Man I'm getting slack with updating this thing, especially considering I saw both of these films over a week ago. So, that said, lets get straight into it;
X-men: First Class
Presuming all the X-men films are meant to be set in the same universe and follow the same canon, then we now have our fifth film in the series. In an unusual release format we've seen the original trilogy, followed by a prequel, followed by a prequel of a prequel. The first film was enjoyable fun, the second was a surprisingly better and deeper sequel, haven't seen the third, and the series defiantly went downhill with decent but unnecessarily convoluted Wolverine film. Fortunately, the series is now back on track with the best film in the series so far.
It starts off by laying the background for Eick Lehnsherr (Magneto) who, as a child sees his mother murdered in a Nazi concentration camp by another mutant named Sebastian Shaw whilst trying to get Erik to unleash his powers. Meanwhile, pre-teen Charles Xavier meets Raven (Mystique), and is relieved to find out he is not the only one with extraordinary abilities. Jump forward to almost 20 years later, Shaw and a group of other mutants are bent on mutant world domination through a careful plan of manipulating the worlds superpowers. Xavier is publishing a thesis on mutation, whilst Lehnsherr is tracking down Shaw to get his revenge. Xavier and Lehnsherr meet, and stat working together to stop Shaw. There's a whole bunch of other stuff going on too, but I think that's best left to the viewer to discover.
There's a lot to like about this movie. It tells a great story on an epic scale, but developing the two main characters from their childhood, and then showing them team together and learn from each other right up til the final battle, where, well I'm sure I'm not spoiling anything by saying they don't remain BFF's and live happily ever after. The film moves at a constant pace and theres some much happening and plenty of good action scenes, so there's no room for boredom. The usual X-men political themes and messages of accepting yourself and others for who they are are present, but I think they're looked at in a more poignant way than ever. I'm still waiting for a really awesome film to come out this year, and this one comes close to achieving that, however perhaps falls a little bit short due to the limitations of the genre. Still, it's my favourite film of 2011 so far.
**** out of *****
Rental - The Green Hornet
Before I say anything else I guess I need to mention that I'm not familiar with the Green Hornet character in anyway. I've never seen any movie, TV show or read any comic book featuring the character. Therefore, there's no nostalgia involved for me in watching this film, nor can I say how faithful the film is to the source material. So here we go.
The movie's about Britt Reid (Seth Rogan), who is a constant embarrassment to his father, a wealthy media... errr.... guy. When Britt's father dies, Britt inherits the fortune, and then for some reason decides to start fighting crime with Kato, a martial arts expert and his dad's mechanic. Their motivations escape me completely, however never mind that as they drive some TOTALLY BAD ASS cars in the process, and that's more important than storytelling, right?
The movie starts out pretty badly, with some cheesy soundtrack music, poor dialogue and boring action sequences that make it feel like a straight to DVD film rather than one that got an actual theatrical release. It's only really at the end where you're actually positioned to give a crap about what's going on, with a plot twist giving some depth to the character of the protagonist, and an over the top finale being a bit of fun. But it's a case of too little too late. It's hard to believe that the same guy who directed the emotional and visual roller coaster Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind directed this tosh.
**1/2 out of *****
Saturday, 25 June 2011
Sunday, 12 June 2011
DOUBLE FEATURE
I went and saw the following two movies within 24 hours of each other, so they may as well have been a double feature anyway. One was quite good. The other not so much...
Super 8
The new film from JJ Abrams (who, of course, was the creative force behind Lost), this feels like a total homage to 80's sci-fi and coming of age films. I've heard it described as a cross between Alien and ET, I'd throw Stand By Me into that equation as well. Set in 1979, it's basically about a bunch of young friends in a small town who decide to make a movie, and one night while filming a scene they witness a train crash. From there a whole bunch of weird stuff stats happening, with suitable doses of mystery, intrigue and suspense.
Coupled with the sci-fi thriller element of the film is the coming of age story of the friends who become caught up in the weird going ons, and the heart of the story (as far as I'm concerned anyway) is the friendship/romance between central protagonist Joe and Elle Fanning's character Alice. There is a quote from one of the characters early in the film that spells out in very simple terms why this film works and why I get frustrated with so many other sci-fi/action films. Whilst going about making their film, Joe's friend who is directing the film makes a comment something along the lines of "It doesn't feel like a story yet. When we give the main character a wife it will make people care about what happens because of their relationship." It's not quoted verbatim but you get the idea. We care about the predicament the characters are in simply because we care about the characters, and about tthe relationship at the heart of the film. For those people who still think The Expendables was a good movie, there's your answer right there as to why that movie sucked (not the only reason though, obviously). But anyway.
There are a surprising amount of themes on display in this movie; dealing with grief, growing up in a small town, bravery, the impact of father's behaviour on their children, and the treatment of people or things that you don't understand (as seen in the film's alien.) The problem is that it only really skims the surface of all these ideas, and doesn't delve deep enough to keep this viewer satisfied. Having said that, all the elements of this film combine nicely to make an overall enjoyable viewing experience, although it falls short of being an amazing one.
***1/2 out of *****
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Oh dear. Here we have what started as an immensely popular and respected family adventure movie that has now degenerated into a shameless attempt to cash in on the franchise with one of the most pointless, redundant sequel I've seen for a while. I wasn't planning on seeing this one after reading the bad reviews, however I was invited out with a group from work and figured why not. Why not indeed.
This film sees Blackbeard, the British Navy and the Spanish all on a quest to find the fountain of youth? Why? Because they can I guess. Jack Sparrow joins Blackbeard's crew, Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) joins the British, whilst the British are hardly seen. Kiera Knightly and Orlando Bloom are gone from this film, and although they played the most annoying characters in the original trilogy this film is somehow more annoying without them. Penelope Cruz joins the cast as Angelica, Sparrows former lover, and despite the writers best efforts to make their relationship a point of interest it fails miserably.
In stark contrast to Super 8, I was left wondering why I should care about anything that's going on. There's no warmth or depth to any of the characters or relationships, and there appears to be nothing at stake should they fail to find the fountain of youth. The only spark of humanity in the film is found in the relationship between a missionary on Blackbeard's crew and a mermaid (yep). There are plenty of pointless action scenes to stop you from falling asleep (Sparrow even gives a monologue before the final fight about how pointless it would be for them to all become involved - but they do anyway), and I'm sure a lot of people will argue that this film is just a bit of harmless fun. But without being set up to give a crap about anything that's happening I don't think that argument is sufficient.
** out of *****
Super 8
The new film from JJ Abrams (who, of course, was the creative force behind Lost), this feels like a total homage to 80's sci-fi and coming of age films. I've heard it described as a cross between Alien and ET, I'd throw Stand By Me into that equation as well. Set in 1979, it's basically about a bunch of young friends in a small town who decide to make a movie, and one night while filming a scene they witness a train crash. From there a whole bunch of weird stuff stats happening, with suitable doses of mystery, intrigue and suspense.
