MOVIE REVIEW - "THE DARK KNIGHT"

Very rarely does a movie sequel prove to be better than it's original. Lately, with the trend of popular comic book film adaptations, the sequel, very often, has been much more successful, such as X-Men 2 (2003) and Spider-man 2 (2004). With the release of Batman Begins (2005), the comic book adaptation and DC comics ushered in a new beginning in comic films. Unlike Superman Returns (2006), while trying to cash in on the same concept, met with much more criticism and less success. The much-anticipated sequel to the Batman franchise began with not just the announcement of the return of director Christopher Nolan and actor Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman but with the announcement of a new villain. As in Batman Begins the introduction and first-time movie appearance of second-string villains such as Scarecrow and Ra's Al Ghul (although fan favorites, and mine!) the next villain had to be a major one to be a success and they found one with actor: Heath Ledger as The Joker! With past bat-villain flops such as Jim Carrey as the Riddler and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze, both film-makers and fans knew it would be hard to give new life to Batman's number one arch-nemesis having so impressively been played by Jack Nicholson in 1989's Batman. With the new Ledger-Joker, the most dangerous and psychotic of Batman's villains, gives more of an intensely disturbing depiction with Ledger's overly eccentric and scarred Joker. Not only would young actor's role give even more hype and excitement to the movie but also would Ledgers untimely and tragic demise (Jan. 22, 2008) six months before the initial release of the film.
  Although the focus of the movie is on Joker, as he almost steals the show; the plot of "The Dark Knight" is about Batman dealing with the reputation he's created in Gotham City and how his presence has affected the crime rate. With bands of roaming vigilantes dressed up as Batman are creating havoc alongside the chaos of the Joker and his rise in the crime world it proves what Gordon, now police commissioner said in the last scene of Batman Begins foreshadowed: "escalation". All of the cast of Batman Begins returns but with one exception of Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes instead of Katie Holmes and the addition of Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent and as the new secondary villain: Two-Face (previously played by Tommy Lee Jones in Batman Forever (1997). The Dark Knight is a long and intense movie with an impressive story and deeply thought provoking themes. If not for Batman, you would almost mistake it for a blockbuster true-crime story which make it all the more real and disturbing and great!
    Since its release, "The Dark Knight" has become the #2 all-time in the USA box office (above Star Wars (1977) and just below Titanic (1997) and remains the most popular comic book movie as previously held by Spider-man (2002), now in the 8 spot.

MOVIE REVIEW: "HELLBOY 2: THE GOLDEN ARMY"

