(Short) Review: Iron Man
As it's 2AM and I've gotten back from seeing Iron Man, I'll keep this short and sweet. The movie was absolutely wonderful. I don't profess to be an Iron Man comic book expert, but from what I do know of the history, Robert Downey Jr. nailed him perfectly. The "playboy turned hero" thing was done very well and the CGI for Iron Man himself was great. Definitely worth seeing. I have to say - after all the good comic book movies lately I'm considering going back to my local comic book shop and opening up an account again. Back when I was a kid I used to read Star Wars and X-Men, a bit of of New X-men, but that was it. I got into Sandman and other Veritgo lines in college, but when Sandman ended, I kind of gave up. I picked up a (ahem) "appropriated digital" copy of the Ultimates, and I'm really beginning to dig Marvel again.
Semi-Pro, All Bad
Ugh. I'll keep it short and sweet. You would be better off seeing Brittany Spears recite Shakespeare than see Semi-Pro. It was so bad - I kid you not - my wife and I turned to each other and we walked out 40 minutes in. I've never walked out of a film, but this was just so amazingly bad we figured we had no other choice. Semi-Pro has now surpassed Highlander 2 as my worst cinema experience.
Cloverfield is...
Amazing. Simply amazing. I'm going to keep this super short and sweet. Why? Going into the film, I had read next to nothing about it. I knew it was from Lost creator JJ Abrams. I knew it was a "monster" film. But that was it. I avoided any spoilers and I'm very happy I did so.
Cloverfied is a monster film - but much like Lost isn't just a sci fi show, Cloverfield is much, much more. I definitely recommend going out and seeing it - and again - avoid any spoilers.
Two unrelated notes. In front of the film they played the trailer for the new Star Trek film. I had had my doubts about it based on what I've read online, but I'm now totally psyched about it. It is also from J.J. and I think he can do a great job with the material. Also - in the theater itself was a sign for The Happening, Shyamalan's new film. Supposedly it involves a natural catastrophe of some sort. Frankly, there is no possible way it could suck more than Lady in the Water, so hopefully this movie will be an improvement.
This Movie Is Not Yet Rated and C.S.A.
This week I watched two interesting movies, both of which are associated with the Independent Film Channel. The first was This Movie Is Not Yet Rated, a rather scathing look at the MPAA (Movie Picture Association of America) and how ratings are doled out to films. I always knew the organization was a bit weird, but I had no idea how secretive they really were. The movie covered some things most intelligent folks already know - that sex is much more dangerous (in their mind) than violence, so it's ok to shoot the woman in the head, but showing her naked is something else entirely. Now as a parent, I do like having an idea what is in a film, but honestly, I can tell most of the time from the trailers what is appropriate and what isn't. What I didn't agree with is that the MPAA has led to censorship. While films do end up getting cut to get ratings, I think there is a difference between a company trying to maximize profit (by going for an R instead of NC-17) compared to a government cracking down on speech it doesn't like. I think there are plenty of countries in this world - right now - who would love to have our "censorship".
The second film I watched was CSA (Confederate States of America), this is billed as a "mockumentary" about a world where the Confederates won the Civil War. I'm a huge alt-history fan so when I first heard of this film I was pretty intrigued. While the film can be considered alt-history, it's main point was to look at racism as it exists today. One of the most jarring parts of the film are the "advertisements" (the film pretends to be a documentary being shown on television, so it has regular commercial break) - especially when you learn the real world truth behind the ads. Taking it strictly as an alt-history show though I found it enjoyable as the documentary approach was much different than how typical novels read.
Oh yeah - and I watched 300 in HD-DVD as well. I had seen it at the movies so I already knew it rocked - but god dang what a cool movie. I need to pick up the comic sometime.
Review: Transformers
This afternoon I took off a bit early and saw Transformers. Let me just say that this is one of the best films I've seen in a long time. Not in the Godfather/Children of Men/etc type area but as a pure action/popcorn flick - it was near perfect. From the first few minutes to the end it is almost non-stop action and the slower/mushy/comedy type scenes are nicely spaced throughout. If I had only one complaint - it was a bit too long. I can't imagine what I'd cut though. There wasn't any obviously horrid scenes like the Jazz club in Spiderman 3. (I still shudder to think of that train wreck of a scene.) I just would have made it a bit shorter.
