The International, Watchmen, Street Figher: The Legend of Chun-Li
Time to play catch up on the past week's movies. So in the order that I saw them...
The International
In short, this one was kinda boring. It had the thriller vibe, but not so much in the pacing as in the mystery of it, which was on the dull side. And I think I agree with the majority of the country, in particular those who decided not to see this one, that this flick's release was ill-timed in that the current financial situation doesnt play nice with a movie whose premise is an evil banking coorporation trying to control the world's economy.
There was a good 20 min or so in the middle that I thoroughly enjoyed. First there was a sorta slow chase scene, where the good guys were tailing the bad guys thru NYC, which I thought was conceptually really cool. Although, given how slow most of the rest of the film was, as much as this sequence fit, I'd be much more interested to see this kinda thing in a bigger, faster movie. Then there was a really awesome action sequence that followed it. I dont wanna give anything away, but the setting for it was a great choice. And there was all this gratuitous gore that came outta nowhere. The gore didnt really belong with everything else, but it at least made me momentarily happy. IMDB later told me that action sequence had been added in later, when they realized the movie needed something to pick it up.
Cast-wise, I would watch Clive Owen in just about anything. He'd just hafta stand there and talk pretty. Scruff and blood stains (his or someone else's) optional. Nothing to complain about with Naomi Watts either. I did like that her character was established early on as having a family, thus ruling out any unnecessary romance subplot.
So, um, yeah, this one is prolly not worth your time.
Watchmen
Sadly, this one turned out to be a bit of a disappointment, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and blame some of that on me not feeling so hot when I watched it, plus the waaay past my bedtime start time.
Gripe number one: What the heck was up with the soundtrack? It was so completely disjointed and made no sense. It was like they had their Ipod and shuffle and thought "Hey this is a cool song. Lets put it in the movie!" over and over. Nothing against the songs themselves, they just didnt quite go.
Gripe number two: Way too frickin' long. While on the one hand, that meant that they were able to give more backstory to more characters (which was one of the movie's strengths) and pulling more details from the book, it also meant that the kinda slow paced, very disjointed film dragged on forever. The graphic novel is a bit disjointed as well, but there it works with all of the in between chapters. When those are cut out (even though its a decision I agree with, given time constraints) it has even less of a flow.
But there was some happy stuff about it. For example, I loved the opening sequence with the Comedian's death. I liked the slo-mo shots and pauses during a pretty kick ass fight scene. I worried a bit that those kinda shots would get over used throughout the next 2.5 hours, but the balance of how they were used in the fight scenes was pretty close to perfect. Patrick Wilson was another happy. Thought he did a really good job. And the effects for Rorschach's mask were pretty hot. But on behalf of those who hadnt read the graphic novel, would it have killed them to throw in one line about why it did that? I felt I could sense a lot of confusion in the room.
To sum up, I think this is one of those cases where what I say wont really have an effect on whether or not you see this. If you're a fan, you're gonna go. If not, maybe you wont. I'd been kinda excited about possibly planning a second trip to see it at the IMAX, but now it doesnt really seem worth it.
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
I see you shaking your head at the screen. I know what you're thinking. And to be honest, I debated over whether or not I actually wanted to go see this. Ultimately, I decided that I really was interested in the mythology of Capcom's characters, and at worst, I'd be wasting just under two hours of an otherwise lazy Sunday. The verdict: Im actually glad I went.
Okay, so it wasn't an amazing movie by any stretch, but it was entertaining. I'd kinda hoped to see a few more of the well known Street Fighters in this. Apparently they're hoping to do a few more of these for different characters later, I'd be interested to see those if they happen. And the fight scenes were pretty kick ass. They kinda got a few toes over the line of believable, but pretty hot none the less. And the one scene where Chun-Li had her hair Princess Leia-ed up for her signature look got me kinda giddy.
The other thing that had me intrigued was that I was curious to see Kristin Kreuk playing someone other than Lana Lang. She definitely gets points for going for a bad ass role instead of the typical rom-com that you usually see these actresses switch to. I wouldnt go so far as to say I was impressed by her performance, but I think she did a good job. And it helped that her dialogue wasn't as cliche as her poorly written words on Smallville. Although there was some weirdness with the synching for lines that had to get redubbed. Not just for her, but for several characters, things just didnt quite line up.
Chris Klein on the other hand, not so good in his role. He was fairly unrecognizable (had I not known it was him, I dont think, I woulda guessed), which shoulda been a good thing, but I think he was trying too hard to pull away from his usual all American good guy roles. He just didnt fit the part and was trying way too hard to make it work. Michael Clarke Duncan, on the other hand, did fit his role and you could see he was enjoying himself. However, this movie is a bit beneath him. He's a bit too well known to fit with the rest of this crew, and too good of an actor (hello, Oscar nod for Green Mile). But yeah, as long as he enjoyed himself, who am I to judge.
Anyways, I prolly wont be rushing to the store to buy this when its out, but I expect it'll be in a bargain bin before long. That's when I'll add it to the movie wall of doom.
