The 2008 Movie Genre of the Month Club

[ZapRowsdower]

Dick Tracy (1990, Warren Beatty)

I thought this was really good, actually. It's kind of like a cartoonish film noir, with its bright colors and over-the-top characters. And I can't believe I'm saying this a second time, but Madonna was excellent in this film. She made a very good femme fatale. Great work by Warren Beatty, too. Al Pacino hammed it up a bit, but I suppose that was called for. Danny Elfman's score was fantastic, as were Stephen Sondheim's songs. 8/10

[Heineken Skywalker]

HELLBOY (2004)

A baby demon is rescued from the Nazis near the end of WWII and is raised by a human. He grows up, Ron Perlman is perfectly cast as the adult Hellboy, and along with a couple of other superpowered beings, is part of a paranormal group that fights the forces of darkness. A kind of X-MEN meets GHOSTBUSTERS.
On my initial viewing, I was a little disappointed, but I've grown to like this one a little more with each viewing, mostly because of Perlman's performance. He brings some real charm and dry wit to the role, under a ton of makeup, which may not have been the case had a lesser actor played the part. (The studio originally wanted Vin Diesel for the role, but luckily, director Guillermo Del Toro, convinced them to go with Perlman.)

7/10

THE INCREDIBLE HULK (2008)

From a red anti-hero in Hellboy, to a green one in The Hulk.

One thing that this Hulk movie immediately has over the Ang Lee version, is that it doesn't have to retell The Hulk's origin. It's all recapped pretty quickly in the opening moments and then we're off and running and into this story. I enjoyed a lot of the Lee version, but there really was way too much dwelling on Banner's past and his "daddy issues".
This film is almost as much a big screen version of the Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno 70's tv series as it is an adaptation of the comic book. There are many references and homages to the series: from clever cameos by both stars to a bit of the familiar ending theme music from the series that is played during one scene, and several others, but most importantly, the plot device of having Banner on the run, taking different jobs, all the while trying to find a cure, is right out of the show.
People who complained that the first movie was too slow will probably enjoy this one more as it really is a lot more action-packed. But luckily, it doesn't do that at the cost of dumbing down the movie just to satisfy the "explosion crowd".
It's a good summer popcorn flick, with great actors like Ed Norton, William Hurt and Tim Roth, great effects, a decent plot, and a villain who can give The Hulk a real fight.
It's no IRON MAN, but Marvel should be proud of their one-two summer punch.
"Hulk smash!", indeed.

8/10

MEN IN BLACK (1997)

Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones star as agents of a secret organization who monitor extra-terrestrial activity and police it whenever necessary. Jones is the seasoned veteran and Smith is the new recruit and both actors are first-rate. Also hilarious is Rip Torn as their supervisor.
Besides the great cast, you get a tight, fast-paced action comedy, and spectacular visual effects, of both the CGI and special make-up varieties.
I've probably seen this one about 5 or 6 times, but Tommy Lee Jones is so deadpan and matter-of-fact about every weird or bizzare occurrence, that it still makes me laugh. I wish more summer popcorn movies were of this caliber.
Speaking of that, skip the sequel. All of the effects with none of the heart or humor.

9/10

[slayrrr666]

Conan the Barbarian-1982
This actually wasn't all that bad and was certainly a lot better than I had hoped it would be as it's not my kind of film at all. Doesn't have a lot of action scenes, but what's here is great. From the assault on the fortress to rescue the daughter to the first encounter when he gets found out amongst the crowd during the ceremony, it's all pretty good, Of course, the final confrontation is spectacular, filled with tons of gore the way I like and plenty of spectacle. Gets a little overlong at times abd the story for me is a little hard to get into but so what, the fighting here is enough for me not to care. I liked it.
9/10

[slayrrr666]

Batman Returns-1992
I have to say, having never seen one of these before, this one wasn't all that bad. Some of the references to the first film, which is the only one I'd seen until yesterday and don't remember too much about, took awhile to register and I missed some of the film trying to remember, but luckily I caught all of the action, which works for me. From the fist-fight in the streets with the Penguin Army to the brawls with Catwoman and the spectacular finale, this one wasn't all that terrible. The Gothic undertones played well into Burton's past and made the excrutiatingly long running time go a little smoother, just wish they would've dropped that lame subplot about the Penguin siding with humanity, didn't really care for it. Otherwise, this was fun.
8.5/10

Batman Forever-1995
Now, this was more like it. None of the other film's mistakes, this one substites that for full-on action, and I had a blast because of it. Tons of fighting in here, things blowing up and getting destroyed, which is what I covet in these kinds of films, a for-once imposing villain, really nice comedy with The Riddler's jokes and Batman and Alfred tend to play off each other with ribbing friendliness, leading to some pretty decent one-liners between them. Even though it does get a little much toward the middle with all the characters coming in (this one probably should've cut down on a couple without being too different) it's still so much fun that I can look past it.
9/10, though I would give it a 9.5 if it had done something else in the middle segment

[ZapRowsdower]

Quick question about the rules...

It has to be a film that has seen a theatrical release, but I just finished watching The Adventures of Captain Marvel, which was a film serial that saw a theatrical release. Does it count?

I didn't know it was a serial until after I read the slip the DVD came in from Netflix. I hope it does... I did watch the whole thing.

Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941, John English; William Witney)

At 3 1/2 hours, it's obvious this was designed to watch in small doses. Still, it's easy to see why George Lucas and Steven Spielberg loved these serials so much. Sitting through 3 1/2 straight hours of it grew tiresome, and I eventually had to take a break. Based on a comic book that, through legal issues is now ironically licensed by DC Comics, Captain Marvel is about Billy Batson, who on an archeological dig is granted the power to transform into Captain Marvel. While the character itself can be considered a knock-off of Superman (explaining DC's legal action), the story itself seems more along the lines of Superman meets Indiana Jones. And unlike the Superman movies, Billy doesn't simply remove his glasses to transform. Billy doesn't even wear glasses. Oh, no. Billy changes actors when he transforms. I thought that was interesting. For its time, the effects were excellent - probably state-of-the-art back in 1941. I'm not entirely sure if this will count towards my score, but it WAS shown in theaters, and put together it made a complete story. Not to mention it's an important piece of film history. Not only was it among the many serials that went on to inspire Star Wars and Indiana Jones, but it's also the first time a "superhero" was seen on film. So that's my case for it. And one more thing: SHAZAM! 8/10

[Heineken Skywalker]

Nope, sorry Zap, doesn't count.







Naah, just messin' with you. ;D
It's all good. You watched the whole thing, and it was originally shown in theaters, so it definitely counts. If you'd only watched one episode I'd have to say, "nice try".
So you'd never heard of Captain Marvel before this? He was a major superhero back in the day, with only Superman as his main comics competition, and is still merchandised to this day. There was even a really campy and cheesey live-action Saturday morning series in the 70's.
There's been talk of a big screen big budget feature for a few years now, so we'll probably see Marvel performing derring-do on the silver screen again.
Read more here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Marvel_%28DC_Comics%29

[ZapRowsdower]

I've heard of Captain Marvel, but I thought he would have been associated with Marvel Comics... You know, because of the name. When I read he was licensed by DC, I just thought that was kind of funny.

[Heineken Skywalker]

Jun 26, 2008 9:39:00 GMT -5 ZapRowsdower said:

I've heard of Captain Marvel, but I thought he would have been associated with Marvel Comics... You know, because of the name. When I read he was licensed by DC, I just thought that was kind of funny.

Marvel Comics has their own Captain Marvel too, so you're partially right.
Read the Wikipedia link for more info about that as well.

[LivingDeadGirl]

American Splendor 7/10- Based on the comic strip by Harvey Pekar, played by Paul Giamatti in another good performance. This is one I've had on my "to watch" list for awhile but had just never got around to watching. I liked it more than Ghost World, and loved the interaction between the real people and the actors that were playing them.

[ZapRowsdower]

Wanted (2008, Timur Bekmambetov)

Are you ready to suspend a shitload of disbelief? Are you ready to ignore every science, especially physics? Are you ready for a kick-ass action film that defies logic in every way imaginable? If you like to do this pesky little thing called "thinking", that is one thing you don't necessarily want to do while watching this movie. But I can't tell you to stay away from it. One, because I get the feeling it's supposed to be that way. And two, fuck it. I wouldn't take it any other way. The action scenes are intense and bad-ass (even if they overuse the slow-motion). James McAvoy's accent never, and I do mean NEVER slips through. He acts in accents that are not his native accent. He ACTS. And doesn't lose the accent when he does it. That is very impressive. And Angelina Jolie... smokin' hot. And she's a good actress, too. 8/10

[Pulpmariachi]

Is the movie as weird as the comic? A friend showed me the graphic novel awhile back and, I shit you not, there's a bad guy in there who is made up of the excrement of some of history's most diabolical men (Hitler, Stalin, Bonaparte, etc.).

[ZapRowsdower]

I didn't see that in the movie.

It's not the "stylistic" kind of ridiculous from Sin City, but it's more along the lines of last year's Shoot 'Em Up.

[Bartwald]

Saw Wanted, too. And was actually surprised it's not as bad as I thought it should be (after having watched the trailer) - the acting is fine, the action scenes do take the breath away, the soundtrack's properly energetic, the plot is... well, the plot is rather silly, to be honest, but should we care in case of a movie like this? 7/10

[Heineken Skywalker]

PERSEPOLIS (2007)

Marji Statrapi's autobiographical animated film, based on her graphic novel, about growing up in 1970's Iran.
Dramatic and touching with a sometimes dark sense of humor.
Scores points for originality and was one of the nominees for 2007's Best Animated Feature, but was definitely not better than the winner, RATATOUILLE.

7/10

[ZapRowsdower]

Batman Returns (1992, Tim Burton)

"Bruce Wayne... Why you dressed up as Batman?"

One of the saddest things about the two films that followed (I mean, aside from Joel Schumacher's involvement and "Holy rubber nipples, Batman!") is that Selina Kyle never again made an appearance, even though the ending of this film seemed to promise we haven't seen the last of her. Danny DeVito played an unforgettable Penguin (which was helped by Stan Winston's incredibly make-up work), but Catwoman was the most intriguing aspect of this film. In fact, I may go as far as to say she was the lead character in this film, even more than Batman himself. Her character seemed to be the most conflicted - as well as one of the most tragic characters I've ever seen in a comic book film. This film was undeniably sillier than the first (the killer penguins were a bit much), but the most tragic thing about it was that this was the final glimpse of what could have been a great, prosperous series had Schumacher not screwed it up. Thank God for Christopher Nolan. Now Batman's got another chance. 8/10