So I went to two movies last weekend and I’m just now getting around to the second. KC, Breezomatic and I went to see Fantastic Four. I’ve been thinking about this movie a lot and have decided it was very much true to the Marvel Comic that the movie draws on for its characters. In the other recent Marvel Comics made into movies, Stan Lee (the creator of Marvel Comics) had small, pretty much background roles. In this one he has a bit larger role; more that background but if you didn’t know him you’d miss him.

The Fantastic Four are Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd), Ben Grimm/The Thing (Michael Chiklis), Johnny Storm/The Human Torch (Chris Evans) and Susan Storm/The Invisible Girl (Jessica Alba). Each one plays their role quite well. It’s a real kick to see Johnny Storm come to grips with his new powers so quickly because early in the movie he just seems to be a real dick. Ben Grimm seems the most devastated by his powers as it costs him what he believes to be everything. You see the true acting ability come through in Chicklis’ portrayal. Reed Richards seems a bit more aloof in the movie than his comic book character, but it seems after he comes to grips with his change he is a bit more of a leader. And, of course, Susan Storm is GORGEOUS (when she’s visible). The villian (every good superhero comic has a villian, right?) is Victor Von Doom/Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon), and it could be said that he steals the show. Dr. Doom is probably the most formidable of all of the Marvel Comics villians, and McMahon plays him to a “T”. I believe he has honed his “bad-guy skills” in roles in Charmed and Nip/Tuck; it definitely shows as he plays an excellent villian. While none of these actors are movie stars (most have achieved their fame on TV series and not in movies), it looks like they are definitely headed down the movie star path.

Again, you are NOT going to get plot lines from me but if you have read the comics you know this plot line. As I stated earlier this movie follows the comic closely, unlike Spiderman, Spiderman 2 or Hulk (not that these are necessarily bad movies, they just don’t follow their respective comic). The effects are top-notch. Even watching Johnny Storm turn into a fireball was not “cartoonish” at all. With all this going for it, I rate the movie a 9 out of 10. Again, this is a movie that I would watch again in the theater and plan to own on DVD when it comes out.

KC and I went to the movie Batman Begins on Friday night. I know it’s been a couple of days, but hey - I’ve been busy. Anyway, I thought this was far and away the best of the Batman movies. First and foremost it is true to the DC Comics original novels. So many of the superhero movies stray from their comic book roots that it makes watching them somewhat painful; this is definitely NOT one of those times. I especially liked the way that Batman was portrayed by Christian Bale, who I have enjoyed in a number of other movies. He portrays Batman as the dark hero that he is - a kind of tormented soul who fights crime but could easily be misunderstood as a bad guy. He also plays Bruce Wayne well - a kind of aloof playboy who tries to forget his parents’ death.

I don’t like giving away plot lines, so you won’t find that kind of thing here. I was surprised at the number of big-name actors who had small roles or even less than small roles. Liam Neeson plays Ducard/Scarecrow, Batman’s first enemy. Michael Caine plays Alfred, the Wayne family butler who is so much more than a family servant. Gary Oldman plays a young Lieutenant Gordon, who you can see begins a special bond with both Bruce Wayne and Batman. Rutger Hauer plays the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wayne Enterprises. Morgan Freeman plays Dr. Lucius Fox, a genius inventor for Wayne Enterprises who creates all of the gadgets on Batman’s famous Utility Belt. Lots of star power with these actors. And, of course, what DC Comic would be complete without a love interest for both the hero and his alter-ego; enter Katie Holmes as Assistant DA Rachel Dawes. While her performance here is just OK, the rest of the actors shine.

The plot is excellent; the direction is very good. Both are true to the DC Comic of being dark and foreboding. The special effects were very good; the “scary” effect created by the Scarecrow’s mask was quite frightening. I thought the story answered a lot of questions that were there from the first Batman movie that starred Michael Keaton (Batman/Bruce Wayne) and Jack Nicholson (Joker), and led in to that movie perfectly.

All in all I’d rate this movie a 9 out of 10. I would like to see it again in the theater, and I plan to buy it when it comes out on DVD.

