Monday, May 18, 2009

Casting Call: The A-Team



I think "A-Team" as great potential to be an awesome flick. When it comes to TV remakes, hopefully it goes the way of The Fugitive, where it can actually take itself seriously. Joe Carnanhan is supposedly spearheading it, so it will most likely be dramatic thriller that knows how to be funny and humorous (hopefully!). Ya know, that middle ground between Smokin Aces and Narc. While I have never seen an episode of tv show, I still want to see this done right. I took the time to read up on the characters.






















Hannibal- Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis IS a tough, old cigar-chomping guy. I think he has perfected the serious but witty action hero, and despite his age, has kept himself in really great shape.



















Face- Ryan Reynolds
Reynolds could pass for a military guy physically. He is also a great actor with great comedic delivery and witticism. I would think he would be able to handle both the script, action, and possible improv.


















Murdoch- David Arquette
The name does not invoke quality with a lot of people, but I think Arquette is far more talented than people give him credit for. Eight Legged Freaks, Ready to Rumble, and his short-live tv series "In Case of Emergency" had better balance of outright insanity and sincerity than most want to admit.


















Bad Attitude- Terry Crews
He's big, he's black, so he's a pretty obvious choice. But he actually has some pretty great screen presence, sense of humor, and charisma that allows him to excel in the kind of role this would be.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Review; 21st Century Breakdown


Green Day's newest musical endeavor, 21st Century Breakdown, continues their socially-relevant rock opera style they started with American Idiot.

I am not the most cultured when it comes to classic rock, but The Who have always been a favorite of mine. Their own tendency to make rock operas have had been interested in the style and left me with a desire for a more modern one, preferably not made by Coheed and Cambria. As a movie buff and general fan of fiction, I appreciate the effort to use music to tell a story.

The new album definitely has Green Day's punk rock roots stamp on it, but unlike American Idiot, the music itself is much less catchy. Not many of the songs scream "single," and probably why "Know Your Enemy" seemed so stale when it was originally released. Don't get me wrong, it was a good song, just not exciting. As a finished product, 21st Century Breakdown excels.

It is a return to the origins of modern rock. A time when rock music promised not just naive teenage rebellion, but was a force of nature against a system that never wanted to think outside the box. Coming off the end of George H.W. Bush's presidency, Green Day is running on full tanks. But for some reason the anti-Bush pop culture icons have been coming off a little presumptuous and overly-arrogant despite my general agreement with them, and American Idiot, and subsequent public appearances, got swept up in it with its more direct shots at the administration. 21st Century Breakdown turns its focus to the people following the fictional Christian and Gloria living life in a post-Bush America. I think this will allow them to wade the anti-Bush fervor a little better. I only hope Green Day can keep their focus on people, and not bash the administration in their eventual tour.

I love the new album. As a whole its brilliant, but as singles it might have a hard time getting started. It has plenty of cool tracks like "American Eulogy," "Murder City," and "Last of the American Girls," but do not expect any radio overplay like "Wake Me Up When September Ends."

9.5/10

Review: Star Trek


The new Star Trek follows Kirk, Spock, and the other "Original Series" crew on their first mission together. The newly created crew faces off against a Romulan threat that knows more than they could imagine.

First thing first, this is easily one of the greatest cast movies of all time. It's hard to choose just one actor because they all did so well, but Kirk and Spock are the obvious foreground characters. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto handled their characters with the perfect balance of nostalgic homage and unique individualism.

It is nice to see a reboot that is still light-hearted. Between Batman and Bond, "better" and "more realistic" seem to be defined as "dark" and "gritty." Stat Trek definitely brings a certain level of humor and excitement without the cheese-factor. It is also nice to see a reboot thats not essentially a reboot. I'm not going to spoil to much, but I will say that the classic series and other movies are not rendered moot by this movie.

Remember when they said M. Night was the next Spielberg. So much for that. I am confident to say, and I may be the first (I haven't seen it elsewhere), but Abrams is definitely the new Spielberg. He definitely makes the light-hearted summer blockbuster genre his bitch.

