Posts Tagged ‘comic book movie’
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010
Review:
After the success of the first Iron Man film, a sequel was quickly produced, once more attempting to create a mixture of light-hearted, comedic entertainment and a gritty action film, which means that the film is on the middle ground and doesn’t really work as either. This time around Robert Downey Jr., who plays the narcissistic Tony Stark with his usual charm, thus easily being the best thing in the film, sadly has to surrender some screen time to villain Mickey Rourke and a large big-name supporting cast. Through all this, he develops a self-destructive streak that simply doesn’t fit with the tone of the film, thus creating a film that never manages to truly pull the viewer in. The film is often funny and the special effects sequences (that which used to be action set pieces before everything became CGI) are solid, so watching the film is not a waste of time, but it’s also hardly more.
Random Observations:
Iron Man 2 at the IMDb
Don Cheadle replaced Terrence Howard as Iron Man’s sidekick, supposedly over a contract (i.e. money) disagreement.
Some other illustrious cast names: Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson as well as director Jon Favreau.
Marvel is really pushing that whole “one gigantic franchise” thing. The film references several of their other comic book superheroes, all in the set-up for the 2012 release of The Avengers.
Tags: 2010, action movie, adventure movie, American Film, Clark Gregg, comic book movie, Don Cheadle, Don Heck, english, franchise film, Garry Shandling, Gwyneth Paltrow, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Jack Kirby, John Slattery, Jon Favreau, Justin Theroux, Kate Mara, Larry Lieber, Leslie Bibb, Mickey Rourke, minute movie review, movie review, Movies, Paul Bettany, Robert Downey Jr., Sam Rockwell, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, sequel, Stan Lee, Terrence Howard, Thriller
Posted in Minute Movie Reviews, Movie Reviews, Movies | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009
Click the link to open the sixteenth door. Klick auf den Link, um das sechzehnte Türchen zu öffnen.
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Tags: 1992, Adventskalender, American Film, Andrew Bryniarski, Anna Katarina, Batman, Batman Returns, Bob Kane, Christopher Walken, comic book movie, Cristi Conaway, Daniel Waters, Danny DeVito, deutsch, english, fantasy movie, franchise film, Jan Hooks, John Strong, Michael Gough, Michael Keaton, Michael Murphy, Michelle Pfeiffer, movie review, Movies, Pat Hingle, Rick Zumwalt, Sam Hamm, sequel, Steve Witting, Tim Burton, Vincent Schiavelli
Posted in Adventskalender, Adventskalender 2009, Movie Reviews, Movies | 1 Comment »
Thursday, November 19th, 2009
Review:
Made only five years after Ang Lee’s Hulk flopped, this reboot tried to please the fans of the comic book about the scientist who turns into a green monster whenever he gets angry. And please the fans it did, which speaks volumes about them. The film starts promising enough with the by now usual superhero movie trope of investigating what it means to be “special” and some nice scenes set in South America, before it becomes an action spectacle that is beyond silly, marred additionally by some of the worst CGI seen in recent mainstream productions. Ang Lee’s Hulk may not have been very good, but compared to this film, it’s a masterpiece.
Random Observations:
The Incredible Hulk at the IMDb
Edward Norton took over from Eric Bana for the lead role. In some scenes, he is wearing glasses. With glasses, he has an absolutely striking resemblance to Gary Oldman. Scary.
Liv Tyler as the love interest is about as miscast as is possible. Her damsel in distress persona is annoying at best, in the supposed to be emotionally jarring scenes of the film it’s beyond bad.
The film is part of Marvel’s attempt to turn all their most popular comic books into money-spinners, if at all possible connected. That means that it alludes to, among other Marvel properties, the infinitely better Iron Man by having a small Robert Downey Jr. cameo. As the linked review will tell you, however, I didn’t really like Iron Man all that much either. But it still is much better than this film.
Tags: 2008, action movie, American Film, Ang Lee, Christina Cabot, comic book movie, Edward Norton, english, Gary Oldman, Hulk, Iron Man, Liv Tyler, Lou Ferrigno, Louis Leterrier, minute movie review, movie review, Movies, Paul Soles, Peter Mensah, Robert Downey Jr., sci-fi movie, The Incredible Hulk, Tim Blake Nelson, Tim Roth, Ty Burrell, William Hurt, Zak Penn
Posted in Minute Movie Reviews, Movie Reviews, Movies | No Comments »
Sunday, November 8th, 2009
Review:
In 1938, a pilot and his engineer trying to compete in the nationals find a jetpack that a robber left behind. Naturally, that leads to the pilot becoming a comic book hero. Coincidentally, this film is based on a comic book. It’s a fairly entertaining albeit ridiculous story that makes for some nice entertainment, especially thanks to the always glorious Timothy Dalton in the main role. Sadly, the ridiculousness gets a bit much towards the end, but if you are willing to not think about it too much, you will enjoy the film.
