Media Junkie

Required Viewing: The Avengers

The Avengers
Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Pictures
PG-13
143 minutes
2012

Note: This review will contain minor spoilers and copious amounts of geeking out. 

As a young teenager, I looked forward to every Saturday morning.  Saturdays were guitar lessons, which had become something of a chore, but my failed attempts to learn the instrument were always followed by a trip to my favorite comic book and collectibles shop, Time Traveler's in Berkley, MI.  The store was so jam-packed with comics new and old, trading cards, used video games, action figures, and all other kinds of nerd paraphernalia that it was actually difficult to navigate the cramped aisles, but every Saturday my mother drove me there right after guitar lessons and I picked up the latest issues of Captain America, The Avengers, X-Men, The Amazing Spider-Man (and its many off-shoots), and whatever else caught my eye.  Does anyone remember Ravage 2099?  I had all of those. 

My passion for comics stemmed from my passion for video games.  In 1991, Data East released their superb four-player arcade beat 'em up, Captain America and the Avengers.  Plunking in a couple of quarters, you and three other friends or strangers could play as Captain America, Hawkeye, Iron Man, or the Vision as you saved the world from the menace of the Red Skull and his cronies - Crossbones, the Mandarin, Ultron, The Grim Reaper, and a curiously small Juggernaut on loan from the X-Men.  The game's vivid colors, comic-book-style artwork (complete with "thwack!" and "bwam!" spelled out when hitting enemies), and hilarious broken English ("Why should it goes well?", "OK GO!") drew me in.  I spent an unthinkable amount of money on that cabinet, beating the game several times in arcades, and countless times more when I got the cartridge for my Genesis years later.  It was so good, it made me want to check out the comic books it was based on.

In May 1992, shortly after I'd first played the video game, I purchased my first comic book - Captain America #400, a giant double-sided issue and part of the Operation Galactic Storm story arc that would also spawn a lesser-known Avengers fighting game from Data East.  I had missed out on the previous issues of the crossover, but I didn't care.  The artwork, the characters, the drama - it was enough to capture a young man's imagination, and I began collecting in earnest.

Of all the books I collected, Captain America and the Avengers were always my favorites.  I even collected the West Coast Avengers spin-off, including the original limited series and its reboot as a running series.  I searched every comic book store in the area for issues I didn't have yet, snagging both the rebirth of The Vision in West Coast Avengers and his original appearance as a villain in Avengers #57 in excellent condition from a store that was just opening and still had all its stock in unsorted boxes. 

I used to dream about what an Avengers movie would be like.  Who would play all my favorite characters?  Captain America, Hawkeye, Iron Man, the Black Knight, Henry Pym and his many aliases.  Would they even be in a film?  Who would be the villain?  The Red Skull?  Loki?  Even Dr. Doom was a feasible possibility.  Previous film attempts had been unsatisfying, to say the least, including a laughably bad Captain America film that reimagined the Red Skull as an Italian fascist.

When Marvel took ownership of its properties and released the wildly successful Iron Man in 2008, I knew it was the start of something big.  No longer were we subjected to low budget, direct-to-video affairs that didn't do justice to the iconic characters inhabiting their comics.  We had the late, great Stan Winston doing effects for Tony Stark's alter ego and A-list actors like Robert Downey, Jr., Jeff Bridges, and Gwyneth Paltrow in the cast!  Iron Man was a revelation, and remains one of my favorite films in Marvel's stable.

With each successive picture, the universe grew and finally they announced it - The Avengers would finally become a reality.  I watched with glee as they brought Jeremy Renner out at Comic Con to announce he would play my favorite team member, Clint Barton - better known as Hawkeye.  Samuel L. Jackson, the inspiration for the Ultimate Universe version of Nick Fury signed an unprecedented multi-picture deal.  Edward Norton was replaced by Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, dividing fans.  Now that it's here after all these years of waiting, it hardly seems real but The Avengers is a dream-come-true.

