So I finally saw the Hangover, two weeks in, and it was very good. A lot of fun. It's been number 1 for the past two weeks and I really like that America appreciates this movie, because it's funny and daring like Superbad, and not the least bit afraid or trying to hold back.
The movie has the four guys in Vegas trying to piece together what happened the night before, and it works as a sort of mystery, but also as a setup for more and more ridiculous things to happen that just add more mayhem to the fire. And as the movie goes on, all things are explained although more and more complications also arise. Like Mike Epps appearing as the black Doug.
In the end, the movie is funny because the characters are funny and the situations they get themselves into are ridiculously funny. Zach Galiphanucus is really great. I know this guy is a standup comedian, but I never heard his name before and after this movie, I think he's going to be appearing in many more films. The same goes for Ed Helms. And Bradley Cooper is ready to become an A list star. All because this movie is good in a time when most movies are lousy. I put this one right next to Superbad. And both movies have relatively simple plots, but endless supplies of humor.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Die Hard on a Train: The Taking of Pelham 123 Remake
The new remake of Pelham 123 looks lousy. First of all director Tony Scott is a hack and has been since he topped out in 1995 with Crimson Tide. He had something going for him for the decade that proceeded that with movies like Top Gun and True Romance and The Last Boyscout, but after Crimson Tide, it was all downhill. From Spy Game and Domino to Man on Fire to Deja Vu, Scott became so focussed on technology that he forgot about storytelling. Even Enemy of the State was just a mediocre retread on familiar territory.
And yet for some reason the critics are liking this new remake. And as much as I am shocked, it seems believable. Evudently Scott is going back to his old ways with this one, no longer preaching technology first and plot second. I don't like John Travolta as a villain, from Broken Arrow and Face Off, but maybe the blame lies with John Woo, the director of those two movies, who is a very corny individual (great as he is with action).
So director Tony Scott might be redeeming himself with this one, and Travolta might be showing that he can actually play a villain, just not under John Woo, but there's also a third component to why this movie might be okay. Brian Helgeland. The man who penned LA Confidential with Curtis Hanson and then wrote and directed Payback all on his own. Granted that Helgeland has had setbacks too, (he wrote Man on Fire, and made The Order, and A Knight's Tale completely missed its audience), but if the best of Tony Scott (going back to his old ways) meets the best of Brian Helgeland, and Denzel is on his A game, and Travolta steps it up as a villain, maybe, just maybe this movie could be alright. The critics seem to think so, and I think they might be onto something.
And yet for some reason the critics are liking this new remake. And as much as I am shocked, it seems believable. Evudently Scott is going back to his old ways with this one, no longer preaching technology first and plot second. I don't like John Travolta as a villain, from Broken Arrow and Face Off, but maybe the blame lies with John Woo, the director of those two movies, who is a very corny individual (great as he is with action).
So director Tony Scott might be redeeming himself with this one, and Travolta might be showing that he can actually play a villain, just not under John Woo, but there's also a third component to why this movie might be okay. Brian Helgeland. The man who penned LA Confidential with Curtis Hanson and then wrote and directed Payback all on his own. Granted that Helgeland has had setbacks too, (he wrote Man on Fire, and made The Order, and A Knight's Tale completely missed its audience), but if the best of Tony Scott (going back to his old ways) meets the best of Brian Helgeland, and Denzel is on his A game, and Travolta steps it up as a villain, maybe, just maybe this movie could be alright. The critics seem to think so, and I think they might be onto something.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Box Office Rocks
I am very proud to say that this past weekend when there were two new openings, The Land of the Lost and The Hangover, Americans made the smart decision. They went to see The Hangover and stayed away from Land of the Lost. The number one moive of the weekend was The Hangover, and that is very impressive considering it is an R rated comedy (no kids), and features no major stars. Land of the Lost, on the other hand, is PG-13, kid-friendly, and stars Will Ferrell. And it wasn't even close. The Hangover made 40 mil to Land's 20 mil. I went to see the Hangover last night, on a Sunday evening, and couldn't get in because it was sold out. It was the only showing of any movie that was sold out. As angry as I am that I didn't get to see it, I am also very happy that it is doing so well and that America is embracing it. The critics certainly enjoyed it, and now the audiences are doing the same. It's been a while since an R rated comedy did so well, and an even longer time since it did it without any major stars. I'm thinking American Pie, back in 1999, a full decade ago, in the summer and everything, might have been the last time.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
The Good and The Bad at the start of summer
Scorecard So Far, Summer 2009
As of June 5th
So far things are actually pretty decent. May was a little rough with only one good movie, Star Trek, but as we approached June, three more fell into place. Last year at this time, we certainly didn't have four good movies. We had Iron Man and Kung Fu Panda, and that's it. Iron Man matches up to Star Trek of this year, and Kung Fu Panda matches up to UP. That leaves us ahead of last year by two movies, Drag Me To Hell and the Hangover. There's one more summer movie of this year that should probably go on the list under the bad heading, although for some reason I think it could be decent. That movie is Angels and Demons. For that one, I'll keep things undecided until I actually see it.
