Archive for the 'Based on a comic' Category

The Dark Knight

Published
by
Chalupa
on August 4, 2008
in Action, Based on a comic, Black Comedy, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sequel and Thriller
. 0 Comments

Liz and I were able to catch the latest installment in the Batman series over the weekend.  We’re both glad we were able to catch it on the big screen.  After all the buildup, hype, and raving reviews, we finally got to see what everyone was talking about.


I was very impressed with Batman Begins and I wasn’t in any way disappointed with The Dark Knight.  I’m already looking forward to the next one.  Heath Ledger did an amazing job with The Joker.  I was reading someone’s comments somewhere and they were talking about how they’ve never been a Ledger fan until now.  They also never realized how menacing and diabolical the Joker could actually be, and after thinking about Jack Nicholson’s portrayal from 1989, they realized that Nicholson was just delivering the same role he had been for the previous 20 years or so.  You may or may not agree with that, but it was a little mind blowing to me.  Maybe I haven’t seen enough of Nicholson’s films, but I’ve never quite understood why people are so enamored by him.  Yeah, he has some good films out there with great performances, but I’ve never been that impressed.  It’s really too bad Ledger isn’t with us anymore for any follow-up films.

Often times in sequels, it’s hard to make something that lives up to the original.  I think Christopher Nolan did a good job in raising the bar by bringing in the Joker, but there’s always room for some improvements.  I don’t think Christian Bale had to really act that much this time around.  The gutteral “batman voice” got a little annoying and old, but it makes sense he was talking differently to try and hide his identity.  Aaron Eckhart did a decent job.  I’ll always remember him as Nick Naylor from Thank You for Smoking.  It’ll be interesting to see if he makes a comeback in the future.

I think Gary Oldman had a much more active role this time around.  He’s such a great actor and it’s nice to see him able to spread his wings a bit.  I liked Maggie Gyllenhaal more than Katie Holmes in the role of Rachel Dawes.  She also fit in pretty well.  It wasn’t like some films where actors change for a particular character and the whole time you’re confused as to who exactly that person is.  Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman were wonderful as usual.  Some friends of mine complained after the first film that they were grossly underutilized.  I kind of agreed, however, it was nice to actually have a “real” actor play the role of Alfred for a change.  I was just happy to have a live body in the role.

Some of the scenes with the Joker are a bit disturbing, but this is rated PG-13, so there’s not a whole lot to worry about.  They cut away at just the right moments in certain scenes.  Liz and I both said we got a little bored in the middle, but overall we thoroughly enjoyed it.  I would highly suggest getting out and seeing this one before it leaves the theaters.  You won’t be sorry.

Rating: ★★★★½

Iron Man

Published
by
Chalupa
on May 27, 2008
in Action, Based on a comic, Superhero, Technology and War
. 0 Comments

Since I’ve now seen this film twice, I figure it’s about time I gave some thoughts on it. I must admit that at first I wasn’t too interested in this movie because it was going to be another comic-book-film and Robert Downey Jr. was going to be playing the lead role. Now don’t get me wrong, I think Downey is an amazing actor, I just have to always remind myself of that. Liz got onto his fan wagon way before I did. I didn’t really become aware of him until he started having his drug problems aired to the world and he spent some time in jail. I think mentally, I just wrote him off as another trashy Hollywood denizen. In contrast though, whenever I actually think about the roles Downey has done and some of the films he has been in, I can’t help but think he’s awesome and I’m proud to report he did not let me down in Iron Man.

The first and foremost thing I must say about this film is that even though it’s based on a comic book, it doesn’t come off as a comic book film. You know what I’m talking about - it’s that thing you just can’t quite put your finger on. In the same way you can recognize a film by your favorite director, there’s just something about the style on about 95% of comic-based films. Iron Man didn’t have this mark and I believe most of that credit goes to Jon Favreau for directing. If you don’t remember who Favreau is, you need to pop in Swingers and give it a watch. Favreau hasn’t always been directing, but he’s definitely very experienced in Hollywood with plenty of acting, producing, directing, and writing credits to his name.