Coupled with the sci-fi thriller element of the film is the coming of age story of the friends who become caught up in the weird going ons, and the heart of the story (as far as I'm concerned anyway) is the friendship/romance between central protagonist Joe and Elle Fanning's character Alice. There is a quote from one of the characters early in the film that spells out in very simple terms why this film works and why I get frustrated with so many other sci-fi/action films. Whilst going about making their film, Joe's friend who is directing the film makes a comment something along the lines of "It doesn't feel like a story yet. When we give the main character a wife it will make people care about what happens because of their relationship." It's not quoted verbatim but you get the idea. We care about the predicament the characters are in simply because we care about the characters, and about tthe relationship at the heart of the film. For those people who still think The Expendables was a good movie, there's your answer right there as to why that movie sucked (not the only reason though, obviously). But anyway.
There are a surprising amount of themes on display in this movie; dealing with grief, growing up in a small town, bravery, the impact of father's behaviour on their children, and the treatment of people or things that you don't understand (as seen in the film's alien.) The problem is that it only really skims the surface of all these ideas, and doesn't delve deep enough to keep this viewer satisfied. Having said that, all the elements of this film combine nicely to make an overall enjoyable viewing experience, although it falls short of being an amazing one.
***1/2 out of *****
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Oh dear. Here we have what started as an immensely popular and respected family adventure movie that has now degenerated into a shameless attempt to cash in on the franchise with one of the most pointless, redundant sequel I've seen for a while. I wasn't planning on seeing this one after reading the bad reviews, however I was invited out with a group from work and figured why not. Why not indeed.
This film sees Blackbeard, the British Navy and the Spanish all on a quest to find the fountain of youth? Why? Because they can I guess. Jack Sparrow joins Blackbeard's crew, Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) joins the British, whilst the British are hardly seen. Kiera Knightly and Orlando Bloom are gone from this film, and although they played the most annoying characters in the original trilogy this film is somehow more annoying without them. Penelope Cruz joins the cast as Angelica, Sparrows former lover, and despite the writers best efforts to make their relationship a point of interest it fails miserably.
In stark contrast to Super 8, I was left wondering why I should care about anything that's going on. There's no warmth or depth to any of the characters or relationships, and there appears to be nothing at stake should they fail to find the fountain of youth. The only spark of humanity in the film is found in the relationship between a missionary on Blackbeard's crew and a mermaid (yep). There are plenty of pointless action scenes to stop you from falling asleep (Sparrow even gives a monologue before the final fight about how pointless it would be for them to all become involved - but they do anyway), and I'm sure a lot of people will argue that this film is just a bit of harmless fun. But without being set up to give a crap about anything that's happening I don't think that argument is sufficient.
** out of *****
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
The Hangover: Part II
When I first saw that this movie was coming out my initial reaction was "Does The Hangover really need a sequel?" As much as I enjoyed the first one (even if it was a bit overrated) I figured that unless they took the characters and placed them in a completely different situation the film would be in danger of being to similar to the original. However, being completely bored last Friday night I found myself sitting in the late session (which was surprisingly busy) up the back waiting to see what they had to offer.
And, you know what, it was pretty much a carbon copy of the original, only this time a different guy is getting married, the soon to be son in law goes missing, and it's set in Bangkok not Vegas. What felt like a fresh and interesting formula the first time (even though the whole bucks party gone wrong concept has been done before) just felt like a rehash this time.
Like the first one there were admittedly quite a few laugh out loud moments, although some jokes missed the mark, and some pushed the bar a bit too far (jokes involving Thai ladyboys sound like any ones idea of a good laugh?) For a boring Friday night this was a bit of fun, although it's more along the lines of "Wait for DVD and veg out at home" Friday night fun that "Sit in a cinema full of middle aged couples who find the aforementioned jokes funny" Friday night fun. If there's a Hangover 3 I expect I'll be taking my own advice here.
*** out of *****
Also, even though I watched Winters Bone and said I'd write about it, I decided not to as a I wasn't really in the right mood while watching it, and therefore wouldn't be doing it any justice. I'll probably rent it out again some day and give it my full attention.
And, you know what, it was pretty much a carbon copy of the original, only this time a different guy is getting married, the soon to be son in law goes missing, and it's set in Bangkok not Vegas. What felt like a fresh and interesting formula the first time (even though the whole bucks party gone wrong concept has been done before) just felt like a rehash this time.
Like the first one there were admittedly quite a few laugh out loud moments, although some jokes missed the mark, and some pushed the bar a bit too far (jokes involving Thai ladyboys sound like any ones idea of a good laugh?) For a boring Friday night this was a bit of fun, although it's more along the lines of "Wait for DVD and veg out at home" Friday night fun that "Sit in a cinema full of middle aged couples who find the aforementioned jokes funny" Friday night fun. If there's a Hangover 3 I expect I'll be taking my own advice here.
*** out of *****
Also, even though I watched Winters Bone and said I'd write about it, I decided not to as a I wasn't really in the right mood while watching it, and therefore wouldn't be doing it any justice. I'll probably rent it out again some day and give it my full attention.
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Source Code & Water for Elephants
Blast. I said a week ago I'd write "definitely" write something about Source Code if I saw it, and here I am a week later having written nothing. Poor effort. I've got two to write about now.
Source Code
I've seen some people throwing around the idea that Source Code is this years Inception, seeing as it's a "smart" sci-fi film, or whatever. I'd call it a cross between Inception, Groundhog Day, and some spy mystery film (I can't think of a good film as an example of that genre). The basic premises of this film is that there has been a terrorist attack against a train in Chicago, and there a fears of further attacks. The powers that be in America have developed a program that allows someone to connect with the brain patterns of one of the passengers for the last eight minutes of his life, and effectively live as him and experience everything on the train in an attempt to discover who the bomber is. The subject is able to live the same 8 minutes over and over again until the truth is discovered, hence the Groundhog Day element An army helicopter pilot named Colter Stevens, played by Jake Gyellenhaal, is the subject of this exercise, and takes of the body of deceased teacher Sean Fentress.
The audience are slowly drip fed new information regarding this whole operation, and needless to say there are loads of plot twist and red herrings, and to go much further into the plot would be to spoil it. It's fair to say that this film moves at a million miles an hour, and the edge of your seat suspense hardly lets up for a moment. But what is also so good about this movie is watching the character of Colter develop as he comes to grips with his situation, interacts with passenger Christina Warren (Michelle Monaghan), and deals with the regrets of the state he left his relationship with his father in before he left to serve his country.
As the thrill die down toward the end of the film, the tone shifts from action suspense to pathos quite brilliantly, and starts to reflect on the nature of life and death. However, without giving anything away, just when the film feels like it has the perfect ending, it goes for another five minutes and ends.... well... I have to say that the ending really annoyed me, and I've had to drop off half a star because of it.I can't really fault the film up to this point, and I thought this was overall a great film. I just don't know why they insisted on such an insipid ending.
**** out of *****
Water for Elephants
Hmmmm. Mixed feelings about this one. It's about Robert Pattinson's character, who runs away from home and joins the circus (yah rly) after his parents die in car crash, and he falls in love with Reece Witherspoon's character. Except she's married to Christoph Waltz's nutbag character. And yeah, there's an elephant.
On the one hand it's a very technically competent attempt at making an old fashioned style film, and reminds me of modern films such as Forrest Gump, The Green Mile, Big Fish and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. On the other hand while the imagination and characters in those films almost lept off the screen, this one just seems to plod along in a fairly safe and methodical, and lacks that special something to really hook you in. The characters for the most part aren't overly interesting, and the relationship between Pattinson and Witherspoons' characters just doesn't make you care. Whether this is due to a lack of chemistry or something else entirely I'm not sure.
The main driving point of the film actually seems to be the relationship between the central cast and the elephant, and that component does raise the film above mediocrity. Also, Christoph Waltz give a pretty great performance. I'd say this one fits nicely into the "Wait for DVD" category.
*** out of *****
Next review to come will be the rental "Winters Bone." See ya later.
Source Code
I've seen some people throwing around the idea that Source Code is this years Inception, seeing as it's a "smart" sci-fi film, or whatever. I'd call it a cross between Inception, Groundhog Day, and some spy mystery film (I can't think of a good film as an example of that genre). The basic premises of this film is that there has been a terrorist attack against a train in Chicago, and there a fears of further attacks. The powers that be in America have developed a program that allows someone to connect with the brain patterns of one of the passengers for the last eight minutes of his life, and effectively live as him and experience everything on the train in an attempt to discover who the bomber is. The subject is able to live the same 8 minutes over and over again until the truth is discovered, hence the Groundhog Day element An army helicopter pilot named Colter Stevens, played by Jake Gyellenhaal, is the subject of this exercise, and takes of the body of deceased teacher Sean Fentress.
The audience are slowly drip fed new information regarding this whole operation, and needless to say there are loads of plot twist and red herrings, and to go much further into the plot would be to spoil it. It's fair to say that this film moves at a million miles an hour, and the edge of your seat suspense hardly lets up for a moment. But what is also so good about this movie is watching the character of Colter develop as he comes to grips with his situation, interacts with passenger Christina Warren (Michelle Monaghan), and deals with the regrets of the state he left his relationship with his father in before he left to serve his country.
As the thrill die down toward the end of the film, the tone shifts from action suspense to pathos quite brilliantly, and starts to reflect on the nature of life and death. However, without giving anything away, just when the film feels like it has the perfect ending, it goes for another five minutes and ends.... well... I have to say that the ending really annoyed me, and I've had to drop off half a star because of it.I can't really fault the film up to this point, and I thought this was overall a great film. I just don't know why they insisted on such an insipid ending.
**** out of *****
Water for Elephants
Hmmmm. Mixed feelings about this one. It's about Robert Pattinson's character, who runs away from home and joins the circus (yah rly) after his parents die in car crash, and he falls in love with Reece Witherspoon's character. Except she's married to Christoph Waltz's nutbag character. And yeah, there's an elephant.
On the one hand it's a very technically competent attempt at making an old fashioned style film, and reminds me of modern films such as Forrest Gump, The Green Mile, Big Fish and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. On the other hand while the imagination and characters in those films almost lept off the screen, this one just seems to plod along in a fairly safe and methodical, and lacks that special something to really hook you in. The characters for the most part aren't overly interesting, and the relationship between Pattinson and Witherspoons' characters just doesn't make you care. Whether this is due to a lack of chemistry or something else entirely I'm not sure.
The main driving point of the film actually seems to be the relationship between the central cast and the elephant, and that component does raise the film above mediocrity. Also, Christoph Waltz give a pretty great performance. I'd say this one fits nicely into the "Wait for DVD" category.
*** out of *****
Next review to come will be the rental "Winters Bone." See ya later.
Thursday, 12 May 2011
Multiple Reviews
I've fallen way behind with my goal to write a review of every new film I see for the first time, So I've got a few to do at once. I guess they'll be fairly short as they're not as fresh in my mind as they should be
Rental - Cemetery Junction
Being a big fan of Ricky Gervais I'd wanted to watch this for a while after first seeing it at the video shop, but it took me a few months to actually rent it out. It's only Gervais' second attempt at writing/directing a film after the decent but somewhat disappointing The Invention of Lying. While Gervais wrote and directed that film with some other guy, he shared writing and directing credits on Cemetery Junction with his usual writing partner, Stephen Merchant, so I was almost certain it would be better and more true to his usual style.
The main difference between the two films is probably that while Invention of Lying was a comedy with a pretty ridiculous premises, Cemetery Junction is a much more serious coming of age film, a dramadey if you like. It's about three friends, Freddie, Bruce and Snork, who are all young and stuck in the dead end town of Cemetery Junction. Freddie is determined not to follow in the footpaths of his blue collar father (played by Gervais who is surprisingly only playing a supporting character), Bruce appears fairly apathetic about where his life is going (despite his protests otherwise) and blames his dad for his mum leaving, and snork is basically the loser/sidekick/comic relief character. Freddie ends up falling in love with Julie, which leaves him with some hard decisions about where he's going to take his life.
Although the themes aren't exactly original (the movie reminds me a bit of The Graduate amongst others), I really cared about the journey they went on, and the move is full of the usual Gervais humor. The cinematography is beautiful and some really good selections were made for the soundtrack (I loved the choice of Bowie near the end). Well worth watching.
***1/2 out of *****
Thor
And the summer block busters have arrive (even though it's not summer yet and they're actually the winter blockbusters in Australia.) This is the continuation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe series, which started with Iron Man, continued with The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2, and will continue after Thor with the Captain America and Avengers films, and probably others as well.
Not being a reader of Marvel comics puts me in the fortunate position to judge these movies objectively, and without the "They changed the character's personalities and motives, and they messed with the continuity THIS REALLY ISN'T LIKE THE COMIC BOOK AT ALL AGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" attitude that you get from the comic book crowd. Fidelity to the source material should never be taken into consideration when judging the quality of a film. Anyway, the back story at the start of this film explains that Thor and his other buddies who reside in Asgard are actually just extra powerful beings from another dimension who were worshiped as deities by the vikings because they didn't know otherwise. Of course. The Asgardians are at war with the Frost Giants, and after Thor tries to challenge them against his father Odin's will he is exiled to Earth for his arrogant insubordination, and the fish out of water storyline begins.
The scenes in Asgard quite visually impressive in 3D, and there's plenty of action to keep the movie exiting. While I do enjoy these fish out of water story lines the movie was at it's strongest whist delivering the action scenes. Thor's transformation from arrogant jerk to compassionate comes about through his relationship with Natalie Portman's character, and I don't think this element of the film was handled overly well. Also, while Chris Hemsworth is competent as Thor, he doesn't have the charisma as Robert Downy Jr as Iron Man or the serious character study approach the Edward Norton brought to Hulk (although this obviously has a lot do with the script as well.) Overall though, this is a good action packed addition to to the Marvel Cinematic storyline whatever it's called, and is worth seeing at the cinema if only because it won't be as visually impressive on DVD.