Required Viewing: Tyrannosaur

Tyrannosaur
Studio Canal
91 minutes
2011
R

Movies and music have many similarities.  The general public flocks to the big blockbusters, but if you dig deeper and begin exploring the independent scene, you'll find that a lot of the best stuff doesn't get the recognition it deserves.  
 
Tyrannosaur is just such a film - one that came out of nowhere and left me stunned at how good it was.  I'm no stranger to independent music or movies, but all I knew of the film was the trailer I watched on my iPhone.  As it happens, it's the feature film debut of writer/director Paddy Considine, and if the quality of this film is any indication, it is the start of a very promising career.
 
Tyrannosaur is an unrelentingly bleak picture of reality.  Not the false facade most people hide behind, but what you see when the walls come down - the ugliness, the bitterness, the hatred and anger, and the indescribable.  It's a tough picture to watch, filled with coarse language and acts of violence and brutality that will make even seasoned viewers cringe, but there seems to be a central message: violence breeds violence and anger begets anger.

Movie Review: I Saw The Devil

I Saw The Devil
Magnet Releasing (US)
144 minutes
2010 (South Korea)/2011 (US)
R

What would you do if someone you loved was brutally murdered?  Would you exact revenge on the person responsible, no matter what the cost?  Where do you draw the line?  At what point do you lose your own humanity and turn into a monster yourself?
 
These are the questions raised by South Korean revenge thriller I Saw The Devil.  Originally released in its native country in 2010, this visceral and violent film received considerable critial acclaim during it's limited run in US theaters last year.  The film takes inspiration from others of its nature, such as the infamous Oldboy, bordering on the despicable torture porn genre, but what separates it from those mindless gorefests are the moral questions it poses.  They may be buried under body parts and blood, but they are there and it makes for a surprisingly impactful thriller.

AMC Best Picture Showcase 2012 - Day Two Recap

With the Oscars looming just hours away tonight, AMC's annual Best Picture Showcase wrapped up last night with the final five nominees.  Some cities also hosted a 24-hour marathon of all nine films, though my market was not one of them. 

Day Two was a day filled with surprises.  I wasn't looking forward to the majority of films on the schedule, but was pleasantly surprised to find I enjoyed most of them more than I thought I would.

AMC Best Picture Showcase 2012 - Day One Recap

It's that time of year again!  The time when film fanatics quibble over Oscar nominations and gather at their local AMC Theater for their annual Best Picture Showcase, a two-day event that gives attendees a chance to see all the films nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Best Picture.

Last year's event was the first time I'd attended, and despite a few problems with the quality of the prints shown, it was such a blast that it is now a yearly tradition for my friend Chris and I.  The AMCBPS is an awesome event for movie buffs, even if we don't agree with the Academy's choices. 

Unlike last year, I hadn't seen a single one of the nine pictures nominated for Best Picture.  This not only made me more anxious to see everything for the first time, but it levels the playing field a bit since I haven't had weeks or months to digest a particular film and develop a bias towards it. Sadly, part of the reason I haven't seen any of the films nominated is that I had no interest in half of them to begin with, but you never know when a surprise - good or bad - might be in store when it comes to movies.

Required Viewing: We Need To Talk About Kevin

We Need To Talk About Kevin
Artifical Eye
112 minutes
2011 (Cannes Premiere)/2012 (Limited Release)
R

Upon concluding my first viewing of director Lynne Ramsay's We Need To Talk About Kevin, based on the book of the same name, there was only one thought in my head: What in the world is wrong with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences?!  How this film did not get nominated for Best Picture is beyond all logic and comprehension.  I understand that all art and entertainment is subjective, and I may not be a professional film critic - just a guy who has seen a lot of movies - but my knowledge of what it takes to make a good film is, I like to think, not inconsiderable.
 
How can it be that a picture with such amazingly haunting performances, incredible cinematography, and even brilliant use of licensed music went completely unnoticed?  I understand how the Academy works when it votes on Best Picture.  I know the logistics of how the nominees are chosen, but what I don't understand is how the hell this movie didn't make it on more members' lists.  Was Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close that much better in the eyes of the people who vote, despite the fact it received a lukewarm response from professional critics?
 
