Movie Review Round-Up
Movie Review Round-Up
Captain America movie review, supergator versus dinocroc, Roger Corman, Hugo Weaving
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What a week! Directly from the hallowed halls of San Diego Comic-Con, I am flash reviewing films featuring everything from Nazi-annihilating superheroes in glorious 3D to flesh-ripping genetically enhanced crocodiles wreaking havoc in super-sketchy CGI -- with more to come (look for my long-form lowdowns on Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil, and Cowboys & Aliens very soon). Comic-Con report, video and photos, to follow.
Captain America: The First Avenger
Much of the talk this week on the floor and at the parties at Comic-Con has been about how director Joe Johnston is handling the origin story of Captain America. As a longtime protégé of jedi George Lucas, the Wolfman (2009) director has got the force but hasn’t always delivered as far as the fans are concerned. Those who saw Captain America at press screenings seemed to enjoy the experience, and those who haven’t remain critical. Me, I was somewhere in the underwhelmed middle.
In a Marvel Universe prequel to the upcoming superhero super-flock flick The Avengers, the “first avenger” is played by Chris Evans, who starts out as the classic 90-pound weakling and ends up muscle- and glory-bound. When the story is set against the backdrop of 40s patriotic Americana and faraway Hitler harassment, Evans is well-cast as the vulnerable and earnest Steve Rogers. (Head-replacing CGI is creepy in theory, but the visual in execution actually works very well here.) All skinny Steve wants is to serve his country, preferably in the trenches, but because of his emaciation and asthma, he’s relegated to a desk job… and top-secret, super-important laboratory experimentation (who knew pencil-pushing was so prestigious?).
With Stanley Tucci as a meddling military doctor and Tommy Lee Jones as a tough-talking Colonel, the film is well-cast. Love-interest Peggy (Hayley Atwell) is pretty, and she’s handed a relatively meaty, though completely unrealistic, role. New and improved super Steve is put on a propaganda road show, playing the part of “Captain America”, but of course that doesn’t last long and when all is said and done he’s (insert Brad Pitt Inglourious Basterds voice here) “killing Nazis!” for real.
The best bit of horror for genre fans comes in the incendiary and villainous form of Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) -- “The Red Skull” – an occult-obsessed Germanic baddie who’s so wicked he belly-laughs in the face of death (and even disses God of the Underworld Odin – that’s bad-ass!). Weaving whips it good, elevating his evil to meet the demands of the role without going too terribly far over the (already limitless) top.
The post-converted 3D is subtle which is fine for me, but it is so subtle as to be pointless. When it comes to the vintage WW2 look and feel in comic cinema, Watchmen (2009) set the bar awfully high and so Captain America falls short in this regard, too. The story was serviceable as well, but overall flaccid at an egregious 2+ hour runtime.
Dinocroc Vs. Supergator
OK, I’ll admit it: I liked Sharktopus. I’ve nothing to be ashamed of for not exactly loving Dinocroc vs. Supergator though! It’s usually a case of diminishing returns when it comes to these SyFy Channel cash-in franchises… but Sharktopus is newer and I liked it better. Hardly a brand-spankin’ production, this one aired over a year ago and stars a shopworn David Carradine (who enjoyed a decades-long cinematic history with producer Roger Corman) as millionaire geneticist Jason Drake. Drake’s shady corp spawns the destructive duo, and before you can break an egg the ravenous reptiles are wreaking havoc all over Hawaii. Reasonably campy and just barely watchable, Dinocroc Vs. Supergator may not exactly make you afraid to go back in the water but it’s a decent enough time-waster.
Grave Encounters
Legend of Hell House meets The Haunting and bumps into Ghost Hunters in this low-budget direct-to-disc horror movie (hey, it’s the only actual “horror movie” I’m actually able to explore this week, so there’s something) starring Sean Robertson as the host of the Grave Encounters reality television show. In it, the intrepid investigator and his fearless (?) crew go to scary places week in and week out, seldom finding anything to raise even a goose-bump, let alone the dead. But there’s more than meets the infrared eye when the group inhabits the long-abandoned Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital.
Although it’s yet another “found footage” foray, Grave Encounters redeems itself in a spirited setup and pleasing payoffs. Caveat is, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before – so, if, as is the case with Dinocroc Vs. Supergator, you are already predisposed to liking the subject matter, Grave Encounters is just barely worth a spin in the disc-player on a quiet night. (Full review coming soon)
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson