This has to be one of the toughest reviews I have written in a long time.  I have conflicting emotions about the movie and I was unsure the tone I wanted to take with this review.

All of that said, I have found the Will to battle my Fear and give you the review you are looking for.

To say that I have been looking forward to this movie for a long time is an understatement.  As I mentioned in my Spiderman 3 review, “my three favorite heroes growing up were Batman, Spiderman, and Green Lantern.”  I loved the idea that GL could make anything that he imagined and that everything happened because he simply had enough strength of Will.

I made plans with Ken and Amy to check it out on opening night at the AMC Downtown Disney, utilizing the new Fork and Screen option.  After buying the tickets, I noticed the early reviews pouring in, and they were quite simply, brutal.  The way reviewers were talking, this movie was the bastard child of Elektra and Batman & Robin, with Jonah Hex, Ghost Rider, and the never-released 1994 Fantastic 4 as close relatives.  I spent the rest of the week scouring the web for reviews that had anything positive to say.  Even the ones that were positive were really lukewarm.

I met Ken and Amy at the AMC and we headed in.  The service was not as good as when I had gone on Preview night, but the coupons were good, so it wasn’t all bad.  The trailers were the typical summer releases – no real surprises or treasures to be found.

Green Lantern is a true origin story.  We start with a scene on a distant planet where some unnamed scientists encounter what ends up being the Big Bad of the story – they might as well have been wearing red shirts given the little amount of time it took them to get killed.  We then see some unknown hero attempting to stop the villain and getting mortally wounded.  Meanwhile, we are also introduced to Hal Jordan, cocky flying ace and ladies man.  Ryan Reynolds is decently cast in this role, but is not given enough room to really play up certain traits.

What follows is the tapping of Hal to be the next big hero.  During his “training” (or lack thereof), he experiences alien life and learns how the Green Lantern Corps use the power of Will to overcome the power of Fear.  There are some interesting effects sequences that show you the power of a tiny, green ring.  Then you have Hal’s return to Earth and his eventual public appearance.

The story is a straight-forward one, with no twists to speak of.  It is a shame that Warner Brothers allowed so much to be shown in the trailers – there were no “cool” surprises.  The casting, for the most part was decent.  I liked the choice of Angela Bassett for Amanda Waller – she has the toughness to pull that role off for many movies.  My only real complaint is the use of Blake Lively.  Much like Katie Holmes in Batman Begins, Lively is not a horrible choice, but you are left wishing for so much more.  In talking about this earlier with Spaldy, I realized that someone like Jessica Biehl would have been a better choice.  The role of Carol Ferris must be played by someone that you can believe is a tough pilot, tough business woman, and the object of every man’s dreams.  Lively just does not exude toughness; instead, her toughness comes across as that of a petulant child.

While I can certainly see why this one received negative reviews, I am left with a reminder of the scene in the movie where the GL Corps thinks very little of humans and Hal pleads to show why there is potential.  While most look at this movie and speak of wasted moments, I look at what was accomplished and what could be in future installments.  For those that are complaining, think about this –- we did not have the technology to even attempt this live-action movie 5-10 years ago.  Try not to act like the spoiled children that Blake Lively resembles when she is pouting.

My advice:  Worth matinee/afternoon pricing – see on a big screen and skip the 3D – not worth the extra money and may actually make some of the sequences visually worse.  I was glad to have seen it in 2D.  Make sure to watch the credits…

When I first started ding this blog in 2007, one of the first movies I reviewed was Hot Fuzz.  What I enjoyed then was a parody of action movies that was also an homage to the genre.  What really stood out was the amount of care and attention to detail that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost put into the movie.  It wasn’t simply enough to mimic famous scenes; they felt the need to throw in obscure references.  Sadly, I missed a lot of those until I watched the DVD months later with the trivia track turned on.  After working on other projects, Simon and Nick turned their attentions to the world of science fiction.

I met up with my buddy, Russ, for the cheap showing at AMC Altamonte.  After grabbing drinks, we headed in to grab seats.  I was surprised to see so many people there for a Wednesday morning showing, but it was better than sitting in an empty auditorium.

While Paul is the name of the alien, this movie is really about the friendship between two people.  Our heroes leave the comforts of England to come to the US for Comic-Con.  After Comic-Con, they embark on a road-trip to see the sites related to UFO activity.  Like many road-trip comedies, you have the predictable run-ins with law and rednecks.  What takes our heroes by surprise is the encounter with an alien.  Paul is trying to escape the government and get home, ala ET.  Our heroes agree to help and the comedy jumps up a notch.

The cast supporting Pegg and Frost is top-notch.  Jason Bateman, Bill Hader, and Kristen Wiig once again prove that comedy is so much more than delivering good lines; it is also personality and timing.  Seth Rogen probably has the toughest job since he is the voice of Paul and does not actually get to be on-screen with everyone else.  I am very happy that they did not feel the need to make this movie in 3d – that would have ruined it.

The references are there, and I do not want to spoil some of the best ones.  Suffice it to say, Spielberg: The Early Years are featured, as is some small franchise made by a guy named Lucas.  I really can not wait until the Blu-Ray comes out – I hope it has a trivia track similar to what Hot Fuzz had.

My advice: See it at full-price; hands down one of the most entertaining movies out right now…

At a very early age, we are introduced to stories that seem, at one level, to be appropriate for kids.  We do this because the stories often involve elements of make-believe that we know will be destroyed as the child grows older.  However, when you examine the stories, they are not innocent kiddie fare, nor were they intended to be.

We label them as fairy tales so that we feel better about subjecting kids to images of death, betrayal, and abuse.  As much as people have given Disney grief over the years, old Walt & Co. knew they had to rewrite some endings to justify appealing to kids.  Heck, even Stephen King wrote a famous article for TV Guide, where he made the very credible argument that Bambi was more horrific than some of his more famous novels.

Then the late 80s came, and with it, the need for everything to be darker and closer to real life.  We saw it in our comic books and started seeing it more in movies.  To make a fairy tale in the traditional sense meant to sugarcoat everything and have a happy ending.  However, throw in period sets/costumes and blossoming special effects, and now you can get into the cool, scary part of the tales.  This also applied to traditional monster movies.

However, much like other genres, movie-makers became so reliant on effects and looks that the story suffered.  How many were disappointed by the 90s’ versions of Dracula and Frankenstein?  Van Helsing didn’t derail Hugh Jackman’s career only because he was in the middle of his run as Wolverine.  Throw in a movie about the Brothers Grimm a few years back and The Wolfman last year – is it any wonder that most sensible audiences roll their eyes when they hear the marketing wheels turning about another movie that has a “new spin on an old classic?”

Enter Red Riding Hood.

I had not planned on seeing this movie, but an old high-school friend, Jackie, and her daughter, Alex, were in town checking out colleges.  I met them and another high-school friend, Jimmy, at Universal Studios for the day.  After the fun was done, we headed over to the CityWalk 20 to see what was playing.  Red Riding Hood fit the start time and in we went.

The plot centers on a village that has been plagued for years by a wolf.  After a senseless death, the townsfolk rise up and start hunting the wolf.  What seemed to start off in an interesting fashion soon devolved into predictable story-telling and poor pacing.  I liked the introduction of the idea that it was a were-wolf, not a normal wolf, haunting the town.  As much as I enjoy Gary Oldman onscreen, he was unfortunately given very little to do that was interesting.  The story comes to a tragic end, and I realize that even the writers got lazy.  Rather than crafting a good story, the writers and director ended up pulling in plot devices geared to attracting the “Twilight” crowd.  As much as I have actively avoided those movies and books, I couldn’t help but feel like I had been suckered into watching Twilight Lite.  The main positive is that the cast executed what it was given in a good manner.

My advice:  Check it out on cable; save the money for some other real gems out there…