Yeah, that’s right. KC and I went to see Revenge of the Sith yesterday. I have to say that even though I knew the end result of the movie (as most Star Wars fans do), I found a few things different than some of the hints I remembered from other movies.

I thought the story line was good. It was definitely predictable. But the actors seemed to bring their characters to life quite well, even the “supporting cast” actors. Hayden Christensen looks like he’s on his way to becoming a big star. The same for Natalie Portman. The effects were, as in all other Star Wars movies, top-notch. There were scenes that you simply said, “Wow!” because the place looked so real and yet you knew it was not real. I also thought this particular episode showed the most emotion of any of the first three “prequel” episodes.

Now for the things that differed (that I was just wondering about):

• Was anyone else surprised that Darth Vader/Annakin Skywalker lost his legs in the fight with Obi-Wan Kenobi?
• In Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Luke asks Leia if she has memories of her mother and she does. She said she was sad and cried a lot. Luke had no memories of his mother. How can Leia have them?
• If the Emperor and Darth Vader are so good with the force, how come they don’t see the deception about hiding Vader’s twins?
• Better yet, if Vader is so good with the force, why does he believe the Emperor when the tells him that he killed Padme?

Even with these questions, it was a highly entertaining movie. I believe it is the first “must-see” of the season. I rate it a 9 of 10.

Haven’t done a movie review in a really long time, so maybe it was time. Or maybe I watched a movie that was worthy of a review. Or maybe it’s Sunday and I’m bored before playing basketball tonight. Any way you cut it I’m doing a movie review on the movie Constantine.

When I saw the previews the first thing I thought was, “Oh, good?!? A Matrix clone with a religious slant.” I couldn’t be farther from the truth. The movie is based on the DC Comics character HellBlazer, a.k.a. John Constantine. It stars Keanu Reaves and John Constantine and Rachel Weisz as twins Isabel and Angel Dodson. Both turned in excellent performances. Also doing a great job with their roles were Tilda Swinton as Gabriel and Gavin Rossdale as Balthazar. Many of us know Gavin Rossdale as the former lead singer for the group Bush. Also, I thought Peter Stormare did an excellent job in his portrayal as Satan.

The story centers on John Constantine; he is rude, crude, chain-smoking, hard-drinking and generally uncaring. As with many DC Comics heros, he has all too many human flaws. What makes him special was a death experience; he was clinically dead for 2 minutes as a teen and now can literally make trips into hell to gather information. He uses this “inside info” to send demons inhabiting humans back to hell. This is his “super” power. Angela Dodson is a police detective who is investigating the alleged suicide of her twin sister Isabel. The two have a shaky start but end up with what seems to be the start of a romantic involvement. I’m not going to go into plot details here, I don’t think it would sway anyone (like my movie reviews would anyway!!).

I liked this movie. I thought all the main characters did a good job with their roles. I thought the writing was good; being based on a comic can be a detraction to this. I also thought the directing was tight; it didn’t seem that we spent a lot of time on scenes where some innocuous fact was brought out after much deliberation. (Man, do I sound full of myself there!) While this movie isn’t a “must see”, I’d definitley rate it a strong 7 out of 10.

I’ve just watched (again) a movie that I particulary enjoy for no particular reason: Eurotrip. Yeah, it’s stupid; yeah, it’s full of cliches; yeah, its plot is thin as tissue; yeah, its acting is slightly better than average. But I like the movie. It has a bunch of unknown actors in it but also has quite a few guest appearances by: Matt Damon, Lucy Lawless, Joanna Lumley, Kristin Kreuk and Jeffrey Tambor. The movie is reminiscent of Animal House or American Pie; a vehicle to tell stereotype jokes wrapped loosely around a plot. I thought the funniest thing was the recurring song “Scotty Doesn’t Know” about Fiona (played by Kristin Kreuk) who is Scotty’s (played by the male lead of the movie, Scott Mechlowicz) girlfriend, sung by Donny (played by Matt Damon); as it turns out, she is almost EVERYONE’S girlfriend. It’s a catchy tune. Here’s the lyrics (definitely rated R!):

Yep, went out to see it tonight. The movie stayed fairly close to the comic, so those of you who are Spidey comic fans won’t be disappointed as you were with certain departures from the comic book storylines in the first Spiderman movie. All of the main characters who survived the first movie were in the second: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons all returned. Cliff Robertson had a kind of dreamworld/trance/flashback appearance and Willem Dafoe had an appearance after Harry’s breakdown in a vision. There are new characters played by Alfred Molina, Dylan Baker and Daniel Gillies.

