Secrets and Lies

Last night was The Hulk. OK, where to start here.

The film was good, a notch above Daredevil. Well, maybe the same level. Y'see, Ang Lee went for this directorial style where the screen is often cut into boxes, showing different shots at the same time. And a lot of kinetic movement, a lot of the time. I think he wanted a comic book panel look and feel. Which didn't work at all. It really obscured some otherwise wonderful shots and images, and made some of the action scenes downright confusing.

And there's a lot of non-action scenes in this movie. It's not the psychological drama the BBC reviewer said, but it was somewhere between that and an action movie. Not easy to pigeon-hole, either way. (Well, other than saying "the start was slow.")

The story was decent. The casting for some of the roles (Sam Elliot as General Ross, and Nick Nolte as Bruce's father, aptly named David) was dead on. It was good to see Jennifer Connoly get some more use out of her character from A Beautiful Mind as well.

Incidentally, if my beard experiment continues, I'm going for this David Banner/Lionel Luthor look, FYI.

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OK, before The Hulk last night, we got us some trailers.

First was a teaser trailer for The Punisher. There was a big and unsubtle emphasis on the costume, which considering their previous effort is a good start. The problem here will be that the story of the Punisher is really, really overdone in movies. I mean, everyone has seen it. They need to not only distinguish the movie, but also tie it into the comics, and that's gonna be a uphill battle. A lot of it will be resting on the shoulders of the star, Thomas Jane. Despite its simplicity, it's a tough character to make convincing *and* sympathetic. To quote Garth Ennis, the Punisher is "a cold-blooded son-of-a-bitch, who kills criminals because he hates the fact that they're alive." So sure, we can cheer him, but the director will need to do more than that. Anyways, I'm rambling like a comic book geek or something.

Next up, a new live-action Peter Pan. One word: c.r.e.e.p.y. I mean, we're talking the Bugsy Malone musical starring all the preteen kids level of creepy. The cartoon version worked, but when you see actual preteens flying around, it's a little funky. Maybe it's just me. I'm not sure if Jason Isaacs will get me in the door here.

Now, if I was to do the Peter Pan story, I'd make it really dark, about how all these kids are trapped, never able to grow up but not understanding that is how things should work. And Hook, trapped there with them, more of a symbol than a person. Or something along those lines, emphasizing the completely static world they've created around themselves, how terrible it is and how they really, really can't see it. But yeah, rambling again.

Speaking of live-action, we also got a trailer for The Cat in the Hat. Now mind you, I specifically avoided seeing The Grinch because it looked awful. I think this trailer looked worse. Can Mike Myers and a more-or-less untested director make this adequate? Signs point to no.

Happy birthday, Joss Whedon!

Also, tenth anniversary of the Lorena and John Bobbitt incident.