Coming Soon...

So a while ago I did a James Bond Week, and before that I did a James Bond Week, and last Winter I did my Christmarathon, where I reviewed a different Christmas movie during every day of December leading up to Christmas. Well, next week is my next big event here at the Blessed Are the Geeks Blog, and I'm pretty excited about it even if nobody else will be.

I'm not going to reveal what my theme is for next week, but I will give a clue that a new film is coming out next week that's giving me an excuse to talk about one of my all time favorite film franchises. If all goes well, I'm going to be posting a different video review every day next week. Why am I doing this? Why not? Why am I telling you about this now even though I'm not saying much of anything at all? Well, I figured that if I posted about it beforehand, I'd be committed, so I won't be able to quit when the work gets too hard and the videos start to annoy me.

Stay tuned...

Stanley Kubrick: Retrospective and Happy Birthday!

Today would be the 83rd birthday of the reclusive director Stanely Kubrick, had he not passed away twelve years ago. Stanley Kubrick was a fantastically talented and influential director, although one who I'll admit I liked a lot more when I was a younger man, and find somewhat cold and unengaging when viewed from an adult perspective. However, the man was a genius and I do love or at least respect many of his films, so I figured I would take the opportunity of the man's birthday to do a complete retrospective of his film career.

Let's get right to it... in chronological order:

Fear and Desire (1953) / Killer's Kiss (1955)
Never saw either of these, but I don't feel too bad about it because chances are good neither have you. Anybody who's seen these feel like chiming in?

The Killing (1956)
This one actually had a real theatrical release and is easy to find on DVD, so I've seen it, although it's still a weak effort from a director who went on to bigger and better things. This is a mostly entertaining heist film from a visually talented director with a lot of ideas, but as a story it just never comes together in a satisfying way. Also, it's boring. It's maybe worth checking out if you are a fan of the man's work, or if you just want to see a good performance from the always good Sterling Hayden. But, really, if those two things are want you want, just see Dr. Strangelove instead, but we'll get to that one soon enough.

Rango

I liked this one.

I went into this one with very low (or no?) expectations, since I didn't know much about it and had never even seen a trailer for it. All I knew is that it was a Western-themed animated featuring starring Johnny Depp as the voice of a lizard. I also knew that it was a decent-sized hit and the darling of the critics. Even still, I think I avoided seeing it because the poster is just off-putting and because I generally don't usually enjoy most CG animated features and nothing about this one made me take a second look. But I'm glad I finally rented it, because it was one of the most clever, charming, and downright entertaining films I've seen in a long time. Rango is maybe the best CG animated feature I've ever seen that doesn't have the words "Toy Story" in the title, and that's about as high praise as I can pay.

Also, it's a Western, which I love... and a pretty darn good one at that. The story is somewhat cliche and nothing we haven't seen before (the nameless drifter arrives and becomes the town hero, proving his honor and courage not only to those around him, but to himself as well. That old chestnut.), but we've certainly never seen it before as a CG animated film, and we've rarely seen it done so well in any style. This was just a straight up fun Western about a mysterious man with no name... who just actually happens to be a Lizard. Johnny Depp seemed like an odd choice for voice work, but he gave a surprisingly great performance as the titular character who goes from being a lonely lizard alone in his terrarium to the hero who saves the town at the end of the film (Oops! Spoiler!). The rest of the cast is just as great, featuring lots of great character actors as the various animals and beasts that popular this fantastical Western setting. I especially like Bill Nighy as the villainous rattlesnake who has a gun instead of a rattle at the end of his body.

And about the animation, all I can say is that this is the best computer generated graphics I've ever seen, and I mean that completely. The level of detail borders on being photo-realism, especially in the backgrounds and overall look of the town and the desert. If you had told me director Gore Verbinski had just gone out and filmed actually talking animals, I may have believed you, since that's how astoundingly polished this film was. It's worth noting that this was the first CG film animated by ILM, and they totally knocked it out of the park and just forced Pixar to run and play catch up.