***1/2 out of *****
Rental - Monsters
This one got some critical attention for being a quality low budget film whilst at the cinemas in 2010 although I missed it at the time. The basic idea of the film is that the northern part of Mexico has been invaded by aliens, and is now an "Infected Zone" or something like that, and the male lead, Andrew, is sent by his boss to pick up the female lead, his daughter Samantha who is stuck in Mexico and to bring her back to the USA. Considering the critical acclaim I expected more from this move. As a sci-fi thriller there's not enough action or suspense. As a romance story/character study not enough time is devoted to making us care about the relationship, and the character of Andrew is fleshed out more than Samantha. And as a political metaphor the movie feels confused and makes no strong comment on anything. However when all of these elements are taken together, and coupled with the fact that the film is a pretty original idea and is quite pretty to look at, it makes for overall fairly enjoyable viewing.
*** out of *****
Paul
This is a movie about a foul mouthed alien voiced by Seth Rogan, and that should be a strong indication as to whether you will enjoy this move or not, and I loved it. Written by and starring Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, I've enjoyed their previous work together (Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) and this one is no less hilarious. A homage to everything nerdy, including a sci-fi theme and nerdy main characters, numerous quotes and references to sci-fi films, scenes at Comic Con and, errr, nerdy cameos (I can't think of a better expression at 1.30am). There are plenty of digs at Christianity, because of couse all Christians are unintelligent, uneducated backward hicks who need smug, enlightened comedians to point out their stupidity. I find this a bit off putting, although some of the digs are admittedly pretty funny. I don't have much more to say about this move, other than it's hilarious. See it while it's still at the cinemas.
**** out of *****
Rental - Life As We Know It
Just watched this one, so it's still fairly fresh in my mind unlike the others. It was picked out by the wife, and I agreed to watch it as I think it's fair to give any movie a chance, no matter how bad it looks. This one is a romantic comedy, so of course it has Katherine Heigl in it. Josh Duhamel plays the male lead. They both meet through mutual friends who think they might hit it off, however instantly dislike each. However, when their mutual friends die they leave custody of their child to both of them jointly, and the rest of the film writes itself, as they move into the late couples house to raise the child
The premises of the movie is pretty hard to believe, however after starting slowly you do begin to care about the couple, and Heigl and Duhamel have pretty good chemistry together (unlike another Heigl rom-com, The Ugly Truth, where she had zero chemistry with Gerard Butler.) Also, amongst all of the gay jokes, stoner jokes, baby poop and vomit jokes there is some legitimate humor to be found.
However, there are formulaic and cliched elements aplenty on show here, and at the end of the day this is just another standard rom-com churned out by the sausage factory. It's not an especially bad one, but it's not an especially gone one either. If you can't get enough of the basic romantic comedy formula you're sure to this enjoy this though.
**1/2 out of *****
That's it for now, I'm going to bed. I plan on seeing Source Code today, and if I do I'll defiantly write something about it.
Rental - Cemetery Junction
Being a big fan of Ricky Gervais I'd wanted to watch this for a while after first seeing it at the video shop, but it took me a few months to actually rent it out. It's only Gervais' second attempt at writing/directing a film after the decent but somewhat disappointing The Invention of Lying. While Gervais wrote and directed that film with some other guy, he shared writing and directing credits on Cemetery Junction with his usual writing partner, Stephen Merchant, so I was almost certain it would be better and more true to his usual style.
The main difference between the two films is probably that while Invention of Lying was a comedy with a pretty ridiculous premises, Cemetery Junction is a much more serious coming of age film, a dramadey if you like. It's about three friends, Freddie, Bruce and Snork, who are all young and stuck in the dead end town of Cemetery Junction. Freddie is determined not to follow in the footpaths of his blue collar father (played by Gervais who is surprisingly only playing a supporting character), Bruce appears fairly apathetic about where his life is going (despite his protests otherwise) and blames his dad for his mum leaving, and snork is basically the loser/sidekick/comic relief character. Freddie ends up falling in love with Julie, which leaves him with some hard decisions about where he's going to take his life.
Although the themes aren't exactly original (the movie reminds me a bit of The Graduate amongst others), I really cared about the journey they went on, and the move is full of the usual Gervais humor. The cinematography is beautiful and some really good selections were made for the soundtrack (I loved the choice of Bowie near the end). Well worth watching.
***1/2 out of *****
Thor
And the summer block busters have arrive (even though it's not summer yet and they're actually the winter blockbusters in Australia.) This is the continuation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe series, which started with Iron Man, continued with The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2, and will continue after Thor with the Captain America and Avengers films, and probably others as well.
Not being a reader of Marvel comics puts me in the fortunate position to judge these movies objectively, and without the "They changed the character's personalities and motives, and they messed with the continuity THIS REALLY ISN'T LIKE THE COMIC BOOK AT ALL AGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" attitude that you get from the comic book crowd. Fidelity to the source material should never be taken into consideration when judging the quality of a film. Anyway, the back story at the start of this film explains that Thor and his other buddies who reside in Asgard are actually just extra powerful beings from another dimension who were worshiped as deities by the vikings because they didn't know otherwise. Of course. The Asgardians are at war with the Frost Giants, and after Thor tries to challenge them against his father Odin's will he is exiled to Earth for his arrogant insubordination, and the fish out of water storyline begins.
The scenes in Asgard quite visually impressive in 3D, and there's plenty of action to keep the movie exiting. While I do enjoy these fish out of water story lines the movie was at it's strongest whist delivering the action scenes. Thor's transformation from arrogant jerk to compassionate comes about through his relationship with Natalie Portman's character, and I don't think this element of the film was handled overly well. Also, while Chris Hemsworth is competent as Thor, he doesn't have the charisma as Robert Downy Jr as Iron Man or the serious character study approach the Edward Norton brought to Hulk (although this obviously has a lot do with the script as well.) Overall though, this is a good action packed addition to to the Marvel Cinematic storyline whatever it's called, and is worth seeing at the cinema if only because it won't be as visually impressive on DVD.
***1/2 out of *****
Rental - Monsters
This one got some critical attention for being a quality low budget film whilst at the cinemas in 2010 although I missed it at the time. The basic idea of the film is that the northern part of Mexico has been invaded by aliens, and is now an "Infected Zone" or something like that, and the male lead, Andrew, is sent by his boss to pick up the female lead, his daughter Samantha who is stuck in Mexico and to bring her back to the USA. Considering the critical acclaim I expected more from this move. As a sci-fi thriller there's not enough action or suspense. As a romance story/character study not enough time is devoted to making us care about the relationship, and the character of Andrew is fleshed out more than Samantha. And as a political metaphor the movie feels confused and makes no strong comment on anything. However when all of these elements are taken together, and coupled with the fact that the film is a pretty original idea and is quite pretty to look at, it makes for overall fairly enjoyable viewing.
*** out of *****
Paul
This is a movie about a foul mouthed alien voiced by Seth Rogan, and that should be a strong indication as to whether you will enjoy this move or not, and I loved it. Written by and starring Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, I've enjoyed their previous work together (Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) and this one is no less hilarious. A homage to everything nerdy, including a sci-fi theme and nerdy main characters, numerous quotes and references to sci-fi films, scenes at Comic Con and, errr, nerdy cameos (I can't think of a better expression at 1.30am). There are plenty of digs at Christianity, because of couse all Christians are unintelligent, uneducated backward hicks who need smug, enlightened comedians to point out their stupidity. I find this a bit off putting, although some of the digs are admittedly pretty funny. I don't have much more to say about this move, other than it's hilarious. See it while it's still at the cinemas.
**** out of *****
Rental - Life As We Know It
Just watched this one, so it's still fairly fresh in my mind unlike the others. It was picked out by the wife, and I agreed to watch it as I think it's fair to give any movie a chance, no matter how bad it looks. This one is a romantic comedy, so of course it has Katherine Heigl in it. Josh Duhamel plays the male lead. They both meet through mutual friends who think they might hit it off, however instantly dislike each. However, when their mutual friends die they leave custody of their child to both of them jointly, and the rest of the film writes itself, as they move into the late couples house to raise the child
The premises of the movie is pretty hard to believe, however after starting slowly you do begin to care about the couple, and Heigl and Duhamel have pretty good chemistry together (unlike another Heigl rom-com, The Ugly Truth, where she had zero chemistry with Gerard Butler.) Also, amongst all of the gay jokes, stoner jokes, baby poop and vomit jokes there is some legitimate humor to be found.
However, there are formulaic and cliched elements aplenty on show here, and at the end of the day this is just another standard rom-com churned out by the sausage factory. It's not an especially bad one, but it's not an especially gone one either. If you can't get enough of the basic romantic comedy formula you're sure to this enjoy this though.
**1/2 out of *****
That's it for now, I'm going to bed. I plan on seeing Source Code today, and if I do I'll defiantly write something about it.
Friday, 22 April 2011
Suckerpunch
When I was 12 years old I was a massive fan of action movies. I watched nothing else, and I used to devote a good amount of time to imaging the most awesome action scenes my 12 year old brain would allow, and wish like crazy I would have the opportunity to make a movie with such genius. Of course, I wouldn't have had a clue how to string those action scenes together with character or cohesive plot. And I give you Suckerpunch.
Because basically, that's what this movie feels like. A bunch of random action scenes thrown together with some scantily clad women, no bothersome storyline to worry about and you've gor]t your perfect 12 year old male fantasy wish fulfilment. This was actually the first movie of 2011 that I was looking forward to, and I was hoping that the director of 300 and Dawn of the Dead would give us this over the top fun ride like Kick Ass was last year. However whilst Kick Ass had funny dialogue, characters I cared about and a solid plot to string the over the topness (is that a valid expression?) together, Suckerpunch had none of the above.
Not much can be said about the film without giving stuff away (not that there's much to give away) but basically there's a bunch of orphan girls in a whore house/burlesque house, they want to escape and start using their imagination alot. And that's where the pointless, but admittedly awesome, action scenes come in. And I can defiantly commend the film for these scenes, as they are very pretty and imaginative and a lot of fun to watch. The films structure of having these random action scenes interspersed throughout the film feels as though the director is trying to "video game for the big screen" or something like that, but if wanted to watch a video game, I would have rented one out instead and had more fun controlling the action myself. Also, alot of video games have better plots than the weak excuse for a story that holds the action scenes together.
The ending of the film almost seems to insult the audiences intelligence by trying to make out that the film is really much deeper than it appears, but I doubt that anyone was fooled. The film seems to be trying to send a message of women's lib or female empowerment or something, but maybe I could have care more about this if I cared at all about the characters. Apart from a short opening sequence showing how the main character, Baby Doll" came to be in her situation, we don't really find out anything about the characters at all.
If I had to describe this film in one word it would be garbage. If I had to describe it in two words it would be tolerable garbage. I'm sure some people will overlook this films many flaws due to the impressive action scenes and the fact there are some somewhat original ideas on display here, but I can't. I can't really give the film any less than two stars due to how good the action scenes were, but that all it's getting.
** out of *****
Because basically, that's what this movie feels like. A bunch of random action scenes thrown together with some scantily clad women, no bothersome storyline to worry about and you've gor]t your perfect 12 year old male fantasy wish fulfilment. This was actually the first movie of 2011 that I was looking forward to, and I was hoping that the director of 300 and Dawn of the Dead would give us this over the top fun ride like Kick Ass was last year. However whilst Kick Ass had funny dialogue, characters I cared about and a solid plot to string the over the topness (is that a valid expression?) together, Suckerpunch had none of the above.
Not much can be said about the film without giving stuff away (not that there's much to give away) but basically there's a bunch of orphan girls in a whore house/burlesque house, they want to escape and start using their imagination alot. And that's where the pointless, but admittedly awesome, action scenes come in. And I can defiantly commend the film for these scenes, as they are very pretty and imaginative and a lot of fun to watch. The films structure of having these random action scenes interspersed throughout the film feels as though the director is trying to "video game for the big screen" or something like that, but if wanted to watch a video game, I would have rented one out instead and had more fun controlling the action myself. Also, alot of video games have better plots than the weak excuse for a story that holds the action scenes together.
The ending of the film almost seems to insult the audiences intelligence by trying to make out that the film is really much deeper than it appears, but I doubt that anyone was fooled. The film seems to be trying to send a message of women's lib or female empowerment or something, but maybe I could have care more about this if I cared at all about the characters. Apart from a short opening sequence showing how the main character, Baby Doll" came to be in her situation, we don't really find out anything about the characters at all.
If I had to describe this film in one word it would be garbage. If I had to describe it in two words it would be tolerable garbage. I'm sure some people will overlook this films many flaws due to the impressive action scenes and the fact there are some somewhat original ideas on display here, but I can't. I can't really give the film any less than two stars due to how good the action scenes were, but that all it's getting.
** out of *****
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Wrestlemnia 27
First cab off the rank will be Wrestlemania 27, which aired live in Australia on Monday 04/04/2011. A week and a half later M memory of the event is naturally a little hazy, but I'll endeavour to do my best.
The show starts with the Rock coming out as the host of Wrestlemania and cutting a promo which, by the Rock's standards, was pretty standard and uninteristing, mainly talking about how he hates John Cena I think. They also do a bunch of backtage segments with the Rock during the show (one including Pee Wee Herman!), all of which are pretty dumb, except for his brief encounter with Stone Cold, which was really nostalgic and awesome.
Match #1 - Edge vs Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship
Edge is champion going in. Bizarre decision to start the show with this match, gone are the days when the Royal Rumble winner always faces the champion in the main event, which is a shame. I didn't even know who Alberto Del Rio was until he won the Royal Rumble this year, turns out he's a pretty decent in ring worker who plays a good heel, complete with his own ring announcer who speaks in Spanish which always makes the crowd boo him for some reason. Unfortunately I think Del Rio was a bit nervous competing in his first Wrestlemania match, as he looked awkward and sloppy at times. Edge was his usual self, and this match was a pretty good opener, a couple of legitimate near falls from memory, although Edge completely no sold whatever body part Del Rio was working on. Del Rio's good, but not ready for the title methinks so the right decision was made not to give it to him. ***1/4
Now that Edge has retired the week following this match it's sad that this was his last match. He was defiantly one of the WWE's best talent of the last 10 years, and was one of the main reasons to watch the WWE's current product.
