TAKE TWO: Green Lantern

Green Lantern

Rated: PG-13

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong

Director: Martin Campbell

Chris’ Take: Green Lantern is the latest film to delve into the superhero genre, whose returns seem to be diminishing with every reboot and reimagining, especially when it comes to some of the lesser known heroes. While Green Lantern is one of the most intricate of comic book series, and is popular among comic book fans, it never really gained appeal outside of that, and Warner Bros. did their best to bring it to that wider audience.

Ryan Reynolds stars as Hal Jordan, a hot shot pilot whose father died flying test planes when he was younger. When an alien life form crash lands on earth and hands him a mysterious green ring and lantern, his life is turned upside down. He is whisked away to the planet Oa and is inducted into the Green Lantern Corps, a group of intergalactic peace keepers, who inform him that the ring allows the wearer anything that they can imagine and that the ring chooses someone without fear to carry it. Hal is placed as protector of Earth and soon has to deal with the rising threat of Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard), a professor who was infected by yellow energy found in the crashed aliens’ body, and also the greatest threat the entire galaxy has ever faced, Parallax, a mysterious lifeform that preys on fear.

Kind of like Fox News.

The writers certainly tried to cram as much as they could in the two hours or so that the movie ran. They tried to squeeze as much mythology and background about the Green Lantern Corps and the rest of the galaxy as possible in before actually being able to tell the story of Hal Jordan. Then, with what time they had left, they tried to build an extra villain into the story to occupy some time before Hal had to fight off Parallax and save the world. The structure felt very uneven and it seemed like there were gaps of time that were unaccounted for which made for a flimsy story when it could have been enriched.

Going into the film, I thought that the previews made the CGI look distracting, and while there times when it seemed overbearing, once  you enter the world of Green Lantern, it is much more acceptable. While the graphics for the film were stunning,  I thought that the extent of the ring’s power wasn’t portrayed to its full potential. Martin Campbell (Goldeneye, Mask of Zorro, Casino Royale) is an accomplished action director, and while he shot the scenes with visual flair, he failed to live up to the expectations that I had for him. With Goldeneye he had a knack for using over-the-top action sequences to entertain an audience, and Green Lantern seemed like a great opportunity for him to return to that and get away with it a bit more, but he seemed to rush each action scene as opposed to taking his time and putting his excessive budget to good use.

Ryan Reynolds did a formidable job as Hal Jordan, bringing a little bit of humor to the role as well. Peter Sarsgaard really let his freak flag fly as Hector Hammond, and it was enjoyable to watch him finally completely let loose, but he was in the movie less than I anticipated. They didn’t introduce him until 30 minutes into the film, and then when it came time for him to realize his superhuman powers he hardly got to use them before he had to make way for the even bigger villain, making his role seem unnecessary. Blake Lively, while I praised her work in The Town  last fall, I have to say  that they probably put a cardboard cutout of an attractive woman in there and there would’ve been the same amount of sincerity to the love story between her and Hal.

"Oh Hal, I like love you and stuff." "Get off me, woman."

 All in all it wasn’t as bad as I was led to believe going into it, and maybe that’s why I was able to sit back and enjoy it a little bit more. It certainly is not among any of the greatest superhero films, it is distinctly average in just about every aspect, but I wouldn’t call it “bad” either. If anything, it left me hoping to see more of this series to see if they can move on from back story to make a richer story, which they set up extremely well by already making Sinestro (Mark Strong) a developed character, and handing him a yellow ring. I think since I was more interested in seeing the conflict between Sinestro and Hal develop, I will be more interested in Green Lantern 2 (already greenlighted) than I was in watching this film.

OVERALL: C+/B-

Pac’s Take:  D.C. comics doesn’t bring their comics to the big screen nearly as much as Marvel does, and as a fan of their work more so than Marvel, I’m always excited to see a new film.  This is the first time in the history of cinema where we’ve had the technological capability to bring the Green Lantern to live-action movies and as a first effort, it wasn’t terrible.  The biggest concern that I had coming into the film was that the focus on the visual effects would hinder the development of the story of Hal Jordan becoming the Green Lantern.  I don’t think that I was wrong about that this assumption either, while there were times that the film impressed me with its story development, I often felt cheated by its lack of depth.  Hal Jordan didnt’ seem to be any different from many other superheros we’ve seen hit theaters recently, but his comic book character is one of the more complex.

As Chris mentioned above, I took issue with some of the time gaps, suggesting there may have been some very important scenes left on the cutting room floor.  For instance, there was one scene where Hal, as the Green Lantern, showed up at Oa coincidentally at the perfect time to talk Sinestro down (I won’t go into further detail).  More importantly, the movie suggested a friendship between Hammond and Hal Jordan, as well as a love triangle between them and Carol Ferris (Lively), but the relationships were never explained beyond a passing hello between the characters.  For the general public who is not a fan of the comic, these relationships are foreign and needed to be developed better, I actually thought the film could have benefited from 15 more minutes and this was most likely a case of the studio trying to keep the run time under 2 hours.

In the first scene of the film I was a little put off by the graphics, but once actual human actors were introduced the film began to feel more grounded and my concerns were put to rest.

Like gingers, animated lifeforms have no soul.

Ryan Reynolds did a fine job as Hal Jordan, however his face and character may be oversaturating the superhero market because at times I had a hard time seeing the character and not the actor.  Peter Sarsgaard was definitely the most entertaining to watch on-screen and it is a shame that Hector Hammond didn’t get more screen time.  While Chris’s least favorite casting decision may have been Blake Lively, I was extremely distracted by the casting of Tim Robbins as Senator Hammond.  There’s not enough movie magic in the world to make me believe that Tim Robbins (52) could be the father of Peter Sarsgard (40).  While this disparity in age may work in an episode of Teen Mom, the disgruntled father-son relationship between the two did not work.

This seems like as good a time as any for a paternity test

On a final note, the fanboy in me was geeking out to see Angela Bassett as Amanda Waller.  For those of you unfamiliar with the character (potential future spoiler alert), Amanda Waller is a major villain in the D.C. universe and becomes the leader of both the Suicide Squad and Checkmate  (as the White Queen).  Hopefully we’ll see her in future installments of the Green Lantern and possibly in other D.C. franchises.

OVERALL: C-

More Batman News… Sort Of

Brian “Pac” Sostak

It’s funny what passes for news these days when we’re talking about the Batman franchise.  Christopher Nolan has created so much  buzz and angst surrounding the release of his 2012 sequel to The Dark Knight that if he sneezes and it sounds like an actor or actresses name it makes headlines.  With that being said, I’m a complete sucker for all news (or rumor) Batman and I’m going to comment on it anyway.

Deadline is reporting that Christopher Nolan is meeting with a handful of actresses for two unknown roles in the third installment of his Batman franchise.  Though the specific roles were not released, rumor is that one of the roles is a potential love interest for Bruce Wayne and the other… a villain.  Names floating around the roles include Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts, Blake Lively, Natalie Portman, Anne Hathaway, and Keira Knightley.

The same actresses have also floating around my dreams

This rumor is the second “news” of a villain coming to the screen in the next Batman film, remember not too long ago when we posted about Tom Hardy being cast to play an unknown villain.  Personally, I could care less about who is cast to play his love interest I just hope it’s not someone who almost ruins the movie.  The real news to me in this article is that Nolan is interested in casting a female for a villain lead.  When thinking of female villains in the Batman franchise there are two names that immediately come to mind, Catwoman and Poison Ivy.  I can’t believe that Catwoman will be the villain because this report states that he’s looking into two actresses, one to play the love interest and one to play the villain.  If Catwoman were scripted as the next villain, one would believe that only one actress would be needed to fill both roles. 

