A really short week gang, that jumps into many different levels of success. One is good, one is eh, one is great, and the other is abysmal. Work is keeping me busy, so the weeks may look more like this from now on. But I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading, whoever the hell you 10 are.
Dark Star (April 27th, 2014)
Director: John Carpenter
Starring: Brian Narelle, Carl Kuniholm, Dre Pahich, and Dan O'Bannon
John Carpenter may be my favorite director. The man I want to be more than any other, maybe Tarantino or Leone. So I've been looking for this, his first movie, for a while now. So having finally gotten a hold of a copy and watching it, I can say I'm glad I saw it but will probably never watch it again. It's a good first movie, essentially a student film stretched out with some good FX pre Star Wars. But there is a loose quality to the movie, barely feeling like a movie for the most part. Scenes happen and then it ends. It's got a weird little sense of humor and a game cast, but everyone is fresh and not really doing anything special. Even Carpenter shows his rookie side, though showing brief flashes of the man who knew how to perfectly use a camera. It's not a bad movie in any sense, it's just a light movie that kickstarted Carpenters career and Dan O'Bannon, the man who helped created Alien. If you're curious to see where Carpenter started, you won't be irritated.
Starring: Brian Narelle, Carl Kuniholm, Dre Pahich, and Dan O'Bannon
John Carpenter may be my favorite director. The man I want to be more than any other, maybe Tarantino or Leone. So I've been looking for this, his first movie, for a while now. So having finally gotten a hold of a copy and watching it, I can say I'm glad I saw it but will probably never watch it again. It's a good first movie, essentially a student film stretched out with some good FX pre Star Wars. But there is a loose quality to the movie, barely feeling like a movie for the most part. Scenes happen and then it ends. It's got a weird little sense of humor and a game cast, but everyone is fresh and not really doing anything special. Even Carpenter shows his rookie side, though showing brief flashes of the man who knew how to perfectly use a camera. It's not a bad movie in any sense, it's just a light movie that kickstarted Carpenters career and Dan O'Bannon, the man who helped created Alien. If you're curious to see where Carpenter started, you won't be irritated.
Rating: 6/10
Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm (April 28th, 2014)
Director: Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski
Starring: Kevin Controy, Dana Delaney, Hart Bochner and Mark Hamill
Bruce Timm and his crew have made a career out of making cartoons out of DC properties and making iconic versions of them and some of the best damn cartoons ever. And it all started with Batman: The Animated Series. Dominating TV for alittle over a year, they were allowed to make a big screen movie of the show. And they knocked the motherfucker out of the park. A bit darker and much more epic in scope than the show could have done, Mask is a murder mystery, noir and action movie rolled into one perfect fucking package. Seriously, I can't stress how good this damn movie is. Every aspect is great. The two stars of the show, the definitive portrayals of their respective characters, Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as Joker are legendary. They bring an amazing level of gravitas and dedication to add a lot of legitimacy to the proceedings. I'm not gonna talk about any plot stuff so as to keep it all fresh for anyone. A damn good flick that stands in stark contrast to another comic flick I watched this week.
Rating: 10/10
The Mummy (April 30th, 2014)
Director: Karl Freund
Starring: Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, Edward Van Sloan
Another good flick coming at you from the Universal monsters, this time in the form of The Mummy. It's got the same basic premise as the remake, but it's not an imbecilic yet enjoyable action movie. It's a low key horror as was the case in the old days, with the horror either being off screen or more existential. Karloff is his usual great self at bringing some humanity to what could be an empty vessel. The rest of the cast is really good too, specifically Johann who manages to stand out as a strong woman in a time dominated by men. This isn't the best movie Universal did with monsters, but it's a damn good time and a nice way to see how the genre progressed.
Rating: 8/10
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (May 2nd, 2012)
Director: Marc Webb
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx and Dane DeHaan
Where Mask of The Phantasm was a showcase for a group of creators who know and love the characters, this movie is a showcase for the opposite. A complete misunderstanding of the characters, lore, and just basic movie making. I honestly thought we were past the absolute mishandling of comic characters. This feels like it belongs in the 90s, fucking up the franchise the way Batman Forever/& Robin did. There is no plot. Jamie Foxx shows up as a new age version of The Riddler from Batman Forever, with the new skin of Electro. Electro is a nonsensical character with no believable motivations and no importance to the movie. Cut him out, the movie is almost exactly the same. Dane DeHaan is out at sea with a terribly written character and a performance that shows the director has no idea what to do. His turn into the Goblin is a joke and, again, makes no sense. The bullshit with Peters parents continues into this movie, making even less sense and just building to a bullshit reasoning for their actions. But the worst thing is, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone really work. Their chemistry is off the charts and they make the relationship work the same way they did in the first one. But the writing is so atrocious, they decide to make Peter into Superman from Superman Returns. He stalks Gwen. It's a fucking joke. Garfield is great as Spidey, but the way Peter is written he can't do anything to save it. The movie is a mess and the future of the series is bleak, since this whole damn thing was a commercial for the sequels. Hell, Paul Giamatti shows up for 5 minutes to set up the movies in the most blatant way possible. An absolute embarassment for the most part, skip at all costs. Lets hope Marvel gets him back at some point.
Rating: 4/10
Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm (April 28th, 2014)
Director: Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski
Starring: Kevin Controy, Dana Delaney, Hart Bochner and Mark Hamill
Bruce Timm and his crew have made a career out of making cartoons out of DC properties and making iconic versions of them and some of the best damn cartoons ever. And it all started with Batman: The Animated Series. Dominating TV for alittle over a year, they were allowed to make a big screen movie of the show. And they knocked the motherfucker out of the park. A bit darker and much more epic in scope than the show could have done, Mask is a murder mystery, noir and action movie rolled into one perfect fucking package. Seriously, I can't stress how good this damn movie is. Every aspect is great. The two stars of the show, the definitive portrayals of their respective characters, Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as Joker are legendary. They bring an amazing level of gravitas and dedication to add a lot of legitimacy to the proceedings. I'm not gonna talk about any plot stuff so as to keep it all fresh for anyone. A damn good flick that stands in stark contrast to another comic flick I watched this week.
The Mummy (April 30th, 2014)
Director: Karl Freund
Starring: Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, Edward Van Sloan
Another good flick coming at you from the Universal monsters, this time in the form of The Mummy. It's got the same basic premise as the remake, but it's not an imbecilic yet enjoyable action movie. It's a low key horror as was the case in the old days, with the horror either being off screen or more existential. Karloff is his usual great self at bringing some humanity to what could be an empty vessel. The rest of the cast is really good too, specifically Johann who manages to stand out as a strong woman in a time dominated by men. This isn't the best movie Universal did with monsters, but it's a damn good time and a nice way to see how the genre progressed.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (May 2nd, 2012)
Director: Marc Webb
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx and Dane DeHaan
Where Mask of The Phantasm was a showcase for a group of creators who know and love the characters, this movie is a showcase for the opposite. A complete misunderstanding of the characters, lore, and just basic movie making. I honestly thought we were past the absolute mishandling of comic characters. This feels like it belongs in the 90s, fucking up the franchise the way Batman Forever/& Robin did. There is no plot. Jamie Foxx shows up as a new age version of The Riddler from Batman Forever, with the new skin of Electro. Electro is a nonsensical character with no believable motivations and no importance to the movie. Cut him out, the movie is almost exactly the same. Dane DeHaan is out at sea with a terribly written character and a performance that shows the director has no idea what to do. His turn into the Goblin is a joke and, again, makes no sense. The bullshit with Peters parents continues into this movie, making even less sense and just building to a bullshit reasoning for their actions. But the worst thing is, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone really work. Their chemistry is off the charts and they make the relationship work the same way they did in the first one. But the writing is so atrocious, they decide to make Peter into Superman from Superman Returns. He stalks Gwen. It's a fucking joke. Garfield is great as Spidey, but the way Peter is written he can't do anything to save it. The movie is a mess and the future of the series is bleak, since this whole damn thing was a commercial for the sequels. Hell, Paul Giamatti shows up for 5 minutes to set up the movies in the most blatant way possible. An absolute embarassment for the most part, skip at all costs. Lets hope Marvel gets him back at some point.
- Tom Lorenzo
No comments:
Post a Comment