Monday, June 30, 2003

Movie News:

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: I have to say that when I first heard about this movie last year, I went out an bought the comic and was very intruiged by the whole 'X-men in 1899' concept. It read like a superhero movie set 100 years ago. I was excited, right...then I saw the trailers. One after another, they've all been hideous, playing up the action/explosions aspect and not even mentioning the characters names until the last trailer I saw this week. Don't these people trust that intelligent people can accept action heroes that aren't modern? Anyway, I was certainly down on seeing the film until I read three reviews over at Ain't It Cool News that made me wonder if the same people that are making the trailers are making the film. I guess we'll just have to wait and see - as soon as I know, you'll know.

The Hulk wasn't as bad as I thought it would be - my favorite part was Ang Lee's innovative use of segmented screens to make the film 'feel' like a comic book - in some cases, I was seeing the same action play out from three angles. Taking a cue from 24, he also used the technique to hint at other storylines and to show things happening at different locations at the same time. Unfortunately, I have to say that Eric Bana's ("Bruce Banner") acting was abysmal, almost making you wish for less screen-time for his stilted, wooden acting than for the clearly-artificial Hulk. At least when the big green guy was on screen, he was doing something interesting. Jennifer Connelly did an admirable job with what she had to work with, but Nick Nolte made me laugh outloud a few times. I guess he showed up to the set straight from the police booking - he looked exactly like that mugshot we've all seen. Bad choice from the hair/makeup department.

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