Green Lantern

“In brightest day, in blackest night, No evil shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship evil’s might, Beware my power… Green Lantern’s light!“


Out of all the Superheroes in comic books, Green Lantern has the longest, slowest catch-phrase, motto, battlecry, oath, whatever you want to call it. It is no "Up, up, and away".


Well unfortunately, this also translated over to the the new Green Lantern movie. Now GL is a hard character to explain even to avid comic book readers. He is essentially an Universe space cop, and all his battles involve space creatures on distant planets or in deep space. All his power comes from a green ring he wears. He is part of a group that swears to protect the entire Universe from evil. So how do you make this character into a movie? Not well....


Green Lantern is a very slow paced movie. It spends a large portion of the movie trying to explain itself. Who are the Green Lanterns? Who is Hal Jordan? Why do we care? Even once you get to the point were Hal Jordan becomes the Green Lantern the action scenes are too short and too far in between. More time is spent on how he doesn't want to be a Green Lantern. It is sad. I was hoping it would have done better.


I believe that Ryan Reynolds was a good choice for Hal Jordan. He looks the part. Too bad his acting doesn't fit the part. GL was never a joking character. The jokes you seen in the trailers are about as good as it gets. All the others are one-liners that fall way too flat. Plus so much time is spend on Hal Jordan's insecurity that their isn't any time for any of the other characters to develop. 


Mark Strong was excellent as Sinestro, but you rarely see that character. Mark must have shot all his scenes in a single day. Where is Sinestro?! He is the trainer of Hal Jordan. He becomes the greatest enemy of the Green Lanterns. Hal discovers Sinestro uses fear to enforce his will over his Sector of the Universe that he is suppose to protect, and Hal gets him kicked out of the GL Corps. Why wasn't this part of the movie?! The best actor of the movie is rarely seen!!!


Same with all the other characters. We don't really see them. Peter Saragaard was good as Dr. Hector Hammond, but this character was also is neglected. Maybe they shouldn't have even hired actors. The CGI versions of other Green Lanterns were the most believable supporting characters of the entire movie. At least you know a lot of time was spent on creating them.


I was really excited to see this movie, only to be highly disappointed. I thought GL would have the same problem as Thor. How do you translate something that is takes a lot of imagination to the movie format which people expect to feel realistic. Somehow Thor was able to put it off.


You will need a lot of imagination to like this movie. You will have to imagine that the acting is good. That the story is good. That the effects are mind blowing. Without power of your imagination Green Lantern gets a l - lame. I was bored for most of the movie. I was waiting for a surprise or twist to happen, but none occurred. Rent this movie when it is released on DVD.

 At least I had some fun

Super 8

For months we've all seen the trailers for Super 8, and for months we all have been wondering what is this movie suppose to be about. Well it is quite simple. It's about some kids who like to make horror movies, there's a train wreck near a small town in Ohio that unleashes a unknown monster, weird things start happening, and kids have to solve the mystery. That is pretty much exactly what you get from the trailers.

You will most likely enjoy this movie. It has its moments that make you laugh. The kids have some great lines and the story moves pretty fast. Although the fact you will enjoy the movie, you will get a sense that you may have seen this movie before. The truth is that you're right. If your a fan of Steven Spielberg's movie, then you've seen this movie before. I felt like J.J. Abrams wanted to make homage film to Spielberg, and that is exactly what he did, only with a lot of lens flares. I'm telling you a lot of lens flares. Maybe he had a stockpile left over form Star Trek.

Super 8 is worth seeing. It gets a E - Entertaining. Again most likely you will enjoy seeing this movie, but I can't see anyone carrying on with an emotional connection to this movie when it is over. I think I liked this movie better when I saw it the first when it was called Jaws, E.T., Jurassic Park, and The Goonies.

X-Men: First Class

Do you remember seeing X-Men for the first time back in 2000? Well X-Men: First Class is the movie that one was suppose to be. I was surprisingly impressed.

I was going into this movie thinking, 'How could they possibly retell the beginning of the X-Men any different than from the first movie'. Simple. Start with the two main characters of the legacy(Professor X, and Magneto). Make the story all about them discovering their abilities and growing up with the responsibly. Add in a few young supporting mutants that need guidance. Most importantly, base it around an event in history that actually took place. It gives it a sense of credibility. It is more than a hodge podge of characters fighting in a fantasy story. It adds the "what-if" factor.

I heard that someone stated that this movie would be as good as if not better than The Dark Knight. How does one judge that? I can't say that. I can say that you will most definitely like this movie. This movie will go down as the best movie in the X-Men franchise. The Dark Knight was more than just a "Super Hero Movie". You believed that those characters could be real because how the story seemed to be ripped from everyday reality. The same could be said about X-Men: First Class. It will keep you intrigued for the entire film. I give it an A -Awesome rating. To be a "Legendary" movie it needs to change the way movies are made and thought about. This one is close to that. It is very close.

UPDATE: IMPORTANT - DO NOT WATCH ANYMORE MORE CLIPS ONLINE OR ON TV  FOR THIS FILM. A FEW SURPRISES ARE SPOILED

Side note:

Saw Hangover II last week. I thought it was entertaining. It is the same story as the first movie, and it was meant to be that way. The three main character are just a lot of fun. Their interaction together is what makes the movie a funny  E-Entertaining movie. You would mostly enjoy it. Just don't expect anything new.