Geek Out! - Cinemabuzz

Dark Shadows

Details: Category: Cinemabuzz; Published on Thursday, 17 May 2012 21:36; Written by slangards

I learned about Dark Shadows rather late in the proceedings. It was already about to open in local cinemas when I read about the movie online, and that it was yet another collaboration between Mr. Depp and Mr. Burton, who have already worked together in seven films since 1990’s Edward Scissorhands. In fact, it’s almost not a Time Burton film unless Johnny Depp is in it. Remember Mars Attacks!? Neither do I.

Dark Shadows, Tim Burton’s new film based on the gothic 70’s daytime soap, is one of those movies that I keep going back and forth about in my head. Like 21 Jump Street, I’m confused as to whether I like it’s odd combination of horror and campy fun. It’s nowhere near as cut and dried as John Carter or Breaking Dawn was for me.

Dark Shadows is the story of Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp), a guy who happens to think that family is the most important thing in the world. Cursed by a jealous lover (Eva Green), he witnesses the death of his fiancé (Bella Heathcote) and is then turned into a vampire so that he can live with that torment for eternity. If that wasn’t bad enough, he’s chained inside a coffin and buried by the people of Collinsport, the town that his family founded when they came over from Liverpool in the 1700’s.

Waking up in the 1970’s, Barney finds the last remaining descendants of the Collins family still living in the ancestral home, a great big mansion called Collinswood (which is of course, in Collinsport – you see what they did there?). Michelle Pfeiffer plays the matriarch of the family, while Jonny Lee Miller plays her smarmy brother. Chloë Grace Moretz and Gulliver McGrath round out the cast as the Collins children, Carolyn and David, while Helena Bonham Carter and Jackie Earle Haley play supporting roles as the family’s live-in psychiatrist and the mansion’s caretaker respectively. Barney is stunned at how far the Collins family has fallen and takes it upon himself to change their fortunes and bring their fishing business back from the brink.

Sounds pretty interesting, doesn’t it?

If the movie had played out like that, campy and light-hearted, like an episode of The Addams Family, it might have worked. However, there are so many complications in the plot that the heart of the story can’t be made out.

[SPOILERS]

Eva Green’s Angelique is barely introduced. There’s a short scene during the intro where there’s a peasant girl looking at the young Barnabas. Later she’s with them in the new world and they’re having an affair, but he eventually rebuffs her. Oh, and hey, she’s also a witch.

There’s no real effort to build up their relationship or their conflict. It’s mostly just done through exposition, which is boring. Once the intro flashbacks are done, we’re introduced to the 1970’s Collinses and told that we’re supposed to be following them. Green doesn’t come back until later when she’s revealed as the owner of the rival fishing company that has taken over the town. At that point, the plight of the 70’s Collinses gets put on the back burner as the affair between Depp and Green starts again.

In fact, it’s never really clear where the audience is supposed to focus. Are we following the Barnabas/Angelique story? Or the Collins Fishing Company vs. Angel Bay issue? Are we supposed to care about David’s psychological problems? What’s the point of Carter’s Dr. Hoffman’s character? Wait what? Chloë Grace Moretz is a werewolf? When was that thread started?

These plot points feel like they’re just thrown in anywhere, and before you know it, they’re gone. Roger Collins basically does nothing in the film, and poof! He’s in a cab with his bags packed. Victoria Winters (Heathcote), who is Barnabas’ “true love”, is there merely as set decoration.

[/SPOILERS]

Looking at the movie after, it felt like there was just too much going on. If they had had 40 minutes a week to tackle each of the characters story arcs one at a time, it might have felt like easier going. It also might have helped with the tone of the film, which flips from silly to morose in the blink of an eye. One minute there’s a creepy ghost on screen the next Depp and Green are trading quips and ripping their clothes off.

