Gory Dismemberment? That's OK, as Long as You Hide the Boobs

This past week I finished watching The Pacific, the "sequel" to Band of Brothers, both of which are amazing looks at the events of World War II. Most of the criticism of The Pacific said that it was a little more disjointed and less emotionally invested in its characters than Band of Brothers, which I agree with to a point, but the campaign in the Pacific theater seemed much more disjointed and darker than the battle raging in Europe. I loved it just as much as Band of Brothers and would wholeheartedly recommend both if you haven't seen them.

As I was going into my Netflix account to rate The Pacific, I glanced through the member reviews to see what others thought and ended up scratching my head as I read through many of them. A few of the reviews shared the same sentiments I mentioned above, but the overwhelming negative criticism of the mini-series was that there were a couple of scenes where we *gasp* see some boobs. Yes, there are 2-3 scenes where the relationships of our characters and their intimate moments are explored. In truth, there's probably a full total of 5 minutes of nudity in the entire 7-ish hours of the mini-series.

It was so odd to read reviews railing against the series, saying not to watch it, because there were a few scenes of female nudity (nothing overtly explicit even and most of the time things were obscured). It seems like such an odd criticism of a series that has a body count in the hundreds. The action is visceral with no punches pulled. Limbs are violently lost, men scream in their bloody death throes, bodies are utterly dismantled, and you are party to more than a few intense, prolonged, physical, hand-to-hand struggles as a life is slowly extinguished. These are all brutal, harrowing scenes of violence and death, some that will churn your stomach... yet so many people were up in arms over a nipple or two.

To this day, I have trouble understanding this odd disconnect in our culture. Violence, no matter how cringe-worthy, is no big deal, but as soon as you have one nipple on screen or even think about portraying an intimate moment, people want to turn their head or complain or make sure to protect their children from such filth. It's just so weird. Maybe it's the American fetish with violence. Maybe we're all to desensitized. Maybe there's something inherently nefarious about nipples that I don't realize. But if you ask me right now, I think too many people have their priorities mixed up when it comes to what is viewed as more damaging. I know I don't have kids yet, but I somehow imagine that when I do that if I have to pick between allowing my kids to watch brutal violence or a couple expressing their love, I'm going to let love take precedence.

Getting My Iron On

Well, according to Rotten Tomatoes, it looks like Iron Man is the best reviewed movie of the year so far. That's a pretty good endorsement for the flick if you ask me. I must say, I'm still going to keep my hopes tempered until after I see it tonight. I've been hopeful that it would be good, but I didn't think it could be great.

Back when I first saw the previews I figured it would bomb. The CGI wasn't complete, the story (from what I could tell) seemed somewhat contrived, and I didn't think they could pull off making a second-tier comic book character into an A-list movie. After seeing the latest trailers, however, and reading the reviews it sounds like it's going to be a ton of fun.

I'm also a little hopeful that it does well being a Marvel stockholder. This is the first of their in-house movies to be released so it will be setting a precedent, hopefully a good one, since I don't see The Incredible Hulk doing that well later this summer. Sure, it has Ed Norton, but I think people will have a bad taste in their mouths from the last Hulk movie. I thought Ang Lee's Hulk was great, but most people didn't.

Anyhow, if you don't have anything to do this weekend, I'd suggest giving Iron Man a go. It's not like there's anything else decent to see coming out this weekend.

Don't Let Me Down, Marvel

So I just checked out the latest trailer for Iron Man. I must say, it's looks pretty bad ass. Robert Downey, Jr. seems to be the perfect Tony Stark and the story doesn't look like it'll be too cheesy. I'm only wondering if we're going to be treated to another Hulk where the majority of the movie is a long, slow build-up to when we actually get to see the super hero. It could definitely end up that way, but even if it does, I think Downey, Jr. is charismatic enough to keep things interesting. That was probably the biggest problem with the Hulk movie--Eric Bana was just really uninteresting.

I also hope they shore up the special effects a little as well. The last shot in the trailer looks like an ad for a new Xbox 360 game not a blockbuster movie. Given the amount of time until the movie hits theaters, I think they can smooth things out.

This is going to be a make or break movie for Marvel since it is the first one to come out of the Marvel owned movie studio. Whereas all of their past superhero movies have been from other studios who were licensing the use of their characters, this is a complete in-house project. I'm really, really, really hoping that it does well. Partially because I want to see more good superhero movies and partially because I own Marvel stock. If they can get some movies to really take a hold with the movie-going populace, it'll cause quite a nice uptick in share price, which I would most definitely not complain about.

I know I've been burnt in the past by awesome looking movie trailers that led up to supremely disappointing movies (I'm looking at you X-Men 3, Fantastic Four, and all of the Spider-Man flicks). I'll keep my fingers crossed, however, and keep my hopes as low as possible. And besides, if it sucks I have The Dark Knight to look forward to and there really is no way that could suck. Seriously.

Some Great Movies

With the Labor Day weekend, I watched a few more movies. I added them to the full thread here.

