Hellboy (2004) -

After watching Hellboy II on the big screen, I felt the need to rewatch Hellboy, since I’d missed the middle part the first time I watched it and never gave it a good look. One thing I immediately noticed is how much Hellboy and Hellboy II are the same. The story, the characters and even some of the visual jokes and action scenes are so much the same that, in retrospect, I should really lower the score (3.5) I gave Hellboy II. Read more

Hellboy II: the Golden Army (2008) -

The signature style of Guillermo del Toro and Mike Mignola’s comic universe of Hellboy and the BPRD mix surprisingy well in this fantasy action thriller. Although the story is fairly straightforward and bears little hidden meaning, it’s entertaining and it looks great on the big screen. With a fantastic universe that’s likely to remind you strongly of del Toro’s recent Pan’s Labyrinth, the movie has its own feel, but lacks real originality, both in story and in setting. What originality it has, it lends from the comic book intellectual property of Mignola. Read more

Hancock (2008) -

When I initially saw the posters for Hancock, I thought nothing of it. Just another action flick to be ignored. But I let myself be trapped by reviewers who gave it more than the benefit of the doubt and awarded it decent marks. Frankly, I don’t really see why. Read more

The Dark Knight (2008) -

I’ve commented before on the effect of a story being told as a comic before becoming a movie. In the Dark Knight (and starting in Batman Begins (2005)) Christopher Nolan takes Batman in an entirely new direction, if you only take the previous movies as a reference. But if you like the relatively new series of Batman comics, Legends of the Dark Knight, you’ll see that Nolan is merely taking cinematic Batman on the same road as his paper counterpart. Read more

The 300 Spartans (1962) -

It’s always hard to judge an movie in the action genre when it’s well over 4 decades old. On the one hand, you want to compare it to contemporary pieces, but on the other hand what really matters is whether you would recommend to anyone now. This becomes even harder when the movie has since been remade with up to date technology, with modern action iconography and choreography to look back on. Read more

Il y a longtemps que je t’aime (2008) -

This was a good watch and I enjoyed it, but the story didn’t really speak to me in that special way your favourite movies do. I think part of it were just the characters that were a bit hard to identify with, but what caught my eye most - in a negative sense - was the directing of the actors in some scenes. Read more

The Golden Compass (2007)

A bit of a disappointment for me. Although I like the story - in the book - far better than the overly hyped Harry Potter, this movie doesn’t deliver as the Harry Potter movies did for the Potter fans. Apart from the usual gripes like not everything from the book being in the movie, I feel this movie goes wrong in some other ways that are far more detrimental. Read more

I am Legend (2007)

I like how movies are picking up more and more on the wealth of visual storytelling that comics have to offer. With recent successes like Sin City (2005) and 300 (2006) and perhaps slightly less successful offerings like V for Vendetta (2005) (which was not all bad in my opinion), the genre is building a nice position for itself. I am Legend adds a nice piece to that line, though I think it could have been a lot better. Read more

Thank You for Smoking (2005)

This movie is about as good as it could have been and the only reason it’s short of the 5/5 mark are some details. Although it may be intentional, it seems strange not to have anyone smoke in a movie about Big Tobacco and it’s (evil?) marketing techniques. If it’s intentional, I would have expected the creators of Thank You for Smoking to play a little more with the idea. The only suggestion of smoking in the entire movie is the blueish tint of the air in some locations. The main character smokes, but this only becomes clear because of him grabbing a pack of cigs that happens to be empty when he does (in anotherwise great scene). Read more