Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die Starring Sam Rockwell. Directed by Gore Verbinski

Before I watched CRIME 101 last week, I went to the movies to check out Gore Verbinski's sci-fi new sci-fi mind-bender, GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON'T DIE. 

I finally saw Avengers...

"So, is Avengers the greatest superhero movie ever?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen it yet."

"...
You need to see it..."

Movies That Should be Comics #19- Meet Dave

For reasons i'm still at a loss to explain, I watched the sci-fi comedy Meet Dave starring Eddie Murphy (48 Hours, Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop, Coming To America, Boomerang, Dreamgirls) on television the other day. I'm a big fan of Eddie's old movies and stand-up, and while I did enjoy the first Daddy Day Care (there was a kid who spent the ENTIRE FILM dressed as the Flash... I'm sorry, that's funny!), I am extremely perplexed by Eddie's family comedies. Eddie is still a phenomenal talent. He's funny, good looking, and has super star charm. he's just waiting to work with a great director, in a great film...

I need to peep this anime...

This movie Summer Wars looks hard...

Okay... this is dope...

I clowned Green Lantern pretty bad when the first trailer came out, so it's only fair that I admit how much I'm feeling this one...

about the Green Lantern Movie trailer...

"The kids will love watching a womanizer smash a chick then leave her with the tap water..." 
-LeSean Thomas (animator, cartoonist)

You could tell he wasn't Playin' by the look on his Grill

I didn't bother going to watch the Keanu Reeves vs Jennifer Connelly alien- invasion- as- social- commentary joint The Day the Earth Stood Still when it came out in theaters, but I figured it would be good enough to watch on television.
I figured that unless they had some game-changing special effects, there just wasn't going to be enough going on in this sci-fi remake to get me to put down cash.

Go See District 9 ASAP!!!

me and my boy copped some free passes to a sneak preview showing of the new documentary style sci-fi joint District 9 produced by that dude Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings,King Kong) and directed by his protege Neill Blomkamp. the film takes place in Johannesburg, South Africa where an alien ship has been hovering for twenty years, and the shiftless aliens inside have been relocated from the dormant ship to the alien superghetto, District 9. the South African corporation MNU has designs on the aliens' technology, which will not work for humans, but as the documentary framing sequence foreshadows, something goes horribly wrong.

3 Quick Reviews

after finishing a big project this week, and smashing another dope live art event, i decided to zone out and hit the local sneakeasy with my boys. so here's my brief reviews of Up, Star Trek and Terminator: Salvation. don't be surprised if i review them at length later...

It's gettin' Dark, and Hell is hot...

went to the Midnight show of The Dark Knight, and one thing is for sure: this joint's gonna make a load'a bread! i had to go to three theaters to find one that hadn't sold out multiple screens, and i got one of the last spots available, sitting in the chronic kneck-pain seats.
and it was worth it...
i doubt if any movie, let alone one about a guy dressing up like a bat and bitch-slapping the wicked, could live up to the hype The Dark Knight brought in with it, but i'd say director Chris Nolan comes damn close to a perfect superhero movie, with this follow-up to his fan-favorite big-budget debut, Batman Begins.Dark Knight made me happy, like Begins, by breaking superhero movie molds. where most sequels in the genre choose to focus on the villain's sad story leading up to transforming them into the evil bastard that has to be stopped, Dark Knight respects the audience enough not to bother. rather than engage in poorly constructed psycho-babble, The Dark Knight sticks to the psycho. the Joker is an evil bastard that has to be stopped, and that's all you need to know.
this movie, like Begins, doesn't retread any existing Batman story, it creates a new one... part of the genius is that Nolan's films do what other superhero flicks don't: both Begins and Dark Knight actually add to the mythos of the characters. he ties the Joker to Batman flawlessly, showing how the strengths and weaknesses of both men tie them together as the ultimate arch-enemies. by the end of the film, Batman turns everything that has happened to his advantage, even the loss of everything he had hoped for the whole film. he is possibly the most pure interpretation of Batman's personality ever seen on screen.
The film is not without weaknesses. i still think these films rely too heavily on action movie logic, where a more horror-suspense bent would work better. talking while fighting, car chases, and technology effects are all a ton of fun, but i don't think they are Nolan's strong suit. speaking of which, the Batman suit still needs work... the cape doesn't do the Batman thing of adding to his general scariness that you get in the comic. the beauty of it is that like Batman Begins, the strength of Dark Knight lies with the story and the actors, not the action-superhero window dressing.
and the acting was fabulous. while there were no weak performances, the late Heath Ledger owned this film. i can't say enough about his low down, gritty, grimy performance. he was so good, i actually think he will get that Oscar nod every one keeps talking about (he's a lock for the Golden Globe). from his first scene, he erased every prior interpretation of the sneering mass-murdering anarchist Joker, grounding the larger-than-life "clown prince of crime" in the real world...
so anyways, in case you can't tell, i thought The Dark Knight was even better than Batman Begins. even with all the flaws i mentioned, i considered it an overall fabulous picture that i can't wait to watch again. the Batman is brutal and ruthless, and the Joker is even more so. go check 'em out, and come back here and let's talk about it...
holla!
-gM

Downey and Favreu Deliver the Goods...

i'm warning you now: if you don't see Iron Man this weekend, someone's gonna tell you something about it that you don't wanna know. but here's what you DO wanna know: it's good. it has balance. it's funny, it's serious, it's beautifully shot, the effects are great. the dialogue is tight and natural. Downey owns Tony Stark. Jeff Bridges rocks hard as Obadiah Stane. Favreau gets the gold star and directs a great, great action flick!
oh yeah, and Ghostface is on the soundtrack!
i'm gonna stop now, 'cause i'm itchin'a give away the goods, but i'll wait... but don't count on me to wait too long...
jeauh!
-samax

"Jumper" never quite gets off the ground

as a big-time comics fan, I thought that a movie like Jumper would fulfill my need to explore a fantastic world on the big screen, so my wife and I went to check it out. We didn't expect a GREAT movie, but for our money would like to see a good one...
we didn't.

New Manhattan Instead of Neo-Tokyo?

does this look like Leonardo Dicaprio to you?

the good news: the powers that be over at Warner Brothers have greenlit a two picture deal to make a live-action adaptation of the greatest Manga-Anime Feature combo of all time: japanese comics god/director Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira. for the uninitiated, Akira is a dystopian sci-fi thriller set in a future after a massive catastrophe has destroyed the city, which has been rebuilt into a megatropolis dominated by feuding biker gangs and gestapo-style military police. 

 

oh! did i mention the telekinetic mutant Tetsuo who goes one-on-one with a freakin' military Satellite? yeah well, there's that...

the bad news: for some reason, the WB peeps think it will be a good idea to "americanize" the damn thing, casting Leo Dicaprio as the lead character, the gun-toting semi-badass, fully JAPANESE Kaneda (pictured above)... also, the whole thing will be set in New Manhattan instead of Neo Tokyo, in what the filmmakers pitched as “Blade Runner meets City of God” ... what's wrong with white people in America, that they think they have to americanize Akira? are there all-Japanese remakes of The Color Purple or Shane shooting in Osaka as we speak?

good grief...
(end of rant. we now return you to your regular internet, already in progress...)

One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall...

as unbelievable as it seems, they were able to turn the most beloved cartoon of my childhood into a live action/cgi feature film that had the same playful-then serious-then playful spirit of the original! in this case, "They" were producer Steven Spielberg and director Michael Bay (Armageddon, The Rock, Bad Boys), and "They" knocked it outta the park like dave justice.for those who have no idea what i'm talking about (PHILLISTINES!), Transformers is the story of intelligent, shapeshifting robots from the planet Cybertron, crash-landed on Earth, embroilled in a centuries-long war, the outcome of which will determine the fate of the galaxy! There were the good, peaceful Autobots, and the evil, conquering Decepticons. like many concepts in movies today, Transformers had its humble beginnings in the pop paradise of the 1980's, first as a line of SWEET toys (like my favorite transformer, Starscream, seen here!) then as a series of blockbuster cartoon shows and comics.
of course, i wouldn't be much of a blogger if failed to mention the original big-screen appearance of the Robots In Disguise: 1986 animated smash Transformers: The Movie, starring such notable actors as Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek) as Galvetron (the ressurection of Megatron) and Orson Wells as the planet eating archvillain, Unicron. the film's mashing of pseudo-religious themes and colorful cast of new robots set against the thrusting of the cartoon into the future (2005 was the future back then, family!) helped make it an instant classic among faithful Transformers fans. the film shocked thousands (maybe millions) of young fans with an unpredictable and unbelievable plot twist: the brutally violent deaths of many popular characters (including fan-favorite Autobot leader Optimus Prime, below) in the first Act! i saw T:TM in the theater (rare for me as a child), and the audience was in saddened shock when Prime's light went out. Initially panned by critics and a financial disappointment, T:TM is now considered by some (including me) one of the best animated films ever made.

there is no need for new Transformers fans to see the cartoon show or film to get and appreciate the new Transformers film, which is packed with metric tons of action, effects, and laughs. "Good, ignorant fun!" as we like to say. while i wouldn't worry about taking kids to see it, Transformers is definately aimed at my generation: eighties kids that may have outgrown the chasing of new toys and other products associated with this franchise, but many of whom now have children that will serve as a conveniant excuse to dive back in. the PG-13 rating will bother a few parents, but the minimal references to sexual subjects, occasional cussing, and glorious abundance of cartoon violence won't bother most parents.
in short, a great, great flick. i will let the purists debate the changes in plot and characters. any problems i had with the movie were minimal. i'd say overall, it was big fun!

holla!
samax.
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