Welcome to The Mundane Adventures of a Fangirl

I consider myself a Fangirl. What does that mean, you ask? A "fanboy" in the most common understanding is a hardcore fan of 'genre' based entertainment in particular. In my case - science-fiction and comic book based movies and television. Because I'm a chick - it's fangirl, not fanboy. There you have it! I am a big movie fan, however, not necessarily a 'film' fan. And now - I have the forum to present my opinions to the public! These will mainly be movie reviews -that will always be my opinion - repeat OPINION. Just what I think, and in no way do I present my opinion as fact. I hope you enjoy and maybe it will help you decide what to see at the movie theater this weekend!

Monday, March 25, 2013

Movie Review: Olympus Has Fallen (R – 120 minutes)

The White House was built between 1792 and 1800, designed by James Hoban, and has functioned as the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States since John Adams in 1800.  The house was partially destroyed in 1814 during the War of 1812 when the British Army set fire to it.  Reconstruction began almost immediately and was completed in 1817. Currently, the White House complex sits on 18 acres; and the building itself includes six stories: Ground Floor, State Floor, Second and Third Floor as well as a two story basement.  Since it is seen as the seat of American political power, it has many safety precautions and features.  These include the legendary network of tunnels and protected airspace over it, and because the house is so mythic, it has appeared in countless movies and TV shows.  Of these, my two favorites are (1) the opening to X-Men 2: X-Men United:

And, of course, (2) the inevitable slow-motion model White House explosion due to alien invasion in Independence Day…remember seeing this scene during the Superbowl that year? 

This year, there are two terrorists-take-over-the-White-House-and-only-one-man-can-save-us movies.  This is the first.  The second, White House Down, stars Channing Tatum as the secret service agent, Jamie Foxx as the President and is due out in June.  Olympus Has Fallen has a huge advantage over White House Down, primarily because it came out earlier; and secondly because it is directed by action veteran Antoine Fuqua.  He has done the Replacement Killers, Bait, Training Day, Tears of the Sun, King Arthur (my favorite of his movies) Shooter, and Brooklyn’s finest.  He got started by directing music videos and has been married to Lela Rochon since 1999 (that has nothing to do with this review; it’s just a random piece of interesting information).  He excels at gritty action pictures, and this is no exception.  It’s also only the second movie this year to be better than I was expecting (the other was Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters).  Everything else has been below expectations (I’m talking to you Oz).

Secret Service Agent Mike Banning is the President’s friend and bodyguard.  He’s pals with the President’s son (quizzing him on all the secret passages in the White House – that pays off later) and gets along well with the first lady.  Then one night while leaving Camp David in a snowstorm, the presidential limo gets in an accident, Banning successfully saves the president, but not the first lady.  The president knows Banning did the right thing, but looking at him brings back memories, so he banishes Banning to a desk job. 

18 months later, the President is hosting the prime minister of South Korea when North Korean terrorists take over the White House and take the President, the Vice-President, The Secretary of Defense, and several others hostage.  Banning gets inside once he realizes what is going on, and proceeds to work his way through the building, looking for the President’s son, and communicating with the Head of Secret Service and The Speaker of the House (who then becomes acting President).  Nothