Safe House Movie Review
Decent, in a standard way.
I am a Denzel Washington fan, and something I learned while watching his best (in my opinion) movie Training Day is he is way more entertaining as a bad guy than a good guy which is why Safe House works for me. However, I think one of the main reasons I like Denzel Washington is he actually has a really good eye for scripts and manages to stay away from obvious dogs. His discriminating tastes is the main reason I will see anything he opts to work on.
That being said, the script for Safe House is on the far end of the good script spectrum for Denzel, almost bordering on the mediocre. Honestly, if this movie hadn’t had Mr. Washington’s precise delivery and perfect acting ability the flaws in the script would have risen up like scum on the surface of a stagnant pond and filled the theater with the odor of decaying organic matter. The story latches onto every spy movie cliche like a remora eel and the events connecting the assorted action sequences are tenuous at best, with plot devices so far removed from what would actually make sense that it sometimes feels like you are watching them through a telescope in another solar system.
As for Ryan Reynolds and his performance, I am torn. On the one hand, in his last few efforts (Green Lantern in particular. Green Lantern shirt image courtesy of the Comic Book T-Shirt category) I have railed against him constantly playing Van Wilder over and over again; the sleezy pretty party boy who can’t help but smarm and sleep with anything remotely attractive in the movie and to be fair in this film he manages to avoid that role completely. He is a serious and career minded CIA operative with a girlfriend he loves deeply. On the other hand, he seems to alternate between looking completely helpless and being a young James Bond. I can’t even say this was the result of a decent character arc, with him being inexperienced at the beginning and developing into a hard case by the end. Instead the movie changes gears back and forth without warning, with his character either hiding in a dark corner (literally) or ruthlessly gunning down whatever gets in his way.
The story is of young Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds-Green Lantern, the Change Up, Buried), a CIA operative who is basically a hotel keeper at a secret safe house in Cape Town. Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington-Training Day, Man on Fire, Inside Man) is a traitor and super spy who gets himself captured. He is placed in Matt’s safe house where a team of Aryan Army looking CIA guys are going to water board and torture him for whatever he was doing in Cape Town (selling some top secret information, but honestly the actual reasons for most of the movie seem pretty inconsequential). While they are in the process another team of guys attacks and kills pretty much everyone. Watson takes Tobin out at gunpoint and the long, long chase begins. He is being pursued by some bad guys while being ordered by his superiors to do different dumb stuff. Tobin is a master of human manipulation and works on getting into Matt’s head.
Honestly, I can’t get much more into the story without more or less giving it all away. Spy hijinks ensues. Stuff blows up. Guys get shot. There are about as many cliches as bullets fired, including the ending.
The stars. Denzel Washington. Two stars. Denzel Washington playing a villain rather than a hero. One star. The action was all pretty good and exciting, if a little repetitive. One star. The romance subplot, which normally would I find distracting and worthless, actually added a lot to the story. It gave Tobin a real tool to get into Matt’s head and screw with him, which added a lot to the story. One star. The interaction between Tobin and Matt was really well done, and pulled you into the story in many ways that the plot did not. Two stars. Generally entertaining. Two stars. Total: nine stars.
The black holes. Weak script. Two black holes. Inconsistent tone from Ryan Reynold’s character. One black hole. Spy story cliches we have all seen in about fifty movies, including the ending. One black hole. Some pretty gaping plot holes. One black hole. Total: five black holes.
A grand total of four stars. Not bad, but to be honest not what I expect from a movie Denzel Washington chooses to star in. Also, if anyone else had been cast in his role the movie probably would have swung into the black hole zone. Worth seeing? Sure, if you don’t want to follow the plot too closely. The action is the best part after Denzel’s performance, so it might be worth seeing on a big screen. Date movie? Meh. Maybe, if she is into this sort of thing, or Denzel Washington (or, for that matter, Ryan Reynolds). On the other hand odds are you will suffer in comparison to either of those two guys, so consider it carefully.
Thanks for reading. More movies coming out this weekend. I will probably see the Vow, about as chick flick as a movie can get. If I am feeling the need to expel mass quantities of bile I might see Mysterious Island 2 but I can already tell how that is going to suck. I am torn regarding seeing The Phantom Menace 3D. On the one hand I don’t want to give even a dime to support such mediocre movie making or George Lucas. On the other hand, since I did not have this blog going when I first saw it I might enjoy doing the review. I think what I might do is buy a ticket for a movie that I like (Chronicle, for example) and then just sneak in to the other theater. I have some 3D glasses lying around here somewhere. Follow me on Twitter @Nerdkungfu. I’ve noticed I don’t get a ton of comments for specific requests or blog ideas so if you would like to contact me without posting simply email me feel free to do so at [email protected]. Talk to you soon.
Dave
George Lucas continues to defile and disgrace his whored out legacy.
So while listening to Geektime this morning I heard that the new Star Wars Kinnect will be coming out soon. I don’t really have any problem with that. The problem I have is that it is supposed to include a dance off feature where you can dance against or as Darth Vader. This is wrong on so many levels it boggles my mind. This Vader image is from the Star Wars tshirts, by the way.
It seems pretty obvious now that not only was George Lucas specifically not responsible for all the things that made Star Wars great but actually does not get the movies himself at all and possible has never actually watched them. Darth Vader should never dance. The very idea of him dancing is so wrong that anyone suggesting it should probably be executed for the good of humanity. Darth Vader is in all ways cool, menacing, and deadly. The only people dancing around him should be the people he is force choking for failure.
However, it seems pretty obvious that Lucas really doesn’t care one bit about Star Wars and would willingly show any of his characters engaged in illegal and immoral sexual acts if someone offered him enough money. He started it with the Holiday Special and has steadily spiraled down and down. By the way, his dumb 3D Phantom Menace comes out this weekend. Join me in specifically not seeing this opus and no longer supporting him in any way.
Jason
Why I’m OK with Tobey Maguire not playing Spider-man in the next movie.
So I was reading online last night about the new Spider-man movie and saw a bunch of weirdo fan boys whining because they cast someone else besides Tobey Maguire as Spider-man. Honestly, I am cool with this decision. The fact is, a real fan of Spider-man is a fan of the comic book hero. Even a fan of the movies has to be a fan of the mask. Peter Parker is just there to give context to the problems Spider-man faces when not punching out bad guys. Also, in general Peter Parker is supposed to be a young guy and Tobey is starting to push the limit.
For that matter, I don’t really think Tobey Maguire has defined Peter Parker with his amazing acting ability, and his willingness to turn Peter Parker into a total emo cretin in the last movie has really caused him to lose any claim he might have had on the roll. Anyone who is QQing about Tobey Maguire is obviously just a Tobey Maguire fan, not a Spider-man fan. Honestly I can’t really think of a real reason to be a Maguire fan, unless you are really hot for him. I looked at his other movies and they all look like junk. I, and I think most of the world, am ready for him to slink off into obscurity, resurfacing 20 years from now to sign autographs at Comic Con.
The new guy looks shockingly like Tobey, so I guess you won’t have your brain broken too much having to watch him. The image above I pulled off a new comic book t-shirt Dave just had the guys upload onto the site. Talk to you soon.
Jason
The Avengers Trailer is looking pretty damned cool.
Already I can tell you all must think I am the guy who craps on everything, and for the most part you would probably be right. However, I have to say the trailer I saw this morning for the Avengers is looking pretty amazing. I will leave the whole reviewing business to Dave, but I have a good feeling about this movie. I am pretty sure it is going to rule.
The only weird thing is, as you can see from this image of the classic Avengers from the Marvel Comic T Shirts, the Hulk was never really featured much, and in fact I think he left the Avengers after the first few issues. The whole question of how to actually control him or write in a reason for him to just happen to be pissed off at whoever the Avengers were fighting I think seemed a little awkward. In the trailer I just saw Tony Stark seems pretty confident about the teams ability to keep the Hulk under control, but personally I think that sounds a little optimistic. Part of the thing that made the Hulk so cool was the fact that he could fly off the handle at any given moment.
