I, for one, have never been much of a fan of the Hulk. Even when I was highly invested in Marvel Comics collecting them and rushing to newsstands every week with sheer excitement I always opted for something other than the green behemoth. Hell, I chose to buy Darkhawk and Super Pro over an Incredible Hulk comic. Apparently I’m in the minority again because Marvel seems to love the big guy. Ever since his introduction the Hulk has been included in practically every animated series, animated movie, live action movie, and comic series in some form. He’s even guest starred on series’ centered on the X-Men and Fantastic Four and somehow always manages to steal the spotlight. So it’s no surprise the Hulk is given yet another chance at the center stage with “Planet Hulk.” I never read the graphic novel, but as always Marvel squeezes in the entirety of the tale in to a movie that barely makes it past eighty minutes.
Tag Archives: Aliens
District 9 (2009)
“District 9” has a definitely unique take on the alien invasion sub-genre that switches the tables on the old dichotomy between humans and aliens and it does it so well and in such a unique method that it is in a constant struggle searching for a protagonist to spotlight. But as most political situations involving illegal immigration and government, we rarely have someone we can root for or find empathy for. “District 9” is that skewering of illegal immigration and lower class struggles that makes it definitely one of the best films of 2009 and without a doubt one of the best science fiction films ever made. Blomkamp and company take the premise and fit it in to the sub genres of found footage films and alien invasions and rarely ever misses a beat between the changes in gear.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
I’ve either pretty much come to terms with the fact that Hollywood will remake anything, even the heavyweights of the film world. Or maybe I’m just too numb (and am coming down with Stockholm Syndrome) to care about treasured movies being given botched remakes. I should be angry, but I’m not. I came to terms with Hollywood’s xerox machine a long time ago. I instead have chosen to take modern remakes and look at them as their own entities, a copy that doesn’t necessarily have to stick to the original source material to be good. How do you remake a nearly seventy year old movie and stick in modern times? It can’t be too easy, and if you’ve seen this remake you’ll realize that most times it’s nearly impossible.
Movies That Age Poorly: Independence Day (1996)
Directed by Roland Emmerich
Written by Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich
I can criticize his movies all I want, but Will Smith makes money out the ass, and most times without even trying at all. He can star in a bastardized remake of a classic Western show, a bastardized adaptation of a science fiction novel, or a bastardized adaptation of a classic horror novel, and the man will still bank about a billion dollars easy. Take “Hancock.” Wow. But one thing that I’ve alwys found ridiculous was that Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin expected us to believe that these aliens have every capability to defend themselves against our forces from electromagnetic waves, lasers, bombs, and missiles, but they couldn’t protect themselves against a super virus? And it takes one virus to bring down their defense systems? Doesn’t that contradict their whole advanced technology strategy? And if they could communicate telepathically, wouldn’t it stand to reason they would operate their machines telepathically? And since when do jets travel as fast as alien technology?
Legion Of Superheroes: Volume 3 (DVD)
It was probably a god send that “Legion” was cancelled, because three seasons in, the series was making very little progress in the way of storylines. With the constantly shuffling characters, and tonal changes, “Legion” could never really decide what it wanted from audiences, and the addition of Chameleon Boy shows that. His sudden introduction in Season Three with his smart ass personality left the show feeling painfully uneven as most of the characters felt very self aware and stern while Chameleon was often spouting one liners and nothing else.
CJ7 (2008)
I’d like to tell you that “CJ7” is Stephen Chow’s answer to “E.T.” but as we all have come to know, Chow would never be about providing ordinary kids entertainment that we’ve seen before. “CJ7” may have the same formula when you get down to it, but Chow gives his own spin on it and it works. It’s a healthy dose of menace, adult edge, and over the top fantasy that has become a dead art in family films and director Chow takes every chance to flex those elements with his own take on the boy meets alien tale. On the flipside, Chow also tries to tell a genuinely emotional tale about a poor down on their luck and father and son struggling to get by living in a junk yard and eating day old food, while character Dickey’s dad always tries to teach him about life and how there are simply no short cuts. Especially when you’re poor.
Voltron: A Legend Forged #1
The last experience I had with Voltron was when people were assuming the first “Cloverfield” teaser was a hint at a new “Voltron” movie. God, that feeling of excitement at the possibility of anything was incredible. As for Voltron, I’ve always known he was a cool character with an interesting mythos, but I never really thought he’d be such a great comic book. So void of camp is this series, and so mature has it become that it’s quite different from everything else I’ve read.