Sam Raimi should do these types of films for the rest of his life. I actually hadn't written up a review for this because i went and saw it three times in theaters. That should be enough of a review for you.
Drag Me To Hell is the story of pretty young loan officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) who is gunning for the assistant bank managers job at the bank she works at. Her only real competition is the new guy, Stu, whose nose is so far up his bosses ass with Lakers tickets and compliments that it makes her a bit sick. After learning of this her boss tells her about making tough decisions. Well right then and there a tough decision shows up, a creepy old gypsy woman whose house is about to be repossessed. Christine dutifully informs the woman that a loan extension is out of the question due to the previous loan extensions she has received. Old Ms. Ganush (Lorna Raver) begs and pleads for assistance but is ultimately thrown out by security. This is where the 27 different kinds of crazy show up. Ms. Ganush in old school fashion meets Christine out in the parking lot, old school style, and proceeds with the oddest and funniest chick fight ever put on screen. Ganush ens up putting a curse on Christine and she ultimately finds out she has three days to break the curse before being... you guessed it, dragged to hell. Along the way we meet her super sweet and Apple loving boyfriend, a seer who is trying to help her out of this situation, and a demon called the Lamia.
This flick is so fun that had it starred Bruce Campbell, you coulda called it Evil Dead 4. Lohman is such a good sport with the physicality of the role and with the disgustingness that Raimi subjects her to, she should get the offical Bruce seal of approval. Mr. Raimi quite likes to abuse his actors if you ever pay attention to any making of docos for his films. The movie may ne rated PG13 but it is still fairly brutal. The blood is essentially replaced with disgustingness of saliva, drool, maggots, embalming fluid and the like. The film played well with both a small audience and a large audience.
My biggest issue is not with the film, but with the fake ass Sam Raimi fans who know nothing of his work outside of the Spiderman films. It was odd to be sitting in the packed theater next to a girl who couldn't have been older than 16, laugh, scream, and jump all the way through the film only to declare it stupid at the end because it was to "funny". What sense does that make? Oh yeah, the chick was wearing a brand new Army of Darkness t-shirt. She had obviously never seen that film and then say that about the one she just watched.
I can recommend this film to Raimi fans far and wide, and to non Raimi fans, you should become one before seeing this. The best way to describe it is it fits right between Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn and Army of Darkness as far as quality goes. If you understand the reference then go see the film, if not go rent those films and then, if you enjoy them, go see this one.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
The Hangover - Review
Hmmm... I know I've been sitting on this one for a while. Ive done so because prior to and after seeing it i found so many people declaring it to be the greatest flick of the summer, year, best comedy in years, blah blah blah. Well i decided to take a wait and see approach with it. Initial thoughts were i thought the flick was hands down hilarious and if id have written this review immediately after leaving the theater this would have been a glowing take everyone you know to see it twice type of review. However i waited, and i will still say the film is extremely funny, however nothing sticks with you. I know i will more than likely buy it and watch it a lot of times because it IS a good funny movie. But i don't think its the best thing since ( insert last funny movie you saw here).
The highlight of the film for me was to see Zack Galifinakis going frigging insane on screen. His Alan character was so funny and so out there that he will probably become a go to actor for anyone else needing that. I also know he is capable of more serious fare, but he was note perfect in this film. Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms were also phenomenal in the film and I look forward to seeing them in more stuff.
Problems, mostly with the marketing. Obviously the people who did the marketing know what they are doing as the 31 million dollar film has crossed the 100 million mark and not really slowing up to much. The problem is that SO MANY of the scenes that could have been classic are so ruined by the films commercials and trailers. I would have loved to see the film with out seeing but the most surface driven marketing because all those things we saw and were so funny in the advertising, were expected in the film. If so many of the jokes hadn't been given away by the trailers this seriously could have been an amazing time at the cinema for all of us. So there is really my only problem with the film.
As a wannabe screenwriter i loved how the film really follows no structure and has no big character arcs, and no one really has a big life changing revelation save for the one guy who needed it. It is totally a guys movie that females will find funny as well because the film plays on, I've heard it called, white guy anxiety laughs. We all like laughing at the white guys right? yeah that was off course. The film just goes for the funny jugular every chance it gets with no real concern of how it'll fit overall. Each twist and turn propels the story forward regardless of how silly it may have been or how out of place it may be.
In the end, i definitely recommend going to see the film, its probably not for everyone so your mother probably wont care for it unless shes awesome.
Until next time guys.
The highlight of the film for me was to see Zack Galifinakis going frigging insane on screen. His Alan character was so funny and so out there that he will probably become a go to actor for anyone else needing that. I also know he is capable of more serious fare, but he was note perfect in this film. Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms were also phenomenal in the film and I look forward to seeing them in more stuff.
Problems, mostly with the marketing. Obviously the people who did the marketing know what they are doing as the 31 million dollar film has crossed the 100 million mark and not really slowing up to much. The problem is that SO MANY of the scenes that could have been classic are so ruined by the films commercials and trailers. I would have loved to see the film with out seeing but the most surface driven marketing because all those things we saw and were so funny in the advertising, were expected in the film. If so many of the jokes hadn't been given away by the trailers this seriously could have been an amazing time at the cinema for all of us. So there is really my only problem with the film.
As a wannabe screenwriter i loved how the film really follows no structure and has no big character arcs, and no one really has a big life changing revelation save for the one guy who needed it. It is totally a guys movie that females will find funny as well because the film plays on, I've heard it called, white guy anxiety laughs. We all like laughing at the white guys right? yeah that was off course. The film just goes for the funny jugular every chance it gets with no real concern of how it'll fit overall. Each twist and turn propels the story forward regardless of how silly it may have been or how out of place it may be.
