The pass for this screening of Green Zone was provided by B. In addition, this “mini-review” will be appearing in their newspaper. Thanks, guys!
Despite what the director, lead actor and (especially) the trailers may make you believe, Green Zone is anything but the 4th Bourne film. In fact, if it’s part of any series, it’s part of the seemingly never ending line of political thrillers revolving around the ongoing conflict in Iraq. Soldiers are just pawns in a game put together by the fat cats in Washington, the public doesn’t know the truth, and honestly, you’ve seen this story told a thousand times before.
You’d think that with a great cast including Matt Damon, Brendan Gleeson, and Amy Ryan, you could at least count on Oscar quality performances, but no, Green Zone’s cast seems to sleepwalk through performances as basic and predictable as the script. The only bright point seems to be Greg Kinnear, who chews scenery as Clark Poundstone, a member of Pentagon Special Intellegence. His character is a cut throat political player, and Kinnear seems to revel in every minute he’s on screen.
But the real issues of the film come down to an awkward, action-heavy third act, which seems tacked on to please audiences who need a resolution to a real-life conflict that has yet to have one, and the heavy handed direction of Paul Greengrass. Look, I loved the shaky feel of the Bourne films too, but not every single scene needs to rock back and forth like they’re at sea.
It all comes down to this – if you’re looking for a great film set against the backdrop of the Iraq conflict this weekend – don’t go see Green Zone. Redbox a copy of The Hurt Locker instead. At least Kathryn Bigelow knows how to set a camera steady.
With nine long, laborious months until Tron Legacy hits 3D and IMAX theaters, Walt Disney Pictures has decided to make the 25 year wait for a Tron sequel even harder with this amazing trailer.
Stunning effects, amazing suits, the first taste of Daft Punk’s score, and some beautifully shot footage are what you’ll see over the next 2 minutes and 20 seconds, but more than anything, you’ll want to pay to see it come this December.
Press play, watch it in HD if you can, and get ready to get excited. A new Tron is finally here!
OK, that first Iron Man 2 trailer ruled all kinds of hard.
But the new one? Possibly cooler.
You’ve got Scarlett Johannson looking all sorts of hot (AND DOING A FLYING HEADSCISSORS!~), Sam Rockwell ready and willing to chew up scenery, the first look at the Iron Drones, Mickey Rourke’s Whiplash looking badass with a GREAT bit of villainous dialogue, the awesome bit where IM and War Machine look calm while the leaves fall, and most importantly…
Raising myself out of a vicodin induced stupor, I have come once again to drop knowledge on the appropriate things in the world of geek to buy this week.
That’s right…it’s time once again for….AWESOME-O-RAMA!
Ponyo As I write this article, I actually have this on in the background. While the intended audience for the latest Studio Ghibli film to hit the US shores is decidedly younger than in the past, this reinterpretation of the classic Little Mermaid tale is never the less a must see. With stunning as usual animation (made even more jaw-dropping on the blu-ray) plus a super dub, you have little to no reason to not want to see this. As with anything with the Ghibli name on it, you can just dive in and enjoy. Recommended as always.
Where The Wild Things Are When Spike Jonze’s artsy adaptation of the classic children’s novel hit theaters last fall, it didn’t always arrive in front of it’s intended audience. Less a film for children than it is for adults who remember what it was to be a child, this moody, dark and overall engrossing film is more a journey through the id and ego of a child. Beautifully shot, wonderfully put together, and an emotional rollercoaster, it was one of the best films to hit the screen last year, and I can’t wait to revisit it again at home.
Mega Man 10 Available this week for download on the Nintendo Wii, and then in the future for both the XBox 360 and Playstation 3, this throwback title picks up where last year’s Mega Man 9 left off, providing more old school fun for those of us who remember the hours of frustration spent in front of the NES with the original Mega Man games. Now with a built in easy mode for those of us who couldn’t get through the first level of the super hard 9, it’s even more a relaxing journey through one of the best games of years past. And hey, who can’t get excited about the new boss character SHEEP MAN?!
Invincible Iron Man Omnibus, Vol. 1 In the flurry following the theatrical release of Iron Man, Marvel set a brilliant plan in motion to have a comic series perfectly written and designed to be eaten up by the new fans from the flick. The result was Invincible Iron Man, and with beautiful art from Salvador Larocca combined with great stories penned by Matt Fraction (writer of the super underrated Immortal Iron Fist), it was the closest thing to a monthly movie featuring everyone’s favorite shellhead. One of my favorite monthly titles coming out of Marvel right now, you can get the first 19 issues in one delicious digestable chunk. I can’t recommend it enough.
Until next week, that’s been this week’s Awesome-O-Rama!
Ultra secretive and super awesome gaming developer Valve just released a series of teaser images across the web to different gaming sites.
Let’s be honest, if these images don’t basically give away that the popular gaming platform Steam is coming to Apple computers, I’ll eat another McGangbang.
And as a proud Mac owner – HOLY SHIT I’M EXCITED.
Yes, I own Left 4 Dead, Portal, Team Fortress 2 and Half Life for my XBox…but I would SO QUICKLY repurchase them all for my MacBook, that people’s heads would spin.
Let the obvious answer be the true one, Valve - you’ve got my money coming!
Back in the early 2000’s, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright made their name in the US with their classic flick Shaun of the Dead. In fact, they made such an impact, it’s somewhat hard to remember a time before they were popular over here too.
But before they were, they, and the lovely Jessica Hynes created a brilliant TV show called Spaced. I’ve gone on record for my love of the show before, but a rather dark piece of Spaced history found it’s way onto the internet today.
In the post Shaun period, it seems Fox attempted to put together a US remake of Spaced, and because of the nature of their TV contract, there was nothing Pegg, Frost or Hynes could do about it.
Luckily, the internet bitched loud enough and early enough that the remake was canned before the pilot went to order. And it seemed that was that.
Until today, wherein Pegg himself tweeted a link to a YouTube clip of the US remake. It’s amazing how the clip not only seems to grab the proper aesthetic of the show, but holds zero of the heart or intrigue. I guess, considering it was produced by McG, we shouldn’t be that surprised.
OK, I’m not going to submit to the normal level of nerd rage here, because as an adult, I completely understand – Marvel is a gigantic, publicly owned company, and they’re more about the dollar than the quality when it comes to licensing their properties.
But I cannot see the appeal for the audience here, with this new line of Marvel approved High Definition Television sets.
Created by RTC23 (have you heard of them? I sure as hell haven’t), these sets come between the sizes of 22 and 55 inches in both LCD and LED flavors, and not just feature comic designs on the outside case, but also a custom character related image appearing on screen for 8 seconds when you turn the television on.
So let me get this straight – it’s an HDTV of a lesser quality, with ugly case designs, a shitty image whenever you turn the TV on, and you’re paying a premium over a quality Samsung or Vizio HDTV? And they’re online sales ONLY?
If I weren’t psyched enough about Edgar Wright’s adaptation of my favorite comic series ever, Scott Pilgrim, with the release of the film 5 scant months away, the hype and anticipation is starting to ramp up with more media coming from official sources.
Early on in the production of the film, it was revealed that popular Canadian indie rock bands would have their song’s standing in as the music for the bands in the film, appropriate, as they’re indie bands in Canada.
One such band is Metric, serving as the musical interpretation of the villainous Clash at Demonhead. The song appearing in the film is titled “Black Sheep”, and it first appeared on Metric’s Facebook fan page, but now it’s been uploaded to YouTube for all to listen.
So check it out, and get psyched like I am!
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is scheduled to hit theaters on August 13th.
