The Dumb Are Mostly Intrigued By The Drum

The Coen Bros. are cool in my book. Not some filmmakers I would say get me out to the theater when they release new stuff but their craft is unique and their sense of humor is dark. I like that but to say I'm a die hard Coen Bros. fan would be a flat out lie. So after seeing Burn After Reading last night, I have to say my sentiments haven't changed much. The film is filled with some decent laughs here and there but it never really gets of the ground completely for me. The entire cast did a wonderful job here and it's not their fault the film never explodes but rather the script seems like it was a single cool scene fleshed out into a feature. The films running time is about and hour and a half and I say it could of used like about 10 to 15 mins. cut out to make it a tighter ship. Overall, entertaining but not very memorable.

Opening Night • Matinee • Rent It • Ignore it

Secret Invasion is this year's Civil War as it seems that Marvel has seen how much money this huge crossovers produce and decided to turn it into a yearly event to milk money out of nerds like myself. Not to give much out if you haven't read any of the books but those damn shape shifting Skrulls have taken over the world and now our heroes don't know who to trust as key figures have be revealed to be the alien species in disguise. That's all you get from me. Good stuff so far, the artwork on this mini series is being handled by Leinil Francis Yu, whom I'm a big fan of but I know some people don't dig his style (he's no McNiven, but he's still on point), and Brian Michael Bendis on writing chores is Brian Michael Bendis; a rather mediocre writer if you ask me but his effort on this book is a little above his normal fare for me. But it's the last two splash pages at the end of this very issue (released this week) that made me write up this review. After all that been going on in the Marvel Universe these last couple of years, those splash pages almost made it all worth it for me. Head on over to Heroes right now and pick it up so you can see. It'll be worth it even if the story is all convoluted and super hard to understand if you don't know what the hell has been going on these days in the Marvel Universe!

So how can I write a review that won't sound like all the others? Because I agree with most of them: this film is very, very good. The fanboy in me loved it. The filmmaker, too. So instead of me sitting here and regurgitating what every other reviewer has, I'm going to point out the one thing that didn't make it the most perfect film I've ever seen.

The Batman - Never during the entire 2.5 hour run of the film did I fear the flying rodent. His fighting style is comparable to how I would imagine the Kool-Aid man would look like if he knew kung fu. Maybe it's the suit's bulky design, but I think Nolan's decision to humanize Batman and show that he is a man in a suit by choosing some lengthy shots still detracted from the Batman experience for me. When Batman is around, he's god. Or at least he's supposed to make his opponents think so. Oh yeah, and the return of the gravely voice from the first one returns....NOW WITH MORE GRAVEL! Ugh....

Sure, one might see this as my fanboyism manifesting itself and I would probably more than agree with you. I can't change that, sorry. I loves me my comics! But to counter my one claim (before people get all pissy) about the film, I would still say that this is the best film I've seen this year, without a doubt. The script and film, as a whole, can only be described as dynamic & visceral and it's always awesome to see the universe building as sequels come out. They give you the fodder for one to imagine what else is out there in the Gotham universe. If you can spare the extra $5 or so, go see it in IMAX. It's totally worth it. This was my first full length feature film I've seen in the format and I'm in love. And I'm sure you will be, too. So.....anyone gonna swede this bad boy for the festival?

Newsarama has posted the first review that I've seen for the upcoming Wanted. Hmmm...not too positive, but not too negative either. The review is sure to warn fans of the book to not expect too many similarities between the two and then goes on with mild excitiement. The fact that this is coming from a comic book site kinda scares me but I'm still looking forward to the film, regardless. Mustn't...get...hopes...too...high.... FUCK! Too late :( Check out the full review over here and decide for yourself

The Incredible Hulk
Rare is the mainstream film that convinces me to brave a opening night crowd to go see. Well The Incredible Hulk was the film for me this year. After I got past the little fat kid next to me who wouldn't stop fidgeting and dropping random nuggets of gold such as "His finger is as big as her face!" (in comparing the sizes of the jade giant and Betsy Ross), the film was awesome & thoroughly entertaining. Action was awesome, the character development was about as good as we can get when dealing with a film of this nature (A reboot sequel with totally different actors and directors). We saw Hulk smash and he smashed good. The only gripe I had was the lack of total action scenes (a similar gripe I raised with Iron Man). Although the ones we got were tight. Quality over quantity? I guess, but I'm always on the side of "well done" rather than "rare" and this was somewhere in the middle. Not as good as Iron Man in my book but I'm thinking the fact this is more of a do over rather than an intro has more to do with that. Still, for fanboys it's a masturbatory film that will do what you want it to, although maybe not as much as you'd like it to.

3.5 Stars (out of 5)


Son Of Rambow
A stark comparison with my theater experience with the Hulk movie, my guest and myself found ourselves as the only patrons in the entire room when we went to watch this film this weekend. It was pretty awesome but sad at the same time cause I the realization on why we don't get these type of independent films very often: lack of audience. Anyways, the film was great. I can never seem to get enough of films about making films, even though the idea is far from fresh, it's entertaining to me every time. The story seems like it could have used a little more time in the oven as the development seems real quick and a bit forced between the main characters (the film is only a tad over and hour and a half long) but it was forgivable. One thing that kind of irked me was the trailer showed a lot of the finnier bits from the film & I totally understand why they did that but it was a bit disappointing that it happened that way. Still, I'd highly recommend you go check this film out. It's quite a fun ride!

3 Stars (out of 5)

Storytelling is a dying art form. We're all used to seeing fully fleshed out, CG universes and in doing so, we let our imaginations take the back seat for most of the ride. Sure, we're stimulated by what creatives have come up with but it's only a ping to our underused creativity and because of this most people decide to let others create and entertain rather than having something emerge from the depths of one's own mind. So what does that have to do with this film? Well, at it's most basic, this film is about the ability for one person's verbal oratory to manifest itself as an entirely different life form than what was originally intended and the effects that in which said story can affect the person taking it in. Film making is the next step in evolution for passing along stories but the film does service by showing the two vastly different and yet familiar mediums. I suggest you remember back in the days when your parents or siblings or whoever used to tell you stories and the images that jumped into your head as the words flowed. Remember that practice and take those with you when you go watch this film, which is one of my favorite films of the year so far and I'm so glad this film was made and that we got it here in Fresno not to long after it's initial release date.

The Fall - 4 Stars (out of 5)

Let's make this spoiler free and simple, huh?

Rank of Indy movies for me
1. Last Crusade
2. Raiders Of The Lost Ark
3. Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
4. Temple Of Doom

So you can take that for what it's worth. Didn't see any Fresno in the film (all that for nothing?) but Eagle Field made it in there for a whole 3 seconds or so (w00t! w00t!). It's good clean fun for the whole family and I didn't want to hurt Shia by the end of it....okay, I did, but those are personal reasons. And you know how old people run? Their gait is just a bit different from that of a younger person. Well, Indy kinda had that gait as he ran around and deep down, it made me a bit sad. Don't get me wrong, he's still Indy...just a little, well.....old. I feel old just watching him. There were some amazing shots in the film and although it had it's short comings, it was still over all and enjoyable flick.

Indiana Jones: TKOTCS – 3 Stars (out of 5)