I stayed far away from Think Tank. I ended up purchasing their self-titled album, Blur. It's the album that was before 13, although I almost bought 13. I'm glad I got this one though, because it's pretty great. "Beattlebum" and "You're so Great" are fantastic songs. I'll probably get 13 next, it has the great song "Trimm Trabb" on it.
Boy, think I used the word "great" enough? Greeeaaat...
I may need to check out Blur again. I did the same thing Brock's doing, but a year or two back. At that time I didn't dig their other songs. But recently I listened to a stream of their new album "Think Tank". It's the worst Blur I've heard. Apparently a few other fans don't like it either. I guess the guitarist left before this album. A Blur fan told me that his departure, explains the bad album. So Brock, avoid "Think Tank". I heard "13" is good.
I think in the long run, most comic book movies are going to transform into deeper, more thoughtful ventures because of the Hulk. Yes, they are at the core of things, action films with big name casts. However, Gabe pointed out that Ang Lee has a track record of artistic films, and it showed big time in the Hulk. He took more liberty with the property and it paid off. Now, keep in mind that Chris Nolan is set to direct the next Batman film, another artistic director. After seeing the success of the Hulk on the first weekend in addition to the hiring of more story driven directors, I think a lot of comic book films in the future are going to be pushing for more thoughtful roots. Good points on it all Gabe. Very good. And hey, longer posts are good; you said we’d be doing fatter material here. Hee hee…
So I’m addicted to Blur ladies and gents, and now I have to go out and buy one of their albums. You see it all started with the song Coffee and TV that Gabe stuck on his mix CD. After listening to that song for a bit I eventually downloaded the music video with the dancing milk carton, a pinnacle that’s only matched in my opinion by the Buddy Holly or In Bloom videos. One thing led to another and before I knew it I was downloading their other songs. I also remembered that they did that crazy stadium song a few years back, “Song II”. However, I was more interested in their other stuff. Anyway, I think I’m going to pick up their self-titled album today. I checked out most of the songs on it and I like it very much.
Check you later!
I’m going to forgo my Spider-Man essay for now. No, I’m not copping out! I just don’t have the time. I actually started it but the way I was going, it was going to be too long. I’ll sum it up by saying that character development could’ve been much better. It was just too flashy for me on a whole. Overall, though, it was pretty decent. It may have stuck to the original comic too closely. What!? Isn’t that a good thing? In my opinion, not really.
See, comic books themselves aren’t that deep. They’re mostly “flash” also. The majority of the comic is cool drawings and action. I’m not slamming that, it’s what they are and that’s perfectly fine. When they want to get deeper on a story, they do a graphic novel, a much longer version that you can fit more story into. Or, they run a long series. When a comic book gets made into a movie, though, it needs to build some depth. That’s what I prefer in a movie. I’d love to see some “exploration” on subjects that the comic books didn’t cover. For example, Peter Parker’s childhood. It would’ve been cool if they briefly explored that, even if it never was in the comics.
I must applaud Universal for going with Ang Lee to direct the Hulk. When you look at his filmography, he’s one of the least likely you’d expect to direct the Hulk. His previous movies are pretty deep and artsy. They include, The Wedding Banquet, Eat Drink Man Woman, Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm, and the one that made him most famous – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I’ve seen most of these and they are excellent movies. I think he brought a lot of himself to Hulk and it showed.
It seems to be the trend with the studios for comic book movies - hire a lesser known director that has critically acclaimed movies. Then the studio makes up for the appeal by hiring big name actors. Those studios! Always copying each other!
Speaking of deep, artsy movies – Punch Drunk Love came out on DVD Tuesday. I hope to check out the extras this weekend.
Dang, I went rambling! I planned on a short post. Oh, well.
I bet you were looking at the latest issue of Cinefex, the magazine for special effects. I like that magazine a lot, and I think I have a couple of issues lying around here somewhere. I've got one on Minority Report and one on Episode II.
Interesting title on that story. I'll have to check it out.
Cool picture! I just saw it today at lunch. I was at Border's Books & Music looking through some film magazine on the Hulk and it had that picture. It was some kind of guide to the Hulk, chock-full of information like interviews, the process, and effects. I think I'm going to pick it up tomorrow. It was pretty sweet.
Whoo boy, look at this fancy new posting area! Oh wait, you can't see it. Right, right. Ok, sorry, I won't be a smart-ass or anything. Still, this is pretty nice. Blogger seems to be going a lot faster too!
So how's your week going so far? Mine's going great actually, I read a fantastic story today by the same guy who wrote The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger. That short story, A Perfect Day for Bannana Fish is in this book full of his amazing little short stories. Last night, I went over to my friend Marco's apartment and watched Ronin. I'd never seen that movie before, and I enjoyed it very much. Jean Reno was great in it, almost as good as he was in Leon.
Check out this cool picture/ad I found on TheForce.net for ILM.
I'll check in later or something!
-Brock
Pretty weak? Well, I am excited to see what Gabe has to say about Spider-Man. I might not agree with him on this one, but still, he always provides some valid points. I do agree that out of the two films, Hulk and Spidey, Spidey is the razzle-dazzle of the two. Ang Lee really seemed to focus on the story and character development behind Bruce Banner.
Man oh man, where to start? Well, first of all, I just wanted to say that I was highly impressed by the Hulk. I knew it was going to be a great movie, but I did have some doubts about it. Two of those doubts remained very heavily in mind prior to watching the film: Bruce Banner’s father and the CGI creation of the Hulk.
