Why I Will Rent Wolverine

I like a good comic book adapted for film movie as much as the next guy. Ok, maybe not as much as the next guy because a lot of people went to see Wolverine this weekend. Yglesias sums up pretty well why Wolverine will go in my Netflix queue, but I won't be spending the 10 bucks it would take to see it at the movies.

Wolverine isn’t a character whose origins we’re curious about. Wolverine is a character whose origin is that he has no memories and we don’t know where he’s from other than that at some point he was mixed up with a shady covert ops program that bonded adamantium to his skeleton. That’s the origin. That’s the character.

A Western Zombie Flick?

Really? I'm a pretty big zombie fan, but if I see one zombie riding a horse I will burn something.

At least it has Megan Fox in it.

The Greatest Book Of All Time

Is gonna be a movie.

Where The Wild Things Are


FYI - The No. 2 book of all time is The Giving Tree.

The Wrestler

I hated this movie. Other than giving Mickey Rourke a pass back into Hollywood I just could find any purpose to the film. I get that it was a story about the life of a broken down man, but other than that what? Maybe my feelings come from too many film classes in college, but I doubt very seriously that that was all that the writer and director of The Wrestler wanted to do.

I thought Rourke did a good job, but I thought the role was really rather limiting. There wasn't much depth to the character and when you rely, as The Wrestler did, on an actor to move the film forward I just feel that you have to have something more than 'hey look at the broken down old man.'

I thought Marisa Tomei's role was probably even weaker. Did the awards ceremony last night the presenter (can't remember who) talked about how strong of a character she was, showed there was no shame in being a stripper, blah blah blah. That sounded like an interesting role to watch, but it certainly wasn't a part of The Wrestler. An actor can only do so much and the writer of The Wrestler didn't give her much to do. Frankly, I thought Tomei was little more than a prop in the film.

If the film was just supposed to be about a broken down old man, it succeeded. Similar movies have been made before. Leaving Las Vegas is a perfect example. The difference between the two was that there was depth to the Cage's character. We got to see why he was broken and we got to see why his life might be better if he pulled out of his tailspin. With The Wrestler it was simply, hey look this guy has a shitty life and cue the credits.

How To Screw Up An Ending

With so many things in my Netflix queue stuck on 'long wait', I resorted to watching some of the lesser pushed films from the past couple of years. Last night, I watched Henry Poole Is Here.

I'm going to ruin the ending of the movie for anybody who hasn't seen it, but since this isn't a movie review (and is my blog anyways) I can do that. Anyway, sometimes the lead character HAS TO DIE and Henry Poole needed to die in order for this movie to work. By letting him live, it simply turned into a film that rested on the mechanics of the 1,643 movies like it that came before. Yes it would have been a bit sad to have killed Henry Poole, but damnit that is life. I am so tired of movies that lack any sense of realism in their endings. And yes, I realize this was a movie and not real life. Forgive me if I like my movies to be a bit grounded. If I wanted to walk away from a movie with nothing but good feelings and singing I would watch Mary Poppins. Henry Poole Is Here is one of those movies that I want to rewrite the ending for and send it to the screenwriters with a note saying 'Here. I fixed your shitty movie'.

Sequels

EW gives a list of 25 sequels they would like to see. I haven't gone through all 25 yet, but I wanted to toss out some random thoughts.

I don't want to see a sequel to Top Gun like the EW gang. My guess it that it would be a lot like the Iron Eagle sequels with the addition of Tom Cruise.

Like the EW gang I am surprised that there hasn't been a sequel to Independence Day. I'll just second them and say that when a movie banks 817 million a sequel is usually a given.

I will echo that I want a sequel to Before Sunset for the same reasons they gave. The writer in me has a good deal of respect for movies that are largely narrative driven.

I wanna see...

this.

Twilight

I know a number of ladies who seem pretty excited to see this film. I'm friends with them so I am going to try and give them the benefit of doubt, but I'm 99 percent certain they have shitty taste. I wasn't all that sure what this movie was about until reading this Salon article about the film.



For those who might be in the dark about Twilight.

"Twilight" tells the story of Bella Swan, a clumsy 17-year-old who moves to a
rainy Washington town to live with her father. Once there, she catches the eye
of Edward Cullen, the best-looking guy in her new high school, and the two
engage in a whirlwind romance. As it turns out, Edward is not only sweet,
charming and attentive but also, somewhat awkwardly, an immortal vampire with a
disquieting thirst for blood. The resulting tension, between his murderous
instincts and his love for Bella, is what gives the story its drama.

Really ladies? This excites you? There are so many things that bother me about this Twilight business. Like this.

The most recent "Twilight" book sold an astonishing 1.3
million copies in the first 24 hours, and fans -- also known as
"Twi-hards"

And this.

even a few fan-created "Twilight" bands, like the Bella
Cullen Project (song titles include "We don't need No Stinking Fang" and
"Dig Me a Grave").

Do you see what you are getting into? Twi-hards? We don't need no Stinking Fang? And how can you make a vampire movie having never seen Buffy The Vampire Slayer?