X-MEN: THE LAST STAND
A review by
Rodney Ruff,
June, 3, 2006

      X-Men: The Last Stand, directed by Brett Ratner, is the third installment in the X-Men movie series. Most of the cast from the first two movies returns for this feature: Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Halle Berry (Storm), Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Ian McKellen (Magneto), Famke Janssen (Jean Grey), James Marsden (Cyclops), Anna Paquin (Rogue), and Rebecca Romijn (Mystique). This installment also features Kelsey Grammer as Beast, Shawn Ashmore as Iceman, Ben Foster as Angel, Ellen Page as Shadowcat, Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut, and Aaron Stanford as Pyro.
       Although previously rumored to ignore the Phoenix storyline set up in the second movie when Jean Grey taps into her full potential to telekinetically hold back the water of a burst dam, the story actually forms half the plot. In this version, the Phoenix is not an alien entity as in the comics, but a destructive alternate personality of Jean’s that Magneto unleashes in protest to the “final solution” to the mutant “problem” of a drug that allegedly permanently suppresses mutant powers.
      The movie is chock-full of Marvel mutants; those watching the movie will have to watch several times to catch all the characters and once more to catch the full impact of the story. As with the previous movies, some characters’ origins and personalities have been altered from the comics; in addition to Jean Grey’s relationship with the Phoenix, Juggernaut is redefined as a mutant instead of getting his powers from a gemstone in the tomb of Cyttorak, and there is no mention of a family relationship with Professor X. Some characters get beefier roles than previously, such as Storm getting to fly and Shadowcat taking part in combat, while others, such as Rogue, have reduced roles.
     One of the surprising casting choices was Kelsey Grammer as Dr. Hank McCoy, aka the Beast. While at first appearance, the casting of Grammer, a comedic actor, seems odd; his years of playing Dr. Frasier Crane give him the chops to deliver Beast’s erudite dialogue flawlessly.
     Overall, X-Men: The Last Stand was a well-executed, if character-crowded movie, with notable parallels to the concentration camps of World War II and to still-present racial discrimination. Current rumors suggest that individual X-Men will get their own movies instead of there being an X-Men 4; however, the scene after the closing credits allows for a full-cast sequel, as well as providing a further nod to the 1970s comics. Fans of the first two movies will, for the most part, enjoy this one.

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST
A review by
Rodney Ruff,
July 8, 2006

     Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, directed by Gore Verbinski, is Disney’s first sequel to its popular Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. It opens with the wedding of Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) interrupted by Will’s arrest and imprisonment, during which he meets his father, Bootstrap Bill Turner (Stellan Skarsgard), as well as receiving an offer from Captain Beckett (Tom Hollander) to have all charges against him dropped if he gives Beckett Jack Sparrow’s (Johnny Depp) treasure-finding compass. Elizabeth is forced to turn to Jack for help in freeing Will.
     Jack, meanwhile, has his own troubles when his deal with the devil, in the person of squid-faced Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), that made him captain of the Black Pearl, comes due with the prospect of eternal servitude aboard The Flying Dutchman. The movie also stars Jonathan Pryce as Elizabeth’s father, Jack Davenport as the spurned ex-fiancé Norrington, and Naomie Harris as voodoo priestess Tia Dalma.
     Complications ensue as Will tries to clear his name, Elizabeth tries to save her man, and Sparrow tries to gain power over Jones in scenes ranging from high adventure to out-and-out hilarity involving a tribe of cannibals and a detached water wheel. (Depp described playing Sparrow as channeling Keith Richards and Pepe Le Pew; in his funniest scenes, however, he appears to be channeling Wile E. Coyote.) There is also a sort of role-reversal as Elizabeth sells out Jack in order to save Will, and Jack steps forward to do the noble thing in his encounter with the kraken. The movie ends with the surprise appearance of one of the characters from Curse of the Black Pearl that makes it clear there will be another sequel without resorting to the flashing of “See the sequel” that concluded Back to the Future II.
     The CGI effects for both Davy Jones’ face and the kraken are outstanding, although small children may be frightened by the kraken’s razor-toothed maw and smaller children by Jones’ visage as well. They do not, however, overshadow the acting and writing, both of which are excellent. Overall, Dead Man’s Chest does a good job of continuing the story and building onto the characters introduced in The Curse of the Black Pearl.