The Bourne Ultimatum (8.5/10): The Bourne movie trilogy is probably one of the best of my generation (barring The Lord of the Rings trilogy). It takes the archetype of James Bond, removes all the gimmicks, adds a ton of grit, and pours on the badassery. I prefer Supremacy and Identity to Ultimatum, but Ultimatum only barely trails those two. Again, you get a smart, visceral, real feeling action movie that doesn't pull any punches. The only thing keeping this movie from surpassing the first two is a weaker than expected climax. It is the big reveal and I didn't feel as if it was all that big, even though it answered the question Bourne had been asking since the start of the first movie--"Who am I?"

Fracture (6.5/10): I had high hopes for this movie and even when it was over I wanted to like it, but I just couldn't warm up to it. Both Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling turn in good performances. The movie keeps you interested. The dialog is well written (if a little over dramatic towards the end). However, the plot has some pieces that really irked me, such as not being able to really pull all the pieces of the movie together until the big reveal (not all of the clues are made available to the viewer). Also, the first part of the film was pretty slow moving and the subplot of Gosling's character and his new boss was pretty terribly written. However, the movie is entertaining if you don't think too hard.

Marie Antoinette (6/10): What's the point of this movie? Really, I'm still trying to figure it out. The whole thing was basically a biopic about Marie Antoinette that lacked any substance. Sure, you saw what her life was like, but without getting any insight into the character or meaning from learning about her. The whole movie, as pretty as it was, felt hollow.

Sunshine (9.5/10): This is easily one of the better sci-fi movies I've seen in ages. There are not nearly enough sci-fi movies hitting the cinema today, and this one was hard enough to track down as its release was pushed back multiple times and then it was only released to a limited amount of theaters, so when a sci-fi movie does get released it's a heck of a treat to have it be this good. As opposed to most recent sci-fi films, Sunshine is a tense, smart, and somewhat hopefully depressing movie. It feels real. And that is essential to having a good sci-fi movie. The tone throughout the movie is very similar to what I got from The Fountain. A sense of hopelessness permeates the characters, but within that hopelessness embodied in the characters is a collective hope for something better, beyond the characters. Danny Boyle has given us this year's sci-fi favorite.

Tons of Movies

With the rainy weather the last week or so, I managed to pound down a few movies. For all of my 2007 reviews, head here.

Bridge to Terabathia (5.5/10): Talk about a movie that takes a monster of a detour halfway through. The movie starts off as a fun, light tale of a blossoming friendship with themes of being imaginative, not conforming, and being open to new ideas permeating the narrative. Then at about the 2/3 mark of the movie, it shifts completely into a depressing, downtrodden, and listless examination of how to deal with the loss of a friend. It was so promising... and then so disappointing. It's not the happy-go-lucky fun film the previews portrayed and will probably make kids feel a little uncomfortable and sad when watching it.

Vacancy (8.5/10): A short but tense thriller. The standard horror plot macguffin of having a couple get stranded in the middle of nowhere with only one particular hotel/house/area to go to for help is used to get the story going, which made me wonder if it would even be worth my time. Thankfully the execution of the movie is what kept it afloat. Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale were both very real and did a nice job of playing such typecast roles. A couple of interesting "surprise" moments kept the movie flowing quickly and kept me very interested.

Stardust (8.5/10): Some critics have hailed this as a modern Princess Bride and I would agree that this is a very apt comparison. As opposed to many of the recent fantasy movies to be released, Stardust is all about fun instead of trying to be overly serious or about some huge, world changing event/item. Everything about the movie simply screams "fun"! It is definitely geared at a younger crowd, but there is plenty to enjoy for adults. The cast had wonderful performances all around. True, Robert De Niro's character did feel a little forced at times, but it was still a hilarious character. Claire Daines was magnificent as the fallen star. And everyone else was solid as well. A great family film.

Superbad (9/10): Superfunny is probably a better title. I don't think I've laughed so hard during a movie in a long time. The cast is phenomenal, the story is crazy, yet believable, the one-liners are infinitely quotable, and you won't stop laughing the entire time. Sure, it's raunchy and contains mostly crude humor, but that's really the point of the movie--to be crass, but in a hilarious manner. Seriously, go see this movie and laugh your ass off.

The Good Shepherd (8/10): This is a movie I'd wanted to see since it hit theaters, but never took the time to dive in because of its extreme length (it's 2.5+ hours long). All of the run time is put to good use, focusing not only on what it was to be a spy in the 40's, 50's, and 60's, but on what the implications were on the characters' relationships, personalities, and lifestyles. There is little to no action as the focus is so much on the characters, which gives this movie a more contemplative feel as opposed to simply running through another thriller/mystery plot. The cast is exceptional as well. If you have the time to dedicate to it, this is a fairly good movie.

Movies... More of Them

Well, here's the latest batch of movies I watched. See all of my 2007 reviews here.

