Category: Announcement

Peter Parker is having a pretty rough life. As a young boy, his parents suddenly disappear from his life leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Peter’s always wondered what happened to them and has just never found out. As he gets older, he gets pushed around by the school bully, Flash Thompson and has an eye for the alluring Gwen Stacy.

While helping his Uncle Ben with a flooded basement, Peter discovers an old satchel with his father’s initials on it and within, Peter finds some clues that he hopes will help him discover what really happens to his parents. Those clues leads him to Dr. Curt Connors, a lead scientist for the Oscorp Corporation. As Peter starts to investigate at Oscorp, he discovers a room that’s designated by the same project name that his father was working on. Peter goes into the room to discover this amazing web construct made by hundreds of spiders. One of these spiders latches onto Peter and bites him and soon Peter starts to display some amazing abilities. All of which leads him to become Spider-Man and soon on the trail of a new menace, The Lizard, who is in fact a transformed Curt Connors.

That’s the premise to The Amazing Spider-Man, Columbia Pictures re-boot of the film franchise originally started by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire. This new version comes from director Marc Webb (who’s best known for the comedy (500) Days of Summer– which I haven’t seen) and lead Andrew Garfield, who now assumes the role of Peter Parker. Marvel’s The Avengers did damn near everything right for a comic book movie, and now we have this new version of Spider-Man that does everything completely wrong. This is a pretty godawful mess.

Oh, where to start? Well first off, the movie is just plain boring. Almost the entire first hour is spent with re-telling Spider-Man’s origin but this time with the added inclusion of the “mystery” about his parents, which is about as unnecessary as it gets. This mystery isn’t resolved at all and only gets furthered by an extra scene nestled within the film’s end credits. This of course is Columbia trying to emulate what Marvel has done so well in their own films but there’s nothing there to wow an audience into looking forward to the next film. This “mystery” is basically supposed to be the glue for the next two films to follow and it’s just not compelling at all and further it’s just not needed. Everything you need for who Spider-Man is and his reason to be is within the original story that Stan Lee and Steve Ditko told in Amazing Fantasy #15. Expansions on some of that stuff is fine, but additions like the untold story of Peter Parker’s parents just aren’t needed. Whenever this stuff has been done in the comics, it’s always felt to me like it’s more a writer’s attempt to make his lasting mark on the character as opposed to being something that’s really needed. Here it feels the same.

But that’s not all that makes it boring. Marc Webb just isn’t the guy to direct this film. His pacing is meandering with many scenes just having me say to myself “Will you just please get on with it!” His action scenes get interrupted with just totally unnecessary bits of business with a prime example being a bit at the end where Curt Connors in his Lizard form is about to enact a master plan. Spider-Man can’t get to the Lizard in time, but thanks to a group of construction workers who just happen to pull together at various points across the city, Spider-Man makes his way to Oscorp. The thing is, there’s so much time spent glorifying this scene, that it just sort of brings the momentum to what the Lizard was planning to a stop.

Then there’s the characters themselves. Peter Parker was always supposed to be this nebbish kid who was more nerdy than anything else at the start of his story, but that’s not here. This Peter Parker is a sort of an edgy genius who knows all of these amazing things but also happens to just love his skateboard. He gets pushed around by an extremely thuggish Flash Thompson, who seems like he should’ve been in some other film that concentrated more on violent school bullying. Gwen Stacy is all over the map, going from being school ingenue to the super-smart assistant to Curt Connors (well, of course) to just plain goofiness when she interacts with her father. And speaking of that, that just brings to mind one of the very worst scenes in the film- Spider-Man has just had the living crap beat out of him and the first thing he does is go to Gwen. Her father, a captain of the NYPD played by Denis Leary, is coming to her room to basically say they’re making cocoa, and what follows is just some of the most inane dialogue yet- here this dark scene with Spider-Man has just happened, and this bit of “comedy” gets inserted and just feels like it was written for another movie entirely. Of course what really takes the cake in the comedy department is a scene that’s entirely unintentional (at least to me) as comedy, and that’s the discovery of what the Lizard formula has done to a lab mouse. This is supposed to be horrific, but it just came off as hilarious, and again, entirely out of place.

Spider-Man is supposed to be a fun character and Marc Webb and the assorted writers of this piece have done everything they can to just suck the fun right out of the character. They try to give Spider-Man his funny lines during his action sequences, but as delivered by Garfield (who is a fine young actor, but just totally miscast for this film- as is the entire cast) they come off as obnoxious. Spider-Man is a character who operates during all times of the day, but here it’s mostly done at night, mostly done (I figure) to hide the “seams” in the effects, but also to add something that more dark in the atmosphere which just isn’t right. Spider-Man operates out of New York City, but there’s very little here that says this is New York City at all, it just feels generic, and if it was all more New York-centric, it would’ve added to the fun. And for all of the times that Spider-Man has his mask taken off in public here, you’d figure that some enterprising New Yorker would’ve at least caught it on video- well, I would’ve figured that. I’m really starting to get tired of this trend of the hero in a comic book movie having to reveal his face in climactic action scenes, it’s the one little complaint that I have with The Avengers, though due to that movie’s sheer drive, it’s not as bad. But in The Amazing Spider-Man Peter Parker has to show his face quite often when he’s in costume- it’s not necessary and it feels more like it’s a stipulation in Andrew Garfield’s contract more than it’s vital to the story. And most egregious, there’s no J. Jonah Jameson at all in this story. J. Jonah Jameson, as long time Spider-Man fans know, is the publisher of the Daily Bugle and pretty much begins his tirades against Spider-Man right from the start. He’s also one of the most fun characters that’s ever been in the series and as far as I’m concerned just as important to the series as Spider-Man himself. I’d figure that Jameson would probably be set to be included in sequels, but maybe not. Who knows? Maybe they saw him as too much of a clown to be included in this darker and grittier version of Spider-Man.

