Movie Reviews

Batman Begin Again!

/ / Movie Reviews, Theme Week
  • Title: Batman Begins
  • IMDB: link

Diehard fans of The Dark Knight have long since given up on a cinematic treatment that gives us a definitive Batman.  We all long to forget Adam West’s camp-o-rama, Burton’s Batman was just weird and violated some central tenets of the Batman mythology, and Schumacher?  Well, the less said the better. (Two words: Bat Nipples).  So news that Christopher Nolan was giving us a Batman: Year One tinged reboot of the series was met with equal anticipation and dread.  Nolan is certainly a genre-fan favorite, considering the success of Memento, but he’s otherwise unproven, and the superhero film is not an easy one to get right.

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Hellboy…Hell Yeah!!

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Hellboy II: The Golden Army
  • IMDB: link

Ron Perlman might have began his career in 1975, but certainly has been one hell of a project man since the mid-1980’s from then to date he has worked on over 150 projects from voice over, TV, monsters and priests, Mr. Pearlman is still hitting it strong with his stone fisted sarcastic creature of the underworld, Hellboy. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, one of the few men on this planet I would consider dating as long as he stays in one of his monstrous costumes; he wears big muscles in red and horns with a tail well. Selma Blair has found her calling, between all the phony little characters she has played over her career I would say the strong and oh not so quiet type fire girl who’s in love with the big red hunk of burning love is certainly the part for her. The new characters Prince Nuada played by Luke Goss and Princess Nuala played by Anna Waltong add a fresh change to the story, it’s interesting to see a Tokenistic twist put on the everlasting battle of good verses evil in a modern world.

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Journey to the Center of the Earth

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Journey to the Center of the Earth
  • IMDb: link

“Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the center of the Earth.”

Years ago Trevor Anderson (Brendan Fraser) lost his brother.  Now years later clues written in an old copy of Jules Verne’s novel lead Trevor and his nephew Sean (Josh Hutcherson) to Iceland.  There, with the help of a local guide (Anita Briem), the explorers learn the fate of the missing scientist and discover a hidden world deep under the Earth’s surface which is eerily similar to that which Jules Verne described more than 140 years ago complete with a subterranean ocean, giant mushrooms, extinct species, and even dinosaurs.

There’s much to enjoy here, especially for those who get a chance to see the film in 3-D.  The entire project was shot in Real D Cinema and provides some great 3-D moments (though, like other such films it also includes stretches without much to mention 3-D effects wise).

In terms of the non-3-D effects the film holds up pretty well capturing the unique look and style of the world at the center of the Earth by largely copying original illustrations from the novel.  It captures both the wonder and danger of the tale quite well.

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Forget ‘Dave’

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Meet Dave
  • IMDB: link

Eddie Murphy is just as funny as his agent is cruel – even though Murphy can still make us laugh, the dreck he has resorted to starring in is uninhabitable.  So goes Meet Dave, well-intentioned, innocent enough high concept family flick that falls flat.

Growing up is hard.  Especially for Josh, who in addition being bastardized when his father is killed in the line of duty, is a total nerd!  No one likes him, so he’s more than happy to make the acquaintance of Dave, who, it turns out, is actually a man-sized spaceship with a striking resemblance to Eddie Murphy, with a large crew of humanoid aliens measuring one inch controlling him on the inside, falls out of the sky and becomes the pathetic chump’s first friend.  In the final scene, Dave abandons Josh, who having learned nothing about friendship throughout the ordeals of the story, goes back to being friendless and grows up lonely (we can assume).

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Sub-Par Superhero

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Hancock
  • IMDB: link

Look there, up in the sky!  It’s a Comedy!  It’s an Action Film!  Wait, nevermind, it’s just Hancock, the latest and one of the least successful in Will Smith‘s long line of sure-to-be blockbusters.  This time, it’s about a would-be super-hero plagued by a constant hangover and an absence of motivation.  It sounds like a promising Summer movie; but the end result is a failed attempt at redefining the Superhero movie.

John Hancock, an amnesiac that doesn’t age, has no idea where he’s from or how he got his powers of flight and strength; but he does know a good idea when he hears it.  So after he saves a Public Relations consultant (Jason Bateman)‘s life, he takes the family man’s Pro bono advice for an image make-over to gain the public’s adoration once again.

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