While the plot line is fairly predictable (at least to anyone who has read any of the Spidey comics), the movie was still quite entertaining. Even though the CG effects dominated the movie, they did not detract from the acting. I feel that Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst have a great on-screen chemistry. Alfred Molina has played a variety of character roles before this movie shines in his role here as Dr. Octopus. I felt that James Franco was forcing it a bit; he had a certain chemistry with Tobey Maguire in the first movie but in this movie it seemed all he did was try to compete with him (and lost in my opinion).

The movie is set up for at least one if not two sequels. Of the characters introduced, only one (Doc Ock) dies in this movie. That means that King Lizard, Green Goblin, and Man-Wolf are all ready to roll for sequel material. Doesn’t mean that there will be sequels, just means that if there are that the characters have already been introduced.

I really liked this movie. I thought it was paced quite well; there were parts of the first Spiderman movie that seemed to jump too far without explanation. It also had a LOT more drama to it than the first movie. The actors did just that: they ACTED. They didn’t rely so much on CGI special effects and such as is all to common in today’s movies. I don’t plan on going into the plot (other than outlining some of the characters) but I will say that the movie is one which will hold your interest whether you are a fan of drama or action movies. I’d give this one a 9 out of 10.

Since the last Harry Potter movie came out, I’ve read the entire series; some at our Mexico vacation and some while on the plane to and from Los Angeles for work. I have to say that the first two movies followed the books rather closely; well, at least as closely as a movie can follow a book. The latest one, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, had a number of departures from the book. Please don’t get me wrong; I thought this was an excellent movie. It just didn’t follow the book series as closely as the first two.

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson reprise their roles as Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger and they each do a great job. There is a certain chemistry among the three that simply can’t be denied. They play friends on the screen, but you can sense that they are also friends off the screen. Some of the old cast is still there. The Weasley family is still the same, as is the Dursley family; Professors McGonagall and Snape are the same as is Hagrid and Filch. Other students (Longbottom, Patel, Brown, Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Thomas) are played by the same actors as well. Sadly, Sir Richard Harris died before filming began so Professor Dombledore is now played by Michael Gambon, who does an excellent job. New characters introduced are Professor Lupin (played by David Thewlis), Professor Trelawney (played by Emma Thompson) and Sirius Black (played by Gary Oldman). Another new set of characters introduced are the Dementors (which seem to be entirely CGI). I think all actors did a wonderful job in their roles; they were all quite like their characters in the book and really stuck to the character as described by J.K. Rowling in the book.

Overall I thought the movie was excellent. If you have read the books, you know that as each book comes out the tone becomes darker. This one seemed to go down the path as well. There were some things that the movie failed to elaborate on that were in the book; some of which were rather crucial for the “why” characters did what they did. No, I’m not going to go in to that here as I think everyone who has read the book will notice as they watch the movie and I don’t want to give away any of the movie plot to those who haven’t read the book and haven’t yet seen the movie. I will say that this is a must-see for the summer. I will probably end up buying the DVD when it comes out as well. The movie was “only” rated PG, but did have a lot of action and held my interest throughout the entire show. I rate this movie as a 9 of 10. Go out and see it!

KC and I went to the movie Jersey Girl on Thursday last week. I’ve been mulling the movie around in my head for a while and thought I’d post a review. Right away, I’ll let you know that Jersey Girl is a movie written and directed by Kevin Smith. For those of you who don’t know, Kevin Smith is the artist who has given us Jay and Silent Bob in the movies Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. This movie is a departure from his previous work. Not to say it was not as well written or directed; like them or not his previous movies were excellent in these areas. You knew the characters and the movies were all well-paced, both signs of good writing and directing. No, this movie is a departure from the “dick and fart” jokes that make up a lot of his previous work. This is a movie you can take the entire family to and ALL will enjoy.

