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I usually comment here on the site whenever I’ve seen a movie, but recently I’ve been Twittering quick posts after I see a new movie. Usually it’s nothing worth repeating here. Nevertheless, after seeing The Dark Knight Saturday morning, I think I’m done with Summer Blockbusters. I’ve seen just about everything I’ve wanted to see. I still like discussing movies with you guys, so I figured I’d comment on everything in one post.
So let’s do a list of the movies I’ve seen this summer, Top 5 countdown-style. I’ll try to avoid it where possible, but spoilers are possible. (You’ve been warned)
5. Hancock - “One of these things is not like the others.” In a summer full of super-hero movies, Hancock stands alone. Contrary to what the trailers would have you believe, Hancock is not a super-hero movie. That’s not to say it was a bad movie, it just didn’t fit the mold of the rest of this year’s blockbusters.
I didn’t mind Hancock. I’m a sucker for summer movies headlined by The Fresh Prince (although I’ve been disappointed more than once) and Hancock is no exception. This certainly wasn’t his finest movie, but it wasn’t horrible, either. The movie has a lot of flash and eye candy, but was weak in parts.
I’m a big fan of Jason Bateman, who carried this movie for me. His dry humor (somewhat reminiscent of his Arrested Development character) along with his good heart made him a likable character, even when things come apart for him.
Overall, Hancock had everything a popcorn movie should have. But not much more.
4. Hellboy 2 - I’ve sort of adopted Hellboy as a favorite comic book character. I’m not familiar with the comic book itself, but I’m a fan of Ron Perlman’s interepretation of the character. I’m also in love with Guillermo del Toro’s fanciful imagination. (Nat has implored that I see Pan’s Labyrinth). Oh, and Hellboy has a really big gun and likes to punch people with his demon hand.
Hellboy 2 had its moments. Moments of excessive cheesiness and moments of awesome. On a visual level, I loved Hellboy. The Golden Army was a sight to behold and the monsters impressive. Bits of the story weren’t my favorite.
Overall, Hellboy 2 gets a demon thumb up from me.
3. The Incredible Hulk - I didn’t hate Ang Lee’s version of the Hulk. Take away the Hulk Poodles and the daddy issues and you’ve got a pretty good movie. Nevertheless, The Incredible Hulk is better in pretty much every way. Ed Norton was better than Bana, Hurt was marginally better than Sam Elliot and the Tyler/Connelly matchup is probably a push. Roth is a much better villain than the super freak dogs.
Again, Hulk doesn’t disappoint in the SMASH department, either. There is a lot of that. When the Hulk gives Roth’s character (in human form) the big boot, I think I cheered. It was awesome. This version of Hulk has a perfect balance of frenetic running and a tenuous balance between Banner and Hulk. It felt a bit claustrophobic.
I give it an irradiated third thumb sideways (pointed up).
2. Iron Man - For me, Iron Man comes this close to super-hero perfection. It just needed that little extra butt kicking, high-tech suit-of-armor style. It just needs moar action. That’s about the only bad thing I can say about Iron Man — if it had a wee bit more action, it would have been almost perfect.
Downey Jr. was great (he sort of played himself, right? He had to be good) and Howard and Bridges were good, too. Acting was good, the story was great and lots of fist pumping action. Just not enough.
It gets a mechanically assited digit straight up.
1. The Dark Knight - And of course, that brings us to Batman The Dark Knight. I’m almost hesitant to write too many words about this movie. Not that I would spoil too much, but that my clumsy words would lessen it’s greatness in some way. That’s probably impossible, it was so good. So good, that after some consideration, I’m thinking of putting it my “Top-5 All time” list of favorite movies.
Where to start? One way my friend and I determine how much we like a movie is whether the movie is “quotable” as in “how often do we quote the movie?” The Dark Knight has some great, quotable lines. It has some memorable moments that also will be reminiscenced over and over again. It jammed so much into one movie that it’s just begging to be seen multiple times.
And let’s get this out of the way — Heath Ledger’s performance stands alone. It’s every bit of amazing that you’ve heard and read. I’m not sure there’s more I could say that would add any more credence to the mindswell. He was maniacally amazing.
And he does great magic tricks.
Everyone else? They did a pretty bang-up job as well. My secret man-crush on Christian Bale probably biases me, but his Batman is probably the best. Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent was also believable. Gary Oldman delivers another underrated performance.
