Wednesday, July 30, 2008
DARK KNIGHT
Things I Liked: Heath Ledger's Joker. In fact, everything about the Joker. Wasn't sure I would like this anarcho-punk incarnation, but it turned out to be great. The fact that they did NOT show Joker's origin, and that Joker's own explanation for his scars keep changing a la The Killing Joke. The fact that Joker survived the movie. Gary Oldman's James Gordon. Absolutely perfect. Referring to the original 1989 Bat-suit that famously did not allow Michael Keaton to move his head. The cameo by Senator Pat Leahy. Keeping the same Bat-mobile. Referencing the 1970's "Batcave" hidden beneath Bruce Wayne's penthouse. Batman willing to take on the general public's hatred.
Things I Did Not Like: The damn thing was so dark (I mean lighting-wise) at times you couldn't tell what was going on. The fight scenes were claustrophobically-shot; how can you tell Batman is the world's greatest fighter when all you ever see is a blurry close-up of his elbow? The sound editing; loud and awful. Dialogue was drowned out at times, particularly during Gordon's closing exposition. Harvey Dent; pretty much everything about him. We never learned enough about him to care or understand why he went insane or why he was so great Batman would seriously consider retiring in favor of him. Dent's portrayal in The Long Halloween was much better. In fact, his entire sub-plot felt tacked-on and unnecessary and his death pointless. The music; utterly forgettable. Production values on Gotham City. While I don't miss the homo-erotic Stalinism of Joel Schumacher's Gotham, there was something to be said for Tim Burton's gothic mega-city. Gotham City should be virtually a character in and of itself. The city should reflect the corruption within it and I hardly recall even seeing graffiti. Nolan's Gotham either looked too much like Chicago (where it was shot) or too generic (particularly the hospital). Christian Bale's Bat-Voice. It's become so dark and raspy as to be unintelligible, more like Billy Bob Thornton in Slingblade.
Overall? Frankly? It was kind of meh. Hate to admit it, but yeah.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Hancock
Great movie. Really great movie. I loved the concept of an essentially homeless alcoholic superhero utterly despised by the city he protects. Will Smith does a superb job of conveying the character's essential loneliness and surly alienation from society. Jason Bateman is understated and convincing as the earnest, PR sidekick who takes it on himself to rehabilitate Hancock against his will. Charlize Theron plays Mary, Bateman's disproportionately hot wife. The plot is more or less an origin story for Hancock and does an intriguing job of speculating on how superheroes might actually be perceived in the real world. Hancock also shows that the powers don't make the hero; his are relatively generic (flight, invulnerability, super-strength) but we don't mind because the character who wields them is complex, interesting, and (eventually) sympathetic. There is a mild plot twist at the end that most fanboys will spot coming, but it's still interesting and advances the plot without being annoying. Highly recommended.Sunday, June 15, 2008
The Incredible Hulk
Subtitled "The Apology," this version completes ignores Ang Lee's widely-panned previous effort and actually pays homage to the old TV series, from cameos by Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, to the classic "Banner hitchhiking" piano music, to the Hulk-making gadgetry. The plotting is tight and rather simplistic, with three increasingly-spectacular set-piece battles. Edward Norton channels some of his old "Fight Club" angst as the isolated, lonely and perpetually-fearful Banner. Liv Tyler is, well, Liv Tyler: enormous eyes, pouting lips, and almost no acting ability beyond a breathy little-girl voice. I particularly enjoyed the intertwining of Marvel history throughout the movie, including references to the Captain America mythos (in this respect, it's more like the Ultimate Universe). The CGI Hulk, however, was a little disappointing; it didn't seem nearly as realistic or emotive as, say, Gollum in LOTR. Overall, a very good effort, though not as incredible as Iron Man.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
*HERE BE SPOILERS*
Spectacularly mediocre final installment of a series that has been going steadily downhill since Raiders of the Lost Ark. The franchise feels old and worn-out, not unlike Harrison Ford who seemingly can scarcely contain his boredom. The plot, such as it is, is molecule-thin, even by Indiana Jones standards, and riddled with holes, dead-ends and sheer silliness. Showing a hero facing old age is good idea, but other than one or two references to his age, Indy is exactly the same superhero he was in 1937, though he seems to have lost all common sense when it comes to reading his friends. He gets caught in a nuclear blast, tossed ten miles in a refrigerator that slams into the Earth at high speed and is able to get up and dust himself off! Which brings up another point: the stunts have gone WAY beyond thrilling and deep into ludicrous territory. The villains here (the godless Commies) are completely indistinguishable from the Nazis in the previous films, save only for the accents and the uniforms. And the last quarter is cringe-inducingly racist (not that the previous three installments were exactly enlightened), with Indians portrayed as screeching naked savages (and, apparently, some kind of ninja) and far too stupid to have invented anything on their own, instead being dependent on the "benevolent" von Daniken-ite aliens to instruct them. Overall, a disappointing end to an era.
