"batman: year one"

this DC animated original was based on the graphic novels by frank miller and david mazzucchelli.  the comics take place in the first year that bruce wayne began stalking the streets of gotham.  it also happens to be the same year that a down-trodden police lieutenant named james gordon transferred to gotham city.

batman is seeking revenge against the criminal element that took his mother and father 18 years ago.  gordon is just trying to survive in one of the most corrupt police departments in the world.  much like the graphic novel the movie tends to focus more on gordon's story.  we see the batman through his eyes and how batman's emergence effects the city and the GCPD.

we all know batman's story from countless retellings of his origin story over the years.  both tim burton's "batman" and chris nolan's "batman begins" deal heavily with this topic but (even though there is much more of gordon in nolan's batman films) we've never really seen gordon's back story.

in "batman: year one" we learn that gordon ratted out a fellow officer and either moved on his own or was transferred to gotham against his will.  gordon learns almost immediately that the GCPD is a corrupt organization from the top to the bottom.  everyone is either in the pocket of the mob or working hand in hand with drug dealers.  gordon is a good cop that detests the corruption and wants nothing to do with it.  this gets him into a lot of trouble with his fellow officers but he is a hit with the media and labeled as a "hero cop".  this protects him for a bit but not for long.  his fellow cops turn on him and gordon takes matters into his own hands to protect himself and his growing family.  it doesn't help that there's a developing love interest with a detective sarah essen that could threaten his marriage as well.

bryan cranston ("malcolm in the middle", "breaking bad") voices james gordon

ben mckenzie ("the OC", "southLAnd") portrays batman/bruce wayne

as far as the movie itself goes:  the cast is good with cranston and mckenzie doing very good jobs.  eliza dushku ("dollhouse", "buffy the vampire slayer") voices selina kyle/catwoman and katee sackhoff ("battlestar: galactica") is sarah essen.  they all do a pretty good job here.  


the animation is fluid and looks great.  they try to follow mazzucchelli's lead and they do it well.  


overall, it's a pretty good flick.  the story is good and i would love to see a follow-up version of "the man who laughs" that brings us the joker which is hinted at at the end of "year one".


bottomline:
3.5 outta 5

"justice league: the new frontier"

"justice league: the new frontier" is based on a mini-series created by darwyn cooke.  the story takes place during the cold war and super heroes are being hunted by the government and are either on the run or retired.   there are a few that remain and try and work with the government but, they are sometimes exploited.

the movie focuses mainly on hal jordan, a former fighter pilot during the korean war who was shot down just as the war ended by korean soldiers who did not heed or did not know that the war was over. 

david boreanaz is green lantern!!

  
jordan lands only to be confronted by a hostile enemy that he has to kill to survive.  after serving and spending some time in a hospital he needs a job.  he gets work at ferris aircraft and eventually learns that he's training for a secret mission to mars.  the reason: a martian has transported to earth and is living amonst us as we speak.  the government can't locate him and want to go to the planet to find out if the martians are hostile or friendly.

the martian in question is j'onn j'onzz, also known as the martian manhunter.  MM is accidently teleported to earth by a scientist hoping only to communicate with mars.  stranded here, MM tries to fit in.  he can alter his appearance and begins work as a police detective.  MM finds out about the mars mission and hopes that that is his way home.  but as he tries to sneak onto the ship he is discovered and captured.

miguel ferrer voices the martian mahunter

the mission is a failure and hal jordan is once again grounded and lost.  space was his redemption.  but just as he despairs he is transported unwillingly to the location of a fallen member of a galactic police force known as the green lantern corps.  he is given a ring with unlimited power and a second chance.


the heroes of earth have to come together to defeat a being known as the centre.  the centre is a massive island-like being that spews dinosaur-like creatures and is determined to destroy mankind.  with the help of the new heroes in green lantern, the flash, and martian manhunter the existing heroes of batman, superman and wonder woman work to save the world.

