Posts Tagged ‘film’

#GuardiansoftheGalaxy Keeps #Marvel Moving Forward

Posted: August 11, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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by @anarchyroll
8/11/2014

Holy Howard the Duck was Guardians of Galaxy a good comic book movie!

The first time I heard of Guardians of the Galaxy was when the trailer debuted online earlier this year.

 

 

This film is yet another example that Marvel Studios does way more right than wrong and that all Marvel intellectual properties should be developed for the silver screen by Marvel and NOT third-party like Sony (Spiderman) or 2oth Century Fox (X-Men).

I saw the movie with a friend who owns all but two issues of Guardians ever printed. He informed me that the film was as true to the source material as any comic book movie that has come before it. That is another reason why Marvel Studios needs to make all Marvel movies. It is important that comic book movies be very close to their source material, more so than novels. Why?

My friend @TheFantom says it all the time and it’s truer each time I hear it; comic books are colorized, fully fleshed out, movie storyboards.

That doesn’t mean each comic book movie needs to be a shot for shot live action version of a comic. Hollywood needs to be able to do its thing and take creative license with the source material. But maybe let’s have one comic book movie that is a live action storyboard and see how it does in the theaters. It can’t do any worse than Ryan Reynolds’ Green Lantern disaster.

Guardians of the Galaxy is the opposite of disappointing. It was everything I want out of a summer blockbuster movie in general, and out of a comic book movie specifically. It had awesome action, great comedy, and intense drama all in the right places of a film that was neither too short or too long.

The opening scene of the movie is intense human drama, the very next scene is a comedic, musical, action scene. That sentence basically sums up Guardians of the Galaxy. The film does a good job at touching upon the full range of human emotions. I think that many women who don’t like comic book movies or big budget action movies would like this film for that very reason; the full range of emotions get their buttons pressed.

So whether you’re a casual movie fan or the human version of Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons, Guardians of the Galaxy will find a way to suck you into the screen and entertain you, regardless of whether you paid the extra fee for 3D. And these days, at these prices, that is all I ask of a movie.

Formally Studying the #Art of #Film & #Video Made me Less of a Cynical Critic

Posted: July 6, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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by @anarchyroll
7/5/2014

While getting my BA I took a decent amount of film classes. Between film, television, and video studies I took eight classes that focused on the history of or making of the electronic visual medium(s).

I used to be quite the amateur, wannabe, cynical critic of movies. I assumed that knowing the history, terminology, etc would make me an even sharper critic since I would have actual knowledge to go with my sarcasm and self-proclaimed high level of taste. Instead the opposite happened.

Learning about the visual art of film making from misé en scene, cinematography, editing, set design, rule of thirds, set design, and the history of film from Edison and the Lumiere Brothers to the first talkies to the second golden age of American film in the 1970s gave me a true appreciation for almost all films and major motion pictures, even the bad ones. I really grew to appreciate the effort that goes into making a movie/television show.

That doesn’t mean that I confuse shit for steak, but I often see the good in the bad films, and rather than spend time, effort, energy, and emotion throwing shade at a lackluster film, I just follow the “if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all” paradigm.

I was and still am completely blown away by how much goes into making a movie. Even bad movies, even Michael Bay movies.

I thought studying film would turn me into a film snob who only liked avant-garde, black and white, indie flicks.

Instead my taste in film didn’t really change at all. In fact, the blockbuster movies I tend to see in movie theaters, I came to enjoy even more. Why? Because film is a visual medium. Big budget blockbusters are basically 100% tailored to be visual stimulation. Heaven knows most of them aren’t going to pull on the emotional strings based on their script(s). When I learned that nothing that appears on-screen of a film’s final cut is an accident, my appreciation and fandom grew.

My educated eyes allowed me to be more easily sucked into James Bond and comic book blockbuster movies, rather than more skeptical of them.

What I really learned in studying the history and processes of film, television, video production, directing, editing, cinematography, script writing and acting besides the terminology is an appreciation of each. That is why when I read cynical reviews online and in print all I see is bitter, childish, ego centered pouting by a failed artist/creator who now judges others. It’s why all of the film reviews I’ve posted on this blog have been pretty positive even though I have seen and written about some pretty underwhelming films.

I encourage anyone reading this to take a film history or art of film and video class. It will literally change the way you see what you see when you look at a screen, and that is a good thing.

#XMEN Days of Future Past is The First #Movie of its Kind

Posted: June 5, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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by @anarchyroll
6/4/2014

A sequel, a prequel, and a reboot all in one movie. Regardless of personal taste or opinion, X-Men Days of
Future Past deserves respect for being the first of it’s kind.

Those of us who have fond memories of the 1990s X-Men cartoon that aired on Saturday mornings finally got
the movie we have been waiting almost two decades for since the first film hit theaters. By that, I of course
mean sentinels, sentinels, sentinels.

I’m not fluent in the comics, the X-Men I know are from arcade games, video games, and animated tv shows. I
am still confused why it took fifteen years to get a sentinel movie. I’m sure it’s in the same line of thinking that
thought it a good idea to kill off Cyclops, not have Gambit, have Phoenix with no fire bird, and nothing but
Magneto for a villiain over the course of the first four films.

All is not forgiven or forgotten, but for my money all is made better in X-Men Days of Future Past.

I mean that literally and metaphorically. The details I won’t get too much into to avoid major spoilers.

Bryan Singer (the director) did his best work out of all the comic book movies he has made. The writing was as
good as comic book movies get. My two favorite scenes in the movie do not involve action or explosions.

