Monthly Archives: March 2009

Movies

Watchmen

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Faithful readers of TAM know that I am a big fan of going to midnight openings of big movies; better than going alone is going with a group of friends.  So I found myself enjoying dinner with David and Lisa at the Friendly Confines located across from the Regal at Waterford Lakes.  Not my favorite place to see a premier, but worth the sacrifice to go with friends.  Rich and Sarge soon joined us as we made our way over to join the screaming masses in the theater.  Sarge was soon dismayed to find out that we were bypassing The Jonas Brothers in 3D to watch a comic book.  He quickly found a new displeasure when the trivia slides started repeating after 6 slides.

After some interesting trailers (Terminator, Wolverine, Star Trek, everything turned yellow and black.  The obligatory cheering happened in our theater.  What followed was a three-hour (rounded) tale of heroes, villains, and humanity’s need to destroy itself.  The story begins with the death of a hero that causes others to wonder if they are being targeted.  As we are introduced to each hero, we learn the backstory and how they relate to one another.  To say that there are parallels to mainstream comic-book heroes is an understatement.  Here is a breakdown of some of them:

  • Dr. Manhattan –> Superman, a solitary being surrounded by people who care.
  • Nite Owl II –>  Batman, 30’s-70’s era, willing to get in the mix, but without a lot of the angst
  • Rorschach –>  Batman, Frank Miller version, distrustful of everyone and willing to say so
  • Silk Spectre II –>  Batgirl

The pacing of the story was good and the director did a good job of letting it visually unfold.  Probably the one thing that most audience members, including myself, were not quite prepared for were the strong sexual overtones.  Between multiple shots of Dr. Manhattan’s “Empire State Building” and the love scenes of two other heroes, I am surprised that the movie was allowed to keep an R-rating.  This is not because I disapprove, but because the MPAA tends to be rather prudish in these matters.

Of course I had to torture Rich at the end slightly by making him wonder if there was anything after the credits (there isn’t).  He left to get some sleep before work, which left David, Sarge, Lisa, and me to leisurely leave the theater.  This gave us some original thoughts by Sarge (”What the hell was with the butt crack of dawn? it was like Dr. Manhattan was pooping out rays of sunlight…”) and David telling us the difference between the comic book and the movie.

My advice:  see it on the big screen and see it with a group of friends — for if you do not watch it, then who will watch the Watchmen…?

DVD

The Love Bug

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Earlier this week, I wrote a review for 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea that discussed the treatment of some of Disney’s classic movies on DVD.  The Love Bug is no exception; Disney stuffed this two-disc set with everything it could find.

For those not familiar with the title, The Love Bug tells the story of a down-and-out race-car driver by the name of Jim Douglas.  Douglas is played by the go-to male lead for Disney movies in the 60s and 70s: Dean Jones.  Buddy Hackett turns in a brilliant performance as Douglas’s sidekick, Tennessee Steinmetz.  As a matter of fact, watching Hackett in this role reminds one of his vocal role in The Little Mermaid.  Michelle Lee, best known for her role on TV’s Knots Landing, plays the love interest.  David Tomlinson plays the “villain,” while evoking memories of his role as the father on Mary Poppins.

Of course, the real star of the movie is Herbie, the little VW Bug with a spirit of his own.  Herbie is what brings Douglas and Carole together and continues to find ways to force them to spend time together.  As the movie goes on, Herbie one-ups each stunt to a climatic finish to a race.  By the end of the movie, it is hard to not think of Herbie as a real entity, even though he is just a car.

What I noticed is that Disney really tried to appeal to the generation pf the late 60s.  Set in San Francisco, the viewer is treated to many images of hippies, peace symbols, and terminology used that doesn’t seem forced.  It should be noted that Disney also flirted with the subtle innuendo, such as the first look at Carole and Douglas’s apparent reputation.

Presented in wide-screen format, the two-disc set also has the following features:

  • Audio commentaries from the director
  • 5.1 audio remastering
  • Over 10 different videos about various aspects of production
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Radio spots
  • A cartoon that could have been the blueprint for the Herbie part of the story

Again, it was well-worth the extra 2-3 hours to go through all of the extra features.

My advice:  Grab this movie, the family, and pop some popcorn — #53 will never come in last…

DVD

Sin City

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Frank Miller has written some of the best graphic novels over the past 20 years: The Dark Knight Returns, 300, and the Sin City series.  The hallmark of each novel was stunning artwork and a detailed story that grabbed a hold of the reader and would not let go.  After seeing mainstream Marvel and DC characters get big-screen treatments and great reviews, Miller started seeing what he could do to bring some of his work to life.  For his first effort, he was able to land the services of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino.  Rodriguez had wanted to put Sin City on the big-screen for many years, but actually filmed a short film to show how it could work.  Miller bought into Rodriguez’s plan after seeing the short (which became the opening for the movie).

Sin City is actually three stories intertwined, similar to Pulp Fiction.  Some characters are in all 3 stories and the stories are not told in chronological order.  The similarities do not stop there.  Much as casting had a significant impact on Pulp Fiction, so did casting have a big impact here.  There are no mistakes in casting and each actor does a great job with the role they have.

Of course, what everyone focuses on is the stunning look of the movie.  filmed as a graphic novel come to life, it set the foundation for 300 and The Spirit with regards to cinematography.  Color is used in the movie to emphasize a mood or event — blood is never shown as red.  There is also little use of the “shaky cam” that seems to be overused these days by directors not skilled enough to shoot actual stunts and fight scenes.

The DVD had little in the way of extras, but I did not have the two-disc set.

My advice:  Grab this one when you are in an action mood and want a stylish, fast-paced movie — if you don’t, that old yellow bastard may come after you…

DVD

Waiting

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One of the best things about watching movies is finding that low-budget movie that doesn’t receive much support in promotion, but still does well because it has a decent enough story that strikes a chord among its audience.  Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino owe their careers to this phenomenon.

Waiting is a low-budget comedy based on the experiences of a man who worked in three restaurants in the Orlando area — as far as I know, only one is still in business.  One of the first things you notice about this movie is the relative star-power it has:

  • Ryan Reynolds
  • Anna Faris
  • Justin Long
  • John Frances Daly
  • Luis Guzman
  • David Koechner

All of these actors have a strong following, particularly in the comedy world.  The story is simple enough: just a day in the life of a restaurant.  We see the cliched bad customers, the “extra sauce” stories, and the “bad tip” stories.  Yet there is a story framework that holds this all together and creates a fun movie to watch.

The DVD is a two-disc affair with a lot of extras involving cast observations, real-life serving stories, and deleted/extended scenes.

My advice: Grab this for a few laughs and remember: Never screw with the people who handle your food…

DVD

Hulk Vs.

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Over the last couple of years, I have reviewed most of the Marvel Studios animated DVD releases rather favorably.  I was happy with the product coming out and felt that they were taking their time to produce some good animation with a good story.  I skipped over The New Avengers because it looked “kiddie” next to their other fare, as well as being too close in resemblance to PokeMon.  So a year after my last review, I come across an offering that had actually been out for a few months: Hulk Vs.

Hulk Vs. is really two shorter features on one disc, similar to how Disney would package some of its earlier animation for theaters (Fun and Fancy Free).  One feature has the Hulk battling Thor, with the other involving Wolverine.  These features are in the same vein as some of the one-off, throw-away issues Marvel would produce for one of its runs.  Basically a flimsy premise to force two heroes to square off against each other — to be fair, DC has done the same thing.

The Thor feature is the stronger of the features — it is also possible that I preferred this one because I feel that X-Men and Wolverine are overexposed at this point.  Both features had more story than expected, but still revolved around “Hulk Smash.”  The DVD had a behind-the-scenes featurette for each one, but nothing else in the way of extras.

My advice:  Skip this entry and spend the time rewatching one of their earlier offerings…