8-26-2008
MyTube
September is just a couple of days away and that means that it's almost time for the new television season to start cranking out their usual fall crap while we hope that the shining lights from the previous season are still burning brightly.
Since last season basically sucked ass due to the writer strike, we may still be paying with lackluster offerings but, we'll see.
Other than many of my favorites coming back I haven't really looked at the new stuff. There have been some advertisements for shows like "Eleventh Hour" and "The Mentalist" but the first just looks like another medical/police procedural while "The Mentalist" looks like a slightly more serious spin on the (probably) much better "Psych."
The trailers for "Heroes" are rockin', however, and we should get some interesting stories from shows that left us with cliffhangers like "NCIS" and, dare I say it, "CSI: Miami." Although, is it a good thing that I'm actually rooting for Horatio to be dead?
In the mean time I have to say that a little show on ABC Family called "The Middleman" has been absolutely brilliant this summer. It has some of the smartest writing of any show around. The pop culture references run deep in this show but even if you didn't know the font on the Clotharian nanobot bomb in this week's episode was written in Aurabesh, you could still appreciate the blatant Die Hard references sprinkled throughout.
The show is based on a graphic novel written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach and stars Matt Keeslar as the Middleman and Natalie Morales as Wendy Watson, the newest addition to the Middleman team. The undeniable hotness that is Morales is a definite plus to watching the show.
The band of friends around Wendy is full of great characters also, including roommate Lacey Thornfield (Brit Morgan) and neighbor Noser (Jake Smollett). The Middleman office is run by a robot named Ida, played hilariously by Mary Pat Gleason.
The show has been running for a few weeks now but if you get a chance to catch it check out ABC Family Monday night's at 10. Hopefully this will get picked up for a second season and I can guarantee when the inevitable season 1 DVD set drops, I'll be picking it up.
7-25-2008
Threequel
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay did so well at the box office, a third film is now in the works. Nice.
Not only that, but on Tuesday you'll be able to pick up the DVD for Escape and enjoy the bottomless party over and over again!
Knight-mare
So far, since opening, The Dark Knight has made $222 million dollars. It's now holds records for opening night, opening weekend, non-holiday Monday and fastest to $200 million. Think it'll kick $300 million in the nuts over the weekend? I'm thinking, yes.
7-18-2008
I am the terror that flaps in the Knight...
Last night at midnight, theaters across the country (4,366 to be exact) opened at 12:01AM to premier the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight. While the film itself looked to expand on the hit Batman Begins, the added attraction was for one of the final screen appearances of Heath Ledger who passed away in January.
The local theater sold out three showings at midnight, which has to be a record for this town, and it was quite a sight seeing the crowds streaming out after the film was over.
The Dark Knight returns stars Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne and Batman, Michael Caine as Alfred, Gary Oldman as James Gordon and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox. New to the franchise are Ledger as the Joker, Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent and Maggie Gyllenhaal taking over for Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes.
Cillian Murphy has a cameo as the Scarecrow and several other actors, such as Eric Roberts, Anthony Michael Hall and Nestor Carbonell, pop up throughout the film.
Here there be spoilers...
It's been a year since the events of the previous film and a new D.A. is on the case, Harvey Dent. Gordon has been working to bring the mob down and Batman has been helping him do it. He's become the boogeyman to the criminals in Gotham and hero to the residents. The film kicks off on the eve of the mob finally falling as Gordon and Dent are holding a trial for the new mob boss, Roberts as Salvatore Maroni.
Enter the Joker. Unlike the mob, the Joker has no goal other than chaos. He has no master plan except to watch Gotham burn. He turns up on the mob's doorstep and offers his assistance in killing Batman for them, for a price. The mob turns him loose and the game is on.
His killing spree and terrorist actions put fear into the city, even turning it's citizens against one another with the Joker pulling the strings from behind the scenes. His boldest move, after being captured during a plan hatched by Dent, Gordon and Batman, is to take on the police from the inside and kidnap Dent and Rachel. He makes Gordon and Batman choose between them; which will they save, the golden boy Dent who's the face of good in the city or his girlfriend, the assistant helping him? Which will they let die?
