Once More Into The Breach

Editor's Note: Today we are proud to welcome everybody's favorite French speaking Flashback artist back to the posting biz: Pierre Villeneuve!  Pierre is back to let us know what he thought of this summers movies. - Jim



Hello Friends! It's been a while! No...no... I am not writing a blog about Shakespeare. I just thought that the line...

"Once more unto the breach dear friends... once more."

... because it sounded better then just "I'm back". :) Damn... lots of stuff happened since last fall. What to start with?? The Green Lantern movie?? The X-Men:First Class one?? Transformers?? Captain America. The Green Lantern:Emerald Knights Blu-Ray??

Then I realised that there is no way that I could choose just one.
So lets get started.

X-men: First Class



I had fun watching this film. It had the same flavor... the same essence then the first X-men movie. Not just by re-using some footage from the first X-men film.... but by taking a similar approach with the mood of the film... the atmosphere... the music.

And I liked how they made this a period piece. Yes some of the continuity does not really work with the other films. Word is that when they made First Class... they pretty much ignored what happened in X3 and X-men Origin: Wolverine. No idea if that is true.

But it was a little annoying whenever something would jump at you not matching with the previous films... but not enough to ruin this film. Depite it's flaws.... it was a fun film to watch. I wonder if they will make a second First Class movie... and if they will start it with the JFK assassination??
I guess we will have to wait and see.

Thor



Another film that was fun to watch. Yes... yes.... it was not perfect... but damn it was fun. Most of the actors did a good job in this film. I loved Odin and Thor. I loved the scene when Odin cast Thor out of Asgard.... and I had goose bumps when Odin held the hammer close whispering "He who holds this hammer... if he be worthy... shall possess the power of Thor".

I would have preffered a more classic version of Thor... one that did not have so much of the Ultimates version in it.... but sadly... there seems to be no way around this. Marvel seems determined to add some Ultimates elements to their movies. So when I saw Hawkeye.... instead of going "Cool! They included Hawkeye in the film"... I was more like "Damn!! They made Hawkeye a Shield Agent and seems to aim to use the Ultimate version of the character".

And with what we saw of the Avengers so far.... it looks more like the Ultimates then the classic Avengers. Oh well. But despite the Ultimate flavor of the film.... it did not stop me from enjoying the Thor film.

Green Lantern



I LOVED THIS FILM.

Damn I had a great time watching this film. The 3D in Thor was pointless. There was not much depth. It showed that it was added after the fact... and they did not do too good a job of adding the 3D to the Thor film. But the 3D in Green Lantern was very good. The best 3D I have seen yet in a film. Although I did not see Avatar in 3D.

I was worried that I would be tired of Green Lantern's origin. I read it in Emerald Twilight. In Secret Origin. I read it/saw it in New Frontier. I saw it in First Flight. So I was worried that I would be tired of seeing the origin of Green Lantern... one.... more.... time. But it was not a problem.

Most of the actors did a good job. And Mark Strong was an AWESOME Sinestro. Damn he did a GREAT job. I liked Mark Strong in Sherlock Holmes and in Kick Ass..... and I LOVED him as Sinestro. Also since the Sinestro Corps/Green Lantern Corps War.... I am more and more a Sinestro fan.
Could the Green Lantern movie have been better?? Absolutely. The constructs could have been easily better... and Parrallax could have been better. Did no one learn anything from the Galactus cloud in the FF movie?? But it did not keep me from enjoying the film. I was worried about the Green Lantern costume when I first saw some photos of it. But in the movie... it works fine. Even the mask... which is the worst part... after 10 minutes you get used to the mask and don't think about it anymore.

I don't understand how the critics blasted this film.

It was on par with Thor in my book. The story/plots holes/special effects were pretty much on the same level in both film. I would have expected a similar rating for both films. Hard to understand how Thor got good reviews... and how Green Lantern got creamed by the reviews.

I guess people can accept a movie with a magic hammer... but a movie with a magic ring is too silly for them?? Oh well.

Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon



I am not a Transformers fan. I did not expect to see that film.... a friend forced me to see it. :) But I have to admit that I actually had some fun watching it.

Captain America



The last piece of the puzzle leading to the upcoming Avengers movie.

Once again... the 3D was pointless. I thought Chris Evans did a good job playing Steve Rogers... and damn those scenes where he is a 90 pounds weakling are pretty cool. Loved the actor playing Erskine. And the rest of the cast did a pretty good job.... with one exception.... Howard Stark. That guy had NO charisma. I did not expect him to have the same charisma as Robert Downey JR.... but damn.

The movie built the origin story slowly... which was fine.... but when there was the musical part of the film .... I almost walked out of the theatre. It felt like this scene would never end. Damn.... they were trying wayyyyy to hard to show us how silly the comic book version of the costume was. So of course they HAD to change it.

That they changed the costume.... fine. No one really expects them to be faithfull to the comic. But seeing them bend backward in such a way to show us how silly the comic version of the costume would have been?? How riduculous it would have looked?? They were trying wayyyyy to hard in my book.
Also... after taking their time telling the origin of the character.... then we got these quick clips of Cap on various missions. It felt like "Oh crap.... we took too much time with the origin... now we have to wrap everything up quick". So the second part felt rushed. Although I got a kick whenever he would throw his shield. I was really happy that they kept that part. I was worried that they would think that it is too silly to have Cap throw his shield and have the shield ricochet a few times before coming back in Cap's hand.
And of course.... at the end when Cap wakes up in modern time... they HAD to go with the Ultimate version of that tale.

Oh well.

And sadly... the theatre where I went did not play the Avenegers trailer at the end of the Cap movie. :(
Have a great weekend!

- Pierre