Poison Ivy seems like the more likely choice, and I like a few of these names for that character.  The last time Poison Ivy appeared on-screen was not the greatest success, and I’d personally like to see Nolan go in another direction.  My pitch to Nolan is for him to throw a dark horse out for a female villain, and bring us Harley Quinn.  Quinn would be the perfect villain to conclude the Nolan trilogy; though she hasn’t been part of the Batman history for very long (she was first introduced in 1992), she has been a fan favorite ever since her inception.  Introducing Harley Quinn would allow Nolan to continue on from the last film seamlessly despite the untimely death of Heath Ledger, leaving the Joker’s role in question.  Furthermore, it could introduce the audience to an aspect of the Batman lure that we haven’t seen portrayed in film yet, Arkham Asylum. 

The only PG picture of Harley Quinn I could find.

My infatuation with Natalie Portman has been documented previously in this blog, so it’s no surprise I’d love to see her play Harley Quinn.  Second to Portman, I support the casting of Anne Hathaway.  This would definitely break the type cast of Hollywood’s ultimate girl-next-door, but I think she is very capable of capturing this character. 

...very capable

TAKE TWO: “THE TOWN”

Chris’ Take:

*** 1/2 out of 4 stars

Ben Affleck‘s sophomore directorial release is just about flawless. While it is not necessarily an original concept, it combines elements of The Departed and Heat in a taut manner while having fully-fleshed out characters that perfectly add to the tension within the story. Who would have thought that the Ben Affleck from Gigli would direct such a thoughtful piece of cinema?  

The Town opens on a bank robbery in Boston, which appears to be conducted by Skeletor clones who are in fact Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck), his best friend Jimmy (Jeremy Renner) and the rest of their heist crew.  Due to a minor setback Jimmy takes the bank manager, Claire (Rebecca Hall), hostage and after they are clear set her free. Claire is immediately questioned by FBI Agent Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) and Doug follows her to make sure that she does not give anything significant away to the FBI. While he is following her he falls in love, threatening his own and his crew’s safety. While he tries to salvage his love and get out of town he finds that the city has more of a grip on his life than he thought.

Affleck continues his directorial success after Gone Baby Gone and, in my opinion, improves on it. He not only tells a compelling story with  complex characters like he did with Gone, but this time adds exciting action and bank heists, which he also helped script as well. He is able to build tension not only through shootouts and bank heists, but between the characters as well, fully fleshing out almost every key character introduced (minus Jon Hamm who looked uncomfortable in FBI attire).

I'm not moving until I get a suit and tie.

Jeremy Renner has another spectacular performance as the mentally unbalanced and hot-headed Jimmy and Affleck does a decent job in front of the camera as well.

While the action sequences weren’t as intense as Heat they were still palpable and engaging. Especially the final shootout and a car chase scene that seemed dedicated to every soccer mom with road rage. The pacing was spot on, moving seamlessly in between drama fueled discussions, detailed planning, and then heist execution, which kept the audience engaged for the full two hours.

I look forward to more of Affleck’s work as a director since I prefer him behind the camera than in front of it. He seems to have redefined himself successfully, managing to pull himself away from the tabloids and blockbuster films and create a more serious image that deserves recognition for his excellent work.

Pac’s Take:

It will be really hard for me to justify both being disappointed by this movie while also really liking it, but somehow The Town was able to elicit both of those responses from me after viewing it last night.  I think I left the movie let down for two reasons, the first being that I had incredibly high expectations for this film based on marketing, reviews, cast, and how much I really liked Gone Baby Gone.  The second reason I would like to discuss later.

The Town is a well executed heist movie, but nothing that I haven’t seen before.   Of all the reboots and remakes made in Hollywood today, it’s ironic that this movie, based on Prince of Thieves: A Novel by Chuck Hogan, felt more like Heat: Boston.  I can only fault Ben Affleck and Peter Craig but so much for this because, while not very original, The Town kept my attention for the entire run time (123 minutes), captivated me, and left me (almost) entirely satisfied.

