each summer, my wife and i budget to see some movies. for me, there are certain criteria that must be met before i fork over 7+ dollars for a ticket.
- there must be explosions
- there must be visuals that demand to be in your face
- there must be explosions
- there must be some sort of story being told in between explosions
so this summer, we've already seen a couple movies, so i'll give my thoughts on those:
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
if this is the first of a franchise of Wolverine and/or X-men Origins movies, i am very sad. I love comics, and even though i love DC a little more than Marvel, i still voraciously consume trade paperbacks and graphic novel collections of the plotlines of pretty much every major player in both DC and Marvel (thank the Lord for the public library!). This fact, however, is mostly what made Wolverine so un-enjoyable for me. I KNOW THE SOURCE MATERIAL. and not even as much as someone who is a 'fan' of Wolverine might know it - and thus, i was sorely disappointed. This movie strays from some of the most complex, nuanced backstory available in comicdom into a land of implausible (even for a COMIC), foolish set pieces that aren't even connected together well.
What does it have going for it? the intro sequence is smooth. the two legitimate fight scenes are eye candy. There are a couple of good explosions. Jackman still evokes the essence of Wolverine (seen best in X-2). Seeing the Weapon-X crew in their ONE, short scene together was pretty interesting, but all of the things that were done well were done too briefly.
The movie's pacing leaves you little time for actually getting too caught up in all the flaws... they kind of hit you like a small car as you are leaving the theatre trying to remember what you liked about the movie.
Should you see it...? Maybe. if you're a popcorn-flick person, there are better summer movies on which to spend your money. it's worth renting on DVD if you're a fan of the comics, but there's basically no way that they can entice me to buy the DVD at this point - the plot (or lack thereof) of this film is beyond redemption.
Star Trek
Growing up on Star Trek: The Next Generation, i have a pretty significant stake in Trekdom. As much as the Star Wars films informed my adolescent imagination, the Star Trek mythos was passed down to me from my dad and is a beloved part of my childhood. I remember watching 'the Wrath of KKKHHHAAAAAAAAANN' when i was probably 12, and thinking that Kirk and Spock were looking a little old already... i remember seeing 'the Undiscovered Country' in the theatre and being pretty impressed, and then 'First Contact' brought the ST:TNG crew onto the big screen successfully.
J.J. Abrams has been successful in this attempt, in many ways. Financial Success - even with less hype, i think this film would have grossed just as much on its own merit. But, being one of the bigger movies of the summer, it is guaranteed a sequel on its financial success alone. sad how Hollywood sees things that way... Technical Success - although over-hyped as having some sort of newer, fancier special effects, i do have to agree that this film utilized massive effects shots and epic CGI sequences very, very well - i never felt like i was being hit over the head with an explosion or an effects scene, but it always felt like just enough to be the exclamation point. Casting Success - apart from Sylar being Spock, i was really pleased with how the cast performed overall. Scotty had a few forced lines, Bones had a few forced lines, but the majority of the dialogue and even some of the 'necessary' lines to connect the characters with their predecessors were organic, naturally flowing from the circumstances. The ensemble worked well together, and i hope that they don't squabble over money and make it easy for the studio to bring them together at least once more, if not a couple more times for explosiony goodness and lens flare action.
This film is pretty much a must-see in the theatre, and if my wife loved it, then that means the sci-fi-ness and the Trekishness of the film are not distractions to the uninitiate. even though i had to tell her why a couple lines were supposed to be funny, she 'got' how the characters interacted, and that was communicated well by the filmmaker and actors. The pacing is great, the images are powerful, and the plot moves along without too many tangents. I'm sure i will own this on DVD, particularly if there is a special edition!
Terminator: Salvation
This is one of the few times that i have disagreed with the aggregate score on RottenTomatoes.com. this website takes each of the reviews available in print or on the web and either considers it a positive or negative review - then, they give each movie a score on this 'tomatometer.' for instance, Terminator: Salvation got a %, meaning that only 3 out of 10 reviewers were mostly positive of this film.
The only way i can make sense of this is that the majority of reviewers had unrealistic expectations for this film. I went to see it with very low expectations, and came away really enjoying it! For someone to dislike it as much as these reviewers must have, they probably were expecting T2 again - but alas, James Cameron is nowhere to be found.
Notice how i'm not saying that about Linda Hamilton or the Governator.
Anyways, i really had a good time with this film, viewing it under the premise of: i want explosions, a decent story, and something to think about after it's over. Terminator: Salvation delivers all of those things. Lots of sweet explosions - the use of sound and light in some of the actions scenes makes these the most unique explosions in the summer movie season. Bale does indeed play a pretty static character, as he has been criticized in the proper reviews, but i wasn't distracted by his relatively monotone portrayal of John Connor. In a post-apocalyptic world, i don't know that my own personality would have too many levels if all you saw were the hectic action sequences of my life.
Consistent with the rest of the Terminator films, however, the Connors aren't really the stars. The ubiquitous Bale has great presence onscreen here, but his intensity is matched by newcomer Sam Worthington. He really does steal the attention away from Bale, but i'm pretty sure that's by design... at least, as much design as McG is capable of.
i'll post my thoughts on Up, Transformers 2, and Public Enemies as soon as i get a chance to sit still for a while!
