Angry Web

Let the summer superhero blockbuster movies begin! Marvel kicks off every moviegoer’s favorite season with the witty, action-packed flick that so many of us have been waiting for, The Avengers.

With 5 years of planning and 5 movies doing a pretty fantastic job of building up this movie, The Avengers has finally been released into theaters nationwide. With so much riding on the line, it’s easy for a highly anticipated movie to fall flat of many of the fan’s expectations. However, fanboys need not worry. Marvel’s The Avengers is a phenomenal movie.

So lets get to the basics. The Avengers is equal parts drama, action, and comedy and a movie that anybody can enjoy, whether you are an avid comic book reader or not.

The movie begins where all of the previous movies left off. This includes Iron Man 2, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, and, most closely, Thor. A familiar threat to the moviegoer audience, Loki, has returned with the help of an alien race all too familiar to fans of the comic books, the Chitauri. With the conniving mastermind at the helm of an army of aliens, S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury is forced to assemble a team to combat this threat. However, things do not always go so smoothly when you bring together an old-fashioned soldier from a past time, a billionaire-philanthropist and genius playboy with Narcissistic traits, the Norse God of Thunder that is always quick to rush into battle, a highly intelligent gamma radiation specialist with a dark side, and a former Russian spy with a piece of her past still haunting her. Read the rest of this entry »

There has been a lot of news lately regarding other films like “The Hunger Games” and “The Avengers”. Surprisingly, “The Dark Knight Rises” hasn’t been creating much buzz which is a bit unusual following “The Dark Knight’s” viral marketing campaign.

We did get ahold of this key art featuring a full body image of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman however, so hopefully this will tide you over until more news, photos and promos break before the July 20th release.

With the NHL playoffs starting this week, we figure we’d review “Goon” for all of you hockey fans out there.

Whether you like hockey or not, “Goon” is a fun comedy about a bouncer named Doug Glatt (Seann William Scott) who doesn’t even know how to skate but he knows how to throw down. As with any sports movie, like “The Mighty Ducks” or even “Miracle”, the audience pretty much can figure out the plot from the trailer. The protagonist team is weak and, through adversity, becomes the champion of something or rather.

“Goon” puts a bit of a twist on this storyline and  tells you the tale not from the leading scorer’s side but rather from the enforcer’s point of view. Glatt is brought onto a minor league team to protect their star scorer, however, and he does so by fighting anyone that challenges him or his teammates.

From the opening scene, the movie builds a case for a fight against one of the toughest guys in the league, Ross Rhea (Liev Schreiber), who the audience can already predict will lead to a final showdown.

There is a funny contrast as Glatt is a gentile soul that would bleed for his team and becomes the inspiration for his teammates to do the same. His character is extremely likable and the the movie packages comedy and violence and wraps it in a little bit of a love story.

For those who don’t watch hockey, the movie is still enjoyable and incorporates elements that would make any other movie successful. One thing viewers need to remember is that this is a satire on professional hockey. Though the sport allows players “to police their own game” and referees will often allow a bare knuckled fight, “Goon” magnifies this rule for the sake of entertainment.

“Goon” released in select theaters last week and is also available on demand from iTunes and VUDU and is sure to be this generation’s “Slap Shot”.

Go Kings!

For a product that is literally 100 years old, you’d think that Disney would have had enough time on their hands to figure out a way to properly market their next potential blockbuster franchise.  But then again, how do you promote a movie that looks like a retread if not all out rip off of Avatar, Star Wars, and practically every other major sci fi series over the past few decades when the general audience doesn’t  realize that it’s actually the other way around.  That John Carter of Mars came first.  It seems that this was the idea that the House of Mouse eventually settled on with their recent “Before there was Star Wars” commercial campaign and it’s a shame that they didn’t roll with this strategy from the start.  Even though the geekdom knows of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom saga, I’m afraid that this movie may flop because the rest of the world won’t give the franchise a chance.  And it deserves a chance.  While by no means a great film, I think Disney and Andrew Stanton have created the start of what could be a very cool film franchise.

I give Stanton a ton of credit here.  While the movie has a good amount of flaws – the plot gets convoluted and the pacing is often rushed, when there’s no action on screen THERE’S NO ACTION ON SCREEN, and the dialogue sometimes drifts into Episode II territory – I think Andrew Stanton’s jump from animation to live action is an overall success.  Despite the aforementioned issues, there is nothing I would say is just plain bad.  On the flip side, Stanton did a whole lot right.  There were even some scenes such as the Carter vs. alien massacre/flashback which were downright stellar.  Stanton took a $250 million mega budget and all the pressures that go along with it and made a solid beginning film.  If the demand is there for future installments that can expand the mythology that at times weighed down this first effort, fans are in for a real treat.  The mythology is so rich that it will require multiple visits to Barsoom to fully appreciate it.  Read the rest of this entry »

Hey there true believers! Today a very select few (including ourselves) in a couple of cities around the world were treated to two trailers to the upcoming Sony Pictures movie The Amazing Spider-Man with never before seen footage and very special guests.

These guests included the director Mark Webb in Los Angeles, Peter Parker and Spider-Man himself: Andrew Garfield in New York, the very beautiful Gwen Stacy played by Emma Stone in Rio de Janero, and Dr. Curt Connors and the Lizard himself: Rhys Ifans in London. These special guests were asked several questions regarding the movie and the Spiderman franchise with very comical responses. The event concluded with a nice little souvenir T-Shirt that was given to the viewers upon exiting the theater.

Click on the clip below for the footage from this event HERE!

The Amazing Spider-Man releases in theaters this summer July 3rd, 2012.

I know this isn’t really headlining the current event pages but when we were invited to a screening of “The Big Year”, we turned it down due to lack of time and interest. Just by looking at the cast, you expect a gut busting comedy whether your into Steve Martin’s vintage style of humor or Jack Black’s over-the-top physical comedy…you won’t really get either, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I checked out some of the reviews of this film dating back to its original theatrical release and they weren’t all that great. Rotten Tomatoes rounded it to a 39% and that will usually deter me from seeing a film. When the Blu Ray was announced for a release date of January 31st, I decided to give it a spin and see what it was all about.

The first thing the viewer needs to remember when seeing “The Big Year”, is that just because it has an A-List cast within the comedic genre, you’re not going to be on the floor laughing. TBY makes light of some pretty serious mantras that I feel most people can align themselves with. Read the rest of this entry »

The Muppets have been pretty obsolete for many years now so it was tough getting motivated to make the trip to the theater to check this one out. I have always been a fan of Disney and knowing that Jason Segel had written it and Brett McKenzie (Flight of the Conchords) had done the music, I knew there would be something special about this movie.

“The Muppets” pokes fun at itself in a way by playing on the fact that they are no longer relevant. The plot of this movie centers around Gary (Jason Segel) and his puppet friend Walter. When Walter takes a tour of the Muppet’s studio and overhears a plan to tear it down so an oil tycoon can tap into the land’s resources, he finds Kermit the Frog in an effort to round up the Muppets to put on a show and raise $10 million to save the studio.

Now I know that doesn’t sound like the most original plot on paper but by following Kermit on his journey to pick up the characters that either brightened your childhood, or will be sure to brighten your child’s childhood, you will find yourself pleasantly surprised at this charming film.

The writing was absolutely fantastic and “Flight of the Conchords” are all over the musical sequences. The reviews of this film speak for themselves and with “Hugo”, “Arthur Christmas” and “Twilight” giving you choices for holiday moviegoing, do yourself a favor and see “The Muppets” the first chance you get. No matter what age you are, it will have you laughing and I challenge you to leave the theater without one or two of the musical numbers stuck in your head.