In the end, i definitely recommend going to see the film, its probably not for everyone so your mother probably wont care for it unless shes awesome.
Until next time guys.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Terminator: Salvation - Review
First the background. I am a casual fan of Terminator, I mean casual fan as in I tried to follow the television show and just couldn't, Ive liked all three previous films and really don't get why people complain about Rise Of The Machines so much. It just proved that no one could replace Cameron, but there are interesting ways to tell these stories, and i thought the chase scene in the crane truck in the flick was bad assed despite the sometimes bad effects. The first two however will always stand alone as Cameron's brain children. It's funny as a "fanboy" how my ilk complain about the dearth of original films in Hollywood or the ability to continue stories up to their impossible standards, yet bitch when people do try to do something new or different with the material. I know fine line and bad territory to explore right now. Moving on...
I approached the film not revisiting the previous films and just hoping for McG to deliver a decent film within the world with some mythology that I love. The short version is that, he succeeded, in my eyes. It's is not a perfect film by any means and any preconceived notions of seeing the future war fought out with big bad ass John Connor will not be met. The story starts in 2003 with us meeting Marcus Wright on death row where Helena Bonham Carter visits him after an apparent string of visits asking for him to donate his body so she can give him a second chance at life. Wright doesn't feel he deserves a second chance but not believing it was capable agrees and signs paperwork with a Cyberdyne letterhead. We see Wright's execution and go straight to 2018 where Judgement Day has already happened and the resistance is attacking a Skynet satellite field. We meet John Connor they go through their mission and succeed in finding a signal that can shut down the machines. Connor goes to command and alerts them to this development and a plan is formed to attack Skynet with the signal. Meanwhile Marcus Wright, whose body is seen in the background in the previous scene, crawls from the wreckage of the previous battle and steals a dead guys clothes and begins trekking his way down the dust covered highway. He comes to the destroyed remains of Los Angeles where he meets his first Terminator and Kyle Reese saves his ass. There are some cool moments that tie Terminator 1 and 2 into this film but nothing completely overt winking at the audience. That comes later. Well now the Terminators know Reese and his sidekick Star are hiding out in the area and Reese is apparently number one on their kill list. They have to leave the area and encounter another group of survivor further on down the road where the harvester, a 8 story tall terminator that collects survivors for whatever purpose we find out about later in the movie, but should know if you've seen the previous films. A fantastic action/chase scene follows Reese and Wright become separated and Wright wants to head toward Skynet anyway. He meets another member of the resistance who leads him to John Connor. Going any further would lead to spoiler territory so ill leave it at that.
First and foremost, the cinematography in this film is phenomenal. The action scenes are so well played out and seamless that McG definitely deserves full credit for them. In this age where there are so many quick cut music video editing styles employed on action films, McG decided to stage his large effects laden action scenes with minimal cuts. It was refreshing to see a film where battle sequences and chase scenes take place in nearly singular takes and still have them be exciting and suspenseful. This also says a lot about the cast put together. Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright was note perfect in his role, I would love to see his character explored further. Anton Yelchin, recently seen as Chekov in Star Trek, is first rate as Kyle Reese, cribbing just enough of Michael Beihn's mannerisms to remind you of what his destiny is to become. Christian Bale is phenomenal as usual and i really hope he is able to come back should the franchise continue. The only weak points in the cast is actually Helena Bonham Carter, who isn't given much to do in her short screen time along with Moon Bloodgood who plays her role almost a bit too casually. The criminally underused Common hopefully has a bigger role and more time to shine should the franchise continue as he plays Connor's right hand man and friend.
As far as problem with the film, personally i am hating the trend of planning films as trilogies. I really want to see more but also feel the story of the film was just a bit weak and is purposefully leading up to continuation. Regardless of if the film makers are planning a trilogy ,each film should stand all on its own unless you are doing the films Lord of the Rings or Matrix style and filming them all together at once for release within months of each other. As the film stands it is good and i feel if continuing will make an awesome viewing experience when being viewed in its full context. But still as a stand alone film it is sort of weak in the story department.
As mentioned before there are some nice moments recalling the previous films, the "come with me if you want to live" and "I'll be back" lines are all in place and come from unexpected sources as well as a music cue that just made me smile recalling T2. The big cameo is amazing and caused a real ripple of excitement throughout the theatre even though it was only a few moments of screen time. I believe I'm going to see the film a second time in the next few day so i may weigh back in with some thoughts after a second viewing.
Bottom line: It's an enjoyable film if you lower your expectations. I can't quite recommend it to everyone as i did with Star Trek but I think most of the people who know me will be happy with what is on display.
Until next time guys.
