Tag Archives: Three-Stars

Where the Wild Things Are (Theaters)

Posted on by
1

What a disappointment! I was probably 7 or 8 when I first read this book, and I remember letting my imagination take me to new heights with what I would do if I were among “the wild.” So when my 5-year-old son enthusiastically reached for this book, I was excited about reading it to him. Obviously, when the movie’s trailers were released, my boy was really looking forward to October 16th.

This movie is depressing, somewhat morbid, and a little intimidating for children. The book had me thinking that Max was sort of forced into another world by his own imagination after being unruly and for misbehaving towards his mother. The movie tends to dig a lot deeper into emotional and psychological realms where little kids may have a tough time receiving the message or the point of the story.

In one scene, Max sees a pile of bones and asks the Wild Things, “Were those other kings”?

He certainly supposed that other naughty children had come to this strange new land, but the thought of them being killed and eaten by the monsters was way off my preconceived notion about the movie. I thought that scene was a little too bizarre for my son to understand.

Quite the contrast from what I concluded about the book, this movie takes at least 3 stars for its costumery, its characters, and its sets. But I wouldn’t bet on children (younger than 10) enjoying it very much. I do, however, love the soundtrack.

Fighting (DVD)

Posted on by
5

At first, the trailers for Fighting didn’t interest me at all.  Being a huge MMA fan, I feel that movies like this tend to serve as ammunition for detractors of the sport. While the action depicted in the movie is nowhere near what goes on in the world of sanctioned MMA, the general uninformed public can easily be misled to believe the two are quite similar. When the movie arrived on DVD, I decided to give it a shot.

Although the title gives away most of the movie’s plot, Fighting is actually a decent flick.  Shawn McArthur, played by Channing Tatum (GI Joe, Step Up) is a hustler living on the New York streets trying to make money to survive.  After a group of thugs tries to rob him, Shawn successfully defends himself by fighting his way out of it. This catches the eye of Harvey Borden (Terrence Howard), a street hustler who also happens to be connected to an underground fighting ring. Harvey later approaches Shawn to fight, with the proposition of making big money. As Shawn racks up victories, we discover more about each character that reveals they may not be who they seem at first.

The plot is pretty standard and predictable, however there were a couple of minor developments that caught me by surprise. The acting is fairly solid. Tatum does a decent job here and he manages to tone down his swagger just enough to become a likeable character. Terrence Howard is great in this movie as well, however it is a performance we have seen before from him, and perhaps done better by him. Howard is an amazing actor when given the right push, however he doesnt really have much opportunity to flex his acting muscles in this film. Zulay Henao, who plays Shawn’s love interest in the film, looks amazing.  I don’t remember her acting ability to be anything outstanding, but her ability to look hot definitely deserves to be mentioned.

Fighting isn’t anything groundbreaking, but if you’re looking for a rental to keep you busy for an hour and a half it is pretty solid. It’s not a bad flick and it proved to be more entertaining than I thought it would be.

GI Joe : The Rise of Cobra (Theaters)

Posted on by
5

Since they first announced they were going to make a live action GI Joe film, I had mixed feelings. The announcement came hot on the heels of the massive success of the first Transformers film, with GI Joe being the obvious candidate for the next Hasbro franchise with cash cow potential. I loved the cartoons, the comic book, and even the toys but it always seemed a bit second rate to me compared to the Transformers franchise. After watching the movie, I feel that the film also feels a bit second rate in comparison.

The plot is fairly straight forward. An arms dealer, Destro (he actually had a name in the film but it doesn’t matter- he is Destro just without the metal head) has developed warheads that release nano mites capable of devouring anything in their path until they are deactivated. When it comes time for the warheads to be delivered, the delivery is hijacked. We soon find out that the warheads were hijacked by Destro’s organization and that he  plans to use them in his quest for world domination. It is up to an elite military unit, GI Joe, to find the warheads and stop Destro….and that’s pretty much it. There is a minor twist involved, but most people will see it coming from a mile away.

If this is your first exposure to the GI Joe universe, you will be confused as all hell. There is little to no introduction given on any of the characters and everything that happens just sort of happens without rhyme or reason. This is actually not too bad as you definitely have to suspend all disbelief for this film and come in ready to watch things explode and not think about it all too much. The movie is action packed and the settings are all pretty cool, ranging from an arctic snow base to an underwater fortress. Some of the underwater CGI is a bit too obvious and has too much of a cartoonish vibe to it.  I know this is a movie based on a cartoon, but the other settings all had a sense of realism to them, so the underwater sequences seem to stand out a bit more and seems inconsistent with the feel of the rest of the film.

As far as the casting goes, I didn’t really have any complaints. There wasn’t really much background or development given to any of them so it didn’t matter too much who played who. The one character that bothered me a little bit was Channing Tatum’s Duke. I remember Duke to be really clean cut and all American. Tatum’s Duke possesses enough of Duke’s physical characteristics, but I felt his portrayal was a bit too street for me.  His line delivery reminded me of John Cena on WWE.  Tatum doesn’t do a bad job, but his swagger just seems a bit out of place in his role.

Perhaps the coolest characters in the flick were the two ninjas. Byung hun-lee is excellent as super model / ninja StormShadow. I’m not sure if he was a super model in the movie, but when he wasn’t in his full ninja gear he definitely gave off a Zoolander type vibe. Ray Park is  equally cool as Snake eyes, the other half of the ninja rivalry. The only problem I had with Snake Eyes was with his costume design.  Snake Eyes is mute, yet for some reason they decided to add lips to his costume.That’s right- a cool ass ninja in all black with lips like Jay-Z.  Why they did this- I have no idea, but it really distracted me everytime he showed up.

If you go into this movie expecting some cool action sequences and special effects, you won’t be dissappointed.  However, if you go in expecting anything more you’re going to find the movie falls a bit short. I’m interested to see what my son thinks of the movie, since I’m sure most 9 year olds will think it is one of the coolest movies ever made. I can’t lie- I did enjoy the film, but there were just too many moments when it became way too campy for me. 

I realize that the source material isn’t exactly the deepest, but did they really have to try to awkwardly incorporate EVERY single catch phrase from the original cartoons? The movie reminded me a bit of the Fantastic four movies of recent years. Both franchises have the potential for greatness, but the actual flicks just seem to be missing that certain element that would make them excellent. The bottom line is that if you just want to be mindlessly entertained and enjoy a little bit of nostalgia at the same time, GI Joe is your movie.