Catching up with the MCU

For the last two months I've been working my way, slowly but steadily, through the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in preparation for Avengers: Age of Ultron - I watched two movies a week starting with Iron Man (2008) and The Incredible Hulk (2008), and finishing up yesterday with Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).  All of these were second or third viewings, but many were the first viewing since the original film.

Here's what I learned.

1) Avengers: Age of Ultron better be pretty great, as I've spent a lot of time doing prep work to enjoy the film.  I'm aware my personal efforts in watching the movies are not the same as those who made, studied, cos-played or otherwise enjoyed the films - but still - ten movies?  I feel they better raise the bar a little.

2) 3D is pretty overrated. Of all the films, I saw the vast majority in 3D and re-watching them in old-fashioned 2D at home made the colours brighter (looking at you Winter Soldier) and the images much crisper - I think I'll be hunting for 2D showings from now on when possible (I do have to admit that Guardians of the Galaxy in 3D was a treat - but the colour palate of that film was very bright and largely in primary colours - so even dimmed-down a little it was still very effective).

3) How come we haven't had another Hulk movie yet? I found The Incredible Hulk to be a lot of fun, and with the massively positive response to the character in The Avengers (2012), I was honestly a little surprised that a Hulk sequel doesn't even show up on the proposed schedule to at least 2020.

In the end, the films were all well worth the watch and have me pretty excited for next week's follow up.

Genre Characters of the week: Dr. Newton Geiszler and Dr. Hermann Gottlieb

For my oldest daughter's birthday last week, we saw our first IMAX 3D film, Guillermo de Toro's Pacific Rim.

The film, which was a heck of a lot of fun, and will hopefully introduce a whole new generation of kids to the Mech vs. Giant Moster film genre, focuses largely on the story of a burnt-out hero, called in from retirement for one last job.

My favourite characters in the film however, were the two monster (called Kaijus in the film) focused scientists, Dr. Newt Geiszler and Dr. Hermann Gottlieb, played by Charlie Day and Burn Gorman. 

Dr. Geiszler (pictured right), is the specialist in the Kaijus themselves, how they work, how their bodies function, and is sitting at the corner of being a scientist to almost being a fan of the creatures.  

Dr. Gottlieb (pictured left), is instead the scientist focused on the method by which these creatures have entered our world.  He's more introverted than Dr. Geiszler and definitely seems more at home in the lab than in the field.

Rather than simply playing the two characters as comic relief (which, to be fair, the do more than their share of), the story actually allows them to get into some pretty dark places in terms of their study of the creatures, and in the end their work does have a significant effect on the story.

In the end, they're not the main characters, but they were by far my favourites.

Movie Review: World War Z

Last night my wife and I were lucky enough to attend an advanced screening of the upcoming zombie apocalypse film, World War Z.  Going into the movie I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, I was a little unsure of the visuals from the trailer showing high speed zombies creating makeshift towers of themselves to scale buildings, and I have to admit the idea of a film rated with a PG-13 (or 14A rating here in Canada) showing zombies had me a little nervous; after all, what is a zombie movie without the blood and gore?

As it turns out, the movie was pretty fun!  It had a lot of great scares, more than a few really intense sequences and it worked well as both a global overview and as a personal story involving one family.  I’m currently reading the original novel, so I’ll have to hold off on how the film compares to the original book, but I think it’s safe to say they are two different things – with the movie potentially being the first in a potential trilogy.

The viewing we saw was in 3D, and although it didn’t give me a headache like last year’s John Carter, I didn’t feel the 3D was in any way necessary.  What I did really enjoy however was the music, much of it performed by the band MUSE.

All in all, a lot of the frightening sequences in the film involved the collapse of modern society, rather than the monsters (which were quite frightening in their own right), which I think was a pretty smart move.  Although the book has no specific main character, I think the audience needed someone to follow as they move through this story, and honestly I really liked Brad Pitt’s portrayal of a man doing the best he can to save his family.

If the sequels get greenlit, I would definitely be interested in checking them out.

Movie Review Double Feature: John Carter and Zombie 2

This weekend I managed to see not one, but two movies I've been pretty interested to check out for a while now. First up, John Carter, based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs 1912 novel A Princess of Mars the film follows a Civil War veteran who is transported to Mars (called Barsoom in the story) and gets involved in an awful lot of craziness. The story is heavy on action, feeling a heck of a lot like an Indiana Jones-style story (which should I suppose be correctly called a John-Carter-of-Mars-style story), and was full of a great mix of humour and adventure. Also bonus points for almost being a Rome reunion film (3 carry-over actors!).

Also quick note - the 3D glasses gave me a headache - catch the film in 2D if possible.

Next up Zombie 2 a 1979 classic of zombie films, directed by Lucio Fulci, this Italian zombie movie isn't actually a sequel to anything, it just got titled that way after the huge success of Dawn of the Dead in Europe. The movie works like most zombie films, in that zombies are discovered, there is a small band of main characters and the deaths are both shocking and gruesome. Although to be fair one of the deaths is so gruesome I had to watch it through my fingers as I was covering my eyes (YEEEEESH!) The movie also sports possibly the coolest fight I've ever seen:

Zombie vs. Shark

Seriously, this scene has a guy underwater dressed up in zombie makeup attacking an actual shark - honestly I have no idea how this was done as the best computer animation at the time was Pong!

Also props to my BFF Mike, who while watching the scene said my new favourite catchphrase:

"You have broken the uneasy truce... between Shark and ZOMBIE!"

Both movies were fun - I'm not sure if I'd own either, but they were both definitely worth the watch.