Movie Reviews & More
Ghost World (2000)
Thora Birch, Steve Buscemi, and a relatively unknown Scarlett Johansson star in this peculiar movie that is about self imposed paranoia and how projecting fears on your friends can tear you life apart.
I didn’t completely get this movie. Thora and Scarlett are two young girls who do a string of random things after the graduate from high school, two dark goth like girls. But as the movie progresses, Birch stays dark for apparent reason and Scarlett moves on to responsibility and a job. Birch falls for Buscemi, a self professed geek, during a wretched prank gone awry. But by the end of the movie she has sabotaged the relationships with every person she cares about because she is too scared and confused to let them get too close to realize that she is just as fake as those she professed daily to hate.
A weird movie, I thought this was just ok. More about teen angst than any deeper concept. I wouldn’t recommend this movie to many people, unless you have a thing for either of these two young actresses. I watched it because I heard it was vaguely related to comics, a fleeting reference in dress up to Catwoman when Birch finds a cat like mask at a local sex shop. Pass on this one though unless you’re in the mood.
Batman Begins (2005)
AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!
Awesome!
The reviews are out there, and most of the critics are saying, “This is the Batman film we have all been waiting for.” That seems to be the battle cry, and I couldn’t have said it any better myself.
What does this movie hold for you? What if you aren’t a Batman fan, especially after the horrid Joel Schumacher films? Well, this story, stands alone. The story is self sufficient, and, oh, it happens to be a superhero.
Where do I start, I was sweating in the theater. The detail, the explanation, to realism, the action, and the suspense, articulate and well planned, Batman Begins has been worth the 8 years we’ve been waiting. A good script by an oft kilter director, Chris Nolan (Momento), makes a nearly perfect film.
Warning! I am going to include everything, down to spoilers. Don’t read on if you don’t want to know.
Batman is my favorite. Here is a mix of fantasy, but it is dependently intertwined with the idea that this is a real man. A man who is angry and his only super power is his amazing wealth and knowledge, and the drive to make himself better than the rest. I loved Batman, and seem to be the only person on the planet who liked Batman Returns the best (to date) because it was so dark and violent. Batman isn’t shiny kids, he isn’t a laughing, “Oh, I’m so unsure and poor” Spiderman type. This is real, this is dark, and it is as close as a reflection of real like and apathy that a movie goer can expect in a movie of the genre.
So, not to take away from Tim Burton. Michael Keaton, nails the quirkiness and the demeanor in the Batsuit. However, does not have the stature to be intimidating, and doesn’t play the handsome womanizing version of Bruce Wayne the shell well at all. Come on, Keaton? Hot? Christian Bale. Nails every aspect. Great looking great stature, anger and rage boiling at the surface, and can pull of humor and intelligence that the shallow Bruce Wayne facade needs to cover up his nightly activities.
The rest of the cast is sublime. Michael Caine plays the part of Alfred so well, and has deeper, richer things to say because of such a great script. Lucious Fox, Bruce Wayne’s right hand financial man in the comics. In this movie, has a scientific background as well as a corporate knowledge of the Wayne Enterprises. This was a satisfactory divergence from the story, like everything else, it makes sense.
Carmine Falcone played by Tom Wilkinson, eh, not so much. Seemed hardly believable, but not terrible. Ken Wantabe and actually, (Spoiler) Liam Neelson as Ra’s Al Ghul, a great translation. Ra’s Al Ghul is not a well know character, but he is Batman’s equal. In the beginning you believe that he dies, and as a fan, you are furious. It shouldn’t have been that easy. Bale is training in some remote location in the mountains, with ninjas and shadow warriors, but when his ideals cross with theirs, his extradition is sudden and logical and we believe Ghul is a casualty. But we find out later, that he is just as intelligent as the comics, and things are not what they seem. Bale pulls out his mentor in his training, Neelson, only to find out he is really Ghul later in the story. But again, a logical translation from the sinister mind that lives in the mountains, older than time that is kept alive by boiling lava pits called “The Lazarus Pits”. Insane but highly skilled, he knew Batman’s secret and could match him in every way. So, smart mentor of the shadow people, good translation.
We are to the villain. Everyone complains about how the focus was on the villains in the other movies. Well, that is not the case in this one. Cillian Murphy, perfect, actually, the second best casting in the movie only to Bale. The piercing murderous eyes, and the unforgiving and unrelenting nature that allows his natural revealing of his dark side the Scarecrow in the blink of an eye.