Not having read any comics as a child, I didn’t really know much about the Iron Man story. I did have some action figures back in the day, so I knew what he looked like, but that’s where my experience ended. While most superheros have some special power they were either born with or developed, Iron Man is one of the few that is just a “normal” guy. The only other one I know of in this respect would be Batman. Tony Stark is a genius weapons developer that is kidnapped by some terrorists and told to create a missile or else. Instead of bowing to their demands and creating their weapon of mass destruction, Tony bows to their demands and makes his own WMD in the form of an iron suit complete with weapons and booster rockets. After escaping, Stark decides to try and help the world instead of just providing weapons for it and starts refining his suit into something much, much better.

One big draw to the movie for me was Jeff Bridges playing the bad-guy role of Obadiah Stane. Being a Lebowski-fan, I’m always interested in seeing more of Bridges’ roles and wasn’t disappointed with this one. Gwyneth Paltrow plays Pepper Pots, Stark’s assistant, and Terrence Howard plays Col. Rhodes and good friend of Stark’s. You also need to keep your eye out for Favreau’s role as Hogan. I loved seeing him in the casino scene. It’s also nice when a director plays a role in their own movie and can actually act.

I’ve heard mostly positive reviews about this film and am quite positive you’ll enjoy this one. So get out and see it before it leaves the theaters.  You might also be interested in knowing that Downey will be playing the role of Tony Stark in the upcoming The Incredible Hulk starring Edward Norton

Rating: ★★★★☆

Appleseed: Ex Machina

Published
by
Chalupa
on March 11, 2008
in Action, Animation, Anime, Based on a comic, Based on a graphic novel, Conspiracy, End of the world, Foreign, Future, Japan, Martial Arts, Sequel and War
. 1 Comment

This is my first-ever sponsored review. I haven’t done anything like this before. If you’ve never heard of Appleseed: Ex Machina before, you should know it’s an Anime sequel to Appleseed. This film does come from Japan, but the Region 1 DVD release has been dubbed into English. Directing this film is the legendary Shinji Aramaki. I say legendary because this man has been very influential in the world of animation and the drawing of cartoon machines. This guy worked on the drawings and designs of the first Transformers toys, MASK, the Genesis series, and Fullmetal Alchemist. Producing this film is John Woo of action and martial arts fame.

If you know anything about Anime, you know it’s a style of animation from Japan. John Woo happens to be from China. The two of them working together, in a creative manner, is nothing short of amazing due to the long history of being at odds that their two countries have. The fact Woo is involved leads a lot of credibility to the project and puts the film on the radars of many potential fans. Even though Woo is known for his fight scenes, there’s the element of emotion that many miss. The emotion and depth to the characters and story turns a film like this from being just eye-candy into a truly wonderful work of art. You’ll definitely see his influence in scenes where slow motion, creative fighting styles and lots of bullets are used.

The word Anime is really just an abbreviation of the English word animation and has its roots in Japanese Manga. Anime is traditionally hand drawn, but computer animation is becoming more and more common. Having majored in computer science as an undergrad, I know a tiny bit about the work and processing power it takes to make cartoons and animated films. The 3-D animation is this film is nothing short of amazing. Everything looks so realistic from the body movements, facial expressions, fully animated jaws, backgrounds, sceneries and landscapes. The visual aspects of this film are breathtaking.

I haven’t seen the original film, Appleseed, so I may be a little clueless to the story. I think this is a good thing when it comes to a review because I have no pre-conceived notions of what’s happening. Ex Machina takes place in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic world. At some point in the past there was a global, non-nuclear war which took out pretty much everything. Olympus is a Utopian-like city where peace and order stand with the help of its elite fighting force, the ESWAT. This isn’t the only city in the world though. There are still other countries and governments. There are also three types of people: humans, cyborgs, and bioroids. I’m going to assume you already know what humans and cyborgs are. Bioroids are clones, genetic copies, of real people made with the best technology available. They also lack some of the bad qualities that seem to contribute to the not-so-great aspects of humanity.