The Good
Star Trek
UP
Drag Me To Hell
The Hangover
THE BAD
Wolverine
Terminator: Salvation
Night at the Museum 2
Land of the Lost
Notice how many sequels, spin-offs, and reimaginings there are. On this list, only 3 out of 8 movies are originals and all 3 of them are on the good list. Meanwhile, things that should have been surefire like Wolverine and Terminator find themselves on the bad list. Just because you have a built-in audience doesn't mean you don't have to impress. Thankfully UP, Drag Me To Hell, and The Hangover don't have that built-in audience, so they have to be good on their own merit. And with Star Trek, JJ Abrahms clearly knows what he's doing.
As of June 5th
So far things are actually pretty decent. May was a little rough with only one good movie, Star Trek, but as we approached June, three more fell into place. Last year at this time, we certainly didn't have four good movies. We had Iron Man and Kung Fu Panda, and that's it. Iron Man matches up to Star Trek of this year, and Kung Fu Panda matches up to UP. That leaves us ahead of last year by two movies, Drag Me To Hell and the Hangover. There's one more summer movie of this year that should probably go on the list under the bad heading, although for some reason I think it could be decent. That movie is Angels and Demons. For that one, I'll keep things undecided until I actually see it.
The Good
Star Trek
UP
Drag Me To Hell
The Hangover
THE BAD
Wolverine
Terminator: Salvation
Night at the Museum 2
Land of the Lost
Notice how many sequels, spin-offs, and reimaginings there are. On this list, only 3 out of 8 movies are originals and all 3 of them are on the good list. Meanwhile, things that should have been surefire like Wolverine and Terminator find themselves on the bad list. Just because you have a built-in audience doesn't mean you don't have to impress. Thankfully UP, Drag Me To Hell, and The Hangover don't have that built-in audience, so they have to be good on their own merit. And with Star Trek, JJ Abrahms clearly knows what he's doing.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
New Day Title
The New Day title for this blog refers to a new day in movie-making. Whether the movies are good or bad these days, there are still good ideas being made and that's important. The day of the fanboys is here. Iron Man really kicked it off by helping Marvel launch it's own studio. Now the studio has announced projects for the next few years. Iron Man 2 in 2010, Thor and Captain America in 2011, and the Avengers in 2012. I truly hope they get JJ Abrahms to direct The Averngers movie. He would be perfect. There aren't a lot of directors out there who have the edge and intelligence to be right for this material and that seems to be the biggest problem. Get a good director like Chris Nolan and you're set. His two Batman movies proved that. Get a lousy one like Louis Letterier, Gavin Hood, or McG and you are sealing your own fate.
But still the new day refers to an enthusiasm about these movies getting made, whether they turn out good or not. It's great that they made another Terminator movie, a second Transformers movie, a Wolverine prequel, and a GI Joe movie. All four of these films might be terrible (so far the first two that came out already are), but just the spirit that got them made is something to embrace. Now that we know people want to see them, we need to start making them right. That's what Iron Man did, that's what the Dark Knight did, and that's what JJ Abrahms did with Star Trek.