The Dark Knight is an hundred and fifty minute thrill ride that never slows down and barely even lets the viewers relax or catch their breath. I saw the movie in IMAX (my first IMAX experience) and that just enhanced the experience. If you have a chance, this is the way to see it.
It’s my movie of the year for 2008. I can’t wait to see it again.
I give The Dark Knight one demented crazy round of applause.
What a summer this has been for movies!
Suu-per-mann!
“You are who you choose to be.”
I’ve only known of three movies that cause me to tear up at the end almost every time I see them. I’m not ashamed to admit that one of them is animated. As far as I’m concerned Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant is nothing short of brilliant.
I introduced this wonderful movie to my two sons tonight and it was a great experience. At first, they didn’t know what to expect and fear reigned through the first half of the movie. But just like their ol’ man the emotions of the giant and the quirkiness of the movie started to win them over.
Then the giant died. How do you explain sacrifice to a five year old and a 2.5 year old? I really have no idea. However, one thing that they did realize is that using guns in the wrong way is bad. Our oldest had been running around the house over the last month pointing at random people and and yelling, “BANG! Your dead!” He didn’t understand the concept of death, and we didn’t want him flippantly thinking it’s OK to shoot things all the time.
We have a moratorium on certain things in our house while the boys are awake. This mainly includes violence of all forms in the areas of games and television. It just doesn’t happen. I think it’s worked for us. Actually, I think it’s worked for me. I don’t relate well to violence. It’s not that it makes me violent. It’s just that it agitates me. It changes my attitude. It changes the way I view things. That’s not good for a person who’s the head of a household and responsible for raising two boys (especially in an increasingly acceptable, violent world for younger ages—there’s always been violence.)
In short, in generally affects me for the worst.
Occasionally, I’ll make room for Half-Life or a quick FPS walkthrough. However, the last FPS I’ve completed was Half-Life 2—it’s episodes and Portal variant—a long time ago (Call of Duty 4 and Metroid Prime 3 came close). I think I’ve just learned to pass up on games with a sense of immediacy, especially in terms of violence.
If you’ve got to have that violent rush, I say take a break for a while. Find a different genre to play. See if it changes the way you act; who you are. As for me and my boys, we will take it slow and keep playing racing games.
The other day, while traveling down the highway my son asked me to ram into a rig we were passing. Maybe we won’t play any Burnout for a while either.
I am Legend’s real ending
When I commented on my viewing of I am Legend, I mentioned that while I enjoyed the movie as a whole, I really didn’t care for the ending.
Now, it looks like the DVD has the “real” ending that was replaced in the final theatrical cut. Over at firstshowing.net, they have a video of the new ending and it greatly improves the movie. If you saw the movie in the theater, it’s worth your time to watch the original ending. There’s also a little discussion about why this ending is better, discussing the fact that the whole point of why the book is titled “I Am Legend” was lost a little bit in the theatrical version. I really like the new ending. Tharr be spoilers tharr, so be warned, ye who click.
What if a game had an ending noone liked (I’m looking at you, Halo 2)? Would people accept an alternate ending (something available via downloadable content, for example)? Watching a movie with a new ending changes things dramatically. Would it have the same effect on a game?
I know what Cloverfield is
I saw Cloverfield this afternoon. I loved loved loved it. In order to avoid any spoilers for those of you who may not have seen it, I’ll just make three observations that seem to be the common themes of the discussion of the movie:
- Everyone who had seen it before told me to sit near the back of the theater to avoid getting motion sickness. I call these people pansies with weak stomachs. I sat right in the middle and never missed a beat. Sure it was way frenetic and disorienting, even frustrating at times, but it was essential to the movie. Loved it.
- I also noticed an interesting reaction to the ending between friends and family that had seen it. The “younger” generation (we’re talking twenty-somethings) hated the ending. Those my age (we’re talking older than twenty-somethings) really enjoyed it. I’m with the latter. The ending was perfect. Loved it.
- If Hollywood made more chick-flicks like this, I would see them all. Yes, I called it a chick-flick. That’s what it is. It just happened to be made by someone who grew up on Godzilla and Michael Bay movies. Loved it.
Sure, there are things you could nitpick about, but I’m not getting into those. I remember seeing the trailer for this movie on the opening day for Transformers and have been waiting for this since then. I never got sucked into the viral marketing, but I still needed to know what Cloverfield was!
Definitely worth the wait.
Dragonlance Movie
A while ago, Brinstar mentioned the forthcoming Dragonlance Movie, something that excited me very much. While it would have been AWESOME to the forty-third power if it was done in the style of Lord of the Rings (with Peter Jackson directing, of course) I could take some solace that at least it was being made. It was going to be animated, but that shouldn’t be a handicap. No way they could screw up one of my fondest stories as a kid growing up, right?
Right?
Right?
Sturm is ashamed
The Sarah Connor Chronicles reviewed in eleven words
I missed the premier yesterday of the Sarah Connor chronicles, but I picked it up today, and I a little reading got me up to speed. So here’s my quick review:
As a ginormous Terminator fan, I’m not totally offended. Entertained, even.
Weekend Update
We had a crazy weekend of winter weather here in central Ohio (if you caught a glimpse of the Browns/Bills game on Sunday, that’s a little glimpse we had here on Saturday) but there were lots going on at the Casa Buttonmashing.
Even with the horrible weather conditions, my brother-in-law (here on referred to as the BIL) and I still braved the nasty roads and made our way to the theater to check out I am Legend. I recently finished the book last month (in preparation for the movie, of course) and was very excited about the movie. I enjoyed it. Will Smith does a great job of playing Robert Neville, a man all alone. People are giving the movie bad marks, saying it isn’t like the book. This isn’t fair. The movie, in my mind, is a reimagination of the book. There are a lot of similarities, but things happen in the movie that don’t happen in the book. That is not an indictment of the movie, though. It still explores many of the same concepts the book does: solitude, companionship, despair, horror. They’re all there and they’re done very well. Maybe a little heavy on some of the CGI and some of Will Smith being Will Smith, but it all works in the end. I wasn’t a huge fan of the way the movie ends, but it was still somewhat true to the overall theme of the book.
I give I am Legend a thumbs up
I got an early christmas present from the Sis and BIL, hooking me up with Age of Empires DS. I had played it previously but never made much headway in the actual campaigns. It’s great turn-based strategy goodness and I’m looking forward to some more time with the game.
I’m still playing Mass Effect - Impressions will be up soon. I am loving this game.
Finally, a hand update: I am able to play games now, (obviously) but I haven’t braved anything fast-paced (read: Halo 3 on Live). I’ve been training my hand with Geometry Wars but I really want to get back to some Halo 3 multiplayer. I was really enjoying it before the “incident” and was having a pretty good go at 2v2 matches with n0wak. Now that the BIL will be back on Live, I should be back and fully operational rather soon.
On a side (and perhaps gross) note, I was instructed by my doctor to begin doing some therapy on my fingers, so scar tissue doesn’t build up or my tendons tighten up. Well today I was working my pinkie finger, which wasn’t bending very far before it got tight and painful. The therapy consisted of bending the individual fingers until it got uncomfortable and then holding it at that point for a ten count. Well today, while doing said exercise, I felt and faintly heard something tear. Actually, it felt more like something gave out. The sound it made is hard to replicate, but it didn’t sound normal and I got a pit in my stomach, thinking I had done something bad. I can still move the finger just fine, but now I’m nervous to do my stretching again.
So, how was your weekend? Any torn tendons? 
24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot
You may have heard that the current Writer’s Guild strike may adversely affect this season’s installment of 24. Hopefully this will lessen the blow:
Best viewed full screen.
What we’re consuming
Sure, we play video games (we mash buttons, after all) but we also consume other forms of entertainment. We’re built for consumption. Here’s what we’re chomping on:
Tony:
Books:
I had a pretty good thing going while I was working on my “reading list.” I finished Stranger in a Strange Land and moved on to Ender’s Game, which was superb. Then I got sidetracked: I was going to start Snow Crash
TV:
My TV viewing has gone down quite a bit. There are still the old standbys of My Name is Earl, The Office, and 30 Rock. 30 Rock is probably my favorite of the three. The only two other shows I watch regularly are Prison Break and The Biggest Loser. Not much else holds my interest right now. Those and any sporting event involving an Ohio team.
Music:
I recently subscribed to last.fm’s services and can now listen to anything that I’ve “scrobbled.” So I’ve taken to listening to my whole iTunes library to scrobble everything I have. I started with at the top of my library with Aaron Neville and have listened all the way through to Gwen Stefani (what?). Along the way, I’ve rediscovered some great tracks that I haven’t listened to in a long time, like Alice in Chains. Jar of Flies was one of my favorite albums, and it was great listening to it again, start to finish. That’s some great music.
