Cinema Lounge, a film discussion group, takes place at 7:00 PM at Barnes and Noble, 555 12th St., NW in Washington, DC (near the Metro Center Metro stop). You do not need to be a member of the Washington DC Film Society to attend.

Cinema Lounge is moderated by Daniel R. Vovak.

Review of Summer; Preview of Winter

The September meeting highlighted the upcoming fall films and reviewed the summer movies. The group discussed their pleasure at seeing Ratatouille with one person commenting, "I liked the rat better than the cars," a reference to Transformers. We also discussed and compared the 2003 film Finding Nemo to Ratatouille: "I thought Nemo was going to be disappointing, thinking I could not identify with a fish." And "I liked the way the rat came to life. Even its fur moved." Among the comments made in talking about the various film studios, were "Pixar makes a commitment to improve with each film." Next is WALL-E, set for release in late June 2008. "Warner Brothers used to be gritty. Universal was about horror. Fox featured women's films. MGM made musicals. Pixar and Bruckheimer seem to be the only companies keeping their niche."

Some movies have "frontloadedness," a term referencing the early buzz of a film. It's a concept used for the upcoming Iron Man, an MTV release. Nancy Drew seemed to have bad timing, a film that should probably have been released in the fall. A few of people liked Breach. Others mentioned that current films are quite violent, including Death Sentence. "Shoot-'em up films are best to watch at night," said another. In watching 3:10 to Yuma "I was so immersed in it. The tension kept going, even sitting still. I felt chased. The ending, though, takes a long time to understand (its writing was weak). However, the actors and director were great."

Anticipated films include Jesse James although there is an apparent problem with the distributor, and Lust, Caution, an NC-17 film by Ang Lee. Predictions for bombs included Across the Universe, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Good Luck Chuck, and Beowulf. Everyone agreed that Spiderman 3 was poorly done--inconsistent with the comic and badly written with too many villains. "Even the sandman blew away. How interesting was that? It was like a WWE battle royal. That movie ruined by summer. I won't ever again automatically buy a ticket," groused one dissatisfied moviegoer. People liked Bourne Ultimatum but noted that the marketing was bad for Black Snake Moan even though Cinema Lounge appreciated the director and main actor appearing for an event. "The chain was too big in the movie posters. Plus the blues music angle was downplayed too much."