Everything is lackluster here, even a score by James Horner that you’d never know was a score by James Horner, except for being told so in the end credits. About the only positive thing I can say is that the 3D was pretty good in some of the action scenes, but they are few and far between.

Getting back to the casting, I suppose the idea of casting Rhys Ifans as Curt Connors was supposed to help give this a little more gravitas than anything else. Ifans is a good actor, but here he just seems overtly pretentious. And his transformation as The Lizard, well overall physically it’s quite imposing, but when you get to the Lizard’s face, it’s just doughy and stands out like the literal sore thumb.

Earlier this year, I thought I’d seen the worst movie I was going to see this year with The Hunger Games. I really thought a movie was going to have to work extra hard to be worse than that. The Amazing Spider-Man does it with ease. This movie is so ill-conceived on every level that it makes Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 look like a masterpiece. If you’re going to re-boot a film franchise that already was a proven winner, then maybe you should be looking at the things in that franchise that worked and still retain them. Here, it looks like Columbia, Webb and everyone involved were looking at what they could do to just make it different and not retain a thing that made it special. In the process, they made a movie that’s just not any fun at all and is more boring than anything else.

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States and considered one of the greatest presidents of all time, has led a secret double life. As young boy, Lincoln witnesses the murder of his mother at the hands of a vampire, though at the time that was unknown to him. Young Abe has pledged his vengeance and one day he gets the chance when he’s approached by Henry Sturgess who explains all thing vampire to him. As time passes, Abe uses his newfound skills to dispatch vampires who threaten the land, while building himself up as a statesman and marrying Mary Todd. All the while, a plot is brewing as Adam, the leader of the vampires in America, Is aligning himself with the South to win the Civil War and take the United States of America for his kind.

That is the utterly absurd premise to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter the latest movie from director Timur Bekmambetov who’s previously directed Wanted, Night Watch and Day Watch. It’s adapted from the popular novel by Seth Grahame-Smith who’s also written the screenplay for this film. Yes, I said “utterly absurd” above, but don’t take that as derogative in the slightest; Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is really a lot of fun and certainly a very different kind of vampire movie than what we’re used to seeing in recent times.

I’ve not read the novel, though I’ve heard a lot about it. From what I understand, the approach taken in the novel is more satirical than anything else and that’s not the case with the movie. This movie takes it’s story and it’s characters very seriously, but thanks to Bekmambetov’s over-the-top style of action and filmmaking, that sort of takes the place of the satire and makes this more of something like a classic “tall tale” along the lines of Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed. Even though it is serious, it’s not without it’s moments of humor. That and it’s extreme action sequences certainly brought a smile to my face throughout the film.

It’s not without it’s problems though. As the movie makes the jump from the younger Abe using his new skills to the older presidential version, there seems to be a slight shift in it’s pacing. Certain places of the film seem disjointed and some portions of the narrative seem to (at least to me) be out of place. It all still makes sense in the end, but the back third of the film just doesn’t seem to have the same vitality that’s displayed in the first two thirds.

But still, the movie looks fantastic and it uses it’s 3D very effectively with loads of moments that are in your face. Some will dislike Bekmambetov’s use of CGI and slow motion techniques, but personally, I thought it was all good and just further played into the whole “tall tale” aspect of this whole thing.

Benjamin Walker plays Abraham Lincoln and for the most part, this kid is unknown to me. If this movie is any indication though, Walker is a talent to be watched.. Physically, he reminds me of what you might get if you crossed Liam Neeson with Randy Quaid and that’s not meant in any sort of insulting way at all. His figure is very different from the sort of action hero you’d be used to seeing in this type of thing and watching him in the action scenes was really a lot of fun. But he’s got the acting chops as well and casts a genuine air of earnestness throughout the film. Walker does indeed carry this film.

Walker’s got a lot of great support with Dominic Cooper, Anthony Mackie and Jimmi Simpson playing his allies in war against the vampires. Cooper, who plays Henry Sturgess, in particular is a lot of fun and he’s attacking this part with great gusto. Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Mary Todd and she and Walker, at least to me, have genuine chemistry, though it’s not in the same sense that you’d see in a contemporary relationship.

Rufus Sewell, Martin Csokas and Erin Wasson play the villains of this piece. Sewell plays Adam, the leader of the vampires, and he just brings the proper weight to the part. Martin Csokas plays Jack Barts, the vampire who starts young Abe on his quest, and he’s very much a vicious character who you’re genuinely glad to see get what’s coming to him after one of the film’s most absurd action scenes; a chase running across the backs of stampeding horses (really, you’ve got to see it). Erin Wasson plays Vadoma, Adam’s right-hand woman, and even though she doesn’t have a huge amount of lines, still makes up for it with presence; you notice her when she’s in a scene.

From what I’ve gathered from other reviews that I’ve read, there are huge portions of Grahame-Smith’s novel that aren’t in this film, with many of those same reviewers being heavily disappointed because they aren’t there. Considering that Grahame-Smith wrote the screenplay for the film, I’d like to think that he was OK with taking his novel and making it something quite a bit different for a summer action film, but that still may not stand to well with the purists. As I said above, I’ve not read the book myself, but after seeing the movie, I have to say I’m certainly interested in reading it, even though it’s not going to be the same thing that I saw on the big screen. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is absurd fun that just won me over in thanks to it’s over-the-top action and effects, it’s playfulness with history and a very earnest performance from Benjamin Walker in the title role. It may not sit well with some, but I had a terrific ride with this one, even with it’s above-mentioned problems.

In the year 2089, Doctors Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway make a remarkable discovery; clues that the origin of mankind did not develop on Earth but from “engineers” from far off space. They interpret these clues to be an open invitation from the “engineers” for their “children” to contact them abroad. Dying industrialist Peter Weyland believes in this idea and has chosen to fund a deep space mission with Shaw and Holloway taking the lead, but all under the watchful eye of Meredith Vickers, a high-ranking official within the Weyland Corporation and David, a synthetic being who represents the pinnacle in the creation of Artificial Intelligence. What they are about to discover is something that they could never have prepared for.

That’s a nutshell premise for Prometheus, the latest movie from visionary director Ridley Scott. It is also very much a prequel/reboot to Fox’s Alien franchise, which just also happens to be the series where Ridley Scott made a name for himself. This marks Scott’s third foray into the world of science fiction with his first two being the aforementioned Alien and Blade Runner, both very much considered (and rightfully so) iconic science fiction films. It also marks Scott (and writers Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof) somewhat mixing ideas from both of these movies together to go for a bigger statement (or more readily, to ask bigger questions).

I am a huge fan of the Alien movies (I enjoy them all, though the first two are my absolute favorites) and so I was very much looking forward to seeing Ridley Scott come back to this and see what he’d do with it. Personally, I enjoyed Prometheus a great deal, though I can also see why some will not.

Like I said, I’m a huge fan of the series and remember big articles on the first movie in magazines like Starlog and Fantastic Films from back in the day. I purchased all of the stuff that I could that came out on the movie after it’s released and one of the books that I enjoyed the most was The Book of Alien which showcased the impressive artwork of Chris Foss, Moebius, Ron Cobb and H. R. Giger for their designs created for the film. Now my memory certainly might be fuzzy on some of this, but I seem to recall from those old articles one huge area of fascination for Scott being the “Space Jockey” seen in the first film and that’s obviously gestated into one of the big ideas shown in Prometheus. In addition to that, there are design aspects around the structures discovered on this planet (designated LV-223- no this is not the same world seen in Alien and Aliens) and the original Xenomorph that have found their way back into this series, which I thought was quite cool to see.

Visually, Prometheus is absolutely astounding and I’d expect no less from Ridley Scott. The shooting style, the visual effects and the framing of shots is all on point. I chose to see this in 3D and I’m glad I did. Scott shot and/or planned for this for 3D and it really works especially with a key scene where the android David is looking into a dream of Elizabeth Shaw’s. I think this scene in particular would stand out as it is, but Scott’s new visual punch to it makes it even more memorable. Mark Strietenfeld’s score mixes both a sense of wonder along with a sense of dread and horror and in one key scene even uses Jerry Goldmsith’s music from the original Alien.

Where this will really make it or break it for most is in it’s actual story and it’s performances and so far a lot of what I’ve been seeing out there has been on the negative side, and again, I can understand that. I think there’s quite a bit open to interpretation here, moreso than most films, though I do wish one or two little things might’ve been explained. For instance, there’s quite a bit of behavior that’s being seen as stupid on the part of most of the characters, which basically could’ve had an explanation by the android David after the crew chooses to take off their helmets within the first structure that they enter. Once David tells everyone that their air is breathable within the structure it was to me fairly logical that they’d go ahead and take off their helmets considering they were told this by the pinnacle of Artificial Intelligence. But there’s more to David than being the “android” of this film, and so an explanation by him later that he withheld certain things about the effects of the atmosphere on the humans could’ve gone a long way (especially so with two characters who are lost in the structure who end up doing some pretty crazy things once they encounter a lifeform within).

Noomi Rapace (from the original Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and more recently the second Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes film) leads this cast as Elizabeth Shaw and is certainly the most developed out of most of the cast. She does a good job here though it is slow-going at the start. It picks up considerably for this character after she’s performed a bit of gut wrenching self-surgery. What’s shown of her dream to David near the start is a different sort of purity of discovery that’s foreign to the android and her later resourcefulness (with the same surgery scene) could be seen as further attraction and use for him. Rapace is backed up by Logan Marshall-Green as Holloway, Charlize Theron as Meredtih Vickers, and Idris Elba as Janek, the captain of the ship, Prometheus. These characters are the stand-outs of what is a pretty one-dimensional crew at best (though again, I have my own interpretation of that). They work for me, but I can see why they might be seen as laughable or ridiculous by others.