Jersey Girl stars Ben Affleck as Ollie Trinke, a hot-shot New York publicist, who falls for and marries urban professional Gertrude, played by Jennifer Lopez. They have a whirlwind romance (much like real life?!) which produces a child. Gertrude dies in childbirth leaving Ollie to raise his daughter. He can no longer be the publicist putting in 18 hour days; he has to raise his daughter. George Carlin does a wonderful job as Ollie’s dad, Bart; Bart offers to take the pair in to Ollie’s childhood home in New Jersey until Ollie can get back on his feet…. which stretches to seven years (at least as far as the movie goes). After a few months of Ollie trying to get back to his work (unsuccessfully), Bart forces Ollie to become a real father by refusing to babysit young Gertie (named after her mother) any longer. Ollie decides to take Gertie along with him to a press conference which ruins his career where he completely loses it when Gertie needs some attention when Ollie has to do his job. (He was to help Will Smith publicize his upcoming movie Independence Day, but said “He’s the Fresh Prince - a two-bit rapper and a TV personality, not a movie star!”) Cut to the present day where Gertie, played by newcomer Raquel Castro, is now seven or so. We still find Ollie wandering around lost without his wife. Ollie becomes the object of affection of the local video store clerk Maya, played very well by Liv Tyler. Two other interesting characters are Uncle Greenie (Stephen Root) and Uncle Block (Mike Starr), who aren’t Gertie’s uncles (as Ollie constantly points out to her) but merely bar-friends of Bart’s. Throw in a small role by Jason Biggs and even smaller roles by Jason Lee, Matt Damon, Will Smith (playing himself) and of course Jennifer Schwalbach Smith (Kevin’s wife) and you have many players from previous movies Kevin has done.

The movie was a nice story. Kevin does a great job of character development and storytelling, just as he has done his entire career. The difference in this movie is that the characters seem like someone you would know. The true separation of this movie from most of the tripe out there now is that there are no action scenes, no computer-generated graphics, no million-dollar special effects; just a good story and good acting. While I am no big Affleck fan, he always seems to bring his A-game for Smith; don’t know why, but he really does a great job in this movie. Carlin should get talk of a supporting actor nomination for some award (Golden Globe, Oscar, etc) for his work here. He was tremendous - many of the lines he uses are lines my dad has said to me at one time or another. Tyler’s character is a bit kooky and she pulls it off brilliantly. Root and Starr add comic relief and play off of Carlin well. Raquel Castro, however, steals the show. She has amazing presence and command of the scenes she is in. It is amazing how she looks as though she really COULD be Ben and Jen’s daughter. She looks to have a bright future in acting. The scene where she, Affleck, Carlin, Tyler, Root and Starr team up for the family entertainment night at her school and perform the “God That’s Good” song from the opera Sweeney Todd is as good as it is funny for the situation.

If you liked the previous Kevin Smith movies (which I did) you will find this one enjoyably different. If you liked the jokes and the silliness of the previous Kevin Smith movies, you probably will think this one is at best OK. If you don’t know Kevin Smith from Adam, you’ll like this one. I rate it 9 of 10.

This weekend, for KC’s birthday, we went to see the movie Hidalgo. First off, let’s get one thing straight: Hidalgo is the name of the horse. The next thing is that this is a Disney movie; while in general I’m not against Disney movies their non-animated movies have been less than impressive in the past. One last thing: at the beginning of the movie it is stated that it is based on a true story. This “true story” claim has been disputed; one needs only to Google Frank Hopkins, the main character of the movie, and find that there are many sites claiming that the true story this movie is based upon is an exaggeration by Hopkins.

