Topic: Movie review

Hulk 2: Now that’s more like it!

By David W. Shelton | June 21, 2008 |

The Incredible Hulk (hereafter Hulk 2) is the second of the big Marvel Comics adaptations for this year, following closely on the heels of the wildly successful (and far better) Iron Man. The filmmakers would love for us to forget a few things, though—namely the 2003 Ang Lee film, Hulk. For me, that’s not too difficult a task.

Marvel Studios is clearly in the process of establishing something never before attempted in major blockbusters, the creation of a Marvel Universe similar to their comics—er—graphic novels that have been in print for generations. But enough for fanboy mindtwists for now.

Hulk 2’s opening credits present a re-telling of the origins of the big green guy, but it bears little resemblance to the last film. Indeed, it looks a lot more like the opening credits of the megahit 1970’s TV series. I suppose this is the first indication that director Louis Leterrier was actually going to tell a story that would be fun, a trait that was seriously lacking in Lee’s film. «Read the rest of this article»

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Prince Caspian falls short of “greatness”

By David W. Shelton | May 23, 2008 |

There’s a lot to like with The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Hereafter Caspian). Unfortunately, there’s also a lot to dislike. With a mix of teen angst, childlike yearning, and rebel-gone-right personalities among the royal Pevensie brothers and sisters, our heroes (and presumably audiences) have returned once again to the world run by the most verbose lion in cinema (and literary) history. Only now, it’s more than two hundred years later than the events in the first film.

For fans of the original Narnia film, Caspian presents complete culture shock. Gone are the vast green fields and talking beavers that told of great lions. Instead, we’re met with a group of humans that behave… well… like humans. For a brief period of time, I wondered whether or not I was in the right multiplex auditorium. This was the first of many jarring distractions in what could have been a glorious cinematic experience.

Perhaps this is a good time for a few disclosures. I’m probably one of the few English-speaking men in the western pantheon who has not read any of the Narnia books. My own history with Narnia was (until the previous film) the animated film that apparently stuck to the book almost to the letter. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Arts and Leisure, Opinion | 2 Comments

Indiana Jones: big adventure, big nostalgia

By David W. Shelton | May 23, 2008 |

With the advent of Memorial Day Weekend, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull kicks off the holiday stretch with a rousing race through jungles of all types, promising action, reunions, and lots of booby-trapped labyrinths and ancient artifacts. This third sequel to 1982’s masterpiece, Raiders of the Lost Ark, is a fitting addition to the Jones pantheon. It clearly resides in the shadows of Raiders, and never quite reaches the fever pitch of breathtaking awe that it could achieve.

It’s by no means a bad movie. In fact, it’s really quite good. Director Steven Spielberg, Producer George Lucas, and Harrison Ford all fit back into their old clothes quite nicely, especially the latter as he puts on the famous hat and title role once again. To put it plainly, he’s still got it. Harrison Ford is Indiana Jones. He owns the role like a seasoned Rolex, and there’s no sign that he ever let it go.

Set in 1957, nearly twenty years after the events of the Last Crusade, Crystal Skull picks up in an eerily-familiar warehouse that supposedly houses a particular artifact that Soviet KGB officials seem to require. The Soviets are led by Irina Spalko(Cate Blanchett), one of the least-developed villains in the entire series. Blanchett has done well with her Russian accent, but aside from that, there’s really not a whole lot going for her. «Read the rest of this article»

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No, Speed Racer, No!

By David W. Shelton | May 10, 2008 |

Oh, how I wanted to like Speed Racer. I remembered those years in the mid-seventies when the theme song announced the beginning of a show filled with racing, chases, fights, comedy, and a little bit of love. To give the Wachowski brothers a little bit of credit, their script and directing captured beautifully the style and action of the classic anime. It’s too bad they didn’t add a decent story.

With the Summer Blockbuster season of 2008 in full swing, Speed Racer spins the wheels of the typical action film in every bad way possible. I actually lost count at the number of times I actually rolled my eyes — I think they were moving faster than the iconic Mach Five at some points.

Speed Racer stars Emile Hirsch in the title role (that was rumored to have been offered to Charlie Sheen at one point). I really don’t know how Hirsch managed to pull it off, but his Speed was actually more two-dimensional than the original cartoon. A true accomplishment. John Goodman, no stranger to cartoons-turned-into-bad-movies, fills the very large shirt of Pops Racer, and probably has the best and most sentimental lines of the film. Trust me, that’s not saying much.

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‘Iron Man’ a well-oiled machine

By David W. Shelton | May 2, 2008 |

Iron Man is a film that had everything going against it. It languished for years in development hell, went through no less than three potential directors, at least two other title stars (including Tom Cruise - yikes!), and eventually became the first film financed by a new film studio division of Marvel Comics. Even when director Jon Favreau signed on as director, the sparks of doom didn’t stop flying. Robert Downey, Jr. was announced to fill the title role, and immediately tongues wagged. “Downey? he’s one messed up guy!”

Then I realized that so was Downey’s character, Tony Stark. This began a glimmer of hope. Gwyneth Paltrow was cast as Stark’s executive assistant Pepper Potts. Thus another twinkle. With Jeff Bridges added to the principle cast, there was finally something that wasn’t in the mix before: hope that it just might not suck!

Iron Man, like all of the other superhero films of late have three standards it must meet before it will be accepted in the realm of great movies. The question isn’t whether it would be good; instead, it was a question of whether it would reach the level of quality that was seen with 2002’s Spider-Man, 2005’s Batman Begins, and the ultimate superhero film standard, 1978’s Superman: The Movie. To date, only one comic book film has surpassed all of these standards, and that was Spider-Man 2, released in 2004. «Read the rest of this article»

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“For the Bible Tells Me So” delivers

By Blayne Clements | February 27, 2008 |

My wife has a book that I have intended to read for years, but never found the time, “What the Bible REALLY says about Homosexuality.” Then I saw this movie available on Netflix, “For the Bible Tells me So” , and thought at this point in my life, I’m much more likely to get a quick movie in than to read a book.

The movie introduces you to several families that have two things in common 1) strong religious ties, and 2) a family member that is a homosexual. Director Daniel Karslake’s selection of families with different backgrounds is sure to connect with a variety of viewers. Theres a Midwest lawyer and stay at home mother that are Lutheran; a African American couple from North Carolina who are ministers in a AME church; there a Episcopalian elderly white couple from blue collar rural Kentucky (no spoiler here but their child was the first openly Gay bishop in the Anglican church, Gene Robinson); a single middle class mother, and a long time politician Dick Gephardt and his family.

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Sections: Arts and Leisure, Spirituality | 3 Comments

GoldenEye: When Brosnan took up the reins as Agent 007

By Turner McCullough Jr. | August 10, 2007 |

With Casino Royale, 2006 Daniel Craig took up the reins of Ian Flemming’s James Bond, Agent 007. While there are many new firsts in the latest Casino Royale, this writer thought this a fitting time to look back to start of Pierce Brosnan’s reign as everyone’s favorite original action hero, Agent 007, James Bond.

GoldenEye debuted in 1995. Has it really been that long ago that Brosnan picked up the mantle? Timothy Dalton, George Lazenby and Roger Moore had all worn the mantle, with Moore carrying it for the longest stretch, but it was time for a new Bond and Pierce Brosnan was his name. «Read the rest of this article»

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Transformers: Their war. Our ears.

By David W. Shelton | July 3, 2007 |

I’ve never been so angry after seeing a movie. I really, really wanted to hate Transformers. I was ready to pan it with every negative word I could muster. After all, it’s a Michael Bay film. Pearl Harbor was bad beyond imagination. The Island was best left undiscovered. And Armageddon was well, a big mess.

With that, you can imagine how I was ready to unload with both barrels on Bay’s latest film. Imagine my complete and utter frustration when I came to realize that I actually liked the movie.

Transformers is a summer action film which is clearly aimed at a testosterone-driven audience. I don’t know, maybe it’s the fact that I screened the film in a theatre filled with local soldier boys, geeks, dweebs, and their pals who came to see lots of explosions and hear bad dialogue. Indeed, they got their money’s worth. «Read the rest of this article»

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