Kathy Lin

I didn’t know anything about this movie when I went to go see it. I suppose a bit can be gained from the title, but I mainly went to see it because I love Edward Norton — his acting has great depth and oh, yeah, he’s really cute! I hesistate to say “hot” because he has more the look of a cunning intellectual.

Anyway, that segue aside, it was a pretty good movie. It was clever in the pacing and direction, but the plot was predictable (the title was a big hint) and the ending expected. The girl I am loved the happy ending, but I really felt sorry for the man that was the “bad guy” — the Crown Prince of Austria. He was basically set up — and suffered so that the protagonist, Edward (aka Isenheim the Illusionist) could be with his true love. Now, if it was really true love it would have found a way to let everyone be happy in a fair and just way.

Another movie is coming out this fall that also involves magicians (flavor of the month?) — The Prestige. We’ll see about that one when the time comes.

People say that if you liked Anchorman, you’ll like this movie.  Since I never saw the former, I can’t say.  Will Ferrell is funny enough in this movie, but he joins the list of stars who revel in the “I won’t grow up” roles (Vince Vaugn and Owen Wilson come to mind) and that’s pretty much who Ricky Bobby is.

Ricky grew up idolizing the parting words from his father (“if you’re not first, you’re last”), and is constantly yearning to be close to him, even though he’s basically a deadbeat who’s never around.  Of course, he bumbles his way into fame, fortune, and golddiggers while sacrificing the “nice girl”, his children, and his best friend.  Ah, but he’s so lovable that he eventually get all of them back (substitute golddigger with the hot nice girl) with lots of gags in between.

If you’re in the mood for no-think-summertime-splashed laughs, this is a good movie.  I had a lot of fun because I saw it with a good audience that did plenty of groaning and laughing.  That is always neat.

I think the only Kevin Smith movie I saw before this one was Dogma, which was really funny (and features a great scene involving Mooby’s, the restaurant the clerks are currently working at in this movie).

So, yeah, I saw Clerks II without seeing the original, which is quite good, according to an extremely informal survey conducted by me on my friends. Although Clerks II was funny enough (and bizarrely awkward at some points) it was quite “Hollywood.” You know, guy falls in love, guy gets the girl, and the main character(s) learn its best to loosen up and live life the way you want to, not the way society tells you to.

That being said, I’m sure this movie is missing a lot of the indie charm of Clerks. Acting was fine, there were some good lines and nerd-tastic scenes (debate on which is the “real” trilogy, Star Wars or Lord of the Rings), but overall, pretty generic storyline.

Oh, well. Now I guess I’ll have to see Clerks to get all of the inside jokes.

When Gary, my college roommate and I, went to go see Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, we were somewhat skeptical. Hell, I was really skeptical. Disney + Jerry Bruckheimer usually = crap. Also, the movie’s title is from a 30 year old ride and Disney World. But what a delightful surprise that first one was, thanks to Johnny Depp. So I went to go see POC: Dead Man’s Chest with a bit more enthusiasm.

Well, that was wasted. Ok, I admit that my first mistake was seeing it on opening weekend … without preordering tickets … and at a movie theatre that is attached to a mall that is rampant with teenagers. Conclusion: I got a really crappy seat. Somewhere along the lines of second row, two seats from the far right side.

That being aside, the plot was so very meh. Probably because (like Lord of the Rings) the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean movies were filmed at the same time. This sort of filmmaking always leaves the second part of a three part saga disappointing because of the cliffhanger (think Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back). Anyway, long story short, this movie had a shaky plot because a lot of the story remained unsaid. For instance, Davy Jones, the embodiment of the sea, decided to keep his most vital organ on the LAND he can’t step foot on save once a decade is beyond me. Why he would even let it out of his sight is a bit confusing as well.

Other gripes include: not enough screen time for Captain Jack, barely any character development for Will Turner (well, I suppose he had to deal with his dad suddenly showing up), lots of unnecessary footage (why put a dress floating in water on screen for so long), overdone computer graphics (look, we can make a guy look like a crusty barnacle or a hammerhead shark OR a ship’s hull), and no ending. Elizabeth was also all over the place with her love for Captain Jack and Will Turner (go figure – girl has to choose between shiny Good Guy (think Cyclops) and Hunky Bad Boy (think Wolverine).

At least Johnny Depp was still at his best, with even more sauntering and slurred speech.

Perhaps the final installment of this series will tie all the loose ends together. This movie ended with ::gasp:: the return of a Curse of the Black Pearl character and the possibility of finding dear Captain Jack, so I suppose I have something to look forward to.

Superman Returns! But alas, I was disappointed.

I write my thought as a rather uninformed viewer. I don’t read comics, and I don’t really remember the original Superman movies that well (the first came out in 1978 — almost 30 years ago). But I do know this one is supposed to take place after the events of Superman II.

Anyway, although there were apparantly a lot of homages paid to the previous version of Superman, I really felt like there was absolutely no real chemistry between any of the characters. Frankly, Lois was whiny and surly the entire movie. She barely pays any sort of attention to Clark, and they seem to have no relationship to speak of work or otherwise. I’m a bit disillusioned because I always thought she fell in love with Clark. After all, Clark always considers himself Clark first, and Superman second (see the Clark Kent subsection of the Wikipedia Superman article).

Lois also seems to be dumb as bricks. When investigating a strange yacht that could have potentially been the starting point of an unusual blackout, she decided to take her five year old kid along. Go figure that Lex Luther was hanging out on board.

Although Kevin Spacey did a good job as Lex Luther, what was the point of his minions? I agree Kitty was there for semi-comic relief, but the other three guys (one of which was Kumar from Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle) barely did anything and said even less. In fact, their only parts were just to exchange meaningful glances with each other, give menacing stares to Lois or Superman, or kick and punch Superman when he’s feeling low. Lame.

The special effects were fantastic, though. At least the shaky plot was coupled with some really neat scenes with lots of flying, explosions, and Superman looking cool in his outfit and perfectly placed lock of hair on his forehead.

The last thing that stood out to me was the retro-style opening credits. Very similar to how the new King Kong opened up. I guess the new-school way of opening a movie is the old-school way. Maybe it gives you more credibility? Or was it just another homage?