Review: Caesar Must Die

And so my computer once again returns to the store from whence it came to undergo yet another attempt to install Windows Vista - properly this time I hope. This means that once more I'll have very limited opportunities for about one or two weeks to update this blog. Do not despair though! Always, hope prevails. Today for example I had my second movie review, of an arthouse pseudo-docu drama called Caesar Must Die, posted on MovieScene, and the result (once again changed in terms of length from its original, this time at least by my own hand), can be found here:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/142408/caesar_must_die_-_recensie

Up next in my MS schedule is a press screening for Silent Hill: Revelation 3D next week. It'll be a nice reprieve from reviewing arthouse flicks (which is not to say I don't enjoy that). I sincerely hope my computer has returned to me by that time, otherwise I'll find writing a piece about said movie quite the challenge. Fortuitously, in darkness there is always a little light left, since the large amounts of spare time I now have at my disposal make it easier for me to watch the predecessor (simply named Silent Hill) to prepare me for the upcoming chore.

Oh, and supposedly The Hobbit arrived at theaters this week, which means I'll be tasked with the quest to see it despite overwhelming odds in the shape of the humongous masses on the same quest. If you thought Frodo had it bad, think again... Nobody ever said going to the movies for free is easy...

Today's News: Fantastic Four Reborn

Posted this bit of news on MovieScene today:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/142501/fantastic_four_reborn_krijgt_releasedatum

Unlike the recent reboot of Spider-Man, in the case of the Fantastic Four a rebot is actually warranted, considering the lackluster quality of the previous pair of FF flicks (2005, 2007). Though not bad per se, they were surely disappointing next to their superior (in both plot and general execution) superhero counterparts like X-Men (2000) and Spider-Man (2002). To say they were cheesy would not be far off the mark. Casting decisions, vital for making Marvel's First Family come alive, were rather poor in some cases: both Ioan Gruffudd (Mr. Fantastic) and Jessica Alba (the Invisible Girl/Woman) lacked the necessary gravitas and chemistry to make their characters as compelling as their comic book counterparts. Likewise, Julian McMahon has unfortunately set his mark as one of the lamest super villains in the realm of comic book adaptations, playing a very unconvincing Dr. Doom that missed all the signs of intimidation and intelligence that ought to come with the character. However, both Michael Chiklis and Chris Evans did a decent job as the Thing and the Human Torch respectively. The latter in fact went on to play Captain America, both in his own film and in the superior ultimate superhero film The Avengers, so at least Evans proved himself as an actor capable of successfully bringing comic book characters to life. But it's clear two adequate bits of casting didn't make up for a good team of four, and the movie suffered from it.

Of course rebooting the Fantastic Four will also mean we'll be treated to the whole origin story all over again. Considering 20th Century-Fox's intentions to create its own Marvel shared universe (not an entirely original concept, granted, but still not something to dismiss), having the FF eventually join forces with the X-Men (and possibly Daredevil) on the big screen, a retelling of the group's history may not be such a bad idea, even though it will come as a redundancy to many fans, but undoubtedly not to most general spectators who are likely to have forgotten all about both existing FF films. It may sound harsh, but perhaps it's better to indeed forget about the previous two installments entirely in favour of establishing such a new cinematic corner of the Marvel Universe. Such a tactic worked for the Hulk, also a Marvel character that witnessed a revamping in order to bring it more in line with the upcoming Avengers movies. Fox better take a note from the result, The Incredible Hulk (2008), on how to stay true to a character without unnecessarily dishing out the whole origin story, instead telling us enough about it to understand the characters involved while delivering a wholly new story with an entirely different cast.

There's certainly room for improvement where the Fantastic Four are concerned. We have yet to see a movie about them that lives up to that first adjective after all. Can 'almost rookie' director Josh Trank pull it off? Chronicle showed us that he has an affinity for special effects but he also takes his time to tackle his characters' plight, though he's not afraid to cover ground already covered before (an abused kid going bad when superpowered, how original...). Given the subject matter and its previous history at the movies, seems exactly what we need then!

200th post by the way. Nice! Here's to at least as much posts in 2013!

Recensie: Sol LeWitt

Today witnesses the posting of my first actual movie review on MovieSene.nl, Sol LeWitt, a documentary about the American minimalist and conceptual artist of the same name. The result of my first press screening experience, which had me actually sitting in the theatre and watching the film instead of merely ushering attendants, in can be viewed here:

Sol LeWitt

Please note that my review has been cropped a little bit to get it more in line with MovieScene's style. It's a bit shorter than my average review posted on this blog (though that is probably only for the better), while some sentences and words have been changed in order not to alienate readers not used to overly long and thorough descriptions. So if you're reading this and you end up thinking, 'my, his style sure has improved/gotten worse!', keep in mind my writing style is very much the same. I'm just being reigned in a bit, it's a learning curve.