There are two points in the casting that I do want to address, one in a negative light and the other in the positive, let’s get the negative out of the way first. Guy Pearce is cast as Peter Weyland but you’ll be hard-pressed to recognize him under the very obvious old-age make-up that he’s under. Now even with that drawback, Pearce is just “OK” here where this character could’ve been much more memorable had it been cast differently. Personally, I would’ve cast either Ian Holm or Lance Henrikson in the part. Now obviously, they both have connections to the Alien series with Holm having played the android Ash in the first film and Henrikson having played the android Bishop in Aliens as well as having parts in Alien 3 and Aliens Vs. Predators (playing a Weyland no less). Holm really would’ve been my main choice- he’s of the right age so additional make-up wouldn’t have looked too obvious and it would’ve been a very darn good bit of fan service as well. As it is, Pearce as I said is just “OK,” bordering on being inappropriate thanks to the make-up.

My positive point though is Michael Fasbender being cast as David. Now if you’ve read any of my previous reviews, then you already know that I think Fassbender is one of the best actors out there today. I’ll stand with that and I certainly think this performance adds to his already impressive resume. As I said above, David is described as being the absolute peak in Artificial Intelligence and I tend to think that he’s playing that part to the hilt, so much so that he’s on the verge (if not already taking the step) to going beyond what he was originally built for. Much like the humans here are taking their steps to understand their origins, so to is David. As part of my own interpretation of the character, I’m figuring that Weyland let David choose the crew of this expedition beyond Shaw and Holloway, and David thus chose people who he could use in an experimental way. The entire opening introduction of this character pretty much paves the way for him especially with a telling moment in which David is watching the movie Lawrence of Arabia. This is strong and complex work from Fassbender and he certainly deserves to be recognized for it. As far as I’m concerned, MIchael Fassbender is the real lead in this film.

Prometheus isn’t as visceral an experience as the first two Alien movies and it won’t answer all of the questions that it sets up (and yes, I very much think it’s intentional that this isn’t the same planet that’s seen in the first two movies). I’ve read a few interviews with Damon Lindelof on this, and he’s basically said that the original film Alien would come after a third Prometheus film which makes sense here, though it may not be what an audience will want. When Alien first came out in 1979, it wasn’t with the intention of creating a franchise which is so much par for the course for most movies like this now. Because of that, Prometheus is very much open-ended and literally the start of something new which could or could not lead into the Alien movies as we know them. Because of that, I could certainly understand why some who see this might be underwhelmed or downright angry after they see it. If a second and third film do get made, then I’d expect that Prometheus will have greater resonance down the road, I just hope they get made and preferably with Scott, Lindelof, Spaihts and Fassbender all still connected to the series. Even with my own complaints, I had a ball with Prometheus and can’t wait to see it again (which I plan to do next weekend).

The vicious alien known as Boris The Animal has just escaped imprisonment on the moon and is now hellbent on getting his revenge on the man who put him there: Agent K of the Men In Black. Boris’ plan is to go back in time and stop K before the young K can stop him, and he succeeds wiping out all existence of anything that K has accomplished with one exception; his partner Agent J still remembers everything. Now Agent J plans to go back in time to 1969 and keep Boris from eliminating the young Agent K.

That’s the nutshell premise to Men In Black III, the latest film in the series and it’s also the latest movie from director Barry Sonnenfeld who directed the prior two movies. Sonnenfeld was last seen on the big screen in 2006 with RV and prior to that, 2002 with Men In Black II. He’s been spending the last few years working in television. Now honestly, until a few months ago, I wasn’t even aware that there was a third Men In Black movie even coming and I more or less thought that this series was pretty much through (especially considering that MIBII really wasn’t that good of a film). When I saw the original trailer for Men In Black III I thought it looked like it was going to be a lot of fun and thankfully, it is.

Men In Black III takes a bit of a different turn from the prior two movies providing more of a focus on J and K’s partnership and their origins. It’s got a lot of sentimentality and I think it’s hitting this series at just the right time. Oh, it still has all of the alien wackiness of the first two movies, but it takes a second place to a bigger display of heart. The start-up of the film is a little on the slow side, but once Agent J makes his time jump, the pace of the film picks up considerably. the film’s humor isn’t raucous, but more gentle inducing more smiles than belly laughs.

The film absolutely looks terrific and it’s clear that Sonnenfeld shot this with 3D in mind. It wasn’t shot in 3D, but converted, but it was a planned conversion. It really does look terrific and thanks to Sonnenfeld’s shooting style, it absolutely works with lots of in-your-face 3D effects as well as plenty of scene immersion. The visual effects are beautiful and master make-up effects artist Rick Baker gets a chance to shine here with his alien make-up work. Composer Danny Elfman has also returned to the series and provides the right familiarity with his score.

Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones both reprise their roles as J and K respectively, and while Men In Black III won’t be seen as their best work, it’s still good stuff and the two still display the same chemistry that was seen in the prior films, but getting even a little stronger by the end. Josh Brolin plays the young Agent K in 1969 and it’s a pitch-perfect impersonation of Tommy Lee Jones, yet there’s still a little glint of wonder to this character that the older K doesn’t have. Smith and Jones are great, but I tend to think Brolin steals the show.

New to the series, you have Emma Thompson playing Agent O who assumes command of the Men In Black after the passing of Zed (played by Rip Torn in the prior movies). Alice Eve (most recently seen in The Raven) plays O in 1969 and I think both version of this character are welcome additions to this series providing Agent K with way more depth than previously seen. Michael Stuhlbarg plays Griffin, the last survivor of an alien race who can see all of the possibilities of the future at any moment, and he also provides a nice sense of wonder. Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords plays Boris The Animal and he’s pretty good as the vicious villain sort of reminding of what you might get if you crossed Mark Ruffalo with Tim Curry. There’s even a couple of nice cameos with Will Arnett playing Agent AA, who’s K’s partner in the altered future and former X Factor judge and Pussycat Doll, Nicole Scherzinger playing Boris’ girlfriend who helps him escape from the moon.

Men In Black III is a fun movie and in my mind, just the right sort of movie to follow in the wake of The Avengers, it’s a smaller sort of blockbuster still filled with terrific visuals, but with a bigger display of heart. It’s comfort food on the big screen with some new spice added thanks to terrific work from Josh Brolin. If you’re like most, you loved the original film and were disappointed by the second, fortunately third time is indeed the charm here and I expect you’ll have a good time with Men In Black III.

Alex Hopper is a 26-year old young man with no direction in life. On his attempt to impress a girl, he gets in trouble with the police. Alex’s brother Stone, a Naval Commander, lays down the law to his brother and makes him get his life in order by joining the Navy. As Alex and Stone are about to engage in war games, an alien threat comes into play, of course threatening to take over our planet.

That’s the real simple premise to Battleship, the latest Hasbro game and toy property to get the big screen treatment following in the wake of the Transformers series and the first G.I. Joe movie (with another of those coming as well). It’s also the latest film from director Peter Berg, who’s previous films have included The Rundown, Friday Night Lights, The Kingdom and Hancock.

I was curious to see this for a couple of reasons:

1. I thought it had a great initial trailer
2. I’m a fan of Berg’s previous films with the one exception being Hancock.
3. I had the Battleship game as a kid, loved it to death and of course was curious to see just how you’d make a movie out of this.

Now, just as I was curious to see it, I was also keeping my expectations pretty low. It is after all based on a game without any discernible characters and the game itself is pretty simple, so while I was curious I wasn’t expecting this to be as bright a spot as say, The Avengers when it comes to big screen, effects-laden action films. And also, initial word on the street hasn’t been all that encouraging either. But still, I am a fan of Berg’s, so I was certainly open to give it chance and make up my own mind about it.

It’s fortunate that I kept my expectations low… yeah, it’s nowhere near being the bright spot that the other big alien invasion movie out there right now (that of course being the aforementioned Avengers film), but it still has it’s moments. I just don’t expect those moments to be enough for anyone to want to give this anything further than a single look (though I do like this more than I did Hancock).

For something like the approach taken here, which is basically following the same pattern as other big budget alien invasion blockbusters since Independence Day, logic is thrown out the window. I expect that and am pleasantly surprised when it’s actually displayed. With Battleship, there’s no pretense at all that logic was ever even in consideration with all sorts of moments throughout that has you questioning the choice made. What Berg’s chosen to do is basically take the time to make his Michael Bay film wanting to bowl you over with it’s explosive effects and a salute to the military. There’s nothing at all wrong with doing that, it just goes over better when you have some actual smarts going into it as well as some really engaging characters, both of which Battleship lacks.

Taylor Kitsch plays Alex Hopper and right now, this isn’t exactly a good year for the young actor. Personally, I liked him in John Carter though he wouldn’t have been my first choice to play the part (that would’ve been Lost’s Josh Holloway). Here he’s not exactly real likable from the start, though of course he has a transformation during the film. The transformation is by rote though, just being a necessity to get through to it’s end and isn’t quite natural, though really that can be said for any of the characters throughout the film, they’re all cliches that are basically going through the motions. Of note though, this also features Liam Neeson as the Admiral of the Fleet and the big-screen debut for pop singer Rihanna. Neeson’s there to give this some gravity, but honestly it really doesn’t help much, especially considering that he’s only in the movie for about 10-15 minutes total.

But to give the film credit, it does have a great look and I thought the special effects were really nicely done. Steve Jablonsky has supplied a pretty powerful score that certainly helps punctuate the action. To me though, the coolest thing in the movie is a nighttime scene that actually pays real homage to the game on which Battleship is based on. This one scene is the most clever idea in the whole piece, it has intensity and it also brings it out from the players as well. It’s just a shame that the rest of the movie couldn’t have been this clever.

With all that being said, I still had some fun with Battleship but I’ll certainly grant you that it could’ve been a lot better than what it is here. It’s not exactly a recommendation, but it’s not a total loss either. There’s certainly a better option out there now, that being seeing The Avengers either for the first time or a second or third time (I’ve now seen it twice and it just keeps getting better) and there’s more promising things coming down the road. If you’re at all curious about seeing Battleship then certainly do so, but it’s best to keep those expectation way, way on the low side.

