"If you can't do it with one bullet, don't do it at all.", 25 November 2017
The year is 1899 and a man known as "M" gathers together a group literary characters for a mission designed to prevent a world war. Participants include: Allan Quatermain, Captain Nemo, and Dr. Henry Jekyll (with Mr. Hyde tagging along).
I have friends who love The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but I don't get it. I've seen this film twice now and on each occasion, I was bored out of my mind. To me, the movie is a dull mess of ideas that never really work. There's too much bad CGI, too many poorly lit action sequences, and a monotonous color palette that doesn't extend beyond gray. The gathering of characters seems to be more important than the mission. It takes about half the film to get them all together. And it's all done in a smug, condescending sort of way that gets annoying real fast. I know who these characters are - I don't need an extended exposition on each one. It's insulting. And speaking of insulting, I can't believe what the writers forced Sean Connery to say and do. He has some really embarrassing moments. None more so than when he's forced to pantomime throwing the invisible man out of his room. As I said, it's embarrassing for a man of his stature. Overall, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a waste of time with few redeeming qualities. I'm not surprised that Connery decided to hang it up after starring in this disaster.
3/10
"Are you afraid, human?", 24 November 2017
Cocky test pilot Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is the first human recruited to join the Green Lantern Corps – a centuries old intergalactic police force. To the more experienced members of the force, Hal is unlikely to ever live-up to the standards of the Corps. Even Hal doubts he can measure up. Meanwhile, an evil being, known as Parallax, has escaped from an underground prison. The best and brightest of the Green Lanterns engage Parallax, but are ultimately defeated. As Parallax continues its deadly rampage across space, it's on a collision course with Earth. Without support from the rest of the Green Lanterns, Hal is left on his own to face an enemy too powerful for the rest of the Corps.
I've never read any Green Lantern comics, so I'm not very familiar with the character, backstory, or anything else. Therefore, I'm not going to make comments on how faithful the film is or is not to the source material. Considering all the negative things I've read across the internet on Green Lantern, I was surprised to find I enjoyed the movie as much as I did. It's nowhere near as bad as I'd been led to believe. A few things that worked for me: the overall story arc, the handling of the Green Lantern Corps, the uber-creepy Dr Harry Hammonds, and some of the action sequences and death scenes. Speaking of death scenes, when Tim Robbins is burned to a crisp, it's one of the "best" moments in the whole film. I also really liked the way director Martin Campbell and the special effects people involved with the film chose to image the Green Lanterns' powers and bring them to the screen. Very creative. If some of the acting (Blake Lively displays the emotional range of a rock) and characters (Ryan Reynolds plays Hal like the biggest ass on the planet), Green Lantern might have been a much better overall film. Still, a 5/10 isn't all that bad for a movie that, going in, I thought was going to be hot garbage.
Having watched Green Lantern after Ryan Reynolds made Deadpool, am I alone in looking at his portrayal of Hal as something like Deadpool- lite? It's like he used Green Lantern as a dry run of sorts for Deadpool. It's not as over-the-top, but there are similarities. However, with Deadpool, it's funny, but with Green Lantern, he looks like a d__k.
5/10
"I am Hela, Odin's firstborn, commander of the legions of Asgard, the rightful heir to the throne and the Goddess of Death.", 23 November 2017
Thor must do battle with Hela, a sister he never knew he had, if he is to save Asgard. But first, he'll have to escape a gladiatorial planet where he's pitted against an old Friend, Hulk.
Overall, Thor: Ragnarok is a very entertaining super-hero, popcorn flick. It really delivers as far as eye-candy goes. Wild fight scenes, amazing spacecraft duels, and crazy special effects at every turn. At times, this thing can be a sensory overload. There's so much going on. Example - the coliseum fight between Thor and Hulk. I would have loved to see that scene slow down just a bit to fully take in the arena and all the crazy looking spectators. I also enjoyed the introduction of Valkyrie. Marvel newcomer Tessa Thompson is a standout in this film. And Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song might have been used for a cheap audience bump, but it worked on me all the same.
Despite being wildly entertaining, Thor: Ragnarok is far from perfect. My two lesser complaints include the character Hela (underdeveloped) and some of the cheap looking CGI. My biggest complaint, though, is with the amount of comedy included in the film. I expect a movie like Antman or Spiderman to include a fair amount of comedy - but not a Thor/Hulk film. The way they throw one-liners at each other gets to be downright silly. They were serious characters in the comics I grew up watching - not candidates for open-mike night at the local improv club. It's all wrong.
Still, there's too much here to enjoy to call this a bad film. I'm giving it a 7/10.
7/10
"Time is the only true unit of measure. It gives proof to the existence of matter. Without time, we don't exist.", 22 November 2017
Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) gets mixed up with a group of ruthless drug smugglers. Still trying to process what's actually going on, she wakes to discover the smugglers have sewn a packet of a new drug into her stomach. Before she can deliver the drugs, however, the packet busts open, releasing the powerful drug into her system. The drug's effect is an ever increasing utilization of her brain. Soon, Lucy is capable of manipulating matter and energy with her mind. She contacts a renowned scientist for assistance. She realizes that the drug will kill her within 24 hours and she wants to pass on the knowledge she's gained. But the smugglers are intent on getting their drugs back. They follow Lucy half way round the world for a final showdown.
Overall, Lucy is a fantastically entertaining film. The action is nice with plenty of fights, gun battles, and car chases. The direction from Luc Besson couldn't be much better. He keeps things moving at a very lively pace. The acting is also superb. Scarlett Johansson proves once again that a woman can be successful as the lead in an action oriented film. And Johansson does an excellent job portraying the changes to Lucy as the drug changes her brain. Nicely done. The supporting cast is also solid. I particularly enjoyed the performance of Amr Waked as the bewildered French policeman who helps Lucy in her journey. Another highlight for me has to be the special effects. Just amazing. Finally, even though things do get a bit messy and even rushed toward the end (this is my biggest complaint), I still had fun with it. The time travel bits were especially moving.
I really like and appreciate the message I got out of Lucy. Being a father of two boys and getting older each day, I too sometimes feel that the only real commodity of any value that I have is time. Time to spend with my wife and kids, time to do things I enjoy, time to live my life – that's what's important. It's not material objects or anything else. It's the limited time we each have on this Earth.
Finally, if you read comments on Lucy, you'll sooner rather than later run into criticism of the scientific errors made by the film. People love to point them out. I honestly didn't have any problem with the film's scientific realism. It's a movie – I wasn't expecting a science lesson. I accepted the scientific mumbo-jumbo just as I would in any sci-fi film. In the reality in which the films is set, it all makes sense. In our reality, it doesn't. I went with it and didn't let it affect my overall entertainment.
7/10
So much fun!, 21 November 2017
12 year-old Cole (Judah Lewis) may be a nerdy little kid who's picked on at school, but he's got one thing the other kids don't - he's got a super-cool, super-hot babysitter, Bee (Samara Weaving). They have a blast together and she seems to enjoy his company as much as he does hers. So when Bee comes over to stay with Cole while his parents are out-of-town, nothing could be more perfect. Well, that is, until late at night when Cole is supposed to be asleep, he sees Bee stab some dude in the head with two daggers as part of a Satanic ritual. Needless to say, things get real bad for Cole real fast.
As I've said at least 1,624,857 times, I watch movies for entertainment. If a film entertains me, then that's all that really matters. And The Babysitter entertained me like few movies I've seen recently. It's a total blast from beginning to end. The mix of some very funny comedy bits with some nice gore shots and plenty of action checks all my entertainment boxes. The start of the movie reminded me of one of those 70s-era coming of age films where the kid falls for the older girl only to have his heartbroken. The Babysitter follows that pattern for about the first 30 minutes. But once Bee pulls out the daggers, all hell breaks loose and the films kicks into another gear. I know a lot of people complain that The Babysitter's not realistic etc. To those people I say just try to get over it and go with it. It's not meant to be a serious thriller. If you go into with that mindset, I see why you'd be disappointed. But go into with an open-mind and you might have as much fun as I did.
I was really blown away with both leads - Judah Lewis and Samara Weaving. For Lewis, I believe this is only his second acting credit. For someone so inexperienced, he really delivers. As for Weaving, I predict a big future for her. She's got the looks, ability, and a real screen presence that should do well for her in the future.
One last thing, even though he's only on-screen for a few minutes, I always enjoy seeing Ken Marino (playing "Dad" in this film). He's been a favorite of mine since his days of playing the sleazy Vinnie Van Lowe in Veronica Mars.
9/10
"There will be no mistake! These prisoners are to be exterminated!", 21 November 2017
Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. is the second, and I believe last, of the standalone Dr Who films made in the 60s. I actually enjoyed this one more than the Dr Who and the Daleks. But that's not really saying much as I felt as if I might have overrated the first film a bit by giving it a whopping 4/10. My major complaint with both films is they are not part of the larger series. I know this will sound pretentious, but they're not canon. They ignore elements of the television series I find enjoyable and replace them with a bumbling, sometimes hapless, old Dr Who and his young relatives. I suppose that if I had never seen the Dr Who series, these films might be more enjoyable, but I have seen the series. At best, like its predecessor, Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. is a harmless diversion (not a ringing endorsement).
In this one, Dr Who, his niece and granddaughter, and a poor policeman, who's in the wrong place at the wrong time, are transported to a future Earth ruled by the Daleks. Most of humanity has been enslaved and forced to work in the mines for the Daleks. Dr Who teams up with a band of resistance fighters who must find a way to stop the Daleks from destroying Earth.
One moment in this film that brought me a real unintended laugh comes near the end just as the Daleks are about the finally exterminate Dr Who. His escape consists of cleverly (note the sarcasm) saying, "Hey, look that way". The Daleks do and Dr Who escapes. Hilarious!
5/10
"Oh, no! The bad apes have the crystal lasers!", 20 November 2017
I'm going to keep this short – you can read all about Congo all over the internet. I just have a couple of comments – First, Congo's biggest problem is that the movie is all over the place with useless plot threads piled on top of useless plot threads. It tries to do too much. The movie lacks focus. With everything else going on in Congo, the big, bad gray apes have so little screen-time that it's astonishing. The movie was billed as being about killer apes, but they're on screen for a few seconds at the beginning (well, they're sort of on screen) and for about 15 minutes at the end. In between, there's so much nonsense going on that, in reality, has nothing to do with the apes. The whole bit about the assassination of the African leader and all the garbage that happens as a result is a complete waste of time. Congo really needed more ape madness.
Second, if you read most of the stuff on the internet about Congo, you will no doubt read negative comments about Tim Curry's performance. While I agree that it's over-the-top, it's one of the few things I found enjoyable. He's hysterical. Maybe I'm laughing for all the wrong reasons, but entertainment is entertainment. And really, what were you expecting from Tim Curry? He's an over-the-top ham in everything he ever did – not just Congo.
4/10
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Il nostro agente a Casablanca
- The Killer Lacks a Name
It does some things quite well, 19 November 2017
A dossier containing some sort of important information (I still have no idea what info everyone's looking for) is stolen in Casablanca. The good guys send in agent Brian Kervin (Lang Jeffries). He'll have to outwit, outsmart, and out-fight the usual sort of baddies, including one with a mechanical hand.
If you've seen Our Man in Casablanca (or whatever you want to call it), you may think I've overrated the film. And maybe I have. But in a crowded field of cheap Eurospy movies, this one has some things that make it stand out. First, the acting is a bit better than you'll usually find. Jeffries is more than capable and actually shows emotion - something you usually don't see. Baddie Paco Morán is as menacing as you're likely to run across. He's excellent. And Thea Fleming is absolutely outstanding. She would have been right at home in any Bond film. Second, the special effects here are better than usually found in a 60s Eurospy. I've already mentioned the mechanical hand. Sure, it can look silly, but no more so than some of the weaponry found in a Bond film. Third, though there are some slower moving parts of the film, Our Man in Casablanca does an excellent job with action. I was particularly impressed with the crop duster vs car sequence. Nicely shot and entertaining. Finally, the cinematography is often gorgeous. Morrocco never looked so good.
Obviously, it's not a great movie, but I enjoyed more than I disliked. I may be overstating it a bit, but I'm rating Our Man in Casablanca a 6/10.
6/10