What follows now could be considered mild spoilers, so please stop reading now if you want to be surprised.
I knew the film would be cool, and man, it was cool. What I was worried about though was how the personalities of the Transformers would be handled. I had no reason to worry. The Transformer were perfect. Seriously - perfect. My memories of Optimus Prime was that he was a good guy who would never shut up about doing the right thing. He was so, blah, so, "We must not harm the humans", and while I sound like I'm complaining, thats just how his character was played. They nailed it perfectly in the film. The other autobots also had personality as well.
If there was one thing I wish they had more of it was Starscream. He was always my favorite character growing up. He was always trying to scheme his way to take over from Megatron. While that wasn't really shown in the film, there was a scene where Megatron makes a condescending comment to Starscream and I swear I felt like I was a kid again. Again - they nailed it perfectly.
A few random notes: I think there were a few easter eggs in the film. For example, the cop car (Barricade I think), had something like "To attack and enslave" instead of "To protect and serve". I swear I saw a few other things as well that may have been injokes/geek references.
At the end of the film, don't leave. There are three additional scenes. Two are pure comedy, the last one... it's important.
What was it with the 'spark of life' making little monsters? It seems like every time it would make a new Transformer, it would make an evil one. My only guess is - these new robots were like babies. Powerful, transforming robot babies. Maybe back on Cybertron they were immediately trained how to control themselves.
Few Sunday Notes
ColdFire has been updated. Check the blog there for the release notes.
300 rocks. That's all I'll say. One of the best, most exciting, and darn cool films I've seen in years.
Children of Men - More than worth your money (and time)
I had the chance to see Children of Men, and while I'm not quite sure I'd call it "This generation's Blade Runner", the movie is darn good. Just to be sure folks get it - this is not a science fiction film, not any more than 1984 or Brave New World. It is a rather chilling look at how quickly things can downhill when faced with an inescapable situation. Luckily we don't have to worry about losing our civil liberties over here. ;) Sly personal attack against our lovely President aside - I would strongly recommend this film.
On a side note - I also saw Lady in the Water. Now - I've always like Night's film, even The Village. Lady in the Water is horrible though. Almost "Highlander 2" horrible.
Review: Sin City, Monster House
So, I'm probably the last person to get around to seeing Sin City. It was wishlisted to me a few weeks ago and I finally made time to sit down and watch it. I have to say - this movie more than makes up for the director shoving "Shark Boy and Lava Girls" onto the world. This is easily one of the best films I've seen in a long time. The visual style is amazing and really brings the comic to life. I loved the different stories and how they worked together. I was reminded quite a bit of Pulp Fiction when watching it.
Speaking of Pulp Fiction - if you think it was a bit violent, this movie will probably be a bit too much. I think the only thing more violent than Sin City is Kill Bill, and even then it's a pretty tight race.
I haven't yet read the Sin City comic, but I plan to. The DVD that I got (and the one linked to above) has a graphic novel with it. The author of the comic, Frank Miller, is one of the best writers out there and created what is probably the best Batman stories ever created.
On the flip side of Sin City. Our family went to see Monster House this weekend, and really enjoyed it. It was much better than Cars. The story was more interesting, the design of the animation was better, it was just all around fun to see, although I'm surprised they didn't wait till October to release it.
Superman was amazing
I've been meaning to see Superman since it came out, but I didn't get a chance till this weekend. The whole family went along with my wife's sister and her family. All in all we make a small army, but hey, that's all good.
From the very beginning I absolutely loved the movie. It both referenced the old movies and charted a new course for the character, much like Batman Begins. Unlike Batman Begins, which was very good as well, Superman was much less dark and just plain fun to watch. Kevin Spacey makes an absolutely perfect Luthor, and I'm glad they didn't kill him off. (But I'll stop here, I don't want to reveal any spoilers.)
More than meets the eye
Today's official non-ColdFusion related blog entry is the official web site of the Transformers movie. It looks cool, but not quite as cool as this.