Imagine if you will...

Even though it came out a little while ago, I didn't get to see The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus until I bought it on DVD a couple of nights ago. I thought that I should give my two cents on it, however, because it really deserves the attention. The shadow looming over this movie is that it had the misfortune of being the movie Heath Ledger was working on when he passed on a couple of years back, before it was completed. Terry Gilliam, the brains behind the movie, was reportedly not sure whether he wanted to finish the movie without Ledger, but thank goodness he did, for I found the movie to be outstanding. The story is a little tweaked, bizarre, and in a word very-original. It's a twisted tale about Doctor Panassus who makes a bet with the Devil (or should I say a man called Mr. Nick), and then another bet, and another, and so on and so on, yet he doesn't seem to learn from one bad decision to the next. Now living on the outskirts of society as a kind of wandering performer with his daughter, his conscious, and another guy, Doctor Parnassus is joined by a stranger with secrets of his own and those secrets just might prove his salvation or his eternal damnation. That's just the surface, and there is a lot more to the story than that, but I don't want to give too much away. All in all I thought it was a great movie and well worth viewing.

Two Irons in the Fire.

Sat in on a midnight screening of Iron Man 2 last night and I have some mixed feelings on it. Don't get me wrong, it was a good show, but I had a couple of "iffy" feelings about it, so I'll go down the list. The Good: Robert Downy Junior, but it kind of seemed like the cool factor he had going in 1 was knocked down a peg here and I can't put my finger on just why that is. Sam Jackson with a larger part and the eye patch, need I say more? Scarlett Johansson...nice. And the Favreau boxing bit was classic. The Bad: Too many AC/CD songs, they could have used much better music than that. Sam Rockwell (who I like as an actor) didn't pull off bad or greedy to me and just seemed to be in the way. The Ugly: Micky Rourke, the dude bugs, which I guess is good for the villain, but I kind of wanted to puke a little bit whenever he was on screen. The verdict, I liked it, but only just. Maybe my expectations were too high and it will take another viewing to really warm up to it.

To Lose or not to lose.

Yet again I found myself watching another film based on a comic book last night, The Losers. Basically a soldier of fortune movie, reminiscent of the A-Team, the movie was an adventuresome ride. It wasn't too deep, but there were a couple of twists and turns there, and a lot of funny one liners. So if you're looking for a good movie that you don't have to invest too much brain power to watch, I'd recommend it. I have to warn you, you won't be able to get the Journey song Don't Stop Believing out of your head after you watch it though.

And posteriors were indeed kicked.

A few nights ago I took in the movie Kick-Ass, which I found to be very entertaining and highly enjoyed. I think it was a good parody of super hero movies and a decent movie in it's own right on both levels. Granted this is niche sort of movie, if you aren't into super violent vulgarity strewn movies based on comic books, this might not be the film for you. This sandman however was more than satisfied.

The Clash.

Upon viewing the the recent remake of Clash of the Titans last night, something occurred to me this morning as I read other film reviews; some people just need to lighten up. This Clash of the Titans might not have been that movie I always found a bit silly and hokey as a kid, but I really enjoyed it. My only gripe if I have one was that it could have been a bit longer, it seemed to go by way to fast for me. Maybe that was just because I enjoyed being in that world so much, I don't know.

Two for one today.

I've seen a couple of flicks recently, so I thought I'd put them both on one entry. The other night I watched A Couple of Cops, and found it entertaining. It wasn't rip roaring funny, or at least I didn't think so, but it had it's moments. I think the highlight of the whole movie was Tracy Morgan, and Bruce Willis playing off of him made me laugh. Sean Williams Scott on the other hand made me cringe every moment he was on screen, he annoyed the hell out me. Overall, however, I'd say the film was at least worth one viewing.

Last week I watched Shutter Island and that one is more of a mixed bag. Yes it is a high quality movie, well made, and finely acted, but I really didn't find it to be that much of a head trip. The shocking ending was no shock at all, in fact I had already figured it out just from watching the movie trailer (I hate it when they do that!) and so I have to say that this was a bit of a disappointment. DiCaprio did a fine acting job it in though, and if there was anything I thought redeemed the film, that would be it.

Post apocalyptic good times.

Nope, didn't watch the The Road this evening, I would have liked too but something like that is a little too sophisticated for this area's theaters. No, I watched the Book of Eli film this evening, which I have to admit I liked more than I thought I would. Granted I wanted to see it, but I wasn't sure if I was going enjoy it, or just chock it up as another film that was made. Denzel Washington played a pretty decent post apocalyptic warrior of God though, but there were some slow moments. Overall I enjoyed it. However, the thing that I thought was coolest about this movie is that it reunited Denzel Washington and Jennifer Beals on screen again. Granted, they only had one scene together but watching that scene made me feel a little nostalgic love for The Devil in a Blue Dress. Ahhh...