Four More Film Reviews

Here are a few more film reviews, originally published on Entertainment In Review.

http://www.entertainmentinreview.com/

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)

Written by John Michael Decker
Jun 04, 2007 at 11:43 AM

Who would have thought that a series of films based on an amusement park attraction would have developed into such a lucrative franchise? In the 21st century, pirates are more popular than ever, and a lot of the credit for that must to go to the Pirates of the Caribbean films and the incredible performance of their star, Johnny Depp. In the 20th century, the romantic and stereotypical image of the pirate primarily came from three sources: the novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, the play Peter Pan by James M. Barrie, and the Gilbert & Sullivan musical The Pirates of Penzance. Well, now I think it is safe to say that the Pirates of the Caribbean films can be added to that list. What modern day child will be able to hear the word pirate without conjuring up images of the eccentric Captain Jack Sparrow as portrayed by Depp? Now that the first trilogy of Pirate films is done, I am left to ponder, was it worth the wait?

The story

At the end of the last film, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Captain Jack had been betrayed by the beautiful Elizabeth Swann and left chained to his ship, the Black Pearl as a gargantuan Kraken bore down on him. Not only that, but James Norrington had delivered the heart of squid faced Davy Jones to Lord Cutler Beckett, giving Beckett control of Davy Jones and his haunted ship, the Flying Dutchman. With the Dutchman and its enchanted crew of damned sailors at this command, it seemed as if Beckett could destroy the last vestiges of piracy on the seven seas. In the meanwhile, witch woman Tia Dulma has spirited Captain Barbossa back from the dead to help Will Turner and what was left of Captain Sparrow's crew find Jack, who was imprisoned in Davy Jones' Locker.

Confused? If you went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, but hadn't seen Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, you would be -- there is no re-cap at the beginning of the film to let the audience know what they missed. But then again, there were probably only half a dozen folks who missed the last film. And those people were raised by wolves and lived secluded lives separated from all popular culture.

As Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End begins, Captain Barbossa has led his ragtag crew to Singapore to meet Captain Sao Feng and obtain a ship from him. Barbossa wants to call a meeting of the Brethren Court of nine pirate lords, and to do this he needs to find Jack Sparrow, who is one of the nine. To find Sparrow, he needs a ship from Sao Feng, but since Sao Feng has a grudge against Captain Jack this will not be an easy task. The last time that the Brethren Court was held, the pirates managed to trap Calypso, goddess of the sea, in human form, and for reasons of his own, Barbossa wants to free her. For her part, Elizabeth is racked with guilt for betraying Jack in the first place. Will Turner, who last saw his true love Elizabeth kissing the roguish Sparrow, is confused about her true motivations, and also wants to find a way to free his father, "Bootstrap" Bill Turner from his servitude on Davy Jones crew. Are you still with me?

If you feel lost, you are not alone. Trying to write a simple synopsis of this film is like trying to untangle the Gordian Knot. Suffice it to say that Captain Jack is rescued in short order. What kind of Pirates of the Caribbean film would it be without Captain Jack? Every character in this movie has their own secret agenda, and every character has made side deals with other characters to accomplish their own ends. There is so much double-dealing, double crossing and four-flushing going on that it is easy to get lost -- and frankly, I got lost several times.

This script is an overly-complicated mess. Sure, there are some amazing action set pieces and some wonderful character moments and interactions, but the story itself is so muddled and confused that it just becomes a headache to try and follow.

The cast

The cast of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is top notch. Leading the ensemble is Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow, perhaps the most endearing and memorable character of his career -- and that is saying something, considering Depp's vast and impressive resume. The wobbling, effete and seemingly mad Sparrow steals every scene he's in and makes the other actors have to work twice as hard to keep up. This is a cinematic creation on par with Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones or Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau, and Depp should be acknowledged for his impressive work, even if Captain Jack doesn't appear in the strongest film this time around.

One actor who can keep up with Depp is Geoffrey Rush, whose character Captain Barbossa is a scene-stealer in his own right. He plays Barbossa almost as a tarnished gentleman -- an exciting character choice. It's an awful lot of fun to see Rush and Depp share the screen together again -- two great actors at the top of their game. Barbossa may not be as showy as Sparrow, but he is no less interesting.

Keira Knightley gets to do a lot of swashbuckling in this film, and she is quite good at it. Although there were moments where I found her character Elizabeth Swann a little shrill, for the most part I enjoyed her work in this one. Poor Orlando Bloom's character Will Turner spends most of the film brooding and just doesn't measure up the other performers around him. It's not that his performance is bad. It's just that the actors in the film are so much better, he can't help but to seem lacking.

Bill Nighy gives a wonderful performance behind computer-generated effects as Davy Jones, a character who looks like he came out of H.P. Lovecraft's imagination. I would say this is one of the more successful computer generated character's I've seen. Perhaps because they didn't animate Nighy's eyes, so we can see him express a full rage of emotions. The great Chow Yun-Fat does a nice turn as Captain Sao Feng, one of the nine pirate lords. And there is a fun cameo by Keith Richards as Captain Teague, Jack Sparrow's father. It's a nice bit of stunt casting, as it is common knowledge that Depp based Jack Sparrow's wobbling gait on Richards' own walk.

