The Adventures of Tintin (2011)

With the introduction of Netflix into our house, I feel it's time to get back on the the horse I abandoned nearly 4 years ago - the posting of movie reviews. I'll be working on posting more reviews in this space because 1) the Internet gives me an undeserved-by-merit platform for airing my views that I can't pass up, and 2) I want to get back in the habit of writing stuff instead of just reading it. I need to stretch my language skills a bit more.

So, onward to The Adventures of Tintin. 
I confess to not being a huge fan of Hergé's comics in the sense that I've never sought them out. I stumbled across them every now and then and skimmed them over. So I wasn't entirely enthusiastic about going to see this movie, but it was what the kids wanted to see so off we went (with the in-laws) to see it in 3D.
The general plot revolves around Tintin (voiced by Jamie Bell) getting involuntarily involved in a plot to recover treasure from a sunken ship. The main villain of the piece, Ivan Sakharine (voiced by Daniel Craig), has set about collecting lost clues (one of which Tintin unknowingly obtains) and even kidnapping drunkard Captain Haddock (voiced by Andy Serkis) in his efforts to find the lost wreck.
The action, in this Mediterranean hopping caper, is fast and furious. It is every bit as improbable as the comic book action, which means it is pretty much right in character for Tintin. Being an animated feature, the 3D effect is quite good compared to live action films in which the 3D effects are added to 2D film.
On the topic of the animation, I confess that the first scenes are a big jarring. The movie starts in a public town market with the view focused low. We see bodies moving, gloves, shoes. The fingers are a bit chubby and stubby, reminding us this is animated, though the action is quite smooth. Then you see your first face and are hit with the full realization of the what animation style is in use. I still find it odd to look at faces done with computer graphics, particularly when they try to incorporate depth and other realistic facial features (Captain Haddock's eyes kind of get me and I swear Tintin looks like he was modeled on Ewan McGregor). I still prefer more old school methods of animation in this regard, at least. Still, the technology has improved a lot since The Polar Express (2004). The motion was a lot smoother and realistic (barring the stylistic action sequences), so I have great hope for the future in this field of movie making.
The Adventures of Tintin, on the backside of the camera, is loaded with talent including Steven Spielberg as director (his first animated feature direction credit), Steven Moffat (well known by BBC Wales fans for Sherlock and Doctor Who) and Edgar Wright (known for Scott Pilgrim vs the World and Shaun of the Dead) involved in writing the screenplay, and Peter Jackson as producer. They do not disappoint. Tintin is a thoroughly enjoyable movie.

Grade: B+

Iron Man (2008)

The first in a series of Marvel Comics's-led adaptations of their own works, Iron Man kicked off the summer superhero blockbuster season with an unqualified success and set the bar very high with the quality of its adaptation.
Iron Man tells the origin tale of the two-toned, armored hero, holding true to the main gist of the original story from the 1960s (set in Vietnam) but updating the specifics to match current events. In the story, Tony Stark (played brilliantly by Robert Downey, Jr.) is a gifted inventor running the family corporation, a corporation substantially built upon military-contract arms manufacturing. When he finds himself the victim of his own weaponry, in the hands of insurgents in Afghanistan, he comes face to face with the legacy of his corporation's line of work. He resolves to change things, but to do so he must first escape his captors and stay alive despite critical injuries he has received. His solution: a suit of powered armor.
Upon his return to the US, Tony Stark radically changes his corporation's direction, much to the dismay of his right-hand man at Stark International, Obadiah Stane (played by Jeff Bridges), and major stockholders. After dropping such a bombshell, Stark largely secludes himself to work on his powered armor, devising a few prototypes, and developing the suit as a tool to make the world a better place.
Downey's portrayal of Tony Stark, based in part on the original comics but also influenced by the later version of Iron Man found in The Ultimates, is like watching the comic character step off the pages. From his womanizing, devil-may-care attitude, to his earnest change of heart and driving genius, Downey doesn't make any missteps in his characterization. It is such a pleasure to watch an actor of his talents, particularly in a men-in-tights movie (even if technically, the tights are made of steel).
Iron Man marks a departure from the previous line of Marvel Comics movies in that Marvel Comics had retained a lot of creative control rather than just farmed the movie rights out. And I believe it shows in the quality of the story, characterizations, and in the relatively seemless fit with traditional Iron Man lore. The story is updated but keeps true to the main core. Traditional characters are in place, including Pepper Pots (played by Gwyneth Paltrow), who is pulled from among the earliest days of the Iron Man stories, even before there was a devoted Iron Man comic. And, if I don't miss my guess, there are bits in the movie that seem to be laying the groundwork for the appearance of an old Iron Man nemesis, the Mandarin, in a potential sequel. If they can keep up this level of quality in the future, I have no qualms with yelling out the old slogan, "Make mine Marvel!"

