Posted on May 17, 2012
Filed Under MasterChugs Theater | Leave a Comment |
Allow me to preemptively apologize: my weekend was filled with half a day's worth of working for a charity in the sun, resulting in a horrifying sunburn and aching body. Along with that, my work week has been unbelievably busy. Please accept this inventory piece (first edition of it, though: collector's item!) as my offering while I commit writing seppuku.
10. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: How do you transfer the visual stylings of Bryan Lee O'Malley's slacker/hipster epic of love, video games and sharing a bed with your gay roommate onto the big screen? Get Edgar Wright, the nerd who knows everything about everything, to direct it. The actual story is about as clever as the source material (which isn't incredibly great), but it's just a stunning sight that somehow manages to capture the look of Lee O'Malley's work.
9. The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec: A faithful adaptation of French creator Jacque Tardis's work, Luc Besson's movie has it all: a pterosaur, ancient super-technology, mystery, wit and Louise Bourgoin as the titular lady. You'll never look at reading a letter the same way again.
8. Sin City: Four stories. Four directors. Multiple actors. One overlapping theme: bleakness. Somehow, merging different stories from Frank Miller's grim and gritty noir-esque world works, displaying just how desperate and sad life can be in a world where the sun never shines. People with the deluxe version of the dvd can choose to watch the stories separate from each other if they choose. SPOILERS: both formats work wonderfully.
7. X2: Spider-Man in 2002 may have shown people that superhero comic book movies can be good, but X2 showed that the trend wasn't a fluke. Even better, it took multiple elements of various Chris Claremont story-lines and blended them together, somehow making it work.
6. Ghost World: It's no surprise that I have slightly more than a smoldering fire of passion for Scarlett Johansson. For me, this was my second dose of her (Home Alone 3 For Life!), but even then, she's not the main part that makes this movie work. Watching the film, it's like the director took creator Dan Clowes' (who also wrote the screenplay) art and somehow breathed real life into it. Thora Birch and Johansson are spot on as Enid and Rebecca. Steve Buscemi may have been born to be Seymour. It's spot-on in its faithful approach to replicate the sense of pain that teenagers feel about life in general conveyed in the book.
5. Iron Man: For the most part, in 2008, Robert Downey, Jr. was not a given. He had had a very tumultuous previous decade. That's why it was a fantastic surprise to have him blow us all away with a wonderful and essentially spot-on portrayal of Tony Stark. Updated a bit for modern times, Iron Man was a blast that showed how much fun it was to be a playboy-genius-industrialist. Not only that, it also laid the seeds for quite the movie to come …
4. Spider-Man 2: What Spider-Man did well, Spider-Man 2 did better. MUCH BETTER. For the longest time, Spider-Man 2 was the gold standard for a film showing why people love the superhero: it's a person that sticks up for everyone. They don't quit, but they'll never compromise their beliefs to fight crime. It's why we look up to them. Spider-Man can be anyone under that mask, as the train scene proves. That's why we love this movie and Spider-Man.
3. Oldboy: God, I heart Oldboy so very, very much. From start to finish, it's a ride that enthralls the viewer, whether it be by means of octopus, hammer or [spoiler redacted]. Most people recognize the name for the film rather than the manga that it comes from, but no matter how you see it, the effect is the same: a ride that shows you with every second spent just how powerful of a story it is.
2. The Dark Knight: Whether it was Heath Ledger's acting, the vision of Chris Nolan, the intricate plot of the story (I still hold to the conspiracy theory that Two-Face isn't dead) or Christian Bale's Batman voice, The Dark Knight is more than just an amazing superhero movie-it's amazing movie. It bypasses all stereotype of genre by just becoming a thrill to watch.
1. The Avengers: Welcome to the new king. Don't believe me? Go see it.
Now, obviously The Amazing Spider-Man and The Dark Knight Rises are coming out this summer. Hopefully they'll become the new kings the comic movies, which would be a good thing. That means more good movies! The only people that don't like good movies are dumb people and Communists.
Written by
Chris "Chugs" Taylor Comments
