Double Feature: The Incredible Hulk (2008) & Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Next up in the double features, we head into a Marvel Cinematic Universe double feature as I try to catch up with all the movies that I’ve missed to date. Also, one of the reasons why I haven’t gone to see Avengers: Endgame in theatres as almost everyone has. Pairing it with my I selection on Netflix, The Incredible Hulk is a rental that I got for cheap and chose to see what the latest version of Spider-Man is like, because we’ve had a lot of them in the past 15 to 20 years. If its the first time being here, I have no basis on comic book adaptations or how it is there and only the movies so if you want to share your knowledge about how characters and villains are and how they are adapted in terms of these movies, feel free to share it in the comments below but  I’m not comparing to the source material.

Let’s check it out!

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Director: Louis Leterrier

Cast: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson, Ty Burrell

Bruce Banner, a scientist on the run from the U.S. Government, must find a cure for the monster he turns into, whenever he loses his temper. – IMDB

Its quite incredible to think that The Incredible Hulk is the second film in Phase 1 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films especially since he’s essentially become a supporting superhero in the films that follow with no sequel. However, it is understandable as this one outlines how he became Hulk. The Incredible Hulk portrayed Edward Norton is pretty much different from the one that reappears in The Avengers portrayed Mark Ruffalo. The Incredible Hulk isn’t a bad film, in fact, it lines up quite well the style that Marvel was doing in Phase One. There is some dark humor and then some deeper moments. Hulk is a pretty sad origin story as he has no control over his actions when he transforms and turns into a beast. In that sense, the story here is done well. Plus, its paced fairly well. The best part here does have to go to Tim Roth playing a fairly adequate villain (and I don’t quite acknowledge a lot of the villains much). However, it still feels slightly far-fetched in the sense of the motives of Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) and Abomination.

Its not that the movie itself isn’t enjoyable. The Incredible Hulk feels a bit disjointed in its storytelling in general. The story doesn’t lean too much on the origin and never dives too deep in the relationship side nor does it go very deep on the disapproval and the issues with the General and then it never really explains the reasoning behind Tim Roth’s Emil Blonsky and Abomination. However, the movie does offer up a lot of action and there’s some cool moments here which work to make this a fun movie to watch.

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Director: Jon Watts

Cast: Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr., Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, Gwyneth Paltrow, Zendaya, Donald Glover, Jacob Batalon

Peter Parker balances his life as an ordinary high school student in Queens with his superhero alter-ego Spider-Man, and finds himself on the trail of a new menace prowling the skies of New York City. – IMDB

I’ve lived through three changes in Spider-Mans already. To be honest, Spider-Man is about the most familiar superhero now other than Batman at this point. Another very fair point is that there is something  about being quite skeptical about how successful this Spider-Man will be and what makes him different. Of course, we’ve already had a snippet of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man due to Captain America: Civil War (review) who was adequate enough with that dose of geeky humor. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is not too different from the first films of both Spiderman (Tobey Maguire version) or The Amazing Spiderman (Andrew Garfield’s version) in the sense of say humor and personality. However, this one changes because we don’t see how he became Spider-Man which is a nice step because after so many, most people already know but rather takes the path of his feelings after the events of Captain America: Civil War and coming to terms with his desire to be more helpful rather than stay in his everyday routine as Ironman would like him to do. However, as dynamic as Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. add to the humor of the film, its feels underused in the sense of Peter Parker and his best friend because there is a nice friendship bond with that as well.

One of the things I also did enjoy with this one (similar to The Incredible Hulk) is Michael Keaton as The Falcon. For one, the villain design is really nice. The Falcon still doesn’t have that sort of evil villain sort of feeling to him but there is this nice mesh of bringing together past events and technology to create this character and the many situations that Spider-Man encounters because of it. At the same time, it gives this Spider-Man a real sense of learning a few qualities to become a part of The Avengers and realizing when he feels that he is ready for it and how it ends gives it a sense of the coming of age of Spider-Man. The direction and the characters and even the humor works overall in Spider-Man: Homecoming. However, the issues with it is that the film does feels at times a bit dragged out and long (but then I have issues with a lot of these superhero films being too long).

