Episode XI

MOVIE REVIEWS

It's been a while since my last blog entry. Whether it was writer's block. Or Life, just getting in the way, I am back.  I recently saw two movies that I feel need additional comments. And those are The Amazing Spider-Man and The Dark Knight Rises.

First, let me say I've only watched them once -- and if you haven't seen them yet STOP READING NOW. This post will contain spoilers!

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

I'll start with the one that I was the most disappointed in. 

First of all, I thought it was too soon to reboot this franchise.  Sure the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man had done well in the first two films, but after it's lackluster third film I thought that was the last we'd see of our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man. But alas, here we are five years later, and a new actor steps into the red and blue webbed suit. 

Here is the synopsis that IMDB gives for this newest incantation: Peter Parker finds a clue that might help him understand why his parents disappeared when he was young. His path puts him on a collision course with Dr. Curt Connors, his father's former partner.

From that, and the few sneak peaks that I'd scene online, I was hopeful for a true origin story. Yet there we were, an hour into the movie and Peter Parker already had revealed his identity to the girl of his dreams. He'd also, as Spider-Man, managed to gain the ire of said girl's father (played well by Dennis Leary). who was also the police chief. And had amazingly discovered the key to Dr. Conner's research into genetic manipulation. 

So much for any hopes of an origin story. The 2002 version, I feel did a much better job at establishing Peter as Spider-Man. Sure the Andrew Garfield Spider-Man had a musical montage of him learning his abilities, I feel Tobey's version told Spidey's beginnings much better. Andrew's just felt rushed. Rather, everything in this movie felt rushed.

Then the action began. I applaud this movie for having Spidey do all the stunts. No CGI Spidey, as they did with Tobey. But after that it was all campy movie work in the fight scenes. Especially in the end when Spidey fights the Lizard form of Dr. Conner. It just looked, well, terrible. Instead of having a multi-million dollar effect, we got a B movie look, as Spidey got tossed around by this giant Lizard. Surely make-up artists could have made a real human being look lizard like. And not resort to a campy interaction between man and machine.

Finally, in the end for no reason at all, the cop father dies. Why?! There was absolutely no need for it. At least, not in the first movie. I'm sure in the comic books her father dies, but was it necessary here? No. There was not a lot of connection made between the character's for this to happen. And to make it even worse, the father tells Peter to not get Gwen involved. Um, Ok! I'll get right on that! 

And so the movie ends with Dr. Conner in prison, and Gwen and Peter are ... separated? If you stuck around for the end of the movie then you go to see Dr. Conner talking to someone in his prison cell. My guess is Green Goblin. With the story supposedly focusing on the death's of Peter's parents, I can only assume that the next movie will involved further members of the Sinister Six.  

Overall I thought the movie lacked the marvel (haha, get it) that Tobey Maguire and Co. brought to the table. It was campy at best and needed a better story to explore the death of Peter's parents. This is NOT a movie that I will be adding to my collection any time soon.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES 

I may be prejudice here, because I'm a Batman fan, but I really enjoyed this movie. Albeit, I wasn't wowed by it like I was with Batman Begins or Dark Knight, but this one was pretty good (definitely better than the aforementioned Spider-Man movie). 

This one completed the circle that had started in Batman Begins and added in some elements from several other Batman Sources. I won't go into too much detail with this one, as there was very little that I had a problem with.

Number One was Bane. In Knightfall, the book/comic where Batman had his back broken by Bane, Bruce steps aside and has Jean-Paul Valley take his place. Bruce realizes that Valley is not the same Batman he portrayed and goes on to recover from his injury and eventually take back the cowl. Valley then takes on the mantel of Azrael. Bane in that series was a hulking brute, with charisma (aka talking skills). In DKR Bane not only speaks, but has some sort of accent that, to me, takes away from his power presence. Secondly, the mask he wears is only partially explained (which I guess should be enough to keep the story moving, but still leaves us begging for details) -- it's also not the same as the one Bane wears in Knightfall. As Tim said on Ctrl+Alt+Del (a great comic btw) the mask covers the majority of Bane's face, leaving only the eyes to connect to, which isn't enough in this character driven story. Not that the mask took away from the image that was Bane, but it hampered the connection he had with the audience (while also making it tough to hear what he was saying). Perhaps, since he was a former member of the League of Shadows, he could have kept the cowl they gave him. Although I did like how they used the Knightfall storyline to tie everything together, that was a nice touch.

Number Two was that there was too many "players", too many storylines. First you had the fallout between Bruce and Alfred. Then there was the rushed romance between Bruce and Selina. Third was the Injury of Gordon. Fourth was Blake's involvement (and eventual take over as the credits were about to role). Fifth was Miranda's story (though well done, as we were all lead to believe her story was that of Bane's -- which it involved him, but was all about her). And finally there was the battle between Batman and Bane. That's a ton of stuff going on -- the length of the movie reflected that -- but c'mon. Oh, and let's not forget the storyline of Bane "freeing" Gotham (a la No Man's Land, yet another comic/book that deserved to be put on the big screen). Just too much going on. 

Despite these problems this was a good movie, fanboy status aside. It was a creative movie that brought in elements from two great comics (Knightfall  and No Man's Land) and had a decent twist at the end with Miranda. My hope is that, when they move to "reboot" the series that they give Joseph Gordon-Levitt a chance to dawn the cape and cowl. His portrayal of Blake was excellent. Should there be a spin-off of John "Robin" Blake, we may see the transformation of Robin to Nightwing. 

Overall I liked this movie. It's just tragic that a psycho had to ruin the premier in Colorado. If we could just take a moment of silence in remembrance of those who lost there lives . . . . . . . . . . thank you.

Did anyone else catch the the Killer Croc reference at the beginning of the movie, about giant alligators?

Story Time - Part 2

    Soft mutterings drifted down the hall to the ears of the sleeping mother and father. Exhausted from lifting and pushing moving boxes around their new home, Lee and Brooke had fallen into bed the previous night exhausted. Neither wanted to answer the call of their two year old daughter, Anne, but it had to be done. Blindly fumbling to look at the alarm clock Lee pulled the covers down from over his face to see that the time was only 6:50 am.  Groaning, he slipped out from under Brooke's arm, and slid onto the floor.
    It's too early, he thought, as he rubbed his eyes. It should be outlawed for a child to be up this early.
    Aching in places long forgotten, Lee pushed himself to his feet and quietly exited the room.  The hallway was overrun by boxes, forcing Lee to squeeze his husky frame down the narrow passageway. He nearly knocked over several boxes while attempting to step over the cat, Lana, who'd found the most inconvenient place to rest. Hissing and howling Lana sprang to her feet and ran off into some dark corner of the new house.
    "Sssssssssh!" came a call from the master bedroom. Followed by several thunderous steps and then a sharp closing of a door. If you asked Brooke, Lee was one of the noisiest people in the morning. "Always banging stuff around when I'm trying to sleep," she'd say. "I'm always quiet when you're trying to sleep," she'd complain. But Lee knew differently. Someone once told him that he missed his calling as a professional ninja. For a man his size he could walk around the office and no one would ever know. Sometimes startling co-workers so much, that they'd playful punch Lee and exclaim, "we need to put a cow bell around your neck so we know when you're coming!"
    Thankfully for Lee the new house was newly built, so he didn't have to contend with squeaking floor boards or worn out doors that would scream in protest ever time you opened or closed them. Easing open the door to Anne's bedroom, he found the young dirty blonde girl standing-up in her crib, playing the her musical mobile.
    "Daddy!" she cried, with a purple pacifier in her mouth. A huge smile was on her face and her eyes sparkled as Lee entered the room.  She bounced on her bed before falling onto her butt giggling. Grabbing a stuffed toy rabbit she held it aloft for her daddy to see. "Bunny!" she exclaimed; proud of herself that she knew the type of animal she held.
    "Yes baby, bunny." he replied trying to hide how tired he was. With a little less than five hours of sleep Lee picked up his daughter and took her down to their new living room.  The cable wasn't going to be ready for another couple days, so he leafed through several boxes to find Anne's collection of Disney DVDs. Luckily he didn't have to look long, as Anne started to call for her morning milk, and set the video play.
    Heading to the kitchen he picked up his cellphone to check if he'd received any further messages since last night. Two new messages had come in late last night. Ever since he'd received word that he would be the new Athletic Director at the high school, Lee had contacted everyone in the O.C. to let them know he'd be returning. Jay and Lori and been the first to respond, and then the flood gate of texts came roaring in. It had been well over five years since Lee had left Enchanted Oaks, but now he was back, and now he could get back into roleplaying regularly.
    Anne let out an impatient whine, calling for her milk again, as Lee searched another box of dishes for her drinking cups. Frustrated from not finding one he grabbed a regular glass and poured his daughter some milk. It will have to suffice for now, he thought to himself. I just hope she doesn't make a mess. Heading back out into the living room, Lee gave the milk to his daughter and then plopped down on the grey sofa to read the latest texts.
    "Nice 2 have u back. C u @ 10!" - Charles. Charles was Lee's best friend. When Lee came to Vandenburg Academy in his junior year of high school, he and Charles became good friends once Lee was introduced to the O.C. Smiling, Lee hit the arrow button to see the other message.
    "Bringing a new HF adventure to play. Make a 2nd level character. Bring snacks to share. Miguel will be there too. See you at Jay's." - Clark. During Lee's second semester at Vandenburg, Lee and Clark had become roommates. They had come to know each other in choir, and had befriended each other over a shared interest in Sci-Fi, mainly space operas -- in particular Trek Wars which, unbeknownst to Lee, was also a roleplaying game. Lee had never roleplayed before, but when Clark introduced lee to the O.C., Lee got hooked.
    School for Tools was playing on the TV, and Anne was calling out each of the character's names when they appeared. Unfortunately for Brooke and Lee, the TV had become a babysitter for them over the last couple months. With all their money going into their move they had little to spend on babysitting. Which left them leaving Anne in front of the picture box while they got chores and packing done around the house.So she had come to know the names of the many characters that populated her favorite rotation of semi-educational programs.
    The clock read 7:15 am, plenty of time to work on a character, he thought. Lee retrieved his 'gaming bag', pulled out some paper, dice and his copy of High Fantasy and began his ritualistic process of creating his character for today's game. He was fortunate that Brooke was letting him even play today. Monday he'd have to start his new job, and there was plenty of unpacking to be done. However, Lee had convinced her that before he left for game, he would at least unpack a couple of boxes.
    An hour later he was done. His dwarven swashbuckler, Redbeard MacMurray, was now complete. Anne had managed to finish all her milk without spilling too much on her or the new carpet, and was now asking for food. I guess it's time to start on my father and husbandry duties, he sighed, and set to feeding his daughter and get some boxes unpacked.
   By 9:30 Brooke and pulled her self from bed and took over watching Anne, while Lee got ready for a day of gaming.
   "How long are you going to be gone?" Brooke had asked as Lee grabbed up his game bag.
   "I don't know. I'll keep you informed though. Okay?" He knew this wasn't the answer she wanted to hear, but with her mother being nearby now, Brooke had somewhere else she could go. He kissed Brooke and Anne goodbye and headed out. At 9:50 he had arrived. It's time to game!