this animated movie is one of my favourites in the DC animated original movies.  it may not follow the comic (also, a fave) exactly but it's a perfect adaptation.  the art style is very much like that of creator, darwyn cooke.  the script is smart and concise and the voice talent is very well chosen and directed.


david boreanaz ("angel", "bones") is hal jordan, NPH is the flash, lucy lawless is wonder woman, kyle maclachlan is superman and jeremy sisto is batman.


overall, the movie is just incredibly done.  the timeline of the 50's and 60's of JFK's "new frontier" it takes place in really fits with the emergence of a new frontier of heroes.
the animation is kind of a throwback to the kirby era and works perfect with the time frame.


bottomline:
4 outta 5.

"green lantern"

my first introduction to green lantern was in my childhood.  there was a little show called "super friends".  i already knew superman, batman, wonder woman and i even knew who aquaman was.  but, i had no idea who this green guy was.  he had a ring that could do stuff...that's kinda cool!

 over the years i heard things about green lantern, i even had a comic book of the green lantern corps at one time but i just couldn't get into him.  he was kinda neat, but he just wasn't the flash, ya know?  then, i heard that he turned evil and then died.  that was crazy!  really?  ok.  

i didn't really appreciate green lantern (or especially hal jordan because there have been many green lanterns: john stewart, kyle raynor, guy gardner and the original alan scott) until i began playing heroclix.  i got my hands on hal jordan and fell in love with the green basterd.  after that i started reading up on him and then DC decided to bring him back from the dead.  i bought the comics and read them up!!

now, that brings us to the movie.  the comic book movie boom was taking off, especially for DC after "batman begins".  DC and warner bros. announced they were gonna make a GL flick and i got a little excited.  but not too excited 'cos they hadn't even cast it yet.

i have to say i had mixed feelings about ryan reynolds being cast.  i personally really wanted the part to go to nathan fillion.  but i understand that he was busy with his hit TV show "castle"!!

nathan fillion as capt malcolm reynolds in "firefly"

fillion and stana katic on ABC's "castle"

the redeeming factor for DC/WB is that they cast nathan as GL in the animated flicks!!  way to go!!

ok...moving on...  

so, ryan reynolds is hal jordan and the movie gets made and the first thing that everybody's up in arms about is that the costume he wears is going to be CGI.  why is that a problem??  have you seen the spandex crap he wore in the crappy TV show??

see??  crap!!

anyway, reynolds gets cast and i'm OK with it.  yes, he has a tendency to "ryan-reynolds" it up a bit, but that's why you hire him, right?  and he's a solid actor, he can pull off a part if he wants.  besides, hal jordan was kind of a sarcastic, sly guy in the beginning before he got the ring.  he was a test pilot for christ's sake.  he has to have an attitude!!

i keep getting sidetracked here.  let's talk about the movie.  the CGI suit works for me.  the ring powers the suit so the suit is pure energy.  it makes perfect sense that they suit would be energy and not some kinda...suit.  and i think it looks pretty good.  also, the CGI backgrounds and the planet OA and the effects are pretty incredible.  they put a lot of time and effort and money into those.  the planet is awesome and i wish i would have seen it on the big screen.

that being said, i wish they would have put more money into the leading lady.  blake lively is a waste.  she can't stand toe to toe with reynolds and it seems reynolds is acting down to her.  they needed someone with a little more spirit.  i totally would have cast jen garner, but i love her...so...

the basic plot of the movie is this:  there a galactic police force patrolling the universe.  the universe is broken up into sectors and there is one member of each alien race chosen to police that sector.  the lanterns use a power ring that channels the power of will into constructs of pure energy limited only by what the ring-bearer can imagine.  the beings that started all this are a race known only as the guardians.  the are older than dirt and figured out how to channel the energy of emotions a long time ago. one of the emotions they tried to control was fear and that went all wonky.  fear overtook one of the guardians and he became parallax becoming so powerful the lanterns couldn't stop him save one: abin sur (played by temuera morrison). 

