The A*Team

Running Time: 117 minutes.
Media: DVD.

There has been a lot of controversy regarding this film's performance... Supposedly Roger Ebert, critic extraordinaire was a little "zealous" in his review, citing examples in physics to justify the ludicrousness of the scene with the falling tank... Ebert, in his efforts to do so, however, missed the important part of the film... The film itself.

Most films will require some amount of a thing known as "suspension of belief" where you tell your mind to not worry about certain concepts not making sense. Personally, if the suspension of belief is such that you have to say "hold on, let me call my physics professor to find out if that can actually be done..." then you're thinking too much and not enjoying yourself, and you just need to sit back and enjoy the ride...

And boy, does this film take you for a ride, a very thrilling one at that... This film is full of non-stop action scenes peppered with little sequences of suspense that keep you thinking. The film has kept a considerable adherence to the original TV series, paying homage to the original van, Hannibal's use of cigars and even B.A. Baracus's fear of flying. We have an alternative storyline that introduces how the A*Team became fugitives, and it works incredibly well. What seems to work just as well is the casting for each of the four members.

Now, a number of people have sledged those who made the movie saying that the casting for Liam Neeson as Hannibal was all wrong... That he wasn't the right fit and all... I hate to mention this but, George Peppard is dead, (may he rest in peace), and Liam is a very charismatic actor; who has been in more movies that have come out recently, than other characters of his caliber. This particular role was not intended to be an incredibly dramatic one, and Liam seemed to take to this character with the original spirit as Peppard did back in the early eighties... The only difference I see between the two versions is that though Neeson's Hannibal is still tactically brilliant and capable of making a plan come together, is not quite as unflappable as his TV counterpart. In fact, due to the betrayal nature of the storyline (concerning the "crime they did not commit"), Hannibal's often shown as intense and angry. But this kind of shake-up is good for a film like this... so I think he was perfect for the role, in my humble opinion.

Next! Bradley Cooper playing the role of Templeton "Faceman" Peck... I have to admit that this was an inspired move on the part of the casting directors... He's comedic, handsome and sophisticated. He seemed to channel the same flirtatious and womanizing nature of Face as his 1980's counterpart, Dirk Benedict. Both versions of the character are as charismatic as one another. Face was always seen as the roguish and debonair character, and Bradley has this in spades. Dirk Benedict actually has a little cameo near the end of the film, so keep watch for it!

Next! We have Quinton "Rampage" Jackson as B.A. Baracus... His actual name alone spells trouble! Rampage is an American mixed martial artist and a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. This man is one brother you wouldn't want to mess with... And his use of his skills does not go unnoticed in this film... His mohawk is not as prominent in the film as Mr. T's was in the TV series, and there is a reference to "I pity the fool" with his fists... It works well, but not as well as one would want... this would somehow be the only downside to this film. This does not say that Jackson cannot play the role of Bosco. He can, but this is a Bosco Albert Baracus of the twenty-first century, whereas the B.A. Baracus of yore, Mr. T, is now a born-again Christian and has lately appeared on infomercials for portable self-cleaning ovens...

Lastly, Sharlto Copely as H.M. Murdock... I was a little skeptical at first, only having then seen his performance in District 9, and not really having known him in anything other than this other film. So imagine my surprise when a South African opened his mouth only to have an American accent come through with the gusto of an insane man possessed... Sharlto has swallowed and embodied the essence of Murdock that would do Dwight Schultz (the 80's version of Murdock) proud... Dwight also appears in a cameo role in the end of the film as well, so another bonus for pop-culture enthusiasts such as myself!

The film also boasts the appearances of actors such as Gerald McRaney, for those who remember him in shows like Simon and Simon, and Major Dad; Jessica Biel, who always graces my presence whenever I see her on the big screen, and also Brian Bloom, who plays Pike, who also co-wrote the script for the film. Throw in some amazing special effects and creative distraction techniques to help suck you deep into the world that these people find themselves in and you have an incredible film which is guaranteed to entertain... If you're a voice-actor enthusiast, you may also notice Corey Burton narrating towards the end of the film. Corey is well known for a number of voice roles, including Braniac in the animated DC universe as well as Spike Witwicky and Shockwave from the Transformers cartoon series from the 1980's.

This film shows itself to be entertaining, humorous, intense and gripping its audience from the word go. It is filled with action, thrills and spills... And will keep you guessing what is happening... I thoroughly enjoyed the film and am pleased to award it five stars.

The Amazing Spider-Man

Running Time: 136 minutes.

Media: Cinematic release.

When Batman went through four movies and seemed to lose its grip, having gone through two with Michael Keaton, one with Val Kilmer and one with George Clooney... well, what can I say, there was a lot of talk about how schmaltzy it all started to become... plus the fears of continuing it may considerably drop in popularity.

I feel there was a considerable push in that direction when it came to the first Spider-Man film series that starred Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco and Willem Dafoe. Now, don't get me wrong, it was a great film series... but this schmaltzy feel to the films was something that seemed to raise its ugly head probably around the time of maybe the second movie when Franco's sole purpose became more focused on the killing of Spider-Man than that of being Peter Parker's best friend. It seemed to continue onto the third film where the hammy-ness of acting seemed to escalate where even Peter Parker's symbiote possession in the third movie was parodied in the Youtube channel "How It Should Have Ended", which is also worth seeing, by the way. That being said, there was also a lot of talk about how this new movie came about... There was some mention of some time that early May last year would be the release date for the new movie by Sam Raimi, and unfortunately Raimi had admitted that he could not meet the scheduled release date and retain creative integrity. By this time, Columbia Pictures had admitted that in January 2010, that the whole series would be rebooted.

Bearing this in mind, does The Amazing Spider-Man live up to expectations? I say yes, and rather whole-heartedly. The main reason is that while the Raimi series of films with Tobey Maguire brought an incredibly fresh spin to the Spider-Man canon; this new series which has been directed by Marc Webb (and may I say, a perfectly apt surname for a director for this film!) has basically taken the original mythology of how Spider-Man came to be, and brought it to the 21st century, and without much need to alter the original story. They've kept the original bite concept, the technical web-shooters, as opposed to the organic ones seen in the original film series and they've introduced Gwen Stacy as the first love interest, as opposed to Mary Jane Watson, which was how it began in the original comic book canon.

We have Andrew Garfield, who is probably known better for his roles in Lions for Lambs and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, gives us the troubled teen in angst, Peter Parker, coming to terms with his newly found power as well as his loss of his Uncle Ben, played by Martin Sheen. Aunt May, played by Sally Field works well to help balance out the cast with being the maternal figure to Peter.

We have Gwen Stacy, played by a blonde Emma Stone... the second actress to go from redhead to blonde as Gwen, the first being Bryce Dallas Howard, Ron Howard's daughter... which is interesting considering that Kirsten Dunst in the original film series went from blonde to redhead to play the role of Mary Jane Watson... But I digress... Stone's portrayal of Gwen Stacy is one that radiates a more confident, warming and intellectual version in comparison to Bryce's cheeky, confident and seductive version. Gwen seems to play the anchor to Parker's angst and responsibility... rather much like Pepper Potts is to Tony Stark in Iron Man. To see such a strong character in an important female role to this movie is refreshing.

Gwen's father, Captain George Stacy, played by comedian and actor, Denis Leary is formidable, but you can't help but chuckle by seeing the comedian side of him come out with his attitude and blasts of sarcasm that seem to seep out in most of his roles. Whether this is intentional, I'm not sure, but I find that it brought out the character well.

One final character which seems to work incredibly well, is that of Doctor Curt Connors, played by Welsh actor, Rhys Ifans... who also doubles as Connor's alter ego, the Lizard... Kudos and credit must be given to Ifans for taking the concept of Connors and throwing in a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sort of theme... it works brilliantly in this kind of genre, and I have to confess that this performance of his has brought him up several notches since I first saw him as Spike in Notting Hill all those years ago. I did see some potential in him to be a great actor when he played Xenophilius Lovegood in the first part of the last Harry Potter film, and now he has excelled beyond my expectations.

The film works well together, the characters seem to complement each other perfectly, though there are a number of "holes", for the lack of a better word, that I know will be filled in the sequels to come. This is not a bad thing, this is just very well-structured screen-writing. I'm glad that Avi Arad from Marvel Studios and Laura Ziskin decided to continue to produce this film after Columbia Pictures announced the reboot, because this storyline will pave the way to not only more gripping scenes with the next film in the series, but hopefully, for the unanswered questions to be answered. I am very pleased to award The Amazing Spider-Man a five-star rating.

