the green hornet + winter’s bone

 

Late post.  But I saw The Green Hornet in 3D with Damielle and Michael on Sunday.  Seth Rogan’s superhero movie.  The Green Hornet and Kato want people to think they’re part of the bad guys, in order to get to the bad guys.  One’s dressed in a green suit with a fedora and the other is dressed in a black chauffeur’s outfit, who knows martial arts.  Rogan writes and Michel Gondry directs.  Simple enough.

The good; Jay Chou’s Kato is awesome, he’s really what makes this movie.  It should be called Kato.  The action sequences are amazing, not only well choreographed but visually stunning.  Christoph Waltz as the bad guy is also amazing, charismatic as well as a sense of vulnerability that’s uncommon with villains.  The Black Beauty is in full form, it’s another character completely, and the Black Beauty looks great.

The bad; Seth Rogan.  How did anyone say, yes! he’s a superhero???  Rogan brings in the bucks, not doubt about that, but that’s from his college comedies, not superhero movies.

Took a while for this movie to settle in.  But in short, EW summed it up best, “Rogen’s Green Hornet is the first movie superhero to whom an otherwise grateful populace begs to say, Ssshhhhhh. Not so loud.”

Then the Oscar noms were announced.  I have four movies to watch, out of the ten nominated for best picture this year, not to shabby

127 Hours

Black Swan

The Fighter

Inception

The Kids Are All Right

The King’s Speech

The Social Network

Toy Story 3

True Grit

Winter’s Bone

 

So first off of the four is Winter’s Bone. It’s about the effects of Meth in the Ozark mountains.  Ree has to be the leader of the household.  Her father is in to drugs and running from the law, her mother suffered a mental break down, and she has to take care of her younger brother and sister, all that in a town that’s not filled with too many opportunities for a better life or a life different from the one she’s already leading.

The good; the set dressing and art production.  The whole thing feels like a documentary.  Jennifer Lawrence, as Ree, is amazing, she’s young but she delivers a powerful performance.   And the other cast members are wonderfully casted, they don’t look like actors.

The bad; there’s a moment where the situation/plot builds to a bursting point, and it’s a little confusing.  Just wish that plot point was made a little clearer.

This movie is very heavy and dark.  But it’s good, and it fits the Oscar best pic mold.  A strong female lead survives in a harsh world dominated by men.  I’m so glad I live in southern California.  Don’t watch this movie alone, you might be too depressed afterwards

09/10-jan-2011 + amazing arizona comic con + the town

Last night I dreamt that I was hanging out with my friends from high school.  We were just at someone’s house relaxing and talking about nothing and everything.  It’s Bobby, Jane, Richard and Riyah.  I can’t remember much else, except the layout of the house looks like none of our houses at the time.

This weekend I finally got to visit Jason and Amanda in Arizona.  After so many years since they moved out there, they have two houses, and two kids now.  Too bad Allan isn’t in Arizona anymore, never got to visit him out there.

It was great seeing Amanda and Victoria, and the new baby, Olivia.  There’s so much space in Arizona, compared to Southern California, not just flat plains, but they’re houses are spacious.  I went to visit them as well as attend the Amazing Arizona Comic Con.  Got to see Jeph Loeb again, plus Cory Walker, Ryan Ottley and Robert Kirkman.  The guys behind Invincible.  Kirkman is also known for The Walking Dead, Shane and Glenn were also at the con.

04-jan-2011 + restrepo + superman/batman apocalypse

Last night I dreamt that we were getting in to an SUV, it’s a black one this time, with a lot more gear on top.  Feels like we’re in the post apocalypse, the building we’re coming out of looks like a city hall, but we’re in the loading dock area.  Maybe not city hall, but a federal building or something like that, white walls with pillars and steps.  Looks like we’ve raided it for supplies and we’re loading back up to hit the road.  By we I mean the group that goes on the Osh Kosh road trips, but the SUV isn’t Chester’s green suburban, it’s a black one, like the one’s you see in movies.

At Rob’s recommendation I saw Restrepo.  It’s a documentary about Army troops in the Korangal Valley in Afghanistan.  Two reporters were embedded in with the 173rd Aiborne Brigade Combat Team, and they document a whole year with this unit.

Some may recognize the location of Korangal, Staff Sgt Salvator Giunta received the Medal of Honor last year for his actions in the valley in 2007.  The film documents events that took place during Rock Avalanche operation.

The good; the filmmakers are embedded, they’re there dodging the bullets right there with the soldiers.  The interviews are… rough?  Anything documentary dealing with a combat situation is tough for the interviewees.  The film really shows the difficulty in occupying enemy territory, especially a valley.

The bad; it’s a standard documentary, follows most of the conventions so there’s not too many negatives.

The story told in this film is great.  How do you fight an enemy when they could be walking down the street with you?  Or they could be your neighbor because you just killed their cow accidentally?  Restrepo is streaming on Netflix, check it out.

Superman/Batman Apocalypse is adapted from the second story arc in the Superman/Batman comic line.  It introduces Supergirl to the modern DC Universe.  No more is Supergirl this amorphus shapeshifting blob, she’s back to being Superman’s cousin from Krypton.  But they don’t only keep her to Superman’s cast, this new version written by Jeph Loeb opens her to the DC “Trinity,” Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.  This straight to DVD movie is that adaptation.

The good; the action is always great in this movies.  They have no lack of covering action well.  The character design for Kara/Supergirl is very much like Michael Turners art, it’s amazing how they captured her in moving pictures.

The bad; the story, as a comic, this is a great story, but in adapting it to the screen it loses something.  One example is the scene where Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman go to enlist the help of Big Barda.  That scene is not as all as great as it is in the comic book.  Superman and Wonder Woman talk Barda in to going to Apocalypse with them to help Supergirl, while this is going on, Batman casually walks in to the back room and brings out an apocalyptian duffle bag and just says something like, “mind if I take a few things?”  That great moment is vastly diminished in the movie.

Read the comics of Superman/Batman: Public Enemies and Superman/Batman: Supergirl, they are far more enjoyable and definitely page turners.  Hopefully the poor adaptations won’t deter new comers in to reading the source materials.

The only real reason to get this latest movie is for the Best Buy exclusive with the Superman figurine to go with the Batman figurine that came with Public Enemies, sadly Superman has eluded me… so far…