Loki, the evil half-brother of the Asgardian thunder god, Thor, seeks revenge against his brother by allying himself with aliens to take over the Earth and rule the planet that Thor has vowed to protect. Now, Nick Fury, the director of S.H.i.E.L.D., gathers together Earth’s own superhumans as the planet’s line of defense.

That’s the simple premise to The Avengers, the newest movie from Marvel Entertainment and the culmination of an ambitious undertaking by the studio since the first Iron Man movie. Nothing like this has really been done before theatrically (in America anyway, I suppose you could say Japan did this years ago with their giant monster films) and it truly is ambitious. You start movies featuring individual characters like Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor and Captain America, all with connective tissue between them, yet still standing alone as thoroughly satisfying films. Then you build to a point where the logical thing to do is to bring all of these characters together in one film for one big adventure. And it’s one hell of an adventure…

Joss Whedon is the director and one of the writers behind the movie, and he’s truly the right man for the job. Thanks to his past television work (and theatrical work as well- projects like Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse and the films like Serenity and his scripts for things like Alien: Ressurection, and even the first Toy Story amongst others), Whedon has proven himself to be adept at bringing together disparate characters and making them work in true ensemble pieces. Last week, I was certainly critical of his work with director Drew Goddard on The Cabin in the Woods and I wasn’t exactly that thrilled with Buffy The Vampire Slayer from season five on, but for the most part, I consider myself a fan of his work, and with The Avengers he’s hit a big home run.

The Avengers of course has all of the prerequisite big action and effects that you expect from a movie like this, but most importantly, it never loses sight of it’s characters within that framework. The “voices” for each of the characters are true to what you’ve seen in the prior individual movies and yet Whedon makes them all come together seamlessly and with some truly interesting play. Some real standout character moments for me in the film include the following; scenes between Tony Stark and Bruce Banner as they’re working out the scientific solution to their problem, another scene between Stark and Steve Rogers (Captain America) that tests Stark’s true motivations and if he truly does have the selfless intent to be a hero, and a nice moment between the Black Widow and Hawkeye after Hawkeye’s recovery from being used as a pawn for Loki. It doesn’t just stop there either; S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson is given some terrific depth that’s only been hinted at in the prior films and he’s made Loki into a truly malevolent menace, something which I think was little lacking in the Thor film.

And then there’s the technical side of things. The film just looks fantastic with plenty of terrific set pieces, fantastic visual effects and some really well-choreographed action scenes. One of my favorite moments in the film (and believe me there are plenty) occurs in the third act of the film and the battle with Loki and the aliens in the heart of New York City. This scene is a continuous action piece that shows all of the Avengers in individual action but also going even further with having them teaming with each other as well. How can you not get a thrill when you see Iron Man blasting his repulsor rays off of Captain America’s shield to take out some aliens, or seeing Thor and The Hulk fighting side-by-side high atop a giant alien beast? This is just fantastic stuff.

Whedon’s certainly got a first rate cast, no doubt about it. Everyone has returned from the other films with the one notable exception being Edward Norton from the Hulk movie. Norton’s been replaced by actor Mark Ruffalo, but I’ll get into that even further in a moment. Robert Downey Jr. Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner along with Ruffalo make up the core team and they’re all fantastic, with the standouts for me being both Ruffalo and Evans. The thing that I really admire about what Evans does here (and in the Captain America movie) is his stoic quality and being your literal “old-fashioned” hero who does the right thing without question. Evans looks great in the costume and to me anyway just commands the scenes when he’s in them. As far as The Hulk and Bruce Banner are concerned, well if I had my druthers, I would’ve rather have had Edward Norton here to maintain the continuity, but with that said, Mark Ruffalo does a truly fantastic job as the character. So even with my preference, I don’t want to slight anything that Ruffalo does here at all, and further between his performance and the script’s treatment of the character, I’ve got nothing but praise. There was a very thoughtful direction that The Hulk was being taken in in his own movie, that to me was logically and just as thoughtfully extrapolated on for this film. And of course, thanks to the abovementioned terrific visual effects, The Hulk himself looks more like Ruffalo which further adds to the terrific character quality. Those are my own personal standouts, but really the entire main cast is exceptional.

It doesn’t stop there; Samuel L. Jackson, Clark Gregg, Gwyneth Paltrow, Stellan Skarsgård, and Tom Hiddleston also return from the previous films and the standouts for me here are Gregg and Hiddleston. Clark Gregg has played Agent Coulson in all of the previous films and as I said above, he gets a lot more depth here as well as a turn that I was genuinely sorry to see happen to the character. When I reviewed Thor one of my criticisms there was that I thought Tom Hiddleston was wrong to play Loki, but after this, well I’m eating those words and just thought his game was stepped up considerably here. Hiddleston has real fire here and is, to me, just as commanding a presence as Chris Evans. The newest addition to the cast is Cobie Smulders as Nick Fury’s second-in-command, Maria Hill, a relatively newer character in the Marvel Universe. She doesn’t quite get as much to do as the others, but still she’s good and a good addition. Back in the day, when Whedon was connected with the Wonder Woman movie, Whedon was supposedly eyeing Smulders for the part. I really didn’t see that quality in her before, but thanks to this movie, I can plainly see what Whedon saw in her for that role.