Match #2 - Rey Mysterio vs Cody Rhodes
This was just a match, nothing bad but nothing really great either, which really reflects Cody Rhodes as a wrestler, nothing special about the guy but at the same time he holds his own. Rey's usual shenanigans elevate the match from being below average but, if we're being honest, he's not really close to being the performer he was 10 - 15 years ago, despite the WWE's constant touting of his "High flying antics" or whatever. **1/2
Match # 3 - Kane, Big Show, Kofi Kingston and Santino Marella vs The Corre (Ezekiel Jackson, Wade Barrett, Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater)
I'd worked night shift the night before watching Wrestlemania and, of course, fell asleep briefly whilst watching it and slept right through this match. Thanks to Foxtel IQ I rewound it and discovered why, it lasted all of 1 minute 35 seconds. I'm going to call this the contractual obligation match as I can't think of any other reason why they would bring 8 guys out to compete in a match where basically nothing happened and didn't even last as long as Snooki's match. I'm pretty sure the Corre are all guys from NXT, the WWE's "reality"
show about new wrestlers. Stupid. DUD
Match #4 - CM Punk vs Randy Orton
I like CM Punk a lot and hate Randy Orton a lot, and so had mixed feelings about this match up. Turns out it was a pretty decent match, with CM Punk dominating most of the match up beating the crap out of Orton's injury with some really stiff blows, and Orton selling like crazy (I at least respect him for that). The ending also made sense with Orton sucking up the pain and hitting his finisher (RKO) out of nowhere after Punk had tried everything else to beat him. ***
I think it was around this time that they had the Hall of Fame segment. Shawn Michaels is the main inductee after retiring at Wrestlemania last year. Drew Carey is the celebrity inductee because he was once in a Royal Rumble or something, and is appropriately booed by the crowd. I hope the boos were directed at the WWE's bizarre decision to induct him rather than at Carey himself, as it's not his fault.
Match #5 - Jerry Lawler vs Michael Cole w/ Stone Cold Steve Austin as Referee
A certain amount of nostalgia for me with this match, Stone Cold was the biggest star when I started watch wrestling 12 or so years ago, and Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole were the main commentators. Jerry Lawler always played the bad guy (heel) commentator and Michael Cole the good guy (babyface) commentator. Here their roles are reversed, which is how it should be because everyone always hated Cole and loved Lawler anyway. This is the "Sports Entertainment" match that they seem to have at Wrestlemania every year, where they use guys who aren't necessarily wrestlers (eg. in that past they have used Vince McMahon) and use minimal wrestling moves, instead attempting to make the match entertaining by having guest referees, a few big spots, people interfering in the match etc. Given that, this match was a monumental failure. It wasn't in the least bit entertaining, lasted way too long, and featured an incredibly stupid ending where the result of the match was overturned by the "Anonymous Raw General Manager" because Austin gave Cole a Stunner and thus Lawler, who originally won, was disqualified. Lawler and Austin consume copious amount of alcohol after the match, which of course fits in nicely with the new "PG, family friendly" attitude of the WWE. Austin came to the ring on a quad bike before the match for no reason, and following the match Booker T gets into the ring for no reason and gets a stunner from Austin for no reason. I can think of absolutely no reason why this match took place. DUD
Match #6 - Triple H vs The Undertaker No Holds Barred
Well, this was t\he obviously the match that the WWE would give the most time to and attempt to make the match of the night. It's a well known fact that these two guys have the most say over what happens with their matches/story lines, as Triple H is the Boss's Son in Law and The Undertaker has been around forever and is immensely popular, however they both seem to only pop up every now and then these days. A lot of people dubbed Undertaker and Shawn Michael's match at Wrestlemania 25 one the of the best Wrestlemania matches ever, and I was hoping that HHH's ego would lead him to try and outdo his best friend and, well, he certainly gave it a try.
Undertaker's story is obviously that he has never been beaten at Wrestlemania, and is defending his "streak." Triple H thinks he's the one to end the streak, after his bestie Shawn failed to do so twice, and subsequently was "forced" to retire. The match starts with some typical brawling in the ring, the Undertaker uses "Old School", aka the most pointless move in wrestling, then some brawling out of the ring, featuring the obligatory wrestler being thrown into the steel stairs and the destruction of the Spanish Announce Table. They then go back into ring a begin the standard finisher/kick out/finisher/reverse/kick out repeat sequence (Undertaker choke slam HHH kick out - HHH Spinebuster Undertaker Kick out - Undertaker attempt last ride HHH reverse - HHH attempt pedigree Undertaker reverse - HHH successfully hits pedigree Undertaker kicks out - Undertaker Hits last ride HHH kicks out - Undertaker hits Tombstone HHH kicks out, or something like that.) A standard match probably would have finished with the Undertaker's tombstone, and would have still been three stars if they had ended it there. However, they then begin the extended epic finish which will either make or break the match. After recovering from the tombstone HHH hits Undertaker with two more pedigrees, and after the second one I was pretty sure that the streak was over but Undertaker kicks out. HHH can't believe it and decides he's going to finish Undertaker with his own move and Tombstones him, at which point I'm certain the match is over but Undertaker kicks out again. HHH now has no idea what to do so starts pummelling Undertaker with a chair, but still can't get Undertaker to stay down. During this whole time Undertaker is selling the fact that he is completely spent like a madman, so well in fact that several people who saw the show seem to have thought he was legitimately injured. Anyway, at some point Undertaker, unable to stand up and with the last remaining energy he has, gets HHH to the floor and traps him in his choke hold, which he calls "Hell's Gate", and, after struggling for a while, HHH taps. After the match Undertaker is carried from the ring and seriously looks dead. I can understand why some people thought it was legit.
The beauty of this match was the story being told of how important the streak was to Undertaker. A regular match would have see him lose after 2 pedigrees, but they then have him kick out of a third pedigree and a tombstone which, in wrestling world, would leave you at best completely unconscious and unable to move for five minutes. But Undertaker somehow found the energy to keep going because the streak means THAT much to him. Also, the ending was great as the only possible way Undertaker could win would be to trap him with his submission finisher on the floor as he couldn't even begin to stand up. The negative element of the match was that there was a lot a of time spent lying around doing nothing, although this was important to show the toll the match had taken on them. I may need to see the match again, but for the moment I'm going ****3/4
Match #7 - Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, John Morrison, and Trish Stratus Vs Dolph Ziggler and Laycool (Layla and Michelle McCool)
Snooki is apparently from reality show Jersey Shore, but I wouldn't know about that. Vickie Guerrero shakes her head as Snooki comes to the ring, and I can't help but agree. Not because I have anything against her, I don't even know who she is, but I just don't know why the WWE insist on having these celebrity matches at Wrestlemania each year, surely they don't generate enough extra buys of the show to justify the money they spend on the celebrities appearance. Anyway, the match at least features a little wrestling, more than the 4 man tag match, so is instantly better. Snooki gets booed despite being on the babyface team, until she show off her gymnastics skills which seems to impress the crowd. Really a waste of time though, they could have had an actual match in the space they used for this and the 4 man tag. 3/4*
Match #8 - The Miz vs John Cena for the WWE Championship
This is the main event, and Miz is champion going in. A pretty cool video package was put together for The Miz before his entrance, whilst Cena has a weird religious video and a gospel choir for his entrance. What the? Anyway, I'm not a massive fan of either wrestler, although Cena does know how to work the big matches better than a lot of other guys. They wrestle a decent, although fairly predictable match for a while, which for some reason the crowd just isn't into, before they both get counted out and the match is declared a draw. At this point I'm thinking "If this is how they end Wrestlemania I'll give all my belongings away and become a nomad" and, low and behold, the Rock comes out. He gets a message from the Anonymous Raw General Manager, although he of course says he doesn't care what the Anonymous Raw General Manager, at which point the Rock uses his authority to re-start the match no holds barred. The Rock then almost immediately hits Cena with a Rock Bottom, Miz covers Cena and retains the title... and that's the end, after Rock also attacks Miz of course. I kinda wish they stuck with the original finish **3/4. Peculiar ending, but I'll get to that in a second.
Overall thoughts
A lot of the responses I've seen on the net for this show have been overwhelmingly negative, with some people calling it the worst Wrestlemania ever, which I think is pretty harsh, and perhaps "Most Bizarre Wrestlemania Ever" might be more appropriate. There were defiantly some awful matches, and the two world title matches weren't of world title match quality. However, HHH vs Undertaker, and, with the exception of Cole vs Lawler, the matches that had some significant time dedicated to them were at least decent. I think the title of most bizarre Wrestlmania is appropriate becasue; the show started with a world title match, everybody (and I mean EVERYBODY) thought Del Rio and Cena would win the two world title matches, and the opposite happened, and the end of the show was very, very odd. Also, the show just didn't have the Wrestlemania "feel" about it which, if you'd seen a few Wrestlemanias, you'd know what I mean.
Overall Score: 6/10
Now, after having not watched wrestling for a while, my current thoughts on their product are as follows. They still seem very hit and miss in terms of knowing how to use their talent properly. Some of their best workers were either in rubbish matches (John Morrison), had their match removed from the main card (Daniel Bryan, who is their best talent IMO) or not even on the main card at all (Evan Bourne). They seem to live in their own little world where John Cena is still their best and most popular guy just because he sells merchandise and can be marketed to children under their new "PG family friendly" image. Never mind the fact that he still gets, at best, a mixed reaction from the crowd at a lot of shows. With guys like HBK and now Edge retired, and Chris Jericho AWOL (I've got no idea where he's gone) they seem to be in desperate need of some new talent. In regards to the bizarre finish to Mania, on Raw the next night they set the main event of Wrestlemania 28 as John Cena vs The Rock... which should be awesome and it's an interesting tactic to start the build to the match a year early, but did they really have to sacrifice the main event this year to do it? Anyway, I've said enough. See ya later.
The show starts with the Rock coming out as the host of Wrestlemania and cutting a promo which, by the Rock's standards, was pretty standard and uninteristing, mainly talking about how he hates John Cena I think. They also do a bunch of backtage segments with the Rock during the show (one including Pee Wee Herman!), all of which are pretty dumb, except for his brief encounter with Stone Cold, which was really nostalgic and awesome.
Match #1 - Edge vs Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship
Edge is champion going in. Bizarre decision to start the show with this match, gone are the days when the Royal Rumble winner always faces the champion in the main event, which is a shame. I didn't even know who Alberto Del Rio was until he won the Royal Rumble this year, turns out he's a pretty decent in ring worker who plays a good heel, complete with his own ring announcer who speaks in Spanish which always makes the crowd boo him for some reason. Unfortunately I think Del Rio was a bit nervous competing in his first Wrestlemania match, as he looked awkward and sloppy at times. Edge was his usual self, and this match was a pretty good opener, a couple of legitimate near falls from memory, although Edge completely no sold whatever body part Del Rio was working on. Del Rio's good, but not ready for the title methinks so the right decision was made not to give it to him. ***1/4
Now that Edge has retired the week following this match it's sad that this was his last match. He was defiantly one of the WWE's best talent of the last 10 years, and was one of the main reasons to watch the WWE's current product.
Match #2 - Rey Mysterio vs Cody Rhodes
This was just a match, nothing bad but nothing really great either, which really reflects Cody Rhodes as a wrestler, nothing special about the guy but at the same time he holds his own. Rey's usual shenanigans elevate the match from being below average but, if we're being honest, he's not really close to being the performer he was 10 - 15 years ago, despite the WWE's constant touting of his "High flying antics" or whatever. **1/2
Match # 3 - Kane, Big Show, Kofi Kingston and Santino Marella vs The Corre (Ezekiel Jackson, Wade Barrett, Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater)
I'd worked night shift the night before watching Wrestlemania and, of course, fell asleep briefly whilst watching it and slept right through this match. Thanks to Foxtel IQ I rewound it and discovered why, it lasted all of 1 minute 35 seconds. I'm going to call this the contractual obligation match as I can't think of any other reason why they would bring 8 guys out to compete in a match where basically nothing happened and didn't even last as long as Snooki's match. I'm pretty sure the Corre are all guys from NXT, the WWE's "reality"
show about new wrestlers. Stupid. DUD
Match #4 - CM Punk vs Randy Orton
I like CM Punk a lot and hate Randy Orton a lot, and so had mixed feelings about this match up. Turns out it was a pretty decent match, with CM Punk dominating most of the match up beating the crap out of Orton's injury with some really stiff blows, and Orton selling like crazy (I at least respect him for that). The ending also made sense with Orton sucking up the pain and hitting his finisher (RKO) out of nowhere after Punk had tried everything else to beat him. ***
I think it was around this time that they had the Hall of Fame segment. Shawn Michaels is the main inductee after retiring at Wrestlemania last year. Drew Carey is the celebrity inductee because he was once in a Royal Rumble or something, and is appropriately booed by the crowd. I hope the boos were directed at the WWE's bizarre decision to induct him rather than at Carey himself, as it's not his fault.
Match #5 - Jerry Lawler vs Michael Cole w/ Stone Cold Steve Austin as Referee
A certain amount of nostalgia for me with this match, Stone Cold was the biggest star when I started watch wrestling 12 or so years ago, and Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole were the main commentators. Jerry Lawler always played the bad guy (heel) commentator and Michael Cole the good guy (babyface) commentator. Here their roles are reversed, which is how it should be because everyone always hated Cole and loved Lawler anyway. This is the "Sports Entertainment" match that they seem to have at Wrestlemania every year, where they use guys who aren't necessarily wrestlers (eg. in that past they have used Vince McMahon) and use minimal wrestling moves, instead attempting to make the match entertaining by having guest referees, a few big spots, people interfering in the match etc. Given that, this match was a monumental failure. It wasn't in the least bit entertaining, lasted way too long, and featured an incredibly stupid ending where the result of the match was overturned by the "Anonymous Raw General Manager" because Austin gave Cole a Stunner and thus Lawler, who originally won, was disqualified. Lawler and Austin consume copious amount of alcohol after the match, which of course fits in nicely with the new "PG, family friendly" attitude of the WWE. Austin came to the ring on a quad bike before the match for no reason, and following the match Booker T gets into the ring for no reason and gets a stunner from Austin for no reason. I can think of absolutely no reason why this match took place. DUD
Match #6 - Triple H vs The Undertaker No Holds Barred
Well, this was t\he obviously the match that the WWE would give the most time to and attempt to make the match of the night. It's a well known fact that these two guys have the most say over what happens with their matches/story lines, as Triple H is the Boss's Son in Law and The Undertaker has been around forever and is immensely popular, however they both seem to only pop up every now and then these days. A lot of people dubbed Undertaker and Shawn Michael's match at Wrestlemania 25 one the of the best Wrestlemania matches ever, and I was hoping that HHH's ego would lead him to try and outdo his best friend and, well, he certainly gave it a try.