Jonathan Crane, a psychologist and scientist in the comics, was also hard for me to understand how he would translate. I think that Nolan kept scenes with him out of the previews for a reason. For all the geeks, this was the best part. Crane was a villain with the power that he deserved, without so much as a flinch, nearly killing an inexperienced Batman in one of the opening scenes. How? By lighting him on fire. And oh, well, scaring the crap out of him and the whole theater. What a perfect translation of his fear toxin. An weaponized hallucinogenic found in a rare plant in the same mountains where Batman trained. You will be scared in how they did the sequences here, some of the nice complimenting CG work that is done in the film. But not to worry. It is just the toxin and a cloth mask that most victims seem maggots crawling through. It isn’t the cheesy, outdated scarecrow like costume that we find in the books.
Gary Oldman does a perfect James Gordon, but Katie Holmes, well, she’s just there. I have read that people think he lines are forced and awkward, I didn’t see that too much. She does a nice job of being an intelligent entity, not like these other girls that take the whole movie to realize, oh crap, he’s Batman and can never be had / be too close too / has too many demons blah blah blah. But still, he performance, not so moving.
The overall theme of this movie, and why it stands on it’s own, is the relative realism. In a day and age where movie goers need to relate to their films, this one is set in a realistic modern city, a necessary translation from the gothic dark Gotham of old. Every one of Bruce Wayne’s actions, emotions, and tools is explained. Nothing is left to chance. We empathize with the pain he bears of losing his parents, the lengths he guest to train himself to understand a criminal, and rid himself of fear. Nolan goes through great lengths to help us understand all of his gadgetry, his costume, even how he orders it without anyone knowing.
The whole film is just real. There isn’t a high gloss to things. All of the equipment is homemade for Batman. Heck, the lighted symbol is just thrown together and is blurry in the sky. The buildings look like a modern metropolis, down to the Batmobile, and that is a whole other paragraph.
Other than other little things I saw in previews, I was most nervous about the Batmobile. I really liked the mobile from the Burton universe, and hated the one from Schumacher. (Why did he even change it? To be more gay?) But, all I kept hearing was, the whole story is a translation of Year One and The Dark Knight Returns. The Batmobile is from “Returns”. I was like, ok, but does it fit that story because otherwise, who cares. It does, hands down. Why have a pretty crime fighting car, when you can have a car that is military in style, drive over anything, and get busted the hell up. He needs to get the job done, and we never see any sort of intense scene with the Batmobile, unless you count when it gets taken over in “Returns”.
I am jumping all over the place, but there is so much to talk about. This movie is about Batman and his elemental essence. He does some quips, but he shouldn’t be talking too much. He is a hero of action. But Bale is scary, and does a nice growl in his voice. It is an adjustment, Keaton may have had the best voice but it isn’t corny or cheesy like I read around the internet. There is a scene with a corrupt cop hanging from the building that apart from the dropping him 20 stories, I would have been scared enough talking to him to let the cat out of the bag.
I also have read a lot about the action sequences being unclear. I don’t really get this. To me, Batman works efficiently. He gets guys in the shadows, takes them out silently, uses the dark to his advantage as well as the fear. The fighting does that just fine. It doesn’t seem scripted like the last two did, and even though the fighting isn’t street, it isn’t highly polished nin-jitsu either. It is the stuff to get it done.
Like I said earlier, the movie escalates. You have the first half of the movie being the build up back story with the shiny city, and then the second half you have dirty Gotham, with the steam and the homeless people in their rundown buildings. The end sequence in most fitting, as Gotham’s water supply is contaminated with fear toxins and is being vaporized by a microwave military weapon, the whole atmosphere is dark and eerie. The citizens of Gotham are running scared on fear gas, and there is this demonic feel, fear at every turn.
What can I say. I can’t logically review this movie. This is what is has in bullet points;
- Great Translation of the classic characters
- Nearly perfect Casting
- Great script, lines, story, and plot
- Realism and Empathy
- Real time action with a nice mix of CG
- Emotion
But in the end, will it appeal to everyone. I hope so. We need it to do well, and to keep Bale and Nolan together for a whole bunch more of these with the same dedication that Sam Raimi has to the Spiderman franchise. I don’t think that everyone will quite get it, and not nearly in this way.
But what I would say is, don’t be scared off by the old versions. This is worth your money and should start to erase bad memories. It is a great story, and it happens to be about Batman. Everyone should give it a try.
Awesome Awesome movie. Thank you Chris Nolan.
And Chip. I hope you like this when you see it. I know I hated the gloss and corniness that was Spiderman 1, and I don’t know about “Show not Tell” but I think this movie did a good job of showing more than telling. I just hope you really appreciate this movie for how great it is.
Club Dread (2004)
I am glad this was a free movie from the library. This was one of the stupidest movies I had ever seen. Club Dread couldn’t make up it’s mind about being a comedy, a college party, or a slasher movie. Either choice, it stunk. From the Broken Lizard film company with Bill Paxton, this is the follow up offering to Super Troopers, a movie that with the right audience could be funny.
