Reviews by Matt

Back in 2003, amid the flurry of superhero movies that were being released a movie that would become the standard of how not to make a comic book movie hit the theaters. It was “The Hulk.”

Critics and fans hated it.

Director Ang Lee said it almost killed his career.

So why would another one even be attempted?

In my opinion a few reasons: the newly formed Marvel Studios wanted to show how they wanted thier character done, and two, if the Avengers movie is going to happen, people need to like the Hulk.

Plus with Edward Norton as Bruce Banner/ The Hulk, how could it not be good?

“The Incredible Hulk” follows Bruce Banner (Norton) as he is in hiding in Brazil. He has removed himself from society because when he gets angry, another side of him comes out, a side best kept hidden. As he works on finding a cure for the gamma radiation the United States government is hunting him. General Ross (William Hurt) and his team will not stop until Banner is in custody. He enlists the help of Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) in the hopes of getting Banner back to the States.


When Blonsky sees what Banner becomes he wants in on exactly why the US wants Banner. General Ross arranges for Blonsky to get injected with a subatance that will make him as powerful as The Hulk. He begins to want more and eventually becomes Abomination and lets loose on New York City. The only thing that can stop him is what lies inside Banner.

This is not a sequel. It is a reboot of a franchise. What “Batman Begins” did for Batman, this is supposed to do for The Hulk. At least for me, it has worked.

They took what was an easily forgettable movie and made it better. I was ready to write this off as another crappy comic book movie and was not planning on seeing it save one reason; Edward Norton.

I will admit it, I have a man crush on Norton. He is an amazing actor and makes everything he is in better just because he is in it. Movies like “Fight Club,” “American History X,” “The 25th Hour” just to name a few were all the better because of him. He plays a much better Bruce Banner than Eric Bana did in the 2003 version. Norton’s Banner knows that for the safety of all, he must stay hidden. He does not want to risk hurting people when he loses control. He chooses a life of solitude. While in Brazil he works at a bottling plant and sees a female coworker being harassed by a group of men. He walks away, knowing that if he gets involved there may be a chance of The Hulk making an unwelcome appearance. He rethinks it and helps her. He is on the verge of becoming the Hulk when the foreman intervenes.

Where the movie really separates itself from the 2003 version is in the look. Just look at how the new Hulk looks compared to the older one. This Hulk looks less like a cartoon and more realistic.

They even have some fun at the expense of some of the classic Hulk iconography. Banner is show a pair of purple pants by his former girlfriend Elizabeth Ross (Liv Tyler) and he says there is no way he is going to wear them. Even the classic “you won’t like me when I’m angry” gets a slight twist. When is confronts the group of men harassing the woman he tries to say it in Spanish, but instead says, “you won’t like me when I’m hungry.” Leaving the men very confused.

Is this an amazing comic book movie like “Iron Man?”
No.
Is it better than the 2003 version?
By leaps and bounds.
As with “Iron Man,” there is a scene that will eventually lead to a sequel, or in this case The Avengers movie. At the very end Tony “Iron Man” Stark shows up to talk about a team that is being put together.

8 out of 10
Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action violence, some frightening sci-fi images, and brief suggestive content
114 min

In the past few years there has been a revival of the movie heroes of old. Rocky Balbola, John Rambo, John McClane have all graced the silver screen ten or more years since the last movie. None excited me more than the return of Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones Jr. this past May.

The movie opens with Indiana (Harrison Ford) being forced to help the Soviets and Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) find the crystal skull within Area 51. When he escapes he thinks his troubles are over, but when Mutt (Shia LaBeouf), tells him that his mom has been captured and that he has a coded message from an old friend Professor Harold Oxley (John Hurt), he finds himself once again fighting to keep an ancient artifact safe from evil.

Indy decides to help by finding the crystal skull before the Soviets. The Soviets get wind of this and catch up with Indy and force him to take them to the ancient Myan city where the skull’s power can be unleashed. They use Mutt’s mom, and Indiana’s old flame Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allan) to get him to cooperate.

We all know Harrison Ford can act and he does a great job with the action even at the ripe old age of 65. Shia Labeouf adds very little to the series and comes off as a guy who is trying to be like Marlon Brando from “The Wild One” Look at any pictures of his character and you will know what I mean. It is awesome to see Karen Allen reprise her role as Marion. The action is worthy of the Indy name.

Now that I got all that out of the way, I need to address what I know will be issues with fans of the originals.

Many fans are going to be very very angry at this movie. Many will see it as a horrible addition to the Indiana Jones franchise. There is more computer animation than in the others, “the MacGuffin” (the item the movie revolves around. The Ark of the Covenent, The Holy Grail for example) is not a very good one for this type of movie. The end of the movie will and has sent fans into fits of rage.

Here is what you have to realize; it is only a movie.

If you go into the theater expecting it to be the best of the series, you will be disappointed. It is the weakest of the series, but it was still very enjoyable. All the things that made the originals great; action, mystery, humor, drama and Indiana Jones over coming the odds are still there, but they do not work to the same effect as the once did.

It may not be the best resurgence of an old hero, it may annoy many of the fans, but it is still a great popcorn flick and is worth the trip to the theater. While it was nice to see Indy back on the big screen, more could have been done to make the story stronger and the action less reliant on the computer.

7 out of 10
Rated PG-13 for adventure violence and scary images.
122 min

A few years ago, on a whim, I went to see “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.” I had no real intention of seeing it in the theaters, but a friend wanted to see it, so that is what I did. I was surprised at how much I liked it.

The sequel, “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” was released earlier this month and it was just as good, if not better, than the first.

It has been one year since the Pevensie children, Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley), visited the magical land of Narnia. On their way home from school one day, they are called back to once again help bring peace to Narnia.

It is not the land they left, Narnia is 1300 years older and is in chaos. The Telmarines have taken over and have pushed all non-human residents of Narnia into the forest. King Miraz (Sergio Castellitto) wants his newborn son to have the power so he sets out to kill his nephew Prince Caspian (Ben Barns). While on the run from his villainous uncle, Caspian blows a horn given to him by his teacher and is summons the Pevensie children back to Narnia.

I never read the second book, so I cannot tell you how close this stuck to the source material, but it was a great, interesting, intriguing story either way.

As much as I am trying to get back in to the groove of writing reviews, it is hard to do when the part of the movie I want to talk about is basically a rehash of what I just wrote in the last review. The visuals were stunning in this movie and they had the story to back it up.

The visual elements are some of the best I have seen, and I do not just mean all the things done with computers. The makeup used for the characters is another stunning element. The world of Narnia is inhabited with all sorts of creatures and the people from WETA Workshop, made famous when they did all the costumes and makeup for the Lord of the Rings movies, did an amazing job. Each creature, no matter how minor, has a different look from others of its kind.

Despite the PG rating, this is not a PG movie. There are three huge fight scenes and, were the rating any higher, they would have been bloody battles. Some of the images could easily scare children. The movie is much darker than the original.

The movie is just as good in every aspect as the first. It may be darker, but that should not discourage you from bringing children to see it. It is a movie that all ages will enjoy. Kids will love the creatures, adults will like the story as well as the visual elements.

8 out of 10
Rated PG for epic battle action and violence
144 min

What does it take to get me to go see a movie when I do not have to? The truth is, not much. If I am even remotely interested in a movie, I will go see it. That is how it was with “Speed Racer” I wanted to see it, but could have easily waited for it to come out on DVD. The mere fact that it looked visually stunning was the sole reason I went to see it in the theater.

Speed (Emile Hirsch) was born to race. His family owns their own racing company and he has wanted to race since he was a young boy. He is one of the best in the world and has offers from many of the biggest racing companies to come race for them. Instead he stays with his parents Mom (Susan Sarandon) and Pops (John Goodman) at their small, independent race care building company.

When he refuses a huge offer from E.P Arnold Royalton (Rodger Allam) of Royalton Industries, Royalton tells Speed that he will never finish another race if he walks away from the offer. With the Racer family facing lawsuit after lawsuit, Speed decides to enter The Crucible, the same race that took the life of his brother Rex, and help his family get out for trouble. With the help of the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox) he will stop at nothing to bring Royalton to justice.

Visually it was stunning. The colors were vibrant, the computer animation was slick and advanced. It was simply the best part of the movie.

From a story stand point, however, it lacked substance. How things unfolded was shaky at best, even for a movie. The odds were so stacked against Speed that you knew it was going to turn out for the better in the end. Yes, Speed is the underdog and in a movie the underdog usually wins, but this was just way too much. Every modification made to the car ended up saving Speeds life and helped him win.

I cannot say I expected a strong story from the Larry and Andy Wachowski, the directors of “The Matrix” Trilogy. The two sequels to “The Matrix” were all flash, no story. The same can be said of “Speed Racer”
Unless you really are in to the visual elements, this is not a must see. Just wait for the DVD, which based on the poor box office performance, will be sooner rather than later.

7 out of 10
Rated PG for sequences of action, some violence and language
135 min

Summer starts in mid-June right? Not if you are the movie industry. The first weekend in May is when the summer movie season starts. For the past few years this weekend has been huge. Last summer the third “Spider Man” movie had the biggest opening in the history of the industry.

This year’s summer opener was the eagerly anticipated “Iron Man”

Billionaire Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has made his money by manufacturing weapons for the army. One day while in Afghanistan showing off his newest missile, the convoy he is with is attacked and Stark is captured. He is told that he must build a missile for the terrorists or he will be killed. Instead he builds an iron suit that he uses to escape from the compound and eventually is rescued and brought back to the States.


He has a change of heart and no longer wants to make weapons and instead wants to use his company’s wealth to do good. Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) tells him because of this the board of directors has decided to temporarily remove him from the company. Stark uses his free time to develop another suite of iron and uses it to fight off those who are using his weapons for evil.


If there has been a more perfect casting than Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark then I have not heard about it. He embodies the character better than anyone else could. Downey Jr. has the same reputation as Stark. He had a partying reputation early in his career and was disliked for it. Stark is a jackass. He makes weapons and has made millions off of war. He has no qualms about what he does until he sees that his products are being used to kill innocent people. He is a jerk who redeems himself and become a hero.

This is one of the best comic book movies ever made. The action sequences and character development worked to make the movie work as well as it does. Director Jon Favreau, despite never having directed a movie of this scale, did a fantastic job finding the balance of awesome action sequences and great character development. The movie opens with Stark getting captured and then moves to before he went to Afghanistan. The entire movie is paced just like this and it works really well to keep the viewer involved and interested.

This is not going to make “Spider-Man” money. Iron Man is a peripheral comic book character. He is not the big name and does not have the audience that Batman or Superman has. It is still a great movie that is well worth the trip to the theater.

Stay after the credits to see “Iron Man 2” get set up for its release in 2010.

9 out of 10
Rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and brief suggestive content.
126 min