Directed By

Michael Bay

Written By

Ehren Kruger

Starring

Shia LeBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley

Release Date

June 29, 2011

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (DotM) is not a good movie. At 157 minutes in length, this bloated, ugly mess, is an example of how Hollywood has, at times, gone completely awry of its truths.

Here’s an interesting statistic, in a matter of four years Paramount and Michael Bay have managed to turn out a complete trilogy of these films, a trilogy! Remember when a trilogy took ten years to complete because everybody involved wanted to make sure they finished it right? Just look at the Pirates of the Caribbean series, there has been four movies in eight years…and they have all been underwhelming.

Within minutes of DotM  starting I had realized I made a grave mistake paying $15 to view it in IMAX.  The humor that at times plagued the previous films is just as obnoxious and vile as ever before – most notably a cringe worthy appearance by Ken Jeong of The Hangover and Community fame – and the soundtrack is completely deplorable, dare say inappropriate at the best of times.

With regards to the plot, I can honestly say I really have no idea what happened in the film.  I believe a robot named the Sentinel (played by Leonard Nemoy) hatches a plan to create a new world for the Transformers, with the manufacturing of the world to take place on Earth.  Cue explosions and ridiculous boy band music for the next 157 minutes.  One can only assume that the film’s screenplay was merely meant to act as nothing more than a catalyst to the films action scenes, and it shows.  The film’s first act takes far too long to start moving and because of this the poor writing strongly shines through.  Well actually other than a handful on genuinely funny moments, the dialogue in the film generally just doesn’t work.

Admittedly, there were a couple of impressive action scenes, one resembling the famous highway scene from The Matrix: Reloaded and then the final fight in the film’s climactic series of final fights was also quite impressive, but otherwise the action is full of generic robots (who can be quite difficult to tell apart) fighting each other.  The stakes haven’t been made high enough, I never really cared if any of the film’s characters die or not (is that cruel of me to say?) because I was never made to like them in the first place.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon just didn’t work. Bay has failed to capture the true essence of what made the Transformers of our youth so spectacular and has instead turned in a loud, ugly, overly long, almost painful mess that I walked out of angry…but somehow not surprised.  To Michael Bay, remember the glory of your early work, you can still create films of the same caliber as The Rock, you just haven’t given yourself the chance.

Jordan must then learn to overcome all fear as he prepares to not only take on a new life as a superhero but also for the coming battle against the force that took the life of his ring’s previous owner, the creature known only as Paralax.

Directed By

Martin Campbell (Edge of Darkness, Casino Royale)

Written By

Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, Marc Guggenheim and Michael Goldenberg

Starring

Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard and Mark Strong

Release Date

June 17, 2011

Green Lantern is a bit of a mixed bag when it comes right down to it.

At its core, the movie’s moral, much like the comic, is essentially to overcome fear. The first major problem with that is that our main character doesn’t ever seem to show fear at all. Sure there’s a scene where he almost crashes a plane while thinking of his deceased father but Reynolds comes across as more sad and distracted about the loss of his pop than truly frightened by the fact that his life is mere seconds away from ending. Then, after ejecting from the plane and surviving the near death experience, he simply shrugs it off and the movie moves right along. At no point do you actually get the feeling that Hal Jordan is really afraid of anything despite what the other characters around him might think.

The second issue with the movie is how rushed the thing feels. I understand that filmmakers are limited to a certain amount of time when making a movie but at the same time it would have been nice to delve a little deeper into some of the relationships and character back stories to get a better understanding of who they all are and how they work together. Namely, the relationship between Hal and Sinestro, which gets no more than 10 total minutes of screen time (give or take a couple), as well as Sinestro’s inevitable transformation, which seems to happen almost in reverse, assuming you stick around for the scene after the credits.

The last problem I found with the Green Lantern movie was the casting of Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan. With a choice of design for the movie similar to something from the mind of H.R. Giger, Reynolds’ one-liners and quips, which seem to come with every role he is cast in, feel completely out-of-place. Not to mention how hard it is to not see Deadpool, Van Wilder or that guy from Blade 3 whenever you see him.

