Movie Review: Hancock
Hancock (2008)–** “Shoot a few scenes out of focus. I want to win the foreign film award.”–Billy Wilder Leave it to director Peter Berg to take Mr. Wilder seriously. Here’s a director who spends too much time shooting his blockbusters to look like Diving Bell and the Butterfly when all he can do is capture the essence of CSI. Someone needs to remind him that his movies have the dramatic potential of a South Park episode. Until someone does, we are going to have to suffer through more flicks like Hancock. Hancock is a film that makes me hate the summer movie season. I fear running into pictures like it, pictures that don’t know how to balance their sense of entertainment and sense of drama. With Hancock, a superhero film written as parody and not as a serious action film,...
Read MoreMovie Review: WALL•E
WALL•E (2008)–**** Speaking very positively, I assure you, I called Andrew Stanton’s last Pixar effort, Finding Nemo, “by the book Pixar” with animation that was “just showing off.” Stanton is still showing off with his space odyssey WALL•E, but his robot love story is far from by the book. In fact, for the first hour (and much of the rest of the film), it’s a sci-fi adventure Buster Keaton would have dreamt up. That’s the nature of telling a story that is primarily from robots’ point of views. Even after they have developed personalities and quirks all their own, they don’t do much talking. For WALL•E, the last operating clean-up robot on a consumerism ravaged earth, it’s not generally a big deal. He doesn’t have anyone to talk to anyway. The miniature Johnny 5 sports a trash compactor, creates...
Read MoreDVD Weekend: The Other Boleyn Girl & 30 Days of Night
Instead of heading to the theater this weekend for what reliable sources are calling mediocre comedies, I stayed home to catch up on some movies I had previously skipped. I probably should have spent $8 on a mediocre comedy. The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)–*1/2 Quickie Review To advance their family, sisters Mary and Anne Boleyn strive to position themselves as King Henry VIII’s mistress. Dull, unfocused and rather weightless, this period drama cannot contend with its own miscalculations. Neither sister is a reliable guide as they are juggled about by the amorous king and the Boleyn family. The only character with any sense of humanity—the mother—is tossed into the background. Scarlett Johansson, as Mary, once again proves she can’t star in a period film, while Natalie Portman, as Anne, struggles to make us believe she’s a scheming temptress. I...
Read MoreMovie Review: The Incredible Hulk (2008)
The Incredible Hulk (2008)–**1/2 It’s easier to stand in awe of The Incredible Hulk as part of Marvel Studios’ greater plan than it is to enjoy it as a movie all its own. The blockbuster retooling of the Hulk, a comic book hero we last saw on screen only five years ago, gives fans the action many demanded after Ang Lee’s flawed, but ultimately more interesting superhero psychodrama. Unfortunately, The Incredible Hulk is equally flawed, tragically overlooking the anguish of Bruce Banner in an effort to make a more consumable picture. This film, which serves as a quasi-sequel to 2003’s Hulk, finds Banner (Edward Norton) in Rio de Janeiro. He’s off the radar, working as a day laborer and learning to control his anger. As we learn from a rather cumbersome opening credits sequence, he’s still been blasted with...
Read MoreQuickie: The Strangers
The Strangers–*1/2 Quickie Review A couple whose relationship is on the rocks spends one last uncomfortable evening together at the boyfriend’s rural getaway. The night becomes even more uncomfortable when three sociopaths randomly decided have some fun at the couple’s expense. This debut feature from writer/director Bryan Bertino proves that even a thinking man’s torture porn film can still be needlessly sadistic. The difference here is that the audience is the one feeling most of the pain. Starring Liv Tyler and Scott...
Read MoreQuickie: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)–** Quickie Review After a 1,000 year absence, the Pevensie children return to Naria to help the exiled Prince Caspian reclaim his throne and restore splendor to the kingdom. This fantasy sequel is so forgettable I shouldn’t even be writing about it. Bouncing from boring to laughable (though dominated by the former), the film rushes to go anywhere while taking its time going nowhere. At two hours and 24 minutes, Prince Caspian also forces us to spend too much time with these limp, colorless characters. Starring Ben Barnes, Peter Dinklage, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley and Anna Popplewell. Directed by Andrew Adamson. One good thing about Narnia 2, courtesy of YouTube: [youtube...
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