July 8, 2008

GORT!

Just watched the trailer for The Day the Earth Stood Still a second time (over at Apple.com) and I'm really intrigued.  I know there's haters out there who will hate any remake.  However, I think it looks rather interesting because we see stuff actually getting destroyed - which is very different from the original (where nothing was destroyed).  And, as I predicted, Keanu Reeves is playing Klaatu just like how I imagined - and that's not a bad thing.  

But the big news is the very last shot of the trailer!  Check it out:









It's GORT!  And it looks awesome!  I'm glad they seem to be sticking mostly to the design in the original film.  This makes me very happy.

Bale Prefers Bondage Over Robin

Found this over at IGN:
Apparently, Christian Bale -- who plays the caped crusader in the franchise -- has said: "If Robin crops up in one of the new Batman films, I'll be chaining myself up somewhere and refusing to go to work."
Strong words. And I think I agree. With the Joker seeming to be more central in the next film than even Batman, flooding the screen with too many characters might cause our caped crusader to get lost in the crowd for the inevitable third film.

I'm not sure of the best way to word this, but I'll try. I always thought that once a trilogy is made, all the actors, director, et cetera should not come back for a 4th film. Example: Spider-man. Sam Raimi, Tobey, Kirstin had their trilogy. I think it would be a good idea for the next movie, or trilogy, to be done by a whole new crew. The new movies don't need to be directly related plot- and story-wise (see: The Incredible Hulk). The Hulk is proof that it could work. So, my opinion would be to start a new Spider-man trilogy and just start telling more stories (with less crying) about Peter Parker/Spider-man.

And now to my point. My point is that if they do want to bring Robin into it, do it with the next trilogy. Let Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale finish their trilogy with Two-Face, and have the next movie/trilogy introduce Robin (if they even want to) with a whole new crew.

Might I add that I feel this way perhaps because Spider-man 3 was so bad that I really wouldn't mind if they got new actors and a new director. (I like Sam Raimi, but I have this gut feeling that he purposefully didn't put much effort into the third film, as he stated way before they announced Venom would be in the film that he really didn't think Venom is an interesting character and that incorporating him wouldn't make a good film...) The Dark Knight, and the subsequent sequel, might be so good that I wouldn't want a new crew for the next hypothetical trilogy. We'll just have to wait and see.

July 1, 2008

WALL-E Review

WALL-E made me smile. WALL-E made me laugh. WALL-E almost made me tear. WALL-E also made me go "ehhh". But just a little bit.

First, let me start off by saying that everyone should see this movie. The visuals are fantastic and the animation is superb. This is Pixar we're talking about so these should come as no surprise. What's most endearing is WALL-E him(it?)self. He's adorable; a hard, resourceful worker. Innocent, yet lonely. He watches a movie where a couple holds hands, and we see that he yearns for the same thing. Sure, his cockroach friend is there, but, it's no female robot.

Of course, it's not long before his opportunity to hold someone else's hand shows up. This opportunity is EVE, a probe that comes to Earth and keeps scanning things. Oh, and she's a feisty one. Forget trying to hold her hand. WALL-E almost loses his life just trying to say hi.

A relationship eventually develops. But not before EVE finds a plant, the only plant on Earth, and gets whisked away in the spaceship she arrived in. Why this happens, we're not sure. WALL-E, in love, pursues EVE to the far reaches of outer space.

This is where the movie, for good or bad, changes direction. We find out that there's a "cruise" space ship containing the remaining humans of Earth. They're ALL fat and float around in hover chairs while looking, and only looking, at a holographic TV screen where they can be entertained or talk to their friends... who are right next to them. It's not until WALL-E accidentally breaks a girl's TV when she realizes Oh hey, we have a pool! A pool that was right in front of her... It's all good and funny, but this is also the part where I went "ehhh...".

There's pseudo-political/social critique of what can only be of Americans. All of the humans only had American accents. Sure, there were different races, but only American accents. For such a smart movie, they didn't seem to put much thought into the human aspect of the film. Just cliches that reminded me of Idiocracy (which I did not like). I get the satire, but I just felt it could've been done better.

And although the main story was between WALL-E and EVE, the end of the human story just seemed a bit too perfect-happy-ending-everything-will-be-fine kind of ending.

Otherwise, all of the other aspects were wonderful. All of the robots were great. The HAL-like computer was expected and welcomed. The love story was innocent and pure. And WALL-E was just so damn cute. I would love to see him in another movie.

I give WALL-E ***1/2 out of ****. GO SEE IT!