Undertaker's story is obviously that he has never been beaten at Wrestlemania, and is defending his "streak." Triple H thinks he's the one to end the streak, after his bestie Shawn failed to do so twice, and subsequently was "forced" to retire. The match starts with some typical brawling in the ring, the Undertaker uses "Old School", aka the most pointless move in wrestling, then some brawling out of the ring, featuring the obligatory wrestler being thrown into the steel stairs and the destruction of the Spanish Announce Table. They then go back into ring a begin the standard finisher/kick out/finisher/reverse/kick out repeat sequence (Undertaker choke slam HHH kick out - HHH Spinebuster Undertaker Kick out - Undertaker attempt last ride HHH reverse - HHH attempt pedigree Undertaker reverse - HHH successfully hits pedigree Undertaker kicks out - Undertaker Hits last ride HHH kicks out - Undertaker hits Tombstone HHH kicks out, or something like that.) A standard match probably would have finished with the Undertaker's tombstone, and would have still been three stars if they had ended it there. However, they then begin the extended epic finish which will either make or break the match. After recovering from the tombstone HHH hits Undertaker with two more pedigrees, and after the second one I was pretty sure that the streak was over but Undertaker kicks out. HHH can't believe it and decides he's going to finish Undertaker with his own move and Tombstones him, at which point I'm certain the match is over but Undertaker kicks out again. HHH now has no idea what to do so starts pummelling Undertaker with a chair, but still can't get Undertaker to stay down. During this whole time Undertaker is selling the fact that he is completely spent like a madman, so well in fact that several people who saw the show seem to have thought he was legitimately injured. Anyway, at some point Undertaker, unable to stand up and with the last remaining energy he has, gets HHH to the floor and traps him in his choke hold, which he calls "Hell's Gate", and, after struggling for a while, HHH taps. After the match Undertaker is carried from the ring and seriously looks dead. I can understand why some people thought it was legit.
The beauty of this match was the story being told of how important the streak was to Undertaker. A regular match would have see him lose after 2 pedigrees, but they then have him kick out of a third pedigree and a tombstone which, in wrestling world, would leave you at best completely unconscious and unable to move for five minutes. But Undertaker somehow found the energy to keep going because the streak means THAT much to him. Also, the ending was great as the only possible way Undertaker could win would be to trap him with his submission finisher on the floor as he couldn't even begin to stand up. The negative element of the match was that there was a lot a of time spent lying around doing nothing, although this was important to show the toll the match had taken on them. I may need to see the match again, but for the moment I'm going ****3/4
Match #7 - Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, John Morrison, and Trish Stratus Vs Dolph Ziggler and Laycool (Layla and Michelle McCool)
Snooki is apparently from reality show Jersey Shore, but I wouldn't know about that. Vickie Guerrero shakes her head as Snooki comes to the ring, and I can't help but agree. Not because I have anything against her, I don't even know who she is, but I just don't know why the WWE insist on having these celebrity matches at Wrestlemania each year, surely they don't generate enough extra buys of the show to justify the money they spend on the celebrities appearance. Anyway, the match at least features a little wrestling, more than the 4 man tag match, so is instantly better. Snooki gets booed despite being on the babyface team, until she show off her gymnastics skills which seems to impress the crowd. Really a waste of time though, they could have had an actual match in the space they used for this and the 4 man tag. 3/4*
Match #8 - The Miz vs John Cena for the WWE Championship
This is the main event, and Miz is champion going in. A pretty cool video package was put together for The Miz before his entrance, whilst Cena has a weird religious video and a gospel choir for his entrance. What the? Anyway, I'm not a massive fan of either wrestler, although Cena does know how to work the big matches better than a lot of other guys. They wrestle a decent, although fairly predictable match for a while, which for some reason the crowd just isn't into, before they both get counted out and the match is declared a draw. At this point I'm thinking "If this is how they end Wrestlemania I'll give all my belongings away and become a nomad" and, low and behold, the Rock comes out. He gets a message from the Anonymous Raw General Manager, although he of course says he doesn't care what the Anonymous Raw General Manager, at which point the Rock uses his authority to re-start the match no holds barred. The Rock then almost immediately hits Cena with a Rock Bottom, Miz covers Cena and retains the title... and that's the end, after Rock also attacks Miz of course. I kinda wish they stuck with the original finish **3/4. Peculiar ending, but I'll get to that in a second.
Overall thoughts
A lot of the responses I've seen on the net for this show have been overwhelmingly negative, with some people calling it the worst Wrestlemania ever, which I think is pretty harsh, and perhaps "Most Bizarre Wrestlemania Ever" might be more appropriate. There were defiantly some awful matches, and the two world title matches weren't of world title match quality. However, HHH vs Undertaker, and, with the exception of Cole vs Lawler, the matches that had some significant time dedicated to them were at least decent. I think the title of most bizarre Wrestlmania is appropriate becasue; the show started with a world title match, everybody (and I mean EVERYBODY) thought Del Rio and Cena would win the two world title matches, and the opposite happened, and the end of the show was very, very odd. Also, the show just didn't have the Wrestlemania "feel" about it which, if you'd seen a few Wrestlemanias, you'd know what I mean.
Overall Score: 6/10
Now, after having not watched wrestling for a while, my current thoughts on their product are as follows. They still seem very hit and miss in terms of knowing how to use their talent properly. Some of their best workers were either in rubbish matches (John Morrison), had their match removed from the main card (Daniel Bryan, who is their best talent IMO) or not even on the main card at all (Evan Bourne). They seem to live in their own little world where John Cena is still their best and most popular guy just because he sells merchandise and can be marketed to children under their new "PG family friendly" image. Never mind the fact that he still gets, at best, a mixed reaction from the crowd at a lot of shows. With guys like HBK and now Edge retired, and Chris Jericho AWOL (I've got no idea where he's gone) they seem to be in desperate need of some new talent. In regards to the bizarre finish to Mania, on Raw the next night they set the main event of Wrestlemania 28 as John Cena vs The Rock... which should be awesome and it's an interesting tactic to start the build to the match a year early, but did they really have to sacrifice the main event this year to do it? Anyway, I've said enough. See ya later.
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