Dark Knight Trailer #3 Released

Matt

The Dark Knight Rises, coming July 20, is the final and much anticipated conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s brilliant vision of Batman. The latest trailer looks very promising, leaving much to be the imagination while whetting our appetites for what promises to be an incredible closing chapter in the Nolan series. Enjoy.

 

Vic’s Review – “Wrath of the Titans”

In this sequel to 2010’s Clash of the Titans, heroic demigod Perseus ventures into Hades itself to take on the ascendant Titans, potent enemies of the gods who have hatched a scheme to imprison Zeus in the depths of the underworld.

Victor –

“Wrath of the Titans”

7 out of 10

I must commend director Jonathan Liebesman for delivering a quick, fun and frivolous mythology based action film that indeed entertains in that weird “I’m not expecting Ben Hur” kind of way. I was actually prepping to write a really ass chewing review for this film. But I must admit (maybe it could have been that I had a belly full of delicious Italian food when I saw this)  I rather enjoyed the movie. I am a fan of the first Charles Schneer “Clash” film and the re-make was kinda “Meh” for me so under that umbrella I had figured it wouldn’t be hard to continue the crapfest they started with the re-make.

“Wrath” suffers from having a bit of a hokey Father/Son premise (Perseus now has a tyke of his own) but it makes up for it in execution, awesome visual effects and action, action, action. Oh and Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes are in it so that is always a plus even when other characters could be dull. The movie overall is very polished, and easy to watch. That works in it’s favor. “Clash” was a bit shaky and over frenetic in it’s action and the CGI was hit or miss. Not so with “Wrath.” The film’s CGI and action set pieces are leaps and bounds better than the first installment. Most notably during the Chimera battle and the resurrection of Cronos.  Be warned though, there are some fast cuts used here and there but they do not detract from the experience. Hades underworld is impressive to behold and the Cyclops sequence is harrowing.

Sam Worthington is believable and better settled in as Perseus even though his delivery at times feels stilted. He excels during the action scenes. He jumps, ducks, rolls and cries aloud with a very capable energy not seen as much anymore with other CGI drenched films. As I mentioned before, Neeson and Fiennes are great to watch and I even enjoyed how they relished the roles. Especially after Zeus exclaims, “Let’s have some fun!”

Rosamund Pike as Andromeda is hardcore in the battles sequences and very sexy in the quieter scenes when she plays the stout leader of her army or against Worthington. Agenor played by Toby Kebbell is the cliched comedy relief but he never goes too way over the top and is quite entertaining and precise. Bill Nighy as Hephaestus steals some scenes away from the rest of the cast. His turn in this film is refreshing.  All in all the cast endures and they make the best with what is given to them.

“Wrath of the Titans” is a quick, explosive and action filled fantasy film that never makes any qualms about it being just a visual treat as opposed to being a Shakespearean play. Enjoy it for what it is, folks and I think you’ll have some fun watching some action packed CGI goofiness.

The Dark Knight Rises Trailer Released

Matt

The promise of “The Dark Knight Rises” is unlimited. I felt like that before “The Dark Knight,” which is hands down one of the best comic book films ever made.

I had concerns about the number of characters and villains in “The Dark Knight.” There was Two Face and Joker, and it’s difficult to pull off two villains in the same film because they can often not be developed into anything more than a cookie cutter bad guy. But that was not the case, at all. Christopher Nolan understands storytelling and has handled the Batman franchise with great care and respect for his audience.

I have no qualms saying that “The Dark Knight Rises” will be just as good as its prequels. The Bane charater, played by Tom Hardy, looks nothing short of menacing and terrible. The above photo is enough to give you the creeps. We also get a small glimpse of Catwoman, thought it’s hard to see much. Even though this trailer is a mere wetting of our appetites, “The Dark Knight Rises” already looks amazing. It’s going to be a long year of waiting.

Thanks for our sister blog TV-Tastic for the trailer!

The A-Team: A Public Apology

matt

I just want to take this opportunity to apologize to our readers. I was wrong, and I’m sorry.