The movie isn’t a complete wash though. The special effects, while they seem pretty excessive near by the end of the movie, are very well done. Fan-favorite Lantern Kilowog makes an appearance which made many of the fans in the theater I was in pretty happy, myself included. Also Mark Strong’s performance as Sinestro, while he wasn’t quite used like I think he should have been, is definitely a highlight as well.

This is really a movie for comic fans with open minds or at the very least people who are familiar with the character and his roots who’ll be able to fill in the blanks left by the pacing or be much more accepting with some of the movies more far-fetched concepts. I wouldn’t recommend this one for anyone who doesn’t fit that description and even then, it probably won’t live up to all your expectations.

Directed by J.J. Abrams from his original script, the Amblin Entertainment and Bad Robot Production film is produced by Steven Spielberg, Abrams and Bryan Burk.

The film stars Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler, Ron Eldard, Noah Emmerich, Gabriel Basso, Joel Courtney, Ryan Lee, Zach Mills and Amanda Michalka (synopsis provided by Paramount Pictures).

Directed / Written By

J. J. Abrams (Mission: Impossible 3, Star Trek)

Produced By

Steven Spielberg

Starring

Elle Fanning, Joel Courtney, Kyle Chandler, Noah Emmerich, Ryan Lee, Zach Mills

Release Date

June 10, 2011

Super 8 stars Elle Fanning and Joel Courtney

J.J. Abrams is on a roll, since making his directorial debut with Mission: Impossible 3, Abrams career has been destined for greatness.  His next directing effort the 2009 reboot of the Star Trek franchise, was both a hit at the box office and with critics.  And now we have Super 8, a project that has been shrouded in mystery since its reveal months ago, a project that promised to bring moviegoers back to the innocence of Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment films of the 1980′s.  And well the verdict is in, Abrams delivers.

There is no doubt that Abram’s has a hell of an eye for directing.  Rarely do his shots become self-reflexive or over the top flashy, but they always look good.  The action scenes are spectacular, Abram’s employs beautiful tracking shots, which follow the progress of the young actors as they run through chaos.  On that same token, the special effects are spectacular, with a solid mix of practical and digital effects employed.

The film’s strong young cast deserves much of the credit for making Super 8 as enjoyable an experience as it was.  Each young actor infused each of their characters with quirks and the complete gamut of emotions that makes youth so complex, and many times incredibly difficult to “act.”  Joel Courtney is the actor with which the audience is given the most time to identify with, and if it weren’t for his strong, heartfelt performance, many of the films more tender scenes could have fallen into the trap of melodrama.  Courtney represents every young man in the audience, his sweet, emotional interactions with Elle Fanning’s character are some of the film’s greatest moments.

Elle Fanning is going to be a star, a huge star.  Her performance in Super 8 is actually quite amazing. Her character is emotionally complex, torn between her alcoholic father and the prospect of a new life with new friends.  Fanning and Courtney represent the resilience of youth, and to an extent that may just be what Super 8 is about.  Resilience.

Pacing is where Super 8 stumbles the most. The films first act is quite entertaining as we learn about the films main characters and the dynamics between them. The train derailment is also quite spectacular. A large portion of the second act starts to drag however. There is a solid half hour or so where I wasn’t really sure if anything of large importance were taking place. The film rises up once again however, with a quite remarkable scene taking place between Fanning and Courtney as they watch old home movies and an important revelation is made.

Abrams’ Super 8 pays homage most to Spielberg’s 1980′s classics in its last act. Here it is most emotionally gripping and brings into the morality of humanity and our appreciation of life, much like Spielberg did with his classic E.T. Recreating this emotional connection, hitting the spot that has been left all but untouched since Spielberg’s classic is perhaps the biggest accomplishment of Abrams’ latest work.

