The Fantastic Four learn that they aren't the only super-powered beings in the universe when they square off against the powerful Silver Surfer and the planet-eating Galactus.
Director: Tim Story Writers: Don Payne (screenplay), Mark Frost (screenplay) Stars: Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans
Storyline
Everything seems to be going great for the Fantastic Four. Reed and Sue are finally getting married, and things couldn't seem better. However, when the mysterious Silver Surfer crashes things, they learn that they will have to deal with an old foe, and the powerful planet eating galactus
Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer Movie Review
The surfer deserves better
In all its silliness and tongue-in-cheek disposition, the first "Fantastic Four" movie wasn't really a landmark as far as comic book films go. But it wasn't so bad either; it's just that after Marvel Comics' recent domination of the film genre, it's natural for one to expect that each of its characters having a shot at the big screen would present something legitimately entertaining to the audience. Something the first installment failed and the second struggled to achieve.
In "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," the four superheroes are back once again to help everyone solve their gamut of problems. Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd) is about to wed Susan Storm aka Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba). However, an unknown cosmic entity is causing a screw-up in earth's natural phenomena, prompting the couple to postpone the wedding, and work with Johnny Storm aka Human Torch (Chris Evans) and Ben Grimm aka The thing (Michael Chiklis) to find out the cause of the mysterious occurrence. They soon come face to face with the Silver Surfer (Doug Jones, voiced by Laurence Fishburne) and realize that the world's survival is hanging on the balance. In addition to this, Victor Von Doom aka Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon) returns and is intent on destroying the Fantastic Four.
Granted, "Rise of the Silver Surfer" has a greater scale than its predecessor. But for all this, it's still very... middling. The title and the trailers suggest something of a grand battle between the eponymous characters but aside from the chase sequence involving the Human Torch and the Silver Surfer (which, by the way, has been shown numerous times in the teaser trailer), nothing much exciting still happens. Not even the team's rescue attempt in London. The quality of the special effects are inconsistent and all the visual polish expectedly goes to the Silver Surfer. (And while I personally don't think it's an issue, I imagine how some fans of the comic book might sneer at how the characters of Silver Surfer and Galactus were handled.) Instead, director Tim Story and screenwriters Don Payne and Mark Frost opt to flesh out the characters more but the end result feels less natural and more repetitive. Gruffudd does an okay job with Mr. Fantastic but there's really no feeling of chemistry between him and Alba, who manages to adequately portray a tough yet vulnerable character. In contrast, Evans and Chiklis continue to generate an easy rapport between them and the two get majority of the film's most amusing moments.
"Rise of the Silver Surfer" barely does what it sets out to do. It fares a little better than its predecessor with a more serviceable story and a little more enjoyable action sequences. But taken on its own terms, the film doesn't present anything to its characters that has been done much better with other characters of their ilk. The movie is entertaining to some extent but in the end, it doesn't really rise to something special.
Ghost Rider
Stunt motorcyclist Johnny Blaze gives up his soul to become a hellblazing vigilante, to fight against power hungry Blackheart, the son of the devil himself.
Director: Mark Steven Johnson Writers: Mark Steven Johnson (screenplay), Mark Steven Johnson (screen story) Stars: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Sam Elliott
Storyline
When the motorcyclist Johnny Blaze finds that his father Barton Blaze has a terminal cancer, he accepts a pact with the Mephistopheles, giving his soul for the health of his beloved father. But the devil deceives him, and Barton dies in a motorcycle accident during an exhibition. Johnny leaves the carnival, his town, his friends and his girlfriend Roxanne. Years later Johnny Blaze becomes a famous motorcyclist, who risks his life in his shows, and he meets Roxanne again, now a TV reporter. However, Mephistopheles proposes Johnny to release his contract if he become the "Ghost Rider" and defeat his evil son Blackheart, who wants to possess one thousand evil souls and transform hell on earth.
Ghost Rider Movie Review
Hell of a Ride
If you go into this movie hoping to see Academy Award caliber acting or a dramatic plot that's going to move you emotionally, then you're going to the wrong movie. However, if you're looking for a movie that's a lot of fun and is going to keep you entertained, then this is exactly what you're looking for.
Sam Elliot and Peter Fonda provide the best acting in the movie, while Wes Bentley does a solid job as Blackheart and Eva Mendez is just a very beautiful actress who fits in well as Roxanne.
There are a lot of little gripes about this movie if you look too hard and overthink it, but as a die-hard Ghost Rider fan, I didn't mind these things so much. It stayed relatively true to the original series, while borrowing elements from the 90's series to help make the movie more visually impressive, which I felt worked really well.
I've been waiting for this movie since they started trying to make it over eight years ago and overall, I'd have to say I really enjoyed seeing my favorite comic book character finally make it onto the big screen.
If you want to go see a movie where you can just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride; then go see Ghost Rider without any worry of disappointment.
