Not really for the faint of heart, but then most good vampire movies never are, are they? It’s subtitled, but don’t let that stop you. It’s a terrific love story wrapped in a terrifying burrito. I can’t believe that Lina Leandersson was only 13 – she seems so much older, which I believe is what they call acting.
NSFW, but high-larious. Hard to believe these weren’t scripted.
And there’s this! Eep. I know some rabbit owners who should be hopping mad.
Proof That Every Rabbit In The History Of Cinema Has Been Evil.
Hard to believe there’s only six …
6 Common Movie Arguments That Are Always Wrong | Cracked.com.
Image from Beyond Hollywood.com. Sorry, no hot chick this time.
Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is a hot-shot jet pilot who’d be more at home in a movie like Top Gun. He’s cocky but caring, aloof and irresponsible. The latter trait plays a big role in the development of his character in this movie. He comes across a dying alien who bequeaths a magic ring to him; like any of us, Hal takes the ring. The ring is green and is as powerful as the imagination of its wearer. This leads to some inventive problem solving when the first of two evil-doers shows up. The CGI is mostly believable, as long as you understand that this is a comic-book movie and that laws of physics need not apply universally.
The crux of it all is that Hal Jordan is now part of the Green Lantern Corps, a legion of guardians who protect the universe from evil, which, by some strange coincidence has congealed together to create a bad guy made of fear. The idea is that the villain Parallax uses fear to suck out the souls of its enemies, or something, and so the Lanterns must have no fear.
Can Hal Jordan overcome his deeply hidden fears of failure to save the world? Will he be able to reconcile with his beautiful, supersmart coworker Carol (Blake Lively)? Will he rally the remaining Green Lanterns to fight back and not to use fear against Parallax? Boy, if only I could easily predict the answers to those questions. If only this movie were that obvious. Okay, maybe it is that obvious. But in a way, that’s all right. You don’t really expect intricate plots in a comic-book movie.
Even though I could suspend my disbelief easily enough, I did have some issues with the movie. It felt like there was a lot of focus on the hero and his Big Transformation from selfish flyboy to savior and not enough on some of the peripheral stuff, such as his relationship with Carol, Carol’s relationship with her inventor/bigwig father, and how their mutual childhood friend Hector (Peter Sarsgaard) fits into all of this – and his own relationship with his father. I’m just saying there were a lot of secondary and tertiary characters that were given short shrift, and yet in the grand scheme of the plot they mattered quite a bit.
A second issue is much more mundane – the plot is pretty mundane, standard-issue stuff. Hero becomes Superhero, wrestles with some inner demons while trying to look cool, fights human and alien bad guys with, as usual, the fate of the universe at stake. As little of the comics as I knew, I was actually expecting a different bad guy; he’s in this movie, but he’s not The Bad Guy. I believe that’s what they call Hoping the Movie Is a Huge Success So We Can Do a Sequel with the New Bad Guy. And although the movie didn’t make its money back in the States, its worldwide grosses may have ensured that sequel anyway. The Green Lantern character is interesting, as well as whole idea behind the Corps (Jordan is the first human). Maybe a sequel would elaborate more on that area.
As for the acting, Reynolds was a pretty good casting. He had the look, the patter, the swagger. Lively was also surprisingly competent. Tim Robbins offers up a pained – but thankless – performance as a senator, and Jay O. Sanders is smarmy as usual as An Important Guy. Probably the standout is Peter Sarsgaard, who plays the childhood pal of both Carol and Hal and whose attitude plays a heavy role in the story.
Green Lantern works sometimes but suffers from an underdeveloped script, too much backstory, not enough front story, and questionable direction. It feels at times as if you’re watching not a movie about a comic book but a movie about a movie about a comic book. Not enough attention is paid to the subtleties of the plot or the nuances of the lead roles.
Green Lantern: **1/2
Some of these women I haven’t heard of, but I can’t argue with #1!
One list to rule them all. Sight and Sound does this every ten years, and It’s That Time Again.
The best damned film list of them all – Roger Ebert’s Journal.
Image from Movie Carpet.com
Steve Rogers (Evans) is a spindly, sickly young man who’s full of desire to go fight those dastardly Nazis, but he’s just too frail for the military, so he’s classified 4F. Several times, in fact, under different names. A mysterious scientist named Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci) recruits Rogers to be part of a secret project: he’ll inject Rogers’ major organs and arteries with a new serum that will turn him into a super soldier. The military, represented by Colonel Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones), and the CIA, represented by Agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) are very interested in the results. Well, the results aren’t too good, as the Nazis grab the serum and prevent anyone from making more super soldiers. But at least the US has Rogers, right? He’s now super strong, fast, and agile.
But one man is not an army, so instead of leading troops to victory Rogers is instead hired as a sort of USO cheerleader for war bonds. Yep, seriously. But you can’t keep the good Captain down for long, and soon he is indeed leading some crazy mission to rescue his best friend Bucky and assorted Allied troops while also looking out for the nefarious Red Skull, head of Hitler’s science division.
It’s well cast. Evans is believable as both the skinny Rogers and the pumped-up Captain America. He’s earnest without seeming to take himself or the movie too seriously. Tucci, Jones, Weaving and newcomer Atwell are top notch as well.
Even bearing in mind that this movie is merely a setup for the big Avengers film coming out soon (as were other movies, like Iron Man, Thor, and The Hulk), one can easily lose oneself in the great old-time action-adventure feel this one has, reminiscent of 1991′s The Rocketeer. You have mad scientists, mythical technology, Nazis, all-American good guys, lots of neat guns. It’s not a loud bore like Transformers, and the action scenes are well staged, as are the pyrotechnics. Throw in a believable plot (at least in the realm of comic-book movies), and this one’s above average for the genre. I’ve probably said this before about other movies, but this is definitely one that’s what a comic-book movie should be – daring, easy to follow, full of pulse-pounding action, and human.