All that being said, I thought the movie was great. The movie trailers and advertisements that have been out there have made it seem that this is an adventure film where the special effects and action sequences dominate the screen. I found this movie to be refreshing in that most of the action is what you see in the trailers and ads. The story centers around Frank Hopkins (played by Viggo Mortensen) and his American Mustang, Hidalgo. At the beginning of the movie, Hopkins (riding Hidalgo, of course) win an endurance race of some 400 miles in Missouri. Word gets across the globe that Hopkins and Hidalgo are the best in the world at endurance races, and the Arabs are offended. They have a race of some 3000 miles winding around in the desert of Saudi Arabia that is reputed to be the toughest race. Well, Hopkins and Hidalgo do not run from a challenge. All along the way, Hopkins is taunted as an arrogant cowboy and an infidel; Hidalgo is also called names. (Funny, because early in the movie Hopkins says “Call me what you want, but DON’T make fun of my horse.”) The race itself is grueling. The Arabian desert is about as hostile a place as there is on earth and traveling 3000 miles only during the day is a daunting task even today. Along the way, Hopkins and Hidalgo earn resepect from not only the other riders who survive, but of the general race-watching crowd as well. I’m not going to give any more of the plot away, but know that I am leaving a lot out.

I thought it was a really good movie. The cinematography was amazing; I felt many times like I actually WAS in the desert. The acting was top-notch. I think Mortensen is an emerging star who is quite a box-office draw due to the overwhelming success of the Lord of the Rings movies. The Sheikh of Sheikhs was played by Omar Sharif, who delivered his typical five-star performance (can you name a movie that Sharif didn’t do a good job?). The rest of the roles were played by actors I had not seen, except for three: Malcolm McDowell, J.K. Simmons and C. Thomas Howell. I think Howell had about 2 minutes on screen, McDowell had about 3 and Simmons had a bit more.

This is a movie that will hold your interest the entire 2 hours and 15 minutes AND that you can take your kids to as well. I rate it 8 out of 10. Not necessarily a “must-see” but definitely worth the admission.

I really have just one word to say: WOW! The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King is a movie that is quite epic in its scope. What a movie! We went last night after the family cleared out after the Christmas thing; me, KC, Breezomatic, ZDog and J. What a movie!. We went to the Showcase Cinemas 53 where there are many HUGE screens and very comfortable chairs (even for someone my size). What a movie! The sound system is top-notch there also. Did I mention it was a great movie?

The cast is pretty much the same as the other two. The main characters are Frodo (Elijah Wood - from Cedar Rapids, Iowa!), Sam (Sean Astin), Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Gandalf (Ian McKellen), Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd). These are the surviving members of the original Fellowship of the Ring. The acting here is great. Yes, the effects are stunning, but they do not overshadow the acting (unlike many movies of our time). Not only are the digital effects completely seamless, but also the other effects of makeup and fight-choreography make the film truly amazing. The plot is well known to me as I had read the books and the main gist of the movie was true to the books. I thought the story-telling aspect of this movie was excellent; you felt like you knew the characters and how they would react to each of the new situations that they encountered. Not only is this a compliment to the director but the actors as well; to develop characters that are multidimensional is something that is lost in many of today’s movies.

My disappointment was when the movie digressed from the book. Not only have I read the entire trilogy but much of the Tolkien material as well. I felt that the scouring of the Shire was a critical part in the return of the four Hobbits to their beloved Shire; this was completely left out of the movie. The fact that the four drove Saruman and Wormtongue out of the Shire showed not only that Saruman had indeed fallen from the ranks of wizardry, but now he was nothing more than a nuisance. Also, the return trip through Rohan, Lorien, and Rivendell had some significance to the travelers and this was completely left out.

