The A-Team.

When I was a kid, few shows rocked my world like The A-Team did. Who didn’t like the clever bunch of whimsical rogues on the run from the government over a false accusation? Who didn’t love it when a plan came together under the leadership of Hannibal? Or the smooth talking ladies man Face? Who didn’t pity the fool who ran afoul of B.A. Baracus and most of all, who didn’t love the mad antics of Murdock? Now they are making a movie out of it and I have my doubts about it.

TV shows are hard to make into good movies. TV plots and characters are designed to keep going over several seasons, and usually any movie made of a TV show just ends up feeling like a long episode of that show. Still this movie has garnered my interest and here is the cast so far.

Filling in as Col. John “Hannibal” Smith is none other than the great Liam Neeson. I have mixed feelings about this. It seems a little low brow for his skills but if he can pull off Qui-Gon Jinn he can do anything.

Next is Sharlto Copely, playing Capt. “Howling Mad” Murdock. This one really intrigues me and could be the best part of the movie. While you may not know the name, many of you will recognize Sharlto from his bang up portrayal of  Wikus Van De Merwe from the movie District 9.

Filling in for Lt. Templeton “Faceman” Peck is Bradley Cooper from The Hangover fame and He’s Just Not That Into You.

And last but not least, serving up a round of kick ass as Sgt. Bosco “B.A.” Baracus is Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. (What is with all the nicknames here?) Who has yet to really have anything impressive on his resume.

Topping it off for the babe factor is Jessica Biel as the lovely Lt. Sosa.

The cast seems to be pretty solid, what remains to be seen is whether or not Hollywood can come up with an adequate and interesting story line that will do justice to the original series. Whether or not this movie does well or not, you can ebst be assured it will be followed by a huge merchandizing blitz. Maybe this way I can finally get the A-Team lunch box I never had but always wanted.

The Road: A Review in Advance

This was an early screening of The Road. Release date: Nov 25th 

What would you do if you had the opportunity to skip out of work early on a workday to go see an advance movie screening for free? I’m hoping you said, “see the movie”, because that’s what I did and I’m seeking your approval. The movie I played hooky to see is The Road, the latest adaptation from author Cormac McCarthy, whose previous movie adaptations include No Country for Old Men (2007) and All the Pretty Horses (2000). I hadn’t heard of The Road when I received the invitation to see it, so I checked out the latest trailer at theroad-movie.com. (See it here: The Road trailer)

This trailer offers a much fairer view of what the movie is about than do previous trailers (as seen on Youtube and Movies.com), which seem to portray a movie more about the cataclysmic event than the aftermath. My only critique of this trailer is that it also appears and sounds, thanks to the musical underscoring, a little too optimistic and hopeful.

The screening was hosted by a local pastor who introduced the movie as written by Cormac McCarthy, so (and here I paraphrase), “You know it’s going to be dark.” He didn’t lie or exaggerate. He offered a few things for us to look for to help offset the movie’s overwhelming, desolate nature: the relationship between the man and his son (whose names are never given) and the imagery involving water. Having something to look for gave me something positive and constructive to do while watching a film about what appears (from all trailers) to be the end of the world.

What would you do to protect a loved one in a hostile environment? To what lengths would you go to keep harm from coming to your only child? The Road tells the story of what one man would do to protect his son from the evil, perceived or real, that surrounds them as they travel south to the coast for winter. It is dark, depressing, and seemingly devoid of hope, depending on your interpretation of certain events, but it is ultimately about the fervent, powerful love the man has for his son.

I’ve deliberately tried to avoid revealing the details of The Road, but I want to say whatever I can about how I feel about it. I place this in my category “amazingly good, but hard to watch more than once.” It is not an easy movie to watch. It is not a popcorn movie. After certain scenes, I felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach. In necessary counterpoint, it made me smile at times, and when the tension grew too much, It made me laugh.  I don’t know if I can watch this movie again anytime soon, and I am not sure I can even recommend it to you. Even so, I give it 4.5 Babbles. If you do see it (on or after November 25^th), I hope you’ll come back here and post your thoughts.

4.5/5 Babbles

Time Traveler’s Wife Review

For the last couple months, I’ve been trying very hard the finish Audrey Niffenegger’s book, ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’ and the read is amazing. The story is incredibly complex, detailed, and well written.  I still have less than a quarter of the book left. I somehow got distracted with other things and haven’t picked it up for a while. Finally, I could not delay watching this movie any longer since finishing the book became such a chore among other activities. So I decided to go alone, on a weekday afternoon, to the dollar theater to finally watch it.

New ‘Kick-ASS’ Posters

There is only one other movie that can rival my excitement for James Cameron’s new Avatar movie- and that is Matthew Vaughn’s ‘Kick-Ass’. Seeing several scenes at comic con totally melted my brain and I might pee myself before this film is released. It looks THAT good. Here are some recently released posters.

Here are the posters side by side.

“Dave Lizewski is an unnoticed high school student and comic book fan who one day decides to become a super-hero, even though he has no powers, training or meaningful reason to do so.” – IMDB

Where the Wild things are review

To start off, I kinda of expected people to be conflicted about this movie. It being adapted from a really short story confused a lot of people and created a lot of skepticism on how compelling a movie it could actually be. However, I could already tell what I was getting by watching the trailers. Many friends reported back with negative reviews and nothing praiseworthy about the film. It didn’t affect my determination to see ‘Where the Wild things Are’.

Twilight: New Moon

With the new Twilight movie coming up, I thought I’d do a short post covering what you need to know about this new sequel. ‘New Moon’ is the 2nd book in Stephenie Meyer’s popular Fantasy-romance series called ‘Twilight’ and releases November 20th.