I approached the film not revisiting the previous films and just hoping for McG to deliver a decent film within the world with some mythology that I love. The short version is that, he succeeded, in my eyes. It's is not a perfect film by any means and any preconceived notions of seeing the future war fought out with big bad ass John Connor will not be met. The story starts in 2003 with us meeting Marcus Wright on death row where Helena Bonham Carter visits him after an apparent string of visits asking for him to donate his body so she can give him a second chance at life. Wright doesn't feel he deserves a second chance but not believing it was capable agrees and signs paperwork with a Cyberdyne letterhead. We see Wright's execution and go straight to 2018 where Judgement Day has already happened and the resistance is attacking a Skynet satellite field. We meet John Connor they go through their mission and succeed in finding a signal that can shut down the machines. Connor goes to command and alerts them to this development and a plan is formed to attack Skynet with the signal. Meanwhile Marcus Wright, whose body is seen in the background in the previous scene, crawls from the wreckage of the previous battle and steals a dead guys clothes and begins trekking his way down the dust covered highway. He comes to the destroyed remains of Los Angeles where he meets his first Terminator and Kyle Reese saves his ass. There are some cool moments that tie Terminator 1 and 2 into this film but nothing completely overt winking at the audience. That comes later. Well now the Terminators know Reese and his sidekick Star are hiding out in the area and Reese is apparently number one on their kill list. They have to leave the area and encounter another group of survivor further on down the road where the harvester, a 8 story tall terminator that collects survivors for whatever purpose we find out about later in the movie, but should know if you've seen the previous films. A fantastic action/chase scene follows Reese and Wright become separated and Wright wants to head toward Skynet anyway. He meets another member of the resistance who leads him to John Connor. Going any further would lead to spoiler territory so ill leave it at that.
First and foremost, the cinematography in this film is phenomenal. The action scenes are so well played out and seamless that McG definitely deserves full credit for them. In this age where there are so many quick cut music video editing styles employed on action films, McG decided to stage his large effects laden action scenes with minimal cuts. It was refreshing to see a film where battle sequences and chase scenes take place in nearly singular takes and still have them be exciting and suspenseful. This also says a lot about the cast put together. Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright was note perfect in his role, I would love to see his character explored further. Anton Yelchin, recently seen as Chekov in Star Trek, is first rate as Kyle Reese, cribbing just enough of Michael Beihn's mannerisms to remind you of what his destiny is to become. Christian Bale is phenomenal as usual and i really hope he is able to come back should the franchise continue. The only weak points in the cast is actually Helena Bonham Carter, who isn't given much to do in her short screen time along with Moon Bloodgood who plays her role almost a bit too casually. The criminally underused Common hopefully has a bigger role and more time to shine should the franchise continue as he plays Connor's right hand man and friend.
As far as problem with the film, personally i am hating the trend of planning films as trilogies. I really want to see more but also feel the story of the film was just a bit weak and is purposefully leading up to continuation. Regardless of if the film makers are planning a trilogy ,each film should stand all on its own unless you are doing the films Lord of the Rings or Matrix style and filming them all together at once for release within months of each other. As the film stands it is good and i feel if continuing will make an awesome viewing experience when being viewed in its full context. But still as a stand alone film it is sort of weak in the story department.
As mentioned before there are some nice moments recalling the previous films, the "come with me if you want to live" and "I'll be back" lines are all in place and come from unexpected sources as well as a music cue that just made me smile recalling T2. The big cameo is amazing and caused a real ripple of excitement throughout the theatre even though it was only a few moments of screen time. I believe I'm going to see the film a second time in the next few day so i may weigh back in with some thoughts after a second viewing.
Bottom line: It's an enjoyable film if you lower your expectations. I can't quite recommend it to everyone as i did with Star Trek but I think most of the people who know me will be happy with what is on display.
Until next time guys.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Star Trek - Review
Wow.
If I could get away with a single word review, that would be it. J.J. Abrams Trek reboot, prequel, sequel (it can be looked at all of those ways) has made me a fan. Some background, I've never been a big fan of Star Trek. I remember seeing the movie where Spock was trying to save the whales when I was a kid with my father and watched it endlessly afterwards. I've never seen an episode of the original series... at all. The only episodes I ever watched of The Next Generation iteration were the ones where they used the holo-deck extensively. Never watched Deep Space Nine, Voyager, or Enterprise. I can say with little certainty that i probably saw all of the films post Generations, I was friends with some one who had a thing for Jonathan Frakes, so I was drug to the theatre every time a trek movie came out with Generations being the first one. They grew on me, I enjoyed them but never actively sought them out. There is my history with Star Trek in a few poorly constructed sentences.
Abrams however I am an avid fan of. It seems he has the film equivalent of the Midas touch, anything he is involved with turns into awesome. Lost is one of my favorite television shows ever, the Abrams produced Cloverfield was very fun for me, and even after hating Mission: Impossible 2, his awesomeness brought me back for M:I3 and did not disappoint. So when I heard the Abrams was taking the reins on Trek, I got interested. I followed the casting and what not and the one I was most happy with was Simon Pegg as Scotty. At that point aside from the now and again article about it i let it go. The trailers came out, suddenly I was dying to see a Star Trek movie. The advertising hit on such a level of nostalgia, that it even got me as, once again, not a huge Trek fan and made me excited to see what was coming. Well the wait is over and tonight I saw it, and like i said at the beginning, wow.
So this new iteration as i said can be considered a reboot, or a sequel, or a prequel. Orci and Kurtzman have somehow shut every canon worshipping Trek nerd up. The story involves a Romulan named Nero who watched his planet get obliterated killing nearly every one of his species and is out for revenge against Spock who Nero considers responsible.While going after Spock Nero ends up setting off a weapon known only as Red Matter which forms a wormhole through space and time where he ends up in the "past", which is our films present. You following? He decides that he can undo the destruction of his planet by destroying the federation and Spock. So this film is essentially saying that all of the things that had been done in the original series and the films still happened, however in an alternate timeline/reality. What we are now getting is new adventures of the original crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, which may have some similarities to previous events, but may end differently or the same. It not as confusing as I've just made it out to be but that seems to be the best way to clarify. Abrams, Orci, and Kurtzman have created an accessible Star Trek, for the young, the old, Trekkie, or casual film goer which is by itself an amazing accomplishment. Add to it that it doesn't feel recycled, or trying to hard, or pandering, or playing to the lowest common denominator, and that its just plain damned good fun makes it a masterstroke.
I'm not going to do a person by person breakdown with the cast because it is sufficient to say they all deserve fan recognition for these not quite reinventions of beloved characters. It just felt right to hear Karl Urban's Bones say "Dammit Jim!" and Simon Pegg shouting "I'm giving her all I've got!" and it didn't feel like they were winking at the audience when it was said. I had a damned good time at the movies tonight and have a new object of discussion with friends. I couldn't be happier with the film i saw tonight, only dissatisfaction i have is that it'll be several years before there is another one. I really feel that if this level of quality is kept this series will *ahem* (nerd alert) live long and prosper.
This is a TrailerDaze first, because this is officially the first film I've reviewed on here that i can whole-heartedly recommend that everyone go see. As soon as possible. I'm sure Anthony will drop by in a few days to drop his thought on you unsuspecting masses.
Until next time guys.
If I could get away with a single word review, that would be it. J.J. Abrams Trek reboot, prequel, sequel (it can be looked at all of those ways) has made me a fan. Some background, I've never been a big fan of Star Trek. I remember seeing the movie where Spock was trying to save the whales when I was a kid with my father and watched it endlessly afterwards. I've never seen an episode of the original series... at all. The only episodes I ever watched of The Next Generation iteration were the ones where they used the holo-deck extensively. Never watched Deep Space Nine, Voyager, or Enterprise. I can say with little certainty that i probably saw all of the films post Generations, I was friends with some one who had a thing for Jonathan Frakes, so I was drug to the theatre every time a trek movie came out with Generations being the first one. They grew on me, I enjoyed them but never actively sought them out. There is my history with Star Trek in a few poorly constructed sentences.
Abrams however I am an avid fan of. It seems he has the film equivalent of the Midas touch, anything he is involved with turns into awesome. Lost is one of my favorite television shows ever, the Abrams produced Cloverfield was very fun for me, and even after hating Mission: Impossible 2, his awesomeness brought me back for M:I3 and did not disappoint. So when I heard the Abrams was taking the reins on Trek, I got interested. I followed the casting and what not and the one I was most happy with was Simon Pegg as Scotty. At that point aside from the now and again article about it i let it go. The trailers came out, suddenly I was dying to see a Star Trek movie. The advertising hit on such a level of nostalgia, that it even got me as, once again, not a huge Trek fan and made me excited to see what was coming. Well the wait is over and tonight I saw it, and like i said at the beginning, wow.
So this new iteration as i said can be considered a reboot, or a sequel, or a prequel. Orci and Kurtzman have somehow shut every canon worshipping Trek nerd up. The story involves a Romulan named Nero who watched his planet get obliterated killing nearly every one of his species and is out for revenge against Spock who Nero considers responsible.While going after Spock Nero ends up setting off a weapon known only as Red Matter which forms a wormhole through space and time where he ends up in the "past", which is our films present. You following? He decides that he can undo the destruction of his planet by destroying the federation and Spock. So this film is essentially saying that all of the things that had been done in the original series and the films still happened, however in an alternate timeline/reality. What we are now getting is new adventures of the original crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, which may have some similarities to previous events, but may end differently or the same. It not as confusing as I've just made it out to be but that seems to be the best way to clarify. Abrams, Orci, and Kurtzman have created an accessible Star Trek, for the young, the old, Trekkie, or casual film goer which is by itself an amazing accomplishment. Add to it that it doesn't feel recycled, or trying to hard, or pandering, or playing to the lowest common denominator, and that its just plain damned good fun makes it a masterstroke.
I'm not going to do a person by person breakdown with the cast because it is sufficient to say they all deserve fan recognition for these not quite reinventions of beloved characters. It just felt right to hear Karl Urban's Bones say "Dammit Jim!" and Simon Pegg shouting "I'm giving her all I've got!" and it didn't feel like they were winking at the audience when it was said. I had a damned good time at the movies tonight and have a new object of discussion with friends. I couldn't be happier with the film i saw tonight, only dissatisfaction i have is that it'll be several years before there is another one. I really feel that if this level of quality is kept this series will *ahem* (nerd alert) live long and prosper.
This is a TrailerDaze first, because this is officially the first film I've reviewed on here that i can whole-heartedly recommend that everyone go see. As soon as possible. I'm sure Anthony will drop by in a few days to drop his thought on you unsuspecting masses.
Until next time guys.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Review
Funny thing I heard earlier, the movie should have been called "Wolverine and the Amazing Technicolor Magic Laser Repelling Claws".
So I'm probably going to catch a lot of crap for this review, but I don't care. From day one of hearing about trouble on the set and terrible script reviews, rewrites, and then the horrendous opinions based on the leaked work print and the trailers I'd seen, all i could say was that it looked like a train wreck. In the interest of full disclosure, I am not a complete X-men fan boy as far as the comics go, I usually defer to others when asked questions about the comics. I am however an unabashed fan of the first 2 films and a much lesser extent the rushed third film. So i know the movie stuff and am kinda not too up on the comic book continuity so I will not be addressing that in this review other than for things i know of.
I walked into the film with such low expectations that i was pleasantly surprised by the film. The review will kind of read like a shit sandwich, something good, something bad, something good. What I was looking forward to most in the film was Deadpool, I really like the character and was glad he was being included. Ryan Reynolds was perfect as Wade Wilson for the five minutes or so he was on screen. The casting was a stroke of genius that just did not pan out well for Deadpool fans, we wanted more! Cool thing number two, Gambit. I was most worried about Gambit thinking they were going to have him with some silly Cajun accent. However I was not disappointed with Gambit other than when he turned into Spider-Man for a brief moment. I don't know if other New Orleanians were worried about this but he actually sounded like he was from New Orleans. Props to Taylor Kitsch for pulling it off.
Sabretooth, Liev Shriber is an amazing actor and a comic book dork apparently so I had no concerns that he was not going to be awesome. Will.I.Am was a pleasant surprise as Wraith in the film and I would look forward to seeing him act again. Kevin Durand is a big sumbitch before putting the Blob makeup on and he was fairly funny in his small role. Hugh Jackman was once again great as Wolverine. Danny Huston as Stryker was really not to great for me. I know the man is a capable actor but i just don't think he was right here. It is hard to step into the shoes of Bryan Cox so I'll give him that.
The film itself however suffers from having all of these great characters, it stretched far to thin trying to give all of them screen time when in reality I would have been happier with a smaller Gambit cameo with perhaps a promise of a Gambit centered film at some point. This is where the film suffers, When the team is together at the beginning of the film its amazing. Once they separate and Wolvie turns into a sad lumberjack with his lady who is just far to understanding of him waking with nightmares of the civil war and sprouting his bone claws for Wolvie to not realize something isn't right with her. Once the action is off and running however there were no more boring moments. The script was just plain weak and there were things you could see were not really thought out before adding them in and they were are very simple fixes but came off as playing to a stupid audience. The adamantium bullets BS, being the only thing that can stop Wolverine? Where the hell did they come up with that retardery? The end of the film having "Deadpool" being the experimental mutant with all of the mutant powers was incredibly silly but i got past it. I can buy no physics exsisting in this dojo when Wolvie is slicing and dicing moving helicopters and humvees, but i cant help but think the deflection of fake ass Deadpool's laser eyes was a bit much. Call me crazy right?
The biggest problem I think i have with the film is that it had such promise to be amazing and stopped at just existing. It is a film i will own on DVD because I am a completionist, but i would not revisit it very often. I am of the opinion however that the hate being raked all over the film is mostly unwarranted. I've heard people call it the worst movie they've ever seen, the worst comic book movie they have ever seen. I counter that they have obviously not seen the 1989 iteration of "The Punisher" or that they simply have not seen many movies. It is far from the worst movie I've seen this year but i don't hold very much regard for it being one of the best. It simply is, which is the worst sin this film could have made.
I sincerely hope that Marvel can somehow get the rights to the characters back from Fox and make their own versions of their own characters instead of letting Fox keep treating them like red headed stepchildren with a lot of money. They only exist when they need cash. On top of this Fox's continued bungling of Fantastic Four, Daredevil, and Ghost Rider should be more than enough reason for any comic book film fan to be calling for the heads of the studio suits who treat us as though we're satisfied with the movies just existing, and not being as great as they could possibly be.
Bottom Line: If you're a hardcore X-men fan, wait on going to see it, if you're a fan of the movies expect less quality. If you want big dumb superhero action movie, by all means go see it in theaters.
Until next time guys.
I may be revisiting this review as I think about and talk about the film more.
So I'm probably going to catch a lot of crap for this review, but I don't care. From day one of hearing about trouble on the set and terrible script reviews, rewrites, and then the horrendous opinions based on the leaked work print and the trailers I'd seen, all i could say was that it looked like a train wreck. In the interest of full disclosure, I am not a complete X-men fan boy as far as the comics go, I usually defer to others when asked questions about the comics. I am however an unabashed fan of the first 2 films and a much lesser extent the rushed third film. So i know the movie stuff and am kinda not too up on the comic book continuity so I will not be addressing that in this review other than for things i know of.
I walked into the film with such low expectations that i was pleasantly surprised by the film. The review will kind of read like a shit sandwich, something good, something bad, something good. What I was looking forward to most in the film was Deadpool, I really like the character and was glad he was being included. Ryan Reynolds was perfect as Wade Wilson for the five minutes or so he was on screen. The casting was a stroke of genius that just did not pan out well for Deadpool fans, we wanted more! Cool thing number two, Gambit. I was most worried about Gambit thinking they were going to have him with some silly Cajun accent. However I was not disappointed with Gambit other than when he turned into Spider-Man for a brief moment. I don't know if other New Orleanians were worried about this but he actually sounded like he was from New Orleans. Props to Taylor Kitsch for pulling it off.
Sabretooth, Liev Shriber is an amazing actor and a comic book dork apparently so I had no concerns that he was not going to be awesome. Will.I.Am was a pleasant surprise as Wraith in the film and I would look forward to seeing him act again. Kevin Durand is a big sumbitch before putting the Blob makeup on and he was fairly funny in his small role. Hugh Jackman was once again great as Wolverine. Danny Huston as Stryker was really not to great for me. I know the man is a capable actor but i just don't think he was right here. It is hard to step into the shoes of Bryan Cox so I'll give him that.
The film itself however suffers from having all of these great characters, it stretched far to thin trying to give all of them screen time when in reality I would have been happier with a smaller Gambit cameo with perhaps a promise of a Gambit centered film at some point. This is where the film suffers, When the team is together at the beginning of the film its amazing. Once they separate and Wolvie turns into a sad lumberjack with his lady who is just far to understanding of him waking with nightmares of the civil war and sprouting his bone claws for Wolvie to not realize something isn't right with her. Once the action is off and running however there were no more boring moments. The script was just plain weak and there were things you could see were not really thought out before adding them in and they were are very simple fixes but came off as playing to a stupid audience. The adamantium bullets BS, being the only thing that can stop Wolverine? Where the hell did they come up with that retardery? The end of the film having "Deadpool" being the experimental mutant with all of the mutant powers was incredibly silly but i got past it. I can buy no physics exsisting in this dojo when Wolvie is slicing and dicing moving helicopters and humvees, but i cant help but think the deflection of fake ass Deadpool's laser eyes was a bit much. Call me crazy right?
The biggest problem I think i have with the film is that it had such promise to be amazing and stopped at just existing. It is a film i will own on DVD because I am a completionist, but i would not revisit it very often. I am of the opinion however that the hate being raked all over the film is mostly unwarranted. I've heard people call it the worst movie they've ever seen, the worst comic book movie they have ever seen. I counter that they have obviously not seen the 1989 iteration of "The Punisher" or that they simply have not seen many movies. It is far from the worst movie I've seen this year but i don't hold very much regard for it being one of the best. It simply is, which is the worst sin this film could have made.
I sincerely hope that Marvel can somehow get the rights to the characters back from Fox and make their own versions of their own characters instead of letting Fox keep treating them like red headed stepchildren with a lot of money. They only exist when they need cash. On top of this Fox's continued bungling of Fantastic Four, Daredevil, and Ghost Rider should be more than enough reason for any comic book film fan to be calling for the heads of the studio suits who treat us as though we're satisfied with the movies just existing, and not being as great as they could possibly be.
Bottom Line: If you're a hardcore X-men fan, wait on going to see it, if you're a fan of the movies expect less quality. If you want big dumb superhero action movie, by all means go see it in theaters.
Until next time guys.
I may be revisiting this review as I think about and talk about the film more.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Observe and Report - Review
Observe and Report will definitely divide audiences. I love the fact that the advertising makes it look like a zany comedy, but ultimately it may hurt the film because it sidesteps the audiences expectations. The film is pitch dark comedy more along the lines of Scorsese's King of Comedy than the previous mall security guard effort which i did not see. The film involves a very delusional and slightly psychotic man played by Seth Rogen, who has been allowed to somehow be in a position of minor power to surround himself with like-minded individuals.
The film kicks off with letting us know right away the "danger" of the flick, the flasher running around assaulting women in the parking lot. When the flasher encounters Brandi (Anna Faris) and scars her eyes with his junk, Ronnie Barnhardt, head of mall security and part time psycho, makes it his personal mission to catch the bastard. In the way is Ray Liotta's Detective Harrison who is actually trying to conduct a professional investigation. Barnhardt sees the way Brandi responds to Harrison and decides to become a cop. Well, hilarity ensues at this point, right. Yeah, if you are in the correct head space to watch the flick. This whole movie is funny like the scene in Pulp Fiction when Marvin gets shot in the face. That's the kind of funny they went for a succeeded very well in my opinion.
Rogen did quite well in the flick playing a variation on his every guy schlub character, however with an edge, a highly unstable edge. Anna Faris once again shows why she belongs in comedies due to her fearlessness and complete lack of vanity in the thankless role. Michael Pena was also a very important part to making this flick as funny as it is. Jody Hill's second feature after the offbeat and funny Foot Fist Way shows that he could have a long career in this kind of comedy. This is another flick I cant quite recommend to everyone but also think by now you will know whether or not you want to see it, so go ahead and do so.
The film kicks off with letting us know right away the "danger" of the flick, the flasher running around assaulting women in the parking lot. When the flasher encounters Brandi (Anna Faris) and scars her eyes with his junk, Ronnie Barnhardt, head of mall security and part time psycho, makes it his personal mission to catch the bastard. In the way is Ray Liotta's Detective Harrison who is actually trying to conduct a professional investigation. Barnhardt sees the way Brandi responds to Harrison and decides to become a cop. Well, hilarity ensues at this point, right. Yeah, if you are in the correct head space to watch the flick. This whole movie is funny like the scene in Pulp Fiction when Marvin gets shot in the face. That's the kind of funny they went for a succeeded very well in my opinion.
Rogen did quite well in the flick playing a variation on his every guy schlub character, however with an edge, a highly unstable edge. Anna Faris once again shows why she belongs in comedies due to her fearlessness and complete lack of vanity in the thankless role. Michael Pena was also a very important part to making this flick as funny as it is. Jody Hill's second feature after the offbeat and funny Foot Fist Way shows that he could have a long career in this kind of comedy. This is another flick I cant quite recommend to everyone but also think by now you will know whether or not you want to see it, so go ahead and do so.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Knowing - Personal Addendum
So as you've hopefully read i went to see Knowing Friday night. I'll have to watch the film again due to the seething rage that coursed through me for about half the film due to some jackasses sitting behind me in the theater. This was apparently social time and not shut the fuck up and pay attention to the 20 yard screen in the front of the auditorium time for them. As if it weren't bad enough that the verbal mating ritual were occurring 4 feet to my right throughout the film, at one point when the female half went to the bathroom and cool guy got up and walked to the front of the theater to talk to another friend in the audience.
On top of this there was older movie lady who sucked all her soda out of her cup and thought that by constantly shaking the cup more liquid would appear. Every five minutes or so*ka-chunk ka-chunk* of her giving the cup a vigorous shake and then sucking on the straw. Now i was in Picayune, MS at the cheapest theatre I've found in years so all of this should have been no surprise to me. I had a vision at one point of throwing my full twenty ounce bottle of Coke at the folks on the left and then taking ice lady's cup and throwing it in the trash (she was older so physical violence toward her would have made me feel terrible).
The sad thing is, it has now become an expected occurrence at the theater for me. Unless it's a Friday night at the Slidell Grand movie theater where they have their watchdog Woodruff. I'll take this time to shout out to Woodruff because he has made my movie going experiences more pleasant. His no-nonsense and honest approach in telling people to shut the hell up and don't text during the movie is refreshing, and the fact that he enforces it is doubly so. He does it with a style and honesty that is also light, giving us his honest opinions on the new films we are all going to see. So awesome job Woodruff and Slidell Grand theatre, I wish more theaters would take your approach to ensuring that i didn't just spend 10 bucks on a movie to learn all the latest high school gossip.
On top of this there was older movie lady who sucked all her soda out of her cup and thought that by constantly shaking the cup more liquid would appear. Every five minutes or so*ka-chunk ka-chunk* of her giving the cup a vigorous shake and then sucking on the straw. Now i was in Picayune, MS at the cheapest theatre I've found in years so all of this should have been no surprise to me. I had a vision at one point of throwing my full twenty ounce bottle of Coke at the folks on the left and then taking ice lady's cup and throwing it in the trash (she was older so physical violence toward her would have made me feel terrible).
The sad thing is, it has now become an expected occurrence at the theater for me. Unless it's a Friday night at the Slidell Grand movie theater where they have their watchdog Woodruff. I'll take this time to shout out to Woodruff because he has made my movie going experiences more pleasant. His no-nonsense and honest approach in telling people to shut the hell up and don't text during the movie is refreshing, and the fact that he enforces it is doubly so. He does it with a style and honesty that is also light, giving us his honest opinions on the new films we are all going to see. So awesome job Woodruff and Slidell Grand theatre, I wish more theaters would take your approach to ensuring that i didn't just spend 10 bucks on a movie to learn all the latest high school gossip.
Knowing - Review
Saw KNOWING tonight, I know its been out a few weeks but with my asinine position right now I get to see maybe one movie every two weeks compared to the 2 a week when my situation improves. So I consider this a lucky week, 12 Rounds last week and another this week! I’m moving up in the world! Observe and Report is next week and plans are in motion for that to be the next on the theater list. OK, KNOWING, short version, worth seeing particularly if you are a fan of Alex Proyas, the director. This movie is not on the intellectual level with say, Dark City, but is most certainly not the thing Fox turned I, Robot into. But regardless worth seeing.
KNOWING revolves around Caleb and John Koestler, 50 years ago the students of Caleb’s school buried a time capsule and they are about to rip it up out of the ground. Caleb receives one of the envelopes from within the capsule to open and it is a page of numbers. Caleb takes it home with him where his father John finds it and out of curiosity starts “decoding” the numbers. Turn out the numbers reflect a date and number of people dead. After matching all but the last 3 sets off numbers John tries to convince others of what the paper could be. After another of the predictions come true John is determined to save as many lives as he can. All the while mysterious strangers are seemingly stalking Caleb and Abby, the grand-daughter of the little girl who wrote the numbers originally. The question is can John stop the “end of the world” as the numbers suggest or will he be able to keep him self and his family safe?
Well what I got from this film it a bit of a heavy handed sci-fi take on The Rapture described in the bible. That’s one thing I kind of enjoyed is the questions raised about determinism versus free will. Is it fate that all the stars are aligning and this MIT professor with hardcore religious issues due to the death of his wife or a coincidence? I say the film is heavy handed because rather than giving us those issues to continue pondering after we walk out of the theater, we are given the writers idea of the answer. This is also fine because other wise the film would have not had an ending for majority of theater goers to latch onto.
This isn’t really an action film per-se but there are action scenes. These portions of the film work amazingly well despite a very few minor wonky effects shots. The acting is about on par for the film save for a few overacted moments in it. I’d like to point out the kids in particular because so many times I’ve found kids in movies like this really annoying. These kids didn’t get into the annoying range save for a few scenes in the beginning trying to make them out to be precocious, because apparently no movie with kids in it since Dakota Fanning came on the scene, can not be precocious. There are no Jake Lloyd in Phantom Menace bad moments I can assure you however.
So yeah, the bottom line is this is an above average sci-fi flick that takes a little bit of open-mindedness to enjoy. Go see it if it sounds interesting to you but I most certainly cant recommend it to everyone.
Till next time guys.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
How To Lose Friends and Alienate People - on DVD
OK this is one I missed in theatres and was really looking forward to Simon Pegg having a bigger movie where he’s the lead role than the DTV stuff and minor roles he’s gotten since the success of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. The previews made it look like The Devil Wears Prada for guys, which it essentially was. The short version, see it if you’re a fan of someone in it, if not you aren’t missing much. Story goes an idealistic young independent newspaper editor is called out of the blue by the editor in chief of a large New York magazine and offered a job. He accepts immediately and goes to New York with visions of fame and starlets in his head. Of course if everything worked out properly there wouldn’t be a movie, right? So lets just all assume that we all figure hilarity ensues, capiche?
So the flick would probably have been dead in the water save for the cast. Simon Pegg gets by with pure charisma and Megan Fox get by on pure hotness, although she isn’t given much to do in the film. Jeff Bridges also works out well as the formerly idealistic editor who has made it to the top. He explains at one point that he used to be like Pegg’s Sidney Young, idealistic and raging against the machine because he wasn’t “invited to the party”. Now that he was at the party he needs to chill out with the idealism and attacking the egotistical celebrities and play along. So there was good message in the flick at some point but it was apparently lost in the translation or rewrites or whatever happened to turn this from something that someone thought enough of to throw a bunch of money at it to put it in theatres to be seen by millions… and it wasn’t because it was a mix of slapstick, smart humor, and romcom, it kinda didn’t know what it wanted to be or where it wanted to go. So a tacked on Hollywood-ed ending later this is the version we got in theatres and again its an “eh“ type of film. Oh yeah Kirsten Dunst was in it, as the secondary, first love interest. She was adequate as well. So yeah I guess that’s the best thing I can say it was a movie, entertaining at times, existing at others.
Till next time guys.
So the flick would probably have been dead in the water save for the cast. Simon Pegg gets by with pure charisma and Megan Fox get by on pure hotness, although she isn’t given much to do in the film. Jeff Bridges also works out well as the formerly idealistic editor who has made it to the top. He explains at one point that he used to be like Pegg’s Sidney Young, idealistic and raging against the machine because he wasn’t “invited to the party”. Now that he was at the party he needs to chill out with the idealism and attacking the egotistical celebrities and play along. So there was good message in the flick at some point but it was apparently lost in the translation or rewrites or whatever happened to turn this from something that someone thought enough of to throw a bunch of money at it to put it in theatres to be seen by millions… and it wasn’t because it was a mix of slapstick, smart humor, and romcom, it kinda didn’t know what it wanted to be or where it wanted to go. So a tacked on Hollywood-ed ending later this is the version we got in theatres and again its an “eh“ type of film. Oh yeah Kirsten Dunst was in it, as the secondary, first love interest. She was adequate as well. So yeah I guess that’s the best thing I can say it was a movie, entertaining at times, existing at others.
Till next time guys.
Monday, March 30, 2009
12 Rounds - Review
So, went and saw 12 Rounds opening night. Short version, worth seeing. I am a fan of Renny Harlin and not a fan of John Cena. Quite honestly I would have waited for it to come on television after the mistake of being drunk and wanting to watch a big dumb action movie and blind buying The Marine. I was sobered by its insane stupidity, the only thing to almost save that flick was Robert Patrick's "I could give a fuck less" performance. So yeah back to 12 Rounds, Cena apparently did some work since the last flick and has learned how to have a personality on screen and to speak dialogue rather than recite it. Renny did his job and made it fast paced with some really good action set pieces involving the New Orleans setting. On a side note i was supposed to be an extra in the movie but my scene was cut out of it, so damn you Renny Harlin's editor!
The supporting cast did well for the movie they were in if that makes sense to you. Ashley Scott was gorgeous as usual representing Metairie girls well. Her acting as the plot device... I mean Cena's girlfriend whom gets kidnapped by the villain. Aiden Gillen did well in my eyes although I've seen him described as annoying. Well he was because of his arrogance so i guess that was part of the performance and save for his barely there Irish accent he played the role well as the psychotic Ed Norton look alike. Brian White did well as Cena's partner, and i don't know the rest of the cast members names much less their character names because, well come on were here to see big stupid action, right. No one stood out as bad but no one stood out as exceptional i suppose is the best way to put it.
The biggest issue to take me out of the fast paced action was the point in the films climax when Cena's girlfriend jumped in the pilot's seat of a helicopter. Whaaa? This leap, as i do not recall them ever mentioning her being a helicopter pilot, took me out of the movie long enough to have to construct the back story in my head. Same scene in the "showdown" the editing could have been a bit better, although i will say it seemed as though they had to take some things out to maintain the PG-13 rating.
In conclusion it was a fun diversion that was worth a Friday night with friends and drinks afterwards, it was good to see a Renny Harlin action flick on the big screen again, just don't expect to have your mind blown.
I'm going to try to come up with sort of quick rating system like the thumbs up or stars or something. I'm open for suggestion if you want to throw 'em at me!
The supporting cast did well for the movie they were in if that makes sense to you. Ashley Scott was gorgeous as usual representing Metairie girls well. Her acting as the plot device... I mean Cena's girlfriend whom gets kidnapped by the villain. Aiden Gillen did well in my eyes although I've seen him described as annoying. Well he was because of his arrogance so i guess that was part of the performance and save for his barely there Irish accent he played the role well as the psychotic Ed Norton look alike. Brian White did well as Cena's partner, and i don't know the rest of the cast members names much less their character names because, well come on were here to see big stupid action, right. No one stood out as bad but no one stood out as exceptional i suppose is the best way to put it.
The biggest issue to take me out of the fast paced action was the point in the films climax when Cena's girlfriend jumped in the pilot's seat of a helicopter. Whaaa? This leap, as i do not recall them ever mentioning her being a helicopter pilot, took me out of the movie long enough to have to construct the back story in my head. Same scene in the "showdown" the editing could have been a bit better, although i will say it seemed as though they had to take some things out to maintain the PG-13 rating.
In conclusion it was a fun diversion that was worth a Friday night with friends and drinks afterwards, it was good to see a Renny Harlin action flick on the big screen again, just don't expect to have your mind blown.
I'm going to try to come up with sort of quick rating system like the thumbs up or stars or something. I'm open for suggestion if you want to throw 'em at me!
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