1408 (7.5/10): The overall tone and execution of this film were both wonderful and dark, but in the end I failed to pull in any connections between all of the different "horrors" that John Cusak's character experiences and their importance to the character. Since this was billed as a psychological horror film, I expected there to be something to connect all the pieces and make the movie more than just a haunted house flick, but there really wasn't. Regardless, it was still a good movie that is head and shoulders above all of the lame torture porn movies rampaging through theaters.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (5.5/10): Having only seen the first Harry Potter movie (and hating it), going in to this film I found that it was hard to know why anyone was doing anything. Sure, I picked up the gist of this movie's storyline, but having not been entrenched in the Potter world I found I could care less about any of the characters since I didn't understand any of the underlying motives. Other than that, it was a decent fantasy flick with some notably terrible acting from the child actors. I'm sure Potter fans loved it. I didn't.

The Simpsons: The Movie (9/10): This is the real deal. Having been disappointed with the show for the last few years, my expectations were quite tempered, however, this ended up being extremely gut busting funny in classic Simpsons style. There are a number of new quotable lines that you can expect to be filtering into everyday vernacular, most notably the "Spider-Pig" lines. So far this is probably the funniest movie I've seen this year.

A Mighty Wind (7/10): Christopher Guest, the king of mockumentaries, puts together a film chronicling the reuniting of folk music's legends. It's decently funny, but lacks the amount of laugh out loud moments that Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman had. In fact, parts of the movie feel strangely like an actual documentary in that they lack the over the top nature that made Guest's other mockumentaries so fabulous. It is still a solid movie, just not as funny as I would have expected.

This Film is Not Yet Rated (8/10): I'm sure everyone has, at times, questioned why a certain movie received the rating it did. I do quite often. I also find myself wondering why it only takes a slip of a nipple to make something R, when it takes at least a bloody double-digit body count to get an R rating if there are no nipples or f-bomb dropping. It was quite interesting to see how closed off and out of touch the MPAA really is, but on the other hand, the investigative method used (hiring a horribly annoying private investigator) was often very amateur. If the PI sections of this documentary were left out and more focus was given to the secretive, cultish behavior of the MPAA it could have been a perfect 10.

Brick (8/10): I may be in the minority, but I loved this movie. Not so much because it was a cinematic masterpiece, but because it was a wonderful throwback to noir movies of ages past. This is, essentially, a film noir movie as portrayed in a modern high school. For anyone who doesn't view the movie as an homage, it will no doubt seem boring, cliched, and overacted. Viewed as an homage, it is a clever movie that takes the well established noir archetypes and injects them into a modern high school setting.

Yep, More Movies

It's been a little while since my last movie post, right? Check out the full thread here.

Smokin' Aces (7.5/10): With a star filled cast and promises of blood drenched violence and action, I figured this would be a great action film. Well, it sort of was. I definitely enjoyed it for what it was--stupid, but well choreographed and filmed violence. There were attempts to be smart and unique, trying for a Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs type of feel, but they felt like bad homages. Ryan Reynolds and Jeremy Piven both turned in good performances. What really kept the movie from excelling, though, was the ending. It shed light on the rest of the movie and at the same time rendered the connection you had with some of the characters null and void.

Waiting for Guffman (7.5/10): Christopher Guest is a pretty funny writer. After having seen Best in Show I wanted to watch some of his other films. This mockumentary was enjoyable, but didn't have as many laugh out loud moments as I would have hoped. Some bits didn't really go anywhere (which may have been the point) in that they were either not serious enough or not over the top serious enough. They were just kind of in limbo. It was still an extremely funny movie with a stellar cast.

Transformers (4/10): Michael Bay, you just raped my childhood. I didn't expect much for a story, but somehow got even less than my already low expectations. Yes, this is a big, dumb action movie about transforming robots. That doesn't mean the story has to have SO many plot holes and inconsistencies and utterly stupid moments. Even more grating than the plot was the inability for the movie to establish what audience it was aiming itself at. It had a dumb story and was based on a toy property so it felt aimed at younger audiences in that respect. The action, however, was extremely visceral and "real" feeling in the amount of destruction caused. Most of the dialogue and gratuitous T&A shots were geared towards teenagers... so which audience was this movie for because I don't think it worked for any of them. The one plus, however, is that the special effects were sure pretty, but that alone just doesn't do it.

Reno 911: Miami (6/10): As much as I love the TV show and find it utterly hilarious, the movie had more failed bits than successes. I had some concerns that the concept of what is basically an improvised, played for laughs version of Cops wouldn't be able to be stretched to movie length and be consistently funny. And it wasn't. There are some really funny recurring bits, but many of the scenes felt forced. Stick to the television show for your Reno 911 fix.

Knocked Up (8/10): Judd Apatow is on a roll. He has been able to tap into funny concepts that are also endearing and made people laugh their asses off. Sporting many of the same actors from the hit The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up has the same comic stylings, which is great. As opposed to The 40 Year Old Virgin, this movie had less quotable lines and more funny overall scenes. It also helps that you felt a connection with the characters, even being set up in the unlikely scenario they were in. Funny, funny stuff.