Spectacularly mediocre final installment of a series that has been going steadily downhill since Raiders of the Lost Ark. The franchise feels old and worn-out, not unlike Harrison Ford who seemingly can scarcely contain his boredom. The plot, such as it is, is molecule-thin, even by Indiana Jones standards, and riddled with holes, dead-ends and sheer silliness. Showing a hero facing old age is good idea, but other than one or two references to his age, Indy is exactly the same superhero he was in 1937, though he seems to have lost all common sense when it comes to reading his friends. He gets caught in a nuclear blast, tossed ten miles in a refrigerator that slams into the Earth at high speed and is able to get up and dust himself off! Which brings up another point: the stunts have gone WAY beyond thrilling and deep into ludicrous territory. The villains here (the godless Commies) are completely indistinguishable from the Nazis in the previous films, save only for the accents and the uniforms. And the last quarter is cringe-inducingly racist (not that the previous three installments were exactly enlightened), with Indians portrayed as screeching naked savages (and, apparently, some kind of ninja) and far too stupid to have invented anything on their own, instead being dependent on the "benevolent" von Daniken-ite aliens to instruct them. Overall, a disappointing end to an era.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Speed Racer
Emphasis on "Speed." An insane combination of Rollerball (the crappy original, not the crappy remake), Death Race 2000 and some kind of neon-fueled acid trip involving lots and lots of Hotwheels track. Presented with a deafening sound and explosive visual intensity designed to induce seizures in Japanese schoolchildren. Edited and directed by a hyperkinetic ADHD Asperger's Syndrome five-year-old. On crack. And bizarrely enough, the movie is actually LESS violent than the original cartoon series thanks to Plot Device Super Balls that eject the drivers when their vehicles unconvincingly explode (perhaps due to the Treknobabble matter/anti-matter drives that run them) into a billion white hot fragments.Thursday, May 08, 2008
IRON MAN
Absolutely great flick, one of the best superhero movies of all times. This is the kind of movie Superman Returns might have been, had Bryan Singer not been so obsessive/compulsive about remaking Superman: The Movie. Beginning with the inspired casting (some might say typecasting) of Robert Downey, Jr. as a rich, shallow, self-absorbed, substance-abusing womanizer, to Gwyneth Paltrow's wonderfully understated performance as Pepper Potts, to the smooth-without-being-overwhelming CGI, it's really hard to find fault with anything in the production. Iron Man's Cold War roots are skillfully updated, transferring his origin from Vietnam to Afghanistan and remaking his arch-nemesis the Mandarin (who was, let's face it, a pretty crude Fu Manchu stereotype in the comics) into a warlord with a Genghis Khan fetish. Obadiah Stane, a villain from the Denny O'Neil run in the 1980's, is played by Jeff Bridges, who resists the urge to chew scenery and delivers such an excellent performance, I really didn't even mind the cliched "villain who has it all together throughout the film only to lose it spectacularly at the last minute" ending. Director Jon Favreau (who also appears in a couple of scenes as Happy Hogan) takes his time with the pacing, making sure the audience gets to know Tony Stark long before he ever gets strapped into his metal union suit. The dialogue is snappy, the set-piece fight scenes are great, and Downey makes us believe that a man can become a reluctant hero after a personal epiphany. Highly recommended.Labels: Movies, Reviews, Superheroes
Monday, February 04, 2008
I AM IRON MAN!
New Iron Man ad from the Superbowl. Obviously, this still has the capacity to suck, but I am cautiously optimistic thanks to the inspired type-casting of Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark. Not only does he physically resemble the role, in the original trailer he seems to have that bored, contemptous rich asshole look down pat.
Labels: Movies
Monday, September 10, 2007
OZ-ZY!! OZ-ZY!!