Directed By

Robert Redford (Ordinary People, A River Runs Through It)

Starring

James McAvoy, Robin Wright, Kevin Kline, Evan Rachel Wood, Danny Huston, and Tom Wilkinson

Release Date

April 15, 2011

Rarely has such an important actor  made such a successful transition from Hollywood film star to Hollywood director as Robert Redford, the star of such films as The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  But with the release of the Oscar winning Ordinary People in 1980, Redford’s dual role in film-making was cemented.

Redford’s latest picture,  The Conspirator, continues the director’s portfolio of politically driven film-making (started in 2007 with Lions for Lambs, but arguably visible in his acting from his first performances ), but more importantly shares a story that many people (including myself) have likely never heard.

Redford is by no means a  “flashy” director, much like he once described Butch Cassidy director George Roy Hill, Redford is a storyteller.  This is where The Conspirator succeeds the most.  Each frame is beautifully composed, as if it were an oil on canvas painting from the 19th century.  The lighting is immaculate, the camera is placed (and subtly moves) in such a way as to feel like the natural placement and quiver of ones own eye.  The 19th century is recreated in such a way as to not bring attention to the era, to the viewer it simply feels as though they are in the past.

The film is most exciting in its expertly paced courtroom scenes.  Aiming not for snappy judgements or loud dramatic monologues, Redford uses the trial of Mary Surrat as a way for both the viewer and the characters of the film to sort through the evidence, and analyze the witnesses for themselves, thus allowing the viewer enough time to come to their own conclusions.  Redford’s past acting experience, his knowledge of hitting each beat, is what allows these scenes to succeed as well as they do.

The films exceptional casting also plays a strong role in why it succeeds.  James McAvoy’s performance as the rookie lawyer defending someone who even he struggles to believe is innocent reveals a subtle determination, an inward fire that only shows itself through his eyes in the films most tense moments.  McAvoy has a classic face, one that simply works in period pieces (he should look into doing more Shakespeare).

Robin Wright is also excellent in playing the withdrawn Southerner Mary Surrat.  Her character is full of a burgeoning pain that can be seen through her drastically transformed image.  While the character requires little range, Wright plays her suffering, her dedication, to a tee.

The remainder of the cast is also quite excellent, with honorable mentions to Kline, Huston, and Wilkinson.

The films weakest points come in the times between the courtroom scenes, mainly the character building party scenes featuring McAvoy, Bledel, and Long.  The dialogue in these interactions can at times feel like an after thought, and more than once had me wanting the film to just get on with it.  While one can see why these scenes are necessary, they hurt the films otherwise excellent pacing.

Redford’s latest film is both an excellent history lesson and an exciting story, he has proven once again that there are few film-makers out there who are as consistent with their values and style, as himself.

Arriving in stores a little over a month ago, was the latest from the DC animated team Superman/Shazam! Return of Black Adam. This newest release is much different that previous ones that the company has released in that rather than a full length feature, the disc is a collection of several shorts featuring a number of DC’s lesser used characters such as Green Arrow, Spectre and Jonah Hex, all of which have appeared as bonus features on other recent DC releases.

This concept is a little bit misleading in the sense that while the actual Return of Black Adam short is the longest on the disc (by roughly 5-10 minutes), the box art would have you believe that it’s an actual full length animated flick. More on that in a moment.

Marketing issues aside, all the shorts on the disc create a pretty nice package with great opening title sequences, some pretty impressive animation and an all-star cast of actors voicing the DC heroes such as Jerry O’Connell as Captain Marvel, Alyssa Milano as Aimee Brenner from the Spectre short and both Thomas Jane as Jonah Hex and Linda Hamilton as Madame Lorraine in the Jonah Hex short to name a few.

The stories themselves are very entertaining and continue to feature faithful adaptations of the characters that we know from the comics much like previous DC animated features have done. In the case of Captain Marvel, we get a slightly modified origin story for the hero and a great action sequence involving him, Superman and Black Adam throughout the streets of Fawcett City while the Spectre short tells a twisted tale of murder and betrayal as Jim Corrigan delivers his own brand of justice to those responsible. Overall, the shorts each entertain in their own way and should please fans of the characters both new and old.

