the dark knight review

it may have taken me almost a week to see what was THE most anticipated movie of my entire life - i was getting psyched for this thing the minute Batman Begins ended and every single bit of publicity and rumor i heard and saw about it over the course of the next few years did nothing but psyche me up even further - but i saw it. The Dark Knight.

and it was good.

the thing about hyped movies for me is that the more hyped they are, the more excited i get. the more excited i get, the more chance there is that i'm going to be let down. that's why i try to not let myself get too psyched up for a flick - i know that i'll most likely be let down. so i was SO psyched going in to The Dark Knight that i was SCARED. thankfully, it was good.

every bit as good as 2+ years of hype had led me to believe. and that's unbelievable.

this year has sure had some pure crap movies, and i maintain that 90% of what hollywood is shoveling out these days is crap, but The Dark Knight... wow. pure genius. the fact that it's making bank and breaking records - that America sees it for what it is: a GREAT FREAKING MOVIE - almost makes up for the fact that Meet the Spartans was the #1 movie the week it came out. ALMOST.

in this "review" i won't be spoiling too much (i'll be talking about wider strokes, not really too many specifics), but still, if you want to go in not knowing specifics, skip the next few paragraphs.

most of the following are excerpts from an email i sent to a friend a week after seeing the film:




***MINOR SPOILERS***




first minor complaint: there were so many characters to focus on, i think Bruce Wayne didn't get enough face time. i mean his story was that he might finally get to give up being Batman if Harvey Dent could become the white knight everyone wanted... but it just seemed a little thin. there could have been another scene or two just focusing on him.

second minor complaint: after the opening bank robbery scene (one of the best i've ever seen), the movie took a little bit for me to get into it. the "recap" (where they let us know what's been going on since we last saw these characters) was just a little too quick and neat for me. it was almost too tightly written, too sparse on details. however, it didn't last long and then soon i was dragged right into the world. i understand that the recap couldn't drag on too long because there was just so much more movie to come AFTER it, but it could have lingered a little longer.

...and that's pretty much it.

from the excellent portrayal of the Joker (maybe even the best, with Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns portrayal coming in second) to the story of Batman (the dark knight) and Harvey Dent/Two Face (the white knight) and the ending setting up the next movie - it just solidified what a good Batman story can be. and if they're out there, i want to read them now.




***END SPOILERS***




honestly, this was one of the most well written, acted, and directed movies i've ever seen. each scene topped the next one! i read in an interview that Nolan had SUCH a vision for the film that they only edited out like 10 minutes of footage. they didn't waste a drop! he knew what he wanted and he went for it. and it was near-perfect. maybe even perfect.

it's definitely my favorite superhero movie now (passing up Spider-Man 2 and Batman Begins) and yeah, i'm a little scared at how freaking good it was. i mean how can you pass it up - be it with Batman 3 or even any OTHER superhero movie to come? i guess you just try and realize that nothing will be as good as it and just go with it. some might think Spider-Man's morality stories are "silly" in comparison now, but Spider-Man 2 is still my second-favorite superhero movie - they're just different movies, by different crews. i guess that's how i have to approach superhero movies from now on. "to each their own."

speaking to this point, i watched the trailer from comic con for the new X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie and of COURSE it's going to be silly compared to The Dark Knight - however, it looked REALLY good (and i'm not a fan of Wolverine when he's on his own). so i guess i'm not too worried about comic book movies to come. i can take them on their own merits.

Batman 3 however has something to live up to. :)

i knew just how good DK was when i was sitting there watching the thing and said to myself "now i want to read the comics." seriously, this was the perfect Batman story.

the acting was SO good all around - Oldman, Caine, Ledger, Eckhart - that i think Bale got outshined, which was fine. and Heath Ledger. wow, what an actor. he truly embodied what the Joker really should be all about - chaos. and his X-rated portrayal in a PG-13 movie was unbelievable. he WAS the Joker. and it's just so sad we'll never get to see him again, in this or any other movie.

there's so much more i could say about the movie, but i think that's enough for now.

side note: why do you think the movie is making so much? i mean Batman Begins barely broke $150 mil at the box office. was it word of mouth after seeing Batman Begins? after seeing The Dark Knight? was it the advertising? did most people only see Begins on DVD? i think that could account for some of the popularity, but honestly it's got to be the fact that this is Heath Ledger's last performance. i swear, if it wasn't, the movie would probably be sitting at $50-100 mil less right now. i want to believe it's a testament to his great skills as an actor and not some morbid curiosity the public has to see his last performance. oh well. rant over.

The Dark Knight
4 stars out of 4

- best movie of 2008
- my favorite superhero movie so far
- one of my favorite movies of all time, period

it truly is a work of art.

-k

San Diego Comic Con - the panels wish list

the San Diego Comic Con is but a few days away. it's my first year attending. i don't think i've been this excited for an event in a long time. here are the panels that, if i had all the time in the world, i would like to see while there:

- spotlight on Steve Purcell, creator of Sam & Max, now part of the creative braintrust at Pixar.

- a few panels on science fiction writing (if you've been reading the blog, i've been on a sci fi kick the past several months).

- Halo Wars and the Halo Universe. what can i say, i'm a Halo fanboy. also, with the ball being dropped by Microsoft last week at E3, maybe something will slip out this week about the new Halo game Bungie's working on.