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Transformers
Transformers. Surprisingly good, actually. Part by-the-numbers action flick, part Army recruiting film. Shia LaBeouf channels John Cusack (he even looks like him about twenty years ago). Jon Voight channels Donald Rumsfeld. Rachel Taylor is the obligatory, impossibly-hot computer hacker genius, with Anthony Anderson as her comic-relief sidekick in sequences that have a distinct Independence Day feel to them. Megan Fox is the obligatory ultra-hot love interest who obligatorily has more to her than meets the eye. Josh Duhamel is the male supermodel who seems to have accidentally wandered into the Army. Well-paced, though I actually preferred the lead-up in the first part. Excellent, though claustrophobic, battle scenes. Almost enough to make adults forget it's based on a crappy cartoon show based on cheesy toys.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
300
Written by Frank Miller, directed, evidently, by Leni Riefenstahl. Good God, this thing is horrendous on soooo many levels. Without exagerration, I can say that it is about as close to Nazi (not just fascist) propaganda as you will ever see from a major motion picture studio. From King Xerxes as an inexplicably 10 1/2 foot tall, body-pierced, mincing black queen, to the unsubtle message that dark-skinned people, Democrats and the "genetically impure" all deserve to die, the message is pounded home with the subtlety of a battle-axe. And history? Oh Lord, forget history. Here, the Persian Army is composed of armored rhinoceroses, elephants, cave trolls and ninja (wearing identical silver kabuki masks) and sixty-five million orcs. Leonidas, who in reality was King of a Sparta that enslaved 8 out of 10 of his subjects, fights for "freedom" and "reason" against the forces of multi-culturalism, gay rights, sniveling peace-niks (in the form of Theron as John Kerry) and cowardly untrustworthy allies. Don't get me wrong; Thermopylae was an important battle. And we're lucky the Greeks ultimately won, since otherwise democracy would have died in its infancy. But this? This is nothing but Birth of a Nation for neo-cons. Just...horrible. Really, really horrible.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
THEY KILLED FRITZ!
Sunday, July 30, 2006
My Super Ex Girlfriend
Fairly cute movie. I liked the fact that all the characters just assumed the existence of superheroes. Yes, it was neat if your buddy happened to see G-Girl putting out a fire, but it wasn't a life-changing event. Superheroes as celebreties, in other words; as cool as if your buddy saw Uma Thurman in a restaurant. The concept was clever, but I think it would've been better if the script had focused more on the female superhero as a metaphor for men's basic insecurity about strong/successful women. Maybe that's why G-Girl is so incredibly unlucky in love, and neurotically paranoid. As it is, her character is barely explored and we really have no idea why she goes insane after Luke Wilson's character dumps her. Yes, there are hints that Luke Wilson's character considers himself a fairly open-minded guy (at least in comparison to his wonderfully loathesome best friend played by Rainn Wilson) and some hints that he feels intimidated by G-Girl (and not just in bed), especially once he learns her secret identity, but more could've been done with it. There is a funny scene at the end where Wilson's character and reformed supervillian Professor Bedlam (wonderfully played by Eddie Izzard) are left holding their super girlfriends' coats and purses as they fly off to save the day. So, all in all, a pretty clever idea, with some genuinely funny moments, but it could've been better with a little more work.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Superman Returns!
****CHOCK FULL O' SPOILERS****
That John Williams theme. Every geek my age can't help but feel stirred at that crashing martial beat as a red-and-blue streak crosses the sky. Frankly, it's too bad Williams didn't score the whole thing, as the rest of the music was fairly generic. Brandon Routh does an excellent job of playing Christopher Reeve playing Superman. Actually, as Clark Kent, Routh is at times virtually indistinguishable from Reeve back in '78. I had originally thought, looking at stills, that he was too slim to be believable as a superhero, but it wasn't that bad on screen. Kevin Spacey does an excellent job out-hamming Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor, but he adds an air of menace that Hackman never had. You believe Spacey's Luthor would kill someone with his bare hands and never think twice. Kate Bosworth looks WAY too young to be believable as a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. She's twenty-three but looks maybe 18 in the movie. It's supposed to be five years after Superman left, so she was working at the Daily Planet as what? A high school intern? Couldn't Bryan Singer have cast someone who was at least old enough to have graduated college? I have to say I did NOT like the new costume. The brick-red on the cape and shorts and boots is too dark and detracts from the whole familiar American flag theme. And the cape's material seems too much like pleather, okay for the Batman, maybe, but not Superman. I also found myself missing the gold "S" shield on the cape, as well. The story is good, but drags at points and would've benefitted from some tighter editing. Singer goes way over the top with the religious iconography, practically hammering it home. From a Pieta scene with Ma Kent at the beginning, to guards gambling after they beat the crap out of a temporarily depowered Superman, to Lex Luthor piercing his side, to a cruciform Man of Steel plunging to Earth, to a nurse finding that "the tomb was empty," to Marlon Brando's recorded voice intoning, "My only son..." Enough already, Singer! We get it! Geez! So to speak. And, of course, there's Super Out of Wedlock Boy. I really saw no need for this particular plot point at all, really and I found myself annoyed by it the longer it went on. And poor James Marsden! His characters just can't catch a break. Superhumans are either disentigrating them or muscling in on their girlfriends by being a Super-stalker. The idea of Superman scanning my house, by the way, is actually pretty creepy. I would've liked to see Superman actually fight somebody, even Luthor, as opposed to spending the whole movie lifting or catching things. The cinematography is practically claustrophobic; seemed like half the damn movie was an extreme closeup of something or other or someone's face.
