Last Friday evening, I re-discovered the joy of waiting for a film to have been out for 2-3 months and then going to the cheap movie theater a bit outside downtown, and paying two bucks to see the film instead of the requisite seven, eight, nine, or twenty. Professional film critics get to screen films free of charge; for the rest of us, there's either the cheapie screens or a bad Internet feed.
And going to the Movies 12 on Bethel Road in Columbus was the only way I was going to watch The Incredible Hulk on the big screen. That's not a knock against the quality of the film; this summer (along with the past four or five summer seasons) has been another superhero-heavy offering with shows like Iron Man, The Dark Knight, and Hancock. Of these four, Iron Man and The Dark Knight were, in my opinion, the two must-sees for film goers. But at least The Incredible Hulk displays an improvement over its prequel, and allows the audience to enjoy the action instead of being bowled over by an artistic critique that hurt the 2003 version.
The story begins in the slums of Brazil (where director Louis Letterier is at his best in detailing the city life of Rio de Janeiro) as Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) works at a soda processing plant while holding an online correspondence with a mysterious Mr. Blue over how he might be able to cure the levels of gamma radiation within his blood stream. When one of the delicious bottles of Faygo Soda is accidentally infected with Banner's blood (and winds up knocking out Stan Lee's cameo appearance in Midwest America), a team of U.S. soldiers, led by the superficially cranky General Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt, who looks and plays the character almost exactly like William Hurt did in the prequel), head to Brazil to capture Banner alive and use his infected body for further research on the installment of the general's super soldier program.
Recruited with the soldiers is evil, Russian-born British Marine Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth). Evidently he's good at running fast and killing people. Blonsky asks for, and receives, a dosage of strength-enhancing serum (similar, perhaps, to the serum Captain America received in his comic book tales) enabling him to better hunt down the Hulk.
After being ambushed and escaping the soldiers in Brazil, Banner trails back to America to reconnect with fellow scientist Betty Ross (Liv Tyler), and the two travel to New York City to find Mr. Blue and hopefully cure Banner once and for all. But like always, the government and its army screw up the protagonist's quest for peace of mind, and ultimately Banner's alter ego must strive to avoid direct confrontation with Ross's units while also fighting a mutated Blonsky, by now transformed into a monster known as the Abomination and wreaking havoc downtown.
As most people who have seen the film will agree, this a much faster-paced version of the Hulk than Ang Lee's take. I actually very much enjoyed Lee's work with Hulk because it was a different perspective on discussing the beginnings of a comic book character (The other two main examples at that time were Spider-Man, which was huge, and Daredevil, which was not.). But I can also see why people who just wanted to be thrilled by the kind of fast-paced action Spider-Man provided us with would be disappointed by Hulk. Of course, you could also argue that Iron Man was similar to the older Hulk film in terms of philosophy and pacing, but that movie was mostly successful thanks to Robert Downey Jr.'s brilliance. The action itself in The Incredible Hulk is good; nothing we haven't seen before, but enjoyable and even lighthearted at times, in retrospect to its stern predecessor.
Like always, I very much liked Norton and his portrayal of Bruce Banner. Physically he's a much closer fit to what Banner should look like, compared with the bulkier Eric Bana. Add to the fact that Norton can pretty much play anyone these days and you have a good fit. Tyler has several good moments as Betty Ross, although you can't help but question why the most brilliant scientists in comic books and movies are also the most attractive ones. The other two principal characters--Ross and Blonsky--are foils to the protagonists. Hurt (as Ross) does a good job acting like a dick, and Roth (Blonsky) channels what he did in the monkey suit in Planet of the Apes and brings that same primal nature in his role as a super solider.
The Incredible Hulk go down in comic book film as simply moving the plot along without any severe consequences to its principal characters. But it does successfully re-start the presence of one of Marvel's most popular characters on the big screen. More importantly, it moves the Marvel film branch towards its primary target of putting together that one superhero film I'm sure you've all heard about by now...
***/4 stars
Monday, August 18, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
What I would have written for Brett Favre's first blog post, if he had actually had a blog with the Green Packers and I would be his ghostwriter
Well, hi! I'm Brett Favre. Wow it's awesome to be me.
Do you happen to blog? I'm new at it, but I'm still getting paid $20 million over the next ten years, just to write in complete sentences. I wonder if most of you bloggers get the same opportunity?
You know what's good? Bacon.
It's tough living in Mississippi sometimes, because it's so darn hot. But I'll get used to it.
You know, it's funny; I always thought Wisconsin was really cold in the wintertime, but then I peered into Ted Thompson's soul and discovered a new definition of the word "cold." He's neat like that! And it's funny how his feet are shaped like hooves, too.
