[Speed Gibson,
Monday August 7, 2006 at 12:33am]
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
With apologies to Michael Medved and the Nihilist, I feel the urge to review (vent) about some recent movies I've seen.
Superman Returns (at the movies) was good, quite a bit better than I was led to believe. The charge that it was slow was baseless in my opinion. Brandon Routh did well, maybe not quite the Superman of Christopher Reeve, but maybe the better Clark Kent.
I did have a problem with some of the other casting, mostly Kate Bosworth who is simply too young (23) for the part. Routh is a mere 27, but acts his way to a believable 32 or so. The Jimmy Olsen character (Sam Huntington) is a dork, and the talented Frank Langella is simply miscast as Perry White. James Marsden (Richard White) and Kevin Spacey (Lex Luthor) were very good in their roles, however.
The movie had some adult moments and situations, even if the too-young Lois could be more convincing. All in all, 3 stars out of 4 for me.
The Producers (DVD) was bad, too much so for Nathan Lane to save. He was as good as he could be expected to be, hamstrung by the musical format that just doesn't work for this show. In the original, everything leads up to the opening "Springtime for Hitler" number. Here, it is perhaps the seventh or eighth such number, losing impact.
Uma Thurman certainly brightened the screen, but the rest of the cast was uninspired. Dick Shawn's memorable "Lorenzo St. DuBois" (L.S.D. - "That's our Hitler!") from the original haunts this inadequate production. Matthew Broderick, however, was absolutely horrible. I give it 2 stars out of 4.
War of the Worlds (HBO) was ugly. Tom Cruise seemed to be channeling John Travolta more than acting. The script was an alien mutation of H.G. Wells, Orson Welles, and Dr. Clayton Forrester put together, mostly aimed at showing off Mr. Cruise's teeth.
This has to be Steven Spielberg's worst movie ever. The script was bad, the casting was bad, the special effects were poor by today's standards, and even the musical score was bad. I give this 1/2 star out of four.
If you get a chance, listen to the 1939 Mercury Theatre broadcast that panicked the nation ten years before television. Imagine a radio audience hearing how the tall Martian machines were crossing the Hudson river into New York City like a man wading a brook, and that more cylinders were dropping everywhere around the world. This movie, even with all the tools of modern movie production generated none of that suspense and terror.
Superman Returns (at the movies) was good, quite a bit better than I was led to believe. The charge that it was slow was baseless in my opinion. Brandon Routh did well, maybe not quite the Superman of Christopher Reeve, but maybe the better Clark Kent.
I did have a problem with some of the other casting, mostly Kate Bosworth who is simply too young (23) for the part. Routh is a mere 27, but acts his way to a believable 32 or so. The Jimmy Olsen character (Sam Huntington) is a dork, and the talented Frank Langella is simply miscast as Perry White. James Marsden (Richard White) and Kevin Spacey (Lex Luthor) were very good in their roles, however.
The movie had some adult moments and situations, even if the too-young Lois could be more convincing. All in all, 3 stars out of 4 for me.
The Producers (DVD) was bad, too much so for Nathan Lane to save. He was as good as he could be expected to be, hamstrung by the musical format that just doesn't work for this show. In the original, everything leads up to the opening "Springtime for Hitler" number. Here, it is perhaps the seventh or eighth such number, losing impact.
Uma Thurman certainly brightened the screen, but the rest of the cast was uninspired. Dick Shawn's memorable "Lorenzo St. DuBois" (L.S.D. - "That's our Hitler!") from the original haunts this inadequate production. Matthew Broderick, however, was absolutely horrible. I give it 2 stars out of 4.
War of the Worlds (HBO) was ugly. Tom Cruise seemed to be channeling John Travolta more than acting. The script was an alien mutation of H.G. Wells, Orson Welles, and Dr. Clayton Forrester put together, mostly aimed at showing off Mr. Cruise's teeth.
This has to be Steven Spielberg's worst movie ever. The script was bad, the casting was bad, the special effects were poor by today's standards, and even the musical score was bad. I give this 1/2 star out of four.
If you get a chance, listen to the 1939 Mercury Theatre broadcast that panicked the nation ten years before television. Imagine a radio audience hearing how the tall Martian machines were crossing the Hudson river into New York City like a man wading a brook, and that more cylinders were dropping everywhere around the world. This movie, even with all the tools of modern movie production generated none of that suspense and terror.