Overall the performances in this film are great. It's too bad these interesting characters weren't given a better script to work with.

Production quality

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End does an amazing job of blending live action with computer-generated effects. More of the action takes place at sea, correcting a mistake from the last film where the pirates spent way too much time on dry land. The monstrous crew of the Flying Dutchman are especially well rendered as twisted fusions of fish and man.

The original music by Hans Zimmer is rousing and memorable. Gore Verbinski is an able director who does a find job mixing the fantasy elements of the story with the gritty feel of life at sea. The fight sequences are well done and original. Production-wise, I have nothing to complain about.

Overall

This film is a feast of great sights and sounds lost in a hopelessly confusing script. Although it is a lot of fun to watch these eccentric characters interact with each other, they get lost in a terribly convoluted story. Some judicious editing and a tighter script would have improved this film greatly. Fans of the first two films should definitely check it out, but don't expect it to be as charming as the first one.

Title: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Script quality: 5/10
Acting quality: 8/10
Production quality: 9/10
Format and length: Action/Adventure, 168 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13
Cast: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush, Jack Davenport, Bill Nighy, Stellan Skarsgard, Naomie Harris, Chow Yun-Fat, and Keith Richards
Director: Gore Verbinski
Movie Web site: Click here (Flash required)

Discuss this article or get some movie or music recommendations on our forum.

John Michael Decker is a struggling actor and a freelance writer. He once played a pirate for an event at the Turning Stone Casino, but people were too busy gambling to enjoy his piratey antics.

Copyright 2007 John Michael Decker. No reprints without written permission.

Bug (2007)

Written by John Michael Decker
Jun 07, 2007 at 12:38 PM

The idea of bugs are revolting to most people. There is just something so alien about them. Perhaps it's the way they can hold completely still like a statue and then suddenly skitter toward you at inhuman speeds. I think that everybody has some kind of bug that they fear. In the brief times I lived in Brooklyn and Orlando I developed an abhorrence for cockroaches. When I went to see Bug at the Crossgates Mall last week, I expected it to be a horror movie about an infestation of insects. I was wrong -- it's not a movie about bugs themselves, so much as it's about the idea of bugs. Or, to put it more properly, bugs as a metaphor for paranoia.

The story

Ashley Judd plays a doleful waitress named Agnes, who works at a honky tonk in Oklahoma. She lives alone in a dilapidated motel room, where she has been receiving a number of prank phone calls. She suspects her dangerous ex-husband, Goss, who has just been released from prison. One night her best friend and fellow waitress, R.C., convinces the lonely Agnes to take a stranger home after work. A man with haunted eyes named Peter. At first Peter seems harmless enough, so Agnes invites him to spend the night. She fears her ex-husband and thinks that having Peter around will grant her some measure of security. Gradually, it becomes apparent that Peter is anything but harmless. He is a gulf war veteran who claims that he was the victim of a number of experiments. Worse still, he sees bugs everywhere, and it turns out that Peter's paranoia is infectious.

This is a very tight script by actor and playwright Tracy Letts based on his play of the same name. Perhaps because of that, Bug almost feels more like a play than a movie. The vast majority of the story takes place in the cramped motel room, which progressively feels more claustrophobic and creepy as the film progresses. As the room gets messier and more disorganized, the sanity of the characters inhabiting it also degenerates.

This is the story of a descent into madness, and it is not pretty. It is not glamorized or sanitized the way Hollywood films often treat mental illness and often it is not easy to watch. When this movie was over, I was in shock. I literally had to walk around the mall for a half hour to decompress before I could get into my car and head home. This picture is an effective physiological thriller, but perhaps it is too effective. I think that the experience of seeing this film might just be too intense for most moviegoers. This isn't the fun thrill ride one might get from a good zombie picture; it is a really harrowing experience.

If there were a weakness in the script, it would be that it is unclear how much time passes during the course of the story; Agnes' deterioration seems to happen a little too quickly. Otherwise the script is quite believable.

The cast

One reason this film is so effective is the daring and raw performances of Ashley Judd as Agnes and Michael Shannon as Peter. Ashley Judd's Agnes begins the movie as a broken woman haunted by the mistakes of her past, and her downward spiral is heartbreaking to behold. Michael Shannon's Peter is more of a tragic figure than a menacing one; his is a self-destructive character whose rampant paranoia keeps him from getting the help he so desperately needs. The relationship between Agnes and Peter is like a Greek tragedy, as the two characters' personalities combine in such a way that they bring out the worst in each other. Watching their descent is like driving past a bloody auto accident. You want to look away, but you can't. These are Oscar-caliber performances, but I doubt they will be acknowledged -- horror films rarely get their due.

Bug has a very small cast, which contributes to the feeling that this is a play and not a film. The supporting players are all excellent. Harry Connick Jr. is wonderful as Goss, Agnes' ex-con ex-husband. He walks around like a coiled spring, creating real tension every time he's on screen. One never knows when he will explode into violence. Lynn Collins is also quite good as R.C., Agnes' best friend who tries to help her, but is far too late. And Brian F. O'Byrne does a creepy turn as Dr. Sweet, who claims he wants to "help" Peter but seems to have a more sinister agenda.

Production quality

Bug was directed by William Friedkin, who also directed The Exorcist, one of my favorite horror pictures. Friedkin always seems to get intense and realistic performances out of his casts, and this movie is no exception. This is a low budget picture, but Friedkin manages to do a lot with a little. Most of the film consists of two people alone in a motel room talking, but he manages to make it riveting.

The pacing of the film is very good and the the story moves along at a nice clip. In a summer of bloated over-long movies, this was very refreshing.

Overall

Ultimately I enjoyed Bug on a purely artistic level, but I would not recommend it to general audiences as it is far too intense. But if you are feeling brave, and want to see some top notch acting, then you might want to give it a try.

Title: Bug
Script quality: 8/10
Acting quality: 10/10
Production quality: 7/10
Format and length: Horror/thriller, 102 minutes
MPAA rating: R
Cast: Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon, Lynn Collins, Brian F. O'Byrne, and Harry Connick Jr.
Director: William Friedkin
Movie Web site: Click here (Flash required)

Discuss this article or get some movie or music recommendations on our forum.

John Michael Decker is a struggling actor. Occasionally he plays the part of a freelance writer. John would like to see a film about a haunted veteran who is paranoid about fluffy bunnies.

Copyright 2007 John Michael Decker. No reprints without written permission.

Ocean's Thirteen (2007)

Written by John Michael Decker
Jun 13, 2007 at 11:37 AM

To me, Las Vegas has always been about appearance. It has a glitzy facade designed to distract visitors away from its seedy underbelly. Perhaps because of this aura of misdirection, Vegas has always been a great city to stage stories about heists. Now while I don't particularly like Las Vegas, I enjoy films that take place in the city. It's part of the weird dichotomy of the place. The latest heist movie to take advantage of Las Vegas is the Steven Soderbergh-directed Ocean's Thirteen. I liked Ocean's Eleven, the 2001 re-make of the 1960 film of the same name starring the Rat Pack. I wasn't crazy about the 2004 sequel, Ocean's Twelve, though. Ocean's Thirteen falls somewhere in the middle. While I thought It was better than Ocean's Twelve, it was not as good as Ocean's Eleven.

The story

As Ocean's Thirteen begins, Ruben Tishkoff (Eliott Gould) is swindled out of a real estate deal by oily billionaire Willie Bank (Al Pacino). Ruben is so upset by this that he has a heart attack. But Bank doesn't realize that when you screw with one of Danny Ocean's gang, you screw with them all. So Danny (George Clooney) rounds up the old gang, including Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) and Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon), to pull a job that will totally ruin the grand opening of Bank's new casino. They intend to fix all the games at once so Willie will lose his shirt at his gala opening. Of course, there are the usual twists and turns that one expects in a heist film of this kind, including the necessity of pulling in Danny's old adversary, Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) into the plot to help.

As with all the Soderbergh-directed Ocean films, the details of the heist come second to the personalities of the characters. Unfortunately, because there are so many people in this film, we never get that deep beyond the surface "coolness" of the characters. Sure, there are one or two personality quirks which are amusing, but none of these people get particularly well fleshed out.

The story moves along at a quick pace and there is some fine dialog, but I found myself getting bored and wishing something really interesting and surprising would happen. It never did. Perhaps I've seen too many of these heist pictures and become somewhat jaded, but there were no real surprises for me in this movie. You can only watch cool people being cool for so long before you start to get antsy. Not that the story was flat out bad. It was diverting in moments, but there was nothing really memorable. If someone asked me to recall story elements of Ocean's Thirteen in a month, I doubt that there would be much that I would remember.

The cast

This movie is really more about its famous cast than it is about the story. And this is an incredibly talented cast. The main three protagonists in the film, played by George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, are all terrific performers with tons of charisma. However, I've seen them all do better work in other films. It was obvious that this cast really enjoys working together, but I couldn't shake the feeling that they were making this movie more so that they could hang around together off camera, than for any other reason.

There were tons of talented supporting actors who didn't get that much screen time because the story had to service so many elements. So the characters played by Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Eddie Izzard, Carl Reiner, Andy Garcia, Eliott Gould and others were really just glorified cameos.

Al Pachino was appropriately arrogant as Willie Bank, but ultimately a two-dimensional bad guy. The best new performance in this film came from Ellen Barkin as Bank's uptight, right-hand woman. But, as with the rest of the film, they never delved that deeply into her motivations.

Putting together a cast of incredibly charismatic actors is all well and good, but because that was all this movie really had going for it, I was left wanting for more.

The production

Steven Soderbergh is a really fine director and there was nothing about this production to complain about. Nothing to really sing about either. Everything about Ocean's Thirteen felt like they were just going through the motions. It was a slick, good-looking film, but nothing sticks out in my memory as being particularly fantastic.

Overall

Ocean's Thirteen was very much like Las Vegas itself. A shiny exterior that, while was pretty to look at, ultimately left me feeling empty and used.

Title: Ocean's Thirteen
Script quality: 5/10
Acting quality: 6/10
Production quality: 6/10
Format and length: Comedy/Crime Drama, 122 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13
Cast: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Al Pacino, Andy Garcia, Ellen Barkin, Eliott Gould, Don Cheadle, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Bernie Mac, Carl Reiner, Shaobo Qin, Eddie Izzard
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Movie Web site: Click here (Flash required)

Discuss this article or get some movie or music recommendations on our forum.

John Michael Decker is a struggling actor and freelance writer. While John is not a gambling man by nature, he would bet good money that if they ever make another "Oceans" film, he will not be there to see it.

Copyright 2007 John Michael Decker. No reprints without written permission.

Knocked Up (2007)

Written by John Michael Decker
Jun 25, 2007 at 03:38 PM

Looking over my last several reviews it occurred to me that I've been writing a lot about horror, action and comic book related films. It's time for a change of pace. To that end I've decided to review a romantic comedy. This is the type of movie I usually wouldn't go to see unless I were on a date. To me, going to see a romantic comedy is like ordering a pizza. You know what you're going to get even before you place the order. You know there'll be sauce and cheese and crust, and yet the quality of the pizza varies wildly depending on where you order it. Some pizzas are fantastic and some are pretty lousy. I am happy to report that Knocked Up, the new romantic comedy written and directed by Judd Apatow, was pretty darn great.

The story

This movie is about two people who are completely and totally mismatched. Alison Scott is a correspondent for E! television. She has just been promoted to an on-air position, and she is on the fast track to success. Ben Stone is a jobless slacker -- a pot-head who lives with a posse of stoners and dabbles in Internet porn. Alison is beautiful, blonde, and statuesque. She could be a supermodel. Ben is short and doughy. His prospects are bleak. He lives life one day at a time and never makes plans. While Alison is refined, Ben is crude. Where Alison is uptight, Ben is relaxed. The only thing they really do have in common is the fact that neither of them is ready to start a family.

One fateful night when Alison goes out to celebrate her promotion, she meets Ben at a bar and they end up having a drunken hook-up. Eight weeks later Alison learns that she is pregnant with Ben's child. Ben may be a loser, but he has a good heart, and agrees to support Alison in any way that she needs him, even though he has no clue as to how to proceed.

The rest of the film tracks the nine-month pregnancy and the journey of two people who really don't know each other at all who are trying their best to make a bad situation work, even though by all rights they should never be together.

This is such a simple idea, but it is executed very well and mined for every drop of comedy that it has. Though the humor is pretty crude, it is grounded in reality and often hilarious. And even though many of the laughs are raunchy, there is a lot of heart to this story. It reminded me a little bit of a Kevin Smith film, because he is also very good at mixing rude humor with pathos, but whereas Kevin Smith's dialogue is very stylized, the script here by Judd Apatow is much more natural and real.

The cast

Many viewers will recognize Katherine Heigl, who plays Alison, from the television show, "Grey's Anatomy." While I confess that I'm not a big fan of "Grey's Anatomy," I thought that Heigl was terrific in this role. She played the hormonal ups and downs of a pregnant woman, as well as the genuine fear for her future, with grace and aplomb. Likewise, Seth Rogen was excellent as Ben, the clueless slacker with a good heart. Through the film, both characters have to evolve and change in order to make their ill-conceived relationship work, and their journeys are engaging and entertaining.

Another thing that is wonderful about Knocked Up is the great number of standout supporting performances. Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd are very funny as Debbie and Pete, Alison's sister and brother-in-law. Years earlier, Pete had married Debbie because she was pregnant, and through them Alison and Ben see a window into their own possible future. Also hilarious are Jason Segel, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill and Martin Starr as Ben's gang of hapless friends. They supply some of the best lines and funniest moments in the film as they try to be supportive of Ben in their own, unique, clueless manners.

The production

Judd Apatow wrote and directed The 40-Year-Old Virgin in 2005, and uses a lot of the same actors for this film. Apatow was also a writer on the short-lived but critically acclaimed television series, "Freaks and Geeks," which I liked a lot. He has proven himself to be an able director with an ear for dialogue and a deft touch at getting strong comedic performances out of his cast.

Overall

There are no real surprises in this film, but it still works on a lot of levels. It's a good date film because it can be appreciated for both the raunchy humor and the sweetness of the relationship that develops between two likable characters.

Title: Knocked Up
Script quality: 8/10
Acting quality: 8/10
Production quality: 7/10
Format and length: Romantic Comedy, 129 minutes
MPAA rating: R
Cast: Katherine Heigl, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Jason Segel, Jay Baruchel, Johah Hill, Martin Starr, Joanna Kerns, Harold Ramis
Director: Judd Apatow
Movie Web site: Click here (Flash required)

Discuss this article or get some movie or music recommendations on our forum.

John Michael Decker is an actor and freelance writer. He has never had a first date go as wrong as Ben and Alison's did.

Copyright 2007 John Michael Decker. No reprints without written permission.

2007 Summer Movie Report Card

Here are my last two articles for Entertainment In Review.

http://www.entertainmentinreview.com/

2007 Summer movie report card: part 1

Written by John Michael Decker
Aug 14, 2007 at 12:42 PM

It's been a while since I've written article for Entertainment in Review. The past few months have been extremely busy. I've been performing and directing at the Sterling Renaissance Festival in northwestern New York, and in addition, the first few weeks of July I was involved in co-producing a science fiction comedy which was recorded and performed in a 1950s radio show style. Needless to say, I did not have the spare time to sit down and write reviews, as much as I missed that activity. Well, now I finally have a few days off, and I thought that instead of writing a review of one movie I would create a report card for the summer movie season so far. I will list all of the films I have seen in the summer season up until now, write a brief synopsis for each, and give them a simple letter grade. I realize that this will not be as detailed or comprehensive as my usual reviews, but you will receive a good overview of what the season has been like thus far.

Spider-Man 3: The weakest of the Spider-Man films so far, but still an enjoyable adventure with a quick pace and great special effects. The multiple plots made the final product feel cluttered. Like many of the summer films this season, it could have used a better editor. As a Spider-Man fanatic, however, I enjoyed seeing some of my favorite comic book scenes played out on the big screen. Grade: B+

28 Weeks Later: A good sequel to the wonderful 28 Days Later. Not as shocking or as scary as the original, but still with enough thrills and chills to make a horror fan happy. Once again, the audience is left to ponder which is worse; the mindless hordes of flesh eating cannibals or the military/industrial complex in charge of rebuilding humanity. Grade: B

The Hills Have Eyes 2: A fun soldiers vs. mutants horror flick that is strong on action but light on surprises. It's got a 1950s nuclear paranoia element that I really dig. I love how in many films, radiation is like a magic wand that can grant people extraordinary and often horrible powers. Grade: B-

Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End: Great performances and top-of-the-line special effects don't quite save a meandering and convoluted plot. There are some enjoyable "yo ho ho" moments, and Johnny Depp deserves an Oscar for his performance, but I still spent much of the movie scratching my head and trying to figure out what was going on. This needed some serious editing -- even more than Spider-Man 3 did. Grade: C+

Bug: An incredibly effective psychological thriller that burrows under the skin and leaves the viewer feeling disquieted and paranoid. This film features some amazingly powerful performances, but is so intense that I would not recommend it to general audiences. Grade: A-

Mr. Brooks: A bizarre thriller that features Kevin Costner as a nebbishy everyman who also happens to be a serial killer, and William Hurt as his psychotic imaginary friend. Though the plot didn't always make sense, I found the premise original and the film largely engaging though often unintentionally funny. Grade: B-

Ocean's 13: This was the lackluster conclusion to George Clooney's "Danny Ocean" trilogy. The story was all style and no substance and I left the theatre barely remembering what I had just seen. Grade: C-

Knocked Up: A genuinely funny and sometimes warm-hearted comedy about a night that goes terribly wrong and forces two people who are polar opposites to try and make it as a couple. Grade: B+

Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer: Like the first Fantastic Four film, this movie fails to capture the energy and wonder of the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby comic books that inspired them. The special effects are hit or miss and the main characters are largely miscast. The portrayal of Dr. Doom, who is one of the best characters ever to be featured in a Marvel comic, is especially terrible. There are a few fun moments, but they are few and far between. Grade: D+

Live Free or Die Hard: A very enjoyable, if somewhat by-the-numbers, action film that shows that Bruce Willis still has what it takes to play a convincing action hero. While not as good as the classic original Die Hard, it was cool to see Detective John McClane in action again after so many years. Grade: B

Transformers: I enjoyed the Transformers cartoon from the 1980s, so I thought the live action version might be a hoot. Boy was I wrong. The acting was wooden, the dialogue was embarrassingly corny and Michael Bay's directing style is nausea-inducing. Though the special effects were good and it is always fun to see giant robots pounding on each other, I can't in good conscience recommend that anyone other than a Transformers fanatic pay good money for this experience. Grade: D

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: If you accept that the Harry Potter books are better than the movies, and just judge the films on their own merit, than you can enjoy them for what they are. This was a very good addition to the Harry Potter film franchise. This movie is almost more of a thriller than a fantasy. As the mood gets darker and the stakes get higher, the films just keep getting better and better. Grade B+

Sicko: This is my favorite Michael Moore documentary so far. Now I haven't always bought the baseball-hat-wearing, everyman persona that Moore affects, and I freely admit that he often uses cheap stunts to prove his points, but this time he was more restrained and balanced in his expose of American HMOs. I liked that this film had some genuine moments of humanity. Grade: A

The Simpsons Movie: This is the most enjoyable film I've seen this summer. In fact, I doubt I'll see another movie that is this good for the rest of the summer season. While the Simpsons television series has become somewhat lackluster over the past few years, the movie had all the edginess and hilarity of the old school Simpsons cartoons in spades. There were more laughs per minute in this flick than in anything I've seen in years, and I'm talking about big, gut-busting laughs here, not just polite titters. I attended the film with a bunch of my friends from the Renaissance Festival, people who usually have vastly different ideas about what makes a good movie, and we all thought it was amazing. Grade: A+

So those are the films I've seen since the summer blockbuster season opened. As usual this is just my opinion, and you can feel free to agree or disagree with me. I'll write another article later wrapping up the 2007 batch of summer films.

John Michael Decker is an actor and sometime freelance writer. Anyone in the Syracuse area this summer can drop by the Sterling Renaissance Festival and see John portray Damian Spector, the evil sheriff of Warwickshire until August the August the 19th.


Discuss this article or get some movie or music recommendations on our forum.
Copyright 2007 John Michael Decker No reprints without written permission.

2007 Summer movie report card: part 2

Written by John Michael Decker
Sep 30, 2007 at 02:44 PM

With the arrival of autumn, I thought that it was high time for me to get off my butt and finish my Summer Movie Report Card. Between this article and my 2007 Summer Movie Report Card: Part 1, this will cover every film I've seen between May the 5th through September the 22nd. I would again remind the readers out there that these reviews are simple synopsis of the films I've seen along with a letter grade. This will not be the usual in-depth kind of review one would usually find for a single film on Entertainment In Review. It will be a good overview of the summer as a whole.

Ratatouille: Brad Bird, the man responsible for The Iron Giant and The Incredibles brings us this lovely little gem of a film about following your bliss. Even if you're a sewer rat and your bliss is gourmet cooking. You can rarely go wrong with a Pixar film. Grade: B+

The Bourne Ultimatum: A balls-out action flick with a realistic edge and a fine performance by Matt Damon. This is the third film in the Bourne trilogy and, wonder of wonders, all three segments are great -- a truly a rare occurrence in a movie trilogy. Grade: B+

Stardust: This is a fine adaptation of the comic graphic novel by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess. It is a fairy tale with a wacky sense of humor in the tradition of The Princess Bride. I particularly enjoyed the performances of Michelle Pfeiffer as a wicked witch and Robert DeNiro as a gay pirate. Grade: A-

The Invasion: Yet another adaptation of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but not nearly as good as the Don Siegel-directed 1956 movie or the Phil Kaufman version from 1978. Though the performances of Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig are outstanding, the film itself is lackluster and fails to capture the feeling of fear and paranoia generated by the past classics. Grade: C

Superbad: A blisteringly funny high school comedy about those painful last days of school. And sure, this material has been covered by many other filmmakers, but I just found this one particularly hilarious. I really have a soft spot for movies that can combine raunchy humor with real pathos. Grade: B+

War: This was a by-the-numbers action set piece with Jason Statham and Jet Li playing a cop and an assassin respectively, and locked in a game of cat and mouse. I was bored through most of this picture and probably would have given it a much lower grade if not for the surprisingly clever plot twist that was thrown in at the end of the movie. Grade: C+

Halloween: Rob Zombie's bloody remake of the John Carpenter slasher classic is an awful lot of fun for those who enjoy that genre. While I must confess, to my shame, that I have never seen the 1978 version of this film, I liked this one for what it was. This flick had all the hallmarks of a "B" movie: Beasts, Blood, and Breasts. Grade: B-

Rush Hour 3: Did we really need a Rush Hour 3? Didn't Rush Hour and Rush Hour 2 say all there was to say about the bizarre team up of Jackie Chan's by-the-book Inspector Lee and Chris Tucker's loud-mouthed LA cop, James Carter? How many times can two such incompetent boobs save the day? This one is for fans of Chan and Tucker only. Grade: C-

3:10 to Yuma: Director James Mangold's remake of the classic 1957 western of the same name. In this version, Russell Crowe and Christian Bale play the characters originally portrayed by Glenn Ford and Van Heflin. The real power of this tale doesn't come from gunfights as much as from the battle of wills between the two main characters wonderfully acted by Crowe and Bale. Grade: B+

Dragon Wars: D-War: This film from director Hyung-rae Shim is based on Korean myths. Perhaps if I had a better handle on the source material, I would have enjoyed this film more, but the story didn't make a lick of sense to me. I did, however, enjoy the scenes of dragons battling helicopters. Grade: D+

Shoot 'Em Up: In this psychotically over-the-top action picture, Clive Owen plays Mr. Smith, a gun enthusiast with some serious anger management issues. With a baby and his prostitute girlfriend, Smith is on the run from nefarious forces led by a scenery chomping Paul Giamatti. If you can let go of logic and just go with this, it is one hell of a fun ride. Grade: B+

Resident Evil: Extinction: If you are looking for a movie that's going to sweep the Oscars and change modern cinema as we know it, that you should probably avoid Resident Evil: Extinction. If, on the other hand, you want to see a gorgeous supermodel kicking the crap out of zombies in a film directed by the guy who gave us Highlander, than you could do a lot worse than this film. Grade: B-

Summary

So there you have it--my very biased opinion of the summer blockbuster season of this year of our Lord, 2007 anno Domini. Hopefully this will give everyone a good idea of what they can rent over the next few months. I saw a lot of films, but I didn't see everything, so feel free to drop me a line through Entertainment In Review and let me know if there was a great film that came out this summer that I shouldn't have missed. Save me some popcorn...

John Michael Decker is a struggling actor and wanna-be action film star. He has a lot on his plate these days and won't be contributing as much to Entertainment In Review as he has in the past, but hopes to be writing a lot more here in the near future.

Discuss this article or get some movie or music recommendations on our forum.
Copyright 2007 John Michael Decker. No reprints without written permission.

The Greatest Comic Book Films of All Time!!!

Here is a copy of an article that was first published on Entertainment In Review.
http://www.entertainmentinreview.com/

The greatest comic book films of all time (so far)

Written by John Michael Decker
May 22, 2007 at 12:31 PM

In its opening weekend, Spider-Man 3 earned $151.1 million on more than 10,000 screens at 4,252 locations, shattering box office records. Because of that, I think we are only going to see more films based on heroic four-color adventures, not less. It's safe to say that comic book movies are here to stay. The bottom line in Hollywood has always been about cash, and lately, films based on comic books or about superheroes have been raking in a ton of it. Even on television, the most successful new series of the past season has been NBC's excellent serialized drama about a group of ordinary people spontaneously developing super powers, "Heroes." In the 21st century, superheroes are bigger than ever. But the question is, are all comic book films good? To be honest, I would have to say no. Most of them are either mediocre (Fantastic Four [2005], Superman Returns [2006]) or downright terrible (Batman and Robin [1997], Catwoman [2004]). It seems like for every X-Men that comes out, there are at least five Judge Dredds that follow. However, when they are done well, there is nothing I enjoy more than a good comic book movie.

Comics as literature

My infatuation with this type of film began with the comics themselves, which itself started when I was in the first grade. I am dyslexic. Not severely so, but enough so that learning to read was a difficult frustration for me. My mother, who ironically enough was a reading teacher, did her best to foster a love of literature in my brothers and me. To this end she would read to us every night. Early on, the books she read that I enjoyed the most dealt with Greek mythology. Something about Greek heroes fighting monsters resonated with me on a deep level. One day I was accompanying my mother while she was running errands at Stone's Pharmacy, the local drug store in Lake Luzerne, NY. For the most part, I saw the pharmacy as a place to get ice cream or to goad one of my parents into buying me a match box car. That particular day, though, I noticed a rack of colorful magazines. Even though I couldn't read at the time, I was fascinated by the combination of pictures and words and I convinced my mother to buy one for me. My first comic book was an issue of Superman. I don't remember the number.

That night, instead of a book, I had my mother read me that issue of Superman. I loved it; Mom hated it. For weeks, I would nag my mother to buy me comic books (they only cost a quarter in those days) and read them to me. She was a good sport at first, but there came a point where she stopped. "John," she said to me, "these comic books are garbage. You know that I will read you any book you want me to, but if you want to read comics, you are going to have to learn how to read them yourself." At that point I was already hooked on comics. I couldn't give them up, so I sat down and I taught myself to read. It didn't happen overnight, and it was hard work, but I credit comic books with giving me the medium I needed to learn how to read. And as I've grown older and more sophisticated, comic books have also grown more sophisticated. I would place Frank Miller's "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns," Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" comic books, and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' "Watchmen" alongside any so-called "serious" literature.

Comic books are a unique art form invented in America and combining the written word with graphic artwork. I have come to realize that comic books are, in a very real way, the American version of mythological heroes and gods. Where as the Greeks had Ulysses and Perseus we Americans have the Green Lantern and Captain America. The stories may not be as old as some of the Greek myths but they are no less valid.

Comics as film

Adapting comic book tales to the big screen is not always easy. With obscure comic book characters like Blade the Vampire Hunter, filmmakers can take some liberties with the character and often improve upon the printed material. But with more well-known, iconic characters like Spider-Man or Superman it becomes more difficult to make changes to the characters that comic book fans will accept. The secret is to find filmmakers who love and understand the comic book characters they're bringing to life, and hope that they are able to distill the on-the-page essence of what makes a particular character tick, and translate that to film.

Here is a brief list of some great films that are either based on actual comic books, or on the idea of the "superhero" that was popularized in comic books. I think they are all worth seeking out and viewing:

• Conan the Barbarian (1982): I know that Conan got his start in the Robert E. Howard pulp novels and magazines, but I was first introduced to the Cimmerian Barbarian in the Marvel Comics of the 1970s, so in the back of my mind I always think of him as a comic book character. This film captures everything that is great about Conan, perhaps the best sword and sorcery pulp character ever created.
• V for Vendetta (2006): Alan Moore's comic book work is notoriously hard to translate onto the big screen, but this film does about the best job I've ever seen of interpreting Moore's powerful, moody vision of a totalitarian future.
• Robocop (1987): This film was not based on any comic books, but there were comics based on the film later on. Paul Verhoeven's awesome, over-the-top, dark comedy/action flick about a bleak future and the cyborg supercop trying to make things right is an excellent example of the super hero origin story.
• The Rocketeer (1991): Highly enjoyable adaptation of the Dave Stevens graphic novel. Bill Campbell makes an excellent protagonist and Jennifer Connelly has never looked better.
• The Crow (1994): This dark and moody film is an excellent adaptation of the James O'Barr comic book. Only marred by the fact that it is Brandon Lee's last performance.
• Darkman (1990): Sam Raimi's first foray into superhero films is fun, dark and high-energy. It is a perfect stepping stone between his earlier films, like The Evil Dead, and his later pictures, like the Spider-Man movies.
• Blade/Blade II (1998, 2002): These are examples of movies that improve on the comic book source material, with great scripts by David S. Goyer and a strong lead performance by Wesley Snipes.
• 300 (2007) Brilliant adaptation of Frank Miller's wonderful hack and slash graphic novel. A testosterone dripping tour de force.
• The Iron Giant (1999): A great animated movie where, like in Hellboy, the hero fights what he was created to be to become something greater.
• Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987): Some may argue that this is a horror movie, or even a horror comedy, but to my mind it's a superhero origin film. Watch it and then tell me I'm wrong. The protagonist, Ash, played by Bruce Campbell, is certainly a hard-luck superhero by the end of the film.
• X-Men (2000): While Bryan Singer's first go at an X-Men film isn't perfect, it is none the less a very enjoyable picture with some excellent acting and direction amid hit or miss special effects.

And now here is a list of my personal favorite comic book films of all time. I will list them in descending order from 10 to 1.

10. Batman (1989): I do have to give props to Tim Burton for his first Bat-flick. The production design is awe-inspiring and actor Michael Keaton gives a much stronger performance as the Dark Knight than anyone gave him credit for -- especially considering that Keaton was physically totally wrong for the role. But it is Jack Nicholson's bizarre, over-the-top take on the Joker that steals the show. Let's face it, the movie should have been called Joker. Even though the plot falls apart in the last 15 minutes, this film still holds up.

9. Unbreakable (2000): In this remarkable movie, director, M. Night Shyamalan takes the basic rules of comic books and plants them in the real world, showing us how superheroes and villains might behave if they escaped from their four-color universes. Bruce Willis as David Dunn and Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah "Mr. Glass" Price make a marvelous yin and yang in this picture.

8. X2: X-Men United (2003): Bryan Singer does a splendid job of balancing several interesting characters and plot lines in this action-packed adaptation of the Marvel Comics world of mutants. Often in a comic book film with too many characters the story can get muddled. That is not true in this case with X2. As with all the X-Men films, Patrick Stewart's Professor Charles Xavier and Ian McKellen's Eric "Magneto" Lensherr steal the show as the Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X of mutant rights. Hugh Jackman makes a marvelous leading man as the mysterious Wolverine. This is also the only X-Men film to feature my favorite mutant character from the comics -- Nightcrawler, played with great charm by Alan Cumming.

7. Frank Miller's Sin City (2005): To adapt this crime comic to the big screen, Robert Rodriguez literally used Frank Miller's comic art as story boards and replicated his scripts word for word, creating the most faithful adaptation of a comic work thus far. I wish that more comic book films were this true to the source material.

6. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993): This animated Batman film comes the closest to the spirit of the D.C. Comics source material. I'd also highly recommend "Batman: The Animated Series," which this movie was spawned from. The world of comic books can be so fantastical that I think sometimes animation is the best way to go when adapting the material.

5. The Incredibles (2004): Speaking of a great animated superhero movie, you can't go wrong with The Incredibles. This is the film that the lackluster Fantastic Four should have been. A movie about a family of superheroes with heart. This is my favorite Pixar film so far, which says a lot in itself.

4. Superman/Superman 2 (1978, 1980): These still stand up as some of the greatest comic book films of all time, thanks in no small part to Christopher Reeve, who inhabited the character of Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman like no other actor could. I did believe a man could fly. Superman is the rosetta stone of comic book films. It is the template that all the others followed.

3. Hellboy (2004): The "Hellboy" comic book (written and drawn by Mike Mignola) contains elements of many of the things I love. Old-school comic book action, pulp fiction, folklore, Lovecraftian mythology, and big monster fights. But at its core it is about a really screwed up guy who decided to ignore destiny and choose his own path. I didn't think anyone could gather these disparate elements together and turn them into a decent movie until director Guillermo del Toro surpassed my wildest expectations by doing just that.

2. Batman Begins (2005): This is the first live-action Batman film to be worthy of the complex comic book character. Director Christopher Nolan, writer David S. Goyer, and lead actor Christian Bale did a magnificent job creating the dark world of Bruce Wayne and his even darker alter ego. This is a Batman movie with real emotional depth that focuses more on the psychology of Bruce Wayne than on the Batman's freakish rogues gallery (as delightful as the bat-rogues are). This is a Gotham City one could truly believe is real. This is a film that understands its comic book source material.

And now, my favorite comic book film of all time is... A tie! This should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me.

1. Spider-Man/Spider-Man 2 (2002, 2004): The first comic book I ever read by myself was an issue of Spidey Super Stories. It was a comic affiliated with the television show "The Electric Company," and it was specifically designed to teach kids to read. Perhaps because of this, Spider-Man has always been my favorite comic book character. He's the everyman of superheroes. A nerdy teen who lucks into super powers. Sam Raimi certainly captures the essence of the old Stan Lee and Steve Ditko comics in these wonderful films. Toby Maguire really adds depth and pathos to his portrayal of Peter Parker and The Amazing Spider-Man. Others may argue that there are superior comic book films out there, but to me there was nothing greater than seeing the lives of Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, Harry Osborn, J. Jonah Jameson and the great villains like Doc Ock and the Green Goblin come to life on the big screen.

So there you have it -- the best comic book films made as of this writing. If you are a fan of these kinds of films, but haven't read the material they're based on, then I urge you to go to your local comic shop and peruse some comic magazines. There's something for everyone.

Discuss this article or get some movie or music recommendations on our forum.

John Michael Decker is a struggling actor and freelance writer. In 2005 he was in a car accident and had to get a stainless steel plate and several screws installed in his right shoulder to repair a broken arm. To John's chagrin, this did not give him super powers of any kind. What a gyp!

Copyright 2007 John Michael Decker. No reprints without written permission.