I do have a couple issues with this collection that really hold this one back from being one amongst the best of the DC animated releases. First is the fact that all of the shorts combined with take up just over an hour of your time. For the price many people will be paying for this disc, be it Blu-Ray or DVD, it just doesn’t quite seem like enough.

Secondly are the special features, which are almost nonexistent. Aside from commentary throughout the features themselves, there are a few handpicked episodes from Batman: The Animated Series, Brave and the Bold and Justice League Unlimited chosen by Bruce Timm featuring the characters who also appear in the showcases. It would have been nice see a little bit more into the creative process that DC went through in regards to the animation process or even deciding which character to use for the shorts, no?

It hurts to say it, but this might be one of the more disappointing releases by DC since launching their animated features a while back. The quality, stories, voice-acting and presentation are all very strong but they’re delivered in such small doses that you don’t have much of a chance to really appreciate them as much as you should and with the collection being labeled as a Superman and Shazam movie, it’s a tad misleading when you realize what the disc actually contains.

Superman/Shazam! The Return of Black Adam
Release date: November 9th, 2010
Running time: 63 minutes
★★★★★★ ]]> http://panelsofawesome.com/2010/12/12/review-supermanshazam-return-of-black-adam/feed/ 0 http://panelsofawesome.com/2010/07/29/movie-review-scott-pilgrim-vs-the-world/ http://panelsofawesome.com/2010/07/29/movie-review-scott-pilgrim-vs-the-world/#comments Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:42:39 +0000 Mike Haynes http://panelsofawesome.com/?p=936

Having just gotten home from a screening of the new movie, based on the Oni Press books by Bryan Lee O’Malley, now seems as good a time as any to review the movie for those of you out there who are planning on seeing it when it arrives in theaters in mid-August. I’ll keep this review completely spoiler free for those of you that haven’t checked out the books.

On a side note, if you haven’t checked out the books… what are you waiting for?

If you’re unfamiliar with the basic idea, the books and movie follow slack-rocker Scott Pilgrim as he meets the love of his life, Ramona. The only catch is that in order to actually date her, he must battle the seven evil exes of her past. The result is a comedic journey of self-discovery for Scott filled with video game references and zany antics that should please almost any comic book or video game fan.

While the movie’s story follows the books almost exactly for the first 3/4 of it’s entirely, the story shifts at the end and, although it certainly contains some of the key plot elements of the book, paves it’s own path. This is mainly (if not entirely) due to Bryan Lee O’Malley selling only the rights to the first five books and withholding those to a book that had yet to be written in volume 6. That being said, if you’ve read the books, you’ll still definitely enjoy how the entirety of the film comes together. If you’re new to the series, you probably enjoy what you find here and, should you choose to pick up the books, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to learn that the ending of the series varies somewhat from the movie so it’s not entirely spoiled for you.

The movie’s casting is also one of the stronger points as everyone seems to really take on their roles well. While I’m not a huge fan of Michael Cera, it’s clear that he was tailor made for the role of Scott Pilgrim and it would be tough to find someone who would do better. Standouts from the film would have to include Kim Pine, played by Alison Pill, and Ramona Flowers, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Both of these actresses really become the character from the comic as best as they could and seemed to stand out a little more from the rest of an already pretty exceptional cast.

All the effects from the comics, like the the ringing of a telephone or a huge punch to another character actually appears on screen during certain scenes in text form. If you’ve been following any of the trailers, you know exactly what I mean but there are plenty of scenes you don’t see that make great use of this effect and make many of the battles literally come to life on the big screen. Another interesting effect is the use of the actually comic’s panel which are used during a number of the movie’s flashback sequences.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World certainly isn’t for everyone. When I said earlier that it was sure to please comic book or video game fans, I wasn’t kidding. I have to believe that the film will have the most impact on anyone born and raised during the 8 or even 16-bit console eras or fans of something a little different than your typical boy-meets-girl kind of movies.

Fans of comic books, video games and anything else remotely nerdy, you owe it to yourself to go see Scott Pilgrim.