So... check it out. This is a great film that's worth seeing if you like Westerns or just CG animated films in general. It's funny, moving, exciting, and absolutely gorgeous. Don't be fooled into thinking it's a kid's movie since all of the characters are talking animals, however, since it's quite violent, dark, and somewhat existential in places, although I definitely think kids will enjoy it along with adults, although they may have some questions about certain things that take place.

Two thumbs up.

Packing For Mars

This was a fun book, written for all of the people who want to know what life in space is really like. I've read lots of books on NASA, the space race, and astronauts, but this is the only one that really satisfied my immature curiousity about how astronauts poop, whether or not sex is possible in a zero gravity environment, and what really happens to a person's body after three weeks without showering. Each of these topics actually has its own chapter in this book, along with every other facet of what happens to a typical human being living in space. Like I said, it's a fun book.

Mary Roach is a wonderful, clever, witty writer who thankfully uses her admittedly immature sense of curiousity to ask seemingly beyond reproach people like Jim Lovell and other astronauts and high-ranking NASA officials what happens when somebody farts in space. I won't spoil the answer to that question, but I will say that I was happy to learn the experiment was conducted by a team of scientists in a parabolic jet that simulated a zero gravity environment. Lovell seemed like a good sport, but maybe that's because Mary Roach seems like such a witty, charming lady. And, really, if you're the scientist who designed the first working toilet in a space station, you're going to love to finally talk about it with anybody, let alone a best selling author.

If anything, Roach might actually be a little too charming, since she tends to place herself into the book a little too often, but that was a style choice intended to give the reader a proxy to guide us on this great adventure, but it did some across as a little cloying and cutesy in places, though they were thankfully rare. Also, while her research and interviewing seemed incredibly detailed and meticulous, a few mistakes did pop up here and there. For example, at one point she references the scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey where actor Keir Dullea jogs around the circumference of the space ship's centrifuge, but we all know that was actually the character played by Gary Lockwood. This wasn't an error so egregious it made me want to throw the book away in disgust, but it was enough to make me wonder if there were any other mistakes I wasn't picking up on.

But whatever... this is a hilarious, thought provoking, brilliant book that has a unique look at the wonders of space travel. Reading this book over the past week or so was actually bittersweet since the final Shuttle mission just came to a close a couple days ago, so no more manned missions are planned within the next few decades, if at all. There are a lot of brilliant men and women who have worked tirelessly over the years, and much of their work is currently being scrapped because the space program is no longer politically viable. The conclusion of this book is actually a brilliantly written argument in favor of keeping the space program going, and it should be read by Obama and every other politician in Washington. But, really, it should be read by anybody who's the least bit interested in space travel, or just curious about what happens to poop after an astronaut takes a number 2 in space.

Check it out.

The Crypt Jam (Video)

Just for fun, here's the video for The Crypt Keeper's hip hop single. What's that? You didn't know the Crypt Keeper had a rap video? Well, you're in for a treat. I'm posting this just because it never stops making me laugh.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Boy do I hate that costume, but man did I love this movie.

The summer of 2011 might go down in film history as the summer of the comic book movie, with Captain America maybe being the best of a pretty stellar lot. Out of the plethora of comic book movies that hit theaters this summer (with maybe more to come? I can't remember), I think I was most excited to see this one, because I'm a huge fan of the character and the comics. However, this was also the film I was most dreading, because I'm such a huge fan of the character and the comics. I'm happy to say director Joe Johnston and pulled it off and did the character justice.

More than any other comic book film in recent memory, this almost completely captured the spirit of the character I grew up reading. Captain America is a hero like no other, and he should always be portrayed as kinder, better, more admirable, and just plain heroic than any other super hero, and this film made great pains to ensure they got all of that right. In the comics and in this film, Captain America isn't a hero because of his costume or his great strength or his outstanding agility, but because his alter ego Steve Rogers is such an honorable man. People who see this movie are going to see one of the best portrayals of a true hero in maybe any comic book based film since the original Superman film way back when.

A lot of that has to do with the script, but credit is also due to the wonderful performance by Chris Evans. Frankly, Evans isn't a great actor, but he's not a bad one either, but he managed to really knock this one out of the park, creating a fantastic and fascinating character that is larger than life not only because of his physical stature, but because of his charm and good nature as well. When I saw Thor, I came out of the theater wishing I had arms like actor Chris Hemsworth. When I saw Captain America, I came out of the theater wishing I was friends with Steve Rogers. That's an important distinction about Captain America, since he is one of the few heroes nobody really wants to be, we just want to be around him.