It still doesn’t stop. For the comic fan (and I have to admit, I haven’t read a current Marvel book in the last 3+ years- sorry, it just started to fall off for me with their Civil War magnum opus and I left entirely after Secret Invasion), there’s loads of little easter eggs throughout (I was pleasantly surprised to see Project Pegasus in this as a for instance) that even lapsed fans like myself will catch. The Avengers certainly is a movie for the die-hard comic book fan, but it’s not limited to that. If your only appeal to these characters has been just what you’ve seen in the movies, well you may not appreciate it in the same way, but you should still have a grand time with this.

Of course, there are nits that can be picked, little (or large) things that we fans wish had been done here, but considering the huge quality of the overall film and the terrific performances of this exceptional ensemble cast, it would in fact be nit-picking. if we’ve learned anything over the last few years with all of the various comic book movies that have been made, it’s that anything is now possible as far as the type of material that can be brought to the screen. The Avengers reinforces that in a big way and further opens up even more possibilities. The Avengers might be the culmination of other films, but it’s also a brand new starting point and honestly I cannot wait to see what Marvel does next.

As if you couldn’t tell, The Avengers is for me one of the best movies I’ve seen this year so far. If fulfills on a promise started by Marvel Studios and adds even more. It’s a thrilling, fun and funny ride that will stick with you way after your first viewing and further just makes you want to see it again immediately (and I know I’m going to do that very thing next weekend). As has been the case with all of the Marvel films, there are additional scenes during and after the main credits, so whatever you do, don’t leave, they’re both great pay-offs and a sign of things to come. The Avengers is highly, highly recommended… if you haven’t seen it yet, run, don’t walk, to your nearest theatre and prepare for a 2+ hour thrill ride that you won’t soon forget.

I’m running a little behind on this one, I’d originally intended to post it last weekend, but unfortunately, personal circumstances came ahead of it. But still, better late than never…

As The Cabin in the Woods starts, were introduced to two technicians, Sitterson and Hadley, as they’re beginning to start their day. By their conversation, it all sounds like it’s going to be rather mundane, but as the title of the movie comes up, you certainly get the idea that there’s something way more to this than it seems. We immediately flash to a group of five college students who decide that they’re going to get away from it all for the weekend, literally heading to the titular cabin in the woods. but as they leave, we soon find out that they’ve been under some major surveillance and that aspects of their trip and preparations for it have been totally manipulated. As they get to the cabin, they realize that they’re getting way more than what they bargained for and both of the scenarios that we’ve been presented with are about to collide in a way that neither have expected.

Sorry if all of that sounds rather cryptic, but saying much more would lead into some major spoilers for this film, and I just don’t want to give too much away at the start of this review. The Cabin in the Woods comes to us from director Drew Goddard and producer Joss Whedon who also collaborated on the story together. These guys certainly have geek street cred, having worked together on the Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series and having separate credits like Goddard having been a writer on Lost and Alias as well as writing the movie Cloverfield and of course, Whedon also being responsible for such things as Firefly and Dollhouse as well as next week’s highly anticipated Avengers film. Lionsgate has been sitting on releasing this one for awhile, though I have to admit after seeing the trailer and knowing the pedigree here, I was certainly looking forward to it. Unfortunately, immediately after seeing it, I really wasn’t that thrilled by it, in fact, I just didn’t like it. Having had a week further to stew on this (and also having a chance to read an extensive interview with Goddard), I appreciate it more now than I did immediately after seeing it, but I still don’t think it’s that successful in getting it’s points across.

The Cabin in the Woods is some pretty ambitious meta-commentary from both Goddard and Whedon, not only on what they see as the state of horror films but also about the ideas of sending the young off to do the bidding of the old. It’s pretty apparent from the start that there’s some sort of master manipulation going on here. But, thanks to the rather snarky treatment that all of the characters and the situations get, it was hard for me to give a damn about either side and so the point for me was to see what exactly the punchline was at the end. And when it does get to the end, it does all get resolved, but to a point where there’s really no “pro” side to what they’re commenting on. Basically, if you look at the implications of it’s final moments, it’s not really saying much for the side of the young, at least from my point of view.

In the interview that I read with Goddard, The Cabin in the Woods was described as a love/hate letter to horror films. While I get Goddard’s points, they just didn’t come across to me in what I was being presented. To me, it’s points about horror films and it’s characters were more on the mocking and contemptuous side more than anything else with their “love” side being more confined to the film’s end and then still just not balanced enough.

And then there’s the characters… Each of the five college students are essentially playing two roles; pre- and post-manipulation. But the pre- side gets quite a bit short-changed, so much so that basically they all just blend together. Kristen Connolly plays the red-headed lead amongst the college kids, Dana, and she’s a bit on the dry side here, having me think that she was cast only because Felicia Day (a perennial Whedon favorite) just wasn’t available (and having said that, I think Day could’ve brought quite a bit more here). Fran Kranz (who played Topher in Whedon’s Dollhouse) plays everyone’s stoner friend Marty and is just too cartoonish to me, so much so that I had a hard time buying that the other kids would even be hanging out with him. It’s also worth noting that Chris Hemsworth is one of the college students having made this film before he ever played Marvel’s Thor character.