But this movie was so terrible, and this is why. Acting that wasn’t good, and wasn’t funny at being bad, this movie goes from one bad joke about acid or sex to another. I don’t have anything else to say, no one should watch this.
Kill Bill Vol.2 (2004)
I’ve been waiting to see this second part to Quentin Tarantino’s Kung Fu roots bloodbath two part series. In the first movie we see a bride killed at the alter with all of her wedding party by four assassins. She used to be an assassin, and was trying for a new life, but her former friends killed her in cold blood and now she is out for revenge. The first movie saw her kill two or three of the perps. Then at the end we find out that the baby she was carrying at the time of the event is still alive, and the guy who orchestreted it all, Bill, has her.
Vol. 2 was so much less campy violence, and more what I would call kung fu. There is a lot of slow sequences of back story, but they seem to be necessary for some point or another. Since Quentin was going for a certain effect, that is why the drama is drawn out. But this movie, two more people die, but not legions by a sword. A black mambo snake bites one guy in the face three times killing him, and another our lead character, the bride, Uma Thurman, kills by the exploding heart technique. She is the only assassin we find out that was taught this technique, and the whole group was taught by one teacher. Then there is one part that is kind of graphic, when Thurman plucks out the only good eye that Darryl Hannah has left.
So, Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Vivicia Fox, and others round out the cast for these two movies. It wasn’t a bad movie, I just wouldn’t watch it a bunch of times. But, there is one part that I have never seen before. Thurman gets buried alive, and you get to see her punch her way out of a flimsy coffin and dig herself out in a semi-humorous scene.
So, if you saw the first part you’ll like this. I can’t even say if you like Tarantino movies you’d like this, because he did such a different idea with these two movies that it’s not a guarantee you’ll see his old style here. But, it has some cool action scenes, so if you can handle campy over the top bloody violence, you may check these out.
Spiderman 3 Casting Rumors. Who are the villains?
Sometimes the anticipation and the secrecy is just as exciting as the actual movie when it comes to casting for Comic Book based movies.
This is no different for Spiderman 3. The rumors are not concrete. There are so many swirling around, from four villians, to maybe an appearance from the Black Cat, to Venom, and on and on.
Thomas Hayden Church = The Sandman?
Thomas Hayden Church, who I keep hearing was”that guy from Wings”, or for me more recently was in Sideways, was cast in March for Spiderman 3. The most popular rumor is that Hayden Church will be playing The Sandman, but it has also been said that he could play Venom, which although bold and has a fine line for failure, could be a huge payoff if done properly because of his popularity.
Venom, and alien symbiote that is almost liquid in form, is worn as a evil costume in the comics by Eddie Brock and eventually starts to take over his mind. Church really has the figure to play this role, but honestly, could they pull that off? That would be a ton of CG, it doesn’t seem like but yesterday that some of Spiderman’s scenes in the first film looked fake, and even one or two shots looked a little off of Alfred Molina as Doc Ock last year.
Hayden Church did say this in an interview(Entertainment Weekly). His statement is probably purposefully weird, and if I felt like researching into Spidey Villains, I might try to make more sense of it. But, it seems like it could fit into the theory of a Sandman character.
EW: After reminding the world he could really act in Sideways, the Oscar nominee will play an undisclosed, top secret villain in 2007’s Spider-Man 3. How about a hint?
THC: “He’s a horse of many colors.”
EW: There are horses in Spider-Man?
THC: “Let’s just say he’s an amorphous collection of protons, electrons, and neutrons, of different colors.”
Topher Grace = ?
Then, in May, Topher Grace of “That 70’s Show” fame was also cast for the upcoming movie. Having an especially hard time picturing Topher as a villian, I assumed he would play something else in the movie, some other role. But who? Honestly, would Mary Jane leave Peter for another love interest now? That wouldn’t make sense.
I have read rumors that he could play The Vulture but I have also read of Topher playing Sandman in the scenario that Church is playing Venom. Either way, the more I read around the internet, Sam Raimi has said that the next movie with have more special effects than the first two and the costumes for the Villians will just be amazing. So my initial idea of him being some regular joe is most likely way off base.
In the end, it’s just speculation. I wish it was more.
Yeah, ok. There is just so much they could do. One could argue that most of the villains mentioned couldn’t probably even carry a movie in motivation by themself, so two would really make sense. Plus, they introduced Curt Conners in the last movie as one of Peter’s professors. But will the one armed scientist be the stronest villian choice as The Lizard? Depending on motivation maybe, you have a story of Peter trying to save him, and some cool action scenes of him jumping and climbing all around. But, he would probably have to be all CG as well, so why not just do Venom then? Venom is a lot more popular.
