kierz-2 Reviews

Spider-Man 3 (2007)

Better than the second one.

[8/10 · 10 May 2007]

I have to say I am a bit biased. I like the Spider-Man franchise. So it just being a Spider-Man movie it automatically gets a good vote from me (unless it somehow got dropped into the hands of that guy who ruined Daredevil -- eesh). That said as far as sequels go, this one captured the camp and fun of the original Spider-Man TV series as well as being up to date, exciting and having a popcorn friendly plot. I had the Spider-Man comics where he got and lost the black costume and other than the cheesy cream filled donut of an asteroid bit (seen Slither anyone?) it followed canon pretty well. What people obviously seem to be wanting is a gripping epic Spidey/Venom saga a la Todd McFarlane era but this is clearly drawing on the less slick, more goofy, pre-McFarlane era books. Admittedly the Sandman plot wasn't as emotionally deep at Dr. Octopus, and I agree with my good pal that the Harry plot was about the best it had going and losing one subplot to give it more room would have been a bit better. In a structural sense the movie needed the double jeopardy of the two villains to bring the whole thing around. Even though the plot was a bit crowded it was still easier to follow than the Pirates sequel. So definitely a good installment of the franchise, sorry to hear it will likely be the last Maguire/Raimi install (another reason it was so jam packed) but definitely a far cry better than almost all of the crap out there these days. And those saying it is the worst of the series, I dare them to try to remember the 'good points' of the second one. Not many. This one had far more 'ooooh' moments.

Blades of Glory (2007)

How can something so wrong be so right?

[7/10 · 31 March 2007]

Will Ferrell and Jon Heder in another chocolate and peanut-butter experiment from the comedy studios, end up being more like a chicken sushi roll, too weird to explain, and too tasty to not enjoy. Blades of Glory is to figure skating what Baseketball was to MLB, ridiculously and barely related and yet surprisingly fun. The doubling, L-Cam and wirework effects were pretty good as they were far off enough from reality already to give themselves enough license to do whatever they wanted. Jon Heder shows some range from his "Aww, shucks," persona of Benchwarmers and School for Scoundrels, and Will Farrell is definitely reaching somewhere between Ron Burgundy and Ricky Bobby for his Chazz, both almost original but not quite. While these characters work well off each other it is the very wrongness, the taboo breaking of having two men going crotch to face and trying to act like it isn't happening that makes this far more amusing retrospectively, than the sheer shock value of the infamous scene in Borat. Admittedly the latter had me almost hurt myself laughing at the time, every time I think of it since I want to press Delete in my brain. While this movie had me shaking my head, at least in this case I could look my wife in the eye and smile and shrug and be pleased to see her laughing rather than worry if I was going to get in trouble for bringing her (Like I write these things!). Considering the subject matter of men's pairs figure skating, sex addiction, incest and stalking are all par for the course for this film, it was surprisingly appropriate and easy to stomach, certainly a feat as memorable as the Iron Lotus.

Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj (2006)

Raises the average for National Lampoon.

[6/10 · 25 March 2007]

Considering its pedigree the most remarkable thing about this, even with its 'unrated' version is how tasteful it is. One poster mentioned how it compared with the Police Academy movies and in that comparison the Police Academy movies were actually more sexist and racist. Women were objectified in the Police Academy movies far more rather than being participants in their own sexuality and the tokenism of the black characters in the Police Academy movies was blatant while this movie does a much better job of exposing the classist and racist attitudes of higher institutions. A little more work in the script department and another comic talent or two would have helped but considering the average of the recent National Lampoon movies this one raises, not lowers the average.

Eragon (2006)

A fun night out

[7/10 · 24 December 2006]

Since we missed catching the show-time for Casino Royale at the local theatre and was then left with waiting an hour for Pursuit of Happiness or going into Mel Gibson's gore-fest Apocalypto with my mom, we opted for Eragon. Other than thinking that the screenwriter borrowed every major plot point from Star Wars I thought the cinematography and CG were good. Jeremy Irons was good and John Malkovich was creepy despite the mailed in performance as Galbatorix. The major battle scene was a bit inconsistent, but the big dragon fight was cool.

My wife and I had a good time. Gave her good feelings and a nice night out. I'll probably check out the book now.

Stick It (2006)

Sticks it to the mat and "sticks it" to the man.

[7/10 · 7 December 2006]

Jessica Bendinger's 'straighten out and fly right' teen sport flick 'Stick It' turns out a far more intelligent, empowering and surprisingly indicting look at teen gymnastics than one would think from the cover. What starts off as a fairly formulaic 'teen does wrong and must redeem by succeeding with the help of a father figure coach who learns a life lesson in return' plot, reverses and twists like a capable uneven bars champ, the sting, not on society or parents but on the institution it glorifies: competitive gymnastics. With some very strong knowledge of her subject, and the same clever banter that made her 'Bring it On' script so successful, Bendinger lets her cinematographer and editor collaborate to make art out of what is already a magnificent looking sport. Instead of the compete, challenge, victory formula shooting for the predictable in-house competition, they instead choose to create an incredible montage of form and colour that tears a page out from Busby Berkeley's dance patterns of the '30s. In addition, seamless body-doubling and some fantastic real life gymnasts rounding out the cast, make this an easy picture to buy into and root with, even when the 'damn the institution, I'm a success because I know I am' message gets a little heavy. As a non-target audience member(30's male as opposed to teen female) expecting nothing more than a 'Bring it On' rehash, I was surprised to find a smarter than average film with solid performances; likable, developed characters; awesome gymnastics; and a script that borrowed as much from 'The Perfect Score' as it did from the writer/director's previous work.