“The film will star Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner, reprising their roles as Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black, respectively.” – Wikipedia

A short synopsis:

“After Bella recovers from the vampire attack that almost claimed her life, she looks to celebrate her birthday with Edward and his family. However, a minor accident during the festivities results in Bella’s blood being shed, a sight that proves too intense for the Cullens, who decide to leave the town of Forks, Washington for Bella and Edward’s sake. Initially heartbroken, Bella finds a form of comfort in reckless living, as well as an even-closer friendship with Jacob Black. Danger in different forms awaits.” – IMDB

Even though I can’t help but roll my eyes at the many women and gay men obsessed with the series, I have to admit I understand the appeal.

Trailer below:

astro boy the movie

One of Japan’s most celebrated icons gets a fresh American makeover and, on the surface, it was worth the 57-year wait. If you’re like me, Astro Boy’s image seems fairly familiar but you never got into the story of this 23-volume manga classic. I saw the trailer before watching Where the Wild Things Are and it proved to be one of the better parts of that trip for me. Imagi Animation Studios (Hong Kong) enlist director David Bowers (Flushed Away) and screenplay writer Timothy Harris (Trading Places, Space Jam) to retell this story to adults and children, who are individually tough to please, and tougher to entertain as a tandem.

The film is set in futuristic Metro City, a utopian metropolis that floats high above a planet that has been abused, almost entirely abandoned and used as a disposal for obsolete robots and other waste (Wall-E -ish). Brilliant scientist, Dr. Tenma (voiced by Nicholas Cage), creates an incredibly powerful robot in the image of his lost son Toby. Toby’s memories are uploaded into the robot and the Dr. tries to carry on life with his new son. Dr. Tenma quickly realizes that the robot can’t fill the void, sending the techno-masterpiece on a search for significance. While in exile, the robot meets new friends, receives the name Astro (Freddie Highmore, Charlie Buckets of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and learns to use his power to protect others. Donald Sutherland voices the part of President Stone, who covets Astro Boy’s power and seeks to capture him.

Anthony Hopkins joins the cast of Thor

Anthony Hopkins to Play Odin in Thor!
Source:The Hollywood Reporter, Variety October 29, 2009

Anthony Hopkins has been cast as Norse god Odin in Marvel Studios’ Thor, to be directed by Kenneth Branagh starting January.

Odin is the father of Thor and Loki, to be played by Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston, respectively. Natalie Portman is playing Thor’s love interest, Jane Foster.

In the movie, written by Mark Protosevich and Zack Stentz, the powerful but arrogant warrior Thor’s reckless actions re-ignite an ancient war. As punishment, Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans. Once here, he learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends dark forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

Paramount Pictures will release the film on May 20, 2011.

Prince of Persia: First Trailer

My first impressions of the trailer is that it looks too much like ‘The Mummy’ or ‘National Treasure’. I really hope it doesn’t fall into the same formula other Jerry Bruckheimer movies do. The game itself was great to play but I just feel like other video game adaptations in the past, it is doomed to fail miserably.

If the youtube link breaks, here is another link to view the trailer.

http://movies.ign.com/dor/objects/664420/prince-of-persia/videos/pop_mov_trl1_110209.html

Fantastic Mr. Fox

I didn’t see any movies this weekend so I will talk about an upcoming movie I think looks interesting; Fantastic Mr. Fox. Wes Anderson, one of my favorite directors, for the first time into the realm of children’s stories and animation. The movie is based on the book by Roald Dahl and follows the heroics of the dashing and fantastic Mr. Fox, who plans and executes weekly raids on the local farmers’ chicken coup. The farmers have had enough and devise a plan to destroy his den, but Mr. Fox has entirely different designs of his own, including one more daring raid.

 Part of the problem of course, is that Mr. Fox is married and has a litter of his own to worry about. Will his exploits destroy his family? Will his young grow up fatherless? These issues are explored as his exploits place their strain on his family, even to the point of threatening their very home.

 Not since We Are the World has such a vocal ensemble been assembled. The cast stars Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, Jason Schwarzman and Willem Defoe, all familiar voices to fans of Mr. Anderson’s work. Additionally he has added the likes of George Clooney and Meryl Streep to his cast, and to top it all off, Mr. Anderson himself gives voice to one of the characters as well.

 It is hard to judge based just on the previews whether or not this movie will be good or not but Mr. Anderson has a very solid track record and a story like this seems right up his ally and the art and style seems to follow his movies perfectly. My prediction is that it will be well worth watching and land around 4 Babbles.

 Fantastic Mr. Fox premiers on Thanksgiving Day.

The King of Pop…and of the weekend

#1 Michael Jackson’s This Is It Gross Weekly Change Days In Release Theaters Average Total Worldwide US All Time $21,300,000 N/A 5 3,481 $6,119 $32,510,000 N/A N/A

#2 Paranormal Activity Gross Weekly Change Days In Release Theaters Average Total Worldwide US All Time $16,540,000 -22 38 2,404 $6,880 $84,780,000 N/A #527

#3 Law Abiding Citizen Gross Weekly Change Days In Release Theaters Average Total Worldwide US All Time $7,300,000 -41 17 2,764 $2,641 $51,380,000 N/A N/A

HBO’s The Pacific Trailer #2

Last night a few of us Babblers were talking about upcoming Tv or Film we were excited about and the new HBO series, “The Pacific” came up. Surprised that it went under our radar for a while, I decided to look for any fresh news about the mini-series, and I found they had released the second trailer. Check it out after the break: