Well despite being out of cinema viewing range for the first 15 days of June, I managed to scrap just enough movies to not damage my chances of completing the 100 movie plan. Summer was in full swing and despite playing a little blockbuster catch up I still just barely eked out 8 films. The saddest thing about the movie year so far is that I thought about doing a best so far post and realized everything I've enjoyed so far this year is technically a 2007 release.
Incredible Hulk - less heady than Ang Lee's version but ultimately more mediocre as well despite all the fan boy moments you could ever ask for.
The Happening - It would be hard to make a film worse than "Lady in the Water" but I think he was trying. Thankfully it doesn't get that bad just your general run of the mill bad.
The Duchess of Langeais - to quote Jay Sherman "I like French films, pretensious foreign french films" oh wait, no, I don't. Agonizingly pretentious.
Get Smart - Had its moments, nothing really ha ha funny. Not as bad as it could have been.
Sex and the City - Exactly as bad as it could have been.
Wanted - More coherent than Night Watch but to Night Watch's credit, it was in Russian.
Mongol - Enjoyable and decently done historical epic of Genghis Khan, had its problems but nothing that took away from it being enjoyable. (Full review forthcoming)
Wall-E - Charming tale (I personally didn't find it all that funny) but pleasant viewing (Full review forthcoming)
And what you are all really waiting for, meaningless statistics.
Films remaining: 50
Days Remaining (as of July 1): 184
Average Number of Films per Day to achieve goal:0.27
Average Number of Films per Week to Achieve Goal: 1.85
We went seeking greatness in movies, and were most often disappointed. We waited for a movie like the one we wanted to make, and secretly wanted to live. -Roger Ebert paraphrasing a quote from Masculin Feminin
Monday, June 30, 2008
Wanted
Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) is a sniveling coward of an office worker, who shares his thoughts with us the viewer about how much he hates his office job but then cowers and does what he is told by the vile boss when push comes to shove. His home life is little better with his girlfriend cheating with his best friend. He suffers from panic attacks and generally hates his miserable life. So true to classic male fantasy form he meets the beautifully sexy and dangerous Fox (Angelina Jolie) who informs him he has the makings of an assassin. At first he balks at such but then finding new found courage in this he breaks free from his wretched life.
After a mind-numbing training montage, sniveling coward Wesley transforms into badass...well not really but certainly less sniveling...assassin Wesley. He teams up on occasion with Fox and takes orders from stately and sage (Morgan Freeman) who literally gets orders by reading binary code from a loom of fates (no, seriously). Wesley is needed because he is the only one who can face a rogue agent who is killing the league of assassins one by one. I found the plot so bizarre and confusing that I went and did a little research on the source material.
Based on a graphic novel by Mark Millar and JG Jones , Wanted was about a world in which all the super villains teamed together and through a secret cabal run the world and all the heroes now think they are everyday nobodies. In this story Wesley discovers he is the son of one of these villains and has powers. And you know what by comparison that makes a lot more sense than this movie. It explains why he could do the things he does such as leap long distances and recover from wounds faster. Its actually coherent enough that I can't figure out why they went for the thousand year old secret society of weaver assassins who get orders from a magical loom that understood binary a millennium before it came into use.
Having seen Bekmambetov's earlier Russian films Night Watch and Day Watch I knew he had a masterful talent for lots of cool looking stuff that made almost no coherent sense. Actually I think he is getting crazier with each film. This one is loaded with over-stylized action sequences with bullet time and absurd ideas like curving bullets (more believable if he was a super villain, sadly in this version he is not). But perhaps the film is saved from abysmal oblivion by its acting? Not really.
Sure Freeman and Jolie play there characters to the extreme of their crudely sketched limits but who cares. I've seen these characters a thousand times by now. Jolie is little more than the role she has played in Mr. and Mrs. Smith or the Tomb Raider franchise. Freeman plays that same sage-like character he always plays no different than any other time he has played a villain. And frankly both bored me endlessly. McAvoy does reasonably well with his part as the wimpy Wesley but has a far harder time convincing me he is an action hero bad ass.
Actually watching this film made me think back to last year's disaster of an action film Shoot 'Em Up and had me thinking that maybe that was actually more clever than I gave it credit for. In my memory it almost seems like it was mocking directly the direction that action films have gone today. Bekmambetov seems to think the flashier the sequences and the faster he moves the camera, the better the movie will be. This is not the case.
After a mind-numbing training montage, sniveling coward Wesley transforms into badass...well not really but certainly less sniveling...assassin Wesley. He teams up on occasion with Fox and takes orders from stately and sage (Morgan Freeman) who literally gets orders by reading binary code from a loom of fates (no, seriously). Wesley is needed because he is the only one who can face a rogue agent who is killing the league of assassins one by one. I found the plot so bizarre and confusing that I went and did a little research on the source material.
Based on a graphic novel by Mark Millar and JG Jones , Wanted was about a world in which all the super villains teamed together and through a secret cabal run the world and all the heroes now think they are everyday nobodies. In this story Wesley discovers he is the son of one of these villains and has powers. And you know what by comparison that makes a lot more sense than this movie. It explains why he could do the things he does such as leap long distances and recover from wounds faster. Its actually coherent enough that I can't figure out why they went for the thousand year old secret society of weaver assassins who get orders from a magical loom that understood binary a millennium before it came into use.
Having seen Bekmambetov's earlier Russian films Night Watch and Day Watch I knew he had a masterful talent for lots of cool looking stuff that made almost no coherent sense. Actually I think he is getting crazier with each film. This one is loaded with over-stylized action sequences with bullet time and absurd ideas like curving bullets (more believable if he was a super villain, sadly in this version he is not). But perhaps the film is saved from abysmal oblivion by its acting? Not really.
Sure Freeman and Jolie play there characters to the extreme of their crudely sketched limits but who cares. I've seen these characters a thousand times by now. Jolie is little more than the role she has played in Mr. and Mrs. Smith or the Tomb Raider franchise. Freeman plays that same sage-like character he always plays no different than any other time he has played a villain. And frankly both bored me endlessly. McAvoy does reasonably well with his part as the wimpy Wesley but has a far harder time convincing me he is an action hero bad ass.
Actually watching this film made me think back to last year's disaster of an action film Shoot 'Em Up and had me thinking that maybe that was actually more clever than I gave it credit for. In my memory it almost seems like it was mocking directly the direction that action films have gone today. Bekmambetov seems to think the flashier the sequences and the faster he moves the camera, the better the movie will be. This is not the case.
Sex and the City
For what it is worth the HBO comedy Sex and the City was a decent show. It was a clever twist on chick flick type subject matter. It was equal parts fashion, sex and wit. Not that I understood a single moment of the fashion part. It created a nice world of four unique friends with distinct character traits. It can inspire viewers and fans to associate themselves with the character who most resembles them in everyday life. As fellow blogger Nick, Cinema Romantico recently posted (Sex and the City). I came to viewings of the show late as in syndicated on cable late. So it was pretty remarkably tamed (not much swearing, no nudity). Yet it still held a surprising amount of charm.
And while the series finale was a bit on the weak side of narrative effort, it still had a certain amount of charm to it. It was also relatively satisfying. So truth be told what possibly could a feature length movie do but ruin said ending? Still Hollywood works on profit motivation not artistic sentiments and no one was going to pass on a movie with a guaranteed fan base. But in my opinion the choices made for this movie betray most of the things that made the show interesting. The film rejoins the four women friends three (or four, I can't quite remember) years after the series ended.
Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) is still happily dating Mr. Big (Chris Noth), Charlotte (Kristen Davis) is still happily married and has a beautiful adopted daughter, Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) is still married to Steve and Samantha (Kim Cattral) is still with Smith. But since the show was more about the women than anything else we really need an arbitrary plot device to get them away from their men and into a more nostalgic environment. Wedding day jitters for Mr. Big (who is now John by the way and don't worry if you forgot because they will utter, show or in some other way slam his name in your face at least 75 times in the next two hours). It really feels as if they are trying to make up for the fact that the show went for so many years without ever revealing his name.
Truth be told the movie suffers from the first fatal flaw of any show that gets brought back via movie of recent. The incessant need to cram as many vestigial characters into the movie as possible so as not to upset any fan who never could get enough of extra number 2. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that early versions of the script had an Aidan cameo. Once we get the women away from the men in a fantastic "all men are clearly assholes" motif, we can get back to the core of what made the show entertaining. Alcoholism, mindless banter and scatological humor. Oh yeah that's right nothing more classy than a "don't drink the water down Mexico way lest you soil yourself joke".
Which was basically the moment I checked out of the movie that was already doing its best to try my patience with contrived plot points and over extended fashion sequences that I can't describe in any other way than fashion porn (much like gun porn in most action films). And as I sat thinking to myself well they went for a crap joke how much lower could it possible go? Oh dear reader, how terribly wrong could I have been.
You see for a show that was ostensibly about liberating of women who don't take the crap that men subject them to there is a whole lot of whining about the perfect man and their inability to find them. And even a fair amount of "well yeah he was a complete scumbag but come on take him back" mentality. But one could forgive all that for the fairy tale if one so chose. I'm not entirely sure I can forgive the use of the "Magical Negro". Yes this is a real term used by the likes of Spike Lee and appears in plenty of films even contemporary ones (Magical Negro). Take a look at the representative list and you can see I'm not the only one who thinks a certain character in Sex in the City is in fact said stereotype.
Its pretty crappy to see and speaks to quite a bit of the racism that still exists in society today and so I honestly didn't think I'd see such a character in a film based on series that was so modern. At first I wasn't noticing it that much when Louise (Jennifer Hudson) makes her appearance but as the plot continued the filled with knowledge beyond her years and with a keen understanding of love Louise helps the broken-hearted Carrie rediscover herself and love, I was suddenly hit with extreme uncomfortableness.
Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, the grimmer reality is probably that in the desperate hopes of remaining relevant they inserted a black character to stay relevant. But I can't help but see the Louise character as exactly that. I can't remember a single important black character from the tv show (but I haven't seen every episode) nor can I remember much hip hop on the soundtrack and yet suddenly almost every song in the movie seems to be such. Truth be told the movie could have benefited from a well rounded strong black female character sadly I don't think this was it.
And in the end since the plot went full circle and put every character virtually right back where they were in scene one, I wondered why I had just wasted two hours of my life just so they could go back to the status quo.
And while the series finale was a bit on the weak side of narrative effort, it still had a certain amount of charm to it. It was also relatively satisfying. So truth be told what possibly could a feature length movie do but ruin said ending? Still Hollywood works on profit motivation not artistic sentiments and no one was going to pass on a movie with a guaranteed fan base. But in my opinion the choices made for this movie betray most of the things that made the show interesting. The film rejoins the four women friends three (or four, I can't quite remember) years after the series ended.
Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) is still happily dating Mr. Big (Chris Noth), Charlotte (Kristen Davis) is still happily married and has a beautiful adopted daughter, Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) is still married to Steve and Samantha (Kim Cattral) is still with Smith. But since the show was more about the women than anything else we really need an arbitrary plot device to get them away from their men and into a more nostalgic environment. Wedding day jitters for Mr. Big (who is now John by the way and don't worry if you forgot because they will utter, show or in some other way slam his name in your face at least 75 times in the next two hours). It really feels as if they are trying to make up for the fact that the show went for so many years without ever revealing his name.
Truth be told the movie suffers from the first fatal flaw of any show that gets brought back via movie of recent. The incessant need to cram as many vestigial characters into the movie as possible so as not to upset any fan who never could get enough of extra number 2. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that early versions of the script had an Aidan cameo. Once we get the women away from the men in a fantastic "all men are clearly assholes" motif, we can get back to the core of what made the show entertaining. Alcoholism, mindless banter and scatological humor. Oh yeah that's right nothing more classy than a "don't drink the water down Mexico way lest you soil yourself joke".
Which was basically the moment I checked out of the movie that was already doing its best to try my patience with contrived plot points and over extended fashion sequences that I can't describe in any other way than fashion porn (much like gun porn in most action films). And as I sat thinking to myself well they went for a crap joke how much lower could it possible go? Oh dear reader, how terribly wrong could I have been.
You see for a show that was ostensibly about liberating of women who don't take the crap that men subject them to there is a whole lot of whining about the perfect man and their inability to find them. And even a fair amount of "well yeah he was a complete scumbag but come on take him back" mentality. But one could forgive all that for the fairy tale if one so chose. I'm not entirely sure I can forgive the use of the "Magical Negro". Yes this is a real term used by the likes of Spike Lee and appears in plenty of films even contemporary ones (Magical Negro). Take a look at the representative list and you can see I'm not the only one who thinks a certain character in Sex in the City is in fact said stereotype.
Its pretty crappy to see and speaks to quite a bit of the racism that still exists in society today and so I honestly didn't think I'd see such a character in a film based on series that was so modern. At first I wasn't noticing it that much when Louise (Jennifer Hudson) makes her appearance but as the plot continued the filled with knowledge beyond her years and with a keen understanding of love Louise helps the broken-hearted Carrie rediscover herself and love, I was suddenly hit with extreme uncomfortableness.
Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, the grimmer reality is probably that in the desperate hopes of remaining relevant they inserted a black character to stay relevant. But I can't help but see the Louise character as exactly that. I can't remember a single important black character from the tv show (but I haven't seen every episode) nor can I remember much hip hop on the soundtrack and yet suddenly almost every song in the movie seems to be such. Truth be told the movie could have benefited from a well rounded strong black female character sadly I don't think this was it.
And in the end since the plot went full circle and put every character virtually right back where they were in scene one, I wondered why I had just wasted two hours of my life just so they could go back to the status quo.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Return to Me
There are few movies in my collection that I can watch at almost any moment and be in the mood for it. I have a decent amount of classic films that at a given moment I might deem "too heavy" for my mood or other such dismissals. Of course there are those movies that were bought on promise of quality or on ill remembered quality of the cinema. And of course there is the disturbingly growing collection of "gag" movie that my friends have given me and since they are gifts I can't in good conscience throw away (you win this round Omega Code. Still one film that I can watch pretty regularly is Return to Me.
Directed by Bonnie Hunt, the story involved Bob Rueland (David Duchovny) as the owner of a construction business who is married to Elisabeth (Joely Richardson). A tragedy leaves Bob a widower, who lives to fulfill his wife's last wish while wallowing in his own pity. Until a night when he goes out with a friend and meets lively young waitress Grace (Minnie Driver) and again starts to fall in love. The catch being that Grace is now alive because she has Elisabeth's donated heart.
Now you can be of two basic opinions on that final fact. You might think its a dopey plot device that permits the classic third act split only to see our happy couple reunited in the final frames. To this I would say that's what happens in Romantic Comedies and at least this plot device is better than most. You might think its a nice hopelessly romantic notion of the nature of love and it being eternal. And regardless you either enjoy the well done Romantic Comedy or you don't.
And as one who enjoys said genre, this is one of my favorites. It not only establishes a really good relationship between Richardson and Duchovny in the first 20 minutes but then tears your heart right out after that. That it can establish a charming new relationship without tainting the old I find to be a great achievement. Throw in a cast of lovable supporting actors played by the likes of Robert Loggia and the late great Carrol O'Conner and you have a very fun, romantic at times tragic film.
Directed by Bonnie Hunt, the story involved Bob Rueland (David Duchovny) as the owner of a construction business who is married to Elisabeth (Joely Richardson). A tragedy leaves Bob a widower, who lives to fulfill his wife's last wish while wallowing in his own pity. Until a night when he goes out with a friend and meets lively young waitress Grace (Minnie Driver) and again starts to fall in love. The catch being that Grace is now alive because she has Elisabeth's donated heart.
Now you can be of two basic opinions on that final fact. You might think its a dopey plot device that permits the classic third act split only to see our happy couple reunited in the final frames. To this I would say that's what happens in Romantic Comedies and at least this plot device is better than most. You might think its a nice hopelessly romantic notion of the nature of love and it being eternal. And regardless you either enjoy the well done Romantic Comedy or you don't.
And as one who enjoys said genre, this is one of my favorites. It not only establishes a really good relationship between Richardson and Duchovny in the first 20 minutes but then tears your heart right out after that. That it can establish a charming new relationship without tainting the old I find to be a great achievement. Throw in a cast of lovable supporting actors played by the likes of Robert Loggia and the late great Carrol O'Conner and you have a very fun, romantic at times tragic film.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The 400 Blows
Francois Truffaut's The 400 Blows is the kind of film I wish I could have seen when it first came out. It has all those elements that I crave in a film today. It had a compelling story and protagonist (played by the excellent Jean-Pierre Leaud), it has amazing shots and narrative technique. I have gone to over 80 movies a year hoping to find films of this quality and more often I find them on my dvd player than in the cinema. Which makes me long for classics of today and to have a venue where I can see the classics of the past on the big screen. Sadly with rare exception my local indie theater prefers 70s and 80s cult classics to the critical classics of the 30s, 40s and 50s.
Antoine Doinell is a school boy in early adolescence who lives with his mother and step-father. They live in a small apartment and seem to be barely scraping by. Antoine is one of those kids who school ultimately is not for (but in modern times would be doped up with drugs and called an ADD child most likely). Branded a perpetual trouble maker by his parents and teachers, he falls comfortably into that role finding it easier to live up to the preconceived notion than to fight it.
The film follows Antoine as he skips school or occasionally commits petty crimes and deals with his difficult family life at home. As a result we get to see a fascinatingly shot world with scenes that are at times tragic and at other comedic and a largely flawless transition between the two. And although it moves forward with character progression and the tale becomes increasingly sad for in truth Antoine isn't really a bad kid, I was still delighted by everything.
And bravo to Truffaut for his final scene which ends on such a note of ambiguity that one craves to follow Antoine's story into a sequel rather than is usually forced on you by obvious set ups as in many an action movie over the past few years. But at the same time one can also satisfactorily never hear of Antoine again and that would have its own quiet grace to it as well.
It is definitely a film worth seeing. Beyond its occasionally groundbreaking cinematic additions or its well shot scenes, it is a genuinely entertaining story carried by some great performances.
Antoine Doinell is a school boy in early adolescence who lives with his mother and step-father. They live in a small apartment and seem to be barely scraping by. Antoine is one of those kids who school ultimately is not for (but in modern times would be doped up with drugs and called an ADD child most likely). Branded a perpetual trouble maker by his parents and teachers, he falls comfortably into that role finding it easier to live up to the preconceived notion than to fight it.
The film follows Antoine as he skips school or occasionally commits petty crimes and deals with his difficult family life at home. As a result we get to see a fascinatingly shot world with scenes that are at times tragic and at other comedic and a largely flawless transition between the two. And although it moves forward with character progression and the tale becomes increasingly sad for in truth Antoine isn't really a bad kid, I was still delighted by everything.
And bravo to Truffaut for his final scene which ends on such a note of ambiguity that one craves to follow Antoine's story into a sequel rather than is usually forced on you by obvious set ups as in many an action movie over the past few years. But at the same time one can also satisfactorily never hear of Antoine again and that would have its own quiet grace to it as well.
It is definitely a film worth seeing. Beyond its occasionally groundbreaking cinematic additions or its well shot scenes, it is a genuinely entertaining story carried by some great performances.
Get Smart
Get Smart benefits greatly from the fact that most of the audience watching it will at best only have a passing recollection of the tv show and that from Nick at Nite reruns. I myself can only remember a handful of details about the television show from the 60s. Still the goal was clearly not to do a spy spoof but rather an action film with jokes. The spy spoof in our day has already gotten a surprisingly good send up from Mike Meyers and his Austin Powers character.
The film introduces us to Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) who is goofy and awkward but surprisingly intelligent and despite gaffs also surprisingly adept at fighting and espionage. When US intelligence operation Control is infiltrated and many of its agents are wiped out, Max is promoted and teamed up with the beautiful Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway). The film trods on through its plot as the two discover and attempt to foil the convoluted plans of KAOS, the enemy counterpart to Control.
The film is largely carried by Carell's general likability. Alan Arkin and Dwayne Johnson have decent turns as supporting roles. Sadly the abilities of Terrence Stamp are woefully underused. The film isn't terribly but at the same time isn't funny either. There were mostly a few smiles from me and once or twice a burst of laughter. But for the most part I was just kind of thinking it could have been better.
The only genuinely funny moment for me was one near the end of the movie with a cameo by Patrick Warburton and really he was just playing a role he's done a thousand times before. In the end it just wasn't cutting enough in its spoofing which is what the original material was about and although you get a dependable performance from Carell, I wish everyone else was trying just a bit harder.
The film introduces us to Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) who is goofy and awkward but surprisingly intelligent and despite gaffs also surprisingly adept at fighting and espionage. When US intelligence operation Control is infiltrated and many of its agents are wiped out, Max is promoted and teamed up with the beautiful Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway). The film trods on through its plot as the two discover and attempt to foil the convoluted plans of KAOS, the enemy counterpart to Control.
The film is largely carried by Carell's general likability. Alan Arkin and Dwayne Johnson have decent turns as supporting roles. Sadly the abilities of Terrence Stamp are woefully underused. The film isn't terribly but at the same time isn't funny either. There were mostly a few smiles from me and once or twice a burst of laughter. But for the most part I was just kind of thinking it could have been better.
The only genuinely funny moment for me was one near the end of the movie with a cameo by Patrick Warburton and really he was just playing a role he's done a thousand times before. In the end it just wasn't cutting enough in its spoofing which is what the original material was about and although you get a dependable performance from Carell, I wish everyone else was trying just a bit harder.
The Happening
Behold the chilling and terrifying...wind? This was the moment and you know which one if you saw the movie where my mind finally just checked out of this boring movie. It doesn't matter how much blood letting you have done up to this point or how many times you have beaten your audience over the head with the unpredictable nature of...nature nor how much intentionally anxiety inducing music notes or how much you focus the camera on blowing blades of grass there is no terror in everyday wind. The Day After Tomorrow was a more scary eco-thriller than this (note to reader: said film was not scary, save that I actually paid to see it).
Our incredibly inane film begins in New York where some strange event induces often bloody suicides. These are more effective as shock factors than an real thrill or scare. Enter lowly high school science teacher Mark Wahlberg giving us all the exposition we need and with the ominous Einstein quote about bees and the survival of the human race. A quote which cannot actually be attributed to Einstein but none the less looks really neat as an innocuous background element. Wahlberg plays Elliot who when he learns of the event decides to join his friend in a trip to the country away from the cities where the "Happening" is seemingly taking place.
He is joined in this with a cast that is usually fairly solid (Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo) but uttering the dialogue they are given come off as flat one dimensional bores. The film veers away from any traditional notion of how people would react to unexplainable events for a more rational discourse which is about as exciting as it sounds. At key points we are informed in not very interesting exposition what is probably going on and yet at no point in this relatively short movie does it ever feel like I hadn't been in the theater for hours.
Beyond the abundance of wooden line readings there was an incessant repetition of the word "happening", driving me near mad with its recurrence. In the final act when the irrational humans show up its too little, too late. And in any event only seem to have been added because the director thought the whole the wind is scary motif might not be as effective as once thought. So rather than getting in satisfactory story we just get a few more punctuated unnecessary deaths.
To the film's credit, it was a thousand times less pretentious than Lady in the Water though still filled with enough to make you nauseous. The film also benefits from a complete lack of cameo of Mr. Shyamalan. Still those graces are hardly enough to counter the fact that Shyamalan is showing himself to be a mediocre film maker who got lucky a few times.
Our incredibly inane film begins in New York where some strange event induces often bloody suicides. These are more effective as shock factors than an real thrill or scare. Enter lowly high school science teacher Mark Wahlberg giving us all the exposition we need and with the ominous Einstein quote about bees and the survival of the human race. A quote which cannot actually be attributed to Einstein but none the less looks really neat as an innocuous background element. Wahlberg plays Elliot who when he learns of the event decides to join his friend in a trip to the country away from the cities where the "Happening" is seemingly taking place.
He is joined in this with a cast that is usually fairly solid (Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo) but uttering the dialogue they are given come off as flat one dimensional bores. The film veers away from any traditional notion of how people would react to unexplainable events for a more rational discourse which is about as exciting as it sounds. At key points we are informed in not very interesting exposition what is probably going on and yet at no point in this relatively short movie does it ever feel like I hadn't been in the theater for hours.
Beyond the abundance of wooden line readings there was an incessant repetition of the word "happening", driving me near mad with its recurrence. In the final act when the irrational humans show up its too little, too late. And in any event only seem to have been added because the director thought the whole the wind is scary motif might not be as effective as once thought. So rather than getting in satisfactory story we just get a few more punctuated unnecessary deaths.
To the film's credit, it was a thousand times less pretentious than Lady in the Water though still filled with enough to make you nauseous. The film also benefits from a complete lack of cameo of Mr. Shyamalan. Still those graces are hardly enough to counter the fact that Shyamalan is showing himself to be a mediocre film maker who got lucky a few times.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Incredible Hulk
I confess I'm one of a minority that actually liked Ang Lee's Hulk. At first I was disappointed by the lack of the words "Hulk Smash" and other key elements of the Hulk mythos. But on a reviewing I found myself quite engrossed in the film. Bana played the emotionally stunted Banner so well and Sam Eliot was born to be General Ross. Gravelly voiced and gruff it was just so much fun. So I was not that happy to hear about a reboot of the franchise with all new actors and director. Ed Norton may be as talented as Eric Bana, but Liv Tyler doesn't hold a candle to Jennifer Connolly.
Alas and with no surprise money interested Marvel more than my objections and now we have the latest from director Louis Letterier. He directed the amusing Transporter and the mind numbing disaster Transporter 2. Norton is now Bruce Banner hiding in Brazil. A short sequence has established a new origin for Hulk but the film has jumped right into the story. General Ross (William Hurt) is still trying to find Banner and he is employing a soldier named Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) to help him do it.
Appealing to some of the themes of the tv show, the plot follows Banner on the run occasionally being caught up and transforming into the Hulk. And certainly here the fan boys will squeal with joy at seeing Hulk do what they have always wanted him to do. We are subjected to purple pants, Hulk phrases and signature moves. We even get a Captain America of sorts. It was all pretty agonizing in my opinion. The film abandons all the interesting things that Lee was trying to do with his film for more action and a big bad rogue villain in the Abomination.
Lee's film was trying to do something and maybe it failed but this new film doesn't seem to be trying to do anything at all. Its just kind of ho hums its way through until a big action sequence. Not to mention I have serious problems believing the young looking Tyler as a molecular biologist. The mediocrity of the film is made the worse by unfortunate giving in to fan expectations. And I hate anything that sets up a sequel and you can see the sequel to this film coming a mile down the road.
Alas and with no surprise money interested Marvel more than my objections and now we have the latest from director Louis Letterier. He directed the amusing Transporter and the mind numbing disaster Transporter 2. Norton is now Bruce Banner hiding in Brazil. A short sequence has established a new origin for Hulk but the film has jumped right into the story. General Ross (William Hurt) is still trying to find Banner and he is employing a soldier named Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) to help him do it.
Appealing to some of the themes of the tv show, the plot follows Banner on the run occasionally being caught up and transforming into the Hulk. And certainly here the fan boys will squeal with joy at seeing Hulk do what they have always wanted him to do. We are subjected to purple pants, Hulk phrases and signature moves. We even get a Captain America of sorts. It was all pretty agonizing in my opinion. The film abandons all the interesting things that Lee was trying to do with his film for more action and a big bad rogue villain in the Abomination.
Lee's film was trying to do something and maybe it failed but this new film doesn't seem to be trying to do anything at all. Its just kind of ho hums its way through until a big action sequence. Not to mention I have serious problems believing the young looking Tyler as a molecular biologist. The mediocrity of the film is made the worse by unfortunate giving in to fan expectations. And I hate anything that sets up a sequel and you can see the sequel to this film coming a mile down the road.
Running Tally - Part 5
I've been out of the cinema loop for several weeks so I didn't get a chance to post a tally of things so far for the month of May. Summer has definitely begun and my film viewings reflect that. I saw seven films in 25 days and only one of them was sans action as a prominent feature. A short recap
Iron Man - Not a great movie but definitely an enjoyable one. Robert Downy, Jr. carries the film and a nice villain performance by Jeff Bridges.
Terminator - Thank you 90th year of United Artists. Yes while indie cinemas around the country were showing more "classic" fair, my local indie theater gave me James Cameron's excellent Robocalypse movie.
Redbelt - David Mamet really likes to explore some crazy topics and this one is no exception. Still although the plot lost me a bit the performances were decent.
Red Dawn - When it comes to films that are not very good but are so lodged into my childhood subconscious it doesn't get any better than Red Dawn. Again thank UA and my local indie theater for bringing back that has such nostalgia for me. Wolverines!
Some Like It Hot - They really knew how to make a comedy back in the day.
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - Better made than the first Narnia film but somehow I cared even less (and there wasn't much care for the first one).
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Number four in the series reminds me yet again that they should have stopped after number one since it was a brilliant action movie.
And meaningless statistics are flying your way right now!
Films remaining: 58
Days Remaining (as of June 1): 214
Average Number of Films per Day to achieve goal:0.27
Average Number of Films per Week to Achieve Goal: 1.87
Iron Man - Not a great movie but definitely an enjoyable one. Robert Downy, Jr. carries the film and a nice villain performance by Jeff Bridges.
Terminator - Thank you 90th year of United Artists. Yes while indie cinemas around the country were showing more "classic" fair, my local indie theater gave me James Cameron's excellent Robocalypse movie.
Redbelt - David Mamet really likes to explore some crazy topics and this one is no exception. Still although the plot lost me a bit the performances were decent.
Red Dawn - When it comes to films that are not very good but are so lodged into my childhood subconscious it doesn't get any better than Red Dawn. Again thank UA and my local indie theater for bringing back that has such nostalgia for me. Wolverines!
Some Like It Hot - They really knew how to make a comedy back in the day.
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - Better made than the first Narnia film but somehow I cared even less (and there wasn't much care for the first one).
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Number four in the series reminds me yet again that they should have stopped after number one since it was a brilliant action movie.
And meaningless statistics are flying your way right now!
Films remaining: 58
Days Remaining (as of June 1): 214
Average Number of Films per Day to achieve goal:0.27
Average Number of Films per Week to Achieve Goal: 1.87