This Christmas break was great. Since we were not trying to travel anywhere and we never lost power (or heat), getting snowed in for a week was a nice treat. yay! snow!
During the break I got to play a lot of Fallout3 and watch a few movies. We started watching season 2 of Rome again - terrific show. And I saw two movies that I really enjoyed.
I didnt know what to expect from this movie but seeing the creepy-ass Tom Cruise was worth it, if a little too long. His hairy knuckles were a treat.
This movie is a spoof of war movies, particularly Vietnam war movies. Watching it I realized that this is probably the only genre of movie I have never seen satirized. Cop shows, dramedies, horror... they've all been done before but not war.
I imagine you will either love or hate this movie. The jokes are non-stop. I'd list a few choice moment, like the land-mine, but I dont want to spoil it.
Personally Im tired of caricature that is Ben Stiller but Im sorely glad that he made this movie. The drugged out Jack Black was a bore but Robert Downey Jr was simply amazing. What a year for him. First Iron Man and then this.
HB2 was a movie of a different stripe.
I never read the HB comic and on the face of it, it seems kind of stupid. But I rented the first movie and was totally surprised. I loved it.
Then I saw Pan's Labyrinth and realized the genius was Guillermo del Toro. That guy has a visual style that is totally fresh, a little foreign, and totally blows me away.
When I heard HB2 was coming, I was totally psyched. My only regret is that I didnt see it in the theater because it was even more visually amazing than the previous two del Toro movies. Wow. I cannot wait to see what he does with The Hobbit.
But pretty effects are commonplace in movies these days. The rare thing is a good script. HB was a good script and HB2 was probably a better one.
But the reviewers didnt seem to like it. Apparently the "bad guy" is not "evil enough". I guess wardrobe was out of black hats.
Reading these criticisms really annoyed me. This movie was special because it was so different, so mature. This is a story about reality not the black/white absolutes of George Bush's world view.
You see Mr Movie Reviewer, the "bad guy" isn't evil enough because he is not evil at all. He is protecting his people from genocide. The problem is that we, the audience, are the ones committing the genocide. In the middle of this conflict, Hellboy is asked to pick a side with all the compromises that entails.
No, the bad guy was not evil. Are we? Not the kind of question you generally get to ask in a Hollywood movie, especially a comic book movie. (Hello, Fantastic Four!) Maybe it could have been asked better but I am pleased they got to ask it at all.
The other saving grace of Hellboy is the sense of humor. It was there in the first movie and it is there in this one. A dry sardonic humor that you either love or dont.
Great movie. Let's hope Hollywood doesn't "Xmen"-it and ruin the trilogy by choosing a new director and writer for part 3.