Labyrinth

Running Time: 101 minutes

Media: DVD

I've had to think long and hard about this review, mainly because this review is dedicated to my niece, Ashleigh, who adores this movie... But I have to admit, I have my reservations about this flick... Granted, it stars a 16 year-old Jennifer Connelly, with whom I had a major crush on back then, (hey, I was ten back then, what can I say?) and granted, it was one of her first movies, and granted it has Jim Henson's puppets in place... But that's kinda where the fun stops...

Connelly's portrayal of Sarah seems a little reminiscent of a little princess type who always seem to get her way until her father married someone new... It's assumed from the movie that the mother must have passed on some time back but that Sarah is still not happy about having a step-mother, nor a new half-brother called Toby, with whom she unknowingly manages to get kidnapped by Jareth, the Goblin King, played by singer David Bowie... And it's now up to Sarah to make her way through Jareth's labyrinth in order to reach his castle and rescue her baby brother before he becomes a goblin himself.

Although David Bowie is a talented and handsome man, er... goblin... er... yeah, whatever... His performance, falls a little flat when playing off the character of Sarah... It's almost like there's a missing element between these two that without it, doesn't quite mesh them together... Bowie seems to act well with Henson's puppets incredibly well, as though he were a guest on an episode of Sesame Street... This along with some somewhat dis-jointed song cues within the film as well as some rather... "revealing" ballerina tights or equestrian pants Bowie wears, and you're left feeling a bit uncomfortable...

There is a scene with some almost romantic element which I think was a bit confronting to me, but I guess I tend to analyze things a fair bit... But given the almost near seductive quality that a 39 year-old Bowie had on a 16 year-old Connelly in this scene, I have some entitlement to this opinion... The balance just seems a bit off, despite how charismatic Mr Bowie can be...

Regardless, the movie has a few areas where I had myself repeating lines, like those of a large horned behemoth called Ludo who has a lot of friends who just happen to be rocks... Henson has done a great job with this as he had with Fraggle Rock and The Dark Crystal with his amazing direction and puppetry... Though this time, it's the human characters are the ones that seem to fall short... And as a result, while Labyrinth is still a wonderful movie, the acting by the puppets seems to outweigh in strength than those performances by Bowie and Connelly, and thus this film is awarded 3½ stars...

Romeo Must Die

Running Time: 115 minutes.
Media: TV Broadcast.

I can't recall the first time I saw this film, but I know it wasn't at the cinemas. This film always had me confused... after all, how does one combine a romantic drama with martial arts? The closest thing I have come to this is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, another movie, I need to actually review some time in the near future, but even then, the two concepts of martial arts and romance, seem... well, polar opposites... You can imagine that in such a combination, a character would be inclined to say something like:

"I love you, and yet I also want to kick someone's ass to next Tuesday."

How does one make it work? Basically Jet Li plays Han Sing, who is serving time in a prison in Hong Kong, learns of his brother's death in America, and it's made apparent that there's something suspicious about it. He manages to escape and come to America where he comes across a plot between two warring families who are both business to gain prime real estate. The only thing is, one of the families is his own, headed by his father, Ch'u Sing, played by Henry O; the other is headed by Isak O'Day, played Delroy Lindo, whose daughter Trish, played by late singer and actress, Aaliyah is completely unaware of what's been happening. Supposedly the relationship between Han and Trish develops as the twists to this conspiracy are uncovered.

There is some comedy relief in the film with one of Isak's lackeys, Maurice, a rather rotund chap, played by Anthony Anderson, who has since made his mark in a more serious role in one of the thirty-seven million spin-offs of Law and Order. Russell Wong plays the part of Kai, a brother-type figure to Li's Han in this film. Wong looks like a very fit Asian (but less paranoid) equivalent of John Cusack, don't ask me why... The supposed "romance" (which I didn't really see to be perfectly honest) is intermittently spaced with a number of fight scenes between Li and various characters, with one where Li uses Aaliyah as a sort of conduit to fight a female assailant.

One of the things for which I have to give credit, though, is a number of scenes where the final blow for certain fight scenes is met with an X-ray view of how the death occurs whether it be a punctured torso or a broken neck... And although this effect is cool, when you strip the somewhat lame attempts at romance, and the somewhat predictable storyline, these effects seem to be the only saving point worth watching.

One thing I did read was that Han and Trish were supposed to have a kissing scene, in the film... which explains the title containing the Romeo reference, but this was met with some contempt from a pre-screening audiences. Jet Li stated on his personal website that they had filmed both versions of the scene (with kiss and without), and decided to use the one without instead because it would be "somewhat strange and awkward" for Han to have [SPOILER!!]witnessed his father's suicide and then to come out and kiss someone.