Captain America: The First Avenger
Interesting debate – if there can be one – but I think the Cameron defender just comes off as “zomg Cameron is genuis and people don’t get him” or “Cameron influenced so many people but he can’t help it if those people are crappy filmmakers.”
Titanic does have its moments. But if you’re in a theater, watching it all unfold, and you hear cheers when the ship finally breaks in twain… well, that’s not a good movie, is it? It’s not supposed to make us dislike the people who die, is it? Of course not. So for my money, it’s a laughable movie that wasn’t good then and hasn’t aged well in the meantime. DiCaprio, although looking pinch-your-cheeks adorable, offers a hackneyed performance with no nuance. I didn’t even like Winslet in it, but thank goodness she (pardon the pun) drifted away from flat, one-dimensional crap and stretched herself as an actress.
“Titanic”: Waterlogged schmaltz, or pop classic? – Titanic – Salon.com.
Yes, that's Jennifer Aniston. Image from Movie Vortex.
Nick (Jason Bateman) has one of those tyrannical hate-everyone bosses (Kevin Spacey). Kurt’s (Jason Sudeikis) boss is a coked-up freak (Colin Farrell). Dale (Charlie Day) has an oversexed maneater (Jennifer Aniston, playing way against type). Each for his own reason has issues. And, for reasons not necessary to reveal here, they conclude that each supervisor must be killed off.
I liked this movie. For one thing, I could – as I’m sure many people can – identify easily with each of the main characters to some extent. They were relatable, not caricatures. I mean, sure, they sort of leap to the conclusion rather quickly that murder should be committed, but that’s just nitpicking. You buy into the premise, you take what you get.
It’s a well-cast film. Bateman surprised me a great deal. When I heard he was to be in this movie, I assumed he’d be one of the bosses, because he’s lately played so many smarmy jerks. But not here – here, he’s the sensible one, and he gets some of the best lines in the movie. Delivery is flawless. Sudeikis I could do without, but he does add some smarm of his own, thus offsetting Nick’s niceness rather neatly. But for me the best was Charlie Day, who’s best known for his role on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. He’s a manic panic and a true comic find. I hope this turns out to be a bit of a breakout role for him.
The bosses are also interestingly cast. I mean, I always pictured Aniston as a goody two-shoes. That’s the image, right? The good girl who meets cute with someone? Oh, not here. So not here. Here she’s about as X rated as you can get. And she’s stunningly good at it, too. Doesn’t even feel like she’s playing a role. Spacey is essentially playing the same role he had in Swimming with Sharks, only even nastier, and of course he’s up to the task. Farrell gets the short end of the stick; he gets limited screen time, but that’s okay.
Horrible Bosses offers plenty of madcap fun at an R-rated level without stooping to poop jokes. A nice switch, wouldn’t you say? I mean, it’s not Henry V, but at least it’s not Freddy Got Fingered. It’s at the right intelligence level – you can veg out and enjoy it without feeling the least bit ashamed.
Horrible Bosses: ***
Look! Another hot chick! Coincidence, I assure you. Image from letsnottalkaboutmovie.blogspot.com
I was interested in seeing this movie not just because I wanted to know how it all began but because I was already emotionally invested in the series, having seen four X-Men movies just in the past decade or so. That’s how Hollywood is getting you nowadays, you know. Make a big movie, then make a sequel, then a prequel, then a spin-off, all designed to keep you coming back, because you know each character and recognize a bit of yourself in them as well. Here, you have the dark side (Magneto) and the light side (Professor X) – much like Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars films, right? A classic setup.
We learn that Erik, later to become Magneto, is a concentration-camp survivor who saw his mother shot to death when he could not perform his extrasensory powers to the camp commandant under duress. Now he is out to find that commander, some twenty years later. Alternatively, Charles is a ladies’ man who’s also exceedingly bright, working on a theses about genetics. He’s a telepath and wishes to learn more about genetic mutations. His childhood friend Raven has her own mysterious powers – in her true form she is entirely blue with red hair, a striking if possibly unwelcoming figure.
The unifying agent that brings Erik (Michael Fassnbender) and Charles (James McAvoy) together is one Sebastian Shaw, played by an oily Kevin Bacon. Shaw’s plan is to get the US and the USSR to declare war on one another, thus wiping each other out, thus (apparently) leaving only mutants, who shall inherit the Earth. Erik wants to kill Shaw; Charles simply wants to stop him. They’re consistently at odds with each other as they recruit other mutants to their cause in 1962, even as Charles helps Erik break down his own barriers to harness his powers.
This gets the CIA involved (Rose Byrne), and then there’s a well-done standoff at the US-USSR blockade showdown (you know, the Bay of Pigs) that tests the wills of everyone involved. I liked that; good action.
A recurring theme in the X-Men movies is the battle between being who you are (i.e., a mutant) and being accepted by society (i.e., a mutant who looks like everyone else). It’s not hard to draw a comparison between being a mutant and being “different.” Do you want to just fit in, or do you want to be your own person? Raven, aka Mystique (played to perfection by Jennifer Lawrence) isn’t sure, either. Neither are some of the other mutants, leading to a schism that would later show up in each of the other films.
First Class isn’t really anything special, but it’s pleasing to the eye (both in effects and in cast choice) and keeps true to its familiar characters. It fits in fairly seamlessly with the other films. It’s easy to follow, of course, and the cast does a very fine job. McAvoy seems to be getting better with each role (good thing, because he was one terrible actor when he started); Fassbender, Lawrence, even January Jones (as Emma Frost) are fine as well.
X-Men: First Class: ***
Frothy Ruminations