The three main characters are Deunan, a human, Briareos, human turned cyborg, and Tereus, a bioroid that is a copy of Briareos when he was human. I’m sure you’re already imagining the drama between the main trio. Deunan and Briareos were partners back in the day and continued to be after he was severely injured and turned into a cyborg. As far as I can tell, they exist in the original film. In Ex Machina we find ourselves in another classic, Confuscist battle of good versus evil; there are organized terrorist attacks trying to bring down the peace and order of Olympus.

In the midst of peace talks between all the countries and governments of the world, humans and cyborgs are being turned into mindless zombies. These remotely controlled drones are being made to massively attack anything of strategic value in the city. At first it is thought the cyborgs are just susceptible to rogue, controlling frequencies, but humans are being affected too. Are Deunan, Briareos, and Tereus susceptible to this mind control? Will they be able to take down a terrorist mastermind that makes Dr. Octopus look like a distempered man-child? Well, I couldn’t really tell you or I’d be ruining the movie for you.

I highly recommend this film. I think it will be dearly loved by existing Appleseed fans. It is a great addition to the already wonderful Anime genre and there’s enough story, action and drama to keep everyone else wanting to find out what happens next. Rent it or buy it, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Rating: ★★★★½

Upcoming Review - Appleseed: Ex Machina

Published
by
Chalupa
on March 3, 2008
in Action, Animation, Anime, Based on a comic and Sci-fi
. 1 Comment

I’ve recently been contacted about writing a review for a new Anime movie called Appleseed: Ex Machina. It’s a sequel to Appleseed which came out in 2003 and was released in the US in 2004. Here’s a trailer, a short synopsis and some high-quality pictures (Appleseed: Ex Machina - #25, Appleseed: Ex Machina - #17, Appleseed: Ex Machina - #2) if you’re interested. I should have a review up in the near future.

APPLESEED: EX MACHINA

In the year 2133, a war killed off half the population of Earth, plunging the world into chaos and despair. In OLYMPUS, a utopian city-state and the last true bastion of culture and civilization, the ESWAT police force holds the peace. The two star members of this Special Ops team are Deunan Knute and her cyborg partner Briareos. Their relationship is threatened when the government reveals a prototype combat clone, named Tereus, who is a clone of Briareos. However, a strange electronic virus begins turning citizens into violent zombies and the trio must team up to track down the terrorists behind this brutal attack before it tears the peaceful utopia apart.

This sequel to the 2003 smash hit, based on the best-selling manga by Masamune Shirow, uses mind-blowing, cutting edge CGI and was produced by action-king John Woo.

Appleseed Ex Machina arrives on DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu-Ray March 11th, 2008.

Transformers

Published
by
Chalupa
on July 11, 2007
in Action, Adventure, Animation, Based on TV Series, Based on a comic, Sci-fi, Technology and Thriller
. 0 Comments

I don’t have a whole lot to say about Transformers. I used to watch the cartoon as a kid, but wasn’t fanatical about it. I’m also not opinionated enough about the cartoon to rip apart the movie for minuscule inconsistencies. Yeah, so Optimus Prime has some flames painted on the side and Megatron didn’t turn into a gun fired by Starscream. Big deal. The movie was still action packed and entertaining.

For me, I don’t know if this would have been absolutely necessary to see on the big screen. I’m sure some would heartily disagree with that, but this would have been the same experience for me on my television. I still suggest catching it sometime.

Tank Girl

Published
by
Chalupa
on September 5, 2006
in Action, Based on a comic, Comedy, Future, Puppets and Sci-fi
. 0 Comments

Tank Girl is a great B-movie out of 1995 starring Lori Petty (Point Break, Free Willy) and Naomi Watts about some rebels battling the big bad conglomerate government. Kind of the ongoing battle played out in many a movie, but this one involves a girl and her tank. Besides seeming kind of silly and weird, this movie is also heavily based on the comic world, which explains some of the costuming and dialogue. If you’ve seen Ultraviolet, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

I do have to admit, from the cover I always thought that “Tank Girl” was played byAlanna Ubach (Waiting…, Beakman’s World and Sister Act). This isn’t something to get all fired up about and invite 20 friends over to watch on the big screen, unless you all like this movie. I’d say it’s definitely worth watching though. Where else are you going to see Ice-T dressed up as a mutant human/kangaroo fighting for justice?