Grade: A

The Dark Knight (2008)

The second outing of Batman since the reinvention of the franchise has set the movie-going public into a frenzy. I have never seen a cinema quite so packed on a Tuesday night. But does The Dark Knight deliver?
Yes it does.
Christian Bale seems to have comfortably assumed the Bruce Wayne role, effortlessly shifting from the playboy put-on to action hero. Michael Caine's Alfred skewers with his cutting wit. Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent rides the razor's edge of driven (or maniacal) public servant. And one hopes that Katie Holmes is kicking her husband's ass for interfering with her career and letting her part go to Maggie Gyllenhaal, who does a fine job, by the way.
And then there's the Heath Ledger. The central villain of the piece, the Joker never completely steals the show, which makes this movie a better balanced outing than the Tim Burton version. In fact, he comes across just creepy and tentative at first when we really get to see him dealing with Gotham's underworld. But as the scene unfolds, and the crazy keeps unrolling, the Joker becomes genuinely and brilliantly disturbing. Warped to the core, the Joker brings chaos while the Batman tries to determine his place in Gotham now that his pressure on the gangs have caused them to let a sadistic genie out of the bottle.
The action dark and brutal. The psychological space the movie inhabits matches the action, punch by punch, gunshot by gunshot, as Gotham spirals downward. The body count is substantial and Batman pulls few punches. If I were to find fault with this movie, I would point most to two things: the voice Christian Bale affects as Batman is a hoarse, guttural whisper that sounds so labored that I wish they had come up with some other way for Bruce to disguise his voice in public, and the Batmobile action sequences push the gritty and dark envelope with a bit of cheese. The rest of the movie is an experience to enjoy even while gleefully shuddering at the Joker's explanations for his facial scars...
Grade: A-

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

In the much balleyhooed return of Indiana Jones to the silver screen, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, we find an older Dr. Jones (Harrison Ford) in the late 1950s, many years after his experiences in the previous three movies. Despite the passing of a good 20+ years, Jones still has a knack for getting into difficult situations from which he must then fight or desperately scramble his way out. Instead of Nazis or Thugees, this time it's Soviet agents under the direction of Doctor Spalko (Cate Blanchett). Both Jones and Spalko are dealing with the same thing, the possibly demented ramblings of one of Jones's colleagues and how they relate to a mystical crystal skull found in ancient Peruvian ruins.
This movie marks the return of Marion Williams, nee Ravenwood (Karen Allen) to Jones's life, but also the introduction of her son Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) as a rebelious greaser. While I can applaud the return of Marion, I don't think the same chemistry is really there. She still tough as nails, but I don't think there's enough screen time focusing on the two of them (aside from fast-running action sequences) to re-develop the relationship in a way that would be satisfying.
Ultimately, I found the movie to be fairly disappointing. There were a LOT of action sequences that had to fit into the movie because, for some reason, these movies all have to top the last one rather than just be different from the last one. As a result, I felt the rest of the movie kind of rushed. I would even go so far as to compare Crystal Skull's investigative storyline elements to be reminiscent of Dan Brown's novels, too rushed from clue to clue and too patly solved by the main characters.
Plus, the action was along the lines of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade more than Raiders of the Lost Ark, and that means it tripped my "AW, c'mon" reaction more often than I would have liked. I remember that a lot of people criticized the non-stop nature of the action in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and I think they had a point. But it's not like the movies got significantly better on that issue from that point, just even more over the top and without the really different plot driving the story.
Letter Grade: C+

Kung Fu Panda (2008)