The disappointment was small when compared to the way that Peter Jackson stayed as true as he could to the books. Aside from the aforementioned glaring omissions, he was as true as he could be to what I believe was Tolkien’s original intent and messages. It is a truly amazing feat what Jackson and the cast and crew of these movies have accomplished. Yes, a must-see and a DVD must-own. I’d have to rate this movie a 10 of 10.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - WOW! What a story; what effects; what a movie! The basic ideas are classic ones: a damsel in distress to be saved;a damned crew to be released from their curse; a tireless man of the law hunting down outlaws.
The main character is Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) who is the one-time captain of the Black Pearl. Captain Sparrow embodies all that we stereotypically associate with pirates: bad teeth, blackened eyes, love of rum, and a scoundrel. However, you could say the main character is Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), the sole survivor of a ship attacked by the Black Pearl. It is his life, or rather his blood, that will save the crew of the Black Pearl from eternal damnation. Their fates are intertwined when Sparrow happens into the port where Turner works as a blacksmith. There are some really great one-liners in the movie, but most of them are in the trailer. That is not to say the entire movie is predictable or that it is filled with plot twists. It does draw a nice balance between the two. Enough predictability that one can watch it and kind of know what is going to happen next, but there are a few surprises in the mix.
This is one of the movies that draws on the actors abilities more so than the action and/or CG action. Unlike many of the movies out today that gather so much at the box office, there actually WAS acting going on. For my money, Johnny Depp is the most underrated actor of our time. He has yet to turn in a bad performance and many times outshines the cast and even the script. Orlando Bloom turns in a solid performance as well; you may remember him as Legolas in the Lord of the Rings movies. He is gaining my respect with his acting abilities with each movie I see him in. Geoffrey Rush plays Barbossa and has flashes of brilliance. Barbossa is the one-time first mate of Sparrow who leads a mutiny against Sparrow some time before the movie actually takes place. Kiera Knightly plays the damsel in distress, Elizabeth Swann. She also has her moments (You like pain? Try wearing a corset!) but has a good performance overall.
The effects in this movie were amazing. Not just the effects of swordfights and hand-to-hand combat, either. The moonlight showed the crew of the Black Pearl for what they were: rotting flesh on skeletons, damned souls cursed to live without death. The great effects came into play during many of the fight scenes when skeletons were fighting men; some of the time in the moonlight the skeletons were fighting, but when they came into the shadows these skeletons became like men. Much detail went into this as a fight scene towards the end of the movie had many such movements between moonlight and shadow. Also the effect that no matter where the Black Pearl was sailing, it had a mist about it.
All in all this was an enjoyable movie. Rated PG-13, if there were swearing in it I didn’t hear it. It was rated this for the violence. A very enjoyable two hours plus spent. I rate it an 8 out of 10.

The Hulk; what a movie. KC and I went to see it on Friday evening; it has taken me this long to kind of get a handle on the movie and see it as a movie rather than a glamorized comic book extension. Not that it was a bad movie or anything like that. It just wasn’t a GOOD movie, at least not as good as the hype or even my own expectations.
As far as the acting goes, it is not any better than the old The Incredible Hulk TV series with Bill Bixby as Dr. Bruce Banner and Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk. Ferrigno actually has a VERY small role as a security guard (about 10 seconds of camera time). Others around me in the theater showed their ignorance as they all recognized Lou but had no idea who was with him - it was none other than Stan Lee, the creator of the Marvel Comics characters. The old TV series is something of a rarity in that it was sci-fi and yet well written and respected in its time.
That being said, I was amazed at the computer generated (CG) effects and the way they were blended in to the movie. It won’t be long and we won’t be able to tell CG from RL (real life) acting, at least at the rate they are going now. I thought that Eric Bana did a capable job, but not outstanding - not that he had much to go with here. Jennifer Connelly did an OK job, but she has done better in other roles (most notably Mulholland Falls). I’d say that Nick Nolte did the best acting job in the film, up until the final half-hour or so when his character was completely CG. One bright spot was Ang Lee’s directing. I thought the use of multi-paned screens and bubbled fadeouts made it seem more like the comic book and less like a movie. Also, I don’t think there is a better director of action movies, and this one definitely had a lot of action.
Some of the details are not what I remembered from the original comic book series and definitely not from the TV series. Details like the origin of the Hulk, details like the history behind the Hulk. I don’t think they added or took away from the movie, but they were definitely not the “facts” that I remembered. Also, a teaser: in all comics, TV series and this movie, how can the Hulk grow to the size he becomes and ONLY his pants (and then only what appears to be shorts) stay with him and stretch to fit him? Seems to me that he’d outgrow those as well… HMMMMM… I never did understand that.
All in all it was an OK movie. Not one I am desperately waiting to own on DVD, but not a bad movie either. If I am to go again, I will go to a local theater that plays “second run” movies where the admission is only $3, the New Strand Theatre. Probably the only reason I’d buy the DVD is to complete a Marvel Comics set. While this movie is not a “forget it - never again”, it is also not a must-see. I’d rate it a 5 of 10.