We just watched The Green Hornet starring Seth Rogen, Jay Chou and Cameron Diaz. Although the gadgets were kind of fun, the story was extremely predictable and the direction was off. The director had the actors try to talk over each other, probably to make it seem more realistic or something, but it didn't work. Seth Rogen was his typical self which got pretty tiring. Jay Chou was the best part of the show but the silly special effects threatened to ruin his martial arts scenes. Now, the part I just can't forgive: the car is loaded with gadgets and the Green Hornet is mega-rich...yet....Diaz has to FAX information to him! No email...FAX!!! WTF? There were a few other holes like this in the movie but this one really set me off.
Recently we watched Transformers 2. I didn't really like the first one with its extremely 2 dimensional characters and unbelievably cliche "secret FBI" characters, but the special effects of the transformers themselves were kind of neat. Why Michael Bay, the director, is at all celebrated is beyond me. What does Steven Spielberg see in him? In this sequel, Bay has the actors talk over each other, like the Green Hornet, but worse. We again have the secret FBI that somehow can pull rank on the highest military officers. We also have "comedy relief" in the form of a pair of twin car transformers with "black" voices, or voices that are trying desperately to be "street". I was just cringing and waiting for one of them to say "girrrl" or "it's about to get crazy up in here". They were simply awful. If you like seeing nearly everything exploding then this is an okay movie.
Another film we saw was Never Let Me Go. Now this film was very different. English students live, play and learn in a strange, extremely strict school. As they grow up we discover what their real purpose is. It was as if someone took the script from The Island (starring Ewen McGregor) and rewrote it to be a thoughtful piece about love and ethics. It was tenderly done and a very quiet, haunting film.
I liked the action, the fast pacing, the graphics work, and the music of the original Smoking Aces. Somehow I missed that someone decided to make a sequel Smoking Aces 2. This film was such a stinker we just couldn't even finish it. Everything was style over substance to such a degree it was rendered ridiculous. This was just a student's version of the first film with every lens trick, computer generated after effect, and horrendously poor scripting they could throw in.
On the other hand, the English film Layer Cake from 2004 starring Daniel Craig (007) and Colm Meaney (Deep Space 9) was pretty good if you can understand anything anyone says. The accents are so thick it's an anglophile's test. However, the storyline, acting and action are well done and Craig shows off how well he can create a character.
Speaking of Daniel Craig, we saw the Spielberg film Munich about the assassination of Jewish athletes in the 1970's Olympics and the following reprisals. Craig shows again that he is a consummate character actor. The film is good even if the script kind of plods along slowly. In a way, I actually prefer the 1980's version because it was much shorter.
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