong with violence and almost no humor.

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Hello Moviegoers, Went to see The Band Visits, and loved it. It's a quiet little character driven movie about an Egyptian police orchestra visiting Israel that get stranded in a nowhere town in the middle of the desert.

Oddly this picture is not playing at the Palm but at the Downtown cinema, how'd that happen?

There are a couple of things I liked about this picture. For one thing it's completely free of stereotypes and predictability. It's not about the Arab Israeli conflict, it's about this small group of Arabs and Israelis.

It's fascinating to watch how the lives of these characters from different but related cultures interact. Well, and, of course it's interesting to contrast their lives with ours. Everyone in the picture is poor, but their struggles with love, loneliness and finding meaning in life resonate across the divide.

Great little picture, wonderful characters. The pacing is slow and deliberate, but never boring. I wanted it to go on.

Go see, The Band Visits.

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Hello Moviegoers, Thankfully in There Will Be Blood, there is not that much blood, I'm not sure how much movie there is though either.

Okay the acting was incredible. Daniel Day Lewis, as always, is pitch perfect and IN-TENSE. Paul Dano was impressive and Ciaran Hinds was underemployed considering what a fine actor he is.

But the movie was, well ponderous and obvious. The music was portentious and overwrought and at times downright weirdly inappropriate.

Ya' know they set this up as some kind of epic story of greed in the robber baron era, but mostly the characters are just pathetic. And where were the women, no where in this movie.

Well like I said the acting was outstanding, Daniel Day Lewis tears up the screen, but there wasn't enough story to keep my interest and the only character you can care about, the boy, gets short shrift. There Will Be Blood is at the incomparable Palm Theatre – Rosebud, you wish.

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Hello Moviegoers, Juno is at the Palm Theatre and it is a ten. Ellen Page should be up for an Oscar for her portrayal of Juno McGuff a knocked up sixteen year old smart ass, loved the character, loved the performance.

And you better get on line early 'cause this Palm presentation is selling out, in fact it's in the top ten for the weekend movie sales. With good reason.

Quirky but believable characters, great writing and fine acting from an ensemble cast including Jennifer Garner, Allison Janney, J.K. Simmons, Jason Bateman, Rainn Wilson and Michael Cera.

Ellen Page is in nearly every scene and gives a bravura performance, I was so impressed with her. Though I gotta mention Diablo Cody who came from nowhere with this brilliant unpredictable script. Like films about real people? Do not miss Juno at the incomparable Palm Theatre.

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Hello Moviegoers, Saw Becoming Jane this week, my god what a yawn - TIME STOOD STILL - I should mention that my wife was quite engrossed. I was so bored my toes were curling so I left for a half an hour and talked with the popcorn girl - didn't miss a thing.

Becoming Jane takes place in 1796 and is a somewhat fictionalized biography of Jane Austen. Beautifully photographed in Ireland, but slow, this film makes Sense and Sensibility look like an action picture. It has all these moody shots, I guess I expected a movie about the life of a writer would have a lot of clever dialogue, no such luck.

Will she marry the rich guy and have a comfortable life or will she marry the man she loves and live in penury. This is pretty much the center of the movie and they drag this question out for two longggg hours.

I've loved a lotta so-called chick flicks, The Painted Veil, Miss Potter, The Waitress, but Becoming Jane is just too boring for words.

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Hello Moviegoers, The Devil Wears Prada looks so promising in the trailer. You think you're gonna get this smart sophisticated movie with lots of bitchy one liners.

Well, what you really get is an insipid movie about a young womans angst regarding how much of a sell-out to be to forward her career.

Ann Hathaway is the young woman with the career problems, coulda' been any attractive young actress. Meryl Streep is a terrific comic actress, loved her in Death Becomes Her, sadly Prada is not her movie, it's Hathaways. Stanley Tucci is reliably excellent, but here isn't given much to do except flounce around.

I thought it was gonna be a comedy, and there ARE four or five good laughs. It's not even a romantic comedy, what romance there is is pitifully anemic.

I oughta rate movies according to how many times I check my watch. This one was about a six, meaning, "When will The Devil Wears Prada disappear in a puff of smoke and let me outa here?