Well, that's about a hundred words or so, so I'm going to go stretch out and tell my friends about what it's like to be interesting. Minnesota sucks. Hooray!
Do you happen to blog? I'm new at it, but I'm still getting paid $20 million over the next ten years, just to write in complete sentences. I wonder if most of you bloggers get the same opportunity?
You know what's good? Bacon.
It's tough living in Mississippi sometimes, because it's so darn hot. But I'll get used to it.
You know, it's funny; I always thought Wisconsin was really cold in the wintertime, but then I peered into Ted Thompson's soul and discovered a new definition of the word "cold." He's neat like that! And it's funny how his feet are shaped like hooves, too.
Well, that's about a hundred words or so, so I'm going to go stretch out and tell my friends about what it's like to be interesting. Minnesota sucks. Hooray!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Fandom
This past Saturday, I sat in the bleachers of Wrigley Field. It was my thirteenth or fourteenth time in my life going to the ballpark, but the first time I’d sat in the famed bleachers of some of baseball’s most notorious fans. A friend of my sister’s (whose apartment is located a block, a freaking block, away from the stadium) got eleven tickets in an incredible deal on Craigslist for $45 apiece.
This friend had money to burn, as he got at least a dozen beers for himself and friends inside the stadium, giving two to me and my sister as charity. (I had made a pledge before the game to fill up on Miller Lite so I wouldn’t be spending $7 dollars per Old Style.) By the time the sixth ending had finished, I was yelling at people and dancing in between half innings, accidentally kicking over a beer that the person sitting next to me placed on the ground as he went underneath the bleachers…to order another beer. He was a super nice guy, but you think pacing would play a role in beer that expensive, no? Sitting in the bleachers of Wrigley was kind of like paying $75 dollars to attend a keg party held by a university’s most notorious frat party. There’s a reason the four largest team sports in North America love their beer contracts: they make a mountain—a mountain—of money off of alcohol sales in their stadiums.
So I sat in the bleachers, enjoying the buzz, making jokes with my sister (an exceptional host for my weekend in Chicago) and her friends, and watching the most dominant Cubs team I have ever seen in my lifetime. The day of writing this story is August 4th, and with a little less than two months of the regular season left, they might be the most complete team in the National League. The first three pitchers of their five-man rotation are All-Star caliber (Rich Harden was traded to us midseason, but had he started the season a Cub he’d probably have played in the game along with Zambrano and Dempster); the bullpen, made of quality guys like Carlos Marmol and Chad Gaudin, hasn’t disappointed its teammates in the way it might have a few seasons ago; and our batting order, which has been above average for a good ten years compared with other major league teams, is a phenomenally strong chain of hitters.
Yeah, I’m not sure how to describe our batting lineup without hyperbole. There’s recognized guys like Soriano, Ramirez and Derek Lee, and then there’s players such as Reed Johnson, Mark Derosa and Ryan Theriot—players who may not become household names in Chicagoland but make it very hard for pitchers to get around a slugger like Ramirez or Geovany Soto.
We always talk about things like individual achievement and the de-emphasis on “teamwork” when we compare baseball to basketball and football, but in the 21st century, and after seeing high-salaried rosters like the Yankees and this most recent Detroit Tigers team dissolve by the midway point of the season, I can assure you that’s baloney. You have to like the guys on your team, or at least respect them enough to trust they can do their job on the field. You can feel the chemistry that keeps these Cubs together. A guy like Reed Johnson, whom I’d never heard of prior to April this year, comes from the Toronto Blue Jays to bat around .290 and relieve Kosuke Fukudome and Jim Edmonds in the outfield with his impressive agility. Seriously, where does that come from? Is that the benefit of batting behind Soto?
Or is it this so called “playoff atmosphere” that pervades Wrigley Field? That’s what Harden talked about as he made his way here from Oakland; that every home game, more or less, is like a holiday in the Northside. Whatever the cause, home games present an advantage for our Cubbies; as of August 5th, after the Cubs beat the Astros 11-7, they have a staggering home record of 42-16, or a winning percentage of .724. That’s a staggering number, and if they could play a little more securely on the road, the Cubs would already be playoff preparations by the middle of this month (which would be too early…so maybe the road record is a blessing in disguise).
I can tell you from my experience Saturday, Wrigleyville is a magical place. It’s also a very drunk place, but then so is Notre Dame Stadium, Ohio Stadium, Paul Brown Stadium and whatever other big-time sports venues I’ve been to. Yes, there is definitely a tourist feel these days to the ballpark that didn’t exist in the early 90’s, when my father first started taking me to games (I definitely wasn’t drinking $7 beers then). But it’s helped the team tremendously. There is a tremendous sense of fandom with this year’s Chicago Cubs.
