Matt’s Week in Dork! (3/16/14-3/22/14)

    This week is a bit of a blur.  In the aftermath of filming, I went into a slightly more funky funk, combined with some unrelated stress, and just didn’t have my mind on the Dork Life.  Still, there were bright points, to be sure.

Star Trek Into Darkness:  Upon second viewing, I find this film both better and worse.  On the one hand, I find a lot of things that I really enjoy.  Little bits of dialog, sequences, or production design.  But I’m also more bothered by how much better it not only could have been, but absolutely should have been.  Kirk is made into a horrible, sniveling, weak-willed little child.  Spock is a whiny a-hole.  Uhura has become a shrewish nag.  And the unnecessary villains are bordering on mentally enfeebled when it comes to plans and schemes.  At almost every turn, the writers had chances to make a very interesting movie, that continued to take the new timeline Trek on its own course.  Alas, at every turn, they made silly call-backs, rehashed old characters and plots, and on more than one occasion bent plot and story out of whack, just to do something stupid.  If Harrison wasn’t Khan?  Better film.  If Khan and Kirk teamed up, then went on their separate paths?  Better film.  If it had been a dilemma to solve, not a villain to punch?  Better film.  If Carol Marcus wasn’t involved?  Better film.  If the Klingons weren’t involved?  Better film.  And didn’t they already do the Admiral Robocop storyline in Star Trek VI?  I mean, why rip off both Star Trek II’s plot and Star Trek IV?  Anyway, this ultimately aggravating film has a ton of potential, but drops almost every ball it tries to juggle.  After such a good start to the re-launched series, this stumble feels catastrophic and probably terminal.  My interest in the franchise dropped down to the levels Star Wars has been enjoying for the last fifteen years.  And that ain’t good.

Alice Adams:  Katharine Hepburn plays a somewhat spoiled daughter of a struggling middle class family, who, along with her mother, is a bit obsessed with being perceived as part of the more sophisticated upper class.  What follows is an enjoyable light comedy of manors and misunderstandings.  Nothing too heavy.  One thing I find odd/interesting is the politics of race in the film.  You see racism, and there is certainly a character that seems like a racist archetype when you first see her.  But, it seems like the movie is lampooning racist assumptions and behaviors.  Or is it?  I’m removed enough from the time period that I’m not quite sure.  Was it subversively forward thinking, or am I giving them too much credit?  Overall, I really liked the movie, even though Fred MacMurray was the romantic lead.  Though his boring stiffness may have been to the benefit of the picture.

Dirty Harry:  One of the great pieces of 70s sleaze.  One of the best anti-hero cop films.  Dirty Harry is pretty much a rehash of Bullitt, but 100% more entertaining.  Clint Eastwood grimaces and sneers his way through life, hating the world and every piece of scum in it.  And when a giggling whack-job with a rifle starts picking people off, nothing is gonna stop Harry from getting his hands dirty, with punk blood.  No pointless romance sub-plot.  No great moral victory.  No personal growth.  Just hard, mean, ugly business.  A great score, fantastic footage of San Francisco, and some memorable lines help cement Dirty Harry as a landmark in cynical cinema.

    Because I’ve had a hard time focusing on reading lately, I paid a lot more attention to the music I had on during bus trips this week.  I really got into St. Vincent’s new, self titled CD.  After a few listens, I give it an enthusiastic thumbs up.  Very good.

The Astronaut Farmer:  This is a great family movie, about a family working together to realize dreams.  In a lot of ways, it felt like a film from the earlier 1980s.  Another case of ‘they don’t make movies like this anymore.’  It’s heart warming, gentle, and seriously enjoyable.  It’s got plenty of ‘that guy’ actors and lots of solid character performances.  Heck, even the kid actors are good.  This is the kind of thing I can imagine inspiring little kids to reach for the stars, and we could certainly use more of that.  Matt’s Family Seal of Approval.

