Blinded By The Twilight

On the side I work in Champaign schools. I work with grades 6 to 11, and despite the differences in age, there are similar things about these kids - like gossiping during class, trying to sneakily use cell phones and getting distracted by all sorts of shiny objects. One of the current distractions (in a good way) is Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, the four part book franchise that some have called the new Harry Potter. The series focuses on teen Bella and her romance between vampire Edward. The past two weeks female students have brought up Twilight in some way in almost every class. Since South Park made fun of it, this book is a genuine phenomenon, and with last Friday’s release of the movie adaptation, it seems one that will be around for awhile.

Of course, the question is “does Twilight deserve this much adoration?” Read the rest of this entry »

The new trailer for 2009’s Star Trek is online, appeasing angry fans who were appalled at the film’s continuing backpedaled release date. The film will explore the early years of the original Star Trek’s cast, focusing mainly on Captain James T. Kirk and the emotionless Vulcan, Spock.

While the movie may not appeal to non Trekkies, this film is designed to appeal to a wider audience, hopefully revitalizing the franchise in ways the recent and canceled TV show Enterprise could not. To do this, mainstream flavor of the month actors were cast in the lead roles, Heroes‘ Zachary Quinto as Spock, Hot Fuzz’s Simon Pegg and Harold and Kumar’s John Cho as Sulu.

I already have an opinion about the film, as you can probably tell. I’ll hold off from bashing until the movie rears it’s ugly head, but until then form your own opinion after watching a young Kirk jump out of a car and slide to the edge of a cliff…

I Love The Smell Of Humor In The Morning

I went into this movie thinking it would be racist and offensive, and yes, it was. The movie has sparked controversy over the use of the word “retard” and of course, Robert Downey Jr. playing a stereotypical African-American. The movie was offensive and slightly racist, but it had a point.

This movie was mocking Hollywood. The trailers at the beginning were an indicator of how the movie would satirize every genre of movie and every type of actor. The film covers directors and corporate backers, and even talent agents by tacking on Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey’s characters awkwardly into the plot.

The use of offensive terms and stereotypes was meant to show how Hollywood uses those elements un-artistically all the time. Ben Stiller poked fun at the very industry he works for, and you might find that circular logic troublesome, but this movie is a sort of reality check to show America how dumb and pointless entertainment actually is in our country today.

Plus the scene after the credits when Nick Fury showed up and invited Ben Stiller to join the Avengers was great, too.

Read the rest of this entry »

I made a promise I couldn’t keep. Covering Comic-Con by oneself is impossible. The convention center took days to explore, and each panel had a line so long, you would have had to be there an hour before hand to ensure attendance. I thought I’d have free time, but at night when I thought I’d post, I was occupied by parties.

As far as the Con went, I have mixed feelings. As a comic fan, everyone and everything you’d want to see would be there, and lines in teh comic book area wouldn’t be too horrible. But, the movie and TV and video game and toy stuff really stole comics’ limelight, and filled the con with tourists and kids who admittedly didn’t read. Harold & Kumar were there, for example, and their booth put Marvel’s to shame. But once I stayed out of the entertainment section and kept to the comics area, I had a good time meeting with publishers and creators.

The parties were by far the best part of the Con because I could meet and talk to people one on one. You’d turn around and Joss Whedon or Bruce Campbell would be chilling. I met Mark Waid, Stephen Baldwin, Bill Willingham, the heads of DC and Marvel, Keith Giffen, and Grant Morrison at these parties, and as a professional and a fan boy I had a great time just talking to people.

News: Read the rest of this entry »

courtesy Warner Bros.

Those of you who went to see The Dark Knight this weekend saw the trailer for the highly-anticipated movie adaptation to Alan Moore’s Watchmen, the first comic book ever collected in trade paperback.

The trailer looks awesome, and I’m looking forward to this movie, even though Alan Moore doesn’t approve. The comic is about an allegorical set of super heroes now in retirement. It’s the 1980s and the height of the Cold War. The comic is a tome, 12 issues, but well worth the read. The storyline is brilliant, but filled with all sorts of homage and allusions to comics. In fact, the world of Watchmen is a reflection of DC’s history, and acts as a massive love letter to comics fans. The movie will most likely remove a lot of these nuances to make the film more appealing to a wider audience.

All in all, this will most likely be a box office hit. Comic fans have known about Watchmen for years, and hopefully hype up to the film’s release will send people to bookstores to see what it’s about.

People are lining up, even after Friday, to see the second title in the new franchise of Batman movies. Dark Knight has broken box office records, and while it hasn’t yet made the most money for a super hero movie yet, it’s getting there.

But the first order of business is to point out that this isn’t a super hero movie. Sure, Warner Bros. used the likeness and names of some DC characters, but Dark Knight wasn’t based on the comics - it was it’s own beast. All the previous Batman movies, including Batman Begins, were super hero movies. The hero fights villain over the use of a doomsday weapon and good succeeds. I don’t know what Dark Knight was, but it was not one of those films.

I don’t know how Dark Knight didn’t have an R rating. The amount of pointless, sadistic violence was disturbing. Cellphones sewn under skin? Children held at gun point? I will be the first to admit, I read and watch disturbing stuff. I’ve read the likes of Carlton Mellick and Edward Lee, so my exposure to the absurdly violent is not something new. So when I say this movie was one of the most purposelessly disturbing thing I’ve ever seen, take my word for it.

This is not a movie for children. This is not a movie for people with children.

What this was was an immature grasp at “depth” and “creativity,” using bizarre killing as a juvenile means of tricking the audience into thinking the movie was groundbreaking. Like Dr. Horrible has said,”Killing’s not elegant or creative.” The Joker would do the sort of things he did in the movie, dead-man switching two boats and killing his own men, but the way he did it was not how the Joker should have been portrayed. They took a homicidal genius and turned him into a sadistic monster just because.

You could tell Saw 5 was attempting to break the super hero mold, which it did, by focusing on Harvey Dent almost more than Bruce Wayne, and showing us people suffering. Why was it so serious? This was not a fun summer movie - this was not Iron Man or Incredible Hulk. Save yourself the emotional scarring and see Mama Mia! instead.

Not bad. It was really hard to gauge what to expect from this movie based on the trailer due to many factors - how the success of Pan’s Labyrinth would influence the film, what comics would they adapt, etc. As far as that goes, Hellboy 2 was it’s own unique thing, apart from the comics and Guillermo del Toro’s other works.

The biggest pull for the movie was it’s bigger budget. There were more monsters, including a giant elemental and dozens of background creatures, making the movie seem very Men in Black-esque. This was a great aspect of the movie, that there was just a lot of cool, bizarre throw away monsters and magical creatures that added depth to the fantasy underworld.

There were a few characterization driven lulls in the film, but once the action started back up, these doldrums are forgiven. The sequel was a great summer movie, playing off the legacy of the comics, del Toro’s artistic style, and the first film, throwing in the types of gimmicks you’d expect from a Hollywood sequel.

If the movie breaks even, we may expect a third movie on the horizon, and I think with all the hype and the fact that this film is enjoyable and filled with imagination, a growing Hellboy fan base is assured. In the summer of great super hero movies - this is a must see, even if it’s just to see something different.

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a dud!

Many critics have been pointing out the movies problem of shifting from drama to action to comedy, usually in slow, stunted spurts that left the audience wondering what type of movie they were watching (the train wreck scene was a metaphor for the film). I think this tension arises from the fact that they didn’t know what type of movie they were making.

Hancock was a movie too invested in itself. The way the film was marketed showed the idea of the super hero, specifically Superman, but what he would be like in the “real” world. Basically, we were promised an action flick laced with comedy, a Men In Black if you will. But Hancock wasn’t a super hero movie. Sure, there was a super hero in it, but the film wanted to be about so much more than just that. Read the rest of this entry »

It seems the beginning of the new Batman movie is up online, for who knows how long.

This is the Joker in action. This seems to be a good set up, and didn’t fall into the “we need to show an origin” trap the earlier Batman films did.

The Dark Knight goes public for reals in theaters July 18th.