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Post by ZapRowsdower on Jun 11, 2008 16:13:58 GMT -5
Men in Black (1997, Barry Sonnenfeld)
A clever, often hilarious sci-fi. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones work off each other very well. I have not yet seen the sequel, but I'm hearing less-than-impressive things about it. Too bad - this one was very good. 8/10
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Post by LivingDeadGirl on Jun 13, 2008 16:01:49 GMT -5
Satellite has been showing a lot of comic book movies lately so this past week I caught Fantastic Four and Batman Begins while I was waiting for my other movies to come in from Netflix.
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Post by ZapRowsdower on Jun 13, 2008 18:38:37 GMT -5
The Incredible Hulk (2008, Louis Leterrier)
From what I read in the reviews, those who did not like this one thought the first one was great. Those who loved this one hated the first one. What do I think? Well... it's difficult to tell. As far as comic book movies THIS year go, Iron Man is better, and the Dark Knight is sure to kick both their asses. Between the two Hulks... See, I'm part of the minority who thought Ang Lee's 2003 movie was actually pretty good. The writers should have spent less time on the exposition and more time on Hulk smashing, but I liked it enough. In fact, I was a little disappointed when I learned they were going to reboot the franchise with this one. I mean, God, it wasn't THAT bad. From me, that one got a 7/10. This one goes the complete opposite direction: less talky, more smashy. Bruce doesn't wait an hour before transforming into the Hulk, he does so several times. I miss Eric Bana (I thought he was great in the first movie), but Ed Norton doesn't disappoint. Actually, Liv Tyler is really, really good, too. And Tim Roth made a great bad guy, I must say. Now take this however you want, but there is very little exposition in relation to the other film. The experiment that turns Bruce into the Hulk is all shown during the super-stylistic opening credits. By the time the movie actually starts, you know there was an experiment, something went wrong, and Banner had to go away. So he starts in the favelas (slums) of Brazil. This allows the film to explore different points of Banner's life. Most of what we do learn gets established later on in the movie. Which is fine by me. I'm sure most of us don't want to watch an hour of Banner mixing chemicals and bouncing animal crackers on Liv Tyler's tummy. Just say "Banner was a scientist" and show quick little flashback sequences of Liv Tyler's face. Good work there. Action is sweet. The effects were an improvement. And I applauded somewhere towards the end of the climax. You'll see why. 8/10
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Post by slayrrr666 on Jun 14, 2008 10:26:44 GMT -5
One quick question before the usual post: Does either of the Conan films count? I don't know if they are, but they're coming on TV this week and want to make sure that, since I'm scheduling around to see them, they'll count.
Blade-1998
Even though I really like this one, there's only one part of this that I really enjoy: the opening in the dance club. The song is pretty catchy, the raining blood is awesome-looking and the fight amidst the bathroom is full-on fun. Yes, there's more great stuff throughout the film (the confrontation with that fat vampire in the bathrub that he kills with UV light, the fight in the basement and the final confrontation) are all really fun, though most of them are robbed by that annoying ability of action films to cut between thirty thousand camera angles in a four second sequence, making it impossible to tell what's going on, and they happen during the parts you really want to see, making them all the more irritating. All in all, it's all right for the genre but there's much better ones.
8/10
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Jun 14, 2008 10:56:27 GMT -5
One quick question before the usual post: Does either of the Conan films count? I don't know if they are, but they're coming on TV this week and want to make sure that, since I'm scheduling around to see them, they'll count. Good question. Even though the CONAN films are really based on the Robert E. Howard novels, Marvel Comics had been publishing CONAN comic books for years and years, before there was ever a movie. And they do reference the comics a couple of times in the films too. And I'm pretty sure that most of the younger fans who flocked to that first CONAN film, myself and all my buddies included, knew the character from the comics more than the novels. So, I'm going to go ahead and say, yeah, the CONAN films can count as comic-based. A word of caution, you mentioned you're going to catch these on TV. I hope that, especially the first one, CONAN THE BARBARIAN, will be unedited. It's an R-rated film and with good reason. Lots of slicing, dicing, hacking, stabbing, bloodletting and dismemberment, not to mention nudity. An edited version would completely neuter the character and his first big screen appearance. The second film on the other hand, CONAN THE DESTROYER, I think was either PG or PG-13 and it pretty much sucks. A completely watered-down version of the first film and not at all what I, or pretty much anybody else, wanted from a CONAN movie. If you were going to watch it on AMC or one of the other channels that show edited films, do yourself a favor and rent the film unedited instead. If you have Netflix or a Blockbuster membership, rent the R-rated version. Knowing your love of blood, nudity and action on film, I guarantee you'll prefer the unedited version much more. But then, I'll always recommend the unedited version of any film over the ad-filled, edited version. Cheers! |
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Post by slayrrr666 on Jun 15, 2008 10:12:36 GMT -5
I didn't even know about the novels at all, I thought that there must've been something in the rules that it would've counted towards. But nice to know my scheduling is going to work. And don't worry about the violence and nudity, it's covered: Free Preview of Cinemax.  |
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Jun 16, 2008 11:06:55 GMT -5
THE CROW (1994)
Brandon Lee plays Eric Draven, a musician who, thanks to a mysterious crow, comes back from the dead with supernatural powers, to avenge his and his fiancee's brutal murders.
