Ok, well, earlier in the year I posted on my Facebook (HA!) a brief little synopsis of the various movies of 2008 that I was wanting to see. To me, 2008 was probably the biggest year of my life thus far for new movies, and so, as the year is getting ready to close down, I thought I'd take a look back at what I wanted to see, and how my expectations were met, disappointed, or in some cases, exceeded. Add in all the movies I wasn't planning on seeing but wound up seeing, many of which blew but a few were quite excellent. I'll begin by looking back at what I wanted to see but didn't, and what I said and what wound up happening.
What I Missed
Rambo - "They should have left it as "John Rambo", to fit in "Rocky Balboa" as suitable cornerstones to the two franchise characters that made Brickjaw Marblemouth a household name. In any event, the original trailer was a masterpiece of gratuitous violence, and has sold me on this being worth a watch."
I still haven't seen it. I still want to, though. Everything I hear about it says that it's what I was expecting it to be, so I'm not put off. But given how much time has passed, it's unlikely that I'll be seeing this anytime soon.
Diary of the Dead - "George A. Romero. Zombies. Death. If more needs to be said, you're an asshole"
I read this now and laugh. Still haven't seen it, but I'm planning on it soon. I've heard some mixed things, but most reviews have fallen on the positive side.
The Happening - "M. Night Shyamalan's new one, the premise sounds interesting enough, and while I haven't seen "Lady in the Water", I heard enough bad things to shy away from it. Here's hoping this is the next "Signs"."
I haven't seen it and after reading some of the reviews, have no desire to ever see it. My prognostication was WAY off the mark on this one and I hang my head in shame for it.
The X-Files: I Want To Believe - "I loved the show, and liked the first movie. Scully and Mulder, together again. I'm in"
Didn't see it simply because of when it came out, falling squarely one week after the premiere of The Dark Knight. I just didn't have the time and it left theatres so quickly. I plan on picking up the DVD, though.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army - "Fresh off the success of "Pan's Labyrinth", which I didn't like, Guillermo del Toro is back for the sequel to the surprisingly good "Hellboy". It promises more of the same, and since that means more of the good, then it's enough for me. Plus the trailer looked cool. del Toro is taking the franchise in his own direction, which is a nice change from the usual bullshit."
I missed it in theatres but I did snag the DVD. I wish that I hadn't, at least not yet. The movie had so many problems in it. Lame villain, lame story, lame execution, and that annoying bullshit where the badass-with-sword-and-long-hair runs really fast, then it goes slow-mo as he jumps in the air, then it speeds up again as he kills the guy. I hate that shit. Plus they tried way too hard to turn Hellboy into a superhero when he's really not. I did like Johann Krauss, though. My general feeling is that while all these problems were severe, I would have enjoyed it more if I had not spent the fall reading pretty much all the Hellboy comics under the sun. The movie is very different from the comic in terms of theme and style. The characters were good. Ron Pearlman is genius as Hellboy. But del Toro's "own direction" turned out to be worse than the usual shit.
What I Saw and Actually Wanted to See
Cloverfield - I didn't actually preview this back in January, but I did really want to see it. I liked it. I mean, yeah, it's definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but it worked for me. The style was a nice take on a classic sub-genre in sci-fi films that has been, with one exception, been completely ignored in the mainstream this decade: The Giant Monster movie. And I probably enjoyed this more than King Kong, too. It was fun, it was funny.
Speed Racer - "Didn't even know it was being made until the trailer showed up, and it hooked me in for at least one view. Doesn't seem like it'd be a real quality pic, but the visuals have impressed me enough that, baring some unforeseen second trailer that shitties it up, I'm going to see it"
Sweet fucking Jesus. This was probably one of the WORST movies I have ever seen. It failed on every possible level. The sole reason I wanted to go was the different effects that were used, but in the movie they came across like a bad acid trip. I hated it. I can't believe I was that stupid to want to see it. Wait, scratch that: I can believe that I was EXACTLY that stupid.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - "I dismissed the first Narnia movie as being made solely to cash in on the prestige of the Lord of the Rings, and indeed, it probably was. But my mom bought it, and it wasn't that bad. Good enough that I'll be checking out this sequel"
It was boring and unmemorable in any respect. Let's move on.
Iron Man - "I am not a fan of Tony Stark. He's an alcoholic, and my least-favourite of the Avengers' Trinity. That being said, the trailer makes this out to be the best Marvel movie since Spider-man. And given the rumours of a joint scene filmed with "The Incredible Hulk", the foundations of a live-action Marvel Universe have been lain. Excelsior!"
Probably one of my favourite films of the year, and certainly the best Marvel movie ever (step aside, Spidey 2). Robert Downey Jr. nailed Tony Stark so perfectly. In fact, I'd say that out of all the comic movies of the year, his performance was the best in terms of being true to the source material. Plus with Samuel L. Jackson at the end as Nick Fury, it turned one of the best things about comics into one of the best things about movies. It may seem unnaturally enthusiastic of me, but I have such hope that the build-up to the Avengers movie opens people's eyes to the joys of comics and their shared universes.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - "Either this, or a following movie, will be the highlights of the summer. This film has got all the people back on board, and Spielberg has curtailed Lucas' hard-on for CG that crippled the Prequel Trilogy and rendered the words "Star Wars" a dirty phrase. Even without a trailer to judge, I'm probably going to be seeing this more than once."
I was wrong. I only saw it once. This movie really disappointed. It was the weakest of the quadrilogy and is further evidence that not only should Shia the Beef never get hired again, but he should be dragged into the street and shot. Lucas' fingerprints were all over this movie. From the stilted, emotionless script, to the CG-ravaged scenery. It was just a mess. And this movie had another rarity: a poor performance from Cate Blanchett.
The Incredible Hulk - "Edward Norton: Excellent actor, total douchbag, comic book fan. This movie promises to be everything the first Hulk movie wasn't, and managed to assemble (no pun intended) a cast even better than the first one. The loss of Bana hurts, but I like where it's going."
I loved this movie. Yeah, it wasn't perfect, and its box office performance wasn't what was hoped for (although considering the current running against it, the fact that it equalled the last one was an achievement, I thought), but it was good. The actors did a good job for the most part and the script got equal elements of the pathos of the Hulk, as well as a good deal of Hulk Smash (he even said it! I fangasmed at that). It also continued to build on what Iron Man had begun with the shared Marvel movie universe. Unfortunately, it also had another rarity: a poor performance from Tim Roth.
Quantum of Solace - "The name's Craig. Daniel Craig. "Casino Royale" rocked ass, and with a script by the same guy (some asswipe named Paul Haggis), it fills me with high hopes, especially considering that my secret Bond fastasy, the return of SPECTRE, may be in the offings. We'll see this fall."
Well, SPECTRE didn't return, as we all know by now. But Quantum was still good. It was no Casino, and it had the same problem a lot of movies have now with the quick cuts during action scenes (of which this movie was nearly half). Craig still did a bang-up job, although Dench was terrible as M for once. Now that he's put this thing with Vesper behind him, I hope future Bond movies embrace his wit as he was unfunny in this movie.
Movies I Wasn't Planning on Seeing but Wound Up Seeing
There Will Be Blood - Wow, this movie was something else. I enjoyed it a lot, although I feel the entire thing was too dependent on Daniel Day Lewis. The entire thing was just his character, and while he played it so well, it would've worked better if there had been more meat to the story to maybe pull more out of him. But, he was excellent and it was good.
Mad Money - It was shit.
The Other Boleyn Girl - God help me, but I did not hate this movie. I wanted to. I tried to. God knows I had more than enough reason to, what with lacklustre performances from Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman. Eric Banana did moderately better, but still. Anyway, yeah, I didn't hate it. I didn't love it either, but I didn't hate it.
21 - This movie was not good. It wasn't explicitly shitty, either. It was a formulaic drama that went through its paces with no real trouble, but no real emotional investment, either.
Run, Fat Boy, Run - I really enjoyed this film. It was formulaic as well, but it had good performances and it worked for me. And the fact that it made me laugh to beat the band didn't hurt it.
I'll end it here for now. Later, I'll finish with the ones I didn't expect to see but wound up seeing. I'll also take a look at what was supposed to come out this year but didn't. Finally, there will be a review from me on The Dark Knight, but I'll write it after I get it on DVD. It will be in-depth and will be my first and final word on the picture, barring some future special edition with a CG Jabba the Hutt. Good day
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