What really made this movie stand out as a great film were the performances by Ben Affleck and Jeremy Renner.  The chemistry these two had on screen was outstanding and this, in my opinion, is the best dramatic performance of Ben Affleck’s career. 

Even better than Daredevil?

Meanwhile, Jeremy Renner stole every scene in which he appeared.  His portrayal of Jimmy, adequately described above by Chris, was the highlight of this film and I yearned for more scenes between him and Affleck.  I firmly believe both of these men will be acknowledged by the Academy for their performances in this film, and rightfully so.  Even Blake Lively’s performance was adequate, even though it seemed like a rehash of Amy Ryan’s from Gone Baby Gone.  But if Affleck was DeNiro and Renner was Kilmer, I think John Hamm missed the bar for Pacino.  John Hamm’s performance felt uncomfortable and forced.  I’m not sure if you can attribute this to him or the lack of depth given to the character, but too much of the story focused on FBI S.A. Frawley’s pursuit of Doug MacRay (Affleck) for the execution to fall this short. 

Ben Affleck stepped up his directorial “game” from Gone Baby Gone adding a lot of action to his repertoire; and as good as his acting was in this film, his directing was spot on as well.  The cinematography was great, and I felt like Boston (and Charlestown more specifically) was just as much a character in this film as any person. 

SPOILER ALERT (very minor, but don’t get mad at me for not warning you)

But then there’s the issue of the second reason I left the theater disappointed.  I heard coming into this movie how great the climax was and that it takes place in Fenway Park.  I was expecting this to be awesome, a heist movie building up to its epic climactic scene in Fenway (what’s more Boston than that?)!  Unfortunately the climax was anything but epic.  I was expecting a gunfight on the field, under the lights, in/on the “green monster”, all to the viewing of 37,000 fans.  What I got instead was a finale that could have been located at any parking garage, loading dock, etc. 

This climax truly could have been EPIC in the most literal sense.  Fenway Park is one of the most famous and recognizable stadiums in the country and there was so much potential to make this climax so memorable that it would have been talked about and compared to for generations.  Instead, it was just another heist movie ending, predictable.  Bait, The Fan, and The Last Boy Scout are three examples that The Town should have looked to for inspiration on the climax.  While none of these movies are nearly as good, they all maximized the use of their final setting, something this film did not do.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think the movie ended poorly; just don’t tell me you’re going to Fenway and only show me the garage.

Seen Above: The Sistine Chapel

Here are my overall grades for The Town:

Characters: A-
Cinematography: B+
Direction:  A
Performances: A-
Plot: B-
Overall:  A-

My Top 5 Anticipated Fall Movies

It’s September now and pretty soon it will start getting cooler and the popcorn movies will have gone stale. We are coming up on the Fall movie season, which promises a number of films trying to vie for Oscar contention. These are the films that I am most looking forward to this Fall (in order of release date).

#5 ” THE TOWN”/ Release Date: September 17th (Wide)

Starring: Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively, Jon Hamm

Directed by: Ben Affleck

Plot Summary from IMDB.com: “As he plans his next job, a longtime thief tries to balance his feelings for a bank manager connected to one of his earlier heists, as well as the FBI agent looking to bring him and his crew down.”

TRAILER:

This film is Ben Affleck’s sophmore directorial release, following his directorial debut of “Gone Baby Gone” in 2007. “Gone” did incredibly well with critics (scoring 94% on Rotten Tomatoes) as an artistic and character driven piece, featuring great performances from Casey Affleck and Amy Ryan. “The Town” promises to deliver a similar result, this time boasting the producers of “The Departed” and co-starring Jeremy Renner. The only thing that worries me is that Ben Affleck will be starring this time and I hope he can deliver as strong of a performance as his brother did in “Gone”.