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Hello Moviegoers, The Palm Theatre hardly ever disappoints, but nobody bats a thousand, eh? I was looking forward to Confederate States of America. The concept, what if the south had won the civil war, what would popular culture be like, is an intriguing notion, no?

Well, I thought so, but what a soggy leaden thing this movie was. It's framed as a British documentary of American History airing in America with Confederacy styled commercials. The documentary part is stiff, uninspired and dull. The commercials, which promote a racist condescending slave owning economy, were, well, flat.

I loved the Shaw quote at the beginning, "If you're going to tell people the truth, you'd better make them laugh or they'll kill you." Fortunately for the filmmaker he was nowhere to be found at the end of the screening. This project desperately needed a Dave Chappelle or Chris Rock to breathe some life into it.

Oh Well, Confederate States of America, stay away in droves.

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Hello Moviegoers, This week Marsha picked the film so we saw 16 Blocks,the girl likes a little adrenalin in her movies. 16 Blocks stars Bruce Willis playing a version of his generic cop role. Take his Die-hard character throw in fifteen years of alcohol abuse and more than a few ethical lapses. Presto.

The real life of the party in this movie is Mos Def as, frankly, is often the case with any movie he is in, Lackawanna Blues, The Italian Job, Monster's Ball, Hitchhiker's Guide.

In this picture he is a squirrelly little thief trying to survive the 16 block trip to court in lower Manhattan. His portrayal of a certain NY type is just perfect, kind of a black Ratso Rizzo.

Other than the characters it's not much of a movie, a predictable little crime movie. You know, a couple of gunfights a chase scene, in this case with a city bus, nothing spectacular in that department. Just skip it. 16 Blocks ho hum. Better luck next week.

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Hello Moviegoers, The Palm is batting a thousand this month if you ask me. This week, in addition to hosting most of the Film Festival events, they're showing The 3 Burials of Melquiades Estrada.

Tommy Lee Jones directed and starred in this fine indy film. Jones plays a Texas ranch hand who makes a promise to a Mexican cowboy he works with, that if the guy should die, Jones'll take his body back to his home village.

When a Border Patrol agent stupidly/quasi-accidentally kills Melquiades and the local sheriff complies with the Border Patrols request to sweep it under the rug, Jones takes matters into his own hands.

This is a marvelously acted film, January Jones as the Border Patrol agents vacuous wife, Melissa Leo as a married waitress having affairs with both Jones and the sheriff, played by Dwight Yoakam. A beautifully made film with an enigmatic ending. Catch it at the Palm.

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Hello Moviegoers, Man, I just saw a perfect movie. At the Palm Theatre, of course. Anthony Hopkins in The World's Fastest Indian. This is the true story of a cranky seventy year old guy who takes his souped up 1920 Indian Scout to the Bonneville salt flats in 1967 to set a world speed record that stands to this day.

Okay, it's a motorcycle movie. But it's also a great story about a rare human being on a remarkable journey with enormous heart and major twinkle.

This is a movie that works on both levels, the male and the female, your yin and your yang. Crusty shade tree mechanic takes practically homebuilt machine to global speed venue and kicks ass. And. Here's this old coot who loves motorcycles and women, but not necessarily in that order, makin' all his dreams come true.

Anthony Hopkins may be the greatest actor alive just now. DO NOT fail to see him in The World's Fastest Indian at the Palm Theatre.

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Hello Moviegoers, I saw Transamerica at the Palm Theatre last night and it was outstanding. The fact that Felicity Huffman plays a man working to become a woman gets this film a lot of attention. And Huffman's portrayal of Bree Osbourne's journey across the truly great divide was stunningly done, no question.

But what I thought this movie was really about was Bree's relationship with her 17 year old son whom she only learns of at the beginning of the picture. He is also a pretty troubled soul coming from an even more dysfunctional family than Bree. Kevin Zegers performance in this role clearly marks him as a young actor to watch.

They drive across the country together, so I guess it's a road picture. But the distance they cover emotionally is what makes this a picture worth getting up off the couch and getting downtown for, Don't miss Transamerica playing at the incomparable Palm Theatre.