Here's to many more reviews to follow!

Today's News: The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Just posted this tidbit of news regarding the latest casting choice of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 over on MovieScene.nl:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/142309/dane_dehaan_als_harry_osborn_in_amazing_spider-man_2

It's an interesting bit of casting, but I fear poor Dane might feel his career is getting repetitive, since his newly accepted role shares more than its fair share of similarities to his breakthrough role in Chronicle. However, Peter Parker better be sure to see that flick to realize what he's in for if he upsets his closest 'frenemy'...

Game of Thrones Season 1 synopsis, Sinterklaas style

As of yesterday evening, Sinterklaas 2012 has come and gone for me. Me and my loved ones had a wonderful time, despite the grizzly weather and the typical frustrations it spawned (like wet presents). Even though I had less than a week to come up with suitable rhymes for the presents I gave to others, I think the result was pretty good. I'm especially proud of my 84 line piece of poetry describing the events depicted in season 1 of Game of Thrones, which I presented to my sister as a gift. Despite suggestions I ought to keep my writing brief, I showed what inspiration hath wrought when its subject is nothing but mesmerizingly inspirable. Simply for fun, I'm posting the poem here.

As seems more and more usual, it's written in Dutch. The Dutch language is ever more present on my blog, and I don't see this changing any time soon. In fact, I might decide to switch to full Dutch mode eventually, just to keep some consistency. Being the hypocrite that I am, I'll definitely keep my blog's name in English. 'De dag dat de nerd stil stond' just sounds too silly...

Voor Lady Saskia,

Fantasy is iets waar jij dol op bent

Dat is Sinterklaas nu toch wel bekend

Sint moet elk jaar weer uren zoeken

Naar door jou begeerde fantasy-boeken

Dat bezorgt hem soms heel wat stennis

Want van literatuur heeft hij weinig kennis

Ja, hij is echt meer van het audiovisuele

Letters op papier kunnen hem amper schele

Wat dat betreft wordt hij flink genaaid

Want fantasy-series zijn dun gezaaid

De zeven goden zij dank voor HBO

Die vond het fantasy-aanbod ook maar zo-zo

En benaderde de heer R.R. Martin

Die zag er gelukkig ook wel een gat in

Te verfilmen het Lied van Ijs en Vuur

Niet als miniserie, maar voor onbeperkte duur

Dat was een zeker schot in de roos

Want het resultaat is ongetwijfeld virtuoos

En ook al heb je de boeken al gelezen

De serie zal ook door jou worden geprezen

Natuurlijk heb je het al gezien

Maar 'n synopsis kan geen kwaad misschien

't Draait hoofdzakelijk om de heer Ned Stark

Een te edele en eerzame stijve hark

Wonend in een 'evil empire' in de dop

Zijn nobele aard kost hem nog eens de kop

Door de hand van de boze koningin

Die vreemd gaat met haar sexy twin

Telg van de rijke familie Lannister

Gebrand de macht te grijpen, hoe sinister!

Hun broertje Tyrion is nog niet zo kwaad

Zijn hart lijkt te zitten op de juiste plaats

Ook al is hij een dwerg, zijn lichaam maar klein

Zijn hoge sexdrift vindt menig vrouw toch fijn

Helaas wordt hij beschuldigd van moord

En door Starks verbolgen vrouw opgespoord

Maar weet hij zijn onverdiende straf te ontlopen

Door zich inventief vrij te kopen

Doch als z'n vader van zijn arrest krijgt te weten

Wordt er om de Imp een oorlog ontketend

Vervolgens sterft ook nog 'ns koning Robert

Die teveel alcohol had opgeslobberd

Zijn erfgenaam blijkt zijn gewetenloze zoon

En wanneer hij bestijgt de Ijz'ren Troon

Valt 't koninkrijk slechts narigheid ten deel

Al snel vliegen Noord en Zuid elkaar naar de keel

In een allesverwoestende strijd om de macht

Terwijl in het noorden valt de winterse nacht

Waardoor een oude mysterieuze kracht

Die duizenden jaren heeft afgewacht

Wakker wordt, volhartig smachtend

Om het ganse rijk af te slachten

Voor het land rest er slechts weinig hoop

Want iedereen ligt met elkaar overhoop

Doordat de adel meent dat de dreiging een grap is

Blijkt dat de grensbewaking nu maar slap is

Die laksheid zal 'n ieder zuur overkomen

Als 't rijk door zombies wordt overgenomen

En de enige redding voor het grote eiland

Ligt in haar oude verdreven vijand

Want in het oosten schuilt er nog Daenerys

Uitgehuwelijkt door haar broer, wat niet fair is

Nu wordt ze door krijgsheer Drogo bruut genomen

Maar gelukkig weet ze dit lot te overkomen

Want ook al moet ze zich heel vaak ontkleden

Ze weet haar eigen plannen te smeden

Om weer aan de macht in het rijk te geraken

Dankzij haar drietal kleine draken

En al die usurpators over de kling te jagen

In een zee van bloed zal dit haar behagen!

Zal zij des koninkrijk's pijn verzachten

Of zal zij zelf het rijk verkrachten

Ja ja, in Westeros is het een dolle boel

Waar lust en passie heerst over eergevoel

Met een gastrol voor het hoofd van George Bush

HBO's politiek is immers niet voor de poes

Bijna had dit tot een ernstig geschil geleid

En werd een fictieve oorlog bewaarheid

Want menig humorloze Republikein

Bleek nu tegen deze serie te zijn

Wees maar blij dat je in Nederland woont

Waar we van zulk conflict blijven verschoond

En dus zal Sint je fantasylust nu belonen

Met de eerste reeks van 't Spel der Tronen

Lord Sint

First day on the job!

 Today I finally had my first bit of work posted on my new employer MovieScene.nl. Here's the result:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/142125/patrick_stewart_en_ian_mckellen_gecast_in_x-men:_days_of_future_past

Expect to see this sort of thing, links and all, more often around here. For legal reasons I'm not allowed to directly copy what I wrote for MovieScene on this, my blog. But since I don't want to choose one over the other, this is a viable alternative, indicating that I'm still active on both fronts. It may not look very appealing, but for me substance is more important than style. Properly spelled of course.

And yes, I'm hugely looking forward to X-Men: Days of Future Past. The original comic book story is widely renowned as one of the best X-Men stories ever, Bryan Singer has earned my trust with his previous X-Men installments, First Class was top-notch, and both Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen are among my favorite actors ever. With so many rights, what could possibly go wrong?

Probably a few things, but let's keep a little optimism for a change...

Today's Film: The Day After Tomorrow

The Day After Tomorrow

Rating: ***/*****, or 7/10

Probably Roland Emmerich's most typical disaster movie, delivering grandiose spectacle as catastrophe strikes and actors attempt to survive the many pixels the visual FX departments throw at them accordingly. Joining on the doomsday bandwagon of both scientists and laymen alike, Emmerich depicts the coming of a new ice age due to mankind's arrogant tampering with the planet's environment. Caused by global warming, ocean currents change and a series of super storms evolve, hitting the northern hemisphere hard, resulting in giant tornadoes levelling Los Angeles and tsunamis engulfing New York City. Things get even worse when temperatures drop rapidly and the latter town freezes over completely, leaving a boy (Jake Gyllenhaal) and his friends trapped in the city library, with his father (Dennis Quaid) setting out on a desperate trek across the frozen wasteland to come and save him. Though the prospects of global warming (or global meltdown for that matter) aren't particularly attractive in real life either, Emmerich goes all-out without really bothering with the laws of nature for realism's sake. The movie is therefore much maligned amongst the scientific community for its preposterous display of dramatic natural effects supposedly caused by global warming, but the message stands that we had better try to avoid the Earth cooling down or warming up for our own health anyway. Like any disaster movie, the true star of the film is the disaster itself which makes for a highly entertaining watch, while the human drama in-between moments of thrilling calamities is less compelling, at times even obnoxious for getting into the way of the action. Most spectacular is the flooding of New York, despite the overly digital quality of the piece. After that, the big freeze and a wolf attack upon the protagonists provide some more thrills but the best bits have come and gone, though all too brief moments of satire, like Americans crossing their southern border to get into Mexico illegally, generate a good laugh occasionally. Emmerich would find even more stuff to demolish in his disaster flick to-end-all disaster flicks 2012, as the fate of whole mankind and indeed the entire world lies in the balance: after all, the southern hemisphere got off too lightly in this film.

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Emmy Rossum

Directed by Roland Emmerich

USA: 20^th Century-Fox, 2004