- Entertainment Weekly is sponsoring a few panels that feature "creative visionaries" in fields such as comics and movies. the comics one is going to have Mignola, Kirkman, and Morrison. the movies one is going to have Kevin Smith, Apatow, Frank Miller, and Zack Snyder.

- bunch of Star Trek panels.

- Episodic Games: Rewriting the Adventure Game. a panel about a rather new trend in video games. i'm interested because of the talent at the panel.

- a bunch of Marvel Comics panels, though not as many as i would have been interested in attending in the past. i'm just not reading that many mainstream comics nowadays.

- a bunch of television show panels that will feature some/all of the cast and creators/producers. shows include: The Big Bang Theory, 24 (with Kiefer!), Heroes, Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Office, Battlestar Galactica, and Chuck.

- spotlight on Max Brooks, author of World War Z (perhaps my favorite work of zombie fiction).

- one on one with Terry Moore, author of Strangers in Paradise, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, Echo, and Runaways. SiP has been over for a year now, but maybe he'll talk about it a little... however, i'm really going just to get some news on Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane.

- Watchmen (the movie) with the director and a bunch of the movie's stars. i'm psyched for this movie, since the director did 300 before this.

- a Spaced reunion, with the creators/cast. Spaced is one of my favorite shows of all time. from the guys that made Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. as good as those movies are, Spaced is 10 times better.

- a Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon panel with a lot of the voice actors and a few producers of the show. this is at the same time as the Spaced panel, so we'll have to see which one has the shorter line to get in. i want season 2 details!!!

- Ghostbusters: The Video Game panel, with Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson. if by some stroke of god Ramis and Murray show up, i will die a happy man (IF i'm there to see it).

- The Spirit panel, with director Frank Miller and cast members SAMUEL L. JACKSON and Eva Mendes. movie looks like the spiritual successor to Sin City. looks good.

- a Family Guy panel. even though i don't really like Family Guy anymore (the formula wore thin on me after the third season), i have to admit, it'd be pretty cool to hear Seth MacFarlane and Seth Green talk about the show.

- an Image and Vertigo panel. more comic panels. mainly interested in them because each panel has a few of my favorite writers/creators on them (Kirkman, Larsen, Buckingham, Morrison, Wood).

- a Venture Bros. panel with the creator and some of the cast. great, underrated cartoon airing on adult swim.

- a Robot Chicken panel with the creators and a few of the cast members. another adult swim program. would mainly go to see Seth Green talk.

- a Futurama panel with a bunch of the cast and crew. always been a casual fan of the show, would be neat to see the cast.

- Sam & Max, Strong Bad, and the Secrets Behind Turning Comics into Games. interesting because, well, i'm in the games business.

- spotlight on Dean Koontz! those that know me well know that i grew up on Koontz novels, reading them all through high school. his latest novels haven't interested me much - maybe my tastes just evolved - but he is still the writer of one of my favorite books of all time, Lightning. even though he'll be talking about his new books and new comic deal with Marvel (i.e. stuff i won't care about) it'll still be cool to see one of my former idols.

- Xbox Creators' Showcase: Gears of War 2 and Fable 2. 2 great games coming out this fall, both being shown off by their semi-famous creators. would be neat to see. hey, maybe i'll have my own panel at SDCC 10 years from now! ah, but as a game designer, or as a writer? hmm...

- spotlight on J. Michael Straczynski. one of my current writing idols. still can't believe that he was at a Chicago comic con back 10 years ago when B5 was in its hayday and i didn't see him (hell, i didn't even know who he was, or what B5 was). this time, i won't miss him. this is the panel i'm probably most excited to see.

- a panel on the creation of the upcoming survival horror game, Dead Space.

- A STARSHIP TROOPERS 3 PANEL! FEATURING NONE OTHER THAN THE STAR OF THE SERIES, CASPER VAN DIEN!!!

- a panel on the creation of the upcoming Bionic Commando and Bionic Commando Rearmed.

nighttime programming:

- Comedy Central's TV Funhouse with Robert Smigel. some of you may have heard of Smigel - he does Triumph the Insult Comic Dog on Conan and Saturday TV Funhouse on SNL - but i know him best for this short-lived, wonder of a show called TV Funhouse. it's a reunion of sorts. should be a blast (whether or not i choose to go).

- Mystery Science Theater 3000 20th Anniversary Reunion. with the creator, producer, and i believe the entire f'in cast/crew! and Patton Oswalt is the host!! ENOUGH SAID!!!

- Spaced screening. the cast is back to screen their favorite episodes. if i don't make it to the earlier panel, i'm definitely hitting this one up.

...and that's it! whew! now, that's all the panels that i WANT to see. i would be surprised if i actually make it to 1/4 of those.

i mean, first off, this is my first year at SDCC, so i'm sure a lot of time will be just figuring the whole thing out. i also need at least a day to just walk the floor and buy stuff/get a bunch of free shit. next, the lines for some of these panels i'm sure will be INSANE. some i'll be willing to wait for, most i won't. oh, and a lot of the above panels are happening at the same time - like i think the worst is there are 4 panels i want to see that overlap in a 2-hour period. so i can only go to 1 of those 4 panels, if that. and finally, i'm going to be meeting up with a bunch of friends i haven't seen in a while, so i'm sure i won't want to spend the majority of my time in panels (or in line for panels).

however, there are those that i'll do everything in my power to make. i need to see JMS, Dean Koontz, MST3K, Spaced, Terry Moore, Max Brooks, and maybe Spectacular Spider-Man. oh, and it'd be great to attend a few of those TV show panels - specifically 24, Battlestar, and Heros - but i imagine the line for those will be crazy long. crazy crazy long.

i'll let you know how it all went on the flip side. wish me luck!

-k

what i've been up to - may movie edition

so wow. may's over. what movies did i see?

way more movies than usual, that's for sure. saw the bulk of them while on vacation in Arizona.

- INDIANA JONES AND THE RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK - INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM - INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE -

i watched the original Indiana Jones trilogy in preparation for the new movie. what's funny is that i don't think i've ever sat down and watched the trilogy in a row like this. whenever i've watched it in the past, it's been one at a time, and sometimes not even all the way through (catching it in the middle of a showing on TV). sitting down and watching them all back-to-back, i have a few comments.

- Temple, which used to be my favorite as a kid (for some reason - maybe because of the beating heart scene, or the mine cart ride), is now my least favorite of the three. i don't hate it (like a lot of Indy purists do) - hell, i LOVE Short Round, while lots of people hate him - but it's clearly the odd man out, and the weakest of the three. it is an interesting ride though. and DARK. man is it dark.

- Raiders and Crusade have almost the exact same plot outline, right down to both having to do with the search for a religious relic. i think that Crusade was modeled so closely after Raiders because of the backlash the dark Temple caused. maybe. i don't know. anyway, it's not a bad thing. it's hard to pick a favorite of the two (since they're so similar) but i think Crusade was the one that was fleshed out the best and had the best pacing. and it's got Sean Connery. come on!

Raiders of the Lost Ark
4 stars out of 4

Temple of Doom
3 1/2 stars out of 4

The Last Crusade
4 stars out of 4

- INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL -

well, looking back, i'm surprised i liked it as much as i did. i got an email from a friend in which he expressed his utter hatred for the movie (i guess he was done with it in the first 5 minutes) and i could see where he was coming from with almost all of his points - in fact, the cynic in me (which usually comes out when watching a movie) almost totally agrees with a lot of his points - but in spite of myself, i actually liked the film. maybe it's because i didn't have really high expectations.

problem points for me (minor/vague spoilers ahead):

- Indy never really seemed in trouble. any trouble spots he (or any of the other characters) got himself into just felt, i don't know, safe, like no harm could ever come to him.

- Harrison Ford is old, and it showed. not all the time, but sometimes. some of the lines he delivered... man, he just sounded tired.

- there were a few scenes that were a little far-fetched, even for an adventure movie like Indiana Jones. however, somehow i managed to look past them. barely.

- i have NO idea what the hell was with the CGI animals, ESPECIALLY the monkeys (if you've seen it, you know what i'm taking about - if not, i didn't ruin anything don't worry). in fact, the scene where a certain someone was playing Tarzan with the monkeys was, by far, the worst of the movie. i blame Lucas. damn you Lucas.

- any archaeological puzzles Indy came across were solved waaay too easily. i mean i know he's good (see the library scene in The Last Crusade), but that good? and there were like, hardly any booby traps.

- the prevailing theme that ran throughout the movie really bothered me in that it was way too literal. i would have liked it if we never saw any physical manifestations of the theme. i would have liked it more if the movie left it open to interpretation, let the viewer decide "well, was it real or not." but no, Lucas HAD to screw it up (i blame everything bad in this movie on Lucas).

- the epilogue bothered me a little in that none of the other movies HAD an epilogue to that degree (Raiders was the closest thing i guess). i know that this is probably the end of Harrison Ford as Indy so that's why they did it, but i would have liked it more if they rode off into the sunset like at the end of Last Crusade. left it a little more open. oh well.

wow, reading all that it sounds like i hated the movie. but i didn't i swear! there were a lot of things - both big and small - that i liked about it. there was a lot of clever dialogue, a lot of neat nods to characters (his dad, Marcus), it was a great ride from start to finish...

3 stars out of 4

- IRON MAN -

perhaps the movie was built up by my friends too much (some said it was up there with Batman Begins and Spider-Man 2). perhaps i placed my own high expectations on it (kick-ass previews had been all over the internet for 9 months). perhaps i just don't care that much about a reformed billionaire and his rogue gallery (never been a big Iron Man fan). at any rate, the movie was a bit of a letdown, but i didn't dislike it by any means. my two main problems: i'm just not a huge Iron Man fan, and the plot was damn predictable - though you can't really fault the movie for that, since they were just following the comics. i loved, LOVED Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. i loved Iron Man in action. Iron Man sneaks into my top 5 comic book movie adaptations - but it's by no means a Batman Begins or a Spider-Man 2.

oh, and i fully expect it to get bumped down to #6 after i see The Dark Knight later this summer. ;)

3 1/2 stars out of 4

- THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM -

a bit of background: i hated the first movie when i first saw it. i'm not sure why. maybe i couldn't see Matt Damon as the next action star. maybe it was the material. maybe it was the director. at any rate, i saw the second movie in the theaters and was BLOWN AWAY by it. maybe i was in a different mindset. i'd like to think it was the change in directors. so i became a Bourne fan. i was eagerly anticipating the third chapter. did it let me down? ...a little. but only because there was no breathing room, no time for character development, and the quest he's on, well, he doesn't really complete it. he was supposed to find out who he was. he finds out his name, and how he signed up for the program... but he doesn't track down his old life or anything. i was expecting a bit more. oh, and the plot outline - higher ups want to shut down Bourne for some reason or another, which reveals yet another top Treadstone guy, blah blah blah... yeah it's getting a little old at this point. that said, it was an AWESOME ride. Damon and the director have said they're doing a fourth, so here's to another great ride. just try and change the outline just a bit. maybe our government doesn't have to be after him for once.

3 1/2 stars out of 4

- JUNO -

going into this one was weird. i wanted to see Juno when it first came out, and of course i didn't, and then the internet latched onto the pretentious dialogue and indie music in the film and started making fun of it, and i wasn't sure if i wanted to see it or not anymore. well, i watched it, and boy am i glad i did. if you can look past the pretentious dialogue (which is at its worst in the first 10 minutes) and indie music, it's actually a pretty great story. only complaint (other than the pretentious dialogue/music) is that they should have focused a bit more on the boy/girl relationship in the fall/winter months, since it became so important later. it's a real treat. acting is pretty good all around too.

3 stars out of 4

- DAN IN REAL LIFE -

i love comedians in dramatic roles. Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Will Ferrell in Stranger than Fiction. Robin Williams in his countless dramatic roles. so suffice to say, i was excited to see Steve Carell out of his element (or maybe in it?). well... the movie was a bit of a letdown, but only because of the predictable plot. if the film would have taken a few more chances, it could have been a lot better. that said, Carell was pretty good, and a lot of his supporting cast played their part. it was a very familiar movie (both in terms of family get-togethers - a good thing - and in terms of the plot - a bad thing). it was a good film, not a great film.

2 1/2 stars out of 4

- JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE NEW FRONTIER -

an animated, straight-to-DVD, feature-length film based on a comic book series of the same name. i'm not a huge fan of the Justice League (DC Comics collection of its power hitters, like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman), so the film had to do a lot to win me over. while it never really won me over completely, i did like it. the main problems: the movie was rushed and the plot was all over the place, not giving all the players enough face time. however, it gets points for the setting - post-WWII, at the start of the Cold War. THAT was really intriguing. i'm a sucker for putting superheroes in different settings, especially historical settings. if anything, the movie made me want to go out and read the comics.

2 stars out of 4

- STARDUST -

any movie that's a fantasy nowadays suffers from "post-Lord of the Rings" syndrome in my mind. the movie may be good in its own right, but i'm going to dock it points right off the bat for being a fantasy that's post-Rings. so you've got a lot of ground to make up if you're a fantasy movie nowadays. sadly, Stardust never made up an inch. it's an utterly predictable story that's mired by pretty bad acting and characters that i never really cared about. that said, i can find beauty in almost anything, so what's good about the film? some of the fantastical elements were pretty cool, and the love story was a little different from your average film. that said, i have no desire to ever see this again. however, it was based on a graphic novel of the same name, so i may check that out one day.

1 1/2 stars out of 4

- BATMAN BEGINS -

last movie i saw on my trip. in preparation for The Dark Knight next month. what a great film. i'm going to have to watch Spider-Man 2 again to make sure that it's #1 and not Batman Begins, because Batman sure puts up a good fight for the top spot. it's just... it's just a damn-near perfect superhero origin movie. and it's BATMAN - a flawed billionaire with no real super powers. a character i can get behind. a MUCH more interesting billionaire than Tony Stark.

4 stars out of 4

that's it for the May movie wrap up. what's on for June? well i've already watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (again), Vanilla Sky (again), and Solaris... who knows what's next? and will i get out to a theater to see one of my most anticipated movies of the summer, Wall-E? stay tuned.

-k

movie review - Transformers

well, i finally got around to watching the July 4th summer blockbuster movie of 2007. i missed my opportunity to see it for free when i was on vacation in Arizona last year and my work decided to take an afternoon off and go see it without me. bastards. however, i still didn't have to pay to see it, as my roommate purchased it and i just watched his copy.

boy am i glad i didn't pay money to see it.

let me start off by saying that my expectations of this movie were LOW. about as low as they can get short of me going into a movie and not hearing one word about it. i had heard that if you went in with an open mind and just went along for the ride, it was a fun movie. and hey, i've gone into other Michael Bay movies with an open mind, just along for the ride, and i ended up liking them ok (well, not all of them - i'm looking at you The Island). so i figured i'd be ok. also, as i was never a HUGE fan of the Transformers (short of having some of their toys), i wasn't worried about the movie raping my childhood memories.

all that said, this movie was an abomination.

they basically took the plot of Independence Day and added in aliens that were on our side. there are so many problems with this movie that i can't even begin to describe them here. and i'm not talking logistical problems, or problems like "why don't the bad robots just smash the tiny humans, why do they insist on shooting at them like it's a fair fight?" or "why did they feel the need to sex up the movie with the young, hot Australian blond that's some sort of communications expert?" (though there are plenty of those problems) - i'm talking about writing problems, pacing problems... just PROBLEMS. all i can tell you is what i liked:

- seeing and hearing the Transformers come to life
- seeing the battles between the Autobots and the Decepticons
- the out-of-place humorous sequences in the movie that actually made me laugh despite how ludicrous they were (like the scene at his parents house with the Autobots in the backyard)

everything else i hated.

i almost turned the movie off several times along the way, including as early as about 10 minutes into it and as late as an hour and a half into it. i hardly EVER dislike a movie so much that i want to turn it off, especially when i've devoted an hour and a half to it.

what continues to amaze me is that i went in with an open mind and STILL hated it. if Ghost Rider didn't come out last year, Transformers would have easily been the worst movie i saw of 2007.

all that said, the movie was still an exhilarating ride. i might not say no to watching it again if i absolutely had to.

1/2 star out of 4

-k

movie review - 28 Weeks Later

watched the movie 28 Weeks Later Saturday night. now, i'm a big fan of 28 Days Later, so i've been looking forward to seeing the sequel for a long time. how was it? let's just say i was let down.

it's a good movie that has its moments, but it doesn't hold a candle to the original. the worst part is that there are SO MANY times you'll find yourself saying "well that's stupid, that wouldn't happen - nobody is THAT stupid!" someone on the message boards called them logical fallacies. now, i'm one for suspending disbelief in order to have a good time, but the number of things you would have had to look past was just staggering. and it sort of ruins the movie.

if you can look past all the stupid writing (there's a lot of it, but i managed to look past some of it), the movie is STILL not the best. it just didn't take the 28 Days Later world in a direction i wish it would have.

i liked that it advanced the overall story (not necessarily where it advanced it to, but just that it did), and that this one was more personal (basically dealing with this family of 4), but damn everyone involved was STUPID! oh, and i don't know if it was on purpose but the writers made the US Army seem like the dumbest bunch of mother f*ers in the world. wow.

2 stars out of 4.

-k

ps - it looked gorgeous on blu-ray

i watched some movies!

what used to be a weekly - if not daily - occurrence has now become a monthly or bi-monthly pasttime. watching movies. i seem to only see them on airplanes or on vacation recently, but in the past 2 weeks i've seen 3 movies worth blogging about. and here they are:

- TMNT -

it probably comes as no surprise that i was a HUGE Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan growing up. that said, i didn't have too high of expectations going into TMNT, the new revitalization of the Turtles movies. how did it turn out? very well i may say.

it wasn't trying to be completely new, which i liked (i kind of put it in the same ballpark as Superman Returns, with it acknowledging the other movies happened, but not being stuck in the rut of their history and style). in fact, i liked it a LOT. it REALLY captured the family that is the turtles, and the overall storyline wasn't too shabby either, with the bad guy having his own twist. it managed to give time to Casey and April, which was neat, and showed the Raph/Leo conflict perfectly. the CGI was spectacular, and the fights were great.

my only gripes are that it could have been longer, could have focused even MORE on Casey and April, and ESPECIALLY more on Mikey and Don (they were, sadly, underdeveloped in the movie). oh, and we could have had more of the Foot, but at least they were in there.

really hope there's a sequel.

- Syriana -

this movie is to the oil industry as The Insider is to big tobacco. it's not anti-American, not anti-Capitalism, not anti-ANYTHING. it just IS.

and that's why i ended up liking it so much.

we get to see a bunch of different people's perspectives on the merger of 2 big oil companies and how it affects everyone involved - from those that run the oil companies to the government that has to approve the merger, the CIA agent put in charge of doing dirty business in the Middle East to those lowly employees put out of a job. i don't think i've seen a more HONEST movie since The Insider.

it's amazing seeing millions upon millions of dollars trading hands in one scene, and then oil workers struggling to eat in the next. Clooney and Damon both put forth excellent - REAL - performances. everyone involved was top-notch.

i can't recommend this movie enough.

- The Departed -

maybe it's because i just saw Syriana the night previous, but i've got to say... i was let down by The Departed a little.

don't get me wrong, The Departed is a wonderfully crafted ride, filled with tons of stomach-churning scenes (from being nervous for the characters involved) and HOLY SHIT moments... but you pretty much knew where the ride was going to end. directing and editing definitely had a style to them, which was cool... and the acting was good, but not as great as in Syriana.

what was cool is that we got to see a little of a lot of characters, but i wish we could have seen even MORE of LESS characters - like the 2 main characters. there weren't enough quiet moments with them. they both had a hell of a ride when it was done, and it would have been interesting to see them experiencing it quietly a bit more - especially Leo.

oh, and while i knew what was going to happen at the end, i'm still not sure i liked it. all i'll say is that i wish one of the people that dies at the end didn't die. i think it would have been more interesting had he lived and no one knew who he was, what he had done.

really makes me want to see Infernal Affairs (the Japanese movie The Departed was a remake of).

OVERALL (out of ****)

TMNT: ***
Syriana: ****
The Departed: *** 1/2

- kawitchate

on The Hoax

saw 2 movies on the flights to and from Wisconsin. one was Spider-Man 3, which i previously saw when it first came out. i'm happy to report that it holds up to a second viewing... in fact, i was even more forgiving of the end sequence than i was initially (probably because i knew what was coming). Spider-Man 3 - a great movie.

the other movie i saw was The Hoax. it came out last year, stars Richard Gere as the author in the 70s that tried to claim he was writing the autobiography of Howard Hughes - with Howard's help of course. the whole thing turns out to be, well, a hoax of course, but even though you know the end it's still quite a trip.

Richard Gere's acting was magnificent, and i'm not normally a fan. however, Alfred Molina as his comedic sidekick stole the show. everyone else did pretty good as well.

the movie is directed by Lasse Hallstrom - who directed other great movies like What's Eating Gilbert Grape, The Cider House Rules, Chocolate, and The Shipping News - and it shows. under the direction of almost anyone else this movie would have taken a "dark" turn (think A Beautiful Mind) later in the movie... and it might have been interesting to SEE what someone else would have done with the source material... but i think it's even MORE interesting to see what Lasse did, because he took the road less traveled.

The Hoax. if you're a fan of Lasse Hallstrom's work, it's definitely worth a viewing. if you have no idea WHO Lasse Hallstrom is, it's still worth a viewing. it's not your typical Hallstrom movie but you can feel his presence, no doubt.

- kawitchate

so there are a few hitches - or - jean claude, it's been a while

well, it turns out getting back a refurbished Xbox 360 brings along with it things that i have to deal with - right now i'm dealing with the fact that Halo 2 multiplayer maps that i downloaded previously aren't being recognized by my new system, which i find weird since the maps reside on my hard drive, which is separate from the system (when i sent the system in, i kept my hard drive here)... but whatever.

so since i'm in the midst of downloading the map packs again, i thought i'd write about the movie i watched tonight: Second in Command, starring Jean Claude Van Damme.

this movie, which came out last year, was i'm sure a straight-to-DVD release. it had its debut on cable tonight on the USA network and i happened to catch it. why did i watch? was it worth it? read on...

i just happened to be flipping through the channels looking for something to watch while eating supper when i came across this movie. why did i stop and keep watching? well that's hard to describe... in part, i've been wanting to watch a good action movie for a while, and also, the movie wasn't all that bad.

Jean Claude is a hardened marine that gets stationed at a US embassy in an unstable country. it's his first day on the job and the local militia strike at the country's president. the US (Jean Claude) gets involved and rescues the president from his palace, and the bulk of the movie then takes place in the embassy as the militia lays siege on it.

i've got to say, i like the idea of a "final stand" movie... of course, this was just a start, but if done well by someone else, it could be great. THIS movie kept me interested because it was pretty action-packed and it had the camera work of an episode of 24 - lots of quick zooms, shaky cameras, etc.

was the movie good? dear god no. but it was entertaining... and it was a step in the right direction. if a more talented screenwriter / director / actor would devote the time to one of these "final stand" movies, it would be great. as it was, it was ok.

finally, if you were to take an outside look at the movie, it was about a militia that wanted to bring the newly elected president of a newly democratic country to justice for the killing of innocents... and really, are there any good guys in this? it's got deep, DEEP shades of gray - but yet i didn't really see it while watching because of the way it was done - USA vs. bad guys. written / filmed differently, it might have been a lot more interesting. then again, "interesting" isn't as cool as "action-packed." :)

- kawitchate

evan alRIGHTy - or - movies i saw on vacation

i really haven't been watching a lot of movies the last 4 months, been mostly in a TV mood. well i got to check out a few movies on vacation that i've been wanting to see but not DYING to see. here's some impressions:

- The Last Mimzy - this was the free movie on the flight to Phoenix, and i was still up when they showed it, so i decided to tune in. i remember seeing the early trailers for this movie and then i have no idea when they even released it - i guess maybe it didn't do that well. i thought it looked interesting at the time... after viewing it, i'm not sure what i think about it.

the trailers showed a LOT of what happens in the movie, and the big reveal of what's going on wasn't enough of a surprise, even though it was a pretty cool premise. i think the story was just told wrong... i liked the story, but it was bad storytelling.

also, it seemed to try to cater to kids and adults, but got lost somewhere in the middle. never was too sure about the inclusion of the hippie couple, and when Homeland Security got involved it just was a little too... real? i don't know.

i think what could have helped the storytelling was if we got a bit of the other side of the story peppered in to what the children were experiencing, even if we didn't know what was going on at the time - then we as an audience could have looked back at those little windows into the overall story and been like "oh, i get it now!"

- Ghost Rider - again, i was interested to see this, but really only because it did so well at the box office and didn't seem to be getting terrible reviews. MY review? it was terrible. the special effects were wasted on such non-story and horrible acting. bad all around... and not really even bad in a good way, like a bad B-movie (which is what i was hoping for).

- Grandma's Boy - an overexaggerated look at a video game company; more specifically, its testers. it's got a similar raunchy style to it that Code Monkeys (which i just wrote about) has, but it doesn't have nearly the amount of inside jokes. however, the raunch is just raunchy enough for some good laughs.

- The BeastMaster - i missed this movie growing up, and when i saw it on late nite Sci Fi Channel i knew i had to tune in. it's like Conan-lite, but not necessarily in a bad way. it was cheesy, but fun. if anything it ran a little long... and had weird pacing too - when he met up with his allies was a little late in the movie, and he defeats HIS main nemesis 30 minutes before the end of the movie, and then there's another battle with a whole other enemy! to be honest, i don't even know who the last battle was against! oh well, it was fun.

- Evan Almighty - the short of it is that i liked this movie a lot, maybe even more than i thought i would. however, i did have a few reservations.

first i thought Steve Carell was almost wasted in this part as he wasn't allowed to be his zany funny and wasn't allowed to be completely serious either. he just... was. they tried to give him character - oh he does funny dances, he's focused on his career not his family, he's doesn't like germs - but it was all surface stuff.

second was the flood.

in the predecessor, Bruce Almighty, that character got the power of God and it was a personal journey - sure he would do things that others would see, but in the end no one knew it was him, and no one knew it was God.

