Category Archives: Movies
Review: Justice League: Doom
‘Tower of Babel’ was better. But then the book is always better than the movie adaptation. Still, the latest release from DC Comics’ animated movies is an alright film, with a killer ending. Justice League: Doom features great animation, solid characters and a fun plot. The problem is that it’s kind of boring and run-of-the-mill. This could have been a made-for-TV movie of the Justice League cartoon from a few years ago. There’s just nothing special about it, nothing that warrants its existence in the animated movie library.
But who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth? A Justice League movie is a Justice League movie.
Movie rating: 3/5: Alright!
Unless it’s a stupid Justice League movie. There were a lot of times during this film where I was rolling my eyes at just how stupid some of the ideas and plot points were. The villains, especially, were acting ridiculous, and some of their plans were downright dumb. These are the people Vandal Savage has hired to rid the world of the Justice League? These are the plans they come up with? But all of that foolishness is undercut by some pretty great characterization, especially on the part of the Justice League. They look fantastic, and the animation is top notch.
The ending is spectacular, really getting to the hearts of these characters. The problem, though, is that this is a stand alone movie. These character moments aren’t going to pay off anywhere else. There are aesthetic similarities with previous animated movies, so perhaps this is the same Justice League as those movies. But still, it’s mostly stand alone.
So what was the point?
New Brave Trailer Does Not Reassure Me
I wasn’t impressed with the first official trailer for the next Pixar film, Brave. It seemed a little too heavy on slapstick humor for a Pixar movie. Not to mention the age-old story of a boisterous girl in medieval times bucking trend of having to get married. It’s such a played out story. There’s a new trailer out, but it does not fill me with confidence.
Though there is no doubting that the animation looks beyond brilliant!
Here’s a description of the movie:
Since ancient times, stories of epic battles and mystical legends have been passed through the generations across the rugged and mysterious Highlands of Scotland. In “Brave,” a new tale joins the lore when the courageous Merida (voice of Kelly Macdonald) confronts tradition, destiny and the fiercest of beasts.
Merida is a skilled archer and impetuous daughter of King Fergus (voice of Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (voice of Emma Thompson). Determined to carve her own path in life, Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the uproarious lords of the land: massive Lord MacGuffin (voice of Kevin McKidd), surly Lord Macintosh (voice of Craig Ferguson) and cantankerous Lord Dingwall (voice of Robbie Coltrane). Merida’s actions inadvertently unleash chaos and fury in the kingdom, and when she turns to an eccentric old Witch (voice of Julie Walters) for help, she is granted an ill-fated wish. The ensuing peril forces Merida to discover the meaning of true bravery in order to undo a beastly curse before it’s too late.
The Lorax to Speak for SUVs
I’ve already written about how much I hate the new Lorax movie based only on the trailer. Well now Hollywood and it’s greedy money pit have given me a new reason to hate them: the Lorax is now shilling for Mazda SUVs, a motor vehicle known almost exclusively for being a gas-guzzling road hog.
It’s as if irony and decency have lost all meaning.
Does the world not care that The Lorax by Dr. Seuss was a book with a very strong environmental message. It was about a little monster who was trying to fight industry because they were destroying the Truffula Trees! And the industry succeeded! All the trees were dead!
But don’t worry, Mazda has thought of that. Their new gas-guzzling SUV is ‘Tuffula Tree friendly!’
This is insane. Whatever the hell this ‘Skyactive Technology’ is in the SUV that the commercial won’t shut up about, it doesn’t magically replace the internal combustion engine. This is still a motor vehicle and it is still harmful to the environment. But nobody out there cares. Nobody gives a flying fudge when it comes to marketing. And that’s what’s wrong with society today.
And he is what's wrong with Hollywood today
Thanks to Mother Jones for the find. The movie comes out on March 2. Expect Dr. Seuss’ grave to start rolling itself completely out of the ground soon after.
Static Shock Fan Film is On Its Way
Those creative types out there in Internet land are once again making one of my favorite sorts of Youtube videos: superhero fan films! This time, Stefan Dezil and company have made one called Static Shock: Blackout, which is due in March. The teaser trailer was released earlier this month. Static Shock is a black, teenager superhero created by the late great Dwayne McDuffie. He had a popular cartoon show on The WB several years ago, and is one of the most prominent black characters in comics.
It’s also one of the first titles canceled in the New 52 reboot by DC Comics. Oops.
Well these fans will show you why Static Shock can be cool. The electricity effects are actually pretty damn badass.
Who Remembers Marsupilami?
I didn’t remember him until I saw this International trailer for what I believe is a French live action film about the little yellow guy with the super long tail! Warning, it’s not in English, so you may not have any clue what’s being said.
Does that strike any bells? I know he barely appears in that trailer at all. Maybe the company producing the film can’t do very good CGI. But Marsupilami is joining the likes of Yogi Bear and the Smurfs with this while live action/CGI mash-up. But who knew that Marsupilami was a Belgian creation? All I remember is the old Disney cartoon.
It was your typical madcap zany cartoon. Honestly though, I can’t even remember a single thing about the cartoon.
Anyway, this movie, Sur la Piste Marsupilami, or ‘On the Trail of the Marsupilami’, will be released in France in April. No clue if it will ever come to America. Not that I’d go see it. I haven’t gone to see any of those live action/CGI mash-ups and I don’t plan to start now. I just thought this was a neat blast-from-the-past sort of thing to pop up on the Internet today.
Henchman-4-Hire 