Movie News, Reviews, & Reactions 2011

[mathey]

I got into John Woo around the time Michael Bay first started making a name for himself. As lousy as Woo's American movies often were, I still contend the man can run circles around Bay when it comes to action set pieces. Same goes for Paul Greengrass; shaky-cam may make some people nauseous, but at least I can tell what's happening and care about it.

Never had that feeling with anything Bay's done.

[TheTSKoala]

I got into John Woo around the time Michael Bay first started making a name for himself. As lousy as Woo's American movies often were, I still contend the man can run circles around Bay when it comes to action set pieces. Same goes for Paul Greengrass; shaky-cam may make some people nauseous, but at least I can tell what's happening and care about it.

Never had that feeling with anything Bay's done.

See.. I liked The Rock & BBs.  I think Bay may suffer from the "I gotta out do my last movie" syndrome.. because ever since.. he just piles on more and more pyrotechnics.. until the entire film is one large fiery lens flare.

[Mister Andersen]

Saw Thor today. There are some quibbles but on the whole it was a fun film, the 2 hrs fairly raced past.

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I think they could and should have made better use of language than they did. A review by someone largely unfamiliar with the comic suggested that since they'd tap Branagh to direct, the Asgard scenes should have come across as more Shakespearean, which amused me given the comics have them generally speaking in a much more formal manner/meter. It's a good idea, but I can see how people might have trouble with the idea.

In which case there should have been a line/exposition that the Asgardians either are fluent in all languages or that it's a property of Bifrost that like the TARDIS it gives you the gift of speaking and understanding the language of where it takes you.

My only other complaint is that the exile was FAR too brief. Falling for Jane and learning his Important Life Lesson takes only a couple of days, and that just isn't satisfying. There really needed to be a sense of weightiness to the exile, of the mighty and arrogant thunderer struggling to learn sorely needed humility and earning the love of the brilliant mortal into whose orbit he has been thrust.

That aside, I liked the way they played Loki here. He's so often the cackling villain that understatement suits him well, as does that sense of loss and rage as his identity is destroyed and he struggles to rebuild it in the only manner he knows how. I was expecting him to embrace his lost ice giant herritage, but the fact he didn't and instead sort to ground himself in the world he'd grown up in was a nice twist.

I'm a little thrown by the post credit sequence. Is Skaarsgard's character meant to be familiar to us? I mean, he clearly seems to be referring to Bruce, but why is it him that Fury shows what I presume to be the Cosmic Cube to, and why does it sound like he's been a mole in Jane's group?

Also, nice Hawkeye cameo.

[Desertpuma]

I'll be seeing it Friday morning first showing, about 10am, which will hopefully not be overly crowded. I expect it to be worthwhile.

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According to Branagh, Odin is the true controller of the Marvel Universe as he has the Cosmic Cube, Infinity Gauntlet, other items of such power in his treasure room.

[Wolverine]

The first full trailer for Conan the Barbarian

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Raw physicality - check.
Dark magic and sharp swords - check.
Antideluvian tentacle monsters - check.
A Conan who appears to be able to hold a conversation - check.

I'm sold.

[Mister Andersen]

Without the bangs, he really doesn't look like Conan   

[Gentry]

It'd be tough to pull off the bangs today, though. Even in the comics, the only reason Conan could pull it off was that he was just that manly. On any real person... nah.

Still, I'm up for the new movie. It probably won't have the philosophizing of Ahnold's version, and it certainly won't keep the soundtrack (which will make me very very sad--this movie really needs Poleduris' soundtrack and Mako's opening voiceover), but I have cautious hope.

I just have a deep dread that Spartacus: Blood and Sand has a higher hardcore badass quotient, and if that's so, I'll be sad indeed.

[Mister Andersen]

The trailer for the original Conan the Barbarian

Ironically, it's James Earl Jones who's rocking the iconic Conan hair cut and blue eyes.

There's not enough focus on Momoa in the new trailer -- and by focus I mean shots that last longer than a fraction of a second -- nothing that really shouts out that we're watching a tail of Conan and not the latest pretender to the Barbarianship.

[Crafty_Pat]

Latest Green Lantern Trailer: Tons of new stuff here, including bits about the villain(s) in the flick.

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[Aldus Vertten]

Latest Green Lantern Trailer: Tons of new stuff here, including bits about the villain(s) in the flick.

That looks really bad. I dont like all the lights coming out of the suit, and the effects are way to obvious. I dont have much hopes for this movie... Too bad...

[Desertpuma]

Saw Thor and thought it was very well done. As the other films, stick around after the credits (or does that go without saying it).

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Yes, there is a Hawkeye cameo w/Jeremy Renner. ... I think I fell in love with new actress Jaimie Alexander aka Sif.

[OverNinja]

Saw also Thor.

There is very little need for the 3D. Otherwise well done, funny film.

[Agent 333]

My take on Thor:

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The Destroyer fight was WAAY too brief. Sif and the Warriors Three can barely slow the thing down, but Thor, once re-powered, takes it by himself in like a minute flat. Also, this might be a first, but I agree with Mister Anderson about the exile being too quick. What was it, like a day? Two? Way to learn your lesson in record speed, Thor.
Other than that I loved the movie. The fight at the beginning on Jotunheim was perfect. I was a little put off by the magi-tech feel, but I can understand the innate Kirby-ness of it all. I'm actually kinda glad they didn't explain too much.
I thought it was kinda odd that the Casket of Ancient Winters played such a prominent role in the plot but was never ONCE called by it's full name. Perhaps the scene where it was got cut? It also seems to have been reduced to an ice beam. Perhaps the frost giants can get Blizzard to make them a new Casket...

[Mister Andersen]

Given that one character -- a latina woman -- was specifically mentoned as being cut entirely from the cinematic release, it's entirely possible that there will be a 2.5 hr directors cut or some such. I hope so -- at 1 hr 55 min, the movie as it is actually feels short.

[Wolverine]

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Yes, there is a Hawkeye cameo w/Jeremy Renner. ... I think I fell in love with new actress Jaimie Alexander aka Sif.

I went and saw it again, this time with the missus. She really enjoyed it, especially Robin Hood Fandral. He hasn't done too badly for a guy who once appeared in Doctor Who.

She was confused by the post-credit scene, but I told her it would make sense in a couple of months