    I first became a "Hellboy" fan in 2001 when I discovered the first graphic novel while working at a local comic book store. Since then I have been a devoted fan of all things Hellboy, including anything B.P.R.D. (Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense) related! When the first movie was released in 2004, I was blown away by director Guillermo del Toro's film until then the I had only seen Del Toro's American film "Mimic" (1997) and would search out his Spanish-language films such as "The Devil's Backbone" (2001) and later "Pan's Labyrinth" (2006). Already impressed by del Toro's vision and imagery I was eagerly awaiting Hellboy's sequel this summer.
    I have realized over the years being both a moviegoer and comic book fan that the line between comics and movies has been severely twisted. With older classics such as Richard Donner's "Superman" and Tim Burton's "Batman" (1989), which I had grown up adoring. I was always aware that any comic book adaptation has to have an equal mixing of both the comic book and the moviemaker in order to work. Like "Batman" (1989) which was delightfully dark as Batman should be it was also very Burton, ("Beetleguise", "Edward Scissorhands") at that time still a young filmmaker. And in recent years with Marvel comics burst of film franchises like "Spider-man" and "X-Men" which were very successful although somewhat dwindling the third time around, all has the directors style but still remains devoted to the comics original flavor.
    Like "Hellboy", whose original creator Mike Mignola had a lot of involvement with the first "Hellboy" movie as well as the sequel, however it is noticeable that Mignola's presence is somewhat lesser and del Toro's style has completely overtaken the film. Not only has del Toro taken liberties with the film but he used this sequel as an opportunity to have a little "Fun" with "Hellboy" which, as far as I'm concerned, is too much!
    "Hellboy 2: The Golden Army" is remarkable, the special effects the imagery, the inventiveness. Its downright overwhelming, its no longer dark and mysterious as the Hellboy comics were originally, now, its bright and funny!? What happened!? Don't get me wrong, Ron Perlman as Hellboy is fantastic, I met him shortly after at a convention. Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) is incredible. I was even overjoyed that this movie would introduce a new B.P.R.D. agent from the comics into the movies: Dr. Johan Krauss! On first seeing his ectoplasm suit and hearing hi voice (although humorously voiced by "Family Guy"/"American Dad" creator and voice: Seth MacFarlane. Although Krauss now sounds more like Klauss, the goldfish from American Dad, which I enjoy watching.)
    The failing of Hellboy 2 starts with the soap-opera level love story between Hellboy and Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), and not to mention Abe Sapien becoming smitten with the new character Princess Nuala, which goes so far as to have him begin drinking and singing annoying love songs (Come on! WTF!)
     The final stab is the overly convoluted story that has no basis in the Hellboy comics! We've gone so far from the original concept of Hellboy and a far turn from the original film that I dread to see if and when there will be a Hellboy 3, will Hellboy return to his roots marked with dark, Lovecraftian stories or will be off to the north pole to fight an evil Santa Claus. Guillermo del Toro, stop please and re-evaluate your situation before it gets too much for us to handle. I cannot even think about what's going to happen when his vision of "The Hobbit" will be released in 2011 (Really!) and they've already slated for "The Hobbit" in 2012! I can't wait…

Movie Review: “Pan’s Labyrinth”

   Director Guillermo Del Toro is truly a master of dark fantasy and horror with his Spanish language films such as “The Devil’s Backbone” (2001) and even his mainstream American successes such as “Blade II” (2002) and “Hellboy” (2004). His newest film, “Pan’s Labyrinth,” takes you into a strange and wondrous world filled with magic, myth, and danger.

        Spain, 1944, in the post civil war and fascist Franco reign, a young girl, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), travels with her mother (Ariadna Gil) to the country to live with her adoptive father, Vidal (Sergi Lopez), a ruthless military officer. As a group of guerrilla rebels seeks to depose the fascist regime, the nurse of Ofelia’s pregnant mother, Mercedes (Maribel Verdu) serves as an informant for the rebels. Ofelia, still suffering over the death of her father, she refuses to accept her new stepfather and is worrisome over he mother and yet unborn brother.

When Ofelia explores a long-forgotten hedge maze, she is drawn into a world of fantasy where she meets the faun, Pan (Doug Jones), who believes Ofelia to be a legendary princess and charges her with a quest to restore her royal heritage. On her mission, she will face bizarre creatures and horrific monsters, as she must also find a way to help her mother, whose health is rapidly declining despite the efforts of the doctor (Alex Angulo).

“Pan’s Labyrinth” could be compared to the dark fantasies of the earlier films of Tim Burton, as well as a darker version of “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” (2005). Like “Pan’s Labyrinth,” I am also reminded of the film “Mirrormask” (2005) directed by artist Dave McKean and written by author Neil Gaiman.

“Pan’s Labyrinth” is a deliciously dark and wonderful film experience. Despite the appearance of an innocent, fantasy film, it is actually quite a suspenseful and disturbing experience, often with violent and gory imagery. The film is spoken entirely in Castilian Spanish with English subtitles.

MOVE REVIEW: “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

    “Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho, a pirate’s life for me…” To think, that a 40-year-old amusement park ride could spawn a multi-million dollar blockbuster trilogy. Nonetheless, Disney Picture’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” films have surpassed all expectations in becoming one of the most popular film franchises. With the first movie, “Curse of the Black Pearl” released in 2003 and the sequel “Dead Man’s Chest” in 2006, the third installment in this epic, swashbuckling, and action-packed blockbuster has blown this summer’s competition (literally) out of the water!

    In “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”, we reunite with the crew of the Black Pearl, along with William Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) and Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris), with a little help from the recently resurrected Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) to rescue Capt. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from Davy Jone’s Locker. They reluctantly travel to Singapore to seek the pirate Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat) for aid in their quest all-the-while, dodging their sworn enemies: the East India Trading Company, led by Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) and Commodore James Norrington (Jack Davenport) with their unlikely ally, the tentacle-faced Capt. Davy Jones (Bill Nighy). On top of all that, there is still the matter of Will Turner’s promise to marry Elizabeth and his determination to save his father ‘Bootstrap’ Bill (Stellan Skarsgard) from Davy Jone’s eternal clutches.

      While Capt. Jack resides in the “locker,” an alternate dimension, (which looks an awful lot like Utah’s Salt Lake Desert) where Jack is driven to the brink of insanity as he carries on conversations with his numerous other-selves. The crew must now journey to the edge of the world and beyond to bring Capt. Jack back from the dead, because they need him as one of the eight pirate lords to wage war on Beckett and Jones. Now, there is a new twist, as the pirate lords must seek the help of the sea goddess Calypso, to aid them in their battle or all is lost. It’s an all out battle-royal with a ruthless battle between Beckett and the pirates with a face-to-face fight with Capt. Jack versus Davy Jones and a surprise ending that no one would expect. Also, be sure to stay after the credits for another little surprise.

    “At World’s End” combines a uniquely complex plot along with intense supernatural suspense and epic, swashbuckling action in this third and (maybe?) last installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy.

“Dead men tell no tales…”

MOVE REVIEW: SPIDER-MAN 3

   Movies based on Marvel Comics have gone out of control; and this year above all, is the final insult! After last summer’s disappointing “X-Men 3: The Last Stand”, this year we get “Ghost Rider” in February, “Spider-Man 3” this May and then comes in “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” in June! I can remember a time (oh, about 8 years ago) when rumors spread that Marvel would be producing several movies based on popular Marvel Comics characters for the new millennium.

   1998 began the “Blade” saga, a relatively obscure Marvel character from the 1970’s, you put blood, violence, techno music, black leather and Wesley Snipes together and you get a relatively impressive action/horror film. Mind you, this is before “The Matrix” craze (it’s hard to remember action movies before “The Matrix”, but there was.) Then in 2000 Marvel’s “X-Men” came out and it was the dawn of a new era when the comic book characters we know and love become a Hollywood cash cow. Sure we remember the “Superman” and then “Batman” franchises of the ‘80’s and ‘90’s but lest we forget like those films, we are doomed to witness the inevitable coming of… the SEQUAL!
            Comic book movie fans have but to remember the one name that will forever be synonymous with the inexcusable and unbearable comic book movie sequels, dare I say it…Joel Schumacher! We know where this is going, sure the first movies or so come out and the people rejoice. But after the first sequel we get into the 3’s and 4’s and then it goes completely nuts.  Okay I admit it, I love “X-Men” and “X-Men 2: United”, thank you Bryan Singer, but wait, where are you going Bryan, you’re leaving us to do… “Superman Returns”, please say it isn’t so! So what we are left with is Brett Ratner’s: ‘lets kill all the main character’s off and end this fiasco’. Don’t get me wrong I am a die-hard Wolverine fan but I guess I’ll have to wait to see Wolverine’s movie to get some kind of satisfaction (But…guess what, it’s still a sequel).

            Now, we come to Spider-man. In 2002 we are blessed with the holy grail of Marvel movies, “Spider-man”. Sam Raimi, once the purveyor of B-movie schlock (but good schlock) now presents us with the perfect Marvel movie. The film went nuts at the box-office, merchandising galore, millions of bucks were made and young stars such as Tobey ‘my voice still cracks at 30’ Maguire and of course the lovely Kirsten ‘bitchy vampire brat’ Dunst. Still, think me not a blasphemer, for I too kneeled at the wondrous new Spider-man and of course it’s sequel, Spider-man 2. Again, the Spidey greatness flowed and…so did the money. It left us wanting more and so…behold it came! Here’s the skinny of it, Spider-man 3 is a great movie, the CG special effects are mind-boggling, the action is intense, the love-triangle soap-opera crap is ever present and of course we have not just one villain, but 3! (3 ½ if you want to get technical).

