I went to see this at Dave's insistence, 'cos Emily Blunt. The complex that houses the Showplace Icon Theatre is built for cars, and maybe the cold: I didn't find a pedestrian entrance. Following Google movies's prompting, I aimed for the 7.45pm 2D session but got there just in time to part with another $4.75 ($17.75 total) for the 7pm "real 3D". Perhaps these are distinct to the Google.
Things opened with the trailer for the new Transformers flick. Marky-Mark! — and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Oldman? The feature was pretty much colour-between-the-lines stuff with so many antecdents that no list could be complete. I thought Team America all the way through, which was somehow prescient as it concludes with a trashing of Paris, but no promise-me-you-will-never-die, which would have been hilarious. The action scenes were pure spaghetti, and more so from the fourth row. (I sat where the people assisting wheelchair users would sit; tickets weren't offered for there and I got told I'd have to move if someone came.) Noah Taylor reprises his role of chief geek (Lara Croft etc.) which made me wonder about Miranda Otto. Loads of other Australians in there too. Bill Paxton has the most fun chanelling Brad Pitt. I hoped they would cast Bill Pullman as the president (again). Tom Cruise barely breaks a sweat. The story is somewhat recursive, but you'd have to wonder if this is what you'd do if you had that particular power of futzing with time. Where did the "mimics" moniker come from anyway?
David Haglund at Slate. Manohla Dargis at the New York Times.