The Best Scene in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

Drax looks out over the tranquil landscape and in an uncharacteristically calm manner states that it reminds him of taking his daughter to the lake.  Mantis wanting to share this happy memory that can calm the usually boisterous Drax, reaches out and touches his arm.  She then breaks down in tears. 

Drax was being played as comic relief in this movie to the point that you had forgotten his back story and may have felt that he had too.  It turns out that he hadn't and the revelation that such a happy memory is tinged with unbearable pain reveals a lot of depth about his character.  He failed his family.  They are dead because of him.  He may carry himself as a bumbling idiot but he is driven to make amends for  this failure.  Maybe to even prevent it from happening to others.  His boisterousness is possibly just him putting on a mask to hide the pain that he still feels inside. 

It would have been so easy for this scene to have been cut.  To leave Drax as just this lummox and comic relief.  We know from this scene that Drax remembers and that he will protect his new family to prevent what happened to his old family.  This scene says so much with very little dialog.  

Movie Review Double Feature

First up in this double feature will be the marvelous Milla Jovovich in The newest entry in the Resident Evil universe; Retribution.  This series has always been a guilty pleasure for me, both the video games and the movies.  I have to say that this was the best entry into the franchise since the second movie.  The movie itself is beautiful and the plot felt like a video game.  For those that don't know, the Resident Evil games usually have an overall objective with a lot of mini objectives as you go on your way.  Escaping the simulation center is the main objective with mini missions of fight through NYC, find the child (boss battle against jill), find the rescue team, car chase (boss battle with the licker), rescue the child (second boss battle against licker), and the escape (final boss battle against Jill and Michelle Rodriguez). 

The important thing about this movie is that it is fun and this one was a lot of fun. 

Second on the list but not in the standings is Dredd, the newest cinamatic take on the iconic 2000 AD comic.  Staring Karl Urban as Dredd himself this movie more than makes up for the Stallone and Rob Schneider mess that made a mockery of the hero so many years ago.  This movie felt more than a little like Raid: Redemption.  This one comes highly suggested.  Karl Urban projects the quiet confidence and rage that is Dredd.  Lena Headey is also in this movie as the big bad and she rocks it.  Olivia Thirlby plays a rookie and if she ever reads this she needs to know that she is much better looking with the blonde hair she wore in the film.

Overall this movie was a whole lot of fun and didn't get the acclaim that it deserved in theaters.  I hope it was successful enough that it gets some sequels.  This movie has been Judged!

Thor- Movie Review NCCW

Thor was pretty good.  I say pretty good and not great for a reason.  It just didn't leave much of an impression.  I watched it a few weeks ago and almost immediately forgot it.  While watching it I enjoyed it though.  I am not a huge Thor historian, so I am not sure how close it is to the comic.  I am pretty sure that Thor is a God and not  just mistaken for a God, but actually a super advanced alien race.

Natalie Portman was in this movie along with Kat Dennings.  That was nice.  The guy that plays Thor does a pretty good job and confirmed my opinion that Norse gods would have British accents.

Overall it was a pretty good movie that just didn't have much impact.  Consider it a prequel for the Avengers movie.  While pretty safe for all ages, my girls, 10 &7 lost interest.     

X-Men: First Class (2011)

So, I watched X-Men:  First Class.  I guess technically, as a movie, removed from the comic, it was a good enough movie.  But, I am unable to separate the years of comic book reading from the movie.  I did have problems with the plot as well so on to the review.

Plot-I have no doubt that there are people that exist that would love to see the world burn.  I don't doubt this.  But to have Sabastian Shaw, a very wealthy womanizer, be the person that wants to see the world burn doesn't make sense.  For whatever reason, he thinks all mutants will survive nuclear annihilation and start a new world. Even if they were able to survive the nuclear blasts and fallout, they would inherit a dead world.  They also has a character named Darwin that has the ability to adapt to conditions around him to survive.  In order to establish Shaw's power we get to see how Darwin can't adapt to everything regardless of the fact that it was established that he could.  He was also the one black guy in the movie.  Yes, the black man dies.

