LIKED
– The Hurt Locker is really, really good; tense action sequences combined with an outstanding performance by Jeremy Renner make for a goddamn fantastic movie. (Of course, the movie’s best sequence is the sniper battle – not in small part because that is when Ralph Fiennes and Guy Pearce and David Morse show up as British commandoes in a “hey, we’re actual movie stars” moment.) Kathryn Bigelow deserves more work than she gets.
– I enjoyed Race to Witch Mountain more than I probably should have. At some point somebody is going to make a movie worthy of the Rock’s talents; he’s simply so effortless in light action comedy flicks in a way that most actors simply aren’t. (Possibly because he is very big.) Race isn’t that movie, but it’s good enough for popcorn and a rental.
– The Blackest Night issue of Green Lantern was more what I wanted out of Blackest Night: IE, superheroes beating the shit out of super-zombies and vice-versa.
DIDN’T LIKE
– With each week I grow less enthused about Wednesday Comics. The Superman strip is just a goddamn embarrassment; in three weeks there has been approximately 700 percent more “Superman whining about his life” than “Superman punching things.” Bear in mind that this is the strip running in USA Today – somebody at DC seriously thought that Superman whining was the best possible thing to expose DC Comics to a wide audience. The Batman strip is only marginally better than the Superman one is; I don’t think it’s too much for Batman to do something in three weeks of a Batman strip. The Metamorpho strip, more and more, seems like Neil Gaiman slumming for kicks (in a bad way). There are still good points (Paul Pope’s Adam Strange, Kyle Baker’s Hawkman), but they’re increasingly few.
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I was hoping to read your opinion on FC: Legion of 3 Worlds #5… I kinda liked it, I’m just not sure why. The Pérez’s splashpages are gorgeous, of course. And I laughed at the metatextual epilogue, it was funny, but, I dont know, also stupid?
the Rock’s talents; he’s simply so effortless in light action comedy flicks
Have you seen The Rundown? I went into the theater expecting crappy fun with a side order of Christopher Walken being awesome, and came out amazed that I’d seen something that was not only fun but actually kind of good.
That’s the thing about Dwayne “Stop calling me The Rock” Johnson, if he is in a part suited to him, he knocks it out of the park. Light action comedy is right. I also think he would be great in some sort of self-aware sword and sorcery fantasy.
As an aside, why would anyone want to throw away a great name like “The Rock,” especially a movie star?
Guy Pearce was Sergeant Thomson, who (MILD SPOILER) got blown’d up real good at the beginning.
David Morse was Colonel Reed, or the officer who congratulates Renner for being a “Wild man!”
This isn’t to say that Fiennes carries the sniper battle on his shoulders alone – though it is interesting to note that he’s been a protester of the War and Bigelow had to have known it’d be jarring to see him walking around with the biggest gun in the damn movie.
Also: In a movie as chaotic as HURT LOCKER, you could be forgiven for mislabeling a couple cast members.
Dwayne Johnson as Wade Wilson. Discuss.
Scientist: I could see the Rock as T-Ray. Decent suggestion.
Ryan Reynolds will slowly make his way through the headliners of the Attitude era of the WWF if they do that, too.
I could see The Rock playing Mr Immortal, but that’s about it.
He’d meke a better Groo
He’d make a better Groo
The Rock (who can’t call himself that anymore because WWE owns the name) should play Sub-Mariner or Doc Savage. (He already had his shot at sword and sorcery, and did just fine- SCORPION KING was WAY better than it’s MUMMY RETURNS predecessor- helping prove my theory that the best way to improve a Steven Sommers movie is to not let Steven Sommers direct it.)
Wednesday Comics is a disappointment EXCEPT for the Kamandi strip and Paul Pope’s Adam Strange. I really, really, really want to get some of the Pope Strange strips framed, actually– I think they would look gorgeous up on the wall. They are, I have no qualms in saying, pieces of art, objets d’art, and I love them. Only reason I’ve bought the three WCs that I have.
Other than that, it’s pretty sub-average. The Flash/Iris West strips are fun in that they *also* take advantage of the format like Pope and Sook/Gibbons do, the schmaltzy, slow-moving romance comics gimmick. Other than that I’m pretty blah about the whole project, but I’m hoping they collect the relevant ones.
The Hurt Locker was sooooooo long. Really really good movie, but there were some tedious points where I was looking at my watch. But I really liked the way it didn’t just pat itself on the back for talking about war. War is bad! War is dangerous! Aren’t we auteurs?! It just told a story really intently.
the Rock as Dr. Strange?
Kathryn Bigelow has yet to make a movie I didn’t enjoy. Near Dark is the best vampire flick ever made and she has this ability to get incredible performances from actors, the kind that are remembered forever.
Ideal roles for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
* John “Green Lantern” Stewart
* Lucas “Power Man” Cage
Come on, MGK, tell us what you thought of Legion of Three Worlds!
I too enjoyed GL #44 more than BN #1.
Wait, isn’t Dwayne already cast as Black Adam?
“I’m as powerful as Superman. Why does everyone always forget that?”= Epic Win.