#4 “BURIED“/ Release Date: October 8th, 2010 (Wide)

Starring: Ryan Reynolds

Directed by: Rodrigo Cortes

Plot Summary from IMDB: “Paul is a U.S. contractor working in Iraq. After an attack by a group of Iraqis he wakes to find he is buried alive inside a coffin. With only a lighter and a cell phone it’s a race against time to escape this claustrophobic death trap.”

TRAILER:

“Buried” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January to great critical reception and it definitely boasts a “less is more” premise. I am excited to see what Ryan Reynolds can do in a dramatic role, especially since he really is going to have to carry this whole movie. Based on early reviews, Reynolds, and the film as a whole, does not disappoint.

#3 “DUE DATE“/ Release Date: Nov 5, 2010 (Wide)

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Zach Galifianakis

Directed by: Todd Phillips

Plot Summary from IMDB: “High-strung father-to-be Peter Highman is forced to hitch a ride with aspiring actor Ethan Tremblay on a road trip in order to make it to his child’s birth on time.”

TRAILER:

Todd Phillips follows up his success of “The Hangover” with another Zach Galifianakis collaboration. The odd couple road trip idea has been done before, but based on the previews it looks like Galifianakis and Downey Jr have great on-screen chemistry. Let’s hope that Phillips can get another streak of success going and not deliver another “School of Scoundrels” dud.

#2 “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I”/ Release Date: Nov 19, 2010 (Wide)

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Ralph Fiennes, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson

Directed by: David Yates

Plot Summary from IMDB: “Voldemort’s power is growing stronger. He now has control over the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts. Harry, Ron, and Hermione decide to finish Dumbledore’s work and find the rest of the Horcruxes to defeat the Dark Lord. But little hope remains for them, so everything they do must go as planned.”

TRAILER:

It’s the first part of the final installment of the Harry Potter series. Do I need to say more?

#1 “Black Swan”/ Release Date: Dec 1, 2010 (Wide)

Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis

Directed by: Darren Aronofsky

Plot Summary from IMDB: A thriller that hones in on the relationship between a veteran ballet dancer and a rival.

TRAILER:

Based on the plot summary I would have said, “Um, okay….”, but then I dug into the cast. Natalie Portman, great actress, who generally picks her movies very well. Mila Kunis, she is starting to come into her own after “That 70’s Show” and is great at playing someone who seems mentally unstable. Then came the kicker, the film is directed by the brilliant Darren Aronofsky (“Requiem for a Dream“, “Pi“, “The Wrestler“) and I immediately had to find the trailer and it looked beautiful. This film immediately became on of my most anticipated for this fall season.

HONORABLE MENTION:

#1 “Devil”/ Release Date: Sep 17, 2010 (Wide)

WHY IT DIDN’T MAKE THE FINAL CUT: Even with an intruiging preview I am still hesitant to get excited by something boasting, “From the mind of M. Night Shyamalan“. Still, he could make a comeback with this one and he is not directing it, which might work to his favor.

#2 “The Tempest”: Release Date: Dec 10, 2010 (Limited)

WHY IT DIDN’T MAKE THE CUT: Julie Taymor, a visually arresting director, has her fourth big screen release and her second based on a Shakespeare play. As an English major, I was thoroughly impressed with her depiction of Shakespeare’s play “Titus” and the creative wit she displayed. However, I am hesitant to get excited about it due to the fact that Prospero will become “Prospera” and many times she focuses too much on the visuals without constructing a solid story.

#3 “Paranormal Activity 2″/ Release Date: Oct 22, 2010 (Wide)

WHY IT DIDN’T MAKE THE CUT: “Paranormal Activity”, in my opinion, was one of the best horror films in recent history. I am afraid that the premise of home video technology and special effects will be overused, or be replaced by too much CGI. I am also worried that kind of how “Saw” spawned an excessive number of sequels, this will become a franchise like that as well.

Now that I have rambled about what I am looking forward to. What are you most looking forward to this fall?