Felix Vasquez’s Take:
Hell, the New York Times liked this, so I figured once “Cinema Crazed” approved, the creators had it made in the shade with lemonade. Don’t pretend you don’t take our opinions as gospel, you cads. Adam Dechanel, a contributor to one of my haunts: The Superman Homepage, has a comic book series coming out, and a damn good one called “The Gifted”. What we got here is a series that is too adult for children, but not too childish for adults, hence the Parental Advisory sidebar on the cover. Heed the warning, my friends, and don’t come bitching to me later on. So, the series has much potential for a full fledged and ultimately grand series which is now being published under the Clockwork comics logo, and I have to say it’s a fun series.
Tag Archives: Fantasy
Frankenstein vs. the Creature from Blood Cove (2005)
What I always enjoy is the schlock brought upon us by new directors that take it upon themselves to carve their own pastiche with films that both spoof yet pay respect to the films of old that audiences are no longer interested in. What William Winckler does or tries his hardest in doing is both spoofing the classic horror film while paying his own homage telling this story that is both simple but entertaining. “Blood Cove” is often cheesy and goofy, but that’s the intent, its low tech in many respects with the creature’s monster suit and the Frankenstein make-up.
Fat Albert (2004)
I used to love “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids”. As a child I spent many days watching the Cosby Kids from their junkyard solve problems while bringing us along for the fun that ensued. It was really no surprise to me when I discovered that the adaptation was being filmed, especially with the successes of popular shows being processed in to bad movies like “Scooby-Doo”, and “Rocky and Bullwinkle”. Very few were hits, and many were utter misses, because instead of giving us a truly good story that works, they were just made to cash in on the popularity and take our money. Luckily, I never paid for any of them. “Fat Albert”–though not as awful as claimed repeatedly–is still a terrible film and was a bit of a match to sit through.
Night Watch (Nochnoy Dozor) (2004)
And then when they said there’s no more original ideas, out comes “Nochnoy Dozor”. If you’re unfamiliar, “Nochnoy Dozor”–or “The Nightwatch”– it is a Russian fantasy epic, the first of a planned trilogy that just finished smashing box office records in Russia becoming the highest grossing film of all time there beating out “Spider-Man 2”. Though it’s not as if Russia is a Mecca for light-hearted epics, “The Nightwatch” has made quite an impact there, and will soon be released and then remade here in the US. Before the Hollywood butcher shop decided to hack their way in to a crappy remake, I decided to grab a hold of the original film, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Lara Croft Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life (2003)
I really disliked the first film, I mean for a franchise that had the ability to be a winning formula, it’s sad the studios completely botched it with a low grade, sub-par, and lackluster film. Sure, it had a sense of entertainment, but that only a hint of it, and it attempted to become a feminine “Indiana Jones” while instead transforming in to a poor man’s “Indiana Jones”. When a video game with controllable characters has more life in it than a movie with real actors, that’s just pathetic. With “The Cradle of Life” I didn’t really expect anything different in terms of quality and depth of story. Angelina Jolie is cute, but hardly has the charisma needed for Lara Croft, and “The Cradle of Life” proves it. And surprisingly Jolie is not sexy here.
I ♥ Huckabees (2004)
Very crafty of the little gray rabbit, or something to that effect. With films these days you have only black and white, heads or tails, films that are just dumb, and films that are thought provoking, hardly ever in a blue moon are we given a film that looks like entertainment but is really thought provoking brain candy. But David O. Russell is the crafty madman behind “I ♥ Huckabees”, a film that examines existentialism through a company conglomerate of department stores that are just a microcosm for life and the big picture. We never really see many Huckabees stores here, but that’s because the Huckabees presence is only that, a presence which serves as a link to connect all the characters here in this story. It’s the Nucleus for the story that serves as a source to connect the characters in an uneasy situation whether they like it or not.
Shark Tale (2004)
I’m as to Will Smith’s real appeal these days. Every role he’s in, he basically plays himself, and in “Shark Tale”, Will Smith plays Will Smith… as a fish; How incredibly original. Oscar, his character is very superficial. He has no real redeeming qualities, is more based on his personality than actually making him a three-dimensional character with traits, and never really convinces me that I should like him, and I ended up liking Lenny (Jack Black) much more. Every other character is just there to pop jokes in now and again.