- there must be explosions
- there must be visuals that demand to be in your face
- there must be explosions
- there must be some sort of story being told in between explosions
so this summer, we've already seen a couple movies, so i'll give my thoughts on those:
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
if this is the first of a franchise of Wolverine and/or X-men Origins movies, i am very sad. I love comics, and even though i love DC a little more than Marvel, i still voraciously consume trade paperbacks and graphic novel collections of the plotlines of pretty much every major player in both DC and Marvel (thank the Lord for the public library!). This fact, however, is mostly what made Wolverine so un-enjoyable for me. I KNOW THE SOURCE MATERIAL. and not even as much as someone who is a 'fan' of Wolverine might know it - and thus, i was sorely disappointed. This movie strays from some of the most complex, nuanced backstory available in comicdom into a land of implausible (even for a COMIC), foolish set pieces that aren't even connected together well.
What does it have going for it? the intro sequence is smooth. the two legitimate fight scenes are eye candy. There are a couple of good explosions. Jackman still evokes the essence of Wolverine (seen best in X-2). Seeing the Weapon-X crew in their ONE, short scene together was pretty interesting, but all of the things that were done well were done too briefly.
The movie's pacing leaves you little time for actually getting too caught up in all the flaws... they kind of hit you like a small car as you are leaving the theatre trying to remember what you liked about the movie.
Should you see it...? Maybe. if you're a popcorn-flick person, there are better summer movies on which to spend your money. it's worth renting on DVD if you're a fan of the comics, but there's basically no way that they can entice me to buy the DVD at this point - the plot (or lack thereof) of this film is beyond redemption.
Star Trek
Growing up on Star Trek: The Next Generation, i have a pretty significant stake in Trekdom. As much as the Star Wars films informed my adolescent imagination, the Star Trek mythos was passed down to me from my dad and is a beloved part of my childhood. I remember watching 'the Wrath of KKKHHHAAAAAAAAANN' when i was probably 12, and thinking that Kirk and Spock were looking a little old already... i remember seeing 'the Undiscovered Country' in the theatre and being pretty impressed, and then 'First Contact' brought the ST:TNG crew onto the big screen successfully.
J.J. Abrams has been successful in this attempt, in many ways. Financial Success - even with less hype, i think this film would have grossed just as much on its own merit. But, being one of the bigger movies of the summer, it is guaranteed a sequel on its financial success alone. sad how Hollywood sees things that way... Technical Success - although over-hyped as having some sort of newer, fancier special effects, i do have to agree that this film utilized massive effects shots and epic CGI sequences very, very well - i never felt like i was being hit over the head with an explosion or an effects scene, but it always felt like just enough to be the exclamation point. Casting Success - apart from Sylar being Spock, i was really pleased with how the cast performed overall. Scotty had a few forced lines, Bones had a few forced lines, but the majority of the dialogue and even some of the 'necessary' lines to connect the characters with their predecessors were organic, naturally flowing from the circumstances. The ensemble worked well together, and i hope that they don't squabble over money and make it easy for the studio to bring them together at least once more, if not a couple more times for explosiony goodness and lens flare action.
This film is pretty much a must-see in the theatre, and if my wife loved it, then that means the sci-fi-ness and the Trekishness of the film are not distractions to the uninitiate. even though i had to tell her why a couple lines were supposed to be funny, she 'got' how the characters interacted, and that was communicated well by the filmmaker and actors. The pacing is great, the images are powerful, and the plot moves along without too many tangents. I'm sure i will own this on DVD, particularly if there is a special edition!
Terminator: Salvation
This is one of the few times that i have disagreed with the aggregate score on RottenTomatoes.com. this website takes each of the reviews available in print or on the web and either considers it a positive or negative review - then, they give each movie a score on this 'tomatometer.' for instance, Terminator: Salvation got a %, meaning that only 3 out of 10 reviewers were mostly positive of this film.
The only way i can make sense of this is that the majority of reviewers had unrealistic expectations for this film. I went to see it with very low expectations, and came away really enjoying it! For someone to dislike it as much as these reviewers must have, they probably were expecting T2 again - but alas, James Cameron is nowhere to be found.
Notice how i'm not saying that about Linda Hamilton or the Governator.
Anyways, i really had a good time with this film, viewing it under the premise of: i want explosions, a decent story, and something to think about after it's over. Terminator: Salvation delivers all of those things. Lots of sweet explosions - the use of sound and light in some of the actions scenes makes these the most unique explosions in the summer movie season. Bale does indeed play a pretty static character, as he has been criticized in the proper reviews, but i wasn't distracted by his relatively monotone portrayal of John Connor. In a post-apocalyptic world, i don't know that my own personality would have too many levels if all you saw were the hectic action sequences of my life.
Consistent with the rest of the Terminator films, however, the Connors aren't really the stars. The ubiquitous Bale has great presence onscreen here, but his intensity is matched by newcomer Sam Worthington. He really does steal the attention away from Bale, but i'm pretty sure that's by design... at least, as much design as McG is capable of.
i'll post my thoughts on Up, Transformers 2, and Public Enemies as soon as i get a chance to sit still for a while!
1 comment:
Dude,
I can't believe you didn't like Sylar as Spock! I thought he was great.
On Wolverine, I used to read comics as a kid, but wasn't particularly familiar with the Wolverine origin story. Going in without knowing those intricacies, I found it to be an enjoyable film, but I can understand the frustration of knowing how it should have been, even if I didn't experience it on this one.
On Terminator, this is rumor rather than confirmed fact, but what I heard is that John Connor wasn't originally supposed to be in the movie until the very end, and that they had to write him in throughout the film. According to the sources of this rumor, the write-in scenes didn't tie in very well, and the movie makes much more sense if you delete the John Connor scenes. I haven't seen it, so I don't know, but that's what I heard.
Anyway, thanks for posting your reviews. I'm looking forward to the next update.
Post a Comment