The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Our Rating:

Friday, September 19th, 2008 at 11:09 am

The Incredible Hulk is a 2008 superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character the Hulk. It is directed by Louis Leterrier and stars Edward Norton as Dr. Bruce Banner / the Hulk. The second Hulk film after Hulk (2003), it is a reboot that establishes a new back-story, where Banner became the Hulk as an unwitting pawn in a military scheme to create supersoldiers. On the run, he attempts to cure himself of the Hulk before he is captured by General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (William Hurt), but his worst fears are realized when power-hungry soldier Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) becomes the Abomination. Liv Tyler also stars as Betty Ross, Banner’s girlfriend and General Ross’ daughter.

Marvel Studios reacquired the rights to the character after the mixed reception to Hulk, and writer Zak Penn began work on a loose sequel that would be much closer to the comics and the television series. Norton rewrote the script after he signed on to star, which clarified the film’s new back-story. Leterrier aimed to make the film realistic, giving a more frightening direction for the look of the monsters, while redesigning the Abomination from the comics’ reptilian humanoid into a mutated man with bony protrusions. Filming mostly took place in Toronto, Canada in 2007, where the production attempted to be environmentally friendly.

Normally I would pass on this movie all day long but with the recent crop of decent comic book flicks I thought, why not? I’m guessing you are more or less supposed to forget about the previous attempt by ang lee which isn’t hard to do. This one feels more like a full film and even though the bad guy is mostly made up, he is pretty cool. This one is definitely better than the previous hulk film but there is still work to be done on this franchise. Maybe the filmmakers can take some lessons from Iron Man or TDK for the next go at a hulk movie. I’m loving the fact that Marvel is making their own movies now though. Seems like the creative control that they have is really making for better movies.

• Buy: [Blu-ray], (Three-Disc Special Edition)
• IMDB: Here (7.5)
• Rotten Tomatoes: Here (67%)
• Torrent: Here
• Trailer: Here

Posted in J.C., Movies, Reviews by J.C. No Comments »

Tags: Christina Cabot, Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Lou Ferrigno, Louis Leterrier, Martin Starr, The Incredible Hulk, Tim Blake Nelson, Tim Roth, Ty Burrell, William Hurt, Zak Penn

Funny Games (2007)
Our Rating:

Monday, April 21st, 2008 at 5:40 pm

Funny Games is the American remake of the 1997 Austrian horror film by the same title. Original writer/director Michael Haneke wrote and re-shot this one in a shot for shot remake of the original. The only difference is this cast features Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, and one of my up and coming favorites Michael Pitt. The story follows Paul(Pitt) and his psychopathic friend Peter(Brady Corbet) as they kidnap a rich family and make them play sadistic games with each other.

So that story-line is simple enough right? I think it sounds great and I even think the trailer is great but I don’t the film fully delivers. I think the pacing is slow and the tone of the film changes here and there making the movie feel longer than it is. Not to mention, I really expected more sadism out of the two boys as well. I was expecting truly disturbing imagery and really messing with people’s psyche but it’s more like a lot of long shots and them toying with the family instead of just delivering the final blow. Looking around at other reviews it seems that people either really like this movie and think it’s perfect or they are like me and found it a little boring with some good stuff mixed in the middle.

• IMDB: Here (7.0)
• Rotten Tomatoes: Here (49%)
• Torrent: Here
• Trailer: Here

Posted in J.C., Movies, Reviews by J.C. No Comments »

Tags: Boyd Gaines, Brady Corbet, Devon Gearhart, download, funny games, Michael Haneke, Michael Pitt, Naomi Watts, Siobhan Fallon, Tim Roth, torrent, us