That’s it for this Marvel double feature!
Have you seen these two films?

Netflix A-Z: How I Live Now (2013)

Next up in the Netflix us How I Live Now! I have been meaning to watch this since its release. I am a huge fan of Saoirse Ronan. I have yet to see a movie I dislike of hers. I am hoping to catch Brooklyn soon. With this indie focus on this round, this was the obvious choice.

Lets check it out!

How I Live Now (2013)

Director: Kevin Macdonald

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, George MacKay, Tom Holland, Harley Bird, Anna Chancellor, Danny McEvoy

An American girl, sent to the English countryside to stay with relatives, finds love and purpose while fighting for her survival as war envelops the world around her.-IMDB

How I Live Now is a good indie drama. The standout is the attention it takes to build its characters, particularly Saoirse Ronan’s Daisy. Her character is one with a lot of inner conflict and as the world embarks on the brink of World War 3, her control is lost as she finds someone worth her distraction and worth her fight and focus. In comparison, many other characters don’t have as much with the exception of her little cousin, Piper. This aspect of relationships is where it gets a little blurry. What is acceptable, is her love interest her cousin, her mother’s sister’s son? That had me a little confused but quickly pushed it aside.

The setting of How I Live Now is also quite good. While it takes us in an indie drama and adds in a young adult romance, it is more of a coming of age story for Daisy as she learns what is worth her time and embraces what she wants for herself and how she wants to live. Hence the title. At the beginning, we follow Daisy gain a fondness and break out of her control and focus on whatever it is that fleets through her mind. It is carefree until it isn’t. How I Live Now puts in a fictional situation (because it is World War 3) of living in the times of war that makes it desperate and escalates the danger and obstacles. The war aspect is also treated in extremes especially in various scenes. There is a dramatic take (as it should be) when approaching the effects of war as the country salvages what they can and it never draws out what is actually going on but definitely highlights on turmoil.

We can however take some of the blurry plotlines as perhaps a lost in translation deal. How I Live Now is adapted from a novel of the same name. While I haven’t read the novel yet, it does beg the question as to whether the scenario itself was half hidden or that some issues were not highlighted, leaving questions like what is the actual relationship between Daisy and her cousins, especially the love of her life Eddie. There are questions as to why the war all started and why there seems a division between the military and perhaps rogue gangs that took advantage of the turmoil. There was a questions as to what happened to Daisy and why she has all those thoughts in her head. There are a lot of questions that could be answered and perhaps if it was all added into an 100 minutes movie, it would make it convoluted. However, there is a part of me that felt like something wasn’t complete at the end. And perhaps that the focus wasn’t built enough for us to care about some of the younger cast in order to feel for them when they were all split apart.

Regardless of its minor flaws, How I Live Now is a good independent drama. One that takes a different approach to young love in a brutal near-future setting when the world is collapsing at the brink of war. It is a coming of age story for Saoirse Ronan’s outstanding performance as Daisy as she finds her focus and hope for things that truly matter to her and turn them into a motivation. Its her choice how to live as her world falls apart and slowly comes back together. A very good message portrayed in a pretty effective way with some great performances: How I Live Now is worth a watch, especially if you are like me and adore Saoirse Ronan.

Have you seen How I Live Now?

Next up is I selection! Any guesses?

Child’s Play (1988) by Movie Reviews 101 – Ultimate 80s Blogathon

Next up for the Ultimate 80s Blogathon, we have Darren from Movie Reviews 101.

If you haven’t been there before, Movie Reviews 101 is an awesome site featuring lots of great movie reviews.  It also hosts the Opinion Battles. Recently, they also expanded to doing a podcast show called Fantasy Film Casting Podcast. Head over and show him some love. Let me pass it over to him for his review of Child’s Play.

Child’s Play (1988)

Director: Tom Holland

Writer: Don Mancini (Screenplay) Don Mancini, John Lafia, Tom Holland (Story)

Starring: Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent, Brad Dourif, Dinah Manoff, Tommy Swerdlow, Jack Colvin

Plot: A single mother gives her son a much sought after doll for his birthday, only to discover that it is possessed by the soul of a serial killer.

