The Green Hornet DVD review

This week there were two major releases on DVD and Blu-Ray, the first being The Green Hornet.  The movie stars Seth Rogen as the title character as well as Cameron Diaz and Jay Chou (who plays Kato).  I really want to jump right in. 

What I liked about the movie:
Christoph Waltz
Wow, this man is so good at what he does!  Waltz plays the primary villain in the film and nails it.  This role doesn't require quite the evil necessary for his Academy Award winning role in Inglourious Basterds, but is still great.  He has a dark comedic tone that he just gets perfect.  Towards the end of the film his character falls off the deep end.  And while I think the script was terrible, Waltz did what he could.  Great job.

What I didn't like about the movie:
The rest of the cast
I'm not kidding, the rest of the cast was terrible in this film.  Start off with our "star" of the film, Seth Rogen.  Forget how terrible the script is (I'll get there in a moment), all he does is scream his lines.  Seriously, it feels like his voice cracks every minute or two just to scream his lines.  Diaz is forgettable at best.  It seriously makes me wonder why she took the role in the first place.  Last is Jay Chou who was obviously cast for his martial arts and not his acting.  I hate to bag on the guy, because his martial arts are very impressive, but he is a terrible actor.  It's so bad people, believe me.

The Script
Am I supposed to care that Seth Rogen and his buddy Evan Goldberg wrote this?  It's such a stupid story, written in the most idiotic way imaginable.  I'm not an expert of writing, but the structure, the flow, the character development was all terrible.  I can't explain to you how much I disliked this film.  It was like a train wreck I couldn't get my eyes off of.


The Blu-Ray:
Tons of goodies
Despite how much I hated this movie, this is a DVD review after all.  The blu-ray featured some great visuals as well as sound.  The special features are as follows:
PS3 Theme
Jay Chou Audition
Double Barrel
movieIQ
The Green Hornet Cutting Room
Filmmakers' Commentary
"Awesoom"-Gag Reel
"Trust Me" -Director Michel Gondry
Writing The Green Hornet
The Black Beauty: Rebirth of Cool
The Stunt Family Armstrong
Finding Kato
The Art of Destruction

The best of the bunch was The Black Beauty featurette about the new car.  Gag reels are always fun and soo too was the Art of Destruction.  Overall thumbs up for the blu-ray and it's extras.


The Verdict:
PLEASE PASS
I say please because I want it to be a hint to Hollywood to stop making total stink rehash remakes.  I know I defend movies like The A-Team for being a 'go numb for two hours' appeal to them.  This is way different.  The movie didn't have likeable characters at all, the action felt stale, and the story is God awful.  I will say, relentlessly, this movie is terrible!

Bridesmaids poster and red band trailer... AWESOMENESS!

Yes, I'm using the word awesomeness.  I guess I should start with an apology... to Kristen Wiig and company in the hilarious looking Bridesmaids!  I haven't posted anything about this movie but I think it looks terrific.  Dare I say better than the trailer for The Hangover II?  Maya Rudolph is a bride to be and enlists Kristen Wiig as her maid of honor to help with the festivities.  When the rest of the bridesmaids are chosen, the comedy begins.

Check out the red band trailer below:

Seriously, how great does this movie look?  I am very much looking forward to this film and the comedy of these wonderful actresses.  I am a huge fan of TV's Reno:911, so it is great to see Wendi McLendon-Covey back after leaving the show.  I'm also a fan of TV's The Office, and Ellie Kemper plays one of my favorite characters in the show, she's also in the film.  Jon Hamm is in the film, which is produced by comedy genius, Judd Apatow.  I will definitely try to see this one on opening weekend.

Jane Lynch joining The Three Stooges, as their nun

Jane Lynch is one hilarious woman!  I do NOT watch "Glee", but her work in the last decade has made this blogger laugh non-stop.  In my opinion, she's pure gold in everything she does.  Well she's about to join Sofia Vergara, Sean Hayes (Larry) and Will Sasso (Curly) in the Farrelly Brothers The Three Stooges.

She will play the nun that runs the school where the three brothers grew up.  I love the casting!  She will be a welcome addition to the comedy film.  Still waiting for the final word on who will play Moe, the ringleader of the trio.  Latest rumor is former “24” star, Chris Diamantopoulos.  I don't know any of his work, as most of his resume is for TV.  I don't want to spend too much on him until it's certain, for now, I celebrate the casting of Lynch!

30 Minutes or Less poster and trailer

30 Minutes or Less is a comedy starring Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Nick Swardson and Aziz Ansari.  Eisenberg and Ansari are forced to rob a bank and craziness ensues.  Check out the trailer and my thoughts below.

Looks hilarious! It doesn't hurt that it stars some of my favorite comedians today.  Ansari is making the leap into leading roles now and Eisenberg flexes his comedic muscles.  The movie is directed by Ruben Fleischer, who also directed Eisenberg in the great Zombieland.  This looks like it's going to be a nice wrap up to the 2011 Summer film season.  Hopefully it lives up to my expectations.  You?

The Help poster and trailer

I'm sorry, I had to.  My wife is a huge fan of the book and I promised her I would post these.  The Help stars Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Viola Davis, Sissy Spacek and more.  It's based on the best selling book by Kathryn Stockett.  Here's the official synopsis:

A look at what happens when a southern town's unspoken code of rules and behavior is shattered by three courageous women who strike up an unlikely friendship.

Now, I haven't read the book, I can only speculate based on the trailer to the FILM.  Interesting premise that looks so horribly executed.  In the words of my wife, "They just killed the entire enjoyment of the book for me with that trailer".  Now now, we have to wait and see the movie first dear.

But it does look over the top and I don't think the book was written that way.  The tone looks all wrong to me and Dallas Bryce Howard, the antagonist, just comes off like a cartoon.  I don't know, I probably wont end up seeing this movie... "make it a girls night babe" ;0)

Life in a Day trailer... the movie shot by the people

Life in a Day has one of the best trailers around.  It has created a lot of buzz after several film festivals.  The film is directed by the Oscar winning, documentary filmmaker, Kevin Macdonald.  Let me start by sharing the premise of the documentary film, as explained by the filmmakers, Check out the trailer and read my comments below:

On July 24, 2010, thousands of people around the world uploaded videos of their lives to YouTube to take part in Life in a Day, a historic cinematic experiment to create a documentary film about a single day on earth.


Now, it's time to watch their story unfold on the big screen.

I've often let my mind wonder and think about what others are doing at the exact same moment as I am, across the globe.  Life in a Day does exactly that.  It shows us how we're not alone on this planet, there are others that are perhaps dealing with the same fears or celebrating the same successes, we are all tied together as the human race.  Last year a similar premise was brought the big screen with Babies; four babies from across the globe were filmed in their first year of life.  It was touching and engrossing, I'm sure Life in a Day will be no different.

Deadpool lands a director... an unknown of sorts

Deadpool has a director, visual effects specialist, Tim Miller.  Yep, you read that perfectly, a visual effects specialist will direct his first feature film... the long awaited, long over-due, Ryan Reynolds starring, Deadpool!  This news is actually about a month old, but hey, I've been busy.  So here it is.

Miller has worked on a slew of action films such as: X-Men, Daredevil and Scott Pilgrim vs. World.  That's great that he can produce great visual effects, but can he direct?  I've had a month to mull this one over and let me tell you what I think.

At first I hated the idea.  Maybe it was my disappointment that Robert Rodriguez wouldn't be directing the film anymore (even if it was just a rumor).  I thought Rodriguez was the perfect fit for the R-rated action comedy that would be Deadpool.  I'm slowly coming around, and here's why; Miller has already directed in a way.

Granted Miller only worked on effects, but those require a tremendous amount of work.  He must set up the world (albeit in a computer), he has to translate the script, develop the tone and pacing of the scenes, choreograph, etc. etc.  You start to see that the effects process is just a slimmed down version of directing a feature.  Add to that that I loved the visual style of the three movies I listed above, and I'm feeling much better about the move.

I'm not defending Fox' decision to go with an unknown director, just trying to find the silver lining.  I'm sure Fox wanted to save a buck by hiring Miller, but the movie is not dead to me by this move.  Am I the minority?  What do you guys think?