Random Observations:
The Rocketeer at the IMDb
Note to self: Write these “reviews” before you forget everything about the film.
Tags: 1991, action movie, adventure movie, Alan Arkin, American Film, Bill Campbell, book adaptation, comic book movie, Danny Bilson, Dave Stevens, Ed Lauter, Eddie Jones, english, family film, James Handy, Jennifer Connelly, Joe Johnston, John Lavachielli, Jon Polito, minute movie review, movie review, Movies, Paul De Meo, Paul Sorvino, Robert Miranda, sci-fi movie, Terry O'Quinn, The Rocketeer, Timothy Dalton, William Dear
Posted in Minute Movie Reviews, Movie Reviews, Movies | No Comments »
Sunday, September 20th, 2009
Review:
The Hellboy sequel, now that typical comic book movie origin story is out of the way, dives right into the action and profits from it. Elven prince Nuada is sick of the humans taking earth for themselves and wants to raise the Golden Army again to wage war on them, something which Hellboy and his colleagues from the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense are strongly against. The story is not really the main point to the film, though, but rather the striking imagery is. Guillermo del Toro once more proves that he may be the most visually creative director working right now in a two hour thrill ride from stunning set piece to stunning set piece. The film is oddly beautiful in its ugliness and the special effects are striking. If you like great images with comic book stories, this is the film to watch.
Random Observations:
Hellboy II: The Golden Army at the IMDb
Especially impressive is the make-up that is used to make the human actors into a wild array of “monsters”. Nobody really looks like themselves anymore.
I really enjoyed the way the back story was told. Sure, it was a rather cheap trick, but well handled.
Lots and lots of foreshadowing for a possible third film throughout this one.
Tags: 2008, action movie, adventure movie, American Film, Anna Walton, comic book movie, Doug Jones, english, fantasy movie, franchise film, Guillermo del Toro, Hellboy, Hellboy II, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, James Dodd, Jeffrey Tambor, John Alexander, John Hurt, Luke Goss, Mike Mignola, minute movie review, movie review, Movies, Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, sequel, Seth MacFarlane
Posted in Minute Movie Reviews, Movie Reviews, Movies | No Comments »
Thursday, August 13th, 2009
Review:
In 1931, a twelve-year-old witnesses his father and his father’s boss’ son kill some people as part of their job with the mob. When the boss’ son decides that the kid can’t be trusted and starts to kill the entire family, father and son bond together while trying to survive and also avenge their family’s murder. Filmed with incredibly attention to detail and great cinematography (that rightfully earned the Director of Photography a posthumous Oscar), “Road to Perdition” is an atmospheric thriller that slowly draws one into it’s world. It could be a great movie, but truly dreadful performances from otherwise great actors (especially Tom Hanks and Jude Law) prevent it from reaching that greatness.
Random Observations:
Road to Perdition at the IMDb
You can really tell that the film is based on a graphic novel. There is a very large number of static shots with very little movement within the frame - in short, shots that could be taken straight from the pages of a graphic novel.
I mentioned the film in my introduction to Comic Book Movie July last year, stating that I didn’t enjoy it much. And while I still don’t think that it was all that great, watching it with an eye towards good film-making, I couldn’t help but be impressed by parts of it.
I saw the film back in 2002 when it was released theatrically and never made the connection between the “villain” in this film and the newest Bond actor.
I actually remembered very little about the film apart from the opening shot and one of the last scenes.
Tags: 2002, American Film, book adaptation, Ciarán Hinds, comic book movie, crime movie, Daniel Craig, David Self, Drama, Dylan Baker, english, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jude Law, Liam Aiken, Max Allan Collins, minute movie review, movie review, Movies, Oscar, Paul Newman, Richard Piers Rayner, Road to Perdition, Sam Mendes, Stanley Tucci, Thriller, Tom Hanks, Tyler Hoechlin
Posted in Minute Movie Reviews, Movie Reviews, Movies | No Comments »
Monday, March 30th, 2009
Review:
When the Nazis open a portal to hell with the help of legendary sorcerer Rasputin, something gets out, before the Americans can stop it - Hellboy. Sixty years later, he works for the FBI and has to stop a plot by a resurrected Rasputin to bring Armaggedon about. Based on the comic book series, “Hellboy” is an extremely stylish movie. It lacks, however, three-dimensioanl characters and Rasputin isn’t a great villain. Nevertheless, the film is entertaining and the plot just interesting enough to focus ones attention, allowing the oversight of some gaping plot holes.
