Archive for the 'Entertainment' Category

Went and saw Spiderman 2 last night (we’re catching up on all the movies we haven’t had time to see already that must be seen on the “big screen”).

I was quite impressed with the movie – exactly what I expected from another Spiderman episode. Some people might complain that it was too much like the first movie – but it really was just the next chapter in the story – so they kept the format the same.

What I was really impressed with though, was the sound – awesome sound in the movie … definitely a DVD you should buy and add to your test-out-your-new-subwoofer collection.

Tobey was his usual excellent self – and brought out the frailty of Spiderman and the power and responsibility of being a hero very well. The scene on the train was quite touching really.

Kirsten seemed to spend the whole movie looking really bad – like she’d spent the night crying. Her character always looked quite unhappy with her lot – almost petulant at times. That being said, she was still pretty good (and pretty !) at her role.

The highlight of the movie was the hilariously over-acted part of J. Jonah Jameson (editor of the newspaper) played by J.K. Simmons (who also plays the resident “shrink” in Law and Order: SVU).

All up, a very entertaining flick, with just the right mix of action, tension, humour, romance, science-fiction, and good old drama.

Naturally, the ending led us to the expectation for the continuing franchise with Spiderman 3 – which I read is due out in 2007.

Went and saw I, Robot last night … I knew it was not going to be anything like the stories in Asimov’s book – it’s only “based on” the book … so I didn’t have much of an expectation about the movie. Always a good way to approach these things I think.

I was quite impressed with the movie – the suspense, action, and quite a bit of Will-Smith humour was an excellent mix. The special effects were amazing – and the sets were great too.

All up, a very entertaining movie.

Went and saw T3 tonight – great movie.

I have read reviews which panned the movie – but I really don’t know what they were expecting from it.

It was an action flick – it was always going to be – with the story coming second. If they expected anything different then they are simply fools.

Unlike The Hulk, which I saw last week and which suffered from too much action/too little story (or too much story/too little action, depending on your point of view), Terminator 3 was mostly action with a touch of story to continue on the Skynet saga.

Don’t go expecting to have huge parts of the story unravelled, this movie covers less than a day in time – and tells only a small part of the story. And while it fills in some of the gaps and answers some of the questions posed at the end of Terminator 2 – it still leaves quite a bit hanging and many people will be quite disappointed with the ending.

Personally, I thought the ending was quite appropriate – especially given the story they laid out in front of you during the film.

For an action flick, it was certainly that – full of action – quite suspenseful at times, and plenty of make-you-jump moments. Some quite innovative action sequences, with the car/crane/fire-engine chase sequence one of the best chases I’ve seen in a movie (although I couldn’t help feeling I’ve seen a similar chase before – the JC/T1000/T100 chase in T2).

Arnie was a bit bland in his role – with only a couple of moments showing the style he pulled off in T2. Seems like he was just going through the motions – and was already too busy counting the money he would make. Some nice comic twists in there – which some people really don’t like in an action flick, but I actually appreciated.

Nick Stahl wasn’t too bad as the shell-shocked and unstable John Conner – although he did get into things a bit better towards the end, but overall I think it was pretty lame. I still think Michael Biehn and Linda Hamilton made the first two movies what they were – the desperation shown, the hard edge that just wasn’t in the other actors in any of the films.

I thought Claire Danes as Kate Brewster was pretty good – showing a wide range of emotions, annoyance, curiosity, fear, terror, frustration, anger, confusion, lots more terror, anguish, defiance, desperation, and finally grim determination, resolve and even tenderness and understanding.

But the movie was stolen by Kristanna Loken as the T-X/Terminatrix – she was just awesome ! Not only does she look absolutely awesome (never a hair out of place, even after all those fights !), but she carried off the cool and calculating role with a real style and a touch of humour at just the right times. She really made the movie – great casting choice there.

Overall I give it the following ratings:

6/10 for story – given that it was first and foremost an action flick, this is probably still high. I actually thought the story had a lot of potential, and taken in the context of part three of a series of movies, the story worked well – but on it’s own it really doesn’t work.

9/10 for wow factor – some awesome effects and fantastic action sequences. Not much more to say really.

7/10 for acting – Kristanna brings the score up above 5 all on her own. I did like Claire Danes and Arnie had the occasional moment as well, but ooooh Kristanna !

3/10 for avoiding Hollywoodisms – this was an interesting one. The John Conner story is an interesting one – quite bitter and seemingly hopeless (even though we supposedly know that John Conner leads the resistance to victory in the future). The ending was not exactly peaches and cream, in fact it was quite bitter – but it still was a little Hollywood. But at the end of the day, it was an action film which is what Holywood does best, and the story suffered as a result.

Went and saw The Hulk at the movies tonight.

Overall not too bad – Eric Bana just keeps getting better as an actor, although you see more of his digitally created alter ego than you do of him I think.

I thought the movie suffered a little too much from trying to be a comic book story – a little physics reality would have been nice I think – there was really not much need for it in the story… but then again, I can understand the comic book element given the origins of the story.

The ending seemed to be wrapped up all too quickly and conveniently – I would have done the ending with his father differently – you didn’t really get to understand why his father was the way he was and what he was actually trying to achieve with his actions.

So much more could have been done with this part of the story, since the story seemed to really be about the father, about the man who created the boy and what the consequences of that man’s actions were. The quest for knowledge, the wonder of creation, the realisation of the horror created, the attempt at resolving the mistake, the psychological effects of being prevented from finding a cure and then from the devastation that followed, and about the twisted person he became as a result – not looking for redemption, but only ever looking for revenge, which eventually consumes him. The Hulk himself even seemed a bit of a sideshow to this other, more powerful story – a bit of action thrown in to amuse the teens.

So much potential, ruined by Hollywood once again – and yet another painful example of the “Hollywood Happy Ending” – not quite all peaches and cream and living happily ever after, but at least socially just. *hurl*

I rate it:

7/10 for story – suprisingly high score for a Hollywood action flick. Marks taken off for not following through and for giving in to Hollywoodisms.

7/10 for wow factor – it had some great effects – especially with the tanks and helicopters, and of course the transition of The Hulk. Marks taken off for being too much of a comic book – I really didn’t think they needed to.

6/10 for acting – Eric really didn’t get a chance to shine, and The Hulk doesn’t count. Jennifer Connelly spends most of her time weeping – but she does add some pleasant scenery to the picture :>> – oh yes, I thought her acting was pretty good too. Sam Elliot was the rather wooden military father, who softens just a little at the end towards his daughter – quite good acting, but not exactly difficult. Nick Nolte was rather forgettable – unless deluded, uncomprehensible madman was the entire effect he was aiming for (which I suspect it was) – I think so much more could have been done with this character.

2/10 for avoiding Hollywoodisms – could have been such a great film if they had spent just a little more time on the story as well as the action. Marks taken off for the ending, both the demise of The Hulk’s father and the saccharine closing scenes. Marks also taken off for taking the action too much into comic book land – just because it’s a comic book story, doesn’t mean you need to alter the basic laws of physics in a movie necessarily. Hollywood strikes again. *sigh*