Hulk bad. Every four year old I know wants to see this movie, thinking it'll be feel-good like Spiderman. But think about it, the premise of the movie is that the cool special effects only happen when he's angry. So we have ultraviolence and rage, torture, fierce hulkdogs tearing flesh out of the "hero", a ridiculous coincidence in the plot, and long boring bullshit scenes. We left early.
Italian Job good. Not as well plotted as Ocean's Eleven, but the dialogue was good, Seth Green rocked royally, and Charlize Theron has gone a long way toward redeeming herself for appearing in the Astronaut's Wife. It was funny, and the Mini Cooper S chases are awesome.
--Nat
Italian Job good. Not as well plotted as Ocean's Eleven
In both cases, are you talking about the remake, or the '60s original?
Having seen it, would you say that the world needed a re-make of The Italian Job?
Re:removies
krellis on 2003-06-21T16:13:04
I haven't seen the original of The Italian Job, but I own both versions of Ocean's Eleven on DVD and would have to say that I far prefer the newer one. Mind you, that may well just be because I'm a product of the modern world and love all the high-tech gadgetry involved. I suspect I'd feel the same way about The Italian Job if I saw the old one.Re:removies
babbage on 2003-06-24T02:41:43
The original version of "The Italian Job" is wonderful, but impossible to find. I was first told about it by an English acquaintence, but it took a year or two from when I first heard about it, until I exhausted all the local Blockbusters, until I finally got my library to transfer over a copy from another library fifty miles away. (My understanding now is that it wasn't available on DVD because the remake was on the way, and when it makes it to DVD the original will be thrown in -- which means I'll be getting it for the original and might happen to watch the new version every now and then...:-) It was worth the effort.
The movie is like car chase porn: there's a little bit of plot, character development, and exposition, but really the whole point of the movie is to pull off a really cool chase scene in a bunch of [original] Mini Coopers bombing around twisty streets & crowded piazzas in Turin. That, and it has one of the best *ahem* cliffhanger endings you're likely to see.
I was surprised that they're doing a remake, and that it was going to be in the US -- the original got a lot of mileage *ahem* out of the English / Italian rivalry of all the gangsters in the moviee, and it seems like that would be an annoying hole in this version. Maybe not though, I'll have to find out.
Anyway, I don't think it ruins the movie to give away the whole plot for the original: when the English gangsters find out that a shipment of gold is going to be delivered through downtown Turin, they come up with a plan where a computer hacker -- yes, a computer hacker, played by a just as lecherous as you remember and maybe even more so Benny Hill -- will crack into Turin's brand new computer controlled traffic management system and set it up so that every light turns red at once, thus giving them a chance to grab the case & get away down the back alleys in the Minis. And... that's it. That's the story, everything else is in the action, which is just wonderful. My impression is that the new version doesn't have that same simplicity going for it...
The weird hero movie I want to see this year is _League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen_.
Re:Hulk Bad Anyway
pdcawley on 2003-06-23T11:13:50
I worry that they'll screw the pooch on that one too, but then I can't imagine anyone ever doing Kev O'Neill's artwork justice on the big screen.