Spider- Man 3 (2007)
A strange black entity from another world bonds with Peter Parker and causes inner turmoil as he contends with new villains, temptations, and revenge.
Director: Sam Raimi Writers: Sam Raimi (screenplay), Ivan Raimi(screenplay) Stars: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Topher Grace
Storyline
Peter Parker has finally managed to piece together the once-broken parts of his life, maintaining a balance between his relationship with Mary-Jane and his responsibility as Spider-Man. But more challenges arise for our young hero. Peter's old friend Harry Obsourne has set out for revenge against Peter; taking up the mantle of his late father's persona as The New Goblin, and Peter must also capture Uncle Ben's real killer, Flint Marko, who has been transformed into his toughest foe yet, the Sandman. All hope seems lost when suddenly Peter's suit turns jet-black and greatly amplifies his powers. But it also begins to greatly amplify the much darker qualities of Peter's personality that he begins to lose himself to. Peter has to reach deep inside himself to free the compassionate hero he used to be if he is to ever conquer the darkness within and face not only his greatest enemies, but also...himself.
Spider-Man 3 Movie Review
Thought it was great
Let me start by saying I see some reasons why fan boys are upset, and some of the issues people had problems with. Yes, it packed a ton of things into it, but it made it feel morelike an event. I have read comics in my life, mainly Spider-Man and Batman comics... I'm familiar with the original comics origin story of Venom and all of these characters before they hit movie screens, but I still can't understand some of the hatred and criticism that the film got. There are issues, which I'll list below, but the film has a strong emotional core with its characters that shines through here.
The dramatic elements, according to many reviewers and critics are done poorly here, but that's not the case. It's easy to feel the hurt Peter feels when MJ has to break some horrible news to him, you see his anger when he realizes Marko's connection to his murdered uncle, Ben, and the roller coaster that is Harry throughout the film even lets you sympathize with his position because you see, for the first time since the first film and done even better here, a more "innocent" side to Harry, though it doesn't last long.
Also, I did read plenty of online reviews prior to viewing and many of them gave me the feeling that the only way Peter's anger and 'dark side' is shown is through a dance number in a jazz club, which is not the case at all. You see Peter going overboard and saying and doing hurtful things all throughout the mid-section of the film, causing problems for himself and other characters and fully descending deeper and deeper into his own vengeance and anger. A lot of this part of the film is lightened with comedic elements, which is true. There is indeed a dance number, but there's a point to it and plays into a more emotionally charged scene later on. If you've read anything about tonal shifts or the film being called a "mess", I'd say don't believe it. It's done with class and maturity to make it a bit more fun, yet it doesn't take away from the more emotional and mature scenes that come prior and afterward.
Of the fight scenes, all were done well. Sandman's scenes throughout are usually the most beautiful and interesting, while Venom is done quite well too. One thing I did sorely miss was the use of the plural speech from Venom. A "We're not Brock... we are Venom!" line might have been nice. Its a minor grievance though, and all of the action scenes are done quite well, specifically the first and last.
The film is flawed, yes, but it's also quite fun. This is a small list of issues that are present throughout the film that are result of mostly lazy scriptwriting/storytelling, but didn't ruinthe movie, at least for me.
Issues: - Harry's Amnesia: Amnesia always feels like lazy writing, in almost every case (except maybe Memento). In this case, it's fairly weak but its forgivable as it allows you to see a side of Harry that hasn't been seen in a long while. It opens him up to more feelings and truly allows for sympathy when things go bad for him, and particularly the end. So, to me, it was quite forgivable as I saw why they used it.
•Suit's Introduction: Yeah, the odds of the meteor crashing right next
to Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man are quite slim. The comic origin is out, of course, but perhaps tying Jameson's astronaut son from the second film by having his ship be attacked by the suit and need rescue from Spidey would have been a better way to incorporate the suit... it would have allowed for another action sequence, tie in MJ's ex-boyfriend and tied the symbiote in a little more neatly. However, perhaps such a sequence would put the budget or time limit too high.
•Butler: He mostly kept his mouth shut through the first two films,
but in this one he delivers an important message to one of the characters that changes the course of the film. It's slightly forgivable because he's given a more humanized part in this film, but it's still a display of some lazy writing.
Aside from those issues, I disagreed with many of the other critiques that I've read. I don't find the comic aspects disheartening, they were done well, but from the reviews I thought it would be light on the serious and dramatic content of the films, ie, I wouldn't be emotionally invested in the characters this time around. That turned out to be false though, at least it was for me. The special effects were great, the action was great, the acting was great... but what really holds this film and makes it all feel worth it is the emotional attachment to its characters and the way it builds your feelings for them. All of these characters are flawed, some very seriously, but you care about what happens to them all and brings the first two films full-circle in terms of pretty much everything. It wraps up what's been done in the previous two and does some of those things even better.
