Monday, March 13, 2006

Inflight viewing - MLA to MSP

Flying business class trans-Atlantic on Northwest gives you a nice 10" personal screen. The film selection isn't too hot though.

AEON FLUX (1.5/4 stars)



Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Take a 30 minute 80s cartoon plot and draw it out into a 1.5 hour feature film. Totally waste an Academy Award-winning actress on a simplistic plot and put her in bunches of unimaginative action scenes. You get Aeon Flux.

It's probably interesting for the fans of the old cartoon to see what they did with it, but ultimately I think they'll be disappointed. There was no improvement over the cartoon in any aspect. Lots of CGI wasted on meaningless storuy elements and paper-thin characters. You could have replaced Charlize Theron with Jessica Simpson and not lost much onscreen.

Bottom Line: Eh. The practically-unknown Equilibrium is lots better than this. Pass.

HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE (2/4 stars)



Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Look, if you saw the first three there's little to lose by seeing the fourth installment of JK Rowling's retirement fund on the big screen. If you DIDN'T see the first three, you'll be completely lost. Heck, if you didn't read the book you'd still probably be scratching your head at anything not Tri-wizard tourney related.

Cuaron yields the reins of the series to yet another direcotr. The pace is relatively breakneck, with little time for character exposition. The three romances among the lead characters are glossed over, and important characters like Sirius Black, Fleur DeLacour and the Weasleys are given no development. Yes, there's no way you can do the whole book. I'm just saying that Goblet doesn't do as good a job of condensing the book to its essentials as AzKaban. But yeah, it's probably a much tougher one to screenwrite.

Bottom Line: No reason for a fan to pass. No reason for a non-fan to see it.

MAN ON FIRE (incomplete)

I started the Denzel film but didn't finish. Will catch the rest on the backswing. Later.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

George Lucas's Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (3.5/4)

Yes, I like The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.

Image hosting by Photobucket

I've seen Revenge of the Sith three times, so now I feel up to writing about it. It's good, as far as Star Wars films go. I have never seen the need to compare the six films directly. Each serves a purpose. The Phantom Menace was a beginning, and it was the return of the franchise to the screen. There was just no way it was going to fulfill the expectations of an audience that had grown up with the originals and were now adults looking for the same feeling.

Attack of the Clones was, primarily, a love story. No, Lucas cannot write dialogue. He never could. It was just forgivable in the past because (a) we were young and (b) he had Harrison Ford delivering the lines in a way that made the camp good. Hayden Christiansen can't act. Neither could Mark Hamill, but that didn't stop a generation from idolizing Luke Skywalker. So, given that, was it ever reasonable to expect the kind of audience that Star Wars attracts to appreciate a (poorly written) love story?

So. Revenge of the Sith. The Big Moment where one of the most recognizable villains in the history of cinema is created. Honestly, that particular segment of the film didn't really carry it, even if it was, well, ok. What carried the film was the inevitable roller coaster that Anakin was on. It actually helped that we knew he was going to eventually turn and in the future murder millions of beings on Alderaan. It helped that we knew that his love for Padme was flawed. Darth Vader wasn't created out of Anakin Skywalker. Old Ben Kenobi was wrong. Anakin was always Darth Vader - he just traded in his Jedi's robes for the black suit and helmet. He probably would have even if he hadn't been torched in lava.

Bottom Line: Toss your expectations aside. Enjoy the ride.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Genndy Tartakovsky's Star Wars: Clone Wars (3.5/4)

(Yes, I said I was working on more Oscar nominees. Volume Two of Clone Wars arrived. Priorities, you know?)

Image hosting by Photobucket

While I've never been a huge fan of The Powerpuff Girls or Dexter's Lab, I found Justice Friends amusing. And I enjoy Samurai Jack on the rare occasion that it's running on the Cartoon Network when I surf on by.

Genndy Tartakovsky has had a hand in all of th above animated series. However, Samurai Jack seems to be the reason that Lucas picked him to do the first ever animated work based on the Star Wars franchise. It was easy for me to see with my mind's eye. Replace Jack with a bald black man, turn his white gi brown, and substitute his katana with a lightsaber. Replace his placid samurai demeanor with some attitude and voila, Samuel L. Windu. Or wrinkle him up, shrink him and turn him green and you have Yoda.

Clone Wars was originally run on the Cartoon Network in 3-minute slices. I recall seeing the tail end of one segment, which featured Mace Windu kicking droid ass then taking a break for a frosty drink before returning to action. I went "what the hell" and wondered what I had just seen. Then I forgot about it. Until I saw the Clone Wars Volume One DVD. That sent me to Google where I found that there was a second volume appearing late 2005. I held off watching Volume One until I had the whole thing. Of course, it sorta sucked that Revenge of the Sith came and went BEFORE Volume Two appeared, but what the hell. When my kids are old enough they'll get to see all of it in sequence.

Image hosting by Photobucket

Clone Wars picks up exactly where Attack of the Clones left off. The Jedi have just rescued Anakin and Padme from Geonosis, and the Clone Wars have begun with a massive battle between the clones of the Republic and the droids of the Trade Federation. The story arc of the first volume, spanning just over an hour, is mostly non-stop animated mayhem. The story tracks the rocky relationship of Obi-Wan and Anakin as a duo and separately. There's a lot of asskicking by Mace Windu and various other Jedi, and a new dark Jedi for Anakin to face.

This all flows into volume two where General Grievous is fleshed out and turns into a legit bad guy. A lot of Obi-Wan and Anakin here, and Clone Wars nicely develops the relationship that really doesn't get all that much time through Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. A huge part of the second volume is dedicated to a trial involving Anakin, which could easily have been a half-hour Samurai Jack episode. The end of volume two links up directly with Revenge of the Sith, showing the invasion of Coruscant and how Palpatine is "kidnapped" by the Grievous.

Bottom Line: All in all, Clone Wars is CANON (which is rare outside of the films) and is required viewing for all Star Wars fans. Since it's very nicely done, paced at high speed and features a lot of Jedi asskicking, it's practically a lock to entertain anyone who has ever enjoyed a Star Wars film. Prequel or otherwise.