The Golden Boy's Golden Army

Guillermo del Toro is in his element with Hellboy II: The Golden Army. The creation of mystical creatures and fantastical worlds is definitely one of his strengths. The movie is definitely an improvement on the first movie but it is not the masterpiece of Pan’s Labyrinth (2007).
The movie is slick and fun but it lacks in its pacing. There is so many interesting things going on, but we never really get to take it in. The Goblin market and the creatures in it are unbelievable but the action never stops so we can appreciate it. The mystical world and the Golden Army are stunning also. Ron Pearlman as Hellboy is the heart and soul of the movie. He does a great job; it was as if he was born for the role. It is nice to see a superhero movie with a heart. It is not just action but back-story. Without Pearlman the movie would fall apart, his portrayal of Hellboy makes the movie. Doug Jones is also brillant as Abe Sapian and a number of other mystical creatures.
Hellboy II, is the worth the watch for a cool story and beautiful completely breathtaking imagery. It seems that del Toro can do the big budget Hollywood movie, so I think we should all be excited for his version of the Hobbit.

Futurama Movies

Benders Big Score (2007)
The first movie to continue the Futurama series was admittedly a bit of a disappointment. It has an interesting story and a lot of Futurama’s famous wit but it tries too hard. The creators must have felt that they needed to show every character since it was the return of the series.
There was potential in this movie and I just cannot help but feel that it was underutilized. If they would have stuck to the brilliant story and stayed away from the unrelated tangents, it would have been a much better movie.
The bottom line is that if you watched and loved the series, you will enjoy the movie but it is not what it could have been. One has to wonder if Futurama stretched itself too far, perhaps it is better as a 30-minute show.

The Beast of a Billion Backs (2008)
The second try at a Futurama movie is far better than the first. They stopped trying to work every character into the story and let the story play out. While the story is as interesting as the first one, it falls way out of the mythology of the Futurama world. It lacked the flow that the series contained.
Yet the movie still has the same biting satire, and it does an excellent job lampooning religion. It is hilarious to see Fry as the tentacle pope. The writing maintains its trademark edge and is very hilarious.
As always, the voice acting in the movie is beyond excellent. David Cross does a great job as Yeva.
We can hope that the Futurama movies continue their upward trend and the next one will be even better.

He isn't Superman - Hancock (2008)

Rail Crossing Crowd #2: Your breath smells like alcohol!

Hancock: That's cause I've been drinking bitch!

Hancock is a brilliant concept and while it doesn’t quite live up to its full potential, it is still an interesting and fun movie.
Hancock is the story of a superhero that is more hated than loved. He tries to save the day but along the way leaves a trail of destruction and mayhem. He is an alcoholic and an asshole. Yet, there is more to him. It just takes someone to care about him to bring out the human side.
Will Smith plays the role beautifully. You can really see the pain and hurt in his eyes as he gets jeered and laughed at. The role of Hancock is quite a change from the charmers that Smith usually plays and he shows us again that is a criminally underrated actor.

Jason Bateman and Charlize Theron, do and excellent job as the PR man who reinvents Hancock and his wife. Theron has a secret and her looks just seethe with back story, but I’m not going to give it away.
The movie is full and exciting in the beginning and with the arrival of Bateman’s character has some heart. It manages to run a fine line, a lesser movie may have fallen into farce or just an action movie, but Hancock manages to toe the line. Admittedly the twist did not work for me, this is where the movie loses it way. It loses all its flow, but luckily, it finds itself near the end.
A lot of the credit must go to the writers for the excellent concept and to the director (Jason Berg) for holding the movie together when the story gets all jumbled up.
It is interesting to note that Hancock, the character, fits perfectly with Hancock, the movie, it starts off great, loses its way in the middle, but finally redeems itself in the end.