Unlike the new Batman and Bond, Star Trek seemed reltaively less ambitious. The techno-babble is kept to a minimum, and the villain had a minimal screen time with a straightforward agenda. The movie spends more time showing off his visuals and spotlighting characters. Although, this lack of complexity is almost completely ignorable because the cast and visuals are so good. FYI, bring sunglasses because there are solar flares on everything.

I am not a Trekkie. The only Star Trek that I have been privvy too is the movie First Contact, which I thought was a pretty good flick. Needless to say, I had a blast at this movie. I recognized the catchphrases, all of which sounded very organic and never forced, because they are so popular, but the phrase "the first Star Trek for everyone" is spot on. It seems to pander to both fanboys, plenty of references to Star Trek even the expanded universe as I have learned from my reading about the movie, and keeps itself simple and entertaining enough to please the general audience. After the dissapointing Wolverine movie, this movie is the first TRUE summer movie of this season.

9/10 A must see.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Top 10 Heroes For a Comeback

John McLane, Indiana Jones, Rambo, Rocky. Old action heroes are blowing off the cobwebs of their greatest roles. They have met mixed reaction, but thus far I have enjoyed them. There is still some on the way like Van Damme and Lundgren returning to Universal Soldier. I would love to see more so I made a list of 10 heroes I want to blow off the cobwebs and go for a Round 2 with the original actors and continuity involved rather than rebooting/remaking the crap out of everything.

10. Topper Harley (Hot Shots series)
Who better to lampoon the comebacks of other action movies, than Charlie Sheen as Topper Harley, the greatest action hero spoof (at least in my opinion).

9. David Dunn (Unbreakable)
This movie is a way earlier than the rest, but I would really love to see this get a second chapter. Hell yeah, it has a high potential for failure, but there's no shame in trying (right?).

8. Goonies (Goonies)
All of the original actors have gone on to new things. Some have bailed on Hollywood, some are still struggling, and some are Josh Brolin. Still I think it would be interesting to see them return and go on another adventure. Kind of a City Slickers style mid life crisis spearheaded by Mikey. Maybe this time they can actually the giant squid.

7. Ashley J Williams (Evil Dead series)
If "Burn Notice" has taught me anything its that Bruce Campbell still kicks ass despite being older, pudgier, and possibly more cynical than he once was. But the Bruce is still full of wit and charm, and I think both if Raimi can get his crap together and direct something that isn't Spiderman or produce something that isn't a J-horror remake, they could make a great grassroots horror flick

6. Popeye Doyle (French Connection)
I hate to say it, but Gene Hackman seems to have fallen from grace. The guy isn't getting the high profile goods anymore although he has shined in some noteworthy indies (Royal Tenenbaums anyone). But to make it up to all of us for Welcome to Mooseport and Heartbreakers, he should beat the streets to see if anyones picking their feet in Poughkeepsie.

5. Axel Foley (Beverly Hills Cop series)
The third one sucked and Eddie Murphy hasn't done anything of any worth except for Dreamgirls which is already kind of forgotten. Murphy has kept in pretty incredibly shape it seems, and he could definitely make a comeback if they stick to the intensity and humor of the first one. That is be funny but take your self seriously, i.e. Not I, Spy.

4. Snake Plisken (Escape From.....)
Escape From Earth. That was the proposed title for a third Snake flick made by Russel and Carpenter. Why isn't this happening? The two of them arn't really doing anything. Carpenter in particular needs a hit after Ghosts of Mars and deserves one after making superior "Master of Horror" episodes.

3. Harry Callahan (Dirty Harry series)
I thought Gran Torino would be a Dirty Harry flick. Watching Gran Torino, it might as well have been Dirty Harry (except that he had kids and a love of his life). To think that Gran Torino is Eastwood's last acting gig, it is unfortunate that there is no more Dirty Harry

2. Roger Rabbit (Who Framed Roger Rabbit)
Come on! Who doesn't? Who Framed Roger Rabbit is such a gem, and I still cannot believe they never made another one. In fact, a prequel was planned, with toons being draftedfor WWII and Roger meeting Jessica, who was a radio host who wasn't so HOT! But Spielberg had just done Schindler's List and did not want to comically villify the Nazis anymore. Hence no Indiana Jones until a Cold War error.

