One of the many things direly wrong with last weekend’s horrible THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPREROR was the fact that it was yet another example of Hollywood’s inept mishandling of Asian movie stars. Watching Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh trod their way through the film just kept on breaking my heart, because they can do so much better, and - more importantly - deserve so much better.
Instead they, and many other successful Asian action stars (Jackie Chan, especially) are usually reduced to being embarrassing sidekicks (either to other characters, the narrative, or to special effects) or their martial art skills are exploited for the exotic novelty their five minutes of on-screen fighting present to North American audiences (”Oh, look, how neat. It’s martial arts!”).
For comic books fan who have spent many years admiring Alan Moore’s graphic novel, a film adaptation of WATCHMEN has been a long time coming, and one plagued with no end of false starts – some promising, some not so much. Now it’s actually happening and based on the reception the recent trailer has received from comic fans, it seems most are excited about seeing Moore’s deconstructionist tale come to life.
Thing is, I’m not. In fact, I don’t think it should have ever been done in the first place.
Since THE DARK KNIGHT just keeps on plugging at the box office, it seems that there is a mix of stragglers finally getting around to seeing it and people going back again and again for more. So with that in mind, I was curious to hear how many of you have seen THE DARK NIGHT again (and if so, how many times) and how the film held up on more viewings.
This REEL Addict will concede that last week was a little heavy on posters and trailers, as opposed to what I like to call “real” content. Rest assured, after I am done relaxing and celebrating today’s Civic Holiday here in Toronto, things will return to normal. My day job will occupy me less, my social life shall be cast aside in an act of hermit like celibacy, and I’ll be back to shamelessly soap box grandstanding about anything movie related I can think of.
On the TV Addict:
Alongside the first official cast photo featuring the new gang from 90210, we posted our predictions for their future. Interviewed singer turned actress Shirley Manson and America’s Favorite Serial Killer. DEXTER’s Michael C. Hall.
On the REEL Addict:
We continued our one-sided obsession with Zooey Deschanel, ranted about the idiocy of Shia LeBeouf and posted the teaser trailer for HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE.
It might seem like this site is turning into theMUSICaddict, but after recently posting about my recent concert experience seeing She & Him (featuring Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward), I came across this music video for one of their songs and thought I’d post it so you get a sense of a) Zooey’s voice, and b) how adorable she is (if you didn’t know that already). The video is a bit of a strange little concoction, mixing strange dark (murderous) humor with bubbly skipping and dancing, but it certainly has its off-beat charm and dry humor, which is more or less what I think we’ve come to except from Ms. Deschanel at this point.
Well, based on this first glimpse of Oliver Stone’s upcoming biopic about the infamous George W. Bush, I think it’s safe to say it’s not going to be an unbiased presentation of the man. There seems to be a distinct accusational tone in the teaser, seemingly pointing the finger at us and saying: “This former college slacker frat boy is the guy you went on to elect as President.” Or at least some people did anyway. That aside, I’m not sure really how I feel about this. I still maintain what I said when I commented on the teaser poster: “It’s just so damn easy to make fun of the guy – and it’s been done so much now – that it’s getting old. I mean, I’m pretty sure a three year old could land a pretty good burn against the guy at this point. If all Stone’s W can offer is jokes that have been made before, then what’s really the point?”
It’s that time again for another HARRY POTTER movie, and this time we get more than just a fifteen second, one-line of dialogue tease. This time we get something much more substantial: Tom Riddle. Indeed, this trailer seems to heavily focus on the origins of that dastardly Lord Voldemort, which is a welcome change from the usual Harry Potter-centric trailers we usually get. Besides, who doesn’t love seeing the origins of the bad guy, especially when it’s so eerie and doused in foreshadowing? I mean, Dumbledore’s delivery of those words at the end of this gave me goosebumps. It all amounts to me not being able to wait to see one of the best Potter books to finally hit the screen.
The trend at this year’s San Diego Comic Con seems to have been for studios to release two posters at the same time. All things come in twos I guess, an apt expression to use perhaps given that these two posters are for the remake of the excellent 1951 film of the same name. Based on the recent trailer, it actually looks like a remake that might not entirely suck. If anything it’s a stroke of casting brilliance to cast Keanu Reeves as an emotionless, expressionless alien.It does look like the remake ups the stakes a little from the original, but that’s fine. These two posters certainly convey that threat too, especially in the one where Gort (the robot looking thing) appears to be standing over earth itself. Consider me moderately intrigued.
P.S.: On a visually nerdy note, I kind of dig - though I’m not sure it’s intentional - that in many ways the posters are visual inversions of each other.
What made the first HAROLD & KUMAR so charming was the simplicity of its story, its unapologetic silliness, as well as the way it subverted traditional expectations of Hollywood protagonists (i.e. Harold and Kumar are not white) while never actually making a big deal out of it. The sequel strays from that amusing, basic charm by making Harold and Kumar’s voyage far more extreme, without that thread of relatability that pervaded the first film. It’s too ambitious for its own good. As a result, things get perhaps a little too wacky and out there, and at the same time the forced romantic subplots become that much more awkward. That being said, the film’s politics are amusing, not only because of the movies’ gleeful political incorrectness, but also its clever way of repeatedly flipping our expectations involving the stereotypes the movie presents. The joke though - like the rest of the film - eventually gets old. You’ll get a few laughs along the way, but in the end you’re probably better off getting high and watching the film, or just sticking to the first one.
Overall rating: C
DOOMSDAY
From the original review: “…given the film is perhaps really aiming to be nothing more than a silly, C-level genre piece that humorously ventures into campy excess (the character of Sol, especially), maybe bemoaning the lack of character and story development is like wishing GHANDI had more action in it. And as a campy post-apocalyptic action-horror film, DOOMSDAY does fare well.”
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