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Hello Moviegoers, What can I tell you, it was playing at the right time so I went to see Last Vacation with Queen Latifah and let me tell you I liked it. This is the movie that Fun with Dick and Jane wanted to be!

Latifah's performance as shy frugal worker bee suddenly confronted with imminent mortality was to a tee. She was perfect.

Also featured were Timothy Hutton as a greedy narcissistic businessman, Gerard Depardieu as the chef at the trendy European spa she heads for. Giancarlo Esposito as a greasy US Senator and LL Cool J was cool as the hunky love interest.

It was a good little romantic comedy. Not original, so little is, I mean it's really boy meets girl, boy loses girl etc. but done freshly. And of course my test for a comedy is, did I laugh and how much. And I did, a bunch.

Okay, not as funny as The Aristocrats, but you can take your kids or your mother to see Last Vacation and have a good time, and that's somethin'.

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Hello Moviegoers, Fun with Dick and Jane - was not fun. It does have six laugh out loud jokes. But waddaya call a comedy with six laughs in ninety minutes, badum bum, a bore.

I really wanted to see Breakfast on Pluto at the Palm but couldn't squeeze the 9:15 showtime into my schedule and Marsha wants to see the Producers together so I had to bite the bullet and watch Fun with Dick and Jane just to have fodder for this review.

Well I did enjoy the six jokes, I'll say that for it. I like Jim Carrey, I thought Liar Liar was excellent and I've enjoyed many of his other movies. And Tea' Leoni, I've loved since Naked Truth, her erstwhile TV show, I'm totally jealous of David Duchovny.

But this movie, Fun with Dick and Jane, okay it's not as bad as Ishtar, the gold standard of bad movies, but it's bad. No fun with Dick or Jane. Run away Run away.

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Hello Moviegoers, Munich blew me away, and I think knowing it was a reflection of real events is what made it so devastating, I couldn't go to dinner afterwards.

On one level it's just a thriller with a historical thread, but as with so many war movies of the last fifteen years, the degree of realism is so intense.

Eric Bana, who was Hector in Troy, is the Israeli agent tasked with killing eleven of the men who planned the massacre at Munich. He approaches it with a soldiers cold intent, but as the assassinations proceed the murkiness of his assignment and the cold bloodedness of the killings begin to take their toll on him.

This is a stunningly well done movie exploring the nature of humanity and it's political institutions. We don't come off so good. But Reality is a bitch and pretending it ain't so won't do us any good either. Munich, We have met the enemy and it is us.

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They're saying that Aeon Flux starring Charlize Theron is such a bomb that they wouldn't let the critics see it in advance so they could squeeze a few bucks out of it before it crashes like a relicam into a brick wall.

But I have the secret to saving this movie; eliminate the dialogue or have it dubbed into Icelandic. The dialogue is so bad. Could not be worse.

But the pictures saving grace is that the visuals are stunning. The whole movie, which after all is a comic book, is very clearly and strikingly told in the images. And by the way if you saw and liked this movie and you're young - don't fail to rent the movies of Jean Cocteau, 1930's and stunning.

And Charlize Theron; After Monster, I'll watch you do anything on the chance you'll have an opportunity to be a genius again. Not that watching her not being a genius is such a burden. I am definitely married to her in some alternate dimension, if there is any justice in the cosmos.

Aeon Flux: only if you love cinema or comic books. And by the way, it's not playing at the Palm...

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Hello Moviegoers, Marsha and I went to see The Constant Gardner at the classic Fremont Theatre, well I went to see The Constant Gardner, Marsha went to see Ralph Fiennes.

It's kind of a English Patient kinda doomed romantic tragedy in Africa kind of a movie with a murder mystery subplot. It's not giving anything away to tell you that Rachel Weisz dies in the first scene, then the movie goes into Flash Forward - Flash Back mode.

It took me a bit to figure out what was wrong with this movie. The flash forward part of the picture portrays this great love story, but the flash back shows a relationship that was deeply flawed, very poor communication, lack of trust, and I can't tell you any spoilers. But their relationship was not the stuff of legends.