Astoundingly, Evans played the character both before and after his transformation from the 90lb weakling to the strapping behemoth with the body of Greek god. I honestly don't know how the special effects people pulled this off, but it was seamless and completely believable. I've read a few reviews where people said the puny version of the character looked like a bobblehead, but I didn't see it. I thought it was amazing and stood out as one of the best and most incredible special effects I've seen in years. Too bad some of the other CG in the film hadn't been as well done, like the scenes where Captain America is jumping through the sky or tossing bad guys around.

One of the reasons Chris Evans gave such a good performance was because he had such an amazing cast to act against. Tommy Lee Jones was as great as you'd expect as the gruff Army Colonel who gives Captain America his orders, and Stanley Tucci was fantastic as the genius scientist Dr Abraham Erskine who developed the serum that turned our main character into a super soldier. Hayley Atwell was very good and very charming as the love interest, and it was great that she was given more to do than just stand around and look pretty. And we even got fairly substantial roles for the Howling Commandos, although they are never referred to by name in the film, the best of which was Neal McDonough as Dum Dum Dugan. I nearly jumped out of my seat when that character came on screen.

And then there was Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull. I'd be interested to hear what non-fans of the comics think of his look and manner, but, personally, I thought he was incredible. Hugo Weaving's performance was perfectly menacing with the right mixture of subtly and over the top histrionics, and the visual design of his face looked just like a Jack Kirby drawing. I really enjoyed Chris Evans and the rest of the actors who portrayed the allies, but Weaving's Red Skull nearly stole the entire film. I'm going to go ahead and say that this was the best comic book villain ever put on film.

There was also the prerequisite cameo by Marvel Comics icon Stan Lee, who is given maybe his funniest line yet. I'm pretty sure his joke got the biggest line in the theater when I saw it, either because it was funny or because it was Stan Lee. This raises an interesting point: Was this the first time Stan Lee had a cameo in a film about a comic book character he didn't create? Stan Lee's contribution to Marvel in general and to Captain America in particular can't be overstated enough, since he wrote some of the best Captain America stories ever and should be credited (or, at least, co-credited) with bringing him back to the public eye in the sixties by reintroducing him in The Avengers, but I do think it's important to note that the character was actually created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. I just wanted to mention that.

It wasn't all great, however, and there were just a few weird odds and ends that kept it from being a truly perfect comic book movie in my opinion:

I already mentioned the costume, but boy was it terrible. To begin with, it's unfaithful to the comic with needless "updates" intended to make it look more realistic or fit to actually wear into battle. Why doesn't Hollywood understand that any attempt to make a comic book outfit more "realistic" only serves to make it look more silly and strange? But even forgetting the fact that it isn't exactly like what we've seen in the comics, it's just downright ugly. I also didn't understand why the felt the need to shoehorn the character into that USO act, as though they needed to explain why he was wearing a costume at all. He's a super hero from a comic book. Just have him wear a costume.

Another odd thing was how this was maybe the first WWII period piece in which we never actually see any swastikas or Nazis. The enemies are actually a group called HYDRA who are presented as an off shoot of the Nazi party, but who have their own insignia and plans for world domination. They look and dress like Nazis, however, and speak in German accents, they just don't have swastikas or talk about genocide. This isn't a criticism, however, just an odd detail than I found strange, since Captain America was supposed to have fought in WWII against the German army. I'm guessing they changed this so they didn't have to sell toys to kids that were covered in swastikas, which is good thinking all things considered.

And, finally, structurally speaking, this film was oddly put together, with maybe more than half of the film detailing the character's origin. In fact, I don't even think he put on his costume until well over an hour into the movie. Again, this isn't a bad thing, but the problem was that the origin story was so brilliantly put together, that by the time the main plot rolled around and the real film started, it felt more like a by the numbers action film. I'm not saying that the second half of the film was bad, just that the first half was so much better, more original, and emotionally stirring. And I can imagine that anybody unfamiliar with what happens to the character in the comics will be confused by the way this film ends. As a comic fan, however, I thought the ending twist was pulled off as well as I could've hoped, and should lead right into next year's (?) Avengers film.

