FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER

Review by Fat Jack
My Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Rated PG

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 39% Rotten
Rotten Tomatoes Users: 60% Fresh
Netflix: 4.3 stars out of 5
IMDb: No rating yet
Chicago Sun-Times: 2.5 stars our of 5

I was hesitant to see this after the vomit session that was the first FANTASTIC FOUR, but I heard decent things, some good things, and the trailer looked like fun. On a Father’s Day weekend when I get to choose the movie, I thought our little family would give it a chance. I had been reading comics all morning and was in the mood.

Popcorn movie – a great description of this movie. Where RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER differs from say, the last SPIDER-MAN movie is this: F4 does not take itself seriously. It is a comic book movie that knows it is a comic book movie. There are bits of silly humor, plot holes, and bits of preachy dialogue at the end. Whereas SPIDER-MAN seeks to be realized as a piece of movie art, F4 seeks to entertain and simply have fun. I know that going into and am more forgiving assuming the creators take themselves serious enough as to not stomp of their own film.

Besides, the bar was set so low in the first one, the creators would have to try hard to make SILVER SURFER worse.

So I was into it. It was fun and enjoyable. We three (me, wife and daughter) had a nice, light, fun Father’s Day at the movies.

Susan Storm: Guys, we have a problem. He’s here.
Reed Richards: Sue, get out of here!
Susan Storm: Why are you trying to destroy us?
Silver Surfer: I have no choice.
Susan Storm: There’s always a choice.
Silver Surfer: Not always.

30 Days of Night

Another comic story turns to Hollywood for interpretation. The famed comic, 30 Days of Night, came out several years ago. I was lucky enough to all three comics when they hit. Great horror comic. Sam Raimi (I suspect you've heard of him) will produce the flick. It stars Josh Hartnett and Melissa George and is due out 19 October 2007. Diamond has the goods:

For those unfamiliar with 30 Days of Night, the story is set in the remote village of Barrow, Alaska, which is just about completely dark for an entire month every winter. After most of townsfolk head south for the winter, a group of vampires arrive and the Barrow's Sherriff (Hartnett) must stop them.

Click here for info from IMDb.
Click here for the trailer.

Blooker!!! Neigh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My brother in law (Fat Jack) talked me into posting my thoughts about movies in this inconceivable blog. Yes, I love watching movies, but don't get to see them as often as I would like. I also have a tendency to watch shows that are not part of the mainstream. Well here goes nothing.

Just watched an oldie but goodie last night with the kids. We watched "Young Frankenstein" and I think the kids enjoyed it. If you haven't ever seen YF or it's just been a while, do yourself a favor and rent it. It stars Gene Wilder, the late Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, the late Peter Boyle (as the monster), Cloris Leachman (Frau Blucher) and a voluptuous Teri Garr. Since it is written by Mel Brooks, it's a parody of the original version of Frankenstein. This is definitely a movie chalk full of funny movie quotes. "What knockers!" "Sedagive!!!!!!!" "You take the blonde and I'll take the one in the turbin!" "Could be worse, could be raining!!" It is rated PG and only has a couple of bad words so the kids could see it. It does have some adult themes (bedroom talk) but probably no more than your typical prime time sitcom nowadays.

I especially like the scene where the monster visits the blind man (cameo by Gene Hackman). Too funny watching the monster roll his eyes after the blind man crushes his cup after his toast. "Hey, where ya goin', I was gonna make expresso."

Well, I promised the Fat Jack I would sign up to post on the blog and I did. I am an accountant, not a writer, but I will try to embellish a little bit in future posts. Here are some movies I have seen lately and how I rate them out of 4 stars:

The Waitress - 31/2 (Adrienne Shelly's swan song, murdered last Nov.)
The Host - 3 (Korean seamonster started by those evil american scientists)
Babel - 31/2 (Heart wrenching, 6 degrees story of people desperately needing to be heard)
Away from Her - 31/2 (Excellent acting by Julie Christie on grim subject of alzheimer's)
Notes on a Scandal - 21/2 (Probably like better than rating, deducted 1/2 point for creepiness and wife hated it, although when I was a teenager it was cool to have an older actress seduce a teenage boy)
Little Children - 31/2 (Creepiness factor outweighed by former Bad News Bears pitcher reviving acting career and playing a pedophile)
Shrek 3 - 2 (Just okay, material has about run out, must see with the kids, though)
The Last Kiss - 21/2 (Zach Braff making some stupid impulsive decisions and having to beg for forgiveness for half the movie)
Pan's Labrynth - 4 (Masterpiece adult fairy tale, must watch again soon, perfect at the theater, also helped with the grim story line that the theater's heater wasn't working properly and the temperature was about 50 degrees.)
The Fountain 11/2 (A little too out there for most people, including myself. May have been better if movie was a little shorter, just seemed to drag.....on)