HERE we've got Evan building an arc and the entire world is watching - which is fine if the flood doesn't come... and i'm not ruining anything i don't think by saying that there is a flood of sorts that does come (the trailers are showing it, so i'm not ruining it) and the world takes notice - it has to! there was just a man that did what Noah did and then there's a flood... this is way beyond a personal journey, everybody saw it! they know it was Evan, and they know it was God... well, maybe not God, as there's a possibility he could be explained out of it... but everyone knows it was Evan!

and they don't touch on that at all. it's just a dangler that's left at the end... a pretty big one in my opinion. that's why Bruce Almighty is way better and this is more of a fun ride with a good message, but maybe not the best movie ever.

...and there you have it. if i had friends here to see movies with there's plenty in the theaters i'd like to see right now - Live Free or Die Hard, Transformers, Harry Potter 5. however, they'll probably have to wait until they're out on DVD and i'm home for Christmas or something.

- kawitchate

spider-man 3 - or - the longest post you'll ever read

for those that haven't seen the movie yet, you can read the first few paragraphs, but then i'm going to get into specifics. i'll warn you when i talk spoilers, because i really don’t want to ruin this movie for you.

what's a guy to do. the movie he's been waiting years for finally comes out, and he's got nobody to see it with. not only that, but it's been getting luke-warm reviews, some even saying that it was "awful," and none saying it was perfect. so what does he do? he skips the opening weekend. but he knows he has to see it, it's pulling him in... so what does he do? he goes to see a movie by himself for the first time in years (since the arizona days of seeing a movie and then sneaking into another after for free).

i don't know if i've gone into a movie before in the mindframe i was in for spider-man 3. i was worried it wouldn't be good, afraid it wouldn't be, yet excited, so excited. see, i like spider-man. :) and i don't know if i've ever viewed a movie in the way i viewed this one... after every scene - hell, after almost every LINE OF DIALOGUE I would analyze it and say to myself "ok, that wasn't so bad," or "oh, that was good..." thankfully after a while that scene-by-scene analysis wore off as i got wrapped up in the experience... because...

this movie is good. great even. i loved it.

now, it isn't as good as the first 2 movies (for the record, spidey 2 is better than the original, and then followed closely by 3)... but it's only hampered by it's ambition (4 enemies is a lot, in addition to 2 love triangles, spider-man, AND peter parker - all in under 2 ½ hours) and it's ending, which is too rushed and sloppy. the RESULT at the end is fine, but the last "fight" happens way too fast (you get hints that maybe it's winding down and then all of the sudden BAM last fight) and it's, well, sloppy.

for the life of me, i can't understand why if you were a fan of the original 2 movies, why you wouldn't at least LIKE this movie. i mean in my mind, you should think it's pretty darn good. it should have been much longer, yes, and the enemies' backstories could have been fleshed out just a bit more, and the end fight... ugh... but still, it's got everything else in it as the previous 2 movies! the perfect marriage of action/drama/horror/comedy.

SPOILER TIME: stop reading if you haven't seen the movie. and go see it already. whoever you are, i'm sure you don't have my problem of not having anyone to go with. i'm just a loser like that.

have you stopped reading yet? seriously, i don't want to ruin this damn-good movie for you.

ok, first off, i thought the story was woven together almost seamlessly. sure it wasn't as tight as 2 (which was near-perfect), but this one had a lot of characters, who had a lot of relationships... and the enemies, oh the enemies. spidey finally getting his props, NY loving him, mirroring mary jane's hope for stardom... and then her getting jealous of him ("this isn't about you peter!") was just pure genius. i mean it's REAL relationship stuff! and then peter just eating it up, falling for the fame, giving gwen that kiss in front of everyone... it was real drama people! i read somewhere that it's very shakespearian, and yeah, i'd have to agree. the betrayals, the return to old times, the realization you can never go back, the revenge, the eventual sacrifices... all there. and i'm a sucker for shakespeare.

i mean, these people are real, with real feelings. i could really see peter doing that - a boy from queens, a nerd, all of the sudden having this fame after being hated all his life (for spider-man and for being a nerd). and also, MJ is his first girlfriend! of course he's going to make some mistakes there! nothing felt fake or staged or anything. then there were things left unsaid, missed calls, circumstance... and THAT'S ALL GOOD DRAMA. i loved it all - the peter/MJ/harry triangle (and friendship because of the amnesia), the peter/gwen/brock small triangle... and OH MAN, topher grace just keeps proving that he's a great actor (he was surprisingly good in that drama/comedy from a year or 2 ago... uh, with dennis quaid? forgot the name). anyway, topher as eddie brock was the perfect choice. my only complaint is that you got a bit of brock, and a bit of sandman... but you didn't get enough of either of them. it was like just a taste of each.

there was enough here for 2-3 movies on its own, yet it somehow worked as it was. no, it wasn't long enough, but neither were the first 2. I mean come on, they never are going to be long enough.

what i loved:

- i loved the reality of peter and MJ's relationship

- the return to old times with harry's memory loss, if only for a brief moment of time

- topher grace as eddie brock

- any scene at the daily bugle

- the first fight between peter and harry as the goblin

- aunt may

- bruce campbell and the entire restaurant scene. the comedy and the drama. perfect.

- a pretty good backstory for the sandman (was worried i wouldn't like him being uncle ben's killer, but they made it work)

- thomas hayden church as the sandman

- black suit spider-man fight w/ sandman

- peter's decent into depression (kicked off by harry making MJ dump him... classic shakespeare stuff)

- harry and peter going at it at harry's house (maybe my favorite fight, no costumes, everything on the table, no holds barred)

- black-suit peter parker (his cockiness, the montage of him, outing brock at the daily bugle, asking the neighbor girl to make him cookies, the dance number)...

what i wasn't so keen on:

- peter's emo haircut as black-suit peter parker (though i got over it eventually)

- not enough venom. he comes in the last act, really didn't show off all his stuff in the fight, and then BAM, spidey kills him (though connors has that bit of the suit he was analyzing - but brock's dead)

- they introduced gwen stacy (and wow, picture perfect), but i didn't really like how they used her. she was just pretty much a pawn, and the way they left it, i don't think she likes peter anymore.

- the end fight

ok, the end fight needs it's own paragraph. so i think what kicks off the end (though we as viewers don't really know it's going to happen so fast) is that peter gets rid of the black suit, and it goes on brock. then i believe aunt may visits peter, gives him a pep talk - cut to venom teaming up with the sandman - cut to peter in front of MJs, he leaves, she gets in a cab, it's venom - cut to a news broadcast of MJ in trouble super-villian-style.

there should have been more time between when peter shed the suit and the final confrontation. ok, that's the first problem. next, the setup venom and sandman had for peter... how much more super-villiany can you get? it was just too convoluted of a plan... and maybe it works in the comics, but this movie is so real, i don't know... it just felt a little off. i don't think the news coverage helped either (something about that i didn't like either - though i did like the coverage showing quick horror-like shots of venom grabbing police officers, should have been more of that).

so peter goes to harry to get help. i loved that, didn't really see it coming. of course he says no, peter goes off and fights. the fight itself was ok, could have been better... i really think venom could have showed off more. anyway, you KNOW harry's going to swoop in, so he does - and then it gets REALLY campy. i mean, i like when spider-man is cracking wise when he's battling... but when it's the last battle, and my girlfriend-ex-girlfriend's life is on the line... they just joked around too much. and what was with them standing around like after he just saved him, and they're like, oh, whatever they said... i mean wouldn't you be RUSHING up to MJ to save her? just was weird.

they battle, "beat" the sandman, save MJ, fine... then peter's down, venom's going to deliver the final blow, and you're like "oh man, don't do it..." and yeah, harry jumps in the way. now, looking back, you kinda know harry's gotta die. i mean otherwise what, harry and spidey are going to be a crime fighting duo? and yes, it was in a similar fashion to the way his father died, very symbolic, yes i get it... but just something was off about it.

that could pretty much sum up this entire end fight sequence. something was off.

so harry's down, dying, and it's peter and venom and, i dunno... peter just beats him too fast, too easy. there should have been a little more, that's all. and i think it would have been much cooler if the suit died and brock lived - that way venom COULD come back (though, for fans of the comics, with doc connors having a bit of the suit, we could see carnage in another film).

ok, now after venom's dead, there is another case of "why are you guys talking at a time like this." sandman comes up and him and spidey have a nice heart-to-heart. WHAT?!? while i loved the dialogue, it just wasn't the right place or time for it - and yeah, maybe this guy killed your uncle ben and he's sorry about that and you'll forgive him, but HE JUST KILLED POLICE OFFICERS MINUTES AGO! what the hell!!! otherwise yeah, it was very nice, him turning into sand and wisping away in the wind... like peter letting go... very symbolic - but just no, not at the right time, the wrong circumstances. ALSO, harry's freakin' dying a few stories below! shouldn't you check on him peter?!?

anyway, so he checks on him and he's dying. it's nice, all 3 friends together for one last time - but again, something is off. i don't think the dialogue was that well written for that scene. but the sun rising, a new day - nice raimi, nice.

and then cut to the funeral, and the rest i loved. it was real cool almost ending on the funeral, mirroring the first spidey movie, but with MJ and peter standing apart. and the end, i'm glad they really didn't say anything, just started dancing. it was all there in their faces, in their expressions, their body language. they're going to try again, not "everything is fine now marry me." oh god. i was actually worried he was going to propose there at the end. glad he didn't.

all right, i think that's enough. if you actually made it to the end of this, kudos. you now know that even if i did have people to go to movies with, why they probably wouldn't go with me anyway - because i'd talk their ear off after. like this. but i had to, it's spidey 3. i was worried, but it was good. it was great. i won't go as far to say that it surpasses the others, but it could have had it been longer or the focus been tighter (and perhaps if they knew they were going to do more with the same cast, so raimi didn't have to worry about wrapping up his trilogy while leaving threads for new movies).

as a testament to how good it was, i really wanted to sneak in to another theater showing it and watch it again. i do think raimi has perfected the action/drama/horror/comedy, built upon what he had done in the first 2 and maybe did even better here in that regard. had it been longer, the enemies backstories more fleshed out, and the end fight sequence been less rushed and less sloppy... who knows. what can i say - i love me some spider-man.

- kawitchate