So if Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz in love is enough reason to catch it, go on ahead, otherwise eh, maybe skip The Constant Gardner.

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Hello Moviegoers, Broken Flowers is playing at the incomparable Palm Theatre. And the cast, Bill Murray, Sharon Stone, Jessica Lange, Tilda Swinton, Francis Conroy, Chloe Sevigne, Julie Delpy and Jeffrey Wright.

Don't know who Jeffrey Wright is? Rent Angels in America. In this movie he is Murray's neighbor and encourages Murray to go see his old lovers,the aforementioned bevy of first rate actresses, after Murray receives an unsigned letter telling him that he has a twenty year old son.

This is a Jim Jarmush film so plot is secondary to character and mood. Murray's character in this piece is reminiscent of the one he played in Lost in Translation, kind of vacuous. What you have to do is enjoy each scene, each beautifully acted scene rather than have expectations of the plot. OK

So there you go, it's art. If you're lookin' for plot rent The Life Aquatic if you like cinematic art you'll enjoy Broken Flowers at our local art house, the Palm Theatre.

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Hello Moviegoers, I just saw The Aristocrats at the Palm Theatre in SLO and I laughed my ass off. This is a hilarious film about a joke that comedians tell each other embellishing it beyond the sublime into the t-totally ridiculous.

Absolutely everyone is in this film, Robin Williams, Drew Carey, Whoopi, I can't even begin to list them all, go ahead name a comedian. I mean, everyone is in this picture except Jim Carey and he musta been sick that day.

Now ya' gotta be warned this movie has the most vulgar outrageous disgusting language you are EVER gonna hear in movie, so if you're even slightly likely to be offended by something someone could say, it ain't for you.

But me and a room full of Cal Poly thought it was hilarious and if you're capable of enjoying rude crude ironic humor don't miss this all star extravaganza. It's one of a kind. The Aristocrats at the Palm Theatre. This is Pork Radion KPYG. This KYNS San Luis Obispo.

Hello Moviegoers, This is Gerald. Been waiting for me to like something? Well I loved Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It was great fun. Clever dialogue, interesting ideas and absolutely terrific graphics. Now while this picture does address some serious existential issues, the meaning of life and all that jazz, be forewarned that this is an exceptionally silly movie, think Monty Python does Star wars.

The basic story is that Earthling Arthur Dent is whisked off the Earth, by his friend Ford Prefect an alien he has unknowingly befriended,moments before it is demolished to make way for a galactic public works project.

Well, if you liked the bar scene in the original Star Wars, you're going to love Hitchhiker. It's full of strange and amusing creatures. But looking at some reviews and online comments it's clear that some people take movies just a little too seriously. Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy. Clever, Fun and attractive, that's enough for me. This is KPIG AND KYNS

I gave this movie a two rather than a one because it was better than 'Ishtar' which is the benchmark for truly bad cinema. It was with great difficulty that I sat through Sideways, but it got such positive press, and my brother-in-law thought I'd like it, "...a total guy movie." Well, I thought it was hideous, chiefly because I thought the two main characters were such jerks. But not Just Jerks, boring mundane run of the mill not-worth-the-typewriter-paper-they-were-written-about-on jerks.

Okay Church and Giamatti did a fine job of portraying these shallow self-absorbed pretentious slobs, but who cares, well not me obviously. And I cannot fathom why anyone else does. It wasn't that funny, that's certain. So, not funny, odious characters, no great drama, what is the big appeal?

This was enormous fun and exactly what I was expecting. Clever mechanicals, beautiful drawings and lots laughs. What more do you expect from a cartoon? I laughed a lot, once to tears, and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Of course one of the terrific things about this movie is that it works for adults and children. I was so disappointed with Sponge Bob, (not having seen the TV show) expecting a movie that bridged the adult child cultural gap. But where Bob fell short Robots really delivers.

As I mentioned, the drawing is terrific and the writing is hilarious, but Robin Williams shtick added real spice to this movie. And while Greg Kinnear was fine as the evil Ratchet, I kept thinking of Jim Carey for that role, oh well.