Fifty Percent Grey (2001)

Ruairi Robinson's portrayal of the afterlife is a big satire that does not really offer any sort of difference between Heaven, Purgatory, or Hell. Yes yes, I can see the message here. But it plays out more into what the viewer should view the afterlife as, and not what the CGI soldier thinks.

Still, I do see some progress in Robinson's career. He's done another short, live action, that I was pretty impressive as far as cinematography goes. But that's another entry for another time.

The Dark Knight (2008)

With the amount of hype surrounding this film, and the ridicules amount of time put into its production, I allowed myself to gain high hopes for the latest in the Batman saga. I was hoping that with the odd casting, the change in plot formula, and this being Heath Ledger's last completed film that this would essentially be a Batman movie that can still dazzle and impress with characters and environment, while utilizing Bruce Wayne's classic charm, and Batman's ability to be a hard-ass. It's safe to say, I was far from disappointment. This movie achieves more than what anyone could expect from a Batman movie, and reaches out of its own comic book spectrum to dip its hand into many other sub-genres of film. The Dark Knight achieves itself as not only the best Batman movie to date, but easily the most disturbing, imaginative, and complex crime drama to appear in theaters for a very long time.

Christopher Nolan's decision to take Batman in another direction pays off, as this movie includes a somewhat cleaner look at Gotham and a plot that suits the on-going war between the city, Marconi's men (ones responsible for most of the chaos in the last film) and of course, the Batman. Marconi's thugs are dropping in numbers thanks to the combine efforts of Batman and the new district attorney Harvey Dent. The mob's desperation eventually leads to them hiring the Joker to take care of him. This is where the film becomes more of a thriller than a superhero flick.

The Joker, to me, represents the standard that every comic-adapted villain should live up to. Heath Ledger's final complete performance is a land mark in the amount of depth and utter insanity one protagonist can achieve, and he is represented as well in this film as he would in some of the best Batman comics. He really isn't predictable at all, and amounts to more than just a creepy clown with scars on his cheeks. He's an extremely intelligent maniac who uses the manipulation of criminal minds (and heroic ones) to achieve his ultimate goal. What also diversifies the Joker from most on-screen "evil doers," is he has no motivation aside from destroying order in Gotham. He is a character that thrives on anarchy.

The movie embodies every keen aspect of the Batman, which brings him to a level above how we saw him in Batman Begins. The film puts him in a sort of guild with Commissioner Gordon and Harvey Dent, giving him more importance than a simple crime fighter who wanders the streets. His character has great importance as both Batman and Bruce Wayne. All of his gadgets are present too, which I always found to be essentially what made Batman more necessary in the Justice League. I mean really, why would anyone need him alongside people like Superman and the Flash?

In accordance with Warner Bros. the Nolan brothers (along with David s. Goyer) were able to formulate something much bigger plot-wise rather than settling for something dark and stylish. The result is a very satisfying movie with a script you'd swear got an Oscar at some point in the past. For a movie that works outside the limited environment of a man dressed in a bat suit, The Dark Knight breaks the barrier of comic adaptations into cinematic genius.

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army (2008)

An odd choice of Guillermo del Toro after his critically acclaimed Pan's Labyrinth did so well. With the amount of projects this guy turns down, you'd think a Hellboy sequel wouldn't have made the cut. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army was definitely worth his time, and shows a director's superior control over creativity can make a sequel that doesn't correct the supposed flaws of the last movie, but expands upon them making them better as an overall improved work of art.

Without the guidance of John Hurt's character, Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, Hellboy 2 has a sense of misguidance to it. Tom Manning (Jeffrey Tambor) has sort of taken his place and uses bribery to keep him under control, and most importantly, out of sight. Even still, Red's main concern is going public and getting recognition for what he does for a living. A valuable lesson is learned about keeping people at a distance, and how underappreciated the people who protect them really are. Otherwise, this movie is a constant fantastic dream of Del Toro bring Mike Mignola's creations to life. I did have a favorite character aside from the big red guy himself, and that was Johann Krauss (voiced by Seth MacFarlane). Krauss is a gassious spectre that has inhabited what looks like a big, rusty, old scuba-suit from the 1930's mixed with . He has the ability to leave his suit in ectoplasmic form, and can inhabit most any kind of soulless object, which makes for some great action durring the film's finale.

Hellboy 2 is beautifully directed and keeps it's shaky, yet stable plot rolling with some wierd creatures and amazing action along the way. There aren't many I could see adapting Mignola's work at this point (though Tim Burton might have been a good choice), and Del Toro has always given what audiences like me want to watch. It's no Pan's Labyrinth as far as plot goes, but it does deliver and overflows with creativity.

Hellboy (2004)

Sure, the dialogue can be cheesy and the concept of Nazis being the bad guys is a little overdone. But if we focus mostly on the negative aspects of Hellboy, we're missing a valuable point Guillermo del Toro is trying to convey; That his sleeper-hit comedic, supernatural comic adaptation is a work of art that blends many different movie themes together.

As its lack of positive feedback will tell you, Hellboy isn't for everyone. Perhaps audiences aren't considering what the life of an inbred demon boy with no communication with the outside world is like. Hellboy was raised on pop culture being his only connection with humanity, with very minimal interaction with people aside from his own "father." Ron Perlman portrays a big red tank with one-liners equivalent to the quality of a Die Hard movie, though he has his more sensitive moments. Hellboy is strong, yet vulnerable to the few he has been raised around in his life. Namely Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), a fellow member of the BPRD. They have an odd, resentful relationship and she obviously doesn't really dig him. Red (Hellboy's nickname) has a puppy love crush on her, and she rejects him until the final moments of the film. Other supporting characters include Trevor Bruttenholm (John Hurt), the man who found Red when he was only a wee baby demon, and Abe Sapien (played by Doug Jones, voiced by David Hyde Pierce), who is basically a telepathic fish man.

Most of the film's quality comes from these characters and how they protect us ala Men in Black. While we're ignorant to the supernatural occurrences which summons the BPRD's assistance, they give good reason for supporting their cause. There is a similar theme to the X-men films, like the idea of defending an unappreciative society. The film doesn't oversympathize with the characters, even though they rightfully deserve it. Especially with the kind of villain they're up against. Nazism and Satan worshiping aside, these guys are pretty bad ass. Del Toro puts a lot of his film making skills into keeping fantastic characters artistic, and Hellboy is no exception to that.

Stardust (2007)

Stardust is a fast-paced fantasy that doesn't really take the time to develop characters and scenery besides it's main antagonist. It's an interesting combination of "cute" romance and humor that operates very similar to Monty Python's humor involving death, minus the gore. This was advertised as a kids movie you know.

A few performances here shine above the rest, like who plays Captain Shakespeare, a feminine pirate captain of an air ship who hides behind a guise of masculinity to impress his crew. Another role, which is strikingly minor, is David Kelly's portrayal of the guardian of the village wall.

Stardust has lots of potential to be a very well crafted fantasy that rivals many other popular cult-classic fantasy films (i.e. Willow, Legend) but shows obvious signs of being rushed. It accomplishes what it can in a rather short run time, but could be much more with at least another thirty minutes that the studio probably just wouldn't give up. Granted that Matthew Vaughn is a new director, such misfortunes should be expected. Hell, he's lucky this one got a theater release.

Hulk (2003) / The Incredible Hulk (2008)

It looks like Marvel has finally done it. They've erased Ang Lee's greatly frowned upon Hulk and started fresh with a sequel/remake directed by Louis Leterrier, famous for Unleashed and The Transporter 2. I guess they figured if they went with a director who's established his career on action flicks, the new Hulk movie will have tons of it, right?

Absolutely right. This movie had tons of good action that really kept my interest. Now, I shouldn't go on comparing this to the last attempt at adapting the angry green giant, but with such a small five-year gap separating the two films, It's kind of hard not to.

I honestly didn't think Ang Lee's Hulk was all that bad. There were some qualities about the film that I thought were very impressive, and it was a pretty decent independent Hulk story. But as an adaptation, it failed. Hulk's story focuses more on Bruce Banner rather than the Hulk himself. Hulk harnessed the more depressing moments of the original story, and as a result the story was also kind of a downer. It didn't really have a resolution to Banner's problems and never really introduced a true villain until the end of the film.

When it comes to making the Hulk look like the actor who played Banner, it had great CGI. The acting of Eric Bana, Jennifer Connely, Nick Nolte and the rest of the cast was superb, but the movie itself just didn't have enough of what fans of the comic book wanted. The Incredible Hulk takes everything Hulk lacked, and improves upon it completely. Not just with action, but story as well.

Edward Norton plays Banner this time around, with Liv Tyler as Betty Brant and William Hurt as her father, Gen. Thaddeus Ross. An odd casting choice, but the biggest surprise to me was Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction) as Emil Blonsky, who is basically an army general who desperately wants a piece of the Hulk. With a cast like this, the acting didn't suffer all that much. But since this is a comparison, this has to be the only field where the 2003 Hulk movie surpasses the newer one. I saw more development in the computer animated Hulk character than any of the talent on board. I do believe, however, that this also contributes to this being a better movie. As the plot unfolds, we see the Hulk and Banner working together to forge a sort of understanding with each other. We first see Banner in a somewhat similar environment that Hulk left off at. He's training himself to conquer his anger, to prevent another incident where he'll unleash the Hulk and harm others. Banner is afraid of this side of him, and treats it as an almost incurable disease. Of course, without him "hulking out" we wouldn't have a movie. As he is forced out of his foreign comfort zone, the Hulk emerges and from that point on, both characters learn to exist with each other instead of rejecting themselves. Banner is calm and collected at first, prohibiting himself to keep ties with any people, even the woman he loves, Betty Brant. But after his incident, things flow more naturally for him as he eventually reunites with Betty, and pursues his ultimate goal of curing his "illness" with the help of his online friend, Samuel Sterns aka Mr. Blue. We also see more humanity in the Hulk character, especially through his interaction with Betty. He starts to show more human emotion than he did in the beginning or from the previous film.

There's more romance here than Marvel's last success, Iron Man. Liv Tyler and Edward Norton make a good amount of chemistry together, reminiscent of the last movie. They interact together well and any scene where they cross paths involves a lot of the dreamy, slow-motion type of ambiance.

Blonsky, after getting a taste of the Hulk gene and having a run-in with him, only craves more power. He forces Sterns to inject him with an extremely high dosage of the gene, creating the super villain the predecessor lacked, Abomination. Commence epic street battle finale! This scene had by far, the most brutal action in any superhero flick I've seen thus far. If you're a sucker for heavy violence in cinema like me, The Incredible Hulk has just what the doctor ordered for kids who burned ants for kicks when they were five. The movie concludes with the final result of Hulk's learning process (so far) with a big "Hulk Smash!" And of course, Robert Downey Jr. cameos as Tony Stark, presenting an offer to Gen. Ross over some drinks. It looks like Marvel is serious about the Avengers movie that was only rumored for the past couple years. My only question is, who will direct it?

Being John Malkovich (1999)

Among the surreal work of writer Charlie Kaufman, this one definitely put him on the map for more visionary directors to handle most of his work. With that being said, this film achieves at being well portrayed through John Cusack, Cameron Diaz and obviously, John Malkovich. Otherwise, I was pretty bored.

The plot is rather shaky because it seems it really can't make up its mind on the importance of certain characters. I didn't really pay much attention to Diaz's character, Lotte, until I was about a third through the film.

A factor that makes Being John Malkovich so unique is how often it changes perspectives. Not just the perspective of going into a vessel in John Malkovich's mind, but what happens when more than one person enters, the people who interact with him when he's being controlled and what they see, or what happens when John Malkovich enters John Malkovich? It's a very smart concept that is toyed around with, but doesn't explore the depth as much as it focuses on feeble-minded characters. Most of which are barely developed and really aren't that interesting to begin with.

I watched this based on the praise the director receives from some remarks the hilarious Steve Coogan makes in Coffee and Cigarettes. Seeing as I'm a visual effects fiend, I really didn't notice enough from this film to credit the director with anything other than being able to deliver a few crazy scenes towards the end of the film. Then again, it's not like USA Films just dishes out the budget for such things.

Coffee and Cigarettes (2003)

Jim Jarmusch must be pretty hip with the cool kids. Upon directing and co-writing the original segment Coffee and Cigarettes back in 1986, it must have struck audiences well enough to make two "sequels" so to speak, involving the same idea. Then, apparently people still couldn't get enough, so he made many, many more shorts of various people enjoying the usual caffenited beverage and cancer sticks, turning it into a full-length film much later in 2003.

With Jarmusch's updated take, he includes more than just a couple new actors, but musicians as well, which include Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, The White Stripes and the Wu-Tang Clan (who do a hilarious segment with Bill Murray). There are some laughs, however, some segments can easily bore and have no appeal whatsoever. It's not that Coffee and Cigarettes is bad, it just doesn't really have a point.

And why should it? The greatness of the two tentalizing habbits the title is composed of are better enjoyed in a lose, careless environment with no real motive other than relaxation. Jarmusch's compilation achieves it's point more as a collection of his original shorts that have achieved at least some fame, as well as some newer ones including famous actors and musicians to highlight the fact that he must have some great people skills.

Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006)

Despite it's questionable title, Wristcutters has as little to do with being depressed as the film has to do with hardcore action. Which it doesn't.

Ultimately, it is a love story with a sort of Wizard of Oz sense of adventure. The film follows two guys and a girl, suck in some sort of afterlife for those who have "offed" themselves. Zia is a poor sap whose girlfriend broke up with him which resulted taking his own life with a razor to the wrist, Eugene is an ex-lead member in a band who dumped beer on his guitar (and also owns a junker of a car with a black hole underneath the passenger seat), and Mikal is a girl who claims she "accidentally" got there because she OD'd. The trio set out together, but for their own motives. Zia catches wind of his ex-girlfriend killing herself and embarks on a search to find her while Mikal searches for the people in charge of this limbo they now live in. As for Eugene, well, there is no real motive for him, even though he sort of finds his place.

Each character has a different personality trait that keeps them fairly interesting, like Eugene's skepticism and Mikal's selfishness. Tom Waits also makes an odd appearance, but important influence as Kneller, a man who is searching for his lost dog. He takes them to his camp dedicated to housing bizarre people who possess the ability to create miracles. The group stays there for awhile, until word of Kneller's dog reaches them through his friend Yan. He tells them the dog has been found by a man named King, who plans to sacrifice himself a second time (the first being how he got there in the first place) for some kind of ritual. There, Zia finally finds his ex, Desiree, who killed herself as instructed by King's "calling," and continues to blindly follow his teachings.

Though Zia eventually finds Desiree, the film develops chemistry between Zia and Mikal to look shamefully on the interaction with Desiree, making Mikal a more obvious choice. The movie has an ending I'm a little uneasy with logically, though most fantasy films can get away with such things. The story ends happily, and keeps a good constant beat to it for the most part. The characters get broken apart more towards the end, but probably for the best. Wristcutters: A Love Story is a unique romance that charms with interesting characters and a blend of dark comedy with a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor. Cuddle up to someone for this one.