Kung Fu Panda appears to be a light romp of a kidflick at first glance. I wasn't particularly keen on going to see it, frankly. But a particular opportunity presented itself (went with another family to a drive-in movie and saw this as a double-feature with Indiana Jones - an overall fantastic experience for those nostaligic for family drive-in outings) so I went. I was not only not disappointed, I was impressed.
Chock full of star-power led by Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman, Kung Fu Panda is a story of an unabashed kung fu fanboy shlub of a panda thrust into a very precarious situation. A long-time fan of the martial arts and its practitioners, Po (Jack Black) gets selected as the mythical Dragon Warrior by old and possibly nutty Master Oogway. Everyone, of course, assumes this is a mistake except Master Oogway. The main instructor, Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), is resigned to begin the training but also resolves to drive Po away with the challenge. Complicating matters, a great criminal, Tai Lung, escapes captivity bent on stealing the monastery's great secret scrolls and increasing his power. Po, as the Dragon Warrior, must somehow bear the responsibility of confronting and defeating Tai Lung, after becoming trained, and without making enemies of the monastery's other, more accomplished, students.
As the movie progresses, Po worries that he never will fit in, either in his previous life as a noodle restauraneur or as a martial artist. Nevertheless, he perseveres with good-natured stubbornness of a doofuss determined to see his fate through. Master Shifu, in turn, is confounded by this perseverence and the challenge of whipping Po into shape to resolve the problems left by his own past history that threaten them all.
Ultimately, the movie explores topics ranging from how to motivate someone to exceed your and their own expectations, winning the respect of your peers, and the secret to... well... secrets. It does all of this with a fairly predictable kind of anthropomorphic and martial arts humor that, nevertheless, manages to be consistently entertaining.
Letter Grade: B+

The History Boys (2006)

Set in Northern England in the early 1980s, The History Boys is an adaptation of a play by Alan Bennett about 8 bright young men, recently finished with their A-levels, getting ready for their entrance exams and interviews to get into Oxford or Cambridge. Their headmaster, obsessed with the chance of getting such a large group of his school's students into the most prestigious universities in the UK, hires a young new teacher as an additional coach, touching off a struggle between differing philosophies of education personified by Irwin, the new teacher (played by Stephen Campbell Moore) and his slick bag of tricks and Hector, the eccentric, poetry-spouting English master (played brilliantly by Richard Griffiths, whom most will probably recognize as Vernon Dursley) as well as the personal loyalties of the students.
Watching the movie does feel rather like watching a play. The use of language is much more akin to the play format than the cinema format, but given the setting and subject matter, it works pretty well. It's not often that you get immersed in this sort of language in a movie... usually adaptations of plays. Go figure.
The performances are excellent all the way around, including the young men, many of whom are relative newcomers. Richard Griffiths, in particular, stands out for his performance.
Letter Grade: A-

Miami Vice (2006)

Miami Vice, the movie, is a silver screen take on THE iconic TV show of the 1980s. Starring Colin Farrell as Crocket and Jamie Foxx as Tubbs, and directed by Michael Mann (the man behind the original show), the styles and situations have been updated to be contemporary. And that's most of what we see. The movie is visually arresting with dark, shadowy colors enhancing the mood. Like the TV show, it's far more style than substance, so in that sense, it's a successful translation from TV to movie.
The story takes us to the world of major drug trafficking (no big surprise there) where a large inter-agency operation by the Feds has been compromised by some informant in one of the many departments involved (FBI, Homeland Security, BATF, DEA, etc). When things go sour in Miami, the Feds turn to an agency that has not been involved: Miami-Dade Vice. Crockett and Tubbs go undercover and out of the country to make the deal. Things complicate from there.
For the most part, the material isn't original, we've seen much of it before. There's just not that much substance. The love interest isn't particularly plausible. The Colombian drug lords are fairly stereotypical. On the other hand, the acting is pretty decent. The music fits the tone of the movie. The action is generally simple and straightforward and serves the story (rather than the other way around as in most summer blockbusters).
So, not a spectacular film, but definitely watchable.
Letter grade: C+

For Your Consideration (2006)

Sporting a massive ensemble cast, For Your Consideration, Christopher Guest's latest exploration of quirky people, is about the filming and promotion of a movie (Home for Purim) that suddenly finds itself abuzz with rumors of Oscar nomination. Specifically, rumors start to sprout up that a cast member is a likely Oscar contender based on observations of the film's production, and then the rumors begin to shift from one cast member to another. First it's Marilyn Hack (Catherine O'Hara), then Victor Allen Miller (Harry Shearer) and Callie Webb (Parker Posey). And suddenly ambition and jealousy infect the set.
Coupled with the rumors is the celebrity what-passes-for-journalism that begins to plague the picture in all its vacuous glory (played up particularly bombastically by Fred Willard) and studio interference (the movie is "too Jewish"), the poison infects everybody, particularly the actors.
I wouldn't call it Guest's best work, though it is certainly entertaining. They story isn't as tight as either A Mighty Wind or Best in Show. It's structured more around glimpses of forces and events going on around the movie production and actors, all drawn into a web. The performances are all excellent with actors brilliantly cast in their roles from washed up actors and addled producers to snarky journalists and weasely agents.
Overall, the movie is good enough to rate a B+.