Movie Review: Windtalkers

Movie Review: Windtalkers

Windtalkers (2002/ MGM/ Dir. John Woo)

What happened to John Woo when he came to America? He had made some of the best action movies of the 80s and early 90s. Then he came to the US and had a string of near disasters and critical failures. That’s not to say his movies did badly. Mission: Impossible II actually did pretty well in theaters, despite what some smart ass critics thought of it. Face/Off was a big hit in the theaters and on video, as was Broken Arrow. None of them are really good movies though, and most have been rejected by Woo fans. Then this movie came along, which sank like a stone at the box office and heralded the beginning of the end for Woo’s American experiment. Allow me to state now, this is not a good movie. It will not be getting a huge score on the Graffiti Bridge Scale. HOWEVER! It won’t get a negative score, and that’s part of what I want to talk about here.

The Amazing Spider-Man review (in bullet point form!)

1. At no time did I ask the question "Why the hell would anyone do that?" when someone did something.

2. I like the evolution of the costume.

3. Andrew Garfield is a good Peter Parker

4. Emma Stone is a good Gwen Stacy.

5. Gwen Stacy only screamed once, and ANYONE would have screamed at that moment.

6. The decision to turn to hero rather than vigilante was hands down the best I've seen in a movie EVER.

7. Lizard was... eh. I liked him, he was okay, but he was just sort of... there.

8. I LIKED THE CRANE THING! Okay? I liked it, I thought it was cool. I know lots of people hated it, but I thought it worked.

9. Parker was a real nerd, and he did real nerd stuff.

10. I don't think I can watch the Sam Raimi Spider-Man again. At least, not anytime soon. It hasn't aged well and now it'll look down right campy.

11. Give Sally Field an Oscar. Give her all the Oscars. Give her the one for best lighting and shit. Seriously.

12. Syd said "Oh, so the Denis Leary looking guy was Denis Leary" during the credits. No shit.



So, I really, really liked The Amzing Spider-Man, and I would have liked to see ASM2, but I saw the trailer for The Wizard of Oz prequel, and now I hate all movies. I'm giving up on my hobby, I can't take the pain.

In fact, I hate everything, because it's all connected to that piece of shit.

And people were showing up for Batman as we were leaving. It doesn't start until 12, but they were there at 9:30 waiting.

I sort of wish I hadn't hated Batman Begins quite so much. I mean, it was one of the worst movies I had ever seen up to that point, but someone forgave its faults enough to make two more movies and I've been told people liked The Dark Knight. The problem is, I've absolutely hated everything Christopher Nolan has ever done. After The Prestige I blacklisted him and haven't watched anything since. I don't want waste time seeing something I'm 98% sure will have me shouting at the screen. And I’ve seen some of the scenes with The Joker, and predicted his movements* and spoke his lines** before he did in every single one. It never gripped me enough to give a shit.

*I knew what his magic pencil trick would be
**"You remind me of my father." "You hated your father." "I hated my father." "Fuck off."

Movie Review: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998/Universal Pictures/Dir. Terry Gilliam)

There are books that are difficult to translate into movies, and there are books that are more easily translated. I’m not exactly sure where Fear and Loathing fits in there, but it was at least fairly accurately translated. Not 100%, several things prevent it from reaching the full and complete accuracy that fans were hoping for. While some of them are choices made by Gilliam, many of them are just rights and budget concerns. However, as an adaptation of the book, it works. As something to get you interested in the greater works of Hunter S. Thompson, it is an excellent device. How does the movie hold up compared to the book? Let’s find out together, shall we?