I guess my hour or so of writing has decided for me my feelings about the film. While I enjoy anything with Johnny Depp in it, found the film funny and enjoyed the acting, it ultimately didn’t make my list of favorite Burton/Depp movies (still Sleepy Hollow, Sweeny Todd and Edward Scissorhands) due to the problems it had with tone and structure. I guess even guys like Tim Burton are allowed a few misses now and then.

He does get points for putting Chloë Grace Moretz in his movie. 15 years old… 15 years old…15 years old…

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Marvel Cinematic Universe Character Wishlist

Details: Category: Cinemabuzz; Published on Thursday, 10 May 2012 15:14; Written by Bim

With Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Captain America 2, the possibility of a Black Widow origin prequel, Samuel L. Jackson signing on a 9 picture deal, and the tease of an Ant-Man movie, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is just brimming with potential. And if The Avengers and the last four Marvel-produced movies are any indication, it can be said that comic book movies have broken free of the stigma that none of them can really be great. This has left me more than a little bit excited for the future of the MCU.

Because of the richness of the Marvel character library, the possibilities for cameos or supporting roles are practically endless, in spite of the fact that characters of the the X-Men, Spider-Man, Daredevil and Fantastic Four franchises are off-limits. I decided that I'd list down characters who I think would make awesome additions to the current running movie franchises, in the hopes that someone close to the powers-that-be takes notice.

Now, the last thing we want to do is put so many characters in a sequel that it suffers from what is known as "sequel syndrome." We'll be very mindful of that.

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21 Jump Street

Details: Category: Cinemabuzz; Published on Thursday, 03 May 2012 23:12; Written by slangards

1987.

Bon Jovi’s Livin’ on a Prayer hits number 1. The Fox Network debuts with Married… with Children. The Simpsons first show up as shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show. U2 makes it big with The Joshua Tree. The Iran-Contra hearings begin. Guns N’ Roses releases Appetite for Destruction. George Michael releases Faith. Kylie Minogue's cover of The Loco-Motion starts her career. A gallon of gas is only 89 cents. We had 1 billion less people in the world.

We also got Johnny Depp in 21 Jump Street.

The Cabin in the Woods

Details: Category: Cinemabuzz; Published on Wednesday, 02 May 2012 22:14; Written by slangards

If there was a pantheon of geek gods, Joss Whedon would be right up there with the likes of Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Jim Lee, Frank Miller, Guillermo Del Toro, and the Four Horsemen, tossing back goblets of wine and drunkenly hurling lightning bolts down upon the jocks and cheerleaders.

I’ve been a fan of Whedon’s since I first started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Everything the man has done after that has immediately made it into my list of favorite things. Angel, Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog… All of it better than a hand job from Orion slave girl.

Marvel’s The Avengers

Details: Category: Cinemabuzz; Published on Wednesday, 25 April 2012 17:29; Written by slangards

Holy sh*t, holy sh*t, holy sh*t, holy sh*t, holy sh*t…

That was my reaction after watching Marvel’s The Avengers earlier today. I was half afraid that it wouldn’t live up to the hype (it had a 100% rate on aggregate review site www.rottentomatoes.com based on critics’ early reviews). After all, Marvel Studios has had such a long run of awesome movie making that they were bound to serve up another dud. Plus, you know it’s written and directed by Joss Whedon, which raises the expectations that much more.

I should have known better. Whedon has never failed to impress and it’s no different now that he’s handling someone else’s intellectual property.

Marvel’s The Avengers is a long time coming. In 2008, Iron Man sported a post-credits scene where Samuel L. Jackson shows up as Marvel’s cinematic universe’s version of Nick Fury to recruit Tony Stark for the “Avengers Initiative”. For the next few years, each Marvel Studios film has had a post-credits scene that depicted something bringing us closer and closer to an actual Avengers real-life movie.

Insert fanboy squeal here.

Dark Shadows

Marvel Cinematic Universe Character Wishlist

21 Jump Street

The Cabin in the Woods

Marvel’s The Avengers

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