Other than that, I think this movie is looking pretty amazing, and will probably at least go with Dave on opening night to watch it. I just don’t want to listen to him bitching about pacing and other dumb movie stuff.
Jason
A new Blade Runner movie? Really?
So apparently Ridley Scott is working on a new Blade Runner movie. I can probably say that this is another franchise that doesn’t need a sequell, prequel, remake, or reboot. Really, once they came out with the directors cut you pretty much had a perfect movie all in one two hour segment. Would you really ask Da Vinci to go back and repaint the Last Supper, only this time put clown noses on all the figures? This is pretty much the same concept.
Replicant image from the sci fi t shirts.
The funniest thing about this story is the serious doubt as to whether Harrison Ford is considering doing it or not. There are stories going in both directions. The most recent ones seem to indicate he will not touch it, which I think is the best move. He looked so young and vibrant in Blade Runner. He has no need to look like an old man like he did in the recent Indiana Jones. Besides, there is no way the new script could end up being anything but suck.
Ridley Scott, do your fans a favor and don’t fall for the huge pile of money the studio must be offering you. Prove to the world that you are a better man that George Lucas. Don’t do this movie.
Jason
The Woman in Black Review
Scary Potter.
I actually saw this Saturday night and will say it was scary. However, it is of the jack-in-the-box kind of scary where something jumps out at you, causing a minor adrenaline spike and the occasional need to change your undergarments. It is not the kind of scary that builds up in the back of your mind like water balloon on a faucet that you forget is running. The terror builds steadily until it finally burst and gets all over everything. Instead it is Snakes on a Plane scary, where after the first 20 minutes, once you understand the nature of the villain, you begin to expect to see something horrible and predetermined scene locations and, for the most part, you are not disappointed. (Jack in the Box image courtesy of the Funny T-Shirts category).
The film also makes the cardinal mistake of establishing early on that the one character you are destined to connect with, Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe-Harry Potter and not a whole lot else) is actually in no real danger from the ghost, as she has a thing for children. Once you understood that tension in the scenes bleeds off like the aforementioned water balloon with fifty or so pin pricks in it. Still scary, but not in the same sense of danger you get from a movie like Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, where you know the bad guys are actively looking to cause harm to the character you like the most. Instead the danger is focused on a bunch of kids, which is bad in a very general sense, but since none of the kids have more than a couple minutes of screen time pre death you never connect with any of them. Honestly, if some excuse had been found for a couple kids to hang out with Arthur so we could get to know them, then I might have cared when something horrible happened.
The other big mistake this movie makes is it fails to give us a real reason for Arthur to be doing anything besides running screaming into the night, along with any of the other characters. I’m sorry, but if I am by myself in a big, creepy mansion and there is a rocking chair moving by itself after a day of seeing a ton of other creepy stuff I would be out of there so fast your eyes would spin, and by the way I’d be setting fire to the place on my way out the door. The villagers are idiots too. It is established early on that the local innkeeper had lost a child to the woman in black. He then has another child that he keeps locked up for her own safety. Why the hell didn’t he move to another town, along with anyone else who had a child? Is parental instinct such a rarity these days? Sometimes I think so, but if you live in a town with a local supernatural killer of children you might want to consider a different school district.
Anyway, the story. Arthur Kipp is a widower with a young son (again, a great opportunity to connect with a potential victim squandered. We meet him briefly at the beginning and again at the end) who is in danger of losing his job as a solicitor. He has a job to go out into the countryside and sort out the final affairs and sell the old mansion of someone (??? To be honest I can’t tell you who died and left the house. It might have been the woman in black, but it seemed to be implied that she had been dead for decades. Also she didn’t appear to have ever lived there. It might have been her unseen sister, but the sisters grave looked about 100 years old too. The house itself looked as if no one had been there for a while as well. If someone knows who’s affairs were being taken care of please post a comment). His son he leaves with a shockingly hot nanny (Jessica Raine-Robin Hood, Call the Midwife, Elsewhere) but they plan to join him shortly in the creepiest village in English history (sorry to keep hitting you with these questions, but if Arthur was nigh bankrupt as is stated several times how can he afford a nanny and vacations and so on? That kid should have had “latch-key” written on his underwear band). He arrives in town to encounter the typical “we both have a deadly town secret and hate all outsiders” attitude from the local bumpkins. Everyone seems unusually protective of the kids, but nothing is ever explained.
Anyway, the story is almost painfully linear. Naturally no one wants Arthur around and do whatever they can to make his life uncomfortable, except for the local rich guy (magistrate? Judge? It seems to be implied that he has some kind of local power but it is never explored. Played by Roger Allam-V for Vendetta, the Queen, Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides) and his insane wife (I can’t seem to find her credit. Weird) who’s son died under mysterious circumstances. He doesn’t believe in ghosts and puts up Arther, helping him along. Arthur decides the best way to go through a bunch of old paperwork is by sitting up all night by himself in the the creepiest mansion in the history of the world instead of in a nice office or hotel room. Naturally weird stuff starts happening, and kids in the village start dying. The locals opt to blame Arthur instead of burning the mansion to the ground and/or just moving the hell away. The backstory of the woman in black is spoon fed to us in the most painfully obvious manner; a monolog delivered in a woman’s voice as Arthur reads a bunch of old letters.
SPOILER ALERT: if you have a brain you might be able to infer some info about the ending from the next few lines, so maybe skip ahead a bit. While the action had a number of creepy surprises, the actual story was about as linear and predictable as long distance train track. Whatever tension the movie started with gets pretty much drained by the last 20 minutes. Arthur pulls some Scooby Doo shenanigans in order to appease the ghost and takes a swim in muck. Everyone in the movie make the dumbest choices possible (most of them being “Let’s hang out instead of making like a hockey player and getting the puck out of here”). The depressing and predictable ending that had been looming over the story like a suspicious lump in your testicle sack is made manifest.
The stars. Say what you will, the director (James Watkins-My Little Eye, The Descent Pt 2, Eden Lake) knows how to do creepy. Everything in this film looks like it was rejected by Hellraiser for being a little over the top. The problem is, of course, a lack of contrast actually makes the creepy stuff less creepy. However, if creep is what you like, this movie has it in spades. One star. Daniel Radcliffe managed to deliver a pretty good performance while completely divorcing himself from his Harry Potter legacy. Good script choice IMO. One star. The minimal special effects and camera work were really well done, helping to deliver on the tone the director was striving for. One star. There were some definite heart in your throat scary moments, so if you are looking for an adrenaline rush go for it. One star. Pacing and direction were pretty good. One star. Generally a fun movie to watch. Two stars. Total: seven stars.
The black holes. Predictable. One black hole. Once you realized the ghost wasn’t going to kill Arthur due to the fact that he wasn’t a child the was a serious lessening of tension. One black hole. This movie I think would have actually benefited greatly from a couple more characters. One black hole. Total: three black holes.
A grand total of four stars. This movie is actually better than that score indicates. I think it worth seeing. Definitely a good date movie, as your date should be gripping your arm nicely and not want to go back to her creepy, lonely apartment if you know what I mean. However, if watching guys in movies make bad life decisions infuriates you, maybe you should give it a pass.
That’s it for this weekend’s movies. I’ll try to get something watched this week, but have a couple other ideas to talk about soon. Follow me on Twitter @Nerdkungfu. Thanks for reading. Talk to you soon.
Dave
I just saw the trailer for the new Three Stooges movie. It’s scary bad.
I am a Three Stooges fan from when I was a kid. Moe, Larry, and Curly will always be among my all time favorites. Even Shemp I like, although we don’t have to talk about Curly Joe. The thing is, these guys are literally one of a kind, and the fact that they did their movie shorts on a shoestring budget makes them even better. Trying to remake them today using no name morons would be like trying to recreate the Mona Lisa using fingerpaints. It really can’t be done, and to do so would be an insult to their noble heritage. This credits image comes from the movie tshirts, by the way.
Of course, nothing will ever prevent the blood and soul sucking opportunists of Hollywood from betraying their heritage and turning a quick buck. I don’t care if it is the Farrelly brothers. The fact that they agreed to make this tells me that maybe they aren’t as great as we all thought, and should probably take another look at their work. I noticed that all the big name stars who were rumored to be in this bailed out. I guess they figured out how much suck could go into a film. The thing is, the Stooges were brilliant physical comedians, which means the makers of this film should look for good physical guys. Instead they hired three guys no one has ever heard of. I guess if you don’t have a career to speak of you aren’t risking much doing something like this. Personally I am glad it is Dave who will have to watch this and all I have to do is read his bitter review.
Jason
Big Miracle Movie Review
A whale of a tale.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist. I’ll flagellate myself later in punishment. This movie was something of a miracle, in that I actually enjoyed it in spite of every expectation that I was going to be bored to tears. I found it an intriguing story, with cool characters who develop, lovable sea mammals, and a good example of what teamwork can accomplish. Be warned, however. If you have ever failed to separate your recycling, stepped on a bug, or accidentally fired a harpoon gun into a migrating blue whale the guilt you feel by the end of this film will be overwhelming.
Of course, like anything I watch these days there were nits I could pick, and I will get into those shortly. Nothing deal breaking, however.
The story is, of course, the three grey whales who were trapped in the ice in the late 80’s. I vaguely remember this story (I was busy dropping out of college and finding the most miserable job in the history of employment at the time) and looked it up. The movie stuck fairly close to the original, with a few major changes. 
Basically it starts off with small market reporter Adam Carlson (John Krasinski-the Office, It’s Complicated, Away We Go. Dunder Mifflin image courtesy of the TV Show T Shirts) doing some human interest stories in Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost town in the US. He comes across three whales trapped in the ice and does a story on it. It gets picked up by the national news, which catches the world’s attention. Adams ex-girlfriend, Greenpeace leader, and major pain in the ass Rachel Kramer (Drew Barrymore-E.T. the Extraterrestrial, Fever Pitch, Donnie Darko) finds out and starts campaigning to save the whales. The local Inuit tribe wants to harvest them for meat, but head whaling captain Malik (John Pingayak-no other credits) decides with all the press around his tribe would be seen in a very negative light.
At that point the serious rescue efforts get going. Oil kingpin J.W. McGraw (Ted Danson, looking kind of sharp with white hair I must say-Cheers, Becker (a show that never got the credit it deserved. I thought it was great), Saving Private Ryan) volunteers his ice breaking hover barge as a publicity stunt but later seems to really care. Rachel extorts Alaskan Governor Haskell (Stephen Root-News Radio, No Country for Old Men, King of the Hill) into mobilizing the National guard and sending two big helicopters to pull the barge. Meanwhile the locals are keeping the ice hole open for the whale. As temperatures drop two of the Three Stooges show up from Minnesota complete with Fargo accents to deploy a device they invented to help keep ice holes clear (yes I am enjoying these jokes). A self described blond Barbi (Kristen Bell-When in Rome, Forgetting Sarah Marshal, Veronica Mars) shows up from LA to freeze her ass off and broadcast the news. The National Guard pilot, Col. Scott Boyer (Dermot Mulroney-About Schmidt, Zodiac, My Best Friends Wedding) deals with the difficulties of operating in the Alaskan weather while dealing with White House Press Secretary Kelly Meyers (Vinessa(?) Shaw-3:10 to Yuma, the Hills Have Eyes, Eyes Wide Shut).
Anyway, things go grim for a while as the whole town comes out to help cut hundreds of ice holes (haw!) to the open sea. The President is forced to ask the Russians to help with one if their ice breakers. Ice gets cut. Whales breach. You see a lot of snow and ice.
The stars. Interesting story, most likely due to the fact that it is based on a real one. Two stars. Decent acting all around. One star. Pacing, while definitely not as fast as one would expect from a more exciting film, was highly appropriate for the film. One star. The whales were pretty cool. One star. They managed to not turn the movie into a tribute to the decade I hate the most, the 80’s. One star. The director (Ken Kwapis-Licensed to Wed, He’s Just Not That Into You, the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) really managed to draw the audience in and give us reasons to care about both the whales and the human characters. Well done IMO. One star. Overall a fun movie. One star. Total: eight stars.
The black holes. I found Drew Barrymore’s character an annoying off the stereotype shelf hippy Greenpeace bitch, and she felt really fake and out of place in comparison to the rest of the cast. Odds are Drew didn’t eat anything at all during the course of this film production as she managed to fill up every day by chewing the scenery. One black hole. In the real story the Inuits made the decision to help the whales on their own, but in this movie they couldn’t do anything that positive until the white man, in the form of Adam Carlson, guided them into the correct moral choice. I would find that a little insulting if I were an Eskimo. One black hole. Total: two black holes.
A final total of six stars. Really decent movie. Perfect for your family (to be honest I’m not even sure how it got a PG rating). This might also be the perfect date movie. Interesting, with whales, romance, drama, and some sadness. If this doesn’t warm your dates heart maybe she needs someone to cut her an ice hole (ok, I’m done with that). On the other hand, very little of the camera work really needs to be seen on a big screen, so feel free see it on NetFlix.
I’m seeing the Woman in Black later tonight, so look for a review tomorrow. It looks as scary as hell, and I’m in a bad spot as I am seeing it with two girls and don’t want to end up shrieking or otherwise embarrassing myself. I’d like to maintain at least the illusion of machismo in my life. Anyway, thanks for reading. Follow me on Twitter @NerdKungFu. Talk to you all tomorrow.
Dave
Chronicle Movie Review
Pretty much the senior year in High School I always dreamed of.
How does this sound familiar? A introverted high school geek is abused by his alcoholic father and all of his so-called peers. Ignored by girls, pushed around by bullies, and spending each day in an alienating Skinner box of loneliness. Then, through some set of mysterious (and blatantly unexplained) phenomenon he gains super powers and uses them to wreck most of his town and punish all who had ever wronged him. To be honest, I really didn’t have to see Chronicle as I wrote the script for it pretty much every day in my head throughout high school and for a bunch of years after that.
First off, this movie is pretty freaking amazing. Found footage is a little overplayed these days, but in this case it is used to present some pretty amazing concepts and really good characters, each with their own personality and priorities. Plus it is about kids with super powers. Additionally I was really impressed with the acting and performances of the three kids, and the found footage aspect of the movie felt incredibly organic and real.
It’s usually at this point in one of my reviews where I say something like “That’s not to say the movie doesn’t have it’s faults, which we will go into detail shortly”. However, as I sit here reflecting on my cinema experience I honestly can’t think of anything that bugged me about this film. I’ll try to think about something before I get to the black holes, but overall I think this was an excellent movie.
The story is of Andrew (Dane DeHaan-In Treatment, True Blood, the Front), an introverted geek treated with abuse and contempt and disregard by pretty much everyone around him except for his cousin Matt (Alex Russell-Almost Kings, the Best Man, Wasted on the Young). He buys an old camera to document his life but it is also implied he is using it as a defense against his abusive father (Micheal Kelly-Adjustment Bureau, Dawn of the Dead, Unbreakable) and the people around him, as well as film the last days of his dying mother (Bo Peterson-the Wooden Camera, Endgame, the Bone Snatcher). Matt drags him to a rave in a barn somewhere. After a few minutes of him looking and acting painfully out of place (lots of deja vu there for me as well) he gets dragged out of the parking lot by the most popular kid in school, Steve (Micheal B. Jordan-Friday Night Lights, House M.D., Red Tails) who wants him to use his camera to film something weird in a field. It is a tunnel leading down. Matt, Steve, and Andrew all descend, where they see a big glowing thing that gives them all telekinetic ability.
At this point the film turns into a documentary of the three boys as they develop and strengthen their abilities, as well as their friendships. They run around doing what teenage boys would given God-like powers: play pranks on people and laughing their asses off. As things develop they gain more and more powers, including flight and invulnerability. Meanwhile, Andrews friendship with Steve helps him gain popularity, at least until he gets drunk at a party and embarrasses himself in front of a girl, who blabs it all over the school proving once again that women are evil (oops did I type that part out loud?).
Anyway, things take place that many people may interpret as a dark turn but which I saw the inevitable conclusion of an abused geek gaining powers, showing once again that geeks are to be feared and respected, not abused. Paybacks are a bitch, and he starts dealing it wholesale. He also is motivated to find money to help his sick mother. I don’t want to get too much into the rest of the story. Nothing will really surprise you too much, but I found it enjoyable nevertheless.
The stars. Really well done found footage movie. Two stars. The character development was really strong for all three guys, and the interaction between the three felt very real and believable. Two stars. Good acting from the three main guys. One star. While the film was found footage, the directors managed to find really clever ways of making it not suffer from the usual gremlins of found footage films: Captain Shaky-motion-sickness-inducement and his sidekick Corp. There’s-always-one-main-character-missing-from-the-scene. I thought the use and placement of the cameras really clever and well done. One star. For being low budget the special effects were pretty cool. One star. Dialog was good and real also. One star. Overall a lot of fun. Two stars. Total: ten stars.
The black holes. I think I did come up with a couple, but the really cool thing about the way this film was filmed was there doesn’t really feel like you need any of the missing information explained to you. For that matter, the missing information and unexplored sub plots actually adds to the story in this format. I will say that while the movie was good I think it would have been better if they had gone for the R rating. The PG-13 choices they were forced to make left a lot of the scenes feeling a little flat. One black hole. I will also say I was hoping Andrew would do more to his miserable class mates. That is really just me, but there it is. One black hole. Total: two black holes.
So a grand total of eight stars, and the best movie I have seen so far this year. I thought this was really good, and odds are you will enjoy the heck out of it. It is more of a superhero film than anything else 
(and about 1,000 times more entertaining than big budget bomb Green Lantern. GL image courtesy of the Comic Book T-Shirt category) so treat it as such when trying to decide to bring a date to this. If she is looking forward to seeing The Avengers then she might enjoy this. If not she will be bored and in that case see it with your other nerd friends.
Thanks everyone for reading. These blogs are getting to be more and more fun to do, and I am now using my daily stats as a measure of my worth as a human being. Follow me on Twitter @NerdKungFu. Thanks again, and talk to you soon.
Dave
Is a prequel to the Watchmen really necessary?
So I guess DC has announced that they are going to develop a prequel for the Watchmen and I ask the ultimate question, why? I think everything you ever needed to know about the events before the movie or comic were related in some of the best story telling possible, without a lot of extra crap. The montage opening at the beginning of the movie after the Comedian takes his dive is one of the best ever and managed to relate a huge sequence of impressions and events without even saying a single word. This image, by the way, is from the DC comic t shirts.
I guess the ultimate answer is, of course, money. I don’t really collect and read comics but I know Dave will buy one of these like the sucker he is. It will probably sell really well and lead into another multi million dollar movie, but really, do we need to see how Dollar Bill gets killed or Mothman loses his mind? All these things really become overexplained when delivered in detail. Honestly, I think this is another sign of big media doing what it can to suck as much money out of nerds pockets at possible. Anyone else feeling like a sheep?
Jason
