JRScherer
Scout
May Round-Up
BRIDESMAIDS
Surprisingly well-made. I found the movie to be involving and extremely funny. Kristen Wiig is going to be a big star. B+
PRIEST
Fun little mash-up of The Searchers, vampire action anime, and '80s style sci-fi flicks. It's a B-movie through and through, which is just fine by me. B
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES
Unfortunately, while Captain Jack Sparrow works fabulously as a supporting character in an ensemble, he fares poorly as the lead of his own feature. That's certainly not Depp's fault, though - he's still great - the story is just murky and rather boring in comparison to the other Pirates flicks. C-
KUNG FU PANDA 2
Excellent followup to the superb original. Extremely entertaining characters (even though, as in the original, the stunt casting of many parts is still completely wasted) and phenomenally staged action. A-
THE HANGOVER PART II
I think the best joke of The Hangover Part II is that it is note for note the exact same movie as The Hangover. I laughed a lot and that's what's important with a movie like this. B-
GOEMON
Gorgeous live action period piece anime. Absolutely sumptuous in its visuals, though a little overlong. B+
DRIVE ANGRY
Elizabeth Weitzman from the New York Daily News sums up this movie perfectly with "Drive Angry is pure grindhouse, so committed to its own junkiness that it is, in its way, a pleasure to behold." B
THOR
This is a movie I've been looking forward to and also dreading for the majority of my life. Thor has been one of my favorite superheroes since I first started reading comic books in the '70s. My all-time favorite run in comics was Walt Simonson's Thor comics in the '80s. Having Thor translated into live-action in any way that even remotely resembled the comics seemed like an impossibility, either because of the massive budget necessary to realize the fantastic elements but mainly because of Hollywood's reluctance to embrace those same fantastic elements in other superhero projects (i.e., Galactus appearing only as a really big storm cloud in Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer). Then Marvel started its own movie production company and starting making their superhero movies the way they wanted to, rather than letting filmmakers that didn't understand the characters mangle their properties.
This leads us to Marvel's new Thor movie. I was extremely pleased to see everything that I loved about the Thor comic books up on the big screen - Asgard and its nine realms in all their glory, Kirby inspired costumes and majestic headgear, Thor whirling Mjolnir exactly the way he does in the comics, and even the appearance of the Destroyer. The movie pays loving homage to the source material without being a slavish recreation. Hemsworth was a pleasure as Thor, both charismatic and physically imposing, Hopkins was suitably imperious while being fatherly at the same time, and Hiddleston's portrayal of Loki was note-perfect. Sure, the scenes on earth were rather sitcom-ish, what with Thor being tased and hit by vehicles multiple times, but I was in rapturous glee for the majority of the film, simply reveling in seeing the world of my favorite comics brought to life. So far, Thor is my favorite movie of the summer. I can't wait to see it again. A
BRIDESMAIDS
Surprisingly well-made. I found the movie to be involving and extremely funny. Kristen Wiig is going to be a big star. B+
PRIEST
Fun little mash-up of The Searchers, vampire action anime, and '80s style sci-fi flicks. It's a B-movie through and through, which is just fine by me. B
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES
Unfortunately, while Captain Jack Sparrow works fabulously as a supporting character in an ensemble, he fares poorly as the lead of his own feature. That's certainly not Depp's fault, though - he's still great - the story is just murky and rather boring in comparison to the other Pirates flicks. C-
KUNG FU PANDA 2
Excellent followup to the superb original. Extremely entertaining characters (even though, as in the original, the stunt casting of many parts is still completely wasted) and phenomenally staged action. A-
THE HANGOVER PART II
I think the best joke of The Hangover Part II is that it is note for note the exact same movie as The Hangover. I laughed a lot and that's what's important with a movie like this. B-
GOEMON
Gorgeous live action period piece anime. Absolutely sumptuous in its visuals, though a little overlong. B+
DRIVE ANGRY
Elizabeth Weitzman from the New York Daily News sums up this movie perfectly with "Drive Angry is pure grindhouse, so committed to its own junkiness that it is, in its way, a pleasure to behold." B
THOR
This is a movie I've been looking forward to and also dreading for the majority of my life. Thor has been one of my favorite superheroes since I first started reading comic books in the '70s. My all-time favorite run in comics was Walt Simonson's Thor comics in the '80s. Having Thor translated into live-action in any way that even remotely resembled the comics seemed like an impossibility, either because of the massive budget necessary to realize the fantastic elements but mainly because of Hollywood's reluctance to embrace those same fantastic elements in other superhero projects (i.e., Galactus appearing only as a really big storm cloud in Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer). Then Marvel started its own movie production company and starting making their superhero movies the way they wanted to, rather than letting filmmakers that didn't understand the characters mangle their properties.
This leads us to Marvel's new Thor movie. I was extremely pleased to see everything that I loved about the Thor comic books up on the big screen - Asgard and its nine realms in all their glory, Kirby inspired costumes and majestic headgear, Thor whirling Mjolnir exactly the way he does in the comics, and even the appearance of the Destroyer. The movie pays loving homage to the source material without being a slavish recreation. Hemsworth was a pleasure as Thor, both charismatic and physically imposing, Hopkins was suitably imperious while being fatherly at the same time, and Hiddleston's portrayal of Loki was note-perfect. Sure, the scenes on earth were rather sitcom-ish, what with Thor being tased and hit by vehicles multiple times, but I was in rapturous glee for the majority of the film, simply reveling in seeing the world of my favorite comics brought to life. So far, Thor is my favorite movie of the summer. I can't wait to see it again. A