     Eragon is the directorial debut for special effects artist Stefen Fangmeier.  While this film was visually appealing, after the Christmas time epics we’ve had over the last few years, it felt a little short.  I will admit that I have not read the book this movie is derived from so I am commenting on only what the director has presented to us.
     This is a coming of age tale for a young boy and the development of his special talent.   As the movie opens Princess Arya is escaping with the last dragon egg that she recently stole from the traitorous dragon rider, who instead of protecting the innocent killed all the other dragon riders and made himself king.  Unable to escape she sends the egg magically away before the evil sorcerer Durza captures her.  The egg, apparently able to sense a person capable of becoming a dragon rider, transports itself to the farm home of young Eragon, where it hatches and bonds with the boy.
     The scenes shot for this motion picture are very well executed; its problem is the development (or lack) of its characters and the close similarities to Star Wars IV: A New Hope.  Without more about Eragon, Arya, Brom, Durza, and King Galbatorix it felt like a shot by fantasy shot remake of Lucas’ film.  Mr. Fangmeier needed something to distinguish his film from Lucas’ space fantasy.  Whether this was a failure of the director or the screenwriter, the overall project suffered and has probably doomed the sequel hinted at in the ending.                           --                                     John Lars Shoberg

GHOST RIDER A review by
Rodney Ruff,
Febr. 17, 2007

     Ghost Rider, scripted and directed by Mark Steven Johnson, is an adaptation of Marvel Comics’ motorcycle-riding demonic avenger. Actor and comics fan Nicolas Cage plays the title character, Johnny Blaze, who, in this version, makes a deal with Mephistopheles (played by Peter Fonda in a nod to Easy Rider) to save the life of his father, Barton (Brett Cullen), from dying of cancer, only to see him die in a motorcycle accident shortly thereafter. Mephistopheles, of course, refuses to let Johnny out of the deal he made and appoints him as his agent to prevent his son Blackheart (Wes Bentley) from taking over Hell.
     Blaze gradually discovers the powers given to him, which bear a closer resemblance to those of his successor brother in the comics, Danny Ketch, notably the “Penance Stare” that causes its victim to feel all the pain inflicted on others in his or her lifetime. (Blaze would gain these powers in the comics upon resuming the mantle from Ketch.) In the course of his battles with Blackheart, he fights a series of demons based on the elements of antiquity: water, earth, and air, with himself representing fire.
     The movie’s strongest breaks with the comic book are these: Blaze makes his deal with the devil to save his father, not his stepfather, “Crash” Simpson, who is not in the movie. The character of Roxanne Simpson (Eva Mendes) is treated as first a forbidden, then a lost love, with a less direct role in Blaze’s redemption. The characters of the Caretaker and Carter Slade, Marvel’s original Ghost Rider, are fused into a single role, played by Sam Elliot, who narrates the movie.
     Ghost Rider pays homage to various biker movies, with scenes set in a slum, a roadhouse, and a graveyard, as well as to Westerns, with the song “Ghost Riders in the Sky” played at key points. Blaze’s final confrontation with Mephistopheles features a soliloquy similar to that of Peter Fonda’s father, Henry, as Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath.
     The movie is inconsistent as to where Ghost Rider and his demonic adversaries’ powers work, as the demons, who supposedly cannot stand on holy ground, do so at one point. Also, fans who have heard rumors of Eva Mendes being considered to play the lead in a proposed She-Hulk movie will likely spend time envisioning her with green skin during her appearance. Aside from these things, those looking for a good, but not great, story will find one.

TMNT
A review, of sorts, by Trudy Myers
March 24, 2007

     I didn’t, exactly, ‘grow up’ with the TMNTs.  More like I grew young via them.  When my kids (now aged 20 and 16) were young, we discovered the TMNTs together.  I thought they were an interesting cartoon idea, and didn’t mind watching them with the boys.
     The first three TMNT movies (live action) came out, and we saw them, and enjoyed them.  We even bought them on videotape.  I’ve seen those movies several times.  So I didn’t go see the latest movie with what could be described as an open mind.  I was as excited as a teen headed for the homecoming dance!
     Now, here are the problems I had with the movie:
        Way, way, way back when, a great but nasty warrior and his brothers and sister were trying to take over the world.  Through some kind of hokey pokey, the warrior obtained immortality, his siblings were turned to stone, and they set loose a bunch of monsters on the world.
        1) What happened to the rest of his army?
        2) How did the hokey pokey know which warriors were his siblings?
        3)   Where is this supposed to have happened, and why aren’t there any legends about it?
        4) Why do his siblings all look like misshapen freaks?
        5) If 13 monsters were set loose on the world, why aren’t there any legends about them?
     Leonardo was sent to Central America (or was it South America?) to learn more about fighting and leading.   They’re joking, right?  This must be some super-secret method of fighting and leading, in which case, how did Master Splinter find out about it?
     April has finally found the last of the warrior’s stone siblings (which everybody thinks are statues, of course.)  She apparently has traveled the world, picking them up here and there, not all together in one place.
     How did these ‘statues’ get moved all over, instead of all being in one place?
         1)  Why would they have been moved all over?
         2)  If they were moved all over the world, how did they avoid getting broken?  They are stone, after all.
         3)  Why didn’t their immortal brother know where they were?  Couldn’t he remember where this hokey pokey took place?
     The time is approaching for the hokey pokey to happen again (in New York this time!), and in order to remove the curse of immortality and return his siblings to life, the 13 monsters must be collected up to be sent back.
         1) Okay, the monsters weren’t portrayed as terribly smart, but if they knew the hokey pokey was about to happen and would suck them back to their own world if they were within range, why did they all choose that exact time to visit New York?
         2) And if they didn’t know the hokey pokey was about to happen, why did they all choose that exact time to visit New York?
     The biggest problem I had with the movie, though, was the fight between Leonardo and Raphael.  Not that they fought; siblings do that.  I didn’t even mind that they set to in pitched battle, apparently fully intending to kill each other.  That worked, too.  But once one of them won the battle – obviously won, but without killing (or even injuring) the other – everything was butterflies and rainbows between them.  That was completely unbelievable.
     So, with all these problems, I must have hated the movie, right?  Nope.
     Yes, I had to ‘suspend my disbelief’ a little more than I should have.  But we are talking a children’s cartoon characters.  If we expected total realism from cartoons, where would Bugs Bunny, Yogi Bear, and even Jimmy Newtron be?  Not having adventures, that’s for sure.
    Seen in that light, all is forgiven, because kids won’t sit there and analyze things like a grown-up does.  They just accept the story.  Even the fight-turned-sweetness, because kids do that.  (I’m not so sure teens do it as readily, but kids probably don’t care.)  So leave the adult part of you at home and go see it.
    Oh, yeah, and I even liked the music.  Don’t know what the lyrics were (did it have lyrics?), but it had a good beat and was easy to dance to.  And that is extremely important, if you’ve seen the other movies.  Who knew turtles could dance?  Not enough of that in this movie.  Still, in my opinion,  Turtles Rock!                     

