1. Watchlist: Iron Man 2

    Iron Man 2 (2010)
    Directed by John Favreau
    Watched 5/5/2010 (Advance Screening) - 1st Viewing

    The first Iron Man film was an unexpected surprise to most movie-goers, even those few that were intimately familiar with the 2nd string Marvel comic book character. It was fast-paced, had great special effects, and maintained a slick style visually and in the edit room. It was also, most importantly, charming - due to the career-saving performance of Robert Downey Jr. as the man in the iron suit.

    The second film in the series plays up all of the above elements, ad nauseum, as if the string-pullers (the aforementioned RDJ and director Jon Favreau) were a little too afraid to really push the boundaries of the first film in any way what-so-ever. The sequel is slick, don’t get me wrong, and hits all the same checkboxes that made the first film such a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, there isn’t a whole lot of progression going on here, visually or thematically.

    But it’s a comic book movie right? Sure, I guess. But box-checking a prior success does not a great film make. But does it make an entertaining film? I guess on that note, sure again. You won’t be bored watching the film, but you also won’t walk away from it feeling like you have watched anything new.

    Unless you count that room-clearing back-mounted circular laser weapon… that was freakin’ awesome.

    Full review on the next episode of The RotCast!

  2. Watchlist: Hot Tub Time Machine

    Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)
    Directed by Steve Pink
    Watched 3/4/2010 (Advance Screening) - 1st Viewing

    Here we go… There’s a hot tub, a hot tub that’s a time machine, a hot tub that’s a time machine that four dudes get into one night and are magically transformed in time to the golden-oldie 80’s, where they learn the errors of their young ways by attempting to re-live the past. If you can’t wrap your head around the absurdity of that premise, read no further. If you can, have at it.

    Directed by two-timer Steve Pink (2006’s dud Accepted), Hot Tub Time Machine is a straight-up slapstick raunch-com, wrapped in a post-Hangover mystique. The film stars the recognizable by many (John Cusak, Chevy Chase), by a few (The Daily Show’s Rob Corddry, The Office’s Craig Robinson), and nobody (Clark Duke of the awesome Clark & Michael) as a foursome of dudes with little and lost direction in life. There’s a drunk loser, a marriage-whipped loser, a mid-life crisis loser, and a “on the path to being a loser” loser. Sound familiar? It should. But it’s not.

    It’s impossible for those who have not yet seen the film to NOT compare it to last years The Hangover - the trailer takes every opportunity to entice that film’s audience into the theater once again. But Hot Tub is no Hangover do-over, and it’s better for it. It’s more like a love letter to teen-comedies of the 80’s, with the pacing of today’s comedic giants. Time Machine spits the jokes as if, like in it’s vintage setting, everything is going out of style. The movie is impossible not to laugh through, despite the feeling that what is happening on screen should not be that funny.

    Is it the actors? The well-earned references to 80’s comedies of yore? The rapid-fire dirty jokes? Yes. Or no. I’m not sure. But it works.

    If you need more motivation, we reviewed Hot Tub Time Machine in full on Hot Tub Oscar Party, our latest podcast.

  3. Watchlist: The Crazies (2010)

    The Crazies (2010)
    Directed by Breck Eisner
    Watched 2/25/2010 (Advance Screening) - 1st Viewing

    Confession Time: I have never seen the original 1973 version of The Crazies, directed by George Romero. Or, I should say, I haven’t seen ALL of the ‘79 version. I’ve tried many times to get through it, so many times I almost need two hands to count the attempts. The film is BORING, and from what I have seen (about 2/3 of it) extremely predictable. I liken it to a zombie film without any real zombies set in the worst of a late-70’s prime-time TV drama. The acting sucks, one scene is as dull as the next - and its worst crime is typically Romero’s strength - its message. If you like to be preached at for two hours, submit to tracking this turd down - you will love it.

    For those of us that like to enjoy life, stick to director Breck Eisner’s remake, in theaters 2/26/2010. The two films have little to do with each other past the fact that a) they both have “crazy” people in them and b) they share a weak town-wide “government-induced” quarantine plotline. Where the 2010 version shines is in focusing more on the aforementioned “Crazies” than on the original films “big-brother” thesis. Eisner’s film is much about “the scare” than the politics (a Romero staple) and its better for it. The vastly increased budget ($275,000 vs $20,000,000) shows well on screen throughout, and the film benefits greatly from the natural artistic progression the horror genre has experienced in the 37 years since the original.

    I’ll admit it’s a little unfair to pit two similar films against each other when so much time has passed, but whatever - I’m calling it. The 2010 Crazies isn’t anything mind-blowing, it won’t make anyone’s end-of-year list, but it also won’t put you to sleep - which is more than I can say for the original.

  4. Watchlist: Ninja Assassins

    Ninja Assassins (2009)
    Directed by James McTeigue
    Watched on 2/22/2010 - 1st Viewing

    Now *this* is an action movie. Ninja Assassins is a no-holds-bared guys movie, through and through. Blood-letting in buckets, hacked-limbs, weaponry, a bullet to ninja-star ratio to be admired, this is a film that knows what it is and just doesn’t give a crap if you care.

    Largely ignored in its initial theater run, despite its much-trumpeted Wachowski Siblings producing roles, Ninja Assassins will creep up on you when you least expect it. This film contains horrendous acting and an even worse plot. A film where the ninja’s always speak in broken English, even in Japan, at their clan hangout, with no outsiders in sight. A film where the slightest slash of the katana requires a full pint of red-splatter at minimum, while gun-toting good guys unload aimlessly and ineffectively into the darkness. The Rambo of martial arts movies, Ninja Assassins makes the worst of Tarantino’s Kill Bill look like it should be double-featured with Follow That Bird.

    And if nothing above appeals to you personally, skip it.

  5. Watchlist: Spider-Man 3

    Spider-Man 3 (2007)
    Directed by Sam Raimi
    Watched 2/14/2010 - 2nd Viewing

    After feeling pretty meh towards Raimi’s third and now last in the Spider-Man franchise, I put quite a bit of intentional distance between my first theater experience with the film and now, my second viewing - 3 years later. I loved the first Raimi Spider-Man for all the same reasons everyone loves that film, and loved Spider-Man 2 even more - which at the time I didn’t think was possible. Spidey 3, however, was a huge let down.

    Or at least, I’ve thought it was for the last 3 years. Upon a second viewing I see much more in the film, particularly in the first 2/3 of the 2.30min runtime. The first 2/3 is glorious superhero camp. A little too cartoonish in the action scenes, yes, but overall on par with the first two series efforts. Even the “humor” is spot on with the tone set by its predecessors - vintage Raimi cheeseball wit. Scenes that bothered me on first watch, such as the Jazz club dance sequence and the emo-Parker Saturday Night Fever dance down the sidewalks of NYC, somehow all fit in line now that we know that part 3/3 of the flick WILL drop the ball. Knowing this, I suggest you watch the film again, only this time, shut it off just before Topher Grace makes his Venom turn. Sure, it’s kind of anti-climactic, what with no strong action sequence to mind-blow you into submission… But in retrospect, what we were given (ie millions of pixels valued at hundred’s of millions of real on-screen dollars) was spectacularly anti-climactic too.