THX 1138

Published
by
Chalupa
on July 31, 2006
in Based on a comic, Based on a short film, Drama, Drugs, Future and Sci-fi
. 0 Comments

This is definitely one of those classics you always hear about. Immediately after the movie starts all I can think of is Star Wars. This is of course, a George Lucas film so why should we be surprised? Light panels, characters, clothing, sound effects, etc. It all screams Star Wars. The story is a bit weird and at really reminds me of The Truman Show. I can’t really scream accolades about this because it just didn’t impress me that much. It’s worth watching to be able to talk about it though.

Oh, and if you were wondering, there is a Baldwin involved. Another interesting name I caught in the credits was Caleb Deschanel. I looked him up and he’s Zooey’s dad.

Oldboy

Published
by
Chalupa
on April 23, 2006
in Based on a comic, Based on a graphic novel, Drama, Graphic Violence, Kidnapping, Martial Arts, Mystery, Narrated, Neo Noir, Revenge, Thriller and Twist
. 0 Comments

Oldboy is a movie I learned about from my good buddy Tim Mahan. It’s a Korean film about a man who is kidnapped and held in a room for 15 years. He’s allowed to watch some TV but has no access to things like sunlight and contact with other human beings. Eventually he breaks free and decides to try and figure out who imprisioned him and why. He can’t find his family and friends because the world thinks he murdered his wife and is on the run.

Through the twisted world one man has created, we eventually discover exactly what Dae-su Oh has done to warrant such revenge. I do need to say that this movie is kind of messed up and wouldn’t be enjoyed by many. If you’re up to it though, you might want to give it a try some time.

A History of Violence

Published
by
Chalupa
on October 16, 2005
in Action, Based on a comic, Based on a graphic novel, Based on a novel, Crime, Drama, Mob and Thriller
. 0 Comments

I saw this one a while ago with Liz, if you’re one of the regular readers I’m sure you’ve noticed I haven’t been keeping up on here.

I would like to start off by saying I really enjoyed this movie, but it’s definitely not for everyone. Like the title states, there’s some violent things in here. It also isn’t your normal type of action-shoot-em-up kind of violence. There are a couple scenes where people get shot and it actually looks like a real gunshot wound. There are some semi-prolonged close ups/shots of some of this stuff and I’m sure it has to bother some people. There are also a couple sex scenes that are a bit more than the norm. Granted these take place between a married couple, but it’s just intense. I think that’s a good word overall to describe this movie - intense.

Viggo Mortensen does great in this film. A lot of people weren’t very aware of this actor until his debut in the much awaited and acclaimed Lord of the Rings trilogy. I think the first movie I remember seeing him in was either Crimson Tide or G.I. Jane. It was cool to see him in a role that wasn’t LOTR or military based.

The basic plot of this movie is a small town diner owner gets held up by a couple of gunmen and saves the day. Out of nowhere he pretty much wipes the floor with a couple of professionals. This of course creates a lot of press and media hub-bub which then attracts the attention of some people associated with organized crime from back east. I’m not to go into the whole plot here, but things get interesting.

One thing that kind of caught me off guard here was how the movie ended. It was abrupt and kind of out of nowhere. However, it was appropriate and ended where it should have; I just wasn’t expecting it. Maybe this will be a new trend as I saw the same thing happen in Broken Flowers.

Constantine

Published
by
Chalupa
on July 27, 2005
in Action, Based on a comic, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Religion and Thriller
. 0 Comments

This is probably the best movie depicting Satan, that I’ve seen, since The Devil’s Advocate. I was talking to Tara today and she mentioned that Keanu Reeves seem to be stuck in movies where good and bad battle it out. Very insightful if you ask me.

I wouldn’t say this movie was awesome, but it was definitely cool to see and entertaining. There was a lot of theology in here that I didn’t necessarily agree with and at times, didn’t understand. I think you could have tons and tons of conversations just about these aspects of the movie. One actor I was most definitely pleased to see was Djimon Hounsou. I was telling Liz that every movie I see him in I think he’s that much cooler.

I wouldn’t give this film a ‘must see’ endorsement. I would give this something more along the lines of a B range. I would have to say it’s worth seeing though.