Posts tagged Movies
Moore on Marriage
Mar 28th
So, I finally got around to reading “The Watchman” graphic novel, just a week after seeing The Watchmen movie in theatres. I’m not going to be posting a review, since this is certainly one movie that has certainly been reviewed to death. Suffice it to say, the movie did some things better than the comic, and the comic did some things better than the movie. I don’t think either one could be called better than the other. They both had their own thing to offer. I think the movie did a better job of capturing a comic than almost any other attempt to translate the medium to the big screen. (*ahem* Not better than Iron Man)
What this post is about, though, is something that really stuck in my craw, as I believe the saying goes. And it’s about something from the comic, not the movie. I guess it’s probably important to say something like SPOILERS, if that kind of thing is how it’s done — if you’ve read the comic, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Although I will admit, I’m glad it’s a subplot that didn’t make it into the movie. It’s just so bizarre and illogical.
Movie Time!
Mar 16th
I’m sure there’s an obvious joke about The Rock and a Mountain that I’m missing.
So, today I took my eight-year-old to see The Race to Witch Mountain, and I will say I was pleasantly surprised. I mean, I’ve been seeing horrible reviews for this movie all over the place, despite my abhorrence of reviews — I seem to stumble across them no matter what I do. I mean, my expectations were reasonably medium; this is a Disney family movie about aliens with big bangs and lightweight quips, starring a former wrestler who seems to be making a career of fluffy family movies now.
But it was a pleasant diversion. It was nice to watch “Dwayne Johnson” come up in the credits, considering how long he’s been tied to his wrestling character. I will be upfront — I am a huge fan of the Rock, both as a wrestler, and as an actor. He’s got a massive amount of charisma, and he has shown that it really doesn’t matter the level of the material he’s working with, his delivery of it is why he’s a star. I hate the stigma attached to pro wrestlers, and the natural assumption that they can’t act as well as any other Hollywood A-Lister; professional wrestling is a performance art, that melds acting and stunt work. Yeah, it’s cheesy acting that mostly consists of posturing in the most macho way possible, but the true greats, that inspire kids to become wrestling fans for years, are true entertainers, who make the whole cheese ball thing transcend its lowbrow image. Roddy Piper, Chris Jericho, Randy Savage, and current WWE superstar John Cena have all risen above the material, and I have always thought of Johnson as the top of the heap.
The rest of the movie was pretty much by the numbers. Evil government guy, bunch of henchmen (with Chris Marquette, of Just Friends and the upcoming Fanboys a pleasant surprise), and the obvious jokes about little green men and sci-fi nerds. I liked seeing The Guild’s Vork in a small role. Garry Marshall wasn’t really needed, and Tom Everett Scott was pretty wasted in his role. I was happy to see Cheech, but also didn’t see the need for such a recognizable actor to be in such a tiny role.
But the interplay between the kids and Johnson was the real highlight of the movie. I bought the interaction. I actually saw why they would need him, despite other reviews mentioning how overpowered the kids were, since it was basically a low powered telepath/telekinetic, and what appeared to be the Vision’s density control powers. Nothing that would save them from a nice laser blast, or being captured by the government. I liked the nods to the earlier movie with the RV, but again, other than the Rock and the kids, this wasn’t a fantastic movie.
However, I will mention that my favourite part of the movie was a great nod to a previous Disney movie, and I love that the reference was there; a TV report of the initial spaceship crash featured a reporter played by Meredith Salinger, who I will admit I had a huge crush on as a teenager, enough to go back and watch all her movies, including her Disney outing, which was the clever shout out here — when she signed off as “Reporter Natalie Gann”. Nice, Disney. Like it.
I would recommend this movie to fans of Dwayne Johnson, or anyone with kids between 8 and 12. My daughter loved it, but she was clinging to my arm in quite a few action-packed scenes. Nothing objectionable in the movie, which is a nice change for the movies she likes.
Little Bald Gold Men
Feb 23rd
And not just the ones in my nightmares.
So, this morning, I’m thinking about sitting through the mixed bag they call the Oscars last night, and wondering if I’m the only one that’s tired of them. I mean, to give credit where credit is due, it’s a show that’s no worse than any other award show, really — at least not amongst legitimate awards shows, as the MTV ones tend to be pretty entertaining — but that’s faint praise.
I’m really tired of the circle jerk that is the Hollywood Establishment, rewarding things that possibly educate, but certainly don’t entertain. I’m tired of hearing about nominated movies only as they are nominated, because most of them don’t make it into wide release before the awards show. I read this morning that just last week, Best Picture winner Slumdog Millionaire hit 2,000 theatres…finally. Because really, that’s the films we want to reward — the ones no one sees.
I’ll be honest, I saw almost none of the nominated films, because I knew nothing about them. Sure, I didn’t see Benjamin Buttons because it looked like ass, and everyone I know who did see it told me it was like Forrest Gump, but not as interesting. I saw The Wrestler, mostly because I actually watch wrestling, and knowing it was based partially on Jake "The Snake" Roberts’ own life intrigued me. But Milk? Frost/Nixon? The Reader? Doubt? Who the hell sees these movies, other than people doing a report on them for school?
And then there’s the Dark Knight crap. "It was shafted by the Academy!" "It should have been nominated for Best Picture! And Best Director!" Seriously? Come on, people, I love comic book movies more than the next guy, but even I can’t swallow that! It was a cheesy movie about a guy who dresses up as a bat, and growls like he deep-throats broken glass, and pounds on a dude in crappy face-paint. The fact that Dark Knight was nominated in "Best Make-Up" was a joke. It looked like Heath had been shot in the face by Homer Simpson’s make-up shotgun, set to "whore".
I did watch with some anticipation the Best Supporting Actor Award, to see if the Academy had the balls to give it to someone acting better than Heath — you know, like anyone — or if they’d cave to the pressure to reward the dead guy for a simply "okay" performance. It is unrealistic to say someone acted well when the character is unrealistic to begin with. How do we know if he nailed something that bizarre? As to being like the character in the comic — no. That was most closely hit by Jack Nicholson, as much as I hate to say it. But the "Dead Guy was Brilliant — Mostly Because He’s Dead" award was a lock. If Heath was alive, you would never have seen him up there. And maybe, Robert Downey Jr might have got the award he deserved for playing a dude, playing another dude.
Acting awards are difficult to gauge, since you’re trying to tell how well someone is pretending to be someone else. Plus, it’s subjective, so other people will have different ideas of what "best" is. But then why do we award so much weight to the films with Oscars, and not other awards? Do I really care now that Wanted can claim to be "An Oscar Nominated Film", and possibly re-release a DVD to another couple of million units sold?
Bah. I’m a little sick of the so-called "pinnacle" of my chosen art form.
More Comics to Film
Feb 8th
Yesterday, after bitching about The Dark Knight, it got me to thinking about comic book movies in general, and what makes them work, or, more often, not work, in terms of the medium of film. I think I tend to have blinders on with regards to comic movies, since I’ve been reading comics most of my life, and therefore tend to treat them as completely plausible and serious scenarios. But, c’mon now…they’re really not…
I saw the new Incredible Hulk recently (the one with Edward Norton), and even though I was as immersed as usual with regards to comic continuity, I was jarred a bit by the ease with which the characters accepted the existence of the Hulk. I mean, the soldiers sent in to capture Bruce Banner certainly adjusted to a massive green powerhouse humanoid with amazing speed, considering. Now, I will allow that this movie presumably is in the same continuity as the previous Hulk movie, with Eric Bana, where the Hulk was spotted quite a bit in public. But there was no evidence of shock from the soldiers fading into recognition. Tim Roth’s character was pretty clear when questioning his superior and asking what the hell he’d been after. More >
Superheroes Aren’t Method
Feb 7th
Well, Awards season is upon us, and as a self-proclaimed geek, I’d be remiss if I didn’t speak out against a little problem I’m having with the Academy Awards this year. Look, let’s face facts — the big winner at the box office this year was a definitive one, by the name of “The Dark Knight”. And when the nominations for the Oscars came out, other than the almost obligatory nomination for the late Heath Ledger, it was pretty DK-free.
And the internet exploded. Geeks everywhere were instantly up in arms, screaming about the idiocy of the Academy, and how this was an outrage and a slap in the face to movie goers everywhere. There was talk of boycotts and letter-writing campaigns. People said this would be the worst awards show in history. Anger, frustration, and I’m sure quite a few virtual tears were shed. More >