Faring better are the characters of Sitterson and Hadley played by Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford respectively. There’s certainly plenty of snark shown with these guys as well, but they have their moments where they do display the gravity of the situation that’s about to unfold and that certainly goes a long way. Giving them support, you have another perennial Whedon favorite, Amy Acker as a fellow tech and Brian White who plays security for this group. White stands out for me as he’s all-business in his part, and amongst the cast is the one who totally shows the importance of what’s about to go down. It’s also worthy of note that you do have a big-name actress (who’s a bit of a horror icon her own self) who comes in for a very important cameo.

There’s massive elements of The Cabin in the Woods that are very similar to parts of both the Angel and Dollhouse TV shows (specifically the Wolfram and Hart firm on Angel). The advantage that those shows have though, is that they had time to develop and here, it’s just shown as sketches more than anything else. I tend to think if we’d had just a little more time with the college students at the start and some more time with the organization behind this master plot, this could’ve been a lot more satisfying to me. As it stands, The Cabin in the Woods seems to me to be more concerned with it’s contemptuous lampooning more than anything else. I’m not adverse to this stuff getting fun poked at it all, but here it just went overboard and maybe some more serious development time would’ve helped to balance this better.

Again, I certainly appreciate The Cabin in the Woods more now than I did immediately after seeing it and I certainly admire the massive ambition that’s here. Compared to a lot of reviews I’ve been seeing, I’m in the minority on this one. I think it’s unsuccessful, but… I’m not going to discourage anyone from seeing this, and more, if you haven’t seen it yet and are of a mind to see it, I’d encourage you to do so. It may not have been successful to me, but there’s still some good ideas here and they very well might work for you.

The time is 1849 and the place is Baltimore, it’s the final days in the life of famed writer Edgar Allen Poe and during this time a mysterious killer is using methods from Poe’s own stories to commit his crimes.  Poe is enlisted to help solve the crimes by a smart young detective, Emmet Fields.  The stakes soon become even more personal to Poe when his fiancee, Emily Hamilton is kidnapped by the killer and used as bait for Poe to chronicle what he has seen.

This is the premise to The Raven the newest movie from director James McTeigue and starring John Cusack as Edgar Allen Poe.  Previously, McTeigue has been an assistant director working with the Wachowski Brothers on The Matrix films and more recently he’s been directing on his own with such films as V For Vendetta and Ninja Assassin, both of which I enjoyed a great deal.  Combined with the inspired casting of Cusack as Poe, I was looking forward to seeing this and I had a great time with it.

The Raven certainly salutes a good portion of Poe’s most memorable works like Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Pit and The Pendulum but at it’s core, this is a mystery/detective thriller and that itself, at least to me, is also a salute as many consider Poe to be the father of the modern detective story.  Writers Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare have certainly done their homework and have crafted something here that’s a pretty nice extrapolation of what could’ve led up to the mysterious circumstances to Poe’s own death.

The visual style of the film is first rate and most will likely compare it to more recent films like Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow or more recently, Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes films.  For me, I think McTeigue has gone back a little further and the look  reminds me more of a combination of Roger Corman’s classic Poe adaptations and  the horror films of the Hammer and Amicus studios.  It’s very appealing and doesn’t have overt flash, but certainly the right detail (with the one notable exception being that Cusack is sporting a beard that the real Poe didn’t have- this will no doubt bother some, but I was OK with it).

And speaking of Cusack, I just thought he did a fantastic job here.  To me, it was obvious that he threw himself into his research and it shows on-screen.  Poe’s not made to be some sort of super-hero in this film, he’s basically the picture of desperation at this point in his life and it certainly adds to how he helps solve the mystery.  Luke Evans plays Detective Emmet Fields.  Evans has most recently been seen in movies like The Three Musketeers and Immortals (and will soon be seen in the new Hobbit films).  Evans does a terrific job here and though his role isn’t quite as flashy as Cusack, he still does a great job of keeping up with him and the two have very nice chemistry together.

Alice Eve plays Emily Hamilton more closer to a contemporary heroine, though it doesn’t feel out of place here at all.  Brendon Gleeson, Kevin McNally, Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Sam Hazeldine all fill out the rest of the main cast and do a nice job on the support, though I do want to call out Hazeldine a bit here.  I can’t really say why as I don’t want to spoil things, but I do really appreciate what he did in the film.

Now, The Raven isn’t perfect.  There’s a few plot holes here and there that fortunately don’t really bother me that much thanks to the film’s even pace and strong performances.  Also, it’s main credits sequence is totally out of place- it looks like something that would be used in a contemporary David Fincher film- but fortunately, they’ve kept this sequence to run at the end of the film.  If it had been set at the beginning, it would’ve stood out more on the negative side.  Still, I was plenty entertained by The Raven, primarily due to the performances of both Cusack and Evans, the good uses of Poe’s works in the murders and James McTeigue’s thoughtful visual style.  It’s a fun and cool diversion and certainly worth seeing if you have the chance.