The Wolverine

Wow.  I've found that I tend to rate movies more highly when I walk out of the theater, then with time the rating might drop when I start comparing it to other films I've seen.  What brought this up?  Well I've noticed that recently I've been giving movies perfect scores, and others in the past I don't understand how I could have rated them as high as I did.

Regardless, I think The Wolverine will withstand the test of time.  I think it's definitely in the same discussion as Man of Steel and Iron Man 3. 

The Wolverine is based on one of the best storylines from the comics, and overall I enjoyed this interpretation of it.  I liked some of the changes they made to the original story, but wish they could have left or fit other parts in.

Anywhoo, I just have a few comments, though this time they have major ***SPOILERS*** so be forewarned.
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• I've never been a fan of actress Famke Janssen, particularly as the character Jean Grey.  Perhaps she just didn't fit the preconception of the character I gleaned from the comics.  However, I thought she was okay, in this movie.
• SPOILER WARNING, REDUX.  At one point Logan reaches in to his chest to remove a mechanical bug attached to his heart.  But since his entire skeleton is laced with admantium, how did he reach through his ribs?  Kind of awkward having to reach between with just his fingers (or claws) to rip out something apparently firmly clinging to his right ventricle.  Especially without anesthetic or assistance.
• I'm okay with Logan losing his metal claws, though it is still puzzling.  I thought his bone claws were merely laced with admantium, not separate.  Though I guess the bone could have regrown/healed during the battle?  Pretty quick, even for Logan.
• The whole 'two hands' to hold a sword felt a little gimmicky;  they put more screen time into the foreshadowing than the actual event required/deserved. 
• I thought Mariko's ninja friend's change of heart happened a little too quickly/abruptly.
• As soon as the metal samurai started moving, I kind of guessed where it was going in regards to the 'great reveal' at the end; so, in a sense it was predictable.

I actually think this movie was just as good if not better than Man of Steel, but I'm trying to temper my enthusiasm; this is a movie I'm definitely buying the BD (unlike ::cough:: that other solo Wolverine movie-  ugh.)

I rate The Wolverine 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Man of Steel

Fortunately, I watched Man of Steel, today.  I say 'fortunately', because the cinema I normally go to for new movies isn't showing Man of Steel in 2D.  3D, yes.  IMAX, yes, and even a second type of 3D, but not 2D.  Anywhoo, I managed to find a cinema showing it in 2D, and there I went.

Man of Steel was definitely worth the time and price of the ticket.  Though once again, the movie started late.  At the 'official' movie start time, the cinema showed ten straight minutes of commercials -- not movie previews, and not the 'while you're waiting for the movie to start' fluff.  The movie previews came after the commercials.  I fear this is the new normal.

So, anyway... as I said above, Man of Steel is a good movie, perhaps even a great one.  Henry Cavill was great in his role, Amy Adams was good, as were all the other actors.  There were a couple things here and there that bothered me, but it's more nitpicking things, and occurred mostly in minor character scenes, though there was one bit I felt they could have explained more explicitly the antagonists' rationale for a human co-captive.

It's hard to compare Man of Steel with Iron Man 3 because while they're both superhero movies, they each have their own tone.  Iron Man 3 went for more laughs and silly stuff amidst the drama and action, while Man of Steel took on a more serious tone overall, the humour more subdued, or not so obviously deliberate and frequent.

Without spoiling anything, I'll just say that I liked how in Man of Steel I could recognize and sympathize with all the major characters' motivations, even that of the main antagonist, making him a slightly more tragic figure rather than a run of the mill power/money hungry cardboard villain.

Man of Steel, 5 out of 5 stars.

Iron Man 3

I watched Iron Man 3, today.  Well worth the money, at least on 2D.  I've never been a fan of 3D movies so I saved a few dollars watching it the old fashioned way.  Iron Man 3 is much much better than Iron Man 2, and just as good as or even better than Iron Man.

I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just make some general points:

• I would have thought that most people would know to stay until the end of the credits for Marvel movies, but I'd estimate a little more than half of the audience left early and missed the last scene.  Having said that, significantly more people did stay for Iron Man 3 than I remember did for Iron Man.
• One thing I did fine puzzling was how the main villain died, at the end.   Why did he die this time when he'd survived much worse?
• Given Robert Downey Jr.'s contract with Marvel has now expired, this may have been his last turn as Tony Stark.  If this turns out to be true, I'll be disappointed, but also happy that Robert Downey Jr.'s run as Iron Man ended on such a high note.
• Assuming Robert Downey Jr. is done playing Tony Stark, I wonder which is more likely, that Marvel 'reboots' the character of Iron Man (like Batman and Spiderman), or that Marvel maintains continuity and simply replaces the actor.  I'd lean towards the latter because of the way all the Marvel movies are linked together via The Avengers. Though right now I can't imagine anyone else in the role.  For now, at least, Robert Downey Jr. = Tony Stark.

Anywhoo, Iron Man 3 gets 5 out 5 stars.

The Avengers

I went to see The Avengers today.  I stuck with regular old 2D instead of watching it in 3D.  I'm not a big fan of movies in 3D -- truthfully, if local cinemas only offered The Avengers in 3D I would have waited to watch it on BD.

When I first heard they were producing The Avengers I wasn't too keen on the idea.  Why?  Because it's been my experience that as the number of heroes/protagonists and villains increase the quality of the film decreases.  See Spiderman 3, Iron Man 2, Batman Returns....  I have no idea why sequels feel compelled to increase the number of villains.

Anywhoo, I was relieved to find The Avengers maintained a pretty good balance between all the characters.  There was no point in the film where I was thinking, "why are they wasting so much screen time on this character?"

I've only watched Iron Man and Iron Man 2, none of the Hulk movies, Captain America, or Thor, but several times I found myself thinking, instead, "huh, I wouldn't mind learning more about this character."  I'm not saying I'm going to rush out to rent them (problematic ever since Blockbuster went kaput), but I'm definitely more open to the idea of doing so.

I give The Avengers 4 out of 5 stars.  This is a film I'm definitely purchasing on BD.

Aside.  The trailer for the new Spiderman film actually looked interesting.  At least, it made me question my decision to not see it in the cinema.

Lazy Language

I decided to take the time to describe two more examples of what I consider to be very lazy and misguided use of language. A couple years ago I uploaded a post of a similar vein regarding a cbc.ca story I'd read. This time around, the examples happen to relate to NHL and NHL playoff reporting/commentary.

In what I can only attribute to a misguided and inane attempt to be (tragically) "hip", I've noticed several NHL commentators in both television and radio refer to the city of Vancouver as "Van", as in "the Kings next take on the Canucks in Van". Is it simply a matter of too many syllables, is three too much? Do they then refer to Winnipeg as "Win", Buffalo as "Buff", Montreal as "Mon", Ottawa as "Ott", Toronto as "Tor", Washington DC as "Wash", Winnipeg as "Win", Edmonton as "Ed", Anaheim as "An", and Los Angeles as "Los"? If that's the case then I wonder how they would bastardize Philadelphia with five syllables (apologies if I've left any surfeit-syllable cities out).

I don't want to single anyone out (though I will) because I've heard several reporters (both from Vancouver and not) abbreviate Vancouver in this fashion, but the most recent reporter (and the one that finally tipped the bucket, so to speak, and provided the motivation for this post) was James Duthie on TSN, on a live national broadcast of the NHL playoffs.  Say it ain't so!

The last example for this post is regarding a link on CNN.com, titled "Brodeur blanks Cats, sets record", linking to this story.  Now, abbreviating team names ('Nucks', 'Wings', 'Sens', "Hawks' for example) is nothing new, but this is just going too far.  Brodeur plays for the New Jersey Devils, who are currently in a series versus the Florida Panthers, not the Florida Cats.

Update (25APR2012):  Ugh. Now cbcsports is calling the Florida Panthers, "Cats".

Star Wars Blue-Ray Announced

Good news, bad news from /Film.  George Lucas announced all six Star Wars movies will be released in a blue-ray box set in Fall 2011.

My first thought:  No way in heck am I going to spend my money on the prequels, even if they are bundled with the original trilogy.  If I'm willing to wait for The Matrix to come out on blue-ray by itself and not bundled in a trilogy, I can wait for the original Star Wars movies. 

My second thought:  I still won't spend my money on anything except the original theatrical releases of Episodes IV - VI.  No special editions.  Heck, I'd even buy unremastered, VCR-quality original versions on blue-ray. No extras required.

Hear that, Mr. Lucas?  I bet you'd make even more wads of cash if you release the original theatrical release versions, too.  I'm patient.  I'm hoping your plan is to make all the money you can with selling the prequels and special editions before offering the original release versions, and make even more gazillions.

Appaloosa

I watched Appaloosa, the other day, staring Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Despite renting Appaloosa with reasonable expectations this film was even better.

Appaloosa is a classic Western about two long-time friends and law-men for hire, hired to clean up a town after its marshal was killed while trying to arrest a couple murderers.  Mortensen and Harris play the two main characters and they both performed very well.


I liked this film enough that I'm even considering actually buying Appaloosa for my collection.  My only question right now is whether the character played by Renee Zellweger will survive multiple viewings, given how unappealing I found the character to be.

I give Appaloosa 4 out 5 stars.

SilverCity Ancaster: How Not to Run a Cinema

My movie-going experience with Iron Man 2 is the impetus for this particular post regarding SilverCity Ancaster:

• I was happy the clean-up crew, upon seeing I was watching the credits, waited until the end of the movie before starting to clean up.
• I was NOT happy to have to listen to the 4-5 people of the clean-up crew chat away as the credits rolled and the final scene played.
• I wish the SilverCity Ancaster management didn't feel the need to put the showtimes so close to one another. What do I mean? I left immediately after the final scene and I still met customers for the next showtime walking into the room and taking their seats.
• These may be minor issues, but nevertheless SilverCity Ancaster is no longer my cinema of choice.

Iron Man 2

I watched Iron Man 2, starring Robert Downey Jr., today, and it was better than I had hoped.

One of my fears with superhero sequels is the seemingly irresistible need film makers have to stuff ever more bad guys in the same 2-hour slot -- though perhaps the earlier Batman and latest Spiderman movie series are unduly influencing my memories. I just think stuffing a film with more antagonists just risks short-changing the characters I went to the cinema to see. There's limited screen time, and obviously the more villain origin stories you need to show, the less time you have for everyone else, especially the protagonists. I watched Batman Returns to see Bruce Wayne, not Catwoman or Penguin. Likewise, I watched Spider-man 3 to see Peter Parker, not Goblin, Venom or Sandman. One major villain that's competent and interesting is much better than having to divide screen time among two or three.

Whew. Finally got that off my chest. Anywhoo, prior to watching Iron Man 2 I had feared director Jon Favreau may have succumbed to excess-villain-itis, or its variant too-many-new-characters-with-origin-stories-itis, but my fears turned out to be needless. You could say Iron Man 2 had two villains, but appropriately Favreau only spent origin-story time on the competent one.

I don't want to spoil anything too much, so here's just some random thoughts and comments. Spoilers may follow, though I'll try to keep them few and minor.

• 20 minutes of previews!? Ugh.
• There were roughly 25-30 people in the first Saturday matinee on the second weekend of Iron Man 2.
• I thought it apt that Formula One's Monaco race is the same weekend I watched Iron Man 2.
• I can understand why Stark wanted Rhodes to take a suit, but isn't he afraid the U.S. military will be able to reverse engineer the technology?
• The climactic battle was a little anti-climactic. There was good build up, but in the end there was too much flying around and not enough brawling.
• Isn't Nick Fury supposed to have a cigar? What about stubble?
• If you don't want Stark reading about the "Avengers Initiative", then don't leave a folder labeled, "Avengers Initiative", sitting out in the open while you make Stark wait. What kind of security is that?
• These days, I wonder why anyone bothers leaving before the credits finish rolling. Especially given the track record with Iron Man. I was the only one who stayed and hence was able to see the final scene.
• For my thoughts about watching a movie at SilverCity Ancaster.
  

I think the first Iron Man is the superior movie, but Iron Man 2 still gets 4 out of 5 stars.

Original Star Wars Trilogy Told in 2 Minutes using Lego

This stop-motion Lego animation is pretty impressive. It recaps the original (and best) Star Wars trilogy.

Gunless

I watched Gunless, starring Paul Gross, and it was worth the trip to the cinema.

The set-up: Gross stars as an American gunman in the Wild West who finds himself in a small Canadian town. He calls out the town's blacksmith for a showdown only to discover that the only gun in town (besides his) is a decrepit thing in major need of repair. Refusing to shoot an unarmed man, Gross decides to repair it himself, but first needs to convince the gun's owner to give it to him -- which Gross does by agreeing to build her a windmill.

Paul Gross is pretty much the only reason I watched Gunless and he doesn't disappoint. Gross handles the comedic aspects quite well. Don't expect thigh-slapping, rib-cracking humour, but on the other hand I don't remember any jokes falling flat -- smiles and chuckles were the norm.

I'd describe this film as typically Canadian comedy and the better for it.



Random thoughts:

• My favourite character in Gunless, besides Gross, would have to be RCMP Corporal Kent, played by Dustin Milligan. The character was endearing and I wished there had been more scenes with him.
• As a bonus, Gunless was filmed in Vancouver and other parts of British Columbia.
• Graham Greene shows up in a couple scenes.
• I prefer nearly empty theaters, but it doesn't bode well that there were only 10 people in a matinee showing on opening weekend for Gunless. A shame.
  
• For stomach-aching laughter stay for some of the bloopers during the credits.
  

Gunless gets 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Sherlock Holmes

I missed out seeing Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jr., in the cinema, but recently it came out on BD so I rented it.

I liked it. I thought all the actors were good, funny scenes were funny, story was good, and action scenes were enjoyable.

I've read all the Sherlock Holmes novels, but that was more than a decade ago so many details are hazy. This current theatrical version of Holmes wasn't what I imagined while reading the books but that didn't detract from the movie. It was an interpretation of Holmes that I enjoyed watching. The story was new and didn't simply follow one of the novels.

Random thoughts:

• Part of me was glad I had rented Sherlock Holmes rather than seeing it in the cinema because it afforded me the ability to rewind. There were several bits of dialogue that I wasn't able to catch the first time. The British accents were by no means thick but at times the dialogue went by too quickly for my ears.
• Background special effects were acceptable but not great. A lot of the time in the big panoramic shots the background didn't quite gel with the action/foreground so that it was obvious the background was fake or had been green-screened.
• I liked Jude Law as Dr. Watson. I thought he and Downey worked well together.
• The funniest scene of the movie was in the denouement.
  

While there was no real cliff-hanger, Sherlock Holmes did set itself up for possible sequels. I liked this movie well enough that I hope they do make a sequel and if so I'd definitely make a greater effort to see it in the cinema.


I give Sherlock Holmes 3.5 out of 5 stars.

The International

I recently rented The International, starring Clive Owen. Owen portrays an Interpol agent trying to take down an international banking institution suspected of dealing in weapons.

The International is an action movie and over all I enjoyed it. I've only seen Clive Owen in a few things, but what I have seen of his work I've admired. Actually, the first time I saw Owen was in a video game for the PC -- a spin-off of the Wing Commander series called Privateer or the like.

The action scenes were enjoyable -- important for an action movie -- and as I indicated above Owen did well in his role.

One puzzling thing in the movie, though, had to do with a dead bird. I don't think it will really spoil anything, so I'll just say I got the implication that the bad guys killed the bird but I don't understand why they did so. It sort of revealed their presence to an already paranoid Owen. If it was accidental, then what caused the avian's demise? Odd.

In the blue-ray version they included a deleted scene with Owen's daughter -- the daughter character was completely absent in the final version of the movie. It makes me wonder whether the actress still gets paid (probably), whether it's appropriate for her to include The International on her curriculum vitae (probably), or whether she was listed in the credits? I forgot to check the latter by the time the credits rolled around. Oh, well.

Anywhoo, The International deserves 3.5 out of 5 stars (I originally was going to give The International 3 stars, but as I enjoyed it more than The Hurt Locker I bumped it up to 3.5).

The Hurt Locker

I rented The Hurt Locker recently, and I thought it was a good, but not great, movie.

The Hurt Locker was a character study more than anything else. The movie felt very static with no real plot and no character development.

Many scenes were interesting, but others I found pointedly unbelievable; the latter surely a detriment for a supposedly realistic portrayal of soldiers in Iraq. I thought it absurd that a 3-man bomb squad would be left with no support in the midst of hostile territory on a regular basis.

Who knows, maybe it really does happen that way and I'm ignorant of some tactical or strategic benefit to doing so. Regardless, until I learn otherwise I'm attributing it to artistic license.

I give The Hurt Locker 3 out of 5 stars.

Video Review of Phantom Menace

/Film posted someone's 70-minute video review of the disappointing disaster that was the Phantom Menace. Whenever someone asks whether I like Star Wars (the topic doesn't really arise that often these days, but when it does...) I always have to qualify my positive response by saying I only like the original trilogy, and not the prequels. Well, the creator of this video review of feels the same way and offers some salient reasons as to why Episode I is so terrible.

Quite well done, actually. The review is divided into seven parts. Warning for mild profanity.

Part 1/7


Part 2/7


Part 3/7


Part 4/7


Part 5/7


Part 6/7


Part 7/7

Lego Matrix

Found these youtube videos posted on /Film. The filmers recreated the roof-top bullet-time scene from the original Matrix, using Lego. 440 hours to film 1 minute 24 seconds.



This second video is a side by side comparison of the original with the Lego Matrix version:

Animated Short: Alarm

Found this posted at /Film. Funny! 9 min. Click for details.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

A little later than most, I'd guess, but this past weekend I finally went up and watched X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I liked it, with a few caveats, and I don't regret spending my money to watch it in the theaters.



SPOILERS follow....




Wolverine aka Logan is one of my two favourite comic book heros, on par with Peter Parker. As the movie's title suggests, X-Men Origins: Wolverine delves into the history of Logan prior to the X-Men trilogy. None of Logan's history is surprising if you've followed the comics. My familiarity with Logan's past may have contributed to the slow pacing of the earlier portions of the movie. Fortunately, once Logan is bent on revenge the pace picks up.


Random thoughts:

As I said above, I think they spent too much time on Logan's happy days. It made the film feel slow at the start.

Are the admantium bullets still rattling around inside Logan's skull?

Wait, so Logan's mutant ability can not only heal biological injuries, but can also repaire adamantium?

The bit about Logan's memory loss could have been better done. Sure, two bullets in the brain will cause appreciable damage, but how could Stryker have known it would cause memory loss? In the movie, Stryker explicitly went out to cause Logan's memory loss by shooting Logan in the head. I can't fathom how Stryker could have been so certain. How could Stryker have known that the memories he wanted lost would be lost? Puzzling. The movie would have been better served if the memory loss was consequential but not deliberate.

Many different mutants appear in the movie. Some I recognized from the comics.

Xavier makes a not so surprising appearance near the end. I wonder how much make-up they had to put on Patrick Stewart to make him look younger.

This is another movie where you should stay until the end of the credit roll. Apparently there are actually two different endings after the credits. I saw the one with Deadpool. I would much rather have seen the ending I've read about – Logan in a bar in Japan.

Speaking of... if Logan in Japan is a preview of a Wolverine 2 movie then I'm happy. The Logan-in-Japan stories in the comics have always been interesting, what with the dichotomy of Japanese honour and behaviour along with Logan trying to tame his berserker nature.

I give X-Men Origins: Wolverine 3.5 out of 5 stars.

What's G? An Empty Claim to Fame

Recently I've seen a Gatorade commercial during the NHL playoffs, though I guess it's probably used for other televised sports. The explicit message of of this 'What's G' commercial is that Gatorade is "the heart, and soul, of the game".

Eh?

My immediate thought was if that's true then why do they bother playing? Stick a bottle of Gatorade at center ice and call it a day. Great game, everyone! I'm sure the thousands who paid $100 a ticket will be satisfied -- Gatorade is, after all, the heart and soul of the game. Why even bother with anything else?

Upon a second viewing and some further thought I've decided this particular commercial irritates me because of its hubris. It's like claiming I conceived of, designed, and built the automobile just because I put gasoline in one.

Canucks Sweep Blues

Hurrah! The Vancouver Canucks defeated the St. Louis Blues 3-2 in the dieing seconds of the first OT to sweep the Blues in their best of seven series.

I can hardly believe it -- I can't remember, literally, the last time the Canucks ever won a series 4-0. It's a huge relief from all the 6 game, 7 game series I remember.

The Blues went for 0-7 on the powerplay in the sudden death OT, alone. Whew.

CBC cut off the Canucks game after regulation to broadcast the start of the Sharks - Ducks game. Idiots. It was sudden death elimination OT versus the first period of a non-elimination game. I would have thought the decision obvious, but CBC must have different ideas on what constitutes excitement and drama. Weak sauce, CBC. Weak sauce.

Edit. I just heard Shorty on the radio say the Canucks have never previously swept a 7 game series. Woohoo! To boldly go where no Canucks team has ever gone before...