The Grapes of Wrath:  The Great Depression shot by John Ford?  Normally, that idea would not thrill me at all.  But this adaptation of the classic novel of one of America’s darkest times is engrossing, entertaining, and ultimately uplifting.  Though the end sugar coats the book’s message, I find its hope filled look off into the distance of time to be satisfying.  The movie looks great, with some excellent faces and the desperate human misery of displaced peoples in stark black & white.  The acting tends toward the theatrical, but as the film takes on an almost mythic cast, that’s not such a bad thing.  Watching it made me want to dip back into HBO’s Carnivalle and follow it up with Sullivan’s Travels.  I’ve got a week off coming up.  We’ll see.

    Thursday night I watched the first disk of The Waltons.  Man, I hated that show when I was a wee lad, but I find it charming and fun now.  It’s wholesome and perhaps a bit saccharine, but it’s also refreshing and pleasant.  I know that over the course of its near decade run (plus several movies) the characters grow and experience snippets of history (from the Depression through WWII), and I find that interesting.  I may be sitting down for a long haul, watching the entire show.

The Call of Cthulhu:  I still find myself enjoying this darned faithful adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s classic story.  On a limited budget, they attempted to recreate the silent movie era, and for the most part, it works.  Not even close to my favorite Lovecraft tale, it’s still nice to see some of the author’s essential content make it onto the screen, something so rare in previous purported adaptations.  It makes me more and more hungry to see a faithful adaptation of The Shadow Out of Time or of course, At the Mountains of Madness.  Heck, a well made Shadow Over Innsmouth would still make me smile.

Legendary Weapons of China:  An excellent, probably way over-complicated martial arts adventure movie, Legendary Weapons of China is set in the latter days of the Boxer Rebellion (or just after).  It involved conflicted philosophies of martial arts and its place in society…and lots of fighting.  The tone is odd, with a good deal of goofing, but with some serious issues being discussed and fought over.  Yet, unlike some, it manages not to strike any notes too jarring for this viewer.  I enjoy hand to hand martial arts, but my preference is for weapon combat, and as the film’s name implies, this one features weapons.  Lots and lots of weapons.  Excellent.

    Saturday night was the latest meeting of the graphic novel club, where this month we discussed Brian K. Vaughn’s Pride of Bagdad.  The book left me cold upon reading it, but I did gain some appreciation for it, seeing it through some other readers’ eyes.  The art is nice, but it felt the most like when we read Get Jiro a while back; a bunch of potentially interesting ideas that didn’t go anywhere.

    I finally got back to and finished Philip Reeve’s Goblins.  It’s a fun children’s fantasy novel in the spirit of Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain cycle (see…or don’t…Disney’s boring adaptation of The Black Cauldron).  The fact that it took so long from the time I started to the time I finished is not a statement about the book’s quality, but my own scatterbrained funk and lack of focus I’ve been suffering for some months.

-Matt

A Fistful of Fictional Presidents! (Matt’s Picks)

    With ultra-dull White House Down in theaters this weekend, we’re looking at some of our favorite fictional presidents.  Sadly, Jamie Foxx’s uncomfortable collection of ethnic stereotypes, President “DJ Jazzy” Sawyer will not be making the cut.

5.  President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho may not be the sharpest bulb in the sea, but he knows what the people like, and he knows how to give it to ‘em.  He is the worst case scenario and he rules the Idiocracy.

4.  Gaius Baltar is the most interesting and conflicted character on Battlestar Galactica, so it’s no shock his rise to power is rather strange and magical.  When he becomes president, it almost feels like destiny.  A really awful, horrible destiny.

3.  The President, as played by Henry Fonda in Fail Safe makes some of the hardest choices a man might be called upon to make.  But if the fate of the world were in his hand, I would feel…well, not safe, but in good hands.

2.  Donald Pleasence is the President in Escape from New York, and he’s having a bad day.  He goes from awkward and abused to total Rambo nuts and back again at the flip of a switch, and even the Duke of New York, who may indeed be A number 1, is no match.

1.  David Palmer may be about the most hardcore president I’ve ever seen.  He makes the tough calls, does the right things, and puts foes in their place.  He may be married to a demon, but even she can’t hold him back.  At a time when I was feeling particularly low about American politics, the first two seasons of 24 re-kindled a bit of the presidential awe I had as a young lad.

