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NOTE: There will be no "Box Office Preview" this week.  The only genre movie opening is Kick-Ass, and I've seen it. :)


SPOILER-FREE SUMMARY:


A terrific movie--Kick-Ass succeeds on every level.  It's funny, violent, and incredibly entertaining.  It is a very hard R movie and, yes, Hit-Girl cusses a lot.  But when taken in context with just an ounce of free-thinking, it's perfectly fitting.


WARNING: (VERY, VERY MINOR) SPOILERS BELOW!!!


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Hot damn, what a great movie!  In case you couldn't figure it out from the trailer, Kick-Ass is the story of Dave, a typical nerdy teenager who decides to try his hand at crime-fighting and becomes the superhero, Kick-Ass.  Eventually, Kick-Ass finds himself aligned with fellow "heroes" Red Mist, Big Daddy, and Hit-Girl, in their quest to take down drug kingpin Frank D'Amico.


The cast is terrific: Aaron Johnson brings a real honesty to the title character (and you'd never know he's British), Christopher Mintz-Plasse actually brings a lot more to his character than just another "McLovin" rehash, Chloe Moretz is absolutely fantastic as Hit-Girl, and the always reliable Clark Duke once again fulfills his "best friend" role dutifully.  The only weak link may be Nicholas Cage and I'm still not sure about that--I've been debating it in my head all night.  His role is somewhat small, actually, but instead of the great actor we've seen in films like Leaving Las Vegas or Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, we get the campy Cage from crap like Gone in 60 Seconds and The Wicker Man.  But at the same time, it seems to fit his character pretty well so I suppose I can't complain.


The script (by director Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman) was written simultaneously while the comic book was being written by "Wanted" writer Mark Millar, so even though I haven't read the comic, it feels as though the adaptation must be close.  Incidentally, this is the third film that Vaughn has directed and it's much more Layer Cake than Stardust.  In fact, if you take the violence of Layer Cake and multiply it by 1000, I still don't think you'd come close to Kick-Ass.  It's beautiful violence though, the kind of wonderfully choreographed slow-motion melee that we've come to expect from films like this.


All right, let's talk about Hit-Girl.  Her character alone is responsible for having the film banned in several countries and has led to several protests (even before the film was released, the Australian Family Association attacked the film after an uncensored clip was released in January where Hit-Girl utters the line, "OK, you cunts, let's see what you can do now.")  Is it shocking to see an 11-year-old girl talk that way?  Yes, absolutely.  Is it funny?  Are you kidding?  It's incredibly funny.  Does the film glorify Hit-Girl's behavior?  In a way, yes, but there's a complicated context that needs to be considered here.  Should a young girl behave that way?  No, of course not, but if it weren't for what happened to her parents, Hit-Girl wouldn't be the person she is now.  In a way, every foul thing that Hit-Girl does just adds to the evil of the Frank D'Amico character.  In the end, HE'S the one responsible for robbing this poor girl of her childhood and forcing her to take on this ruthless persona.  And here's the part that really bugs me: all of these governments and advocacy groups are crying foul over Hit-Girl's language but say practically nothing about her violence.  So it's okay for an 11-year-old girl to savagely murder an entire room full of men but there's a problem if she says "fuck"?  That makes no sense.


This really is a great movie and, as your resident uber-geek, I say it's way up there on the list of the top geek movies ever made.  It's the quote that every lazy critic is going to use in his review this weekend, but it's true: Kick-Ass really does kick ass.  Hard.

SPOILER-FREE SUMMARY:

One of the best family movies ever made and the second best 3D movie ever made (besides Avatar). Go. See. It. Now. I demand it.

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW!!!

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This is how you make a 3D movie, people! Holy cow, what a great movie--but first, the obligatory summary: How to Train Your Dragon is based on the best-selling book and tells the story of Hiccup, a young Viking who rejects the idea of killing dragons and befriends a dragon named Toothless.

Everything about this movie is great: the story tugs at all the right heartstrings and puts the thrills right where they need to be. The artwork is beautiful; even though the dragons are more "cartoony" than traditionally shown, they and the world they inhabit are wonderfully detailed. The voice acting is superb, too. I went into this one actually not knowing who was in the cast; I was able to peg Jay Baruchel as Hiccup but I was surprised when the end credits started rolling and I realized that the cast also included Gerard Butler, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Craig Ferguson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and David Tennant.

But mostly, we've got to talk about the 3D. Remember when I urged you not to see Clash of the Titans in 3D? Well, now I'm urging TO see this movie in 3D. This is REAL-D: the kind of 3D you don't mind paying $12 a ticket for, the kind of 3D you rush to the theater to see because you know the experience will never be the same again on home video. It's the same immersive 3D you saw in Avatar--where you were sucked into the movie's world and felt like you could climb into the screen and join in. The dragon-flying sequences are particularly exhilarating in 3D, and the ending is to die for.

