Sac, CA The Movie Critics' Corner

Well I finally got a chance to watch AVP:Requiem and its thumbs down for me. Granted, I only watched 45 minutes of this stinker but I doubt it pulled it together to be an Oscar contender in the second half.

I could no longer endure the stock acting of the humans taking away from the action and I draw the line with a pregnant woman getting alien larvae spewed into her. Just not my cup of tea.

How sad that after many films that attracted A-level directors and actors, this one is no better or worse than a straight to video slasher movie.

 

SEVERAL Pregnant Women, mind you. But glad to see you and I are eye to eye on this one, Bithy.

 

Several? Good thing I turned it off when I did.

Yes TJ we see eye to eye on this and also on the fact that you wear a Hawaiian shirt with incredible studliness.

 

Alright, alright... ya ol' smoothie...

 

Saw Iron Man and I'd have to say it was one of the best Super Hero movies made.The last twenty minutes got a little bit mindless but since most blockbusters these days are completely mindness...

It also had enough fanboy moments to make this old Iron Man fan giddy with geekness.

We also saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall which was hilarious.

 

Zap It Up Zap It Up Ironman!

-ahem-

Iron Man was good. A nice, solid origin movie. I enjoyed the variety in the cast, and the relish Jeff Bridges brought to the role of Obidiah Stane. Definitely a great "update" to shellhead's origin while bringing up some interesting questions about accountability of weapons manufactures and other things... I do, however, have some minor quibbles:

1.) Stane's ultimate goal could've been achieved much more easily by blocking Tony out of ever assuming control of the corporation. There is no real explanation or motivation for him to do this either (not counting the events in the first half of the movie), other then being a greedy jerk. This, of course, is serviceable if somewhat stale.

2.) Paltrow's delivery of lines is a little silly/bad near the end of the film. "Oh, what's that?" is especially jarring, just because she seems to be totally minus the tension she had ten seconds before. Still, I liked the lack of sappy "love story" and more true (sexual) tension in the relationship.

3.) My first viewing (I saw it twice) made Stark seem so very incredibly silly and naive about what exactly his weapons do to people - he seemed genuinely shocked about the brutality of war. This mostly evaporated the second time through.

Other things include the "crash landing" in the desert (falling back on the 'armor stops damage' line of mumbo jumbo reasoning) NOT smearing tony on the inside of his tin can suit, terrence howard not being much how i originally envisioned/remembered rhodey, and the simplistic "bad guys are bad, period" view of the antagonists. Most of them are a little flat - even the supporting cast gets that way (howard plays the straight man, for example) on occasion. The terrorists have no political motivation, they just seem to be murderers... However, it was also refreshing to just admit some people are just despicable and evil, too. Plus, this movie clocks in pretty beefy at 2:06 as an origin-action movie. I loved the scene after the credits, too.

-TJ

P.S. Forgetting Sarah Marshall is FABULOUS... probably the best movie I've seen in theatres this year. And yes, even better then Iron Man.

 

I will say that Ironman was about the best comic movie made to date, and the fact that they want to make a trilogy out of it makes it all the better.

Even a casual comic person will enjoy the film and for the geeks there are plenty of hints towards later things to come.

The acting was really good and shows you what happens when SHOCK you know how to act.

 

I loved it and want to see it again on the big screen. The casting was fabulous, the CG was flawless and the movie moved along at a good pace. Two thumbs up from me.

 

Just make sure you stay till ALL the credits are over. Hidden scene!

 

Really? We all had far too much soda so we had to race out once the credits came on. I think we're gonna see it again this weekend, so we'll make sure we wait this time. Thanks for the tip.

 

Ok, so I actually just got back from watching Speed Racer.

Yes. I paid to go.

I've got to say, it's visually stunning, not to mention hilarious. Sometimes intentionally, other times probably notsomuch, but I would go out on a limb and say it's one of the best family films I've seen lately. I admire it's willingness to take itself seriously, but not TOO seriously.

They celebrate with ice cold milk at the finish line. Really.

-TJ

 

The game looks awesome, But I'll wait till it hits lackluster, or my friends get a copy.

 

The trailer for the The Clone Wars opening on August 15th is absolutely breathtaking. I've never seen animation made this well ever before. Like the trailer says..You have never seen Star Wars this way before..here is the link...

http://movies.yahoo.com/summer-movies/Star-Wars-Clone-Wars/1809991325/trailers/133/880

Alex

here is the link for the trailer in HD..

http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/star-wars-clone-wars/trailer

 

I agree Alex. We got to see it last night on TV. Can't wait for it to come out.

 

Thank You Susan..I never got the opportunity to see it last night so I'm glad that it's being posted around on the internet. George Lucas can definitely chalk up another victory under his belt with special effects and animation

If this is any indication on how the series is going to go then I think we are in for a great treat

Alex

 

I'm not sure how I feel about this...I'll go see it and THEN make my decision. I'm not really feeling the animation.

 

I didn't like how the people looked but the ships and everything else looked great. I am not a big animation person either but this has picqued my interest.

 

I too am not too crazy about animation either..where Beouwolf and Final Fantasy intergrated Live action and animation I find this to be like the new Alvin and the Chipmunks animation X 5. This is full fledged animation and I even like how Yoda was shown in this movie. I'm very very impressed. The ships and yes even the characters to me were done splendidly. I don't watch animation either but this looks very very good to end the summer of 2008

Alex

 

Really? I think the animation is fabulous. Heck, they could 'flesh out' the classic era by doing CG television shows with the original actors voicing it. Who cares if Harrison's pushing 60? He could still do an awesome han solo voice. This movie is actually getting me excited about star wars again... well, the animation is. How shallow is that?

-TJ

 

I think it'll be worthy of an SVRF night out...then we can geek-out at dinner afterwards and discuss it in detail.

 

Already in the works dear. What's the word w/ this weekend?

IRONMAN ROCKED. Funny, my mum actually wanted to see it. from the soundtrack to the action 'n fx along w/ the plot. One of the better Marvel films yet. The trailers got me excited as well. Just 1 small thing I didn't like but, I'll mention that later. Thanx 4 the tip TJ. That lil bit got me racing for whats to come. Only thing though(up there) SJ/MW=NF?!?

 

I don't understand the MW, d00d, but yes, SJ=NF.

 

Twas mak'n it ezrr to relate 2 Star Wars M--- W----

 

In the words of Ogre...

"NEEERRRRRRDDDDDSSSSSSSSSSS!"

[image=http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/resources/2007/06/ogre_nerds_250.jpg]

 

I saw Iron Man again this weekend and it was just as good as the first time i saw it. I am a little diappointed that they are going to be making as many marvel movies as are slated right now, when they should just concentrate on a coupke and let them flesh out the story and introduce characters rather than give each a movie.

Hulk still looks to be bad movie, I am willing to admit it could be because i don't care for ed norton.

Also i would like to congratulate Speed Racer for its great box office returns and would like to throw in a HA HA in its genral direction, I truly hope they make a sequel, no scratch that a PREQUEL to this great film.