            The main plot of the movie comes from Spider-man finding the alien symbiotic costume which just happens to fall to Earth inside a small meteorite that lands coincidentally too close to Peter Parker and Mary Jane while they flirt in a gigantic spider web. Thus begins Spider-man’s new look with the ever-popular black costume, which first made its appearance in the comics in 1984. (Remember the “Secret Wars? Nope? I guess not…) As they said in the first movie, “with great power, comes great responsibility”, so now in Spidey 3 we get: with the black costume comes Spidey turning into a real asshole! Then we have The Sandman, Harry Osborne as a half-assed Green Goblin, and Venom, who all take a shot at Spidey. And lets not forget the introduction of Gwen Stacy (Bryce-Dallas Howard) for no apparent reason except for a little tension between Peter and MJ. As a big Spidey fan myself, I also consider Venom to be one of my favorite modern villains, but lets face it, they just didn’t do him justice!

            So, will this be the end of the Marvel movies, take a look back at the last decade of failures such as “The Punisher” (1989) with Dolph Lundgren and there was also “Captain America” (1990). Who knows we might just get “Daredevil 2” next year or how about “Blade 4” in a team-up with Ghost Rider, the possibilities are endless, but do you really want them to go that far?

They say if you do not learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it, so… Mr. Sam Raimi if you can look back at a little movie (or atrocity) known as “Batman and Robin” (1997) you will see what too many characters, too many subplots and too many damn villains will and did to destroy a beloved comic book movie franchise. I predict, “Spider-man 4” will come out in May 2010, here’s the “plot”: Spider-man versus The Lizard, The Vulture and oh, why not The Rhino too (going with the whole animal theme here, lol). Gwen Stacy will be killed by…lets say out of jealousy by Mary Jane and then she forces Peter to marry her and then goes all Lorena Bobbit on him! LOL! OK, I was just joking but hey, you know there’s going to be a Spidey 4 and they will have to end it by finally getting Peter and MJ married, its inevitable, they’ll throw in a villain or two and then we have a happy ending. Now, go back to your lives citizens, nothing more to see here. Move along…

Music Review: Dimmu Borgir - “In Sorte Diaboli”

Dimmu Borgir - “In Sorte Diaboli” (2007)

“What you believe is true is false. What you thought right, wrong.”

      In the beginning, there was Metal, and it was good. Then, there came Dimmu Borgir, the most brutal black metal band to come out of the ancient land of Norway! Why this attempt at a blasphemous parody? When you hear the new album from Dimmu Borgir, “In Sorte Diaboli”, you will think my little joke is nothing compared to the blatant dark and disturbing imagery in this new album. The deluxe version of this 10-track album includes the exclusive U.S. bonus track “The Heretic Hammer” and a bonus DVD which contains several features such as the music video for “The Serpentine Offering”, the making of the video featurette, the making of the album featurette, and a photo gallery!

        The deluxe edition is worth the extra price for there is also an intriguing booklet containing the narrative behind the album’s storyline in the form of a wayward monk’s thoughts on forbidden truths and diabolical revelations.

        I thought nothing would surpass the masterpiece that was their 2003 album “Death Cult Armageddon” with the epic “Progenies of The Great Apocalypse” but with this new album, tracks like “The Serpentine Offering”, “Sacrilegious Scorn” and “The Sinister Awakening” Dimmu Borgir has improved upon itself in its quest to express their ideals of the hypocrisy of religion and embracing the darker aspects of the human condition in their music. If you have never experienced Dimmu Borgir and crave an intense, mind-blowing, metal onslaught than check out “In Sorte Diaboli”!

Also recommend: Cradle of Filth – “Thornograophy” (2006)