Masters of the Universe (1987)
Like any self respecting American boy of the 1980's I was a huge fan of He-Man and completely oblivious to its homosexual undertones. I had wanted to see this movie when it first came out but it just didn't happen, so now almost 30 years later I have finally gotten around to seeing the live action Golan/Globus adaption of the Mattel media franchise. Masters of the Universe came out as Cannon Films was starting its decline, the film is a campy mess but that is what makes it fun. The plot concerns He-Man (Dolph Lundgren) and a small group of companions escaping Skeletor (Frank Langella) and landing on earth with the aid of a tonal based intergalactic transporting device which they become separated from, and which a couple of high school seniors played by Courtney Cox and Robert Duncan McNeill find and mistake as a music synthesizer, hijinks on budge ensue. Not nearly as great as I though it would at 7, but better then I suspect it would be at 35. Kind of a guilty pleasure. ** 1/2
Calvary (2014)
When an art film falls something short of its potential its always more disappointing then if a 'studio' film did the same. Calvary has a very intriguing premise going for it, a Catholic priest in Ireland is visited in his confessional by a parishioner who informs him that in a week he will murder said priest because he was sexually abused by another priest (now dead) as a child and feels that it will send a stronger message to the Church of he murders an innocent priest rather then a guilty one. Given a week to put his life in order before the end Father James (Brendon Gleeson) spends the week given him both preparing for his possible death, and dealing with the personal dramas of his flock. It is unfortunate that these supporting characters overwhelmingly feel more like 'types' then real people, this to me substantially lessened the potential impact of this movie, it needed to feel real to be truly effecting and it simply didn't. Gleeson is excellent however and the film has a few genuine moments, including Father James interactions with a visiting French woman whose husband dies in an accident while they are on vacation. Also the film features an actress named Kelly Reilly who is basically a stand in for Jessica Chastain, so that's a plus. A decent enough flick, but it had the potential to be great. ***
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
A desire to see this movie in the theater (which was rooted in the large scale disaster sequences, the 1980's setting, and the presence of Olivia Munn) is the reason why I recently watched the other X-Men prequels, yet X-Men: Apocalypse is probably the weakest of these three. First Class was the freshest, and Futures Past had the best story, while Apocalypse is probably the most summer movie-ie. So while its the least inventive yet its still entertaining, and while Apocalypse is the kind of villain that can easily be done very poorly, Oscar Isaac's performance in the role was strong enough to ground him, and I'd say the picture more generally but its really the better then they need to be stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence who do that. There will be a 4th prequel movie in the near term, this one set in the 90's and featuring Mister Sinister as the villain, who I didn't care for in the animated series so well see how that goes. Still X-Men: Apocalypse is perfectly acceptable summer movie fair. ***
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment