Some, like Lord of the Rings, go far beyond what anyone could have hoped for. Some disapoint, like The Da Vinci Code. Then you have some that just truly do a good solid job like the Harry Potter films…. and The Chronicles of Narnia.

The first Chronicles of Narnia film was a very pleasant surprise to me. I could never fathom how they were going to capture that book on the screen in a practical and entertaining way. Yet they did it beautifully. No, it wasn’t on Lord of the Rings scale, but it was excellent nonetheless. Could that same feat be accomplished with Prince Caspian? Yes, I believe they did.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The basic synopsis of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian looks something like this: “One year after the incredible events of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” the Kings and Queens of Narnia find themselves back in that faraway wondrous realm, only to discover that more than 1300 years have passed in Narnian time. During their absence, the Golden Age of Narnia has become extinct, Narnia has been conquered by the Telmarines and is now under the control of the evil King Miraz, who rules the land without mercy.
The four children will soon meet an intriguing new character: Narnia’s rightful heir to the throne, the young Prince Caspian, who has been forced into hiding as his uncle Miraz plots to kill him in order to place his own newborn son on the throne. With the help of the kindly dwarf, a courageous talking mouse named Reepicheep, a badger named Trufflehunter and a Black Dwarf, Nikabrik, the Narnians, led by the mighty knights Peter and Caspian, embark on a remarkable journey to find Aslan, rescue Narnia from Miraz’s tyrannical hold, and restore magic and glory to the land.”

THE GOOD

The action / adventure quota went WAY up for Prince Caspian. One of the criticisms the first Chronicles of Narnia film had against it was that it felt a little lacking in the action / adventure department (the ending battle not withstanding). Seems that the producers of the film were paying close attention. In Prince Caspian, the battles are more numerous, much grander in scale, the effects much better employed. The was also an increased sense of maturity to the action. The four main character from the first film aren’t just cute kids caught up in a battle… they are indeed warrior. The action was so much better and more mature this time around that I have to really question the rating the film received. If anything this should have been a PG-13 instead of a PG. I lost count of how many people were killed and cut down y swords and arrows… it’s pretty violent.

One of the mistakes some franchises make is that they continue on with their characters as if they didn’t learn anything or haven’t grown at all from their experiences in the previous installment. Not so with Prince Caspian. The four brothers and sisters are no longer just the wide eyed children from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe…. they are true kings and queens. Peter is the greatest warrior in Narnia as High King. Edmond isn’t the annoying little snot he was in the first film. They have grown, matured… after all they are technically in their 30’s (they spent half a lifetime in Narnia before returning to the real world and their former ages.

The supporting cast of characters this time around are a little more engaging than the last. The dwarves (two in particular) had some very nice character development and personalities. The mice where hilarious and quite fun to watch. Seeing all the creatures we saw in the first film again was also quite a nice touch.

Prince Caspian does an excellent job of alluding to the first film… showing the lessons learned, the events that occurred without going overboard with silly flashback sequences, repeating verbatim lines or stories from the original. There is an excellent scene (not really a spoiler since this is in one of the trailers) with the White Queen back again which was one of my favorite of the entire movie.

THE BAD

In as much as there was more action and adventure in this film than the last… the price of that was a loss of some of the sense of awe and wonder… the sense of magic. With the first Narnia film, I found myself spellbound by the world they were in, feeling like a little kid sitting around a campfire as a skilled storyteller told the tale. There was still some sense of that in Prince Caspian for certain, but not nearly as much as in the first film.

The beginning of the film is a bit slow and took a little while for it to find its pace. Once it did it was wonderful… but it did take a good 20 minutes to do so.

There is a terrible lack of Aslan (The Lion) in the film. Yes I understand the need to maintain the basic arch of the books… but I (and I think most people) was really looking forward to seeing Aslan, the great cat do battle. Seeing him ferociously kicking ass and taking names. Hell, even just seeing him roar sends chills up my spine. Sadly however, Aslan doesn’t appear until well into the third act of the film, and even once he’s there, he doesn’t actually do much at all. There are other things that make up for this… but it was still a disappointment for me.

The White Queen in the first film was a fantastic villain. How fricking cool was it seeing her ride into combat on that chariot pulled by two polar bears and then wielding the two swords like a freaking hot ass ninja?!?! Unfortunately, the villain in Prince Caspian isn’t nearly as interesting or fun antagonist as the White Queen

OVERALL

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian ends up being a very fun and often exciting follow up to The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. The characters have a wonderful sense of continuation to them, the battles are bigger, the effects better which all ends up being quite a fun ride. The film could have had “classic” status if it weren’t for the lack of a compelling villain, a woeful lack of Aslan and a substantial loss of that sense of awe and wonder delivered by the first film. Still a very enjoyable movie and one I’m happy to recommend.

Overall I give The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian a solid 7.5 out of 10

Thanks for checking out our Speed Racer review. I must admit that I never understood some people’s fascination with Speed Racer when it was first announced that they were going to be making a film version. Quite frankly I was confused how anyone thought that there would be enough interest in the franchise to justify the type of massive budget they were talking about giving it. Even after they announced that Matrix helmers the Wachowski brothers were going to be at the wheel (pardon the pun), i still didn’t see how even making a Speed Racer movie was a good idea.
Off I went the other day to check it out. Was it worth the hype and massive investment? In a word, NO.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis (if you can call it that) of Speed Racer looks like this: “Hurtling down the track, careening around, over and through the competition, Speed Racer is a natural behind the wheel. Born to race cars, Speed is aggressive, instinctive and, most of all, fearless. His only real competition is the memory of the brother he idolized-the legendary Rex Racer - whose death in a race has left behind a legacy that Speed is driven to fulfill. Speed is loyal to the family racing business, led by his father, Pops Racer, the designer of Speed’s thundering Mach 5. When Speed turns down a lucrative and tempting offer from Royalton Industries, he not only infuriates the company’s maniacal owner but uncovers a terrible secret-some of the biggest races are being fixed by a handful of ruthless moguls who manipulate the top drivers to boost profits. If Speed won’t drive for Royalton, Royalton will see to it that the Mach 5 never crosses another finish line. The only way for Speed to save his family’s business and the sport he loves is to beat Royalton at his own game. With the support of his family and his loyal girlfriend, Trixie, Speed teams with his one-time rival-the mysterious Racer X - to win the race that had taken his brother’s life: the death-defying, cross-country rally known as The Crucible.”

THE GOOD

The visual style of the film is a two edged sword (I’ll get to the second side of that sword in the “The Bad” section of the review). As visual art, the film is breath taking to look at. The artists behind this film did nothing short of a fantastic job. The look was consistent and near perfect throughout the entire film. The amount of VFX magic it took to pull this film off is staggering.

The final race of the movie was absolutely thrilling to watch. I found myself on the edge of my seat as Speed Racer blasted around the track in the climax of the movie. For a film that advertised itself as an action / exciting type of film, it was a great way to end it.

Sadly, the good stuff ends there.

THE BAD

Dear sweet heavens the acting in this film was horrible. Yes yes yes, I understand that the film wasn’t supposed to be Shakespearian in nature and was supposed to be acted in a certain, lighthearted, half tongue in cheek way… but even on that level it failed. It’s not an easy job to act without an environment, to be in front of nothing but some set pieces and a green screen (even the decent actors in the Star Wars sequels ended up struggling with that), but that doesn’t change the fact that it came off terrible.

I mentioned above that the visual style of the film was a two edged sword. On the one hand it was done perfectly, HOWEVER… the choice of style they chose to use was the wrong choice in my opinion. The entire time I felt like I was watching a video game cut scene instead of a movie. And please don’t say “but that’s what they were TRYING to do”. Yes, I understand that’s what they were trying to do… my point is that they were trying the wrong thing because it didn’t work. At least not for me.

The story of the film was so wafer thin that wasn’t any refuge to be found in it. **SPOILER** If you didn’t know that Racer X was actually Speed Racer’s supposedly dead brother almost immediately, then you’ve never watch a movie before **END OF SPOILER** The characters are all completely 1 dimensional (either totally 100% pure as snow or 100% pure evil) with nothing driving the story at any point.

The humor in the film was terrible. Not once did it ever make me even momentarily grin in amusement. It all fell flat. And dear heavens don’t get me started on the monkey.

OVERALL

Speed Racer is a film that got a lot of people very hopeful, but ultimately ends up running on completely flat tires. Wrong choice for visual style, poor acting from an otherwise impressive cast, weak story, poor humor and a lack of thrills up until the final race of the movie all leaves you wishing you went to see Iron Man again instead of wasting your money on this one. Overall I give Speed Racer a 3.5 out of 10

Well, it’s finally here, and now I get to do (a little late) my Iron Man review. It’s been well documented around there that when they first announced that they were doing an Iron Man movie, I thought it was a terrible idea. To be frank, I don’t even think Iron Man is much of a comic book character… really nothing much more than a poor man’s version of Batman (Oh gee whiz… a superhero with no actual powers who is a rich multi-billionare who uses his money to buy gadgets that he uses to fight crime. Why does that sound so familiar?)

But then news started coming out about the decisions they were making. Jon Favreau coming on to direct, ILM doing the visual efects, Jeff Bridges cast as the “bad guy”, Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark…. it looks like they were doing everything right. Then the first trailer came out and it won me over…. I’ve been looking forward to Iron Man ever since and so have a lot of other people. So did it live up to the hype? HELL YES!

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis of Iron Man looks something like this: “Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is the CEO of Stark Industries which produces advance weapon systems for the U.S. military. Tony’s father started the company after WWII, and after his death Tony inherited the company, worth billions. Tony lives the life as a hard drinking, rich playboy ladies man, but he is also a genius who has invented many high-tech items for the company. Tony flies to Afghanistan to demonstrate a new weapons test to the army. On his way back to his plane, his convoy is attacked by terrorists, and Tony is wounded by a Stark Industries missile. Tony is captured and held hostage in a cave with Raza (Faran Tahir), a doctor who saves his life. The terrorists force Tony and Raza to reproduce the new destructive Jericho missile Tony was demonstrating from parts of other weapons. Instead, Tony decides to build a suit of armor with Razas help. The suit gives Tony the strength and protection to be able to escape the terrorists. Back in America, Tony builds a better suit of armor which gives him superhuman strength with the ability to fly. With the help of his personal assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Jim Rhodes (Terrence Howard), Tony vows to protect the world as Iron Man.”

THE GOOD

Let’s start with Robert Downey Jr. It’s amazing that his name was never even mentioned in most online discussion about “who should play Iron Man”? And yet when he was announced, everybody agreed that it was perfect casting. After seeing the movie, I have to concur. Robert Downey Jr. was beyond the perfect Tony Stark/Iron Man. He brought so much of that playboy crossed with undying genius to the role that you instantly bought him as Tony Stark if you’re familiar with the comic, and he brought so much raw boyish charm and charisma to the role that you bought into him as a character even if you knew nothing about the comic book or what Tony Stark is supposed to be like. If this wasn’t a comic book movie, I’d dare say some people would be talking Oscar nomination for him… no, I’m not kidding and I’d happily debate anyone about that point.

The visual effects were masterful! Everything looked so convincing and so real. We shouldn’t be surprised by that… after all it’s the same visual effects company who did the stuff on Transformers last summer and is going The Incredible Hulk in a few weeks as well. The wizards at ILM did such a good job you can never quite tell when you’re looking at a costume and when you’re looking at CGI. Never once in the movie did a poor effects shot pull me out of the movie (that’s the ultimate compliment you can give a VFX supervisor).

Go figure… it was a good STORY! Some people are going to hate that I say this… but it’s the truth. There is less “action” in Iron man than there was in the first Hulk film. No really… it’s true. But here’s the thing… because the story had such a good pace to it and was characters and backstory so well set up… and it was just a good story, the lack of action never becomes an issue. Don’t get me wrong… there is some great action in this flick… just not as much as you might expect… but the quality of the story and the pace at which it’s told more than compensate for that to the point that it never really becomes an issue.

The film does a wonderful job at never alienating audience members who many not know ANYTHING about the Iron Man comic book, and yet at the same time throw in lots of little nods to those who do know it. That’s a fine line to walk, but they did it well which really added to the charm of the movie and allowed comic fans to feel more engaged with it.

This is not The Dark Knight. There has been a (good) trend in some comic book movies like Batman Begins to make things “DARKER”. There’s nothing wrong with that at all, and depending on the characters, that is often a very good thing. But Iron Man chooses not to go down that path and that was a very wise decision. It’s a light, fun and exciting film which is exactly how it should have been (Then again, I’d still be interested in a darker Iron Man film where Tony Stark’s alcoholism is explored)

THE BAD

As was mentioned before, the film could have stood to have a couple of more set pieces with more action. Yes the story made up for that, and it’s not like the movie was suffering for a SERIOUS lack of action… but I still feel like one or two more sequences could have made it even better without making it feel over stuffed.

There is about a 15 minute segment of the film about a half hour before the end of the movie that did start to feel like it was dragging a little bit. It wasn’t serious and never felt boring… but for that brief time it did feel like the film had lost its sense of pace… thankfully it found it again and ended with a BANG!

The only other bad thing I can say about Iron Man is that it may have set the bar so high for comic book movies this summer that it may ruin the rest of them.

OVERALL

Iron man is a fun, exciting, interesting, entertaining comic book movie that even non-comic book movie fans will enjoy. It’s funny, looks great and has some great performances. Yes it could have stood a couple of more action sequences and yes it seemed to lose its sense of pace for a little while, but these are minor complaints that didn’t effect the overall enjoyment of the film for me. While I certainly don’t think this is the best comic book movie ever made (I still say X-Men 2 has that title) the bar for all the comic book movies this summer has now been set VERY high. Frankly, I have my doubts even The Dark Knight can match it. If it does, then we are a lucky audience indeed! Overall I give Iron Man an 8.5 out of 10.

I’ve been a huge fan of Mixed Martial Arts ever since I saw UFC #2 many many years ago. I still remember very vividly watching Royce Graice, a skinny little guy absolutely mow through men 2 and 3 times his size and weight. All these flashy fighters with their punches, flying kicks and spinning back fists were all made totally useless as Gracie always got them on the ground (where their flying kicks were meaningless), tied them up like a cobra, and then would either choke them out or make them tap (give up). Suddenly the world knew about Jiu-Jitsu and the real world of MMA was born.

So when you bring along a movie that appears to focus on the art, and it stars Chiwetel Ejiofor (who I’ve been a huge fan of ever since seeing him in Serenity a couple of years back) it instantly gets my attention. And so here comes “Redbelt”.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis for Redbelt looks like this: “Tim Allen and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in writer/director David Mamet’s martial arts drama concerning a jujitsu master who becomes corrupted by the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. When a respected jujitsu master (Ejiofor) eschews a lucrative prizefighting career in favor of opening a self-defense dojo, it appears that he has chosen a peaceful path in life. The dedicated martial artist’s fate takes an unanticipated turn, however, when he is manipulated into participating in ultimate fighting championships by a group of unscrupulous actors and fight promoters. Later, as the master is being relentlessly beaten in a dirty street fight, he connects with a high-profile action star (Allen) with serious marital problems. Realizing that the only way to regain his honor is to step into the ring, the jujitsu master reluctantly prepares for the fight of his life.”

THE GOOD

Surprise surprise, Chiwetel Ejiofor is fantastic in it. Not only did he look convincing performing the martial arts (which is often a big flaw in many of these types of movies) he also just gives a great performance. A troubled warrior who is trying to lead a peaceful existence suddenly confronted with doubt, adversity, betrayal and the weaknesses in his own character as well. Very well played.

One of the worst things about any sort of “fight” movie (karate, boxing, street fighting, whatever) is that they often look good, but have zero levels of believability because every single punch or kick that gets thrown would knock out a normal human being… and these fights inevitably end up having massive haymakers landing with every shot. Redbelt avoids that trapping and just has the fights look like real fights without the flashy glamour of knock out power shots with every punch. It’s not as flashy to look at on screen, but it adds to the authentic feel.

Surprisingly enough Tim Allen wasn’t that bad in the film. I rolled my eyes the moment I heard he was in this, but I’ve got to admit he was pretty good. It was a different sort of character for him and he did it pretty well.

THE BAD

If the combat looked believable in the movie… then that was the only believable part of the whole damn thing. The plot was so full of imagination defying nonsense and unrealistic scenarios that I spent a good part of the movie with my face buried in my hands. It’s hard to go into it too much without crossing into spoiler territory… but it just seemed like EVERYTHING that happened in the movie was not the way it would have happened in real life. It was so bad… gaahhhhh!!! I can’t say way it was bad because it would be a train of spoilers. Let me put it like this: The concept and general idea of the film were quite good… but the actual fleshing out and execution of the story was pathetic.

Aside from Chiwetel, all the characters were paper thin as far as depth goes.

OVERALL

Redbelt is a terrible movie that is ALMOST saved by authentic looking martial arts with a great character and a wonderful performance given to that character. Everything else surrounding that character was an unbelievable insult to human intelligence. So while there are some redeeming qualities to the film, I ended up just hating the flick.

Overall I’m giving Redbelt a 3.5 out of 10.

When I first heard about Son of Rambow it seemed like a cute idea, but probably one of those “throw away” festival films. I was also quite confused by the spelling of “Rambow” at first (The proper spelling is RAMBO), so I just assumed it was meant as a simple child’s typo in the film. So was this a simple throw away festival movie? NO! Son of Rambo is my new favorite film of 2008. Yes, it’s really that good.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The film’s synopsis looks something like this: “SON OF RAMBOW is the name of the home movie made by two little boys with a big video camera and even bigger ambitions. Set on a long English summer in the early 80’s, SON OF RAMBOW is a comedy about friendship, faith and the tough business of growing up. We see the story through the eyes of Will, the eldest son of a fatherless Plymouth Brethren family. The Brethren regard themselves as God’s ‘chosen ones’ and their strict moral code means that Will has never been allowed to mix with the other ‘worldlies,’ listen to music or watch TV, until he finds himself caught up in the extraordinary world of Lee Carter, the school terror and maker of bizarre home movies. Carter exposes Will to a pirate copy of Rambo: First Blood and from that moment Will’s mind is blown wide open and he’s easily convinced to be the stuntman in Lee Carters’ diabolical home movie. Will’s imaginative little brain is not only given chance to flourish in the world of film making, but is also very handy when it comes to dreaming up elaborate schemes to keep his partnership with Lee Carter a secret from the Brethren community. Will and Carter’s complete disregard for consequences and innocent ambition means that the process of making their film is a glorious rollercoaster that eventually leads to true friendship. They start to make a name for themselves at school as movie makers but when popularity descends on them in the form of the Pied Piper-esque French exchange student, Didier Revol, their unique friendship and their precious film are pushed, quite literally, to breaking point.”

THE GOOD

This film is such a stew of goodness it’s difficult to pick out the individual parts that make it so wonderful. The first thing I’ll mention is the amazing job done by the film’s child actor lead Bill Milner. As the young child brought up in the hyper religious family with a colorful and vivid imagination, Bill’s pure charm and wonder leaves you totally drawn into his story. You love this kid from the moment he comes onto the screen. There is something so special about a character who approaches the world with such a sense of innocence that the beauty of everything, even 80’s action films, ignites their imaginations and sense of wonder. It reminds us of how we once saw the world, how we wish we could see it again and how despite our years of being embittered and jaded parts of the world still actually is if we allow ourselves to see it.

Director Garth Jennings (who also directed the massively disappointing film “Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy” a few years ago, does a MASTERFUL job at brining the story to us. It’s hard enough to tell a compelling story and bring out good performances with adult professional actors… it’s got to be next to impossible to make a film that is meant to be meaningful, touching, funny and beautiful with almost an exclusively child cast. But somehow, some way, Jennings does it.

The film is funny. From the opening credits I had an idiot grin on my face. 4 or 5 big laugh out loud moments, with plenty of giggles throughout. Not bad for a film that wasn’t primarily a comedy.

THE BAD

An inherent drawback of working with child actors is that sometimes emotionally charged scenes can come off a little cheesy or forced. For the most part Son of Rambow manages for avoid this, but there were 2 or 3 occasions that it does pop its head up. Aside from that, I have no complaints.

OVERALL

Son of Rambow is a witty, charming and beautiful little movie. It’s so rare that child actors can actually fully carry a movie, and yet the ones who populate the world of Rambow do a fantastic job. You cheer for them, cry a little for them, laugh with them and just love them. I LOVED this film. Treat yourself and go see it this weekend.

Overall I give Son of Rambow a 9 out of 10