What we have here is a travesty.  We Need To Talk About Kevin is one of the most disturbing, gut-wrenching films I've ever seen.  It's a horror film for people who don't like horror films - not loaded with blood and gore or supernatural entities, but a truly terrifying, cold-blooded monster with seemingly no remorse: a teenage boy.

Movie Review: The House of the Devil

The House of the Devil
Dark Sky Films/Glass Eye Pix
R
95 Minutes
2009

As a product of the eighties, I have a special appreciation for writer/director Ti West's The House of the Devil.  Here is an independent horror film that is made to look and feel like the slow-burn/big-payoff horror films of decades past, and it succeeds admirably.  It's ironic that by going back several decades makes the movie feel fresher than the modern schlock that passes for horror these days.  It's not for everyone, but those who grew up in the early days of John Carpenter will likely find themselves reminiscing about the good old days by the time it's through.

 

Movie Review: Insidious

Insidious
PG-13
103 Minutes
2010

Given the sorry state of the Saw franchise by the time it (blissfully) ended, it's easy to forget that the original film - one of several collaborations between director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell - was actually quite inventive and clever.  Some of the acting may have been suspect or hammy (I'm looking at you, Cary Elwes and Danny Glover), but the film's story about a serial killer who concocts elaborate deathtraps to teach the ungrateful about the value of life was intriguing.

Unfortunately, Wan and Whannell have failed to capture the magic on subsequent projects, and the disappointing Insidious is another mildly entertaining, but ultimately forgettable supernatural thriller.

Movie Review: No Strings Attached

No Strings Attached
Paramount Pictures/Cold Spring Pictures/Spyglass Entertainment/Montecito Picture Company
R
110 Minutes
2011

Romantic comedies are all essentially the same.  From the first frames of No Strings Attached, you know exactly where the two leads are going to end up, and in a very general way, how they get there.  You know they'll start out as friends whose feelings gradually grow stronger, then one of them will push the other away or make a terrible mistake.  They'll spend some time apart, maybe even have a near-fling, before they realize they really do want to be with the other person and they'll deliver sappy lines before tearfully embracing.  Cue the "One Year Later..." marriage montage.

As a female friend once pointed out to me, this tired, predictable formula remains successful because it appeals to its key audience: women.  I mean this in the least sexist way possible (especially since I'm paraphrasing a woman in the first place), but generally-speaking, women love happy endings.  They want to believe that there's a perfect guy out there for them all, however false they know it may be in their hearts.  This is an ideal example of the type of escapism motion pictures traffic in.

The only thing that separates one rom-com from the next are the specifics.  As I said, you ultimately know where the plot is going from minute one, but the little details change.  No Strings Attached may be every bit as predictable as the monthly intolerable Katherine Heigl vehicle, but it at least benefits from a charming and attractive cast, and a significant amount of full belly laughs.

Movie Review: The Rite

The Rite
Warner Bros./New Line Cinema/Contrafilm Studios
113 Minutes
PG-13
2011

The Rite is a classic case of a film improperly marketed by its distributors.  The trailers made it look like a chilling film about exorcism, packed with terrifying imagery that would make you lose sleep.  In reality, The Rite is less a horror film than a spiritual drama revolving around a young priest having a crisis of faith. 

The Rite shares this similarity to the admittedly superior The Exorcism of Emily Rose.  Neither film was marketed properly, and they both suffered with critics and audiences alike for it.  When people go in expecting a horror film and they're met with a slow-paced drama, laced with the occasional disturbing image, creepy voices, and more loaded with atmosphere than anything, they're bound to be disappointed.

Taken for what it is, however, The Rite has its moments and can be genuinely interesting to those fascinated by the theory of demonic possession.  It's not a spectacular film, but much like its poor marketing misled people into thinking it was something it wasn't, a glance at Rotten Tomatoes will similarly mislead you to believe it's a complete dud.