Bruce Banner’s father was one of the most prominent concerns that I had about this film, not because I doubted Ang Lee’s ability to include him in the Hulk’s origin, nor because I neglected Nick Nolte’s acting talent. Rather, I was dubious about the role Bruce’s father played in his life, particularly in the transformation of the Hulk. As many people might recall, the Hulk’s creation was the result of Bruce Banner’s own anger in conjunction with a radioactive nuclear blast. Banner’s own fault though was in letting the Hulk gain control of his life; it was his downfall that he brought upon himself, not his father’s. The movie on the other hand presents a very different viewpoint into the matter, showing that it was the father who implanted the hidden ability in his son. A nuclear accident was thankfully the catalyst that ultimately released the Hulk, but the root of Banner’s transformation came from his father’s genetic tampering. However, I later recalled that Bruce Banner had an abusive father in the comics, a father who had destructive ramifications upon his family. With that in mind, Ang Lee’s adaptation of the Hulk remains faithful to the storyline of the comic book. True, some changes are present, but that almost always happens with a comic book film.
I think what sealed my acceptance of Bruce’s father however was Nolte’s brilliant performance. His charisma, hatred, abusiveness and outright insanity are perfectly portrayed by Nolte. If the Academy Awards weren’t so repulsed by comic book movies then I’d suggest that Nolte be given the award for best supporting actor. One of the best moments of the entire film is when Bruce is confronted by his father inside an army warehouse wired with electricity, a confounding situation made even more dramatic by Nolte’s sharp berating.
The other issue I had with the Hulk was the CGI, created by none other then George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic. ILM has done good work in the past with films like Star Wars, Minority Report and Artificial Intelligence, but I didn’t think they could pull the Hulk off. The Super Bowl preview only served to add fuel to my disgruntlement, a fire that was only quenched by actually seeing Hulk in action on the big screen. I tell you, one of the most fulfilling moments to ever take place in a comic book film had to be seeing Hulk bound across the desert in hot pursuit by the United States Army. He smashed tanks, he brought down helicopters from the sky, and he even grappled with airborne missiles. Ang Lee certainly knew how to bring Hulk’s action to life, and ILM did a fantastic job in animating the Hulk. Particularly engaging is the transformations that the Hulk and Bruce Banner endures throughout the film. If Nolte deserves to win supporting actor then Industrial Light and Magic at least deserves a nomination for the effects award.
All around, I liked the movie very much. For me, it stands next to Spider-Man as my second favorite comic book movie. Of course, Batman is still number one, and I doubt that anything is going to usurp the Dark Knight’s position save for another Batman film. Still, with X-Men 2, Daredevil, and now the Hulk, I’d say that Marvel is on a roll.
Check out some pictures I took on my Chicago trip. Unfortunately I used up most of the film by the time we got to the show. So I only have a picture of Rocky and none of The Casket Lottery or Small Brown Bike.
Sorry for the lack of posts. It’s been pretty thin, especially from me. We’ll make up for it with fat posts.
Well, Hulk indeed smashed the weekend box office. It made a cool $62.6 million. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It had all the elements – cinematography, editing, acting, action, direction, etc. And it nailed most of those right on the head. It’s not the best movie ever, probably wouldn’t be in my top 20, but it’s the best comic book adaptation movie since Batman. Hopefully Christopher Nolan’s Batman comes out soon. The original’s starting to look aged compared to all these new comic book movies. After all, it is 12 years old!
What I liked most about the Hulk was that it had depth and feeling, a lot more than the other comic book movies to come out recently. It centered on Bruce and the traumatic experience he went through as a child which was repressed deep inside. A loving Betty Ross coaxed Bruce to search through his mind to help remember what happened. It wasn’t until the end, when his own father related to him that fateful occurrence, that he learned of it. I loved how the tension and awkwardness between Bruce and his father played out. Nolte provided an outstanding performance for that role.
The Hulk himself was partly a manifestation of the rage resulting from his childhood trauma. Many people had gripes about the CGI representation of the Hulk, but it was appropriate and well done. You can’t please everyone. Especially outstanding was Hulk’s facial expressions. The CGI team went through a lot of painstaking work to get Hulk to be an Oscar caliber actor. And with his performance, he rightly could be. He was rage and anger, but just wanted to be left alone. He also meant no harm. It’s a notable mention that Hulk did not kill anyone. After 40+ years of the Hulk, I can’t believe people still have problems with his pants staying on. It has nothing to do with the physicality of it, it’s simply for decency and that’s that. Imagine having to do every drawing or every movie shot strategically just to avoid his “area.” Obviously it’s easier for the pants to just stay on.
Hulk had its weak moments – mostly the slow pace of the beginning and the countless sequences of microscopic close-ups. Overall, however, it was well done with characters and a story you could feel for. I’d give it **** out of five.
FAVORITE COMIC BOOK ADAPTATION MOVIES
1. Batman
2. Hulk
3. Spider-Man/Daredevil (Daredevil may beat out Spidey. I need to see DD again to know for sure.)
4. X-Men 2
5. Batman II
The more I see Spider-Man the less I like it. It seems like I’ve overlooked all the eye-candy. In fact, I think it’s 75% eye-candy and 25% story. It’s very flashy and kidsy. I still like it overall, though. It does hold a number three spot (for now).