The aftermath of the choices Batman and Gordon make creates a new villain and a new pawn that the Joker can use to further his psychotic destruction. Harvey Dent is left scared and broken and he becomes Two-Face.
Of course the events all lead up to a showdown between Batman and the Joker and his new proxy, Two-Face. When it's done, Batman's image in Gotham has changed, he's now the Dark Knight.
Here there be some awesome filmmaking....
Soon after Ledger died in January, insiders began talking Oscar for Heath's role as the Joker. Leading up to the release of the film, based on the trailers, I thought they might have something but I also was thinking that they were trying to push that agenda just because of his death. After seeing the film I can honestly say that Ledger not only should be nominated, I believe he should win.
Ledger was known for his rugged good looks as much as for some of the quirky characters he's played in films. He's barely recognizable under the makeup of the Joker. Quirky is replaced by insanity, and genius. Ledger transformed himself into the Joker, he became something that was only hinted at around the edges when Nicholson took the role in 1989's Batman. Ledger created a character that will forever be remembered in film history, one of the greatest villains we've seen.
But what about the rest of the cast? I thought that Bale really owned the role of Batman in the previous movie, he brought a level of believability to the character that was missing from some of the previous incarnations of the Caped Crusader. As Bruce Wayne I though he left a little room to improve over Michael Keaton whose first spin as Wayne may still be my favorite. With Knight, however, Bale really got into the character as both Wayne and Batman. Because this wasn't an origin story, the film built on the dual role and his relationships with friends and "co-workers." It made for a more filling movie.
Freeman, Caine and Oldman are real pros and you always know what to expect when you see them listed for a film. They don't disappoint in The Dark Knight, all three bring their best supporting game with Oldman, as Lt. Gordon, really stepping up. His role is greatly expanded over Begins as he's forced to deal with his larger role in the police department.
Eckhart turns in a pretty impressive performance as well. As Dent he's the "white knight" to Batman's darker version, but that role is spun into something darker as he accepts his transformation into Two-Face.
When Begins came out I was somewhat disappointed with Katie Holmes in the role of Rachel Dawes, and it had everything to do with her off-screen shenanigans with her now-husband, Tom Cruise. Gyllenhaal had no such baggage and because of that I liked her spin as Dawes better.
Christopher Nolan, who also directed Batman Begins, returns to the film and turns in his A game. It's always nice when a director returns to a franchise such as this as it gives a continuity to multiple films rather than have a new director try to put their own spin on things. X-Men 3 is an example of how a franchise can take a dive when you replace the director. Nolan also gets screenwriting credit with his brother Jonathan.
Visually the film is stunning. From dark rooftops in Gotham to dark rooftops in Hong Kong, the entire film feels murky and there's a sense that things aren't quite right just under the surface.
It's pretty standard for the Batsuit to change from film to film and this time is no different. It has a similar feel to the previous outfit but looks a little more hi-tech. One improvement over, I believe, all previous suits is the cowl. For the first time Batman is able to turn his head. His wonderful toys are similar to the the previous movie with Batarangs, flight-capable cape and rappelling gun. He also adds some new devices such as sonar and some cool wrist projectiles.
One thing that didn't change which has in the previous films is the Batmobile. The Tumbler is back for this film and while there may be some small changes and upgrades, it's the same basic car and has the same look. Will it be around for a third installment, though? That remains to be seen.
There are a lot of action sequences through the film but they're well paced and broken up with scenes that advance the plot. The film never really drags or lets you down, even though it clocks in at two and a half hours. Fight sequences, chase scenes, explosions, Batman flying through the city...all there, all beautiful and all just waiting for you to got and see.
The film is opening on a record number of screens this weekend with some theaters running it around the clock. I'm predicting that this film might make over $200 million domestically for opening weekend. Let's check back on Monday to see if I'm right.
The only flaw that I care to acknowledge about this film was some of the fight sequences. Can you guess? At night, wearing black, fast cuts and up close perspectives...it's always a downfall for a film. However, there were enough good parts to the film that I'm forgiving its faults. Roll out the platter cause all five wheels of cheddar are on it. Do yourself a favor and go see this film.
7-11-2008
Two new reviews posted today. One I should have done a couple of days ago but I was hiding out from the heat in my apartment as much as possible. First up, the most recent film I've seen, Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Saw this last night and wanted to get this out. The second review is for Hancock which I finally saw on Tuesday night.
I'll give you a partial break, however, if you don't feel the need to read either review; both films are worth seeing with Hellboy being the the more important of the two to see on the big screen, just because of the scope of some parts of it.
So let's get to it...
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Hellboy II is the sequel to 2004's Hellboy and sees the return of Ron Perlman, Selma Blair and Jeffrey Tambor as Hellboy, Liz Sherman and Tom Manning respectively. Also back is Doug Jones as Abe Sapien (and a couple other characters) and John Hurt, as Professor Bruttenholm, in a cameo.
New for this outing is Johann Krauss who is played by two actors but voiced by Seth MacFarlane (Yes, THAT Seth MacFarlane). New baddies for the film include Luke Goss as Prince Nuada a CGI army and a lot of people in costume.
Here there be spoilers
The film starts off by giving us some back story on Prince Nuada, his sister Princess Nuala (Anna Walton), and a war between humans and the other creatures of the Earth including Elves, Trolls and others. The Golden Army was created by Nuada's father to destroy the humans but after seeing how ruthless they were, he agreed to a truce and deactivated the army.
Nuada swore that he would one day return, bring back the Golden Army, and resume the war and defeat humankind.
Sounds good and, for parts of it, it is. Nuada and his enforcer, Wink, kick some major ass at the start as they look to piece Nuada's father's crown back together. The crown is what gives the wearer power over the Golden Army. Their method for retrieving the crown draws the attention of the B.P.R.D. and kicks off the adventure.
Honestly, the next hour of the film is kind of a mess with a lot of fluff thrown in, a bunch of sentimental crap and a bunch of jokes, some of which fall flat. There is some good humor, as there was in the first, and most come from Hellboy's quips as he fights his way through various parts of this and the underworld.
The inevitable showdown between Nuada and Hellboy takes place in the underground storage facility for the Golden Army. It's basically a winner takes all match and I'll let you discover who wins. Eh, who am I kidding, Hellboy wins, setting up the potential third film.
Action...there was some good action in this film, mostly involving Nuada who, in the end, we didn't see enough of. Some of it was too fast and frantic to follow and took away from the stunts that were actually involved in a lot of the sequences. It's a trend...see my Hancock review.
Guillermo del Toro, who wrote and directed, is one of the few directors that's still willing to put a guy in a costume rather than call one of the geek brain trusts to work their magic...it works for him and makes his films feel more real. Goody. Unfortunately he must have called the same guys that did Pan's Labyrinth because some of the creature designs looked really familiar.
The film is definitely bright and shiny and Hellboy has some big guns to shoot stuff with. Abe has kind of an expanded role but someone, please, explain to me the disappearing breathing apparatus? I'm not a Hellboy comic reader so I don't know how Krauss fits into the universe but he was an interesting addition. However, his genius came at the expense of Tambor's Tom Manning, leaving Manning as a suck-up with nothing much to do in the last third of the film. The movie was also lacking Rupert Evans as Agent John Myers which was unfortunate. He made a good foil for Hellboy in the first installment.
I was really pleased with John Hurt's cameo as Father which came at the start of the film as he read the story of the Golden Army to a pre-teen Hellboy. That sequence is my favorite of the film, with the showdown between Nuada and his father running a close second.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army clocks in at about two hours which, in my opinion, was about a half hour too long. It needed more Nuada and less drunken sing along with Barry Manilow. The visuals for a lot of parts were quite interesting. The animation of the opening tale of the Golden Army was both simple and stunning at the same time. I wanted to know more about Nuada and Nuala and wish more time was spent on them and the world they come from. Instead we got a lot of the B.P.R.D. library.
There's just enough in the film to make you want to see it on the big screen rather than wait for the DVD release. But, try to pay matinee prices for it. Maybe the film will get better on a second viewing. We'll see in a couple of months. Out of the two films I saw this week, Hancock was the better of the two. And, unfortunately, I don't think either is going to match up to Batman next week. I'll give Hellboy II: The Golden Army 2.5 wheels of cheddar out of 5.
Hancock
Although this film opened last week, before the 4th of July holiday, I didn't catch it till this week due to the crowded theater last week and then the long weekend. Tuesday night, though, I really wanted an excuse not to sit home in my oven of an apartment so I got out to the theater.
Hancock stars Will Smith as a super powered human living in Los Angeles. He's a drunk, kind of a fuckup and generally hated by both law abiding citizens and the criminals he sometimes finds himself arresting. Jason Bateman costars as Ray Embrey and Charlize Theron as his wife, Mary.
Here there be spoilers
Hancock and Ray meet when Hancock saves Ray's life by flipping his car out of the way of an oncoming train. Unfortunately, as usually happens to Hancock, his good intentions get fouled up when he stops the train, derailing it and costing millions of dollars in damage. That, it turns out, is the standard when Hancock intervenes.
The press, the public and the local government are all calling for Hancock to pay up for this damage he's caused the city and Ray, who has not been having a good time selling his new PR idea, decides he can help. He gets Hancock to turn himself in, serve time in jail and work on improving his reputation believing that if crime goes up, the city will eventually call for Hancock to help.
Turns out, Ray's a pretty smart guy and things go as planed, to a certain point.
Now, I've read some reviews of the film and there's a consensus among reviewers that this is where the film falls apart. I'm not part of the consensus.
The first hour or so has funny moments, decent action and goes quite a ways to show the motivation, or lack, of Hancock. The last half hour is where the plot twists and we find that Hancock is not the only super human on the planet, turns out Ray's wife is pretty super herself. She's actually the second half of the last pair of super humans on the planet and Hancock is, in fact, her husband for the last few thousand years.
We also find out that when they are together, they actually lose their powers. The finale of the film pits Hancock against some villains from earlier in the film and resolves the issues with Mary.
Although it's not based on a comic book, it is a comic book type movie and due to that, I didn't really have a problem with those twists at the end. This film isn't supposed to be Shakespeare, it's supposed to be a summer super hero movie and it is.
My issues with the film are the same ones that I've had with others. It's no secret that I'm not a fan of the action films that like to use the quick cuts and close perspectives during action sequences. This film falls prey to that as did The Incredible Huk earlier this summer. It's an ongoing pet peeve of mine and I always deduct some points for it.
The CGI in the film, for the most part, was well done. There were some unique takes on flight and the take off and landings of Hancock. Let's just say, nothing is really neat or clean about the way Hancock operates. The CGI was overused, though, during the opening chase scene and one of the battles later in the film between Hancock and Mary.
The acting in the film is good...I'd expect nothing less from Smith and Theron but the surprise was Bateman. He's had some good roles lately in Juno and the cameos in Smokin' Aces so it wasn't a shock, just a really nice surprise. I'm looking forward to more Bateman in future films.
The story was decent, even with the twists, and the direction was good. Smith, though, is the reason you go to these films on the July 4th weekend and he definitely has another hit on his hands. It's not going to measure up to Iron Man and there's a good chance that after Hellboy II and Batman next week, not many people will remember this summer film but I will and I'll be there on DVD release day.
If you can't get into Hellboy or Batman, this is a good alternative. If you miss it, don't worry, the DVD should be good enough. If you're just looking for a good summer action film and a place to beat the heat for the afternoon, this is a good film to spend time with. I'll give this a solid three wheels of cheddar out of five.
7-4-2008
Happy Fourth of July!
6-27-2008
Wanted Man
So the trailers that have been running for the new film Wanted
have had me intrigued for a few weeks now. Sure, Angelina Jolie is hot
and Morgan Freeman is always good, and even James McAvoy had an
interesting role in Atonement, but the action is what initially
caught my eye. And, so, I hit up the midnight showing last night.
The film is based on a graphic novel by Mark Millar which came out back
in 2003-2004. The graphic novel depicts the Fraternity as a group of
super-villains that, in 1986, conquered the superheroes of the world and
re-wrote history to cover up the fact that they had ever been alive.
The film pretty much skips all that.
And I don't care one bit about that.
Here there be spoilers
In the film the Fraternity is a league of assassins who trace their roots back 1,000 years. The Fates pass down information to the Fraternity via a woven tapestry with a hidden code. The code reveals names of people who the Fates believe should be preemptively killed to stop them from causing harm or damage or otherwise fucking shit up.