-Matt

A Fistful of Inspiration! (Brad's Picks)

The Jackie Robinson story gets another go around on the big screen this weekend.  It's a crucial bit of pop culture that lead to genuine social change in America.  But my fear, based on what little of the trailer I've seen, is that 42 will ultimately be another stale biopic that fails to capture the excitement of the events, and simply delivers bullet point history.  As impressed as we all were by Jaime Foxx's mimicry in Ray or Joaquin Phoenix's hangdog wannabe jailbird in Walk The Line, they were simply just pale imitations of their real life subjects.  Icons are hard to portray.  We're all taught the basics in school.  Plunging new depths can be difficult.  It's best to either narrow your focus (like last year's Lincoln) or deal on the little known fellas (see my #5 pick on this list) instead.  The most appealing thing about 42 is director Brian Helgeland, the man to come the closest in adapting Richard Stark's Parker with Payback (The Straight Up Edition, avoid the theatrical cut).

So, this Fistufl is not a Top Five of Biopics (although some do appear).  Instead these are the top five films that inspired me the most as the credits rolled.  Films that either inspired me creatively, lovingly, or patriotically.  Films that put a lump in my throat and a chill down my spine.  Films that made me mutter "yer damn right."

5.  American Splendor:  Harvey Pekar was a grumpy little shit.  After some hard time in the Navy, a barrage of odd jobs, and an almost life sentence as a file clerk, Harvey Pekar found an outlet for his everyday rage in underground comics.  A friendship with R. Crumb encouraged the "anyone can do it" attitude and Harvey Pekar soon became the Poet Laureate of Cleveland.  Ma & Pap America may not know his name, but anyone with the slightest interest in non-spandex comics appreciates the autobiographical revolution sparked by Pekar and his peers.  The film, directed by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini, balances fictionalized accounts with actor Paul Giamatti as well as interviews with Pekar himself.  It's not the type of film to raise hoots and hollers, but after each viewing I find myself struck by that "anyone can do it" attitude and I'll inevitably leap to the written word.

4.  A Very Long Engagement:  You can't have a list like this without an epic love story.  When her fiance disappears in the trenches of the Somme, Audrey Tautou refuses to believe that her love was lost to The Great War.  She begins an epic quest to find him or his body.  She unravels a mystery involving five french soldiers convicted of cowardice and sentenced to die in the abyss of No Man's Land.  She's kind of like a lovelorn Sherlock Holmes, cutting her way through a venomous French government and freeing the spirits of the men lost on the front lines.  Both breaks and warms the heart.

3.  King Kong:  On the surface, this might seem like a weird one for the list.  Part of the inspiration comes from the craft of it.  Willis O'Brien brought genuine life to a tiny mechanical puppet.  I'm not being cute or foolish when I type this, but even after the 30th rewatch, there are moments in this film in which I forget I'm watching an inanimate object.  I see Kong and I react in the same manner I would with an anthropomorphized puppy dog.  He's Lassie.  He's Hooch.  The other part of the inspiration comes from the tragic story itself.  Not the "Beauty that Tamed The Beast" bit, but the hateful story of the poor bugger stolen from his home in chains and staked on a stage for our entertainment.  And I respond deeply to his skyscraping climactic rage.  Inspirational anger.

2.  Ed Wood:  This is not an "anyone can do it" movie.  It's a "you have to be a passionate mad man to do it" movie.  Made back in the good old days of Tim Burton talent, Ed Wood is the frenzied saga of a wannabe cinematic maestro who might have lacked the talent, but certainly had the blind will to burn his stories onto celluloid.  Portrayed by Johnny Depp, Ed Wood is a gleeful, lovable loon.  Through sheer love, he got his stories out to the people - and when their love was not quite like his love, it hurt.  Painfully relatable, but also delightfully inspiring.

1.  12 Angry Men:  This should be required viewing every 4th of July.  Nothing makes me more proud to be an American than 12 Angry Men.  On a hot sweaty day in New York City, 12 jurors file into the room and decide the fate of an alleged murderer.  11 men are quick to vote guilty.  One man, Juror #8, raises his hand.  He has a few questions and doesn't believe a man's life should be settled in the manner of minutes.  For the next 96 the 12 men shout, scream, and exhaust each other.  But the defendant is granted the conversation.  Thanks to one man with a raised hand.  Henry Fonda exudes morality.  He speaks, I listen.  He's the man I aspire to be.  Group think is evil.  Be an individual, be Juror #8.

--Brad

New Release Tuesday!!! (2/21/12)

I'm a few days late here, but I've been busy, busy.  Quite a few discs to check out this week, and the only reason there is not a Must Buy is cuz the top disc is a film I have not seen yet, but an error I'm really looking forward to correcting.  In fact, the only film released this week that I've actually seen is the Oscar nominated Puss in Boots, a fun film but I don't know if it's necessary to own.  

Buy!

ANATOMY OF A MURDER (CRITERION BLU):  Here's a courtroom classic that I've never had the opprotunity or excuse to check out before.  Now I have two:  1) You can never go wrong with a Criterion pick; even their weak/odd choices are worth checking out.  2) In reading the multiple obituaries for Ben Gazzara, the film that got name checked the most was not Saint Jack, Road House, or The Big Lebowski but Anatomy of a Murder.  And one of my secret cinema shames is that I've seen not a single Otto Preminger film (I do love his Mr. Freeze though).  This I guess, is as good a place to start as any.

FORT APACHE (BLU):  I've heard mixed reviews of Fort Apache and they've kept me away for a little while.  But I find the pairing of John Wayne & Henry Fonda to be a fascinating idea especially in the hands of the great John Ford, who delivered the best performances from both actors in The Searchers & My Darling Clementine.  And that's why a disappointing outing together in Fort Apache could be a real shame.  But it's time to finally check it out in this new Blu.

Rent!

PUSS IN BOOTS:  This was a much better film than it had any right to be; I've only seen the first Shrek film but disliked it immensely and walking into the theater with the wife for Puss In Boots I had very little hope for humor.  But Antonio Banderas had the day cuz who doesn't love a badass kitty.  And Salma Hayek as his animated love?  Puss in Boots was much more the satisfying Desperado sequel than Once Upon A Time In Mexico.

J EDGAR:  Here's another mixed-reviewed flick that I didn't see in theaters.  Honestly, Clint Eastwood hasn't made a movie I've thoroughly enjoyed since Gran Torino and after the horrid Hereafter I was not desperate to dive back into his cineam and especially one involving a heavily makeuped Leonardo DiCaprio J Edgar Hoover.  There probably is a good film in this subject matter but I have my doubts that this is the one.  Personally, I really enjoyed Billy Crudup's Hoover in Michael Mann's Public Enemies.

MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE:  The only reason I want to see this film is John Hawkes.  That man needs to be in more movies, or at least he needs to have some seriously cool leading roles.

WORLD ON A WIRE (CRITERION BLU):  Epic German Science Fiction from the director of the BRD Trilogy?  Yes please!

Avoid!

TOWER HEIST:  Will Ben Stiller ever make a film I care about again?  Maybe.  Will Eddie Murphy?  I seriously doubt it.  Either way, I sure as hell don't care about this Brett Ratner flick.

--Brad

Brad's Week in Dork! (1/15/12-1/28/12)

I had a pretty fantastic Week in Dork.  I followed up my Gunfighter Cineawesome Review with The Ox-Bow Incident and pretty much had my socks blown off.  I had been holding off watching the movie till I read the novel, but finally decided that I was too damn lazy to ever read 224 pages...sigh.  Now, having checked out the Fonda flick I'm reconsidering my inexplicable apathy towards the book.

The DVD/Blu Ray highlight of the week was definitely Criterion's release of Godzilla.  I still haven't delved fully into the disc, having just checked out the dubbed Raymond Burr version of the film, but I am just stoked to finally have this kaiju classic in The Collection.

And the second DVD highlight of the week would be Shout Factory's Lethal Ladies Collection Volume 2.  First, it has The Arena.  Which is a mondo flick featuring Pam Grier as a Gladiator!  Second, it has Fly Me with Kung Fu Stewardesses!  Skip down to my mini review below to discover how much damn fun I had with that bit of ridiculous exploitation.  I really hope Shout Factory kicks up their Roger Corman Cult Classic Collection release schedule cuz a few discs every three or four month is just not enough.

TV OF THE WEEK!

Twin Peaks Season 1:  I had been hankering to rewatch Twin Peaks for some time, and The Auteur Cast's latest series on David Lynch gave me just the right excuse to dive back into the land of Laura Palmer, Log Ladies, Bob, Jaques & Jean Renault, backwards speech dreams, Dianne, and America's finest coffee.  When this first aired on television back in 1990 I was 11 years old and could not wrap my tiny little brain around this Lynchian dreamscape.  I was definitely aware of the Twin Peaks phenomenon and it seemed like all the adults were raving about this show for about three months--and then it disappeared.  Ten years later I discovered the show in college and fell madly in love.  Now I've taken it upon my show to introduce my wife to the show, and after a little resistance and the entire run of the first season's 7 episodes, she appears to be hooked.  Personally, I've found it very difficult not to spoil the Who Killed Laura Palmer mystery but so far I haven't spoiled a thing.  But watching the show through her has made me completely giddy.  Possibly you've seen my @VFCinema reaction tweets I've posted over the course of this week.  Lotta fun.

Justified Season 3 Episode 2 "Cut Ties":  The second ep of the third season may not have had that killer table moment from the premiere, but it did have Carla Gugino reprising her role from the short-lived Karen Sisco...okay, so maybe she has a different name or whatever, but we all know this is Karen Sisco.  Seriously, Justified now has Timothy Olyphant AND Carla Gugino!?!?  That's just too much pretty for one show to handle.  Really looking forward to seeing where this relationship takes us.  Plus, "Cut Ties" also introduces us to this season's other Big Bad, Mykelti Williamson as the scary as hell butcher, Limehouse.  Season 3 is gearing up to be more of the same--ABSOLUTELY BADASS TV.

They Grow The Hair Big In Twin Peaks

MOVIES OF THE WEEK!

The Ox-Bow Incident:  "This Is A Fine Company For A Man To Die With." Just a damn depressing Western. Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan are a couple of ornery drifters who stumble into town and into a bloodthirsty posse after a couple of rustlers kill a local rancher. On the trail, the posse discovers Dana Andrews, Anthony Quinn, and Francis Ford with a herd of the rancher's cattle. Next thing you know, nooses are thrown over the tree and the posse is set for an execution. At just 75 minutes, The Ox-Bow Incident is a tight but swiftly brutal morality play that gets a tad preachy but this choirboy ate it up. A Must See For Fans of the Genre.  For further understanding of its genius read my review over at Cineawesome.  

The Call of Cthulhu:  An effective adaptation of one of HP Lovecraft's most famous creations, this All-New Silent fumbles a bit with a few too many modern-faces but as the fools search where they shouldn't, and the madness spreads into our reality The Call of Cthulhu succeeds in dread where few other adaptations could. And you'll come away from your viewing aching to grab your friends and a camera and Make Your Own Damn Movie.

X The Man With The X-Ray Eyes:  "Why Do You Want To See So Much?" Mad Scientist Ray Milland invents some pretty potent eye drops that empower him with X-Ray Vision. When a table of tightwad businessmen refuse to fund his research, he does it anyway thanks to some irresponsible friends and a monkey. Of course the eye drops cause madness and murder and Milland must hide in a freakshow managed by the huckster Don Rickles. Roger Corman had directed 37 films prior to this one, and a bunch of those are better than this...but a bunch of those are also much worse than X. And that's where I'd rank it--Right in The Middle.

Godzilla King of the Monsters:  It's an odd experience watching the 1956 American re-edit of the original Gojira. Heaps of narration and wandering Raymond Burr are stuffed into the film as a gateway for English speaking audiences, and even though it holds a certain charm, at the end of the day it just gets in the way of a pretty fantastic monster movie. Let it be said though, that Burr is a professional and gives it his all for his awkward cram sessions. And there's no denying the Rubber Suit Beastie and the utter havoc Godzilla rains upon Tokyo. But this just ain't the proper way to see this film.

Fly Me:  "See Stewardesses Battle Kung Fu Killers!" The film opens with three stewardesses boarding a flight from good 'ole U.S.of A. to scary, perverted Hong Kong where each one will be tested in the ways of WTF!?!? One girl spends the majority of the film held hostage, drugged, & nude. Another girl spends the film investigating her disappearance with her policeman lover named Rickshaw (and occasionally karate fighting). And the final girl tries to score with a Bone Specialist Doctor while attempting to ditch her mother in the big city. At the climax all the girls meet in a shoot out/karate beatdown. The film is ridiculous to the point of Zany Wonder and I loved every second of it. Of course, special bonus points awarded to Dick Miller's cabbie with the wandering eyes.

Underworld Awakening:  The fourth outing in the tired Underworld franchise regains Kate Beckinsale's catsuited death dealer, and keeps the once-so-crucial hybrid Scott Speedman thankfully out of the limelight. Beckinsale awakens from some sort of deep freeze to a future utopia where humans have cleansed the world of both vampires and werewolves, stating "Mission Accomplished." Groan. Underworld 4 is less of a Suck Fest and more of a Snooze Fest with your only entertainment being provided by your mad MST3K skills of mockery. Or possibly you can start a drinking game at how many times Beckinsale randomly falls from the ceiling--two shots if done in slow mo.

Cover Girl Models:  Similar to Fly Me, Cover Girl Models follows three pretty girls who inexplicably get involved in international espionage and awkward karate fights when one model (Pat Anderson, also from Fly Me) wears a dress carrying top secret microfilm stitched into the seam. Unlike Fly Me though, this cheapie exploitation is pretty much dullsville; lacking the quick-fire rapid pace insanity necessary to carry these shenanigans to trash cinema nirvana. And yeah, no Dick Miller, so no bonus points.

The Grey:  Imagine Quint's U.S.S. Indianapolis speech from JAWS extended into a feature with the sharks switched for wolves and you start to get an idea of Joe Carnahan's A-Team follow-up, The Grey. A suicidal Liam Neeson says "No Mas" to fanged nature as he goes full-Jack London after his plane crashes somewhere in the winter wilderness of Alaska. Neeson continues his recent trend of mean 'ole badasses, leading the survivors deeper into the savagery of their own hearts. So don't just expect wolf-punching, Carnahan definitely goes a little Mallck metaphysical with the inner monologues and struggles with faith.  And, yeah, definitely the first Real Good movie of 2012.

COMIC BOOK OF THE WEEK!

Ultimate Comics Avengers -- Death of Spider-Man:  I am way behind on the Marvel Universe let alone the Ultimate Marvel Universe.  I was definitely digging Mark Millar & Leinil Yu's run on the series climaxing in the previous trade with Captain America teleporting the Triskelion to an Iranian desert as a means for vaporizing hundreds of Super Vampires.  But I gotta say that I was more than a little disappointed with this Epic *meh* Clash between Nick Fury's Avengers and Carol Danvers' New Ultimates.  The Puppet Master was way obvious from four trades back, and even while trying to be meta-comenting on the cliches of the Versus comic it still manages to remain a boring cliche.  And the Death of Spider-Man business?  That really has nothing to do with these characters whatsoever, and feels way out of place when that plot collides here.  I'll keep going with the series but this was a bit of a misstep.

--Brad

Brad's Week In Dork! (11/20-11/26)

I watched a bunch of movies.  The end.  Seriously, I don't even know how I cranked in as many films as I did since it felt like I lived at my dayjob all week long.  It helps having an AMC megaplex next to my work, and I kept popping inside to escape the Black Friday pepper spray terror and sooth my frantic mind.

MOVIES OF THE WEEK!

A Very Haorld & Kumar 3D Christmas:  Probably some of the most fun 3Dsploitation I've seen in a while (I'm getting tired of the oh-so-serious James Cameron approach to the gimmick--Bring Back JAWS 3D!!!), A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas is a solid sequel to the buddy stoner franchise and proves that John Cho & Kal Penn still have that silly/stupid chemistry discovered in the original film. That being said, the laughs are chuckles at best and the film made for a better trailer than it did movie.  And as always, more NPH please.

Iron Man:  I love Tony Stark! Correction, I love Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark. We might not have known it at the time (how could we, who outside of the comic shop longboxes really gave a rat's tail about Iron Man before 2008?), but Tony Stark was the character we were all craving for Downey to sink his trainwrecked teeth into. The man captures Stark's ego, his super ego, and his SUPER SUPER EGO perfectly and you love him for it! He's just so bloody charming! But what of the rest of the film? It's not bad. It's pretty good. But it's a rather basic origin story. And Jeff Bridges, who I generally love and even think looks kinda badass here as well, his baddie is rather boring. And the mech on mech climax is just as boring. Still, Robert Downey Jr. is awesome and he's all you need to put butts in the seat.

The Incredible Hulk:  Call me crazy, but I love Ang Lee's Shakespearean take on HULK. And I think it's far superior to the Marvel Studios version. That being said, Ed Norton is a great Bill Bixby Banner. Even Tim Roth makes for a fine Abomination and I love their "Hulk Smash" final smackdown.  Even William Hurt is a decent General Ross. But I'm definitely not a fan of Liv Tyler's Betty and the film nearly drags to a halt at the halfway point. A solid leadup to next year's Avengers madness, but it's easily my least favorite entry in the new Marvel saga.

Iron Man II:  "I am Iron Man." With this climactic bit of narcissism from the last film, Tony Stark propels himself down a rabbit hole lined with booze, debauchery, and self-hate. But don't worry, nobody can make you love an a-hole like Robert Downey Jr. And there's lots of mythology building occurring (maybe too much). Sam Rockwell's anti-Stark, Justin Hammer nearly steals the show with his Snidely Whiplash grimaces, his frustrated hand wringing, and back-stabbing rage. His partner-in-war crime, Mickey Rourke is UGLY, tattered, and pumped with evil genius Super Hate. The Avengers Initiative franchise gets closer to reality with S.H.I.E.L.D's Clark Gregg and one eye badass Samuel L. Jackson sneaking around the fringes. Really, the only bits that don't quite work are Don Cheadle's War Machine who surprisingly seems to channel Terrance Howard's original crap acting. And ScarJo is dull, dull, dull as the Black Widow; she's given one thigh crushing action scene toward the end, but she feels completely pointless within the meandering narrative. Still, this is a solid Summer Blockbuster sequel. And I just LOVE Robert Downey Jr's ego-nightmare Stark.

Thor:  Just completed my third viewing of the film and I'm still amazed that Marvel was able to make a decent flick outta Marvel's whack-o comic book take on Norse mythology. Chris Hemsworth is amazing as Thor, and I don't think I'll ever be able to think of the character again without seeing his cocky, grinning mug. The film is more comedic than any of the other Marvel Studios flicks and I think that was necessary to sell the character; the fish-outta-water New Mexico stuff is a riot and even though I would have enjoyed more of Asgard I'm happy with what we got. And yeah, the Destroyer/Loki fight climax is a bit of a whimper, but the Destroyer is still pretty badass. So yeah, maybe Thor was never the Avenger movie I was craving for but it's good enough.

Captain America The First Avenger:  After blitzing through 12 hours of Marvel Studios movies in one day, I can honestly say that Captain America: The First Avenger is my favorite of the bunch. Yes, the climax of the film wraps up far too neatly and the writers/producers drive to get the character into next Summer's Avengers blockbuster is incredibly forced--BUT! The first two thirds of the film, the birth of the Captain from good-hearted, scrawny Steve Rodgers is as beautiful as Super Hero stories get. Chris Evans is brilliant in the role. You fall for him. You're proud of him. And a lot of credit has to go to Stanley Tucci as Dr. Erskine; he finds the hero in the kid and reveals him to the audience. Just great. Hugo's Red Skull is fun but he's barely there -- as are the Howling Commandos. And there is at least one montage too many. But this is just a whole lotta Popcorn entertainment.

Immortals:  The Gods of Olympus tower over man; Zeus, in awe of one particular human, touches the growth of bastard slave Theseus wearing the face of John Hurt. Mickey Rourke's gargantuan barbarian King Hyperion marches towards world devastation. A clash of good vs. evil photographed with MTV enthusiasm, and splashed with plenty of CGI blood. I'm still not sure what to make of director Tarsem Singh, his Cell was a boring mess of serial killer banality, but The Fall showed great stylistic whimsy. And Immortals is a savage, but enthusiastic actioner take on Greek myths that would have totally made ten year old Brad lose his mind for the classics.

Spy Kids 4:  It's been a while, but I remember Robert Rodriguez's first two Spy Kids films having a serious dose of childish, somewhat farty intelligence. But this latest outing in the decade old franchise is a true embarrassment. I was pretty much lost from the opening scene; watching a full blown pregnant Jessica Alba zip lining through an action sequence as her water breaks...I'm just thankful I didn't attend one of those aroma-scope theatrical experiences. And the film is just NOT FUNNY! From Ricky Gervais talking, butt-bombing dog to Joel McHale's well-quaffed Spy Hunter--the jokes fall flat. Robert Rodriguez seriously needs to make a good movie, and soon.

12 Angry Men:  "Let me ask you something? Do you believe his story?" 12 Angry Men is a Great American Movie. A movie that we should watch every 4th of July. 12 jurors sit around a table, ready to condemn a man to the electric chair. One man, Henry Fonda's Juror #8, not ready to life sentence an 18 year old votes "Not Guilty" only to open the forum to debate. What follows is some of the most compelling arguments in cinema--there is more tension here than in fifty Michael Bay Blockbuster explosions. Sidney Lumet and his 12 actors just knock the play outta the park and I dare anyone to watch this film and not be deeply moved.

Modern Romance:  A very squirmy Albert Brooks comedy (is there any other kind?) depicting the tumultuous relationship between a Hollywood editor and his way-too-hot for him girlfriend. The script is excellent and incredibly engaging in the sense that every five seconds I'm shouting at the screen for this couple to "Break The Hell Up!" but at the end of the day even smart romantic (?) comedies hold very little appeal. My favorite segments of the film revolve around Brooks' day job, cutting scenes of a Cormanesque space picture starring George Kennedy and directed by Simpsons' guru James L Brooks.

Firecracker:  There are moments in Firecracker that make the film an absolute must-see for cheap karate genre die hards. The opening mustache man impaling. The creepy, weird slicing of clothes sex scene. The topless karate fight. The everyone is kung fu fighting reality--seriously, there are people in this film who have No Business knowing karate kicking some serious random ass. The eye socket attack climax. But there is also a lot of meh to wade through as well. And an hour and 23 minutes shouldn't feel this long.

The Muppets:  "Am I A Maaaaaaannnnnnn? Or Am I a Muppet?" Brothers Gary (Jason Segel) and Walter (voiced by Peter Linz) must eventually answer that question and their journey to revelation is a smorgasbord of joyous Jim Henson idol worship. I did not spend my childhood as a Muppet maniac (I was a casual observer of the show and the only previous film I had seen was Take Manhattan), but this latest entry in their saga is a true hoot. Yes, there's plenty of self-love on display, but the in-jokes play on their own as much as they nudge-nudge, wink wink. Kudos to Segel for his triple threat of producing, writing, and acting--the man got to the heart of the characters and made the audience embrace the rainbow connection.

Too Hot To Handle:  The third slot in the recent Shout Factory Roger Corman Cult Classics Lethal Ladies Collection (that's a lot to cram into the title), Too Hot To Handle is a fairly weak entry in the Naked Lady in the Philippines subgenre; Cheri Caffaro supplies plenty of T & A but she's unpleasantly harsh when she should simply be badass. There are some solid explosions, some entertainingly goofy assassinations, and lots and lots of split screens, but not enough make you give a damn.

--Brad