And, no, it doesn't matter if you don't have kids. Don't give me that shit. This is a good movie, period. It doesn't matter if your 5-year-old nephew has been running around all month in How to Train Your Dragon underoos, you'll still enjoy this movie.

Final thought: Great, great, great, great movie. And apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so--it currently has a 98% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes (which is practically unheard of).

SPOILER-FREE SUMMARY:


Almost, but not quite, as funny as The Hangover, this is a real laugh riot.  I laughed until I cried and I left with my side in utter agony.


WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW!!!


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I know, I know...Hot Tub Time Machine is not necessarily a genre movie.  But it does feature time travel and there's even a reference to "Stargate" fan-fiction so I'm reviewing it anyway.  Besides, it's a GREAT fucking movie.


Everything about this movie is funny and the jokes are unrelenting--not a minute goes by that you aren't laughing at something.  John Cusack is in top form, basically playing a grown version of any one of his characters from the actual 1980's, Craig Robinson is his usual deadpan self, Rob Corddry turns in what is easily his funniest work to date, and Clark Duke is great as the young, geeky member of the group.  The brilliant Chevy Chase is wasted, though, in a bit part as the mystical hot tub repairman.  That was especially sad since he's been putting out some fantastic work on "Community" week after week.  My favorite character, though, was Crispin Glover's bellhop; he shows up at the beginning of the film (in the present day) with one arm missing but when the guys meet him in 1986, he has both arms.  The mystery of what happened to that arm is one of the funniest recurring jokes I've ever seen.


I've said pretty consistently since last summer that The Hangover is the funniest movie ever made and, having seen it 6 or 7 more times since then, I still agree with that assessment.  What's funny and what isn't funny is sort of fluid with me so this seems like an endorsement that may change with time but, for now, I feel completely comfortable stating that Hot Tub Time Machine is the 2nd funniest movie ever made.  If you haven't seen it yet, do yourself a favor and check it out.

SPOILER-FREE SUMMARY:


A great fantastic epic, well worth your theater dollars--but don't see it in 3D; you're not missing a thing.


WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW!!!


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I have a confession to make: before today I'd never seen the 1981 original Clash of the Titans.  I know, I know, it's nerd blasphemy.  I did, however, seek to remedy that affront before I set out to see the remake.  This morning I queued up the original on Netflix and watched it on the Xbox.  I enjoyed it a lot more than I'd anticipated.  Now, the only reason I bring all of this up is so you realize that this review is not written from the point of view of someone who grew up with the original and has that nostalgic love for it.


Going in to the new Clash of the Titans, I still really wanted to hate it.  In fact for the first quarter of the movie, I kinda did.  It was a little boring and a lot of the changes to the plot made little sense.  I'd read a few other reviews and was almost certain that I would end up agreeing with all the naysayers.  But after the visit with the Stygian witches, things took a turn for the better.  Perseus's speech brings the group together and the movie takes on the feel of a classic fantasy quest, ala Lord of the Rings.  Now, this movie is no LOTR by any stretch of the imagination.  What I mean is that, as a fantasy fan, what appeals to me is a band of heroes coming together and venturing out on a quest.  It's the classic setup, one that makes not only LOTR great, but also Star Wars, the Dragonlance series, or Shannara.  Unlike the original, in this version all of Perseus' men are given personalities and lives that you truly care about.  After that I was totally on board.


Let's break it down into what worked and didn't work.  I absolutely loved: Io (beautiful, smart, and cunning), Black Pegasus (I sneered at first but it's actually pretty badass), Medusa (beautiful but deadly--perfectly rendered), The Djin (my favorites of the whole movie), Charon & The River Styx (although Dante's Inferno did it better), Ralph Fiennes & Liam Neeson (both stellar actors, neither one dumbing it down), The Kraken (epic and frightening--again, perfectly rendered), Pete Postlethwaite (one of my favorite character actors; a shame his part is so small), The Bubo cameo (such a stupid character but totally worthy of a cameo), Alexander Siddig (the DS9 vet has a teeny, tiny role as Hermes).

SPOILER-FREE SUMMARY:


A decent action/thriller with a top-notch cast, Repo Men falls flat due to a stilted romance and an obvious ending.


WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW!!!


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Repo Men was a bit of a mixed bag.  On the whole, I liked it; but it's far from being a great movie.  Jude Law is terrific as always (has he ever made a bad movie?  Alfie didn't look that great but I never saw it...) and Forrest Whitaker is more lively than usual as Jude's partner.  The plot, if you hadn't gathered it from the trailer, is that in the future a company called The Union sells synthetic organs to sick patients but sends out its own repo men to collect the organs if you fall behind on your payments.  Jude and Forrest are two such repo men.