McAvoy plays Wesley Gibson, an accountant with a dead end job, mean boss and cheating girlfriend, who is living a life that has no future. He's basically one "Ahh, I'm also gonna need you to go ahead and come in on Sunday, too..." away from burning the place he works at down. Enter Jolie as Fox. She pulls him out of a convenience store just as Cross, played by Thomas Kretschmann, makes an attempt on his life. The chase that ensues is one of the best sequences I've seen in a film in a while. After some insane auto acrobatics, Fox eludes Cross with an unconscious Gibson in tow.
Gibson wakes up in the halls of the Fraternity's headquarters where he meets the boss, Freeman as Sloan, along with other assassins. He learns that his father, who had abandoned him as an infant, was a member of the Fraternity and that he had inherited his father's abilities to be an assassin. Sloan let's Gibson in on the fact that his father had just been killed a few days prior and that he wants Gibson to avenge his father's death by killing Cross, the man who killed him.
Gibson agrees and begins his training as an assassin. The members of the Fraternity do have some superhero type powers including the ability to curve bullets, shoot wings off flies and use their adrenaline to run faster, jump higher and otherwise do things no ordinary human can. And most of it's damn cool.
The movie unfolds with some interesting twists and turns, incredible action sequences and some cool FX work. The film was shot in Chicago, Budapest and several locations in the Czeck Republic. The director, Timur Bekmambetov, picked out some unique locations and filmed them all with a cool style that gives a very unique look to the film.
The action sequences strike a nice balance between moving the story along and giving you stuff to gawk at. The acting is top notch all around including the main stars as well as Terrence Stamp as Pekwarsky and Chris Pratt as Barry, Gibson's co-worker and the guy putting it to Gibson's girlfriend. Dato Bakhadze as the Butcher and Marc Warren as The Repairman both have some memorable scenes throughout the movie but their final scenes late in the movie are both memorable "holy shit!" scenes. Common even shows up in the film as Gunsmith, but other than standing around and looking tough he doesn't do much. His role in Smokin' Aces was much more interesting.
I don't want to give away any more of the plot because it's really quite well done and has some interesting surprises for you along the way. I've read where there is talk of making this a franchise and guarantee you I'll be in line for any more films in this series.
I was somewhat unsure of what to expect from this film but I came out of the theater loving it. It's not perfect and I can definitely see where some people would have problems with a few action sequences and such. But in the end, it's a comic book film and knowing that going in sold the film and action for me. It was better than The Incredible Hulk, the action was better in some aspects than Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and it had a plot and characters that you could buy into like Iron Man.
If you have a couple of hours to spare some evening during the week or you're looking to beat the heat this weekend, get to the theater and see this film. I'll give it a solid four wheels of cheddar out of five.
6-13-2008
It's Incredible
I'll admit right up front that I was no fan of the Hulk movie that came out a couple years ago. Sure, Jennifer Connelly is hot and Sam Elliott is always fun to watch on screen, but Eric Bana just wasn't a good Bruce Banner. So why, not having liked the first movie, would I go to the midnight showing of the new Incredible Hulkk film last night? Good question. Let's discuss.
First up, this time around Bruce Banner is played by Edward Norton and Connelly has been replaced by Liv Tyler. William Hurt joins the party as General Thunderbolt Ross and a new supporting cast is about including Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky and Tim Blake Nelson as Samuel Sterns.
Now, I'll stop there for a minute to let you all know that I'm not a Hulk expert. I understand some of these characters are pulled out of the comic universe of the Hulk, but I really can't tell you who, or why or what-for. You'll have to figure that out on your own.
Here there be spoilers
Having said that I don't know who everyone is, some of the cameos may have been lost on me but some weren't and here are the ones that you should look for.
Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. Remember, this is the second film from Marvel Entertainment, the first being the phenomenal Iron Man, and it furthers the combining of our favorite superheroes into one cohesive universe for future films. Some of the technology used by the military it the film is from Stark Industries and Stark himself shows up to offer help to Ross. S.H.I.E.L.D. is present on some of the military computers and it's assumed that Stark is there in the same capacity as Sam Jackson, as Nick Fury, was in Iron Man.
Lou "I Never Miss a Comic Convention" Ferrigno has a cameo as a security guard but is also billed as the voice of the Hulk for the film. Of course, Stan "The Man" Lee gets his screen time, after all, what would a Marvel film be without Stan?
Even Captain America makes a cameo. Sort of. The Super-Soldier serum that creates Captain America is used in the film. I cheated a little by reading some spoilers on the web and can also offer up that there is apparently some film of Cap, or Steve Rogers, that was cut but should be out on the DVD.
Also, I'm pretty sure we got a first look at a potential villain for a future Hulk film but I'm not sure. That's where my lack of Hulk comic knowledge kicks in. Whatever, I can only be so much geek.
Oh, and there's supposed to be a Bill Bixby cameo but unless it was Bixby on a TV program that Norton, as the current Bruce Banner, was watching, I think I missed it.
Ok, let's get to the film itself. It's not that great. It's not as bad as the original but it's not X-Men, Spider-Man, or even Spider-Man 2 for that matter. It's slightly better than the Fantastic Four movies, however. Blah.
First up, the film reboots the Hulk franchise. Gone is the bat-shiat insane Father played by Nick Nolte. Gone are the childhood injections. Gone is the neon green, poorly done, CGI Hulk. Instead we get back to basics, and by basics I mean the 70's Bill Bixby Hulk. Scientist Bruce Banner tests gamma radiation on himself as part of an experiment commissioned by General Ross and the Hulk is born.
The film starts out with Banner hiding out in Brazil but Ross is on the case, hunting him. When a lead develops he goes after Banner with his new top gun, Blonsky. When the Hulk shows up and puts the kibosh on the capture mission, Ross goes to the Super-Soldier serum to make Blonsky into a soldier that can help. Meanwhile, Banner makes his way back to the US to recover the data on the original experiment so that Sterns can help him find a cure. There he meets up with Tyler's Betty Ross and Gen. Ross catches up to him again.
Stuff starts blowing up at that point and doesn't really stop till the end. Blonsky bulks up on Banner's blood, which has been stockpiled by Sterns, and turns into the Abomination and the Hulk is the only one who can stop him.
There's a lot of filler stuff that goes in the middle that's nonsense. It's not as interesting as the middle stuff from Iron Man but it's not crap like Punisher either. It's just unfortunate story that the film needs in order to complete its reboot of the franchise and for that it succeeds. It just would have been nice to get past some of that and get into the action sooner. Next time, I guess.
The acting is better all around this time than it was in the previous Hulk film. The plot was probably better as well and the CGI for the Hulk was definitely up a notch. However the film suffered from the same close up action with quick cuts that I hate. It also has so much CGI in it near the end that it starts to really look fake. Less is more, right?
Some of the highlights include the opening chase sequence in Brazil and the fight with the Hulk in the park about two thirds of the way through. And I have to admit that when the Hulk makes his first appearance of the film I was pretty geeked. It was also fun to see some nods to the old TV series and the comics with "Hulk SMASH" and punching the ground to break up the footing of Abomination. Oh, the score of the film rocked as well. There's a LOT of throwback stuff with some updates which was nice. Little things like that are kind of cool.
The theater last night seemed barren when compared to the nearly standing room only showing of Indiana Jones a couple weeks ago. The crowd seemed to partly be into the film, though, and I'm glad I caught it before the weekend. The movie doesn't suck but with the new measuring stick for comic book movies being Iron Man, the film falls short. Tyler and Norton are good in the film but I kind of wish we had Sam Elliot back as General Ross. If you are a fan of the Hulk I think you'll really enjoy the film. If you aren't, but you liked Fantastic Four and can even forgive the shortcomings in Spider-Man 3, you'll like this film. It's a great building block for the future.
Besides the fact that we had to sit through another origins film, several scenes that were in the most recent trailers were cut or changed in the final cut of the movie. Usually, that tells me that something wasn't right with the film and they had to work on it right till the last minute. That's usually not a good thing. I almost dropped this film down to two wheels of cheddar but I'm going to throw a half wheel on just because we got the new Clone Wars trailer in front of the film. So, there you have it, two and a half wheels of cheddar out of five.
5-22-2008
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Have you ever seen a film and afterwards you weren't quite sure if you liked it or not? Unfortunately I'm kind of in that state over the new Indiana Jones film.
I caught the midnight showing last night as this is one of the films I was most looking forward to this summer. It's been 19 years since the last Indiana Jones film, The Last Crusade, and it's taken that long for Spielberg, Lucas and Ford to come together on a new adventure. Maybe they should have taken another year?
Here's the lowdown on the Crystal Skull; it's 1957 and the Russians have replaced the Nazis as the bad guy. Led by Cate Blanchett's Irina Spalko, the Russians are after artifacts that can help them win the Cold War and rule the world. In this case, she's after the film title's Crystal Skull.
The movie reunites us with old friends and also introduces new characters; Shia LaBeouf's Mutt Williams, John Hurt's Professor Oxley, an expert on Crystal Skulls, and Ray Winstone's spy, Mac McHale. Karen Allen is back as Marion Ravenwood and, of course, Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. Marcus Brody was there in spirit, as a portrait outside of Indy's office and a statue on the college grounds, and Dr. Henry Jones Sr. was remembered in a scene at Indy's house.
Here there be spoilers
Some of the mythology behind the Crystal Skulls, and that used in the film, centers around ancient extraterrestrial origins and, in one scene, even ties to the supposed Roswell crash in the 1940's. Some reviews that I've read take the movie to task for this storyline but I'm actually fine with it. After all, it's not like the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail or the ability to pull a dudes heart out are all common occurrences in the world. So, aliens. Why not?
There are bright spots to the film; classic Indy humor is on display, although not in huge supply, whip-cracking escapes, hidden tombs, booby traps and plenty of loot are at hand. There are other nods to the previous Indy films beyond the mentioning of Marcus and Dr. Jones. The Ark makes a cameo, there are car and motorcycle chases and riddles that have to be solved in order to find the ultimate treasure.
What takes away from those bright spots, however, is the overabundance of CGI. There are also a couple of scenes that seem wedged in and don't need to be there to advance the story. The worst includes a trip to the Nevada Proving Grounds. There also seems to be a lot less character development in this film than in the previous movies. Granted, we know Indy and Marion, but the interaction with Belloq in Raiders and Elsa in Crusade seemed to give us fuller characters to love or hate. Mutt gets the most development in Crystal Skull but I never made much of a connection with Spalko or Mac.
The chase sequences, especially a jungle chase late in the game, are very drawn out and would be funny if, afterwards, we didn't realize that they took away from more substantive parts of the character and story development. I hate it when films throw CGI crap at you just because the director can, and this film seems to have plenty of that. Also, ants? Really? Indy films have their share of snakes, bugs and rats but huge herds of CGI killer ants? Come on, is that all they could come up with?
I tried to stay spoiler free for this film, more so than others, but I still knew about the two biggest secrets the film had to reveal and even though I said there would be spoilers here, I'm not going to mention either.
The heart of the film, the Skulls, the adventures and puzzles getting to them, were classic Indy and I can't help but wish more of the 2 hour running time were dedicated to them rather than chase sequences. Blanchett made a decent villain although she wasn't as suave as Belloq or hot as Elsa. Mac was an unnecessary addition, in my opinion, and I can't help but wish John Rhys-Davies' Sallah had shown up to help his old pal Indy one more time.
It was awesome to see Marion back in the mix and while I want to dislike LaBeouf just a little (mainly because Hollywood has declared that I will like him), the kid continues to do solid work and I can't help but like his character, Mutt.
Of the four Indiana Jones films I still like The Temple of Doom the least. While this film has its issues, it fits better with the Raiders and Last Crusade movies than Temple does and for that I'm glad. I do think that fans of Indiana Jones should go see this film in theaters. I'll use my own whip to snap off three wheels of cheddar out of five for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
5-13-2008
Upfronts
May is that time of year when all sorts of good things happen; Summer movie blockbusters start dropping, we can get drunk on Cinco de Mayo, honor our mom for Mother's Day and our veterans on Memorial Day. Even a certain blogger gets a birthday in May.
And it's also sweeps month for the TV industry followed by upfronts. This is the time of the year that we find out what the dumbasses in Hollywood have determined we'll get to watch come September-ish. With the recent writer's strike it left a lot of things in the lurch including the choices for next year. For good or for bad, some of the shows that might not have made it in other years made it this time around. Too bad some of our other favorites didn't.
Shows making it that I'm happy about; "Chuck," "Life," "Friday Night Lights," "Smallville," "Supernatural," and "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles."
There's also still hope for a couple others such as "Moonlight" and "The Unit."
Shows that didn't get lucky, some of which I'm more pissed about than others, include "Journeyman," "October Road," "Jericho," and "New Amsterdam." I'm going to be bitter over "Jericho" for a while yet and I'm also disappointed in "October Road" because that show had some cool things going for it...not the least of which was Odette Yustman.
Of course there are perennial favorites returning like the "CSI" and "Law & Order" shows (plus most of the other procedurals on CBS and NBC) as well as "ER," "24," and a ton of reality shows that producers are still dealing souls to the Devil for.
Not to be outdone by the existing shows, new shows are also getting announced. These include such gems as the "Beverly Hills 90210" spinoff, something called "How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls" (more about that in a minute), and "Merlin" which is basically "The O.C." meets King Arthur...or something. Oh, and there are a whole bunch of new shows that sound suspiciously like a bunch of old shows that just got cancelled but were probably better to begin with.
There's a new show called "Eleventh Hour" which is about a government scientist stopping people from dying but, hey, that show brings Rufus Sewell to network TV. Heh...Rufus.
Getting back to "Filthy Rich Girls," that show brings back Lucy Hale who was the barely-legal-but-hotter-than-the-star little sister to the "Bionic Woman's" Michelle Ryan.
In a "haven't we been here before?" move, we will see the return of Eliza Dushku and Amy Acker to the small screen...unfortunately it's a sci-fi type show from Joss Whedon and it's on FOX...and we all know how that worked out the last time. Fuck you FOX.
There's some other stuff we probably won't care about either but feel free to head over to IMDB.com and read the full list of renewed, bubble, cancelled and new shows for yourself.
5-10-2008
Happy Birthday
To Odette Yustman who is 22 years old today!
While she's definitely not a household name you might recognize her from her starring role in Cloverfield or as Bryan Greenberg's girlfriend on "October Road." She's also popped up in cameos in Transformers and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.
5-2-2008
Iron Man
Fantastic. Brilliant. Exceptional. Leslie Bibb continues to be fucking hot.
As superhero comic book movies go, this one ranks near the top. Iron Man is definitely not a household name like Spider-Man, Batman or, to a certain extent, the X-Men. Because of that the story needed a good introduction to the character and the movie pulled it off really well in my opinion. It didn't skip back story like Fantastic Four, waste the middle hour like The Punisher and never bogged down with the suck like Ghost Rider or the first Hulk.
The special effects were brilliant and believable, the characters were all well written and acted and the story moved along at a perfect pace. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark was one of the more brilliant casting moves in a while. Not only does he look similar to how Stark has been drawn in the comics, he has the skills to pull off the playboy billionaire-cum-superhero.
Jeff Bridges, as Obadiah Stane, brings the big bad to the film while Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts is Stark's trusty assistant and love interest. Leslie Bibb, as reporter Christine Everhart, is half naked and Terrence Howard makes a perfect Jim Rhodes, Stark's best friend.
Normally I'd go through the film and pick things out but I'm not going to this time because I think everyone needs to go see this film for themselves. There are some cool little inside jokes that the comic book geeks will get but the film is very accessible for everyone. As I said, the pacing of the film is quite well done with plenty of action, humor and balanced character development.
One piece of advice; when you go, stay through the entire run of credits for the final scene of the film.
The producers are already talking sequel if this does well at the box office and unless the upcoming May competition *cough*Indiana Jones*cough* sweeps it out prematurely, I think we will be seeing more Iron Man in 2010.
I'll confidently give this film 4.5 wheels of cheddar. I'm only docking it a half wheel because there wasn't enough nude Leslie Bibb.
Ha! Who am I kidding, I'll throw the other half wheel in and make it a perfect five just for shits and giggles and because last week's Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay had enough gratuitous nudity to make up for it. Run, don't walk, to the theater and show some love for Iron Man.