temuera morrison as abin sur and jango fett

he imprisoned parallax in a distant galaxy.  parallax, of course, escaped and began seeking revenge upon the lanterns.  abin sur was killed in the fight but before he died his ring chose his replacement, hal jordan.  the ring chooses those of the strongest will power and hal jordan is the first human to ever be chosen for the race is far too young according to the other aliens.  

the rest of the cast is actually pretty impressive: tim robbins, peter sarsgaard, mark strong and the voices of mike clark duncan and geoffrey rush.  let's start with peter sargaard shall we.  he plays hector hammond, one of GL's big baddies.  i don't remember why, but in the comics his head gets really big.  like literally. 

his character here is another one of those "my dad never really paid any attention to me so i'm going to stumble upon some major power and become an asshole villain...o, and i totally have a crush on the leading lady and if i can't have her no one can!!" guys.  it's been done so many times that it's hard to even blink an eye at the "evil" choices he makes.  and everything he does is just your typical bad guy stuff.  the character and the actor bring nothing new to this movie.  the one thing that i did kinda like was there was a direct parallel between what was happening to him and what was happening to jordan.  hector's father is played by tim robbins and he's basically just your average senator.  nothing special there.

mark strong takes another turn at a villain.  he plays sinestro, GL's really big bad.  in this story he hasn't turned to the other side, yet.  here he's one of the greatest lanterns around and kind of a leader taking orders from the guardians (the oldest being in the universe that created the GL corp).  strong does a good job here and the make-up does make him look a lot like sinestro.

of course, we don't get to see strong really chew up the scenery yet 'cos he's still a good guy in this movie.  we'll have to wait for the much anticipated sequel.

rounding out the cast is gefforey rush voicing tomar-re and MC duncan voicing kilowog.  these are two alien GL's that help train hal in using the ring.  their parts are really way too small in this film.  

kilowog and tomar-re

the movie tried to cram too much stuff into the first movie.  i think if they went with a basic origin theme, had a training montage when he first gets the ring, have hammond be THE main and only villain with just a hint at the bigger bad in parallax (and eventually, sinestro), stick with the fact that hal jordan is struggling with fear and courage and evetually overcomes it to become the greatest GL ever...then, this would have been a great movie.  but, instead it just felt crammed full of stuff, a little jumpy from scene to scene and the love story was weak.

the director, martin campbell, is a good director and has done some pretty damn good flicks, mostly bond films ("goldeneye", casino royale", "edge of darkness" [both the mini-series and the mel gibson versions]).  as good as he is he doesn't seem to really have a singular vision.  he works to serve the film, which is great, but for a sci-fi/action/comic flick you need a visually stunning director.  it also has the distinction of having four screenwriters.  for me that's usually not a good sign.  it's better to have a singular voice in my opinion.  that is unless it's a writing team, otherwise it's "too many cooks in the kitchen".

finally...overall, i think the flick had a few things that worked for me.  the CGI was brilliant, reynolds and strong do a good job and it could only be improved upon with a sequel that works.

bottomline:

2.5 outta 5.

"dylan dog: dead of night"

so, this is a movie based on one of the most popular comics in the world.  and when i say that, i mean mostly in europe (and mostly in italy) 'cos i have never heard of it...ever.  however; because of this movie i really wanna check out the series 'cos it seems kinda cool.  it reminds me a lot of steve niles' "criminal macabre" detective comics featuring cal mcdonald.

the cover to the american re-release for the movie

.

the original dylan dog (yes, that is groucho behind him...but not the real groucho...)

cal mcdonold in "criminal macabre"

basically, dylan dog is a private investigator in NOLA working chump cases like cheating husbands and what-not.  but, apparently he used to be the go-to investigator for the living dead and werewolves.  see, the undead select one human they can trust to "police" and investigate the ones of their kind that get out of hand.  dylan betrayed that trust one day when he killed the elder vampires for revenge against his murdered fiancé.  turns out, his hand was forced by a vampire, vargas, a wanna-be crime lord who used dylan to get rid of his competition.
 
