While I impatiently wait for The Dark Knight to be released, I continue seeing other movies, so here are a couple more semi-crabby updates for you in case you're thinking of heading to a multiplex.
The Incredible Hulk -- I love Edward Norton, and I respect him as an actor. Hey, if Robert Downey Jr. could manage to light up the screen as a superhero this summer, I figured maybe Norton could pull it off, too. Like anyone else who's sane, I hated Ang Lee's Hulk, because, you know, it sucked. Norton's vision isn't quite as bad, but that's not saying a lot, huh?
Honestly, I'm really not completely against CGI in movies, particularly in comic book ones. I really dug the way Zack Snyder's 300 ended up looking. But sometimes, lately, movies are just a mess of CGI and lacking any connective tissue to make them human. That's exactly what RDJ brought to Iron Man. But here, there's just too much of the fake Hulk and not enough Norton to balance it out. Also? Frankly, I am a little bit sick of CGI and how it's ruining action movies. I remember when action movies seemed thrilling because there was at least the appearance of risk and realism. Now? I know it's fucking cartoon and even though it looks like realistic cartoon, it's still got no gravity to the situation. When shit blows up, I want shit blowing up. Which leads me to...
Get Smart -- Good summer flick. It made me laugh. I don't for one second buy Steve Carell as an action guy, though. Here, the action sequences were gratuitous and just sort of...dumb.
And if anyone is begging to be the next big action star it's Dwayne Johnson, formerly known as "The Rock". He's hot, he's ripped, he's got oodles of easy going charm that translates on camera. He plays well with Carell here, and I can understand having him in some action scenes, but can't we come up with something overall better for this guy than shit like "The Gameplan" or this second-banana role? Ever see The Rundown? You should. It's good.
Anyhow, back to Get Smart. When taken as a comedy and overlooking the clunky action scenes, it works. It's lighthearted and Carell has now perfected his oafish good-guy routine. Much as I'd have prefered to see him stay edgy, I realize it's the comedian's curse to want to be loved, and this is clearly what he wants to be, and he's good at it.
However, I'm also old and fucking cranky, so what does peeve me about this movie is the pairing of Carell with Anne Hathaway. I like Hathaway, and she's good as Agent 99. But she's also too young for Carell. I'm fucking sick of these over-forty dudes getting paired up with the twenty-somethings in the movies. Unless it's the gender-reversed May-December humdinger of all-time, Finch and Stifler's Mom, I ain't getting behind this shit anymore. And you know the filmmakers know it's bullshit, too, when they concoct this whole lame backstory to make Agent 99 older than she appears. It's still squicky. Leave the romance out, and this pairing would've been golden, though.
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4 comments:
Get Smart looks okay overall, though Steve Carell seems to be veering more and more toward slapstick-style humor
It's not witty, that's for sure. But I actually like slapstick when timed right.
Anne Hathaway in a Barbara Feldon role? I couldn't even watch it because of that. I'm with you on the slapstick, though.
"Like anyone else who's sane, I hated Ang Lee's Hulk, because, you know, it sucked."
Whaaat? Don't make me cut you. If you can appreciate "Showgirl", why not "Hulk"? It insane. Can we say hulk dogs? Killer electric crazy clouds? C'mon. Its downfall is that it was supposed to be a blockbuster, but it turned into this introverted cerebral psychobabble shit that wasn't made for an audience who wanted "hulk smash". As much as I liked it, I was stunned by Ang Lee's vision for the film, and a bit let down. I've always thought Hulk/Banner didn't have much leg to form a really interesting narrative, and the new Hulk, while improving on the blockbuster angle, wasn't all that interesting either. The best thing about the new film? The favelas of Rio in the opening scene, and the time they took to address the growing pants problem because we wouldn't want the audience to riot (heh... like a green gama monster didn't already subvert a sense of the real). No wire hangers ever!
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