The Simpsons Movie: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Overlook The Weaknesses

When reading over my review of Futurama : Bender's Big score, Futurama was not fresh in my mind, The Simpsons was. More to the point how much i wrote about the Simpsons Movie...more to the point, how negativly i wrote about The Simpsons Movie. Now don't get me wrong, in terms of all out laughter, for me, Futurama won. However i can't help but feel i sold The Simpsons Movie short.

So, I gave it a rewatch. Don't look opon this article so much as a review, more of just a rant. A way of lcearing my mind on this film. On the rewatch i found jokes i missed the first time, second, third...yes my 4th viewing of this film. I think part motivation for me watching it so many times is that i'm such a simpsons fanboy , or at least for the old days.

Don't get me wrong though i still think it has MAJOR flaws. Flaws that i think are shared by a lot of die hard fans. In fact, thats one of the main issues. The Simpsons movie wasn't directed at Die Hard fans, it was almost pointed at people that had never seen it before. Evidence of this comes from the commentary on the DVD. They said that during test screenings, they had Milhouse more of a centeral part of the lisa storyline. However audiences didn't know the connection and that he had fancied her all the way through the TV show, so the angle was dropped and colin was made more prominent. I would of been so much happier if slight changes were made, why president schwarzenegger and not president Wolfcastle? As even the newset of simpsons newbies would make the connection between the Wolfcastle character and schwarzenegger. Why Russ Cargill and not Mr Burns? or a story involving Sideshow bob? I've expressed my issues before on the set piece jokes (chores, fishing) so i won't go no and on. Besides i seem to remember saying i felt i'd sold this film short right?

On the rewatch, There was far more i enjoyed about it, i've said what i didn't like so lets list what i did like

* A lot more of the jokes i seemed to enjoy this time ("Black thats the worst colour" "i like en now" "maybe we should kiss"

* Marge / Homer narrative though explored many times before, worked. Marge's video was especially effective.

* Bart's character really worked in the film and the journey he took was quite interesting, and it was good for him to be fairly centeral to the story as when the show first aired, he was the star, untill homer of course took over.

* it looks fantastic and really captured a cinematic sensability and feel.

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MORE TO COME, WORK IN PROGRESS
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Futurama : Bender's Big Score (2007)

Futurama is an interesting show in that it is different yet samey at the same time. The visuals look slick and colourful, it mixes drama with comedy (you only have to see Jurrassic Bark to see what i mean) however at the same time, it can still fall flat. A fair few of the characters are one dimensional. A few comming in for one liners (zoidberg) or main characters built on chatchphrases (Bender). I still remain that in it's day, at it's best, The Simpsons was the best TV show of all time, animated or other. However The Simpsons qaility has dropped to terrible levels, and i still find it hard to believe that when Simpsons was churning out near-crap, futurama, which was still performing on a more than solid level, was cancelled. When The simpsons movie came out, i must admit it was better than i expected. Some jokes were very funny, however most fell flat and i guess deep down it was more the spectacle of seeing them on the big screen that pushed the movie beyond the praise it deserved. The simpsons movie was made when simpsons was at a low point, Futurama movie was made when it was at a high point, and this movie proved it should of never left our screens.

Where Simpsons was lacking on belly laugh jokes, Futurama : Bender's Big Score did not. It brought joke after joke, many pushing the bounderies ("can i use your pen" "your tail was wagging") and giving it a wellcomed egde. The Narrative is both interesting and well played out, it moves smoothly while still allowing for off-beat comedy moments and direct away from what is a pretty dense and complicated narrative.

When i heard there were songs, i was so worried. However, if you too are worried, don't be. There's only Two and they are both brilliantly excuted and Very funny. Here we get wellcomed returns for characters such as bubblegum tate, barbados Slim and Zap. This film also opened my eyes to what a great character Fry is. I mentioned earlier that i feel Bender can sometimes fall too flat in terms of layers to his character, however Fry is, IMO, one of the richest characters on TV. Here the emotional thread of the film revolves around him, and his character really comes into his own. Through the series there was always that interesting angle that fry was dumb, yet passionate and though maybe not as book smart, had it over his future friends as he knew and missed a lot of the things in 2000. He is dumb but being redeemable by emotion and a sense of relatablitity.

What sold it for me totally was that i never felt Bender's Big score trited too hard. Where the simpsons movie would times take breaks to show one-stand alone- one liner or set piece (chores, lights out at moes ect.) however the jokes in Bender's big score i felt came more naturally and happened and co-existed within the narrative.

All in all, Bender's Big score is fantastic, belly laughs throughout, but more importantly mixed with a real emotional narrative thread. It keeps up where it left off, shame the simpsons did too, ay?

The Number 23 (2007)

It's funny when a favourite actor stars in a bad film. Sometimes it's an issue of the film being bad and not the actor's performances and in many cases this can lift the film higher than it deserves. Sadly, i can't say that for The Number 23.

The Number 23 is the story of Walter Sparrow who becomes obsessed with a novel that he believes was written about him. As his obsession increases, more and more similarities seem to arise. He becomes obssesed with connections between the number 23 and his life and decends into insanity while at the same time we see it from the view of his alter-ego in the story, "Fingerling".

The idea may seem an interesting one at a glance, hell i'm all up for a good thriller, shame this wasn't. The main reason is that the whole "23" thing was done to death, i mean any little connection to "23" it could make, it made. It went past ridiculous and entered into down right stupidity. Now back to my original point. I'd heard bad things about this movie before seeing it but had high hopes Carrey (one of my all time favourite actors) could help this film, sadly not even he could lift it above average. In fact his performance was an interesting one. He really throw himself into it but at the same time, you get the feeling that the people involved know this is madness and are hoping that it will do well by going in full force.

I did like apsects of the visual (gothic) style. i liked some parts of the film noir style, and the scenes involving fingerling. However, some of the twists taken in this film aren't good and really push the bounderies of believability. For instance, the story itself takes so many turns, from who wrote the book, a story involving a character in jail also mixes in with both the real time and fingerling story, which comes off as over the top and just too many twists. Not to mention a dog that is haunting carrey's character

All in all, i have to credit the enthusiasm of all involved. However enthusiasm could not save a film with a flimbsy story and too many plot twists. In fact the main flaw of this film is it tries to hard. There was a nice visual style there and a good idea, sadly done to death.

Re-casting Batman Villians.....

Batman forever & batman and Robin are known for some interesting cast choices. Mainly, Arnold for Mr.Freeze, which was totally stupid. So I would like to offer you some of my choices for people who could play batman villians if they were to appear in a Nolan version of Batman...

The Riddler

Michael Emerson

Steve Buscemi

Hayden Christensen

Tobey Maguire

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(though i like the choice for TDK)

Two-Face

Josh Brolin

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Mr Freeze

Patrick Stewart

Samuel L Jackson

Denzel Washington

Javier Bardem

Ben Kingsley

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Tha-tha-tha-thats all folks.

Most anticipated of 2008...

These are the movies i'm going to try and see.

BOLDED are the ones i'd run over my own cat for, and i like my cat, a lot.

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Already seen & recommend : The Great Debaters (Review comming soon in main section)
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Be Kind Rewind
A fan of Jack black, Mos Def , Gondry and ghostbusters! so this cannot fail, it's gonna rule!

Cloverfield
possibly rumoured "lost" connection makes me interested, along with the clever marketing.

The Dark Knight
I don't need to say anything here do i ? movie event of the year, hands down.

The Happening
I never saw "Lady in The Water" and don't plan too, as i've heard it's shit. However i'm a fan of sixth sense, Unbreakable and Village (signs not so much). Plus Zooey Deschanel is in it, so its a given that i'm gonna see it, but i'm in no rush.

Hellboy 2
The first film was a very nice suprise and set the bar high for the sequel, so should be good.

Iron Man
trailers look good, Ironman looks impressive, should be good.

Kung Fu Panda
pretty much just for the cast, film, not so much.

Meet the Spartans
spoof movies can be hit and miss, lets hope it hits.