I don’t know. Principal photography beings in January. I guess I will just have to concentrate on King Kong for now, and try to wait patiently. I will have a preview in the fall of Superman Returns to tide me over too.
Sin City (2005)
An All Star cast ranging from Bruce Willis and Jessica Alba to Clive Owen and Rosario Dawson, this movie isn’t lacking in stars. It also isn’t lacking in originality, with a large part of the movie having been shot on green screens and the backgrounds added in, the black and whites are rich and reflective, and the colors are so vibrant. This movie has a true comic book feel, with the graphic silhoutte shots, and the exaggeration in the fighting and car chases.
Having said that, I didn’t enjoy this movie. I have gone back and forth on why I feel let down. I knew going in that it was going to be close to an exact translation of three of Frank Miller’s bodies of work, Yellow Bastard, The Big Fat Kill, and Sin City (the graphic novel). I knew it was going to be violent, and although it was probably less than the novels, that isn’t saying much. The lack of color helps make it seem a little less gruesome, but the sounds more than make up for it.
Being an artist, I would hate to have my original ideas butchered just to be on the big screen. But at the same time, wouldn’t you want your work to be entertaining? I didn’t think this movie was that at all. I thought it felt long, and like I said, it was cool to see the comic book come to life. This is an extreme case where I don’t know how you could modify it even just a little to make it more entertaining. It just is a very dark, graphic story about the evils of booze, hookers, passion, and death.
If you are a comic book guy, see this, or you enjoy those types of movies. But this is graphic, and I don’t think really appeals to a mass audience. This movie is truly panel for panel from the comic book.
Fantastic Four (2005)
Mmm Boy. Well, now a days there seems to be a lot of positive buzz about comic book movies, but for every good one there seems to be at least one bad one. Fantastic Four isn’t bad per say, but isn’t isn’t great, which is too bad for such a group of well known characters.
The main problem with the movie is story and casting. No small thing, I know. I kind of wondered about Jessica Alba as Sue Storm, and I left the theater not really having noticed her. She seems too young, wanting to be a strong character but not really, only stronger than Reed Richards, and really only gives good performances when she is arguing with Johnny. Who does not look like her could ever be her brother. Not convincing in love, and really not convincing as some super intelligent M.I.T. grad. Bad choice.
Ioan Gruffield. You don’t know that name, unless you saw the lost Bruckheimer movie King Arthur. He played lancelot there, and he wasn’t very good. This isn’t any different. You see fleeting glimpses of Reed’s brilliance, but it isn’t convincing. His character Reed, never becomes a leader that the movie is trying to push, and although a weak argument, he doesn’t look the part. A couple of gray streaks really don’t do anything. Plus, him as an elastic man, those special effects look a little silly.
Ben Chiklis and especially Chris Evans as The Thing and Johnny Storm the Human Torch were good and perfect respectively. If you read around the internet, you will hear that The Thing was awkward, stumbling, and unbelievable in costume. I didn’t think he was bad, I think it would have been hard to do a non CG Thing, and they did a pretty good job. He had some pretty good fighting scenes, and some pretty good emotion trying to deal with the raw hand he had been dealt. Torch was perfect. Not to take away from Chris Evans, but I don’t think that role would be very hard. You act arrogant, you say the snappy lines, and you get the girls. But he does do the Torch to a T, and it is amazing to see that character come to life. They did an amazing job with the CG on that one.
Then, Julian McMahon for Dr. Doom. Who? You ask? Exacctttly. Just like is too common today, you get an unknown and count on them to take the film forward. That is true for most of the cast in this movie, relatively unknown at the very least. But it does show that star power doesn’t always pan out either, like Jessica Alba.
To a comic fan, it is all about the translation, the characters, and their stories. This movie has a lot to do with telling the stories with a cast of five completely different characters. But Bryan Singer did it so well with so many more in X-men, why couldn’t Tim Story (Barbershop Oy!) do it too? The middle of the movie deals with the characters waiting around for Reed Richards to finish a little pod that will turn them back to normal. Then, 3/4 of the movie in, Dr. Doom turns to complete metal and decides that the F4 are the reason that his commercial empire has crumbled and that he is going to kill them with government weapons. Not very creative or villainous, and really an injustice to such a feared and intelligent character.
Don’t get me wrong. I like to see the eye candy. I like to see the characters brought to life and see the vision of transforming them for a modern audience. That is a battle that can have an exciting payoff. But that is all this movie was. When done right like Batman, and you love the characters, a movie can come to life. This one just seems to have gone through the motions.
If you liked Road Trip, this is a lesser shell, with less depth, but has it’s own good qualities if you like these type of movies.