Random Observations:
Hellboy at imdb.com
The film spawned a sequel, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, that was better received critically.
The look of the movie reminded me a lot of director Guillermo de Toro’s next film, El Laberinto del fauno.
Ron Perlman is completely unrecognizable under the Hellboy make-up.
Tags: 2004, action movie, adventure movie, American Film, comic book movie, Doug Jones, El Laberinto del fauno, english, fantasy movie, franchise film, Guillermo del Toro, Hellboy, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Jeffrey Tambor, John Hurt, Karel Roden, Mike Mignola, minute movie review, movie review, Movies, Peter Briggs, Ron Perlman, Rupert Evans, Selma Blair
Posted in Minute Movie Reviews, Movie Reviews, Movies | No Comments »
Thursday, March 12th, 2009
Review:
Set in an alternate reality 1985, Watchmen tells the story of true costumed heroes - vigilantes - and the people behind the masks. Based on the graphic novel that is generally considered to be the most important ever, the film is visually stunning and a largely satisfactory adaptation, even though the terrible acting and the altered ending/plot device stop it from becoming a classic itself.
Random Observations:
Watchmen at imdb.com
Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley and, to a lesser extent, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, were the only actors in the film who actually deserve to be called that. The rest was awful, even the usually reliable Billy Crudup.
The whole story of the Black Freighter is missing from the movie - and unlike some other cut stuff, I actually liked that. The story was always a terribly blunt weapon in a book that relied so much on subleties.
For some strange reason, I was the only person in the theatre to find the sex scene set to Leonard Cohen’s “Halleluja” extremely funny. The film uses a lot of good music, but mostly it was used inappropriately like here.
Director Zack Snyder’s previous film was the dreaful 300. The terrible, terrible scene with Nite Owl screaming “No” was, luckily, the only indication of that fact.
Apparently, most of the things that were cut from the theatrical release have still been filmed and a Director’s Cut which is an hour longer will be sold on DVD.
The changed ending - spoilers ahead, do not read on if you haven’t read the novel/seen the movie and still plan to - seemed to me to be an attempt to be more realistic. Who would believe in an alien invasion? But blaming Dr. Manhattan for the attrocities would not prevent World War III. Since he is an opponent that can’t be overcome, his actions would not bring the world together.
Tags: 2009, 300, action movie, Alan Moore, Alex Tse, American Film, Billy Crudup, Carla Gugino, comic book movie, Dave Gibbons, David Hayter, Drama, english, fantasy movie, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Leonard Cohen, Malin Akerman, Matthew Goode, minute movie review, movie review, Movies, Patrick Wilson, sci-fi movie, Thriller, Watchmen, Zack Snyder
Posted in Minute Movie Reviews, Movie Reviews, Movies | No Comments »
Thursday, July 31st, 2008
Persepolis, 300, Sin City, V for Vendetta, A History of Violence, Constantine, Ghost World, From Hell - eight unique movies that have little in common except that they are based on comic books. For Comic Book Movie July, I assembled them and tried to investigate whether that actually meant anything - an endeavour that quickly failed. Instead I wrote about them in the most boring fashion possible. But now, for the final conclusion of glorious Comic Book Movie July, the first and probably last Theme Month at Fabricated Truth, I will reexamine the question.
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Tags: 300, A History of Violence, book adaptation, Comic Book July, comic book movie, Constantine, english, From Hell, Ghost World, Movies, Persepolis, Sin City, The Dark Knight, Theme Months, V for Vendetta
Posted in Comic Book July, Theme Months | No Comments »
Friday, July 25th, 2008
The biggest surprise of 300 came at the very end of the closing credits. There was the usual disclaimer about the film being a work of fiction and that all events and characters were fictitious and that any resemblance to actual events and/or people was purely coincidental. Surprising about that was that somehow I had always laboured under the impression that King Leonidas and the 300 Spartans that defended the pass of Thermopylae long enough to allow the Greek city states to unite and move against the Persian invaders were quite real, had fought and died at the “hot gates” (the translation of Thermopylae). But apparently, they were all a creation of Frank Miller - and looking at this movie, it is probably better to not even imagine it having any relation to actual history.
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Tags: 2006, 300, action movie, American Film, book adaptation, Braveheart, Comic Book July, comic book movie, David Wenham, Die Hard, Dominic West, english, Frank Miller, Gerard Butler, history movie, Lena Headey, movie review, Movies, Rodrigo Santoro, Sin City, Theme Month Reviews, Theme Months, unintentional comedy, Zack Snyder
Posted in Comic Book July, Movie Reviews, Movies, Theme Month Reviews, Theme Months | No Comments »
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