The Poughkeepsie Tapes
Purely based on story outline on IMDB, could be a good horror / thriller, seems Se7en'ish

Rambo
iI was impressed with his return was Rocky, so no reason this should be poor

Semi-Pro
more of the same from Wil ferrel, but i'm still excited by the film and trailers.

Star Trek
Could suck major balls, lets hope not

21
Seems a bit like Smockin' Aces, probably will see it, again no rush

Wall-E
It's pixar, no other reason needed

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I Am Legend (2007)

Here's a few things i look forward to within the movie world : The new Tarantino movie, the new Wes Anderson movie, anything with Zooey Deschanel in, THE DARK KNIGHT lol and aonther one of those things is, the new Will Smith movie. I realise he's been in more than his share of stinkers (wild wild west) but he's also been in some good ones (Men In Black, IRobot) and i've heard great things but yet not seen, Ali. So here we have I Am Legend, the story of the last surviving man in the world, after a outbreak of infection that turn humans (and dogs apparently) into zombie/vampire like creatures. Actually the casting of Will Smith is a pretty solid move, as the nature of this movie needs an actor with a lot of charisma that can hold the screen, as for the majority of the time, he's the only actor on it.

I would like to start by saying, as a movie going experience, i enjoyed this film, quite a bit. The defining factor being the following. In an age where shock value (if you can call it that) comes in gruesome and over the top violence (Saw series, Hostel, Wolf Creek ect. ect.) it was a wellcomed change of pace to see a sci-fi horror that used old fashioned delayed shock and "is it around that corner?!" style that is rare these days. In fact the last film i remember using that tatic was "The Others" in 2001. So i think it was a brave choice to shy away from all out violence and use a more psychological fear approach. The moments we are meant to care, be scared or be on the edge of our seat hit perfect (or at least for me) and i was involved in the film a lot more than i thought i would be.

There is also an interesting, yet only breifly covered in some ways arguement for Science Vs Religion in this film. Will Smith's science and a character he meets later, Anna represents religion. Anna has a lot of faith where Will Smith has lost all of his having been in this situation for so long. In the end it appears both come together to solve the issue. It was an interesting concept, that maybe could of been done a little further, but for what it was, was interesting to see play out.

However this film is not without it's short commings. For instance i'll have to agree with the comments on the CGI effects, though not totally. I agree that the CGI was, in terms of looks, was not up to scale with other movies of the genre. They looked more like something you would see in an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and lacked a certain grand scale feel. However, i thought the capture and movement motion was fantastic, and in many ways helped over look a somewhat un-scary zombie/vampire thing. I have issue with some directions taken in the movie and explanation of the title "I Am Legend". Let me guide you to Wikipedia for the original explanation given in the book :

" he reflects on how the new society of the living infected regards him as a monster. Just as vampires were regarded as legendary monsters that preyed on the vulnerable humans in their beds, Neville has become a mythical figure that kills both vampires and the infected living while they are sleeping. He becomes a legend as the vampires once were, hence the title "I Am Legend "

I personally really like that theory but the film sort of ditches that theory. Instead, in this film, Will Smiths character takes certain action that allows a colony of surviving humans to live and rebuild. I feel ditching the original explanation takes away from the film. It does show he has killed many zombies at one point, but not directly pointing out that he is seen as a feared entity in the eyes of the infected. Instead going for, in my eyes, a weaker reasoning for the title.

There are some cheesy moments we have to come to expect ("butterfly") but it isn't played to much, and it has less sentimentality as Will Smith's character is seen to be wore down by the world he lives in and his character is fairly to the point, which is rare also for a big bankable star like Will Smith to play.

All in all, as i say i have some issues with it. However, as a shock film, it works. Will Smith brings the charisma you would expect. The CGI is a bit weak, but i was still able to look past it and enjoy the film. I do wish it was able to stay a little closer to the material. The film was edgier than i thought it would be. I would recommend this to sci-fi fans, it has some issues but Will Smith's charisma and high speed tense cinetography pulls it through.