And that makes me wonder what it will be like if—when?—our team finally wins it all. In the short term, there’s rioting, drinking, and lots and lots of lovemaking (9 months from October you’ll see all these female new-borns in Chicago getting names like Carlita, Aramek and my favorite, Alfonisco). Long-term, do we stop caring? Does Jim Hendry actually take a day off then? It makes me wonder and worry about myself as a fan, because as friends will assure, my Cubs fandom is a good part of who I am. Do I stop caring, after moaning and whining for at least ten years about how my team’s been no good?
Hopefully not. Hopefully the fun I had Saturday carries along with my passion as a sports fan for a long time.
This friend had money to burn, as he got at least a dozen beers for himself and friends inside the stadium, giving two to me and my sister as charity. (I had made a pledge before the game to fill up on Miller Lite so I wouldn’t be spending $7 dollars per Old Style.) By the time the sixth ending had finished, I was yelling at people and dancing in between half innings, accidentally kicking over a beer that the person sitting next to me placed on the ground as he went underneath the bleachers…to order another beer. He was a super nice guy, but you think pacing would play a role in beer that expensive, no? Sitting in the bleachers of Wrigley was kind of like paying $75 dollars to attend a keg party held by a university’s most notorious frat party. There’s a reason the four largest team sports in North America love their beer contracts: they make a mountain—a mountain—of money off of alcohol sales in their stadiums.
So I sat in the bleachers, enjoying the buzz, making jokes with my sister (an exceptional host for my weekend in Chicago) and her friends, and watching the most dominant Cubs team I have ever seen in my lifetime. The day of writing this story is August 4th, and with a little less than two months of the regular season left, they might be the most complete team in the National League. The first three pitchers of their five-man rotation are All-Star caliber (Rich Harden was traded to us midseason, but had he started the season a Cub he’d probably have played in the game along with Zambrano and Dempster); the bullpen, made of quality guys like Carlos Marmol and Chad Gaudin, hasn’t disappointed its teammates in the way it might have a few seasons ago; and our batting order, which has been above average for a good ten years compared with other major league teams, is a phenomenally strong chain of hitters.
Yeah, I’m not sure how to describe our batting lineup without hyperbole. There’s recognized guys like Soriano, Ramirez and Derek Lee, and then there’s players such as Reed Johnson, Mark Derosa and Ryan Theriot—players who may not become household names in Chicagoland but make it very hard for pitchers to get around a slugger like Ramirez or Geovany Soto.
We always talk about things like individual achievement and the de-emphasis on “teamwork” when we compare baseball to basketball and football, but in the 21st century, and after seeing high-salaried rosters like the Yankees and this most recent Detroit Tigers team dissolve by the midway point of the season, I can assure you that’s baloney. You have to like the guys on your team, or at least respect them enough to trust they can do their job on the field. You can feel the chemistry that keeps these Cubs together. A guy like Reed Johnson, whom I’d never heard of prior to April this year, comes from the Toronto Blue Jays to bat around .290 and relieve Kosuke Fukudome and Jim Edmonds in the outfield with his impressive agility. Seriously, where does that come from? Is that the benefit of batting behind Soto?
Or is it this so called “playoff atmosphere” that pervades Wrigley Field? That’s what Harden talked about as he made his way here from Oakland; that every home game, more or less, is like a holiday in the Northside. Whatever the cause, home games present an advantage for our Cubbies; as of August 5th, after the Cubs beat the Astros 11-7, they have a staggering home record of 42-16, or a winning percentage of .724. That’s a staggering number, and if they could play a little more securely on the road, the Cubs would already be playoff preparations by the middle of this month (which would be too early…so maybe the road record is a blessing in disguise).
I can tell you from my experience Saturday, Wrigleyville is a magical place. It’s also a very drunk place, but then so is Notre Dame Stadium, Ohio Stadium, Paul Brown Stadium and whatever other big-time sports venues I’ve been to. Yes, there is definitely a tourist feel these days to the ballpark that didn’t exist in the early 90’s, when my father first started taking me to games (I definitely wasn’t drinking $7 beers then). But it’s helped the team tremendously. There is a tremendous sense of fandom with this year’s Chicago Cubs.
And that makes me wonder what it will be like if—when?—our team finally wins it all. In the short term, there’s rioting, drinking, and lots and lots of lovemaking (9 months from October you’ll see all these female new-borns in Chicago getting names like Carlita, Aramek and my favorite, Alfonisco). Long-term, do we stop caring? Does Jim Hendry actually take a day off then? It makes me wonder and worry about myself as a fan, because as friends will assure, my Cubs fandom is a good part of who I am. Do I stop caring, after moaning and whining for at least ten years about how my team’s been no good?
Hopefully not. Hopefully the fun I had Saturday carries along with my passion as a sports fan for a long time.
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