Susan Hated Literature

Dir: Oliver Stone
Writ: Stanley Weiser

• Josh Brolin … George W. Bush
• Elizabeth Banks … Laura Bush
• Ellen Burstyn … Barbara Bush
• James Cromwell … George Herbert Walker Bush
• Richard Dreyfuss … Dick Cheney
• Ioan Gruffudd … Tony Blair

This is an odd sort of a film. I mean, it clearly isn’t meant to be full of praise for George W. Bush. But at the same time it is almost gentle in its treatment of him. Presenting him as a somewhat simple-minded, but well-intentioned, fool. With Daddy Issues.

The film cuts back and forward in time. From W. as a drunk, to W. as president. It looks at his relationship with his father. With that decision not to go after Saddam in the first Gulf War and W.’s insistence that America do so in the second. And every so often inter-cutting W. and his love of baseball.

I enjoyed it. I suppose. But it really isn’t anything special. The acting is all fine and well, but it lacks any real sort of insight. If you are going to have a character-study, even a humourous one, then you really need to study the main character. Instead we seem to get a collection of scenes from George W. Bush’s life. Maybe we’re supposed to provide the analysis ourselves, I dunno, it just didn’t really work for me.

One to save for the dvd release I think.

IMDb ; Elsewhere

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Dir: Tim Story
Writ: Don Payne, Mark Frost, John Turman. Characters created by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby.

1. Ioan Gruffudd … Reed Richards
2. Jessica Alba … Sue Storm
3. Chris Evans … Johnny Storm
4. Michael Chiklis … Ben Grimm
5. Julian McMahon … Victor Von Doom
6. Doug Jones … The Silver Surfer
7. Laurence Fishburne … The Silver Surfer (voice)

This was pants. Complete pants. Not even bad enough to be enjoyed.
Harsh? Maybe, but true. I wasn’t overly fond of the first film but it did the job of light entertainment. This one though was boring. An unforgivable flaw in an action-hero flick. Everything was ultra predictable, and nothing sparkled. Not even McMahon as the ebil Von Doom. And I can’t be the only one who is totally Fishburne’s supposedly gravitas filled delivery of lines. Yes, it worked in the first of the Matrix films, but it seems as though ever since then he has been called upon whenever a “serious voice” is needed. Enough already. Especially when the Silver Surfer was probably the only thing about this film that I liked.

There isn’t really that much more to say about this. I wasn’t impressed. I was bored. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

IMDb | Stainless Steel Droppings | Cinematical | The Movie Blog

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• Ioan Gruffudd …. Reed Richards
• Jessica Alba …. Sue Storm
• Chris Evans …. Johnny Storm
• Michael Chiklis …. Ben Grimm
• Julian McMahon …. Victor Von Doom

Dir: Tim Story

If you go to this film expecting anything but a light entertainment film you will be disappointed. Luckily enough, I wasn’t really hoping for anything much. I don’t know much about the Fantastic Four, apart from seeing one or two of the cartoon episodes, and knowing that The Incredibles kinda stole their thunder a little.

In a way, it is a strange super-hero film. There are no secret identities here. Although the four do aquire nicknames, everyone knows who they really are, and where their super-powers come from. But it is more than that. In way the film felt like the introduction to the story rather than a story in its own right. Not that it is slow or anything, just that we didn’t have the usual “world-in-peril” situtation.

All in all it was an entertaining film, but I wouldn’t watch it again. I thought all the actors did a good job, but I never really engaged with any of the characters. Also I think that the story of The Thing was slightly mishandled. Yes he looked great, and some of his scenes were great. You really got a feel for the impact the change had on Ben Grimm. Despite that, they lightened the mood so much that the loss of the “love of his life” didn’t really seem to matter all that much.

Also, Chris Evans as a sex symbol? Not after playing that role. Come on, who else didn’t find him intensly annoying?

IMDb site | Official site (too much flash, I left) | SciFiChick’s review | FF Plaza

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dir. Antoine Fuqua
Starring:
* Clive Owen - Arthur
* Keira Knightly - Guinivere
* Ioan Gruffudd - Lancelot
* Ray Winstone - Bors

This film suffered from many poor reviews. Both from critics and, in my case, from friends who found it boring. Course I don’t read reviews before I go see films, I try to make up my own mind. Still I wasn’t expecting a lot from this film.
I’ve never really been a huge fan of Arthur films. First Knight was really really crap, imo, and Excaliber was a bit wierd. Plus there is the whole Monty Python thing

So why’d I go to see it? Continue Reading »

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