Acting-  I can't fault the movie here.  The acting was pretty good.  Well, I didn't care for the constipated Professor X, but everyone else was pretty good and I would like to see them in a real X-Men movie.

Characterization-  The X-Men are almost 50 years old.  They have a 50, oft times convoluted, history, but they have a history.  The comics have epic story arcs that are critically acclaimed.  I understand that they wanted to do something original and I am not opposed to someone doing that, but why mess with the characters.  I mean, they put characters in the wrong place in time lines.  Alex Summers is the brother of Cyclops.  Having him as a 20 something in the 60s means he is 40 years older than his older brother.  That is just one small example.  They took 50 years of characterization and continuity and crapped all over it.

Some people will say that the first X-Men movie did the same.  To a degree, it did.  But that was a different time and I think folks were just excited to see the X-Men  on the big screen.

Overall, it was an okay movie if you separate it from comics.  As a comics fan, I just felt cheated.  I wanted to take a shower after watching the movie.

Priest (2011)- Spoiler Free Review

Whew, sorry about the hiatus.  Had a family situation to attend to, was trapped in the gulf coast due to a hurricane... in New England, and I had promised the girls some things before they went back to school (six flags and camping).  So it has been a busy two weeks.  On to the review!

Priest-  I wanted to see this in the theater.  It just looked really cool and looked like the type of movie that would really pop on the big screen.  I have not read the graphic novel but my give it a look now.

Plot-  Vampires are the monsters that haunt the night and the Catholic Church and their Priests are our only hope.  The movie starts with humans as victorious, but trouble is stirring.  Our hero asks to investigate and is denied the right, but defies his orders and goes out of the fortress city in search of the truth.

Characters-  The priests are supposed to be emotional voids.  Being a cold blooded killing machine can do that to you, but we do get to see some emotion and the audience is able to identify emotionally with the priest without him losing that tough/hard edge.  The Maggie Q character is instrumental in this and the movie would not have worked without her.  She had great chemistry with the priest.

Special effects-  The monsters were really cool, but there was something off on the motorcycle through the desert scenes.  The animation sequence at the beginning was really cool and I can see an animated sequel being done in that style.

Overall-  It was a pretty good movie.  I enjoyed it and watched it with the girls and they seemed to like it too.  It had them jumping in some spots.  I would recommend it to almost anyone.  Parental discretion due to bloody violence.  This one was fun.  

Green Lanter-Spoiler Free Movie Review

My wife and children took me to see Green Lantern this weekend for Father's Day.  It was just what I wanted.  They knew this because I told them I wanted to see it Sunday afternoon.  I did give hints but they were too subtle.  I would say things like, "it is really neat that Green Lantern is coming out on Father's day weekend, and do stuff like put on my Green Lantern T-shirt on Sunday.  Anyway, on to the review. 

Characters-  I had questions about the casting going in to this.  I felt that Ryan Reynolds would have been better suited to a Kyle Raynor GL than a Hal Jordan.  He stepped up and it was pretty good.  You got to see Hal grow into the ring somewhat.  Hector Hammond was spot on, Sinestro had the look but the voice was distracting.  It was just way different than the superfriends voice that still gets used in my head when I read a GL comic.  Blake Lively is still the big question mark.  She wasn't bad, but I wasn't reading CEO and pilot.  One of my favorite character parts was watching Hal as he learns to fly with the ring.  The character is a pilot and flight without a plane should truly delight a pilot and Reynolds was able to capture that. 

Special Effects-  In the credits there were at least six special effects studios involved.  The effects were pretty consistant and the only times they were a distraction was during two scenes with GL either flying or taking off.  Other than that, the movie was gorgeous.  I watched it in 2D, so I can't comment on 3D.