The Journey of Clair's Le Million (1931)

Renè Clair’s Le Million (1931) was at one point considered one of the greatest movies of all time, over seventy-five years later the movie is not masterpiece it once was, but it remains a terrific movie.
Le Million was made just a few years after the advent of movie sound and is one of the early movie musicals. The movie is one of the truest examples of the idea that it is more about the journey than the outcome, you know the end of the movie almost right from the beginning, but that does not make it any less enjoyable. The movie is a mixture of drama, comedy, romance, and music. It is the story of a man deeply indebt who wins a million florin in the Dutch lottery. His fiancé then gives away his jacket with the ticket in it to a man who is in need. The movie is about the quest to retrieve the coat with the ticket in it. Le Million is the precursor to It’s a Mad Mad Mad World and Rat Race.
Clair keeps his camera relatively stable and lets the story place out. The movie is touching and beautiful, the scene of Michel and Beatrice’s moment in the background of the opera is unbelievable. This is where you see the legacy of the silent movies, they say so much with a single word. The movie is a fun romp through Paris and while it is clearly dated but it retains much its charm.

WALL-E (2008)

WALL-E (2008) is the most brilliant movie of the year so far. I could not say enough good things about Pixar, it seems that they cannot make a bad movie.
In many ways WALL-E is a throwback to the classic age of movies, and maybe not in the way you would think, it is a movie with a conscience and a movie that effectively tells a story almost entirely without words. The film tackles issues of obesity, environmentalism, over-commercialism, political issues, and loss of self-reliance all without being preachy. The most amazing thing is that these two robots are able to express more emotions, with almost no words, than most professional actors can show. It made me think of the movies of Chaplin and Keaton where so much is shown with the tilt of a head or simple body position. In the end you really care about these two robots. One is better able to connect with the characters of Wall-E and Eve than the characters in Cars (2006) since they are real characters within a real world. The movie is also able to seamlessly integrate real actors into the movie, further adding to the sense of realism. In fact they make great use of Fred Willard as the president and of Hello Dolly (1969).
Pixar’s animation is getting better and better with each movie, the oceans in Finding Nemo (2003) were breathtaking and the vast tracks of the universe are if anything more magnificent. One cannot help but watch the movie and marvel at the wonders put on the screen, not just the stars and the sky but the towers of garbage on an abandoned Earth that Wall-E has sculpted.
It's amazing in this day and age that a movie can make use care so much about the simple act of holding handing, that is the beauty of WALL-E, and that is what makes it great.

Get Smart

Siegfried: How do I know you're not from CONTROL?

Maxwell Smart: If I were from CONTROL, you'd already be dead.

Siegfried: If you were from CONTROL, YOU'D already be dead.

Maxwell Smart: Neither of us is dead, so I'm obviously not from CONTROL.

Shtarker: That actually makes sense.

Get Smart is not a spoof on the spy genre, but it is serious spy movie about a buffoon. While it lacks the hokey charm of the original, it stays true to the spirit of the old show. This is what should happen you rethink an old series, you cannot just recycle what has already been done you have to retain the spirit and concept, and then make it something new. You cannot go into the movie expecting the old series. They have really toned down the Maxwell Smart’s idiotic qualities and toned up the action. Yet that old charm is there, you see Max struggle with his own lacking but managing to get the job down despite of them. You see Agent 99 being beautiful and awesome, just like you would expect.
The movie is quite funny. The dialogue is sharp and clever. It is just too bad that Steve Carell plays the same character is every movie, we know he has the talent; he just needs to branch out. Anne Hathaway does her very best job and looking beautiful and to set up Carell. It is integral in this type of movie to have the straight man and Hathaway plays it beautifully.
Get Smart moves seamlessly between action, comedy, and drama. While it can get a little heavy on the slapstick and crude humor, it works. I couldn’t help but enjoy the movie, it was a lot of fun.

The Happening

The Happening is like a microcosm of M. Night Shayamalan’s career, such a promising beginning, and then a precipitous drop off. There is such potential at the start. The first scenes in Central Park and a construction scene are knockouts. I thought at that moment that Shayamalan had reversed his downward trend, but this was not the case.
The movie just loses it way, the premise does not hold water, and the effects are just hockey. Perhaps my science background makes me question the idea but it just seems too far out there for me.

The performances are wooden and who would have expected that out of these top-notch actors.
Shayamalan still has a lot of cinematic chops, even those the premise does not work the movie is full of suspense. There a numerous jump out of your seat moments and the camera work is great. He really knows how to frame a shot I think its time for him to try to direct a screenplay he did not write.


While were on the topic lets rank M. Night Shayamalan’s movies (at least the ones I’ve seen)
1. Signs (2002)
2. The Six Sense (1999)
3. Unbreakable (2000)
4. The Village (2004)
5. The Happening (2008)