Spider-Man 3 asked the question: Can Peter Parker be Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man if he his not conscious of the feelings of those his actions affect?
      Mary Jane, his girlfriend, is having career problems, yet he wants to add the pressures of married life onto her shoulders because he’s feeling good about his secret career.  Aunt May, of course, questions Peter if he can really put his feelings aside to put his wife’s first.
      Harry Osborn, his best friend, is having problems accepting his father’s death.   Is a promise to a dead man more important than the sanity of the living?  Peter should have assessed his friend's deteriorating mental health, broken that pledge and helped Harry through his grieving.  Mary Jane keeps urging Peter to find out what is driving a wedge between Peter and his best friend.
      Eddie Brock gets a freelance photographer’s position at the Daily Bugle, competing directly with Peter for photos of Spider-man.  When Eddie fakes a photograph of Spider-man, and gets the staff photographer’s job, Peter confronts him with evidence of the fake right before dropping it on J. Jonah Jameson’s desk.  Eddie is abruptly fired, and it is assumed blacklisted as a newsman.  Eddie swears revenge against Parker.
      Flint Marko/The Sandman is introduced as the actual killer of Peter’s Uncle Ben and, despite the urgings of his Aunt May, Peter swears his own revenge.  An alien creature forms a symbiotic relationship with Peter and gives him the power to exact that revenge.  But after striking the woman he loves, Peter finally begins the journey that strips him of his pretenses and returns him to the man who was given the special powers.  It is his final act of understanding he extends to Marko that proves his character has been fully healed.
      Is Spider-man 3 worth the price of admission? Yes.  Is two and half hours too gone?  In some moments it felt like it, but I would have liked to have seen Peter having to deal more with Venom after it was all over; so no, it was not long enough.        --     John Lars Shoberg

     Stardust is first and foremost of fairy tale.  A very delightful adult fairy tale, with enough action, witches and mean princes to get the kids entertained.  A fairy tale as imagined by Neil Gaiman and Matthew Vaughn.
     There is a stone wall separating our predictable, boring world from an incredibly magical realm, and there is a gap in that wall.  The elderly guardsman is easily tricked, once, and our hero’s father slips in to explore it.  Nine months later, he receives a bundle at his doorstep, his son, Tristan.
     A couple of decades later, while Tristan is courting the prettiest girl in the village, he makes her a promise to bring her a star that has just fallen.  The star has landed on the other side of that wall.  It was brought down by a dying King and begins the quest for Tristan destiny.  You see, in this magical realm, the star is alive and when filled with joy, glows brighter than even the prettiest girl in our world.
     Witches seek the star's heart.  Princes seek what the star brought to Earth.  Tristan struggles to bring the star to his girlfriend before her birthday and in that journey discovers more about himself and his true desires.
     This movie is 128 minutes short.  The special effects are seamless, including the flying ship that Robert DeNiro captains.  Kudos have to go out to Michelle Pfeiffer allowing her character to suffer the effects of aging whenever she uses magic (everything has its price).  See this movie, support good film making, this is the kind of movie magic will restore your faith in the power of filmmakers.    --    John Lars Shoberg