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Film review--The Informant

THE INFORMANT

starring Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Joel McHale, Clancy Brown, Melanie Lynskey, Thomas F. Wilson, and Ben Affleck as The Beav

The FBI heads into a price-fixing investigation of an Illinois agricultural company called ADM. In doing so, they are completely reliant upon one man on the inside (Damon.) Unfortunately, this man begins to believe he is a real secret agent and the truth becomes difficult to discern from the lies.

This film was not at all as I expected. The description above is more or less the one that came to us on the Netflix envelope. To me, it suggests a rather benevolent, Walter Mitty-like main character. What you get instead is a true life story of mental illness. This is not to say that it results in a bad film. On the contrary, it is quite funny in places and Matt Damon's performance is capable and compelling as always. Yet I just could not shake the sense that the film was missing something. Just not sure what that "something" is. Still, it was good to see Biff (Wilson) from Back to the Future getting work.

RATING: AIOK (Aaeeeehhhh, It's OK)

NOTE: I am rather backlogged on reviews to write and I'm not getting the same enjoyment out of them as I used to. Therefore, I am uncertain as to how much longer I will continue them. Just giving you the heads up.

Film review--The Expendables

starring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Lie, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Randy Couture, Charisma Carpenter, and Jean Claude Van-Damm as The Beav.

A team of mercenaries is hired by the mysterious "Mr. Church" (Willis) to travel to a Caribbean island and knock off a dictator. When two of the team members (Stallone and Statham) recon the locale, they meet the beautiful leader of the local resistance. The two are forced to escape, leaving the woman behind. Do they cut their losses or come back with the rest of the team and attempt a suicidal rescue mission?

This movie is exactly what it's supposed to be. And for what it is, it is very good.

That's about as succinctly as I can put it. Sly Stallone set out to gather the top action stars in movies today and direct one helluva kick ass action movie. And that is exactly what he did.

You will not find 3 dimensional characters here. In fact, you'll be lucky if they peak into the 2nd dimension. If you've seen action movies before, there won't be a whole lot of twists and turns. What reversals there are, I'm certain you'll see them coming. There is no subtext, no grand statement on the human condition. This is not Moliere.

This is a movie about a mercenary team full of guys with names like Christmas, Toll Road, Yin Yang, Gunner, and Hale Caeser. You'll see explosions, big guns, bad ass martial arts and bladework, no skimping on blood and gore, and a few hot chicks thrown in for good measure. If I have any real criticism, it is with the choppy, "I'm high on meth" style of camerawork brought about by the loathsome Michael Bay in "Transformers." The spectacle moves so fast that you can't tell what's going in a few of the action scenes. But it is nowhere near as pronounced here as it was in "Transformers."

This is why the summer movie season was manufactured all those years ago. This is porn for the action movie fan and I'm telling you, if you have even a drop of testosterone in your body, you will enjoy this.

RATING: PDG (Pretty Darned Good)

Barnes and Noble changes strategy

From the department of "headlines you could see coming a mile away," Barnes & Noble booksellers are looking at ways to increase digital sales. This comes in the wake of announcing that the company itself would be up for sale.
"But the threat that has the industry and some readers the most rattled is the growth of e-books. In the first five months of 2009, e-books made up 2.9 percent of trade book sales. In the same period in 2010, sales of e-books, which generally cost less than hardcover books, grew to 8.5 percent, according to the Association of American Publishers, spurred by sales of the Amazon Kindle and the new Apple iPad. "

Ah the digital revolution continues. New technology tends to scare people, but I truly do believe that this will be a tremendous boon for authors as it progresses. You can read the entire New York Times article here.

75 Most Memorable Moments in DC Comics History

Comic Book Resources recently posted the winners in a vote for the 75 Most Memorable Moments In DC Comics History.

Here are a few of the highlights (let the arguing begin):

#58 The very first "bwah-ha-ha" in JLA

#57 Captain Marvel saves the day (kinda) in "Kingdom Come."

#44 Green Lantern's lesson on race relations

#41 Superman to Mongul: "Burn."

Numbers 36-1 are yet to be posted. Stay tuned.

Vanishing Point

DC is about to release Time Masters: Vanishing Point by Dan Jurgens. Supposedly, this crossover will explain how time travel works in the DCU. I'll admit that Jurgens has never been a favorite of mine, even though we seem to have a similar philosophy when it comes to comics, but if anybody can help straighten out the mess that is time travel, I'm down for it.

On enhanced ebooks

What are Enhanced Ebooks? Click here for a primer.

Contrary to what the author of that essay wrote, I don't think it's a big deal that enhanced ebooks aren't of solid quality or worth the higher price just yet. Ebooks are the future. And if ebooks are the future, then enhanced ebooks are the future of the future.
Imagine taking a text that you enjoy and augmenting it with interactive features, links for background information, and an endless amount of other possibilities.
As always, there will be a fair amount of technophobia from the Luddites towards this new media.
It will take time, but these writers will either come around or die out like dinosaurs. For the life of me I don't understand taking the latter choice. Technology in the hands of a creative artist is something to be embraced, not feared.

And this bit today from The New York Times.

Infinity Gauntlet to be in "Thor" movie

Last weekend, Marvel had a whole mess of props on display from its upcoming film release, Thor. Among these were Thor's hammer (natch), Odin's throne, Loki's helmet, and a shiny golden armored glove that didn't get much attention from the G4 crew.
It is of course the Infinity Gauntlet, the glove that when fully-loaded with power gems, grants the wearer control over the universe. It was the source of three separate summertime miniseries events at Marvel during the early 1990s, each with mixed success in terms of quality.

So who will be the wearer of the Infinity Gauntlet in the movie? Does this imply an eventual appearance from Thanos? As usual, we must wait and see.