Also on the radar should be Spider Man 4 in 2011, and you know that Sam Raimi wants to prove that he can do much better than Spider Man 3. There's even talk of Bryan Singer returning to the comic book movie world, maybe to make a Magneto prequel. Yes, he screwed up with Superman, but that's a movie that really had no chance of working in today's day and age of the cool superhero (starting with Blade and The Matrix). Singer knows all about the cool superhero, with what he did for Wolverine in the X-Men movies, but with Superman he had to stay true to the wholesome hero and there was no way that the movie was going to work.
So even though things are lousy with comic book movies and sci-fi action movies at the moment, there is promise on the horizon. Sam Jackson signed with Marvel to play Nick Fury in a number of their movies. That cross-over stuff from last summer with Jackson's cameo in Iron Man and Downey Jrs. cameo in Hulk, goes a long way. I'm happy that studios know what projects need to be made. They know what we want to see. Now they just need to find the right directors to bring them to us. Get Darren Aronofsky and David Fincher on board. See what happens then.
But still the new day refers to an enthusiasm about these movies getting made, whether they turn out good or not. It's great that they made another Terminator movie, a second Transformers movie, a Wolverine prequel, and a GI Joe movie. All four of these films might be terrible (so far the first two that came out already are), but just the spirit that got them made is something to embrace. Now that we know people want to see them, we need to start making them right. That's what Iron Man did, that's what the Dark Knight did, and that's what JJ Abrahms did with Star Trek.
Also on the radar should be Spider Man 4 in 2011, and you know that Sam Raimi wants to prove that he can do much better than Spider Man 3. There's even talk of Bryan Singer returning to the comic book movie world, maybe to make a Magneto prequel. Yes, he screwed up with Superman, but that's a movie that really had no chance of working in today's day and age of the cool superhero (starting with Blade and The Matrix). Singer knows all about the cool superhero, with what he did for Wolverine in the X-Men movies, but with Superman he had to stay true to the wholesome hero and there was no way that the movie was going to work.
So even though things are lousy with comic book movies and sci-fi action movies at the moment, there is promise on the horizon. Sam Jackson signed with Marvel to play Nick Fury in a number of their movies. That cross-over stuff from last summer with Jackson's cameo in Iron Man and Downey Jrs. cameo in Hulk, goes a long way. I'm happy that studios know what projects need to be made. They know what we want to see. Now they just need to find the right directors to bring them to us. Get Darren Aronofsky and David Fincher on board. See what happens then.
May Movies '09
It's been a bumpy ride so far at the start of this summer, with the lousy Wolverine kicking it off. Last year it was Iron Man at the same time of the month and that movie gave rise of hope to everything summer that would follow. Wolverine did the exact opposite.
Luckily J.J. Abrahms' Star Trek was a smart and entertaining movie and very much like his Mission Impossible III, pushed all the right clever buttons without being amazing. It will most likely be remembered as one of the best movies to be released this summer.
Angels and Demons met with mixed responses, although it is unanimously toted as better than The Da Vinci Code, but that isn't really saying much.
And Terminator of course is supposed to be terrible. All effects and limited story. I wonder which is worse, Terminator or Wolverine. Wolvie had some positives, but they were very few. It just was not an enjoyable or well-made film. Terminator looks bleak as hell and like a movie with no hope or fun. Maybe it's better than I think, but I doubt it.
Luckily at the start of June, some new movies seem to have promise: Sam Raimi's Drag Me To Hell and Disney Pixar's UP.
It's been a bumpy ride so far at the start of this summer, with the lousy Wolverine kicking it off. Last year it was Iron Man at the same time of the month and that movie gave rise of hope to everything summer that would follow. Wolverine did the exact opposite.
Luckily J.J. Abrahms' Star Trek was a smart and entertaining movie and very much like his Mission Impossible III, pushed all the right clever buttons without being amazing. It will most likely be remembered as one of the best movies to be released this summer.
Angels and Demons met with mixed responses, although it is unanimously toted as better than The Da Vinci Code, but that isn't really saying much.
And Terminator of course is supposed to be terrible. All effects and limited story. I wonder which is worse, Terminator or Wolverine. Wolvie had some positives, but they were very few. It just was not an enjoyable or well-made film. Terminator looks bleak as hell and like a movie with no hope or fun. Maybe it's better than I think, but I doubt it.
Luckily at the start of June, some new movies seem to have promise: Sam Raimi's Drag Me To Hell and Disney Pixar's UP.
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