I haven't posted in a little while and was asked today why I hadn't written about the Avengers. Well, it's simple really. What else could I say about it? The common wisdom has been that you should go see it, so if you haven't...go now! I have seen a few other movies lately, here's a quick rundown of what I have seen as of late:
1. Avengers - Go see this movie. Its really that simple, it's expertly done. Joss Whedon (the director [also of Cabin in the Woods fame]) does an incredible job of adding comic book elements into a fast-paced action film. It has all of your favorite superheroes, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Samuel L. Jackson, The Hulk, and Scarlet Johansson's ass in tight pants. See? All your favorites! Just go watch it, it doesn't really need a review, but its a solid 5/5.
2. Men in Black 3 - The third installment in the Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith franchise is a bit too light on the Jones, but is still heavy on the comedy. This film follows Will Smith's Agent J as he goes back in time to kill an assassin that wants to erase Jones' Agent K from the future. The younger K is played by Josh Brolin and he does an impeccable job of channeling the Tommy Lee Jones-isms, including the signature facial expressions and speech patterns. This is a good fun action flick, but I couldn't remember the second movie too well, so I can't comment too much on the continuity, but its worth seeing if you have an extra $10 and want an excuse to eat some popcorn. This one gets a 3.5/5 (points deducted for being a tad long, and starting off a bit flat).
3. Dark Shadows - Not Tim Burton and Johnny Depp's best collaboration. The movie itself isn't too bad, but some of the writing and the general tone of the movie felt "off". It was a bit hard to follow and switched from comedy, to serious, to comedy, to horror-ish movie willy nilly and made it hard to really get into the groove of the movie. Top marks go to Chloe Grace Moretz who plays a teenage Collins girl living in the old Collins estate. The movie is about Barnabus Collins (Depp), a vampire coming back from being imprisoned in a coffin for 200 years by a witch (Eva Green) who has a crush on him that she just can't seem to get over. That is basically the plot, the witch is in love with Barnabus and since the love is unrequited, she kills his lady-love and turns him into a vampire for all eternity. Beyond that there's very little twisting and turning and the plot of having to save the Collin's Canary from going under so that they can keep their business up and running is a bit light on excitement. This one gets a 2.5/5, you should see it at home, if there's nothing better on.
4. Wrath of the Titans. If you thought the first one was bad, this one is even worse. I have no idea how they got Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson to come back for a second shoot, but I imagine it involved a lot of money and the promise of prostitutes. The best part of this move was Bill Nighy, who has a minimal role, but happens to be the highlight of any movie he is in. The story revolved around Zeus (Leeson) being imprisoned by Hades (Fiennes) so that Chronos can leech his power and come back to life. Persueus (Sam Worthington) has to save the day by doing impossible and random stuff, including going through a maze, which while it was interestingly designed and shot, was very confusing and hard to follow along with. You can skip this one, 1.5/5. Only see it if you need an excuse to eat butter and can only justify doing so by putting it on popcorn, and need to be watching something in order to do that.
As always, comments/suggestions/recommendations are welcome!