the cast for the film includes brandon routh (superman in "superman returns") and sam huntington (jimmy olsen from "superman returns"), taye diggs as the vampire, vargas; kurt angle (the wrestler from the WWE and TNA), and peter stormare (the devil from "constantine") and every one of them does a pretty good job with their characters.  peter stormare is a little unsettiling as the head of the werewolf clan, gabriel, (but what do you expect from him otherwise, right)? sam huntington is pretty damn funny as dylan's sidekick, a recently-turned-zombie named marcus.  routh and huntington are great together and i've liked both of them for a few years now.  i thought routh was perfect as clark kent/superman and i'm sorry he's not going to be in the new film.  it's quite the bummer for me.  and the times i've seen huntington in whatever TV or film role he's been in, i've enjoyed it.
  

brandon routh and sam huntington...clark and jimmy together again!!

since i haven't read the comic, i really can't speak about the difference between that and the film.  what i do know is that the comic is based in london, not new orleans and that dylan's partner is guy who dresses and acts like groucho marx more than likely because he is insane.

dylan dog was actually shot in new orleans and one of the exteriors used was a building (le pavillon hotel) that lauren and i went to a few years ago for a wedding reception.  it helped set the mood and would have been disastrous had they tried to make another city "look" like NOLA.

le pavillon hotel, new orleans (used as corpus, vampire night club)

here's me and the girl outside le pavillon.  althought you can't really see it.

the only thing that it didn't help was keeping the film from feeling disjaunted and a little choppy.  there's a voice-over like in the old film noir detective movies that's supposed to help explain things but doesn't really.  most of the exposition is between dylan's new client, elizabeth, and marcus, his zombie sidekick.  as fun as it is to have the noir-like voice-over it just doesn't serve any other purpose than a throwback to that style.  it also feels as thought they wanted the story to flow through without much exposition but the studio (or the studio) demanded some more explanation.  and there is a lot going on.  you have to keep track with who the werewolves are, who the vampires are, who the zombies are and each of their agendas.  there are characters, such as wolfgang played by kurt angle, who are not even introduced by name so when you hear him referenced a couple of times you have no idea if dylan's talking about a guy or an actual gang of wolves!  then, of course, there's the artifact that everyone's after that causes the destruction of the world and everyone pronounces it different so you have to pay attention...anyway...


i said before that the film feels "choppy".  the feeling that i got was that there may have been much footage shot but a lot of it was cut to keep the story more cohesive or for time.  i haven't taken a look at the special features on the DVD to see how many deleted scenes there are, yet.  i'll have to research this aspect of the flick and get back to you.  the director, kevin munroe, only has one other movie under his belt and that would be the animated turtles movie, "TMNT" from 2007.  i don't remember much about that movie...i think i saw it...anyway, going from animated flicks to live action adaptations of italian comic books seems like quite a leap to me.  this could explain some of the "choppiness".  maybe munroe was just in over his head a little.  then there are the screenwriters both of which have credits for "sahara", "a sound of thunder" and "conan the barbarian" (the remake or reboot or whatever) none of which rank very highly.  what also worries me is that they are credited for the upcoming doctor strange movie.  i hope they learn to adapt better.


regardless of inexperience or studio intervention or what-have-you, the movie just doesn't quite hit the mark.  it's quirky, but too safe to be really off beat.  it's funny, but not enough to be a comedy.  it's dark, but not dark enough.  the movie wanted to be a quirky cult movie based on a quirky cult comic but they played it too safe and tried to appeal to the masses instead of the dark-minded horror/comedy fans that would have embraced it otherwise.


overall, i have to say that i liked the movie in spite of itself.  brandon routh is a good guy and i hope that he finds that franchise that was stolen from him with superman but this movie ain't it.  the movie was good enough to rent, but i probably won't spend my hard earned moola on a DVD unless there's some sort of mega director's cut.


bottomline:
2.5 outta 5