Okay, so that was the bad. The good was, it's an entertaining film. Singer is obviously a fanboy, obviously has a great deal of reverance for the source material, both the comic and the iconic 1978 film and it shows in the respect and love he demonstrates for the characters. Singer also adds some nice touches, like Superman having to fight the semi-real laws of physics to rescue a crashing airplane, a thug who nevertheless plays the piano and is nice to children, and a cameo by Jack Larson. Overall, I have to agree that the world needs Superman and this was a classy if slightly plodding vehicle to bring him back on the big screen.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
V for Vendetta
Remember, remember the fifth of November; gunpowder, treason and plot; I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.
Just saw the movie, never read the graphic novel, though I am a big Alan Moore fan. Moore's name, incidentally, appears nowhere in the film. Characteristically, he has repudiated it.
Visually, I thought the film was very appealing. London in 2020 has the dreary, impersonal look of an Eastern Bloc state before the fall of communism. There were some homages to other films, like John Hurt (as the High Chancellor) always appearing on a gigantic Big Brother style video screen, and large ubiquitous PA systems located everywhere for broadcasting propaganda. Moore's original 1980's screed against Thatcherite Britain has been updated by the Wachowski Brothers to include references to Iraq, "America's War" and anti-Muslim bigotry (even owning a copy of the Koran is a capital offense). The limited nuclear war of the graphic novel has been replaced by bio-terrorism. It's enough of an update that conservatives see it as an attack on Our Dear Leader.
Oddly, there is no apparent racism in this fascist state (a major theme in the graphic novel), even though the governing party has the Aryan-sounding name Norsefire, but homosexuals are still rounded up and sent off to concentration camps. Maybe anti-homophobia is more popular in Hollywood than anti-racism these days. There's also some interesting philosophy as well: are there really no such things as coincidences? Is one man's terrorist another man's freedom fighter? Is order without freedom (tyranny) really the only alternative to freedom without responsibility (licentiousness)?
There are problems, of course; in some parts of the film, it's hard to tell if we are watching reality or some fantastic vision. Two characters who die earlier in the film (one of them on-screen) inexplicably return at the end. Also, I'm not sure I can buy the idea of the notoriously agnostic Brits being taken in by a dictatorship of the Religious Right. Overall, though, I thought it was an excellent film, weighed on its own merits.
Just saw the movie, never read the graphic novel, though I am a big Alan Moore fan. Moore's name, incidentally, appears nowhere in the film. Characteristically, he has repudiated it.
Visually, I thought the film was very appealing. London in 2020 has the dreary, impersonal look of an Eastern Bloc state before the fall of communism. There were some homages to other films, like John Hurt (as the High Chancellor) always appearing on a gigantic Big Brother style video screen, and large ubiquitous PA systems located everywhere for broadcasting propaganda. Moore's original 1980's screed against Thatcherite Britain has been updated by the Wachowski Brothers to include references to Iraq, "America's War" and anti-Muslim bigotry (even owning a copy of the Koran is a capital offense). The limited nuclear war of the graphic novel has been replaced by bio-terrorism. It's enough of an update that conservatives see it as an attack on Our Dear Leader.
Oddly, there is no apparent racism in this fascist state (a major theme in the graphic novel), even though the governing party has the Aryan-sounding name Norsefire, but homosexuals are still rounded up and sent off to concentration camps. Maybe anti-homophobia is more popular in Hollywood than anti-racism these days. There's also some interesting philosophy as well: are there really no such things as coincidences? Is one man's terrorist another man's freedom fighter? Is order without freedom (tyranny) really the only alternative to freedom without responsibility (licentiousness)?
There are problems, of course; in some parts of the film, it's hard to tell if we are watching reality or some fantastic vision. Two characters who die earlier in the film (one of them on-screen) inexplicably return at the end. Also, I'm not sure I can buy the idea of the notoriously agnostic Brits being taken in by a dictatorship of the Religious Right. Overall, though, I thought it was an excellent film, weighed on its own merits.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Movie Review
Went to see Hoodwinked at the local uber-mega-google-plex tonight. The computer animation is VERY sub-par if you're used to Pixar standards. On the other hand, it's a relatively cute take-off on the Little Red Riding Hood yarn. Besides, how many movies can manage to work in homages to Akira Kurosawa, The Thin Man, Fletch, Triple X, Chinatown, and the old Rankin Bass Santa Claus is Coming to Town? If the kids want to see a movie, this is a fairly painless and mostly entertaining option.
