At the Movies

So Wheezley and I saw Hellboy 2 this weekend. He wanted to see it, so I caught the first Hellboy on cable last week, and we went to the theater on Saturday. 

One of the best things Hellboy 2 has going for it is the scenery. It’s really visually cool. Even better, the graphics/characters don’t look fake at all. Rather, it’s like you stepped into some sort of fairy tale painting. Everything was very well done, even this plant monster thing like looked like broccoli.

The movie was also really funny in places, especially when Hellboy and Abe (the fish-looking guy) get drunk in a library and start singing along to I Can’t Smile Without You (which I can’t get out of my head now). And Ron Perlman was great as Hellboy, especially when he mutters his famous catchphrase: “Oh, crap …”

As far as the plot goes, the prince of the elves kills his father and a bunch of humans in order to get his hands on the pieces of a magical crown that will let him control the indestructible Golden Army. The prince basically wants to wipe out the humans and take control of the earth. But his twin sister has the final piece of the crown, and Hellboy and his crew step in to protect her and stop the prince. All of this leads to some really cool set pieces and characters (including a goblin with a wheelbarrow attached to him) and a pretty good fight scene at the end.

This is definitely a movie for fantasy/comic book lovers — the creatures, the settings, the magic. If you don’t like all those sorts of things, you’re probably not going to enjoy it. You probably need to see the first movie too. But overall, Hellboy 2 is a solid fantasy flick. Thumbs up.

Did anybody brave the crowds to see The Dark Knight? That’s next on my list to watch … :batman:

I spotted this yesterday at TV Guide. It’s the trailer for the new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. I still don’t like that title, but the trailer is really cool. Check it out for yourself here.

Is it wrong to admit how giddy this makes me? Or the fact I’m counting down the days to Nov. 7 (the release date)?

Nah. 😎

During all the July 4th hoopla, Wheezley and I snuck off to see Get Smart this weekend. It’s a spy movie, and y’all know I’m a sucker for those. Seriously, I will watch or read just about anything if there are spies in it.

But you know what? Get Smart was surprisingly good. My expectations were pretty low, and I was pleasantly surprised. Always a good thing. 😎

The movie is a remake of the classic TV series (which I’ve never seen, but Wheezley claims was super cool) and focuses on Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) and the sexy Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway).

Max wants to be a Control field agent more than anything, and he finally gets his chance when headquarters is attacked by evil Kaos agents. It seems Kaos has stolen some nuclear weapons and plans to blow up the president (a goofy James Caan). Of course, Max and Agent 99 are sent to Russia to find the weapons. But really, the plot just sets up scenes for Carell to work his goofy charm.

Carell doesn’t do anything new in the movie. He’s still the likable, downtrodden straight guy who gets caught up in goofy situations, like inhaling a blow dart and shooting a miniature harpoon through his face — multiple times. But the gags really work in Get Smart. There are some hysterical scenes, including a dance-off that had the whole theater chuckling. At some parts, people were laughing so loudly you couldn’t hear the dialogue — it was that funny in places.

Hathaway also does a nice job being the straight women, and she gets her share of the good lines. Plus, her clothes in the movie were just gorgeous. Sigh.

The movie doesn’t take itself too seriously like some remakes do (which is something I always appreciate), and the actors all look like they’re having a great time. Dwayne Johnson (formerly known as The Rock) plays a suave agent who mentors Max, and Masi Oka of Heroes fame pops up as a lab geek. And, of course, Terence Stamp is one of the bad guys because, well, he usually plays a bad guy. There are also cameos from lots of comedians.

Overall, if you’re looking for a fun summer movie, go see Get Smart. You’ll probably leave with a smile on your face. Thumbs up. In fact, the movie was so fun I’m going to check out the original TV series.

What about you guys? Anyone see anything good at the movies this weekend? The Dark Knight approacheth … along with Hellboy II …

Along with the AC crisis of ’08, Wheezley and I managed to make it to the movies for the first time since The Bourne Supremacy came out last year. We watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Warning: there be spoilers ahead.

It sucked.

I didn’t expect it to be great, given what George Lucas did to the Star Wars franchise with the three new movies. But Indy 4 wasn’t anything like the other movies. I liked it even less than Temple of Doom, which was just a strange movie overall.

Why didn’t I like it? Mainly because of the alien angle. One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about the Indy movies is that he’s searching for lost civilizations — people who could have really existed, along with a touch of magic. But aliens? In South America? Ugh.

I get what the filmmakers were trying to do. The movie is set in the ’50s, a time of communism and fears about little green alien men. But aliens have never been a favorite thing of mine. (I like fantasy much better than sci-fi). The movie just didn’t show me anything I hadn’t seen before in the other Indy movies –or even National Treasure. The supporting characters were stereotypes, the action scenes were just okay, and I knew what the dialogue was going to be before the actors said it.

There were a couple of things I enjoyed. The opening 20 minutes where Indy’s fighting bad guys in a warehouse full of weird artifacts was the best part of the whole movie. The first time we see Indy is cool too. His fedora blows out of a car, and you see his shadow pick it up and put it on. Loved that.

Other nice touches were the picture of Indy’s dad and old friend Marcus Brody on his desk. No John Rhys-Davies though. Missed him. And the theme music. Still love the theme music.

But overall, I wished we’d gone to see Iron Man instead. Maybe this weekend …

Anybody else seen Indy 4? What did you think?

This is funny and true:  https://www.cracked.com/article_16176_8-pointless-laws-all-comic-book-movies-follow.html

— Courtesy of Wheezley, the significant other, who spends way too much time surfing the Internet