Archive for June, 2009
Movie Roundup for June 20, 2009
I wasn’ t nearly as impressed with Glory as I thought I might be. For most of the movie I felt like I had seen dozens like it, though I cannot pinpoint any particular examples. Denzel Washington’s performance is alternately Oscar-worthy and insipid standard Denzel fare. Worth watching, I guess.
Star Trek III – The Search for Spock (IMDB, Netflix)
I used to really hate this movie. There are certainly plenty of things to hate about The Search for Spock. Kirk’s parting shot to the Klingon commander is particularly stupid: “I have had enough of you!” Dude, he just killed your son, and that is what you say as you kick him to his doom? Whatever.
But there’s some great stuff in here. Stealing the Enterprise, for instance. The underlying story of dealing with death, with having another mind trapped inside of your own, and putting your dearest friend to rest could have been a truly great movie, Star Trek or otherwise. It’s a pity then that the themes are so muddled and the story little more than an excuse to resurrect Spock. Still, it was certainly a lot more watchable than my memory indicated.
You must watch this movie. Troll 2 is simply deliciously awful. This 10 minute clip of scenes from the movie doesn’t do it justice. The entire movie is that terrible, or worse. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll scream “Oh my gaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwd,” you’ll be confused as to how this movie ever got released, or how anyone involved ever thought it might be a good idea.
Not to be confused with the unrelated Troll 2, which merely took the name for marketing purposes. Troll is about Harry Potter’s struggle against an evil wizard and his magical minions. No, seriously, the character’s name is Harry Potter. Which caused me to laugh hysterically every single time the character’s full name was mentioned.
Troll isn’t really a bad movie, though it contains plenty of unintentionally funny moments. But I’m not sure what it wants to be. A few parts of it are pretty horrific for a kids movie, while most of it is too kiddy to be a horror movie. In that respect, it fails where the wonderful Gremlins succeeds.
Wallace and Grommit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit (IMDB, Netflix)
Best kids movie I’ve watched in a while. I had a goofy grin on my face for most of the movie. It does drag out in parts, especially since the answer to the mystery is so patently obvious. Still, pretty fun.
Cronenberg, science gone amok, and killer telepaths. What’s not to like? Well, besides the acting and a ridiculous subplot where a telepath interfaces with the “nervous system” of a 1980s computer. Not nearly a classic as Cronenberg’s The Fly, but good concept none-the-less.
Can it really bring the dead back?
While I don’t have a lot of hope for the final game, this trailer for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow grabs me.
As near as I can tell, the Castlevania moniker was only slapped on recently for marketing purposes. No familiar characters or foes are featured, the setting does not look like the usual Castlevania game, and the music is most certainly not in the usual style. All of that may in fact be a good thing, as the 3D Castlevania games up until now have been pretty lame. This looks more like God of War in execution, which may be the proper route.
The part of the trailer that grabs me is the mask. “The mask is a powerful device.” “Can it really bring the dead back?” Those two lines really cut straight to the heart of this game’s story (or at least I hope so). Lost love and the mad quest to undo it, to disastrous consequences. I can see this as being a reboot for Dracula’s origin story. Because let’s face it, Lament of Innocence’s story was pretty lame.
With real voice talent (Patrick Stewart! Robert Carlyle!) behind it, Lords of Shadow may work as a story oriented game. If the script doesn’t include gems like “What is a man? A pitiful pile of secrets!” We’ll see.
And I really want a replica of that mask. Such a fantastic design.
Starring Mark Hamill as MacGyver
Sublime genius.
HT Warren.