Nat:
Books:
I’ve also been putting words into my brain. I’m currently reading Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography
I’m also getting ready to start on Soon I Will Be Invincible
TV:
I’m actually looking forward to the writers strike halting TV for a while. The only thing I’ve been catching regularly (with the wife)
is Heroes. It’s just now starting to look up. I was worried they would tell the same story as season 1 there for a while. We’re also
catching Scrubs when we can. However, it’s not too much of a biggie. I know it’ll be on DVD eventually. We’ve been watching all the seasons on DVD from Netflix. I’ve never missed an episode, but it’s fun going over them again. My wife and I relate well to the zany characters in the show.
So that’s what we’re consuming. What about you?
Ultimate Supreme Identity
Just got back from Bourne Ultimatum. What a ride that was! Two hours of crazy non-stop action — chases, fist fights, free running, car crashes and all manner of mayhem that makes men smile from ear to ear.
I mentioned to my friends after we saw Transformers that even though I really enjoyed it, I thought Bourne Ultimatum was going to be the best summer blockbuster. I whole-heatredely stand by that statement. While Transformers was a good time, I had a laundry list of things that bothered me. That is not the case with Bourne Ultimatum. My only complaint is the shaky camera. It can be used to great effect, but when it’s over done (the way it has been in the Bourne trilogy) it’s simply annoying.
That single complaint aside, Bourne Ultimatum was extremely enjoyable. It never really took a breath, grabbing you by the collar and dragging you along for the ride. Without spoiling anything, just about every dangling story line was wrapped up, with a few twists thrown in. It was an excellent end to a most excellent trilogy. I will definitely be seeing this one again.
It may be premature to rank this movie in my Top Five Movies All-Time™ but it is definitely in the running for insertion in the Top Ten™.
More than meets the eye
I went with a couple buddies to see the Transformers this afternoon — WOW!
I’m sure I was in the majority of kids who grew up in the eighties, fearing the worst. Michael Bay making a movie about one of my favorite childhood memories? Transformers weren’t simply a cartoon and a bunch of toys — they were my life for a long time. I spent countless hours assembling my Constructicons into Devastator so he could wreak havoc on GI Joe’s HQ (what I lacked in actual Transformer toys, I made up with imagination. And GI Joes). This was not a flash in the pan! This was important stuff, not to be trifled with by someone who thought Ben Affleck would make a great star opposite Bruce Willis. I half-expected the movie to stink like so much garbage.
On the other hand, I am a total sucker for summer blockbusters where a whole bunch of stuff gets blown up. I’m not ashamed to admit I like most of Armageddon or Independence Day. But I was nervous.
Well, I am nervous no more! Transformers was seven kinds of awesome. It has its cheesy moments, sure, and I could have done without some of the characters, but the first time the phrase “more than meets the eye” was uttered, the theater was electric. Chills, I tell you. It was non-stop trash-kicking from there on out. I didn’t even care Megatron wasn’t a gun! It was everything the ten-year-old in me could have hoped for.
Huge thumb, way up!
Season Finales
** Needless to say, spoilers abound below. **
First off, I just finished watching the season finale of Lost. That was how a season finale is done! Everything about the episode was great. The pacing, the action, the suspense. The flashback-that-wasn’t had me riveted. I’m dying to know whose obituary Jack had found! I was a little sad to see Charlie go, as he was the reason why I started watching the show to begin with, but someone had to go. (And is he really gone anyway? You never know with the Island) Everything about this episode was great. I had let my Lost viewing lapse a few months ago, but I’m glad I picked it back up.
As a stark opposite of the greatest that was the Lost finale, the Heroes finale demonstrated how not to end a series. I was deeply disappointed with the Heroes finale. Everything up to the last ten minutes was shaping up great, but the ending was a huge “meh.” I had hoped that all the “good guys” would finally gang up on Sylar, with Peter or Hiro delivering the final blow, but they didn’t go that route. I was glad that some loose ends were tied up, but I was wanting a little more super-hero action. And who was the really bad guy the little girl was worried about?
