Battlestar Galactica: The Plan— The premise: to go back to the beginning of the Cylon attack on the humans that nearly exterminated the race, and see how it came about—and then how the Cylon plan progressed as time went on and the humans proved far more difficult to stamp out entirely than originally thought.
It was “fun” to go back and see the beginnings of the BSG saga from the point of view of the Cylons—especially with the knowledge of which characters were unknowingly Cylons at the time-- but I’m not sure how necessary this movie was. And “the plan” was pretty lame; or, at least, I wasn’t surprised in the least what plan the Cylons had for the humans. I actually had to watch the extras just to have “the plan” unveiled for me (which got the reaction of “No shit” from me) because there was no “lightbulb” moment of explanation like I was expecting during the film.
I also watched the movie on DVD, upconverted through a BluRay player, and it looked grainy. That, too, was annoying.
I am really trying not to hate on this movie—or this show. It’s one of the best series of the past decade, but I just have problems with it because I think it could have been better. The show ended wonderfully (if controversially), so if they felt the need to go back to the well, they should have had some better revelations. B-
Home Alone—TV. Another film I have seen before—but not for at least ten years. It’s amazing how this one holds up over the years. Macaulay Culkin did a great job in one of his earliest roles—and he was by himself in most of the movie. John Hughes had his usual magic writing the script and Chris Columbus hit a home run in one of his first film directing jobs.
The film has a lot more heart than I remember. And seeing the brutality Kevin lays out on the burglars is still hilarious. B+
Superman/Batman: Public Enemies— Lex Luthor finally gets the upper hand on Superman and makes him a fugitive. Even better: Batman gets dragged along. This is one of the better animated direct-to-DVD movies DC has made, and it was cool that they got Kevin Conroy, Tim Daly, and Clancy Brown to reprise the roles they played in their respective animated series. I still wasn’t 100% (or even 80%) happy on the character design; they still can’t seem to get a decent face design—but I was happy to see they tried to emulate Ed McGuinness’ style from the comic series a bit (characters not quite as beefy, but not as rail-thin as they usually are.
Speaking of the comic series, I missed the internal thoughts of Supes and Bats that the comics had, but otherwise, it was pretty faithful to the original source. B
A Christmas Story— I’m sort of breaking my rule about reviewing only movies I haven’t seen before—or haven’t seen in a very long time—with this one, but I haven’t reviewed this one yet even though I have seen it within the past five years.
Most people have seen it: DVDs, tapes, and the yearly 24 hr TBS marathons have made this film pretty accessible.
But maybe you’ve just seen it once or twice, so this is a reminder that this film is quickly becoming a classic for the Holiday season. It’s one of those films that get better with every viewing.
Sure, it’s silly, but that’s part of its charm. Also, how nice was that time (the 1940s) that the only thing a young boy wanted for Christmas was a BB gun? Even one that could put out your eye? B+
Away We Go— A decent slice-of-life movie that had its moments. Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski were very well-cast in their roles, but I’m a little tired of the whiny late-20s to early-30s characters that seem to pop up more and more in movies and TV. What, you’re having a baby, and you don’t know what to do? Join the club. That’s called life, people. C+
Whatever Works— I don’t know what to think of this movie. In some regards, I agreed with some of the things said, but in other regards, I don’t know what the point of making this film was. Larry David was perfectly cast, as he seems to be a crotchety old man in real life (or at least he plays those characters very well), who doesn’t feel comfortable following all of the societal norms. But the rest of the film just seemed to happen. There was no real reason or story arc to anything.
And the end… Don’t get me started. Just because a story can be wrapped up neatly with a bow doesn’t mean it should be. C+
The Thing— A very interesting film. I’m not a horror movie fan, but my movie guru has been on me to watch this one for over a decade. I finally did and am sorry I didn’t watch it earlier. John Carpenter made a near-masterpiece here (my guru considers this one of the most perfect films he’s seen—and he’s seen a lot of films).
A group of men, stranded in the Antarctic wasteland, discover a “thing” can take over their bodies and become them. Paranoia ensues.
From the first scene (two men in a helicopter trying to shoot a dog who is running away from them), Carpenter grabs you and then doesn’t let up. Kurt Russel leads a cast of very believable characters as the badass pilot who takes charge when the poop hits the fan. But is he who he seems to be?
The fight is on between man and Thing (which is depicted in really gruesome forms) and the end makes you wonder who won.
I can’t give this an A, no matter how much it may deserve it because it doesn’t fit into my A criteria (either a film that blows my mind with excellence or makes me feel different and grateful for having seen it), but I know in my heart that the B+ I am giving it is too low. Check this movie out.
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra-- A popcorn movie if there ever was one. All style, no substance. I was a huge fan of the ‘80s G.I.Joe toys and comic books, so I had a little reference to these characters that were mere shells in this film, but that may have also been a hindrance as I often thought “That isn’t Breaker”, or “Heavy Duty”, or “Ripcord” as I watched the movie. But I do have to keep in mind that the ‘80s Joe I loved was a Cold War (and thus strictly American) group, and the film was definitely a post-9/11/international-movie-market group.
I also have to say I really don’t like the post-Batman belief these movies feel they need by connecting the good and bad guys (Batman posited that Batman created his greatest enemy, the Joker; and G.I. Joe has former lovers and friends at odds). I also thought that the origin of Cobra Commander was pretty lame. What’s wrong with a guy who just wants to disrupt the world?
Finally, I was sorry to see Christopher Eccleston’s acting ability wasted here. Maybe the new mask will release him from whatever contract he may have had to sign tio star in sequels.
Anyway, this was most definitely a set-up film just begging to be fleshed out in a sequel. Maybe we’ll get a badass Snake Eyes fight (I may not have liked the whole ninja stuff that overran the comics after a few years, but I would like to see Ray Park’s Snake Eyes open a real can of whoop-ass next time). And, yeah, I’m grading this higher than I probably should, but the movie did have some great action sequences. B-
Avatar (3D)—A film over a decade in the making, and well worth it. James Cameron seems to make movies on an entirely different level than anyone else, and it showed on the screen, big time. Most filmmakers just tell the story they need to, but you know Cameron fleshed out his world because it all seemed to fit together; there wasn’t any glossing over the facts or the plot because the pieces don’t quite fit. And I was also very impressed by his use of 3D. It was not at all the centerpiece of the movie (with the requisite stunts like having things constantly jump out at the audience), but was used as a method of adding a dimension (no pun intended) to the film.
This is what movies will be striving to be like for the next decade. Cameron is just way ahead of the curve.
But after saying all that, I do have to say that the film, while technically and creatively light years ahead of the rest, still very much followed the pattern most technology vs. nature, progress vs. environment, civilization vs. “savage”, etc stories follow. I began to predict events—and came very close on most. But the story itself is still a viable one, just not a terribly original one. That’s the only thing holding it back from an A. B+
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