1. Max Rockatansky (Mad Max series)
The third one was not that great. But 1 and especially 2 were fantastic. Good old fashioned filmmaking. If only Mel would do it. He says he is too old, but he has done plenty of movies with at least mid-level action in it since Lethal Weapon 4 yet he keeps refering to LW4 as a "painful experience." Plus Fury Road is a badass title.

Review- X-Men Origins: Wolverine


Going back to the past, the famous X-Men, Wolverine, journeys from childhood to the loner amnesiac the audience met in the first X-Men movie. Along the journey, Wolverine falls in love and becomes entangled in the Weapon X Program, a military outfit composed of mutants and mutant-hating scientists.

This review might be a little less hard on the movie than most since I saw it after seeing the really horrible reviews, but the movie was entertaining. It was a fun popcorn flick and sparked enough interest for me to want to see more. It is still a huge disappointment. It had all the pieces: Hugh proves to know a lot of the character, a young upcoming indie director, Ryan Reynolds in a long awaited role, Gambit in a long awaited appearance, and some really inspired casting decisions, yet the pieces just didn't come together. At least not perfectly.

One giant flaw is the horrible green screen. I am not sure how such a high-profile summer blockbuster ended up with such shoddy green screen. Other than that, the effects were passable at their worst. The claws were iffy; both metal and bone. It didn't seem like they ever used actual claw props and they were always CGI. Non-essential CGI is one of my biggest pet peeves.

The progression of the plot went pretty well, but the tone got worse as the movie went on, especially during the boxing scene. I always appreciate a well-place humorous moment in a popcorn action flick, but this one killed the tension. There were a few cringe-worthy lines, as any action flick might have, but they handled the dialogue better than it deserved. There is just no way that someone could write the lines and think they were good.

The movie was well cast. For a rapper, Will.i.am was surprisingly passable. Durand would have made a good Blob in any other movie, except he felt out of place in this one, mostly due to the boxing scene, and looked questionable. The fat suit just was not that great. Daniel Henney as Agent Zero, Danny Huston as Stryker, and Lynn Collins as Silver Fox were solid. Not amazing, but far from horrible. Liev Schreiber was incredible as Sabertooth, and Ryan Reynolds was really great in his small role. Both stole the show and I really wish the 2 of them had more screentime. Kitsch was a mediocre Gambit. A lot of people were mad at his lack of Cajun accent, but I never expected to strong an accent for anyone who played him unless they naturally had one. It left me wishing the movie was actually X-Men Origins: Weapon X rathen than Wolverine because the strike team was easily one of the better parts.

Now, I am a gigantic fan of Deadpool. Always liked him until Cable and Deadpool title where he became my favorite. You'll here a lot of people say they "ruined him," but it is pretty much hyperbole. He is easily one of the less faithful adaptations, but he filled a role and did well. I mean a number of the changes had some sort of parallel (2 blades, healing factor, teleportation), but the laser eyes really made me mad. Because 1) Cyclops' eyes don't burn and 2) Deadpool never had anything like that. No mask because he was fresh off the operating table. And as for the "merc without a mouth" references, what would you do to a mouthy soldier that you were about to do horrible things to on a surgical table? They would have been better off using stitches rather than a skin graff so that Deadpool could cut it open and start quipping again. The same goes for the cyborg/computer-upload. Obviously they were using Stryker's son's serum from the second film to control Deadpool so they should have just continued with that. It hasn't left a lot of faith in the quality of the Deadpool spin-off, except for the casting of Ryan Reynolds, but I am still optimistic.

There was a number of mutants forced into the movie. If they were just visual cameos like Boy with Red Glasses and Diamond Blonde than they would be easy to overlook, but the characters were much more involved than they really should have been.

6/10 Not the best of the franchise, but entertaining and still has potential for great sequels. I reccommend checking it out on cable and save your money.