I'm not sure what lunatic can say the Superman movies a superior to the Spider-man movies. The Superman movies were deliberately campy and one-dimensional. Spider-man makes a determined and successful effort to develop characters with depth and complexity. The two sets of movies are in different classes.
If special effects of Superman were put on par to the 2000's, then a modern equivalent to Superman would be X-Men, as both have average special effects for their time, and both are plot driven stories of similar depth.
IMO, the Spider-man movies are easily the best comic book movies ever made. They have excellent production quality, good to great acting, awesome action, well developed characters (the ones we care about), etc. It's a refreshing reminder that movies (even an action-flicks) shouldn't be non-stop action when handling characters that the audience cares about; and that a balance can be reached between plot and character development.
Superman, X-Men, first couple Bat Man movies are a tier lower. They are still great movies, but they do lack the story telling of the Spider-man series. Just watch the first two Superman movies again. Although they have similar plots to Spider-man, they are pretty flat when held up to the two Spider-man movies.
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Monday, July 26, 2004
"Bring me back something French!"
What is the origin of the line "bring me back something french"? The line was used in `Home Alone`. I heard it in a British sitcom from the late 70's called `Are You Being Served`, and in a couple of films since. I have the impression it is a reference to an older film or book, but don't know where to look. This is one of those rare cases where the Internet doesn't help. Anyone have any idea?
Friday, July 23, 2004
Reviewing the Movie Reviewers
One thang I’ve been noticing about movie reviewers in widely distributed periodicals is that they happily show-off what little they happen to know. The most recent example of this is the review by J.M. in the Wall Street Journal. He reviewed the Borne Supremacy. He starts off with glowing statements about the movie. Then he starts comparing it to the director’s previous movie, Bloody Sunday. Bloody Sunday is a political film about how British Soldiers started shooting N. Irelanders. So, J.M. compares a political docu-drama with a big budget action flick, simply because both are directed by the same person. Huh? So, I’m guessing that J.M. did see that little non-Hollywood film? Or maybe he did just five minutes of research on the internet, found some reviews that said it was good and then decided to make his review another big-budget-soul-movies-have-no-soul article. Is something wrong with a film just because it has a high budget and is from Hollywood? Review the damn movie you are talking about, J.M.! If you must compare, then pick movies from the same genre, and compare apples to apples.
I can just imagine if J.M. was around when 2001: A Space Odyssey came out. J.M. might say something like “Although this is a wonderful, technically accurate film, I find it is missing the creepiness Kubrick so cleverly weaved into the classic Lolita. This is what happens when talent like Kubrick gets a big Hollywood budget. I sure wish they made more movies about perverts instead of science fiction. Kubrick has failed his fans.” I just have one thang to say to you, J.M, “Get real.”
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Here's the truck after it rolled off the overpass and into the freeway exit. Maybe the fire burned through the brake lines, sending this huge truck rolling off the road and through the trees and brush. My coworkers had just finished passing through this exit when the truck started falling behind them.
Copyright © 2004 Matthew Lorono
I'm Sailing, I'M SAAILLING
More sailing practice today...well, not really more cuz it's the first time the Spitfire crew has practiced this year. It turned out to be pretty fun, without the pressure of the run. Our first race of the Summer Series is this Friday. I think we are ready!
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