Review: Super

Super is the latest from James Gunn and the result is a bizarre, violent, and funny take on the super hero genre that falls in line with Kick-Ass and Watchmen of recent years.

A subversion of the comic book film, this is probably the most realistic take on what having a masked avenger running around would really be like in reality.  Seattle has a couple of masks running around town in real life right now, and Crimson Bolt feels like he could fit right in with them.  Married to an ex-drugged out stripper, it was only a matter of time before Frank’s wife slipped back to her old ways, pushed along by a smalltime mob criminal type Jacques.  Frank decides to get her back as he sees her being manipulated and used along the way and he does so by adopting a crime fighting persona, The Crimson Bolt.

While the film might seem like a Kick-Ass rip off, it definitely blazes its own path.  The film is raw, bizarre, and pulls no punches along the way.  The characters that inhabit this world are unique and relish violence, not that there’s anything wrong with that, and you will see people gleefully enjoy the pain of others.  What makes that last sentence even weirder is that Frank may or may not be on a mission from God; might just be schizophrenic. Regardless of what is sending and driving Frank forward, it sends its messages in a weird and bizarre ways.

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The Decade's Best – The Lord of the Rings (2001-2004)

When it was announced that Peter Jackson, a small time and rather unknown Kiwi director, was going to be taking over the reigns of one of the most sought after and daunting film tasks in the history of cinema many didn’t expect a whole lot. But one came out of this man’s mind is an adaptation that Tolkien couldn’t have supervised much better himself and will go down as not only one of the greatest fantasy films, but flat out best films ever to grace our silver screens.

Now, let’s set the record straight right off, The Lord of the Rings is one film, broken up into three volumes for our butts and studio execs pockets pleasure. You will also note that my dates for the film is from 2001-2004, and that is because we didn’t have the full film experience in our hands until the release of the extended edition of Return of the King on DVD in 2004. (Though, don’t count out Jackson on making a couple changes and maybe even extending further on Blu-ray to coincide with The Hobbit)

The story takes place in the land of Middle Earth, populated by races of men, elves, orcs, goblins, dwarves, wizards, and most important to our quest hobbits. Hobbits are smaller people, not entirely different from men aside from their stature, state of leisure, and fascination with pipe weed.   [Read more...]

Review: The Incredible Hulk

Edward Norton stars in the “reboot” of the Hulk franchise and is a solid second effort from Marvel Studios working as an independent studio.
Now, to add some background for my take on this film, I was a fan of Ang Lee’s Hulk. The action was awesome, crazy, and a bit over the top, but it worked. I also thought the Betty/Banner relationship was handled well and that both Eric Bana and Jenifer Connelly did excellent jobs. I will say the ending was a bit, ‘what the fuck’, the Hulk dogs a bit much, and the death of Josh Lucas’ character was terrible, but outside that I thought it did an alright job, especially once the Hulk is running around for the last 30 minutes or so. [Read more...]