 All in all, the film is average with a number of great fight scenes, but the main plot and supposed love story between Li and Aaliyah are lost... This was a debut film for Jet Li for English-speaking films, and a debut for Aaliyah as an actress... I only am remorseful in knowing this was one of her only few films before her tragic death in 2001. Romeo Must Die gets a three star rating today...

Thor (2011)

Running Time: 114 minutes.

Media: Cinematic release.

Having gone to see this with my fiancée last year I had hoped to see a little more homage to the original Marvel canon, and I was  pleasantly surprised,  though I have to confess, I did have a few disappointing issues with the film.

Natalie Portman was one of them... Don't get me wrong, I know that Jane Foster is a nurse in the original canon, and she's now an astrophysicist in the film... it kinda ties in with the whole wormholes/rainbow bridge plot they have going... but her character is actually quite wooden and the performance is somewhat lacking. What pains me even more is that I'm criticizing an absolute babe like Natalie Portman... I love her, I really do, and all the work she has done in the past... but this was not one of the best performances... You probably could have written her out of the entire storyline and it would not have made much of a difference, or it could have improved it... The point is, that nowadays most of these Marvel films now have a considerably predictable formula where the hero has a love interest of some sort and the hero has to save the interest at some point in one way or another... This is no different in this film, or any other Marvel film.

Odin, is played by the somewhat immortal Sir Anthony Hopkins... His performance is a little cringe-worthy, maybe because, in my personal opinion, it's a little hammy... Sure, it may seem a little necessary to throw in the Shakespearean vibe... After all, let's face it, we have Kenneth Branagh directing this film, and he also directed and starred in a whopping 242 minute version of Hamlet... But this hammy-ness of Hopkin's portrayal of Odin still didn't quite gel with me...

The only other disappointment I had was with the ever lovely Rene Russo, who plays the role of Frigga (or Freya, depending on how you were brought up in regards to Norse Mythology)... Russo, as lovely as she is, was both a) not as recognizable at first, in fact I had to see Thor a second time just to be dead certain, and b) she was seldom used in the storyline... And that was actually quite a shame... I would have loved to have seen more of her in the film. A gorgeous woman if ever I saw one, and one hell of an actress...

Now, having gotten all that off my chest... Let's proceed... Given Thor was a smash and paved the way for The Avengers movie to come about...the story follows the battle fought in the tenth century between the realm of Asgard and the frost giants of Jotunheim. The Casket of Ancient Winters is claimed as prize by Asgard for winning the battle and all ends well... supposedly. Fast forward to present times and Thor is about to ascend the throne as king of Asgard, all hell breaks loose and Thor gets on his high horse and starts yet another battle with the frost giants... Thor's dad, Odin, a little pissed that Thor has arrogantly gone against his wishes and broken a somewhat fragile truce between the two realms (not that anyone in the audience was aware of any "truce" being established), and banishes him to Earth without his hammer, sending that elsewhere with an enchantment to ensure that only the worthy are allowed to wield it.

Here's where things get kinda funny, Thor after plummeting to Earth has a few issues with running into trouble, be it Natalie Portman's van (twice), military installations or giant medieval metallic fire breathing guardians. But in the process of all this craziness occurring, Thor's brother Loki, played by an amazingly charismatic Tom Hiddleston, who would be by far, the most appreciated character in the film in my personal opinion, but supposedly not the most admired by other characters within the film itself; who wants nothing more than to rule Asgard, Earth, the universe, your grandmother's bakery, the neighbor's doghouse, Germany, certain parts of Monaco and maybe Pluto... Let's just say that Loki is one ambitious son of a bitch... But Tom delivers his character with such direction and emotion, that you almost feel like cheering for him and not for Hemsworth's Thor. He very much follows through on this further in The Avengers, I'm very happy to say. To be honest, I'm very pleased with the portrayal of Loki's character by Hiddleston, one of the most refreshing since Taylor Kitsch played Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

As amazing as this film is, there lacks some continuity between scenes here and there, with trying to link certain aspects together, and although Hemsworth's Thor does attempt to pull it all together and save the day... it does leave the audience feeling like there was something missing... Loki seems to make the movie more than the title character. This movie, which has earned a four star rating from me, still has a few holes that may begin filling up once you've seen it a few more times... Thor is out on DVD and Blu-Ray and should be taken up as soon as possible as it contains a vital component post-credits that is a must-see should you wish to see The Avengers shortly thereafter.