Monday, June 30, 2008

the 2008 Summer Blockbusters Recap so far

It's the end of June and done about half of the Hollywood Summer Blockbusters so far ... Here a recap of those that I managed to catch ...


By far, the Best Flick among the Summer BlockBusters flick of 2008 and a current contender of my top ten 2008. Robert owns the role of Tony Stark and he is pretty much the reason to watch IronMan.
****


I see no point in bringing this Japanese anime which was polluted with the English dubbing for the American back in the old days ... the storytelling is so choppy, the actions get so boringly similar after a while, the special effect felt like a big step backward (specially coming from folks who made the Matrix) and somehow it's so old school that it's hard to relate to it anymore
***


Indy latest installments suffers from editing woes which was a jarring distraction specially when it came to action sequences ...my other friends noted that there were too many show off with CGI and tho it didnt affect me that much, there isn't really any factor in this Indy to get Wow with. A bit pointless installments to milk the fans of the original trilogy (hey the same can be said about Star Wars 1 2 3)
** 1/2


Surprisingly more enjoyable than I expect ... plenty of laughs and as a parody of Kungfu, somehow it felt that this Panda got the essence of old school kungfu fighting and invokes memories of old Jackie Chan Kungfu Flicks ... where he played the martial arts wanna be ... but sadly his role here won't be that memorable
*** 1/2


Actually Makes me Miss what Ang Lee was attempting to do with the Hulk ... that not to say that Ang Lee achieved what he was trying for in Hulk but let's say that there more effort in fishing out the conflict within one self and the father son woe than this mindless Hulk Smash flick ... gave it a slightly better than passable grade for how Betty Rose stops the Hulk. the slap slap emotion practice, the too excited before sex, the Stan Lee appearance, (spoiler starts) the Leader origin (spoiler ends) and the tie in to Avengers !
***


Old School Fun! Steve Carell & Anne Hathaway's on screen chemistry was one of the major reason for liking this ... plus it brought back plenty of memories of the TV series ... would love to watch this again
*** 1/2


What went wrong with Wanted? At first I thought it was above average flick but after chatting with a friend about this style over substance, I started to find more and more faults with it. The change in Wesley from a loser to a wannabe and finally a determined dude was far from compelling or convincing. The twist was so predictable.

Some spoilers content that I felt Dumb or uninspired were
1) the rats at the finale!!! how did they get around so fast? was the Fraternity headquarter so unguarded that rats could find their way around so quickly? and why did the Fraternity stop shooting at Wesley once he released the rats?

2) the train scene ! the moment Cross caught Wesley ... didn't feel so Star Wars? "I'm your dad"

3) the final shootout at the Fraternity library ... didn't Wesley just told the other members that Sloan just made used of the fortune telling weaving instruments to his bidding (and to avoid his own death)? so when Sloan told the members that they are also on the death list, why weren't they bright enough to question that Sloan might be lying / manipulate the fortune telling cloth again? but then again, it happens in real life, people never question the "instruction" that they been dealt with and follow blindly with faith

** 1/2


As a Adam Sandler, this stereotypical flick was low on laugh fest ... pretty much like his last one (I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry) which is also directed by the same director Dennis Dugan ... two back to back unfunny craps ... it starting to tell me something ... avoid! oh and Emmanuelle Chriqui is hawt
** 1/2

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Adam Sandler is classic in his own way, though he tends to do his best work when he stays casual, not trying too hard to be funny or deep, etc.