One of the better comic adaptations, of the dozens made, between Burton's BATMAN and Singer's X-MEN. One of the greatest rock-based soundtracks to boot.
8.5/10
BATMAN BEGINS (2005)
Fantastic origin story about how Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) transformed himself into the Dark Knight. Other than being a little too long, it's pretty damn good.
Gets better with each viewing and I'm knocking its score up slightly.
9/10
Watching THE CROW and BATMAN BEGINS back-to-back, I couldn't help but think about Heath Ledger as the Joker in the upcoming THE DARK KNIGHT. Both Ledger and Lee are playing comic book characters that wear clownish makeup, they were both young actors one the verge of superstardom thanks to these roles, and they both died tragically and unexpectedly. Very sad.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Jun 17, 2008 10:05:46 GMT -5
Cemetery Man-1994
I've seen this one before and reviewed it already, but saw it again for two reasons: it's kicking off a massive viewing of zombie movies (premiers of some stuff off TV plus I need to wrinkle out some in my collection) and it counts for the contest, so why not. Not all that big on this one at all, it just doesn't feel like it wants to be a horror film. That's one of the single most detrimental flaws I can find in a film: where a film is so clearly something but pretends to be something else in order to get away from the stigma attached to it. This is a horror film about zombies awakening in a small-town cemetery and the caretaker trying to keep them in line, but all that existensial nonsense that keeps popping up is so retarded and lame it knocks the film down considerably. Falci is nude, and often, so it stays interesting, but I've seen better nudity in better films, so it cancels out in a way. Relevant for zombie fans, so give it a shot anyway.
5/10
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Jun 17, 2008 15:21:10 GMT -5
An update. The scores for this month so far.
June: COMIC BOOKS & GRAPHIC NOVEL ADAPTATIONS
Heineken Skywalker = 6
Slayrrr666 = 4
ZapRowsdower = 4
LivingDeadGirl = 4
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Post by ZapRowsdower on Jun 18, 2008 3:45:31 GMT -5
Annie (1982, John Huston)
A little underrated if you ask me, and I gotta say the Razzie voters should be ashamed of themselves for voting Aileen Quinn worst actress of the year. For a little girl, she was actually pretty good. It's not by any stretch a great movie, but I thought it was pretty entertaining, and those songs are all catchy. I even sat through some of the credits so I could hear "Tomorrow" again... I know, it's a played-out song, but it's catchy all the same. 7/10
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Post by LivingDeadGirl on Jun 18, 2008 18:15:36 GMT -5
Ghost World (2001) 6/10 Based on the graphic novel by Daniel Clowes, starring Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson and Steve Buscemi. Two recent high school graduates try to figure out what they want to do with their lives, when a practical joke leads one of them to an unexpected relationship (Buscemi). Not bad, a little slow and draggy at times, but some good performances all around. Not the kind of movie I would normally watch, except maybe for the fact that Buscemi is in it, so this is one I would've missed if not for this thread. 
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Post by ZapRowsdower on Jun 19, 2008 18:40:08 GMT -5
The Rocketeer (1991, Joe Johnston)
Wow, what an underrated movie. I'm surprised it didn't make more than it did. I loved its 1930's serial feel. I enjoyed Bill Campbell's performance, and Alan Arkin as well as Jennifer Connelly were two welcome additions. And I thought Timothy Dalton was just downright brilliant. The effects weren't bad for its time, and the set design was perfect. I found it thoroughly enjoyable, and more people should definitely give it a look. 9/10
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Post by slayrrr666 on Jun 20, 2008 10:09:43 GMT -5
The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer-2007
I actually liked this one a whole lot. My kind of film: non-stop action with some really nice scenes. The initial chase through the cities of the world is incredible, the confrontation in the woods is pretty good if a little brief and the water park scene is servicible. The final confrontation, though, is just great with plenty of insane stunts, a fantastic idea and a pretty decent wrap-around idea. The comedy from them switching powers was pretty good, and The Thing definitely made me laugh during his scenes. Really only suffers from some of the worst CGI I've ever seen, right up there with the Sci-Fi Channel Creature Feature levels. Other than that, I had a fun time with it.
9/10
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Jun 21, 2008 8:55:41 GMT -5
ICHI THE KILLER (2001)
Well, what can I say except, "Now that, was some fucked up shit.".
Gets points for creativity and the fact that it was never boring, but not really my thing. The "made me wince" factor was very high in this one, but that's not necessarily fun or entertaining for me. I guess I expected more of a Yakuza gangster film and less of a torture porn flick. If however, stuff like HOSTEL and SAW are to your liking, this might be more up your alley.
5/10
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Jun 21, 2008 9:06:52 GMT -5
Ghost World (2001) 6/10 Not the kind of movie I would normally watch, except maybe for the fact that Buscemi is in it, so this is one I would've missed if not for this thread. The Rocketeer (1991, Joe Johnston) Wow, what an underrated movie. I found it thoroughly enjoyable, and more people should definitely give it a look. 9/10 Ironically, I enjoyed GHOST WORLD way more than LDG did, and ROCKETEER a bit less than Zap did. Love the sarcasm and wit of GHOST WORLD more than some other recent indie "darlings" like LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE and JUNO. Thought ROCKETEER was a cute movie, but not much more. Jennifer Connelly was just stunning looking in that one though. |
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