"UP" & Away! (response to "UP reviews are stellar!")

YES!

I hear you, Tony.

It gets pretty annoying when similar movies come out from competing studios. Although I have to admit, sometimes it's interesting to see ideas taken in two (or more) diverse directions, be it totally different directing styles, or contrasting actors in similar roles. However, one production usually ends up trumping the other. Such was the case with "Madagascar" and "The Wild." I haden't heard about this recent one yet, though, so thank you for informing us.

It's hard to imagine the old DreamWorks geenlighting something like this under the eye of Spielberg. I wish that Viacom never took the reins. Although they did a good job with "Kung Fu Panda," I don't think it lived up to the hype. I also heard that "Bee Movie" sucked, but I didn't see it, so no comment there.

P.S.

I'm watching "UP" tomorrow in 3D, so look forward to my review soon. I'm very excited to see it. I love everything PIXAR has done so far and have been anticipating this one since they released the first screenshot of it on the net!

P.P.S.

YES!

"Incredibles 2!"

Where do I sign??

Quickie: UP reviews are stellar!

The reviews for the new Disney Pixar film, "Up" are stellar. Over at rottentomatoes.com it is currently at a whopping 98% approval. It looks like Disney Pixar has got another success under it's belt. I personally am looking forward to watching this film and pretty much anything else Pixar throws at us. Who's willing to start a petition for an Incredibles 2?

Ps... a side note about Incredibles, it seems there is a knock off in the works over at Dreamworks Animation Studios... are there seriously no more good ideas out there that we must rehash every film ever made? Argh!

Possible Gambit Spin-Off

Ok, so this isn't the latest news, but it is still relatively recent. It seems Fox was so impressed with the Wolverine movie that they're giving Deadpool (confimed) a spin-off, but Gambit as well. Donner, a producer on Wolverine, says there are "internal converstions" going on about a Gambit spin-off. Ready for the best part? She wants to pursue Bryan Singer to come back and direct. For those who don't know, Bryan Singer directed the first two (best of the franchise) X-Men movies. He's a genius behind the camera (minus Superman Returns) and I would love to see this movie. The actor playing Gambit in the Wolverine Movie is Taylor Kitsch. He has his own ideas about where the movie should go with the story, and I agree with him. Kitsch suggests the story arc of the Guild of Theives. That's where Gambit became the character we know and love (I do anyway). Hopefully it takes place in New Orleans and they stay faithful to the comics. Either way, we'll keep you posted.

'Wolverine' Gambit Spotlight @ Yahoo! Video

Matt: X-Men Origins: Wolverine Review

I'm going to agree with you on this one.

I really had high hopes for this movie. The trailer blew me away (I
should learn by now not to trust those darn things) and I thought the
casting was just right. I heard a negative review from you going into
it, so I wasn't really expecting much in the first place.

…Which explains why I enjoyed the first 1/3 of the movie so much. It
was well done, original, interesting and captured your attention. It
showed a young Wolverine and Sabertooth, growing up as children and
how they treated each other. It was a side of these beloved X-MEN
characters that we had never seen before. I started to think you had
it all wrong, Tony.

Until Wolverine grew up and had to become badass enough to blow up a
bunch of things and attract male viewers ages 15-35.

The multi-talented Hugh Jackman always was the best casted of all the
X-MEN in the first 3 outings of this beloved superhero franchise and
it's no surprise that he does a fine job playing the title character
here. Liev Schreiber in the supporting role was also a wise decision,
and I'm glad superhero flicks are stable enough to draw some better
actors. (Remember Sabertooth in the original X-MEN movie? Neither does
anyone else.)
You mentioned Gambit. I'm sure everyone was disappointed with Gambit.
I didn't have that much of a problem with Kitsch; it's the dull,
cliché dialogue and repetitive moves he performed that annoyed me.
Ryan Reynolds does a pretty good job making the best lemonade he could
from the rotten lemons he was handed. Being a Ryan Reynolds fan
myself, I enjoyed his role in this picture. I'm looking forward to his
spin-off. I just hope it's a completely different crew that works on
that movie.

The special effects in "Wolverine" were downright laughable. There is
a scene when Wolverine is in a bathroom admiring his newly made
adamantium blades, and I swear to everyone reading this that I could
have done a better job making those things look real. I don't know who
was in charge of that, but they should be fired. Immediately.
All the effects in this movie were overdone and looked horrible. I'm
really disappointed by that, too, because I thought that I'd at least
enjoy some eye-candy if everything else was bad, and I couldn't.

And I'm disagreeing with you on the writing. I didn't like where the
story went at all. I thought showing us the other X-MEN characters for
just a few seconds was unnecessary, not a fan pleaser. All the other
dialogue was just tried too hard to be serious while coming off as,
well, comic book like; over exaggerated and overdone.

Overall, the movie didn't know whether it wanted to be serious and
gritty like "The Dark Knight," or more graphic novel-like, a la "300"
and ended up failing at both. Let's hope for the next "Origins" they
take a lesson from last year's excellent "Iron Man."

Do not spend 12 bucks on this movie.
Heck, don't even rent it unless you're a die-hard X-MEN fan. You will
be disappointed.


-Matt

Tony: X-Men Origins: Wolverine Review

Yes, the long awaited prequel to the X-Men movies has finally been released. And what a release its been; to the tune of 90 million dollars! That's all fine and dandy, but was it deserving of such an opening? I'm afraid the answer is no boys and girls.

Hugh Jackman plays the title character of Wolverine and does a great job. The rest of the characters were cast very well. Liev Schreiber as Sabertooth is a menacing mutant that has the same regenerative abilities as Wolverine, and without really spoiling anything, it may be because they're brothers. Ryan Reynolds (one of my favorites) plays Deadpool (one of my favorites), and does a fantastic job. He does what he can with what little face time he gets. But its been confirmed he's getting his own spin off, so stay tuned for that one.


Now for what was the most exciting and somewhat disappointment part of this movie; Gambit. My personal favorite super hero and a fan favorite amongst those who follow the genre, was just a sidekick. The casting was wrong on this one, Taylor Kitsch is too young for the role, Gambit was a Cajun thief in his late 20's, Kitsch is just too young for that. Gambit's weapon of choice are playing cards which he charges with kinetic energy, yeah... It was shown for 10 seconds in the movie. He truly is just a sidekick to Wolverine.

Ready for the worst part of the film? The special effects. For a genre film of this kind, you need to spend the money for special effects. The audience shouldn't know where reality ends and cgi (computer generated images) begins. What made The Dark Knight so great was its on-location filming and the reality it presented. The last 30 minutes of this movie were so obviously filmed in front of a green screen that my wife noticed all of it; and she's not that into these movies. Not to mention the infamous "jump into a moving helicopter" scene (you'll all see for yourselves).

I do have to compliment the writers. The script was clever in weaving together characters and filing in plot holes we'd never seen as an audience. There are a couple of "wink wink" moments for the audience that reference the X-Men movies, especially when showing us characters in their younger years. I did like the explanation of where the name Wolverine came from, it was very well done. But the clever writing wasn't enough to save this film.

Overall, I'd save the 12 bucks (that's right, 12 dollars a ticket in Valencia, CA) and wait for the DVD. And if you're a hardcore fan (which I would like to think I am), don't anticipate much and you'll be fine. Go in thinking they were under budgeted for the special effects and you'll appreciate the movie. But for me, I think I'm going to disapprove of this one folks. Either way, we can all agree to disagree!