The merging of the two eras of the movie franchise showed that the acting chops of the bunch goes to the
prequel group. Jennifer Lawerence, Michael Fassbender, and James McAvoy really shine as actors while
everyone else not named Hugh Jackman looked as they did in the original trilogy, like they were phoning it in
and didn’t respect the franchise they were representing.

I was happy to see Bishop and Quicksilver and was still left to wonder where the hell Gambit has been.
Apparently Gambit will be getting his own movie starring Channing Tatum. At this point, that character that is so
popular and has been that ignored, has probably earned his own trilogy.

I suppose there has been a fair amount of negativity in this review considering it’s my favorite X-Men movie by
far and is easily in my top ten comic book movies of all time list. For me thisine is right up there with Dark
Knight, Avengers, Spider-Man 2, Man of Steel, and the like. Certainly a cut above films likes of Green Lantern,
Fantastic Four (both), Amazing Spider-Man (both), and all the X-Men movies that came before it.

A great summer blockbuster that is the first of it’s kind in terms of franchise films. Good acting, good action, a
good tease for what is to come. X-Men Days of Future Past gets my endorsement and my excitement for where
the scene after the credits is taking the franchise. Fingers crossed for my main man Cable!

#Godzilla 2014 is Better than Just Better than the ’98 Version

Posted: May 21, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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MM@C4Logo1ajclogo2by @anarchyroll
5/20/2014

I was sold on the new Godzilla before I saw it. The trailer below absolutely blew me away and took away my fear of getting something on the silver screen worse than what we got from Matthew Broderick and company in 1998.

I still get goosebumps watching that trailer, and I have seen the movie.

The 1998 version set a very low bar for this movie to jump over, or just limp over. This movie took a giant leap over the bar set by any other monster movie before it.

The Godzilla movies that came before this one were paid homage to. A new precedent was set. This was not just a monster movie. This was not a campy movie. This was what it needed to be to relaunch the only movie franchise that predates James Bond.

The first monster you see, is not Godzilla. There is a non spoiler spoiler that should make you want to to see this movie more. If you don’t like monster movies or epic disaster movies, you won’t like this movie.  This is also not a campy movie. If you want to see a campy summer action movie, this is not it. Bryan Cranston will insure that you don’t look at this movie as campy. In fact, the first twenty minutes of the movie that is dedicated to his storyline is what I enjoyed as much as the city destroying monster fights.

This movie hits the full range of emotions. It is great summer time movie in every sense of the word.  It has made enough money to warrant a full reboot, but it has the quality of cinema to warrant one as well. I look forward to further installments in the series. In every sense of the term this is a not just good but a great summer time popcorn movie. Buy your ticket and enjoy the ride.

#RoboCop Reboot Review

Posted: February 20, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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by @anarchyroll
2/19/2014

The 2014 reboot of the RoboCop franchise has drawn a lot of ire since it came out. Surprise surprise, science fiction fans taking entertainment more seriously than their own life’s purpose. I read so many negative reviews on Twitter and in various news publications I went to see it expecting the worst. Though it was hard to imagine that a cast of Samuel Jackson, Michael Keaton, and Gary Oldman could be in a steaming pile of shit.

It’s funny, since studying film formally I have come to be less rigid about what I deem a good or bad film as opposed to more snobby or wannabe elitist. RoboCop is not War and Peace on film, it shouldn’t be confused with Gone with the Wind. It’s a fantasy movie about a cop who becomes a half man, half robot law enforcement machine. So check the rigid criteria for modern cinema masterpiece at the door and have some fun.

I have seen the original RoboCop, probably more times than I should have. Both incarnations satirize modern culture, both attempt to have heart, both development characters, both have all you can eat buffets of gunfire. One can dislike both or prefer one over the other, but I have a hard time seeing why a person would like the 80s version and not the 2014 version.

The movie feels slightly rushed as most movies made in the last twenty years do. But there is no shortage of time spent establishing why you as an audience member should care about the plight of Detective Alex Murphy. I could have used less mushy character development, but I appreciated it being there. There was a good balance between series acting time and lets fire off a ton of bullets time. I will say that this version is less bloody/gory than in the 80s version.

There are several obvious and subtle nods to the original film. My personal favorite was one of the villains saying “I wouldn’t buy that for a dollar.” I was surprised to see Murphy’s partner Lewis go from a white woman to a black man but whatever, as a second or third tier character it wasn’t a big deal and didn’t add nor subtract anything of substance to/from the film.

I enjoyed Sam Jackson’s parody of a Fox News anchor and the satire of drone based war drum beating. Abbie Cornish is forgettable as she usually is. Gary Oldman is Gary Oldman. Michael Keaton making a rare appearance this side of 1994 plays a far less menacing villain of Omnicorp than Ronnie Cox.  I can see that being a problem for some folks. Shout out to Jay Baruchel for doing his comedic thing in a supporting role to lighten the mood.

I thought Joel Kinnaman acted his ass off for a action sci-fi film. Peter Weller left big shoes to fill as Alex Murphy. If one sees this film and doesn’t like it, Kinnaman’s acting surely won’ t be a reason why.

RoboCop is worth checking out in the theater as action movies lend themselves better to the theater experience by nature. Check it on Netflix when it makes it there if you like the original and compare the two yourself. The door is left open for sequels, and I would LOVE to see RoboCop 2 get a remake. Taking a serial killer and putting him in a bigger, better machine. I think director José Padilha could do some good work with that idea. Plus it would be hard to do worse than the RoboCop sequels and shitty SyFy channel min series’ that no one who dislikes this movie cares to remember.

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