Even though they ended a couple weeks ago, My Name is Earl and The Office both ended strongly. This season of Earl was lacking something, but the last couple episodes were great and the finale was pretty sweet. The scenes with Randy and the two little Hellions were great. The Office is starting to get a little too “soapy” for me, so I hope they go drop some of the Pam/Jim drama and go back to the practical jokes on Dwight and more episodes like the Pretzel Day episode. That’s TV comedy at its finest.
Finally, I don’t know if 30 Rock had a finale, but that show is quickly becoming my favorite show on Thursday nights. I used to hate Tina Fey on SNL, especially when she did Weekend Update (is that all she did?) with Jimmy Fallon, but I may have just been projecting my white-hot hatred of Fallon onto her and not giving her a fair chance. I do, however, have much love for Tracey Morgan and anything he does, so I’m glad I stuck around with 30 Rock. I’m hoping that weirdness that happened with Alec Baldwin doesn’t spell an early end to the show, as he’s crucial to its success.
Now that all my shows have wrapped up for the season, I’ll hopefully have more time to play some video games. I don’t know why I let myself get caught up in TV shows, but I do. I even go as far as letting them dictate my schedule. It can’t be healthy. I don’t know what I’ll watch now. At least I still have Iron Chef America to keep me company.
(BTW: I don’t know if 24 has wrapped this season up yet, but if you survived to the end, I’d love to hear what happened. I stopped watching when Jack was going to save his girlfriend from the Chinese. It got too hooky for me after he strung up the bad guy in chains.)
Search me!
I get visitors from search engines all the time. As you probably already know, people search for some weird stuff. Unfortunately I don’t get the hilarious search phrases all the cool bloggers get and mock, so I’ve never had enough funny searches that would warrant a blog post. Until today, that is, when someone hit buttonmashing.com searching for:
Wow. I don’t have anything witty to add to that. I simply want to meet the man (or woman) who wants to become a Jack Bauer and shake his or her hand.
On a 24-related side note, I stopped watching 24 a few weeks ago and started watching Heroes again. 24 got stale and jumped the shark with the whole “save Audrey from the Chinese” storyline. Did I make a mistake? Or was it still an over-the-top cheesefest?
Just saw Spiderman 3…
Here’s my two word review (spoilers abound!):
Everyone cries.
What I’m consuming
It’s no secret that I like to play games. I play a lot of games. Call it a hobby. But I also consume other types of entertainment. I’ve talked at length here of the TV shows I watch and I mention the occasional movie, but I really haven’t mentioned what else I’m consuming.
As geeks go, I’m not very well read in the “Classics”. Sure, I’ve read The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, I, Robot, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and others, but I haven’t read as much as I’d like to. When I was in high school, I read a lot fantasy books (mostly Dragonlance Novels), but I’ve recently endeavored to broaden my reading horizons. Going off of a few “Top 20/50/100 lists” (here and here and here and here) I’ve been diving right into some of the best Sci-Fi and Fantasy novels I’ve missed out on. I’ve just about finished up Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein, and I’ll be moving on to the next book on my list. The next five books on my list are:
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
Ringworld, Larry Niven
Dune, Frank Herbert
The Foundation Series, Isaac Asimov
In addtion to that, I also started reading the Harry Potter books. (Yes, I am a hypocrite)
I’m also a voracious consumer of music. Recently I’ve been listening to Fort Minor. Fort Minor is a hip-hop/rap side project of Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park. If you’ve seen any ABC/ESPN/TNT NBA promo commercials, than you’d recognize their song “Remember the Name“. But there’s more than just that song. The entire album, The Rising Tied is all pretty good stuff; great rhymes and serious beats. I’m digging it.
On top of it all, I’m excited about a lot of movies coming out this summer. We’ll be seeing Spiderman 3 this Friday because I’m a huge fanboy of the Blockbuster/action/blow-stuff-up kind of movie. Can’t wait. I’ve also got a huge list of movies I’m looking forward to this year, but I won’t bore you with that list. At least not yet.
As always, I’d love to hear what you guys are consuming. Any recommendations are also welcome.
(I should mention that this post was inspired by a post over at The Game Chair discussing reading lists of gamers)
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What we're playing
Tony
GTA IV | Mario Kart Wii | Super Mario Galaxy
Nat
Okami | Bioshock | Overlord | Mario Kart Wii | Boom Blox | FF7: Crisis Core | The World Ends With You | DiRT | Rogue Trooper (PC) -
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