There’s no way on God’s green Earth that I should have posted my cousin Shawn’s review of “The A-Team.” He was giddy with joy, bubbling with a childlike excitement over this reboot of the 1980s television show about a group of Army Rangers wrongly arrested, but who break out of jail and work as soldiers of fortune — helping the most needy along the way. He posted publicly on facebook that it was far better and more enjoyable than the Academy Award-nominated “Black Swan.” I never should have posted that review, in which he gave it a 7 out of 10.

What can I say? My cousin has crappy taste in movies.

I promised in our podcast that I would watch the A-Team and give my honest opinion of it. Shawn said I had been unfair to the movie, since I lambasted it when it hadn’t even hit theater. I listed it as a movie you shouldn’t waste your money on this summer.

Well, my wife and I sat down to watch this over the weekend, and I have to say, that those are some of the worst 117 minutes I have ever spent in my life. This film embodies everything that is wrong with Hollywood. It’s full of moronic dialogue, hokey plots, action that is simply insulting to your intelligence, wooden acting, and a source material that was recycled from a television show that was never even good to begin with.

The film starts out with Liam Neeson’s character being absolutely pummeled by two hulks that are just throwing haymakers at his face while he’s strapped to a chair. He, of course, has a key hidden in his mouth and escapes — WITHOUT A MARK ON HIS FACE. After he escapes, he just randomly comes across three other Army Rangers on three separate occasions within minutes who come together joyously as The A-Team. Isn’t that special?

Later, the crew gets shot down in a plane and escape in a tank in the sky. Naturally, the tank has some parachutes attached. While falling, they shoot down drones that are firing at them. Obviously, you can’t land a tank — let’s not ask ourselves, then, why it has parachutes — so they fire the cannon with great precision to direct the plummeting tank — now down to one parachute from three — and land it safely in a lake. They then drive out of the lake. Naturally. Somewhere in there is a plot about forfeiting and espionage. It’s not worth getting into.

This film has an i.q. equal to the rating I give it — a big fat 2.

The A-Team

“The A-Team” follows the exciting and daring exploits of a colorful team of former Special Forces soldiers who were set up for a crime they did not commit. Going “rogue,” they utilize their unique talents to try and clear their names and find the true culprit.

Shawn — TV-tastic
7 out of 10

I need to start off this review by pointing out the film’s biggest flaw.  No, it’s not the fact that it’s another example Hollywood being lazy and rebooting another classic franchise, it’s not the fact that Mr. T is nowhere to be seen, it’s not even the fact that whole movie is just another in a long line of predictable action flicks.  No, the biggest flaw in this movie is one person:  Jessica Biel.

The girl can’t act, plain and simple and she’s poorly cast in every single film she’s in.  Seriously, is the audience truly supposed to believe that she’s not only an officer in the U.S. Army but a Special Forces-type who they actually put in charge of things?  Now this wouldn’t even be an issue if she were routinely in exceptional films that could withstand her brand of crap or even if she were in truly awful films where should could just blend right into the scenery but she never is.  She’s always in these borderline-good films and she’s always a freakin’ anchor that pushes a decent film into the realm of crap-tastic.

But, honestly, “The A-Team” is exactly what you’d expect it to be and surprisingly it doesn’t suck because of that.  It’s obviously a reboot and it’s been modernized for 2010, but the casting was excellent (despite Liam Neeson’s accent issues)  and the characters were written very true to their TV counterparts from the 1980′s, and in fact (and people are going to hate me for saying this) maybe even a little deeper and a little better.

The action sequences in this film are fantastic, the villains are entertaining and there’s enough classic A-Team nostalgia thrown in to make even those most skeptical fan appreciate this new take. The dialog is clever and decently written and the film moves at a very good pace and I could think of a lot less fun ways to spend 117 minutes.  Is it going to win any Oscars?  No, but it is certainly one of the best action films I have seen this year.  I hate to say this, but the way this film was done, with the deference and reverence shown to the source material is very reminiscent of last year’s mega-hit “Star Trek.” And rest assured, like “Star Trek,” it was made very clear at the end of this film that this won’t be the last time we’ll be seeing these beloved characters on the big screen.