So... Captain America: The First Avenger. I really, really liked this movie, and thought it was as good as any comic book film I've ever seen. Steve Rogers was perfectly captured and many of his character beats actually made me misty with emotion. However... that costume really sucked and took me out of the film whenever it was on screen. Luckily, the costume isn't seen all that often, almost as though the director was embarrassed to show it, either because he knew it was ugly or just doesn't like comic book costumes at all. Joe Johnston is a wonderful director of action set pieces who made a great, heroic war movie, but here's to hoping that geek Wunderkind Joss Whedon embraces the tropes and look of the comics more when he directs the upcoming Avengers film.

Anyway, go see it.

The Amazing Spider-Man Trailer

Here's the trailer for the upcoming film that will reboot the Spider-Man film franchise, or attempt to, anyway. This looks... ok. This trailer doesn't offer much on which to judge it, other than a few shots of the characters standing around looking gloomy, finishing off with an extended CG sequence that hopefully will be cleaned up and worked on before the film is actually released, but it could be good. Anyway, as a fan of the comics and a hater of the film, I have only a passing interest in this film, but I'll probably check it out of only because it can't be worse than the Tobey Maguire version:

Top Ten Best Rock Songs Ever!! (Video)

Here's a silly video I made because I was bored:

Lego Crashes Extravaganza (Video)

I visited my sister's family in Ann Arbor, Michigan over the weekend, and my nephews spent a lot of time watching videos of Lego crashes on youtube. I decided to make them a compilation of these videos, with some additional footage here and there. If you don't like Lego crashes, don't watch this video:

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Trailer

I'm a Sherlockian who has read all of the original stories and novels numerous times, and the first film got my seal of approval so I'm definitely going to see this one. The trailer looks even more action-packed than the first film, which is a bit of a shame since the first film had probably a little too much action, but it still looks like a lot of fun, and it will be great to see Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr again since their chemistry was the best thing about the first film.

Anyway, check out the trailer:

Bond 23 Casting News

Well, it's been years since I've been able to talk about a new Bond film (since 2008's Quantum of Solace, to be exact), but some casting details (or, possibly rumors) have begun to surface. A few days ago there was some hub bub on the internet because actress Naomie Harris was cast as the first black Miss Moneypenny. As a life-long Bond fan, I don't mind this color-blind casting, since we are now in the 21st century and the race of M's secretary has no real effect on her character. What matters is that she is charming, likable, beautiful, and has good chemistry with whoever plays James Bond. Nobody is ever going to replace Lois Maxwell, but Naomie Harris seems like the best choice to play the character that we've seen in years. I think she'll be good.

And according to this article, Javier Bardem and Ralph Fiennes have signed on to play as of yet unconfirmed and unexplained roles. Both are fantastic actors, and I'm guessing they're going to be villains. Anyway, I'm hoping they'll be villains, since that would be awesome.

Judy Dench has committed to reprising her role as M, but that comes as no surprise, since she has been playing the character since Goldeneye came out sixteen years ago. I don't blame them for keeping her on since she is very good in the role and has already acted against Daniel Craig twice, but personally, I'm ready for another actor to breathe life into the role since I never really loved her portrayal. Now that Felix Lieter and Miss Money Penny are black, I think it's ok to go back to having M portrayed as a stuffy British man. I hope that doesn't offend anybody.

Oh, and apparently Sam Mendes has signed on to direct, which honestly doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence in the production. He's very famous, very rich, and very respected, but I don't think he has every been apart of something that hasn't sucked. Yeah, that's right... I said it. He makes very beautiful looking films that are completely hollow in story and lacking in actual characters. But still... it's a Bond film.

Happy Birthday, Sylvester Stallone!

The Blessed Are the Geeks Blog wished a happy and healthy birthday to one of the greatest movie stars of our time, Sylvester Stallone. Words can't express the contributions and impact he has had on the film industry in general and on my life in particular, so I won't even try. Just know that he turns 65 today and he could still kick your ass.