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Classic 80’s Horror

Story: Child’s Play starts as serial killer Charles Lee Ray (Dourif) is running from the police, just when he is about to be caught he performs a ritual to place his soul in a Good Guy Doll. We move to meet young boy Andy (Vincent) who wants his very own Good Guy Doll and today just so happens to be his birthday and his mother Karen (Hicks) doesn’t want to let him down.

When Andy gets his birthday present it turns out to have a mind of its own, well a mind of a serial killer Charles Lee Ray. Chucky wants to use Andy to bring his soul back into a human body and get revenge on the man who left him for dead Eddie Caputo.

Child’s Play brings us a new look at the horror slasher genre with the killer being small because during the 80s we had your Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers who were imposing figure but the Chucky doll is something you would never see coming. The story does have the idea that it doesn’t need to be as serious as other slashers but most importantly this isn’t a comedy which later in the franchise is becomes. Having the innocent character in Andy not understanding how serious the Chucky threat it really helps the story unfold and instead of having a damsel like screaming teenager we get a strong single parent having to defend their child against the evil. When it comes to 80s horror this one sometimes gets overlooked but it really does give us one of the most entertaining horrors of the era.

Actor Review

Catherine Hicks: Karen is the single mother of Andy, she works long hours to make sure he gets the basics but when his birthday comes around she must find a way to get him the Good Guy Doll. When she finally gets her hands on one it turns out to be possessed by serial killer Charles Lee Ray. She must fight off the killer doll to protect her son. Catherine gives us a strong performance in this leading lady role of horror.

 

Chris Sarandon: Mike is the police detective that is trying to figure out who killed a close friend of Karen’s. he previously hunted down Charles Lee Ray and was the man that got the fatal shots in while he was on the run. Chris is good but really only just a basic cop performance for this film.

Alex Vincent: Andy is the young boy who wants his own Good Guy Doll, when he gets one for his birthday it just so happens to be possessed by a serial killer and no one wants to believe him when he starts believing Chucky is killing people. Alex gives us a good performance for a young actor.

Brad Dourif: Charles Lee Ray/Chucky (Voice) Charles Lee is a serial killer that performs a ritual to keep his soul alive before he dies. His soul ends up in a Good Guy Doll where he gets to continue killing from beyond the grave as he desperately searches for a new body for his soul. Brad lends his voice to the psychotic doll that will now become stuff of legends.

Support Cast: Child’s Play doesn’t have the biggest supporting role with most being the victims of Chucky.

Director Review: Tom Holland – Tom gives us a good horror that will be the beginning of one of the most iconic film franchises of horror history.

Horror: Child’s Play gives us horror that brings the horror within our home with the killer being a toy you would give your child.

Settings: Child’s Play uses mostly the home setting to show how it would be like for the family to let a toy come into the home that could be a killer showing how it is an everyday moment in the lives.

Special Effects: Child’s Play has great effects to create the animatronics behind the Chucky doll on his killing spree.

Suggestion: Child’s Play is one I would like to think every single horror fans would have seen once. (Horror Fans Watch)

Best Part: Chucky Doll is a great addition to the horror genre.

Worst Part: Supporting characters are pretty much just disposable.

Kill Of The Film: Eddie

Scariest Scene: Chucky’s first communication with Karen

Favourite Quote: Chucky ‘Hi, I’m Chucky. Wanna play?’

Believability: No

Chances of Tears: No

Chances of Sequel: Beginning of a franchise

Post Credits Scene: No

Similar To: Puppet Master

Oscar Chances: No

Box Office: $33 Million

Budget: $9 Million

Runtime: 1 Hour 27 Minutes

Tagline: Something’s moved in with the Barclay family, and so has terror.

Trivia: The Chucky films have always been accused of inspiring violence in children. One case linked to the series was a gang in Manchester kidnapping and murdering a 16-year-old girl. While they tortured her, they forced her to listen to recordings of the gang leader repeating the catchphrase “I’m Chucky, wanna play?” Director Tom Holland has always defended the first film from these accusations, stating that viewers of horror movies could only be influenced by their content if they were unbalanced to begin with.

Overall: Stand out horror that brings the horror into any parent’s home

Rating