Bite-Size Review: Iron Man 2

The first Iron Man movie was hailed as a rousing success as the first project coming out of Marvel's new film division, Marvel Studios. The movie was hailed for bringing the iron-clad (pun intended) hero to both the big screen and modern era, buoyed by the superb comeback performance of Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark. The movie not only launched Marvel Studios and resurrected Downey's career, but also set the stage for an unprecedented plan to introduce several of Marvel's other heroes in their own films to set up the big daddy of them all, The Avengers movie.

Iron Man 2 doesn't depart too much from what made its predecessor so good. The action is high-octane and well-choreographed, and there is a lot of eye candy all around (particularly when it comes to Scarlett Johansson's scenes as Black Widow). The rock-infused soundtrack compliments what's happening on-screen while the narrative does a pretty good job exploring the inner conflicts of Tony Stark. The acting once again stands out across the board, headlined by the stellar Robert Downey, Jr.--though literally every role is played to perfection. Even Sam Rockwell's Justin Hammer (a rival of Tony Stark), who comes off as being the typical annoying corrupt archetype ends up doing a good job balancing a passive-aggressive demeanor that you'd expect from someone in his position.

Despite everything it does well, director Jon Favreau's sequel does have a few missteps. The middle section of the movie has been criticized for being too talky, which I didn't find to be so much the problem as the fact that the characters are trying to constantly talk over each other, which just gets annoying. The writers also skip over a lot of the details, never mentioning Whiplash or Black Widow by name, only muttering War Machine in passing, and completely jumping over a new element that Stark discovers, neither naming it nor explaining how Tony overcomes the supposed "impossibility" of its synthesization. Finally, despite Mickey Rourke's standout acting job as Whiplash, the character itself was poorly-written, had motivations that I flat out just didn't buy, and had pretty truncated fight sequences.

At the end of the day, Iron Man 2 does far more right than it gets wrong. Even with its shortcomings, its a very entertaining summer blockbuster that comes very close to the success of the original. The movie nails its role as a set for 2012's The Avengers and sets the stage for Thor and Captain America to fill in the rest of the gaps.

OVERALL GRADE: B+

Bite-Size Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The sixth film in the Harry Potter adaptation franchise is very much along the lines of the five that came before it; that is to say, it is a solid, entertaining work of film that is ultimately flawed in its adaptation of its much superior source material.

The movie has some truly great moments, such as the spectacular visual effects and masterful cinematography. Certain performances--particularly Helena Bonham Carter's Bellatrix Lestrange, Emma Watson's Hermione Granger, Michael Gambon's Albus Dumbledore, and Jim Broadbent's Horace Slughorn--are amazingly spot-on and perfectly-executed. Unfortunately the same praise cannot be said for many of the cast. Key characters such as Harry and Snape are represented by serviceable actors, but pale when juxtaposed against the truly great. This is especially evident during virtually every impactful moment in the movie, when almost without exception poor acting turns a powerful romantic scene into one big awkward moment.

The adaptation itself suffers much of the same ups and downs that the cast brings to the film. Overall the film is pretty well-written, but there are plenty auxiliary scenes that unecessarily extend the film when they were lacking from Rowling's original perfect piece in the first place. Really, if you are a writer working around the contraints of adapting such a lengthy tome into a 2-hour movie, you shouldn't be adding your own shoddy, diluting material. The ultimate failure, however, comes in piss-poor direction. The aforementioned acting blunders in romantic sequences feel like the are the result of unassertive, complacent directing that lacks any sort of ambition. In addition, every single powerful scene outside of romantic ones--save for a certain death at the end of the movie--were incredibly flat. At one point, a key character states with little charisma, "yes, I'm the half-blood prince," and promptly walks off casually, leaving no emotional weight whatsoever. The director again utterly fails in creating a movie that can stand on its own; someone who has not read the book will likely be quite lost as very key plot points are thinly explained. A major love interest for Ron doesn't even have her named mentioned once until 3/4 of the way through the film when she plays a notable role in all the books.

So in conclusion, the latest Potter is by no means a failure, but when held up to the book of the same name, it definitely withers. The largest fault of the movie is that the director has done an absolutely terrible job in turning Harry's powerful sixth year into an equally powerful sixth trip to the cinema. It's not bad, but it definitely leaves you longing for a Lord of the Rings-caliber adaptation that truly captures Rowling's wild imagination.

Overall Grade: C+

Terminator Salvation review

Ever since James Cameron's original The Terminator debuted in 1984, the series has become a classic blockbuster action franchise. One of Arnold Schwarzenegger's first big movies later spawned two direct sequels in Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, as well as the recently-canceled TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Now, director McG is attempting to revive the franchise for an all-new, re-imagined trilogy that focuses on the futuristic struggle that provided the backdrop of the previous titles. Enter Terminator Salvation, a film that lives up to its legacy but comes just short of becoming something much more.

Salvation is set in 2018 after Judgement Day, when a military artificial intelligence project called SkyNET becomes self-aware and instigates a nuclear war. The world of Salvation is positioned as post-apocalyptic, and visually it lives up to this description as a stunning interpretation of a world ravaged first by nuclear war then the war of the human Resistance against SkyNET and the machines. Though taking place in the future relative to the 1990's setting of the original trilogy, it still takes place before the Terminator models of those series have been created and then sent back in time. However, Resistance leader John Connor (played by Christian Bale) comments that "this isn't the future my mother warned me about" and thus implies that this may be a similar, yet different war than the one envisioned by the previous movies.

With the background established, the film wastes no time in establishing the action sequences and the direction of the plot, which becomes perhaps the largest fault with the film. Though a visual showcase, the plot unabashedly moves from action setpiece to action setpiece, never pausing to address interesting narrative elements that only end up being used as mere plot devices. What about the greater struggle of the human race against the maniacal machines? What about life in this post-apocalyptic wasteland? What about the personal relationships between John Connor, his wife, his soldiers, and the rest of the resistance? And what about pretty much anything and everything related to the cyborg character, Marcus? All of these things are touched on, but none are fully explored, leaving what could have been a deep, engaging, narrative as a hollow shell to support the bombardment of action sequences. In this sense, Salvation does not fail since the previous installments of the franchise are along the same lines. However, the taste it gives you of this compelling world leaves you wanting much, much more from it.

Back to the character of Marcus, his existence is still somewhat confusing. First of all, he is apparently made before the first flesh-covered Terminator, the classic T-800, despite being thorougly more advanced by featuring various human properties. The chip that is placed in his head is meaningless as it does not force him to do anything against his will and he ultimately just rips it out. His loyalty to the human race is never put into question and his tragic character is never emotionally explored. Perhaps the worst crime of all is that of the producers, who completely robbed the emotional impact of the character. This crime is of course the reveal of Marcus as a cyborg in the trailers for the movie, a plot point that could have been leveraged as a huge emotional twist--and that's how it appears to have been planned since it is "revealed" more than halfway through the film. What should have been the defining moment of the film comes off as a soft echo with no emotional impact whatsoever. The complete botching of this twist is especially missed given the enormous predictability of most of the scenes, as well as the convoluted and ultimately meaningless attempted twist before the final action setpiece.

Despite the shortcomings of the writers and the ill-decisions of the producers, the film as a whole is well-directed and beautifully acted to the best of the cast's ability within the confines of the shallow script. McG makes his stamp in the opening sequences with a masterfully choreographed sequence that features more than a few clever camera tricks, such as during the helicopter crash. Christian Bale embodies a strong leader in John Connor, even though the character himself is little-explored and left without major conflicts. Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese arguably has the best performance of the entire cast despite his relegation as a supporting character. Sam Worthington and Moon Bloodgood inject most of the emotion of the film with the portrayals of their respective characters, and the rest of the cast fill their roles flawlessly. The special effects work is, as expected, absolutely phenomenal, and the sound direction is likewise superb. The film even features numerous references for fans of the series, and seasoned Terminator fans will enjoy all the subtle pokes in their direction.

Terminator Salvation has nearly all the pieces of what could have made it one of the best films of the decade. Instead, good directing and acting, complimented by excellent special effects and soundwork, only prop up what is otherwise an extremely shallow script that is written only to facilitate the spectacular action sequences. Salvation is an entertaining action movie throughout, but with better writing it could have completely transcended its predecessors and the genre. Though refreshingly non-formulaic compared to the previous films, it still ends up feeling remarkably similar when it's all said and done.

Overall Grade: B-

Good Night, and Good Luck review

In Good Night, and Good Luck, actor George Clooney makes his first major foray into both writing and directing in a true story about esteemed journalist Edward R. Murrow and his feud with renegade Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. Thought set in the historical 1950’s, the themes of the film—as explicitly stated by Murrow at an award banquet in his honor that bookends the main story—have a direct relevance to the modern world and the future of entertainment technologies.

        The story of the film focuses on Murrow’s weekly editorial show See It Now on CBS, on which Clooney’s character, Fred Friendly, is executive producer. While Murrow features many different topics on his show, he makes his reputation reporting on controversial subjects despite any confliction with corporate or sponsor interests of the network. The film centers specifically on Murrow’s stand against the Junior Senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy, who at this time was leading a Senate Investigative Committee that was ruthlessly accusing people of being communists—even within the federal government—without due process of law or evidence publicly presented at the hearings.

Murrow attacks the Senator for his tactics cleverly cutting real images of the Senator during speeches and hearings to expose just how ridiculous his tirade had become. Once the Senator eventually fires back at Murrow, the television hosts rebuffs McCarthy’s charges and further supposes that “dissent is not disloyalty” and boldly claims that “we will not walk in fear of one another.” By the end of the film McCarthy was reaching his downfall and it is suggested that Murrow’s program was a chief component of the Senate’s turn against McCarthy.

            Clooney utilizes black-and-white throughout the entirety of the film to create congruence with the television programming of the 1950’s, which had yet to see a widespread availability of color. The grayscale also creates a very powerful sense of darkness that reflects the dichotomy of McCarthy’s accusations that you’re either on his side or you’re a communist. Clooney also utilizes expert framing, pans, and blurs in his cinematography that masterfully enunciate scenes with the prowess of a seasoned director. The film’s use of real-life archived footage of McCarthy only further emphasizes the gravity of his actions in American history, and the viewer is presented with exactly what the news crew was up against at that time. The strong writing, direction, and camera work is only further enhanced by the superb acting of the entire cast, led by David Strathairn as the strong-minded, outspoken Murrow and complimented by strong performances from every single supporting role.

            Indeed Clooney has produced, written, directed, and acted a timeless cinematic work that will be presented for decades to come. The numerous 2005 Oscar nominations—including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor—are all warranted for this truly phenomenal film.

Overall Grade: A

X-Men Origins: Wolverine review

Wolverine is the first of a new wave of Marvel movies featuring their fabled X-Men characters that do not directly extend the original motion picture trilogy. Instead, the folks at Marvel opted to feature one of their most popular mutants in a prequel that is only distantly linked to the aforementioned trilogy. Though the movie is flat at times and has a couple questionable plot tweaks, on the whole it is an entertaining superhero flick and a good kickoff to the summer blockbuster season.

Without spoiling the actual plot of the film, the story centers around James Logan (a.k.a. Wolverine, played by Hugh Jackman) and his relationship with half-brother and fellow mutant Victor Creed (Sabretooth, played by Liev Schreiber). The opening credits sequence follows the two in every major American military campaign from the Civil War to Vietnam. Already a few liberties have been taken with the source material: in the comics, Logan and Creed are not related, Logan is Canadian (a detail referenced later), and Logan was born in the end of the 19th Century and therefore could not have fought in the Civil War. These are minor quips that do not detract from the film's plot, but they are still notable to fans of the source material.

As the film continues it involves a myriad of mutants in its supporting cast, from Logan and Creed's time with Team X to the Weapon X program and all the good action bits that the writers have given director Gavin Hood to work with. In fact, for a movie supposedly focusing on one hero, the supporting cast of mutants is just as diversified--if not more so--as any of the previous X-Men films. That is not a bad thing at all--in fact its great to see a lot of these cameos. The only problem is that a lot of the characters are so interesting that you kind of regret that the movie has so many and can only realistcally focus on Wolverine and Sabretooth.

For those that are in it though, the cast is phenomenal. Will.i.am makers his acting debut doing a spot-on portrayal of Wraith, Taylor Kitsch embodies fan-favorite Gambit, and the writing liberty taken with the ending aside, Ryan Reynolds absolutely nails the jabbering assassin Deadpool, albeit sans his bad-ass red-and-black suit from the comics. Lynn Collins provides some emotion between all this meat as the stunning Silver Fox, and other characters such as Charles Xavier, Scott Summers, Toad, and Emma Frost make notable cameos as well. With every one of the characters the only regret is that their performances could not be showcased enough, particularly with Reynolds' Deadpool. At least Gambit still has potential to appear in future X-flicks, maybe even his own Origins story (don't hold your breath just yet though; assuming Wolvie makes enough green, Magneto is already next in line).

To sum it up, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is your pretty standard summer superhero movie, and if you've seen the previous X-Men films you know pretty much what to expect. Perhaps not as awesome as X2, its also nowhere near the abomination that was X-Men 3: The Last Stand. Its very solid and thoroughly entertaining with a couple forced plot elements, but the superb acting and diverse cast really carry the movie. Don't expect anything truly groundbreaking in the genre, but do expect to get $10 well spent.

Overall Grade: B

Watching the Watchmen

Note: This review is spoiler-free except where otherwise noted.

Let's get to the point: Zack Snyder has created a very enjoyable and entertaining version of Watchmen in a medium which it seemed destined to be adapted to. The adaptation excels considerably in many key areas, but in some ways gets lost in translation in others. Overall it is a good movie judged on its own right and a succesful transformation of the legendary graphic novel.

First and foremost, Snyder utilizes the same method he used with 300 by essentially using the graphic novel as a storyboard. The cinematography mimicks the Dave Gibbons' drawings succesfully and this is one area where the highly literal translation succeeds tremendously. In particular the zooms and pans of the camera copy Gibbons' drawings perfectly and provide a strong cinematic emphasis in several scenes. Further adding to the sensoral prowess of the film are fantastic visual effects, CG, choreography, and lighting. Costumes are generally very good and very accurate to the comic, the exceptions being Nite Owl's sleek modernized suit and the epic fail of an attempt to modernize Ozymandias'. The soundtrack and score are also superb and very well-selected, adding a lot of emotion and power to the movie.

The general flow of the plot is once again mostly tied to the graphic novel again featuring an ebb and flow pace with constantly bulding momentum and utilizing a multitude of flashback cuts. Viewers must peice the movie together in an interesting way, though watching the movie after having read the novel gives you a certain insight that make the plot somewhat less interestering to try to connect since you already know where its going. If you are on the fence about reading the novel and seeing the film, I suggest watching first and reading second. 

The dialogue of the film is an interesting form of contention, since technically they are very accurate to the legendary comic and a majority of lines are in fact lifted straight fro Moore's pages in verbatim. Unfortunately, the execution is somewhat poor with acting being a little too obvious sometimes and the dialogue, which reads well on paper, sometimes sounds extremely awkward in spoken language. The casting is also top-notch, from Osterman to Rorschach to Laurie, with the only real weakspots being Moloch's ridiculous goblin ears and Veidt's tacky emo haircut and skinny face, not to mention overly-sinister demeanor. Oh, and let's not forget the twisted depiction of President Nixon, who lookes much older and more deformed than his real life self and somehow got way more screen time than he deserved. On the other side of the spectrum, Jackie Earle Haley is as perfect a Rorschach as Robert Downey Jr. a Tony Stark. 

There are also many details from the graphic novel that get lost in the translation into film. The Tales of the Black Freighter bits are notably completely absent, though personally not missed, but I also hear they will appear in animated form on the inevitable DVD and Blu-ray release. Also, the insight gained from reading the snippets between chapters is also completely lost and with it a certain further understanding and explorations of the subtleties of the story. Some sequences were slightly condensed to better work in an already-long film, though in most instances it is done well. 

Furthermore, although I completely understood the characters and direction of the story, someone who has not read the novel will not understand the extensive backstory of the two generations of masked heroes and the relationships within, nor the heroes from the past that were not featured in the main plot. Even when it comes to the characters that are featured, the filmmakers took it for granted a little bit; though Rorschach, The Comedian and Dr. Manhattan's names were repeated ad nauseum, "Nite Owl" was only casually mentioned in the beginning, named even fewer times than his ship "Archie". Silk Spectre is hardly referred to as such either,  Ozymandias is only off-handedly called by his masked name, and Hooded Justice's name isn't revealed once (maybe this was a conscious choice to reflect the lack of a reveal of his alter ego in the comic?).

Spoilers Ahead- Proceed with Caution!

Some changes relating directly to the twisting plot were a little more debatable. I found in particular that Ozymandias was too much characterized as a sly character even before revealed as the "villain". In fact, he is not really meant to be a villain at all, but I feel that the movie utterly failed in portraying him as an honorable hero truly believing he's saving the world, instead going for a sly manipulator with a twisted sense of justice. The importance of the "Ramses II" password is also shortened due to the lack of between-chapter reveal, it which it is explained that Ozymandias is the Greek name for pharoah Ramses II. The alien invasion was changed to an attack engineered by Dr. Manhattan, and while much more believable and easy to explain, I find it less likely to have forced a coorporation between the U.S. and Soviet Union. This change in plot device also muddled the reasoning for the mental breakdown of the comedian since he never discovered the island. Also completely absent was the drama between Nova Express and The New Frontiersman, and I feel like the very last scene loses some of its muster since it seems a lot more random than it really is.

End of Spoilers.

CONCLUSION:

Overall, Snyder's Watchmen delivers on several key fronts, such as visuals and accuracy, but fails in others such as background, delivery, and a couple minor thematic elements. The mixed success of the movie only confirms suspicions that the graphic novel is simply to deep and complicated to be perfectly adapted to a completely different medium, even when using such meticulously recreation of the pages of the comic. In the end, that is probably what hurts the movie most, as it seems it tried to follow the movie too much and didn't do enough actual adapting to render it a truly exceptional work of film, particularly in the area of dialogue. Then again, change much more than they did, stubborn diehard fans would be in a riot, which is why Watchmen is ultimately probably the best that could have come out of the project and also a film that is definitely recommended. To quote ign.com's review, "it gets more right than it gets wrong, but at the end of the day is not the masterpiece we were hoping for."

TRAILER

Quantum of Solace review

I love Daniel Craig's new version of James Bond, but it definitely needs some work. I'm all for a grittier, dirtier, more physical and action-oriented Bond. However, that does not mean it is necessary to strip away many of the series' signature mainstays. I have great anticipation for the future of Bond, but I think the idea of doing any more direct sequels should die with this movie, because as flashy and and visually enjoyable as Quantum of Solace was, it is NOT a real Bond movie, but merely an extended epilogue to the difficult-to-get-used-to-b

ut-ultimately-one-of-the-best-Bond-flicks-ever Casino Royale. It must be noted that this is by no means Craig's (or Olga Kurylenko's) fault, as the acting was probably the biggest strong suit of the movie (except perhaps special FX).


The problems start with the fact that apparently the script-writing period was cut short thanks to the Writer's Strike so they had to rush in this script. Let me tell you: IT SHOWS. This is the shallowest Bond movie (story-wise) ever made, and by no coincidence is it also the shortest. The piss-poor editing worsens the matter even further, and by the end of the movie you realize nothing really happened and that the few plot points that did exist were merely devices for initiating drawn-out--though impressive--action scenes, which felt fatally staged and "unnatural". This is especially true of the ridiculous boat and plane sequences.

Outside of Bond, M, and Mathis, the characters were worthless, again faulted by the script and not necessarily the fault of the actors themselves who were given nothing to do. The witty, charming secret agent we've all come to love over the years is absent, and he gives neither a smile, joke, or cunning one-liner during the entire movie (all 3 of which, mind you, WERE present in Casino Royale). Somewhat less minor complaints include the lack of Q, gadgetry, and "getting with the girl" (that stupid redhead that was in the movie for 5 minutes does not count), and the villain himself was also very shallow. The Quantum organization itself is an interesting concept, but once again this movie fails to deliver and we are all left wondering what a much better movie it could have been. I am almost tempted to denounce Quantum altogether if only to get away from this stupid sequel mentality, but if they can incorporate it into a "real" 007 flick things could get very interesting.


Now, despite my heavy ranting, Quantum isn't a bad movie per se. It's very much enjoyable to watch and without the 007 name it's a pretty solid Transporter-esque balls-out action flick. The problem is that it does carry that 007 brand and therefore it is held up to certain standards in every facet of its production, and that's why I think it ultimately fails as a Bond movie.

PS: what the fuck is a "quantum of solace"?