The first half of the movie is pretty solid.  We get to see the guys in action, get a nice feel for their world, but then the RZA (of the Wu-Tang clan) shows up and the shit just gets weirder from there.  Jude tries to repossess the RZA's heart but a faulty defibrillator knocks Jude unconscious.  When he awakens, he finds that his Union bosses have put a new artificial heart in on his behalf.  I'm sure you can guess where it goes from there: Jude defaults on the payments, his old buddy Forrest comes after him, and he spends the second half of the film on the run.


Now, that's all fine and good but it was the ridiculous romantic storyline that killed it for me.  Jude, having been kicked out of the house by his wife and son, starts shacking up with a destitute woman who just happens to have about 10 different "artiforgs" (yeah, that's what they call them) in her.  Why he does is anybody's guess.  He first spots her at a bar near the beginning of the movie and gets completely entangled with her for the last half of the film.  No offense to the actress, but she's far from drop-dead gorgeous and her homeless living conditions aren't exactly a turn-on either.  But we're supposed to believe that Jude would totally give up on his wife and son and devote his life to this stranger.  Whatever.


I won't spoil the ending for you but suffice it to say that there's an intentional reason that Jude ended up with that artificial heart and there's a "twist" ending that you'll see coming from a mile away.


Bottom line: I'd watch it again...but I'm in no hurry.

WARNING: REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS


Finally got around to watching District 9 yesterday.  I wasn't sure what to expect.  When it first came out it looked like a barely passable run-of-the-mill sci-fi picture.  Then the buzz started to build that it was actually a really good sci-fi movie.  Well, that's all fine and good but, c'mon, The Matrix is a good science-fiction movie, too, but you wouldn't expect it to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.  But District 9 was nominated.  The only thing I knew about the movie was that it was some sort of allegory for apartheid.  I'll be honest, the only things I knew about apartheid was that it had something to do with South Africa and, by extension, something to do with Nelson Mandela (maybe I should watch Invictus next).


So I'll start my review with that topic; I really don't think this movie makes a statement about apartheid at all, and, while I haven't read or seen any interviews with the filmmakers, I would be surprised if that was even their intent.  The film does take inspiration for its setting from the South African apartheid, in that it involves a segregated slum set up for aliens, and the attempts made to forcefully relocate them (yeah, I did some research).


However, that's really not the plot of the movie at all.  The real plot of the movie is about one man, Wikus van de Merwe (played by South African actor Sharlto Copley), who is put in charge of the relocation and accidentally becomes infected with a compound that slowly begins to turn him into one of the aliens (called "prawns", their real name is never revealed). The government and the Nigerian mafia want him because he can operate prawn weaponry, something that no other human can do because they are biologically locked to prawn physiology.  In the meantime, one of the prawns named Christopher (Jason Cope) is obsessed with repairing a small ship hidden under his District 9 shack so that he can return to the mothership hovering over Johannesburg and use it return to his home planet.


Now I don't know about you but that sounds like a pretty mundane plot and, essentially, it is.  Where the movie excels, though, is through the clever documentary style in which it was filmed and in the superb performance from Copley in the lead role.  Especially in the beginning of the movie, when the world is still being set up for us, the documentary style is very effective.  If you didn't know better, you'd almost think that an alien spacecraft really did arrive in South Africa in 1982 and the world just went on ticking for the last 27 years.  That's part of the genius of leaving the setting in Johannesburg; I'm sure the filmmakers had to have felt studio pressure to move the action to the United States but they were right to stick to their guns (District 9 is based on a short called "Alive in Johannesburg").  Even though in District 9, aliens have been on Earth for nearly 3 decades, the world outside of South Africa is unchanged (we assume, the movie never implies otherwise).  The aliens showed up but they were nothing but a ragtag group of refugees and their ship was dead.  So they got herded up in a camp and forgotten about.  It's great because it's obviously not reality but there's no reason that it couldn't be, given the circumstances.  I was really impressed with Sharlto Copley; he shows great acting chops and I'm anxious to see his turn as Murdoch in The A-Team movie.  I think we're going to be seeing a lot more of this guy soon.


So in the end, is it a good movie?  Is it worth the hype?  The answers are yes and no.  District 9 is a decent enough movie and deserves to sit on your DVD shelf beside Blade Runner, Star Wars, and, yes, even The Matrix.  But I don't think it's a great, epic, unforgettable movie but any means.  So why all the hype?  I blame overblown politic agendas.  Did anyone see South Park on Wednesday with "The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs"?  The same things that episode pointed out regarding "The Catcher in the Rye" and the aforementioned "Scrotie McBoogerballs" happened to District 9.  I think Hollywood wanted to think the movie was a huge statement on injustice and humanity and, honestly, its not.  But the fact that a science-fiction film got the attention that it did is good for the entire genre so you won't hear me complain.


If you haven't watched it yet, give it rent.  Post your comments below--I'd love to know what you thought.