Plot-  This is really where the movie didn't quite measure up.  It was like they wanted to tell too much story.  Earlier I mentioned that Hal grows into the ring with the somewhat identifier.  I hate to say it but a montage of heroics may have been in order.  My biggest problem was with the pacing.  Every writing class I have ever heard of tells their students to show and not tell.  In movies, this should be much easier because it is a visual format.  Green Lantern tells a lot.  The movie is full of exposition.  GL has a very dense history with lots of little intrigues and twists, especially since John's run on the book.  But you can't just explain all that in the movie, it should be shown or revealed over the course of the series.  My wife didn't get all of that and was pretty confused about the guardians and Sinestro.

I can hear people now.  You think you could right a better screen play.  Why yes I do.  My story would have centered on Hammond as the only villian, not had Abin Sur's back story, probably would have had more training on OA and might have hinted at Paralax for a sequel. 

Overall- It was an entertaining movie.  Having a back ground education in Green Lantern comics helped me with the exposition but irked me when they tweaked things.  I left the theater happy, but left thinking Earth was the only planet with life or problems in sector 2814.  Some parts may be scary for younger children, but the movie was pretty family friendly. 

X-Men First Class, Why I am Leary



Fake First Class

 No, it isn't because the last two installments of the X-universe have been sub par and the first two only really par, trying to force more movie into the movie than they could possibly hold.  No, I am leary because the story isn't cannon.  I have heard the arguement that comics discard cannon at will and that no one really knows what is cannon anymore.  While that is somewhat true it is also a lie. 

Origin stories are generally well established and not ignored or rewritten (unless there Crisis is in the title somewhere).  People who read comics that tell an alternate universe version or retelling of a story, usually understand what is being undone and sometimes they even get why.  Movie audiences who, by the number of comics marvel sells every month, are not buying comics, may not know the "real" or "going" history of the characters.  The movie then becomes the established origin and the comics, in order to sell to the newly interested movie goers, have to change so that the new readers won't get confused.  We saw it when the original X-Men came out and all of a sudden Wolverine's claws started popping out at a different spot and all the costumes got changed (that happened to be one of the times that I threw down comics vowing never to read them again).

real first class

The Wolverine movie was an especially hard slap in the face.  Marvel had done the Wolverine Origin specifically so it wouldn't be done in movie form first.  The Origins story was excellent and lead into a history of both Wolverine and Sabretooth.  Then the Wolverine movie comes out and covers this awesome work, poorly, with a 5 minute montage.  The name of the movie by the way was X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  It could have been excused if the movie would have just been the origin of how he joined the X-Men, but that was done in the first movie and this was just a vehicle to introduce about a million additional mutants.

Let me put it to you this way.  Say they remade Superman (I know, a stretch).  In this remake they decided that Lex Luthor was also from Krypton and that no one knew Lana Lang so they made Lois his high school sweet heart.   It completely changes the story. 

Well, X-Men: First Class doesn't involve the first class as was written.  Although 20 some odd years younger than Superman, the X-Men origin is firmly grounded in the psyche of the comic reader.  Why do screen writers think that they need to rewrite this.  If you are going to rewrite the origin, why would you do it with seemingly random characters from all over the X-Men continuity.  Why not just make up mutants specifically for the movie.  Why not tell the classic stories in a way that does them honor. 

Yes, I am sceptical of first class.  It is getting positive reviews, but I don't know that these reviewers read comics.  It being a good movie is completely different than it being a good comic book movie based on a franchise that I grew up with and love.  I am not asking for a recreation of the source material, I only want it shown respect.  Stop irresponsibly milking my youth for money. 

V for Vendetta- A to Z

 

Do you remember the 5th of November?

V for Vendetta was an amazing comic and also a pretty good movie.   It is set in an Orwellian England.  Ruled buy facist pigs, everything and everyone is corrupt.  Everyone except a man named V.  Once a tortured prisoner, V escapes with the goal of raining down Vengence on the totalitarian regime.

Along the way he picks up sidekick Evey.  He educates her before giving her the final exam of imprisoning and torturing her.  This brings her around to his way of thinking.  I hate to think what would have happened if she would have chosen collaboration over death.

If you are unfamilliar with V, I would suggest watching the movie and then reading the graphic novel in order to garner the most enjoyment from both.  Natalie Portman is in the movie and shaves her head for the role.   

 

Kick Ass Movie Review-Spoiler Free

Image via Wikipedia

*originally posted at Practical Black Belt


I read this comic and enjoyed the heck out of it. It was almost a treatise on if superheroes did exist, what would it be like. How would one go about it and what would really happen. So I was pretty excited to see the movie.

Dave, our protagonist, is set to find out what happens when one tries to become a superhero. He wonders why no one has ever dawned the mask and went forth to set fear into the heart of evil doers. The problem that strikes me and that is meant to strike all viewers and readers is that Dave has no superpowers and no martial training. What he does have are two batons in the comic and escrima sticks in the movie.

In his training montage, you find out that Dave has absolutely no idea how to use his weapon of choice and it becomes even clearer when he tries to save the day the first time. It is at this point that the comic and the movie really start to diverge.

The true star of this movie is Hitgirl. Very Cassandra Cainesque, she is a child trained in the art of killing. Her father has trained her in weapons and hand to hand. She is a force to be reckoned with. Whereas Dave has absolutely no training and skill, Hitgirl has an abundance of both. I was mesmerized by the knife work in a knife fight scene. Whoever choreographed it, knew a thing or two.


Other than changing the story so that it was more of a storybook ending the only problems I had with the movie were costuming and the casting of one character. Big Daddy and Redmist are not costumed well. Big Daddy is made to look like Batman and Redmist looks like an emo Robin. These characters where not dressed this way in the comic and I am not sure why the decision would have been made to change the costumes for the movie. The kid that played Redmist wasn’t right for the part. Everyone else was spot on, but he just wasn’t the Redmist from the comics. The car was still cool though.

Overall it was a decent movie with some great action sequences. The changes to the story did not make it better. The comic was, kind of, more realistic in its portrayal of life of a superhero. In the comic Dave comes home beat up several times. The movie goes a little bit over the top with the action. While fun to watch and look at, it doesn’t come across as what would really happen. Of course the love story is story book and not at all as realistic as the one in the comic.

The comic was at about 4.5
The movie come in at 3.5

Not recommended for children due to language, graphic violence, and sexual situations. People looking for hardcore martial arts should look elsewhere. Fans of action movies should get their fix with this one.

V for Vendetta

V for Vendetta has been criticized for being pro terrorism.  It is also said that it attacks the Bush administration.  I would disagree that the movie is pro terrorism, and that if it is attacking the Bush administration, the Bush administration deserves to be attacked. 
In an Orwellian future, Brittan is run by a hypocritical police state.  The bureaucracy can do whatever they want while preaching religion, while the people are ruled by fear of the "fingers."  Dissenters are sent away, never to be seen or heard from again. 
In the midst of this, one man with knowledge that the government is behind the evils that agitated the peoples fears and allowed the existence of a police state makes a stand.  He does so behind the guise of a Guy Falkes mask.  He makes his stand with explosions, fireworks, and music. 
The use of explosions to blow up public buildings is what is considered being a terrorist act.  I will give two reason why it is not.  First:  The building were blown up at night, so no innocent bystanders would be harmed, let alone V warned of the second building a year early.  Second:  V was overthrowing a tyrannical government.  We was a one man militia. 
To prove my second point let me quote the Declaration of Independence.
"We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
Yes, you read that right.  It is the right of the people to abolish such a government.  Sure the movie is set in England, and I am sure the British hate this document.  The criticism, however, is coming from the USA, where this document is the source of our freedom.  It is not terrorism to want to be free and to take that freedom by force.
The movie was good.  The message was true and honorable.  Good prevailed over evil.  Natalie Portman is hot!  I have never read the comic so I can't compare on that front.