The International
In short, this one was kinda boring. It had the thriller vibe, but not so much in the pacing as in the mystery of it, which was on the dull side. And I think I agree with the majority of the country, in particular those who decided not to see this one, that this flick's release was ill-timed in that the current financial situation doesnt play nice with a movie whose premise is an evil banking coorporation trying to control the world's economy.
There was a good 20 min or so in the middle that I thoroughly enjoyed. First there was a sorta slow chase scene, where the good guys were tailing the bad guys thru NYC, which I thought was conceptually really cool. Although, given how slow most of the rest of the film was, as much as this sequence fit, I'd be much more interested to see this kinda thing in a bigger, faster movie. Then there was a really awesome action sequence that followed it. I dont wanna give anything away, but the setting for it was a great choice. And there was all this gratuitous gore that came outta nowhere. The gore didnt really belong with everything else, but it at least made me momentarily happy. IMDB later told me that action sequence had been added in later, when they realized the movie needed something to pick it up.
Cast-wise, I would watch Clive Owen in just about anything. He'd just hafta stand there and talk pretty. Scruff and blood stains (his or someone else's) optional. Nothing to complain about with Naomi Watts either. I did like that her character was established early on as having a family, thus ruling out any unnecessary romance subplot.
So, um, yeah, this one is prolly not worth your time.
Watchmen
Sadly, this one turned out to be a bit of a disappointment, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and blame some of that on me not feeling so hot when I watched it, plus the waaay past my bedtime start time.
Gripe number one: What the heck was up with the soundtrack? It was so completely disjointed and made no sense. It was like they had their Ipod and shuffle and thought "Hey this is a cool song. Lets put it in the movie!" over and over. Nothing against the songs themselves, they just didnt quite go.
Gripe number two: Way too frickin' long. While on the one hand, that meant that they were able to give more backstory to more characters (which was one of the movie's strengths) and pulling more details from the book, it also meant that the kinda slow paced, very disjointed film dragged on forever. The graphic novel is a bit disjointed as well, but there it works with all of the in between chapters. When those are cut out (even though its a decision I agree with, given time constraints) it has even less of a flow.
But there was some happy stuff about it. For example, I loved the opening sequence with the Comedian's death. I liked the slo-mo shots and pauses during a pretty kick ass fight scene. I worried a bit that those kinda shots would get over used throughout the next 2.5 hours, but the balance of how they were used in the fight scenes was pretty close to perfect. Patrick Wilson was another happy. Thought he did a really good job. And the effects for Rorschach's mask were pretty hot. But on behalf of those who hadnt read the graphic novel, would it have killed them to throw in one line about why it did that? I felt I could sense a lot of confusion in the room.
To sum up, I think this is one of those cases where what I say wont really have an effect on whether or not you see this. If you're a fan, you're gonna go. If not, maybe you wont. I'd been kinda excited about possibly planning a second trip to see it at the IMAX, but now it doesnt really seem worth it.
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
I see you shaking your head at the screen. I know what you're thinking. And to be honest, I debated over whether or not I actually wanted to go see this. Ultimately, I decided that I really was interested in the mythology of Capcom's characters, and at worst, I'd be wasting just under two hours of an otherwise lazy Sunday. The verdict: Im actually glad I went.
Okay, so it wasn't an amazing movie by any stretch, but it was entertaining. I'd kinda hoped to see a few more of the well known Street Fighters in this. Apparently they're hoping to do a few more of these for different characters later, I'd be interested to see those if they happen. And the fight scenes were pretty kick ass. They kinda got a few toes over the line of believable, but pretty hot none the less. And the one scene where Chun-Li had her hair Princess Leia-ed up for her signature look got me kinda giddy.
The other thing that had me intrigued was that I was curious to see Kristin Kreuk playing someone other than Lana Lang. She definitely gets points for going for a bad ass role instead of the typical rom-com that you usually see these actresses switch to. I wouldnt go so far as to say I was impressed by her performance, but I think she did a good job. And it helped that her dialogue wasn't as cliche as her poorly written words on Smallville. Although there was some weirdness with the synching for lines that had to get redubbed. Not just for her, but for several characters, things just didnt quite line up.
Chris Klein on the other hand, not so good in his role. He was fairly unrecognizable (had I not known it was him, I dont think, I woulda guessed), which shoulda been a good thing, but I think he was trying too hard to pull away from his usual all American good guy roles. He just didnt fit the part and was trying way too hard to make it work. Michael Clarke Duncan, on the other hand, did fit his role and you could see he was enjoying himself. However, this movie is a bit beneath him. He's a bit too well known to fit with the rest of this crew, and too good of an actor (hello, Oscar nod for Green Mile). But yeah, as long as he enjoyed himself, who am I to judge.
Anyways, I prolly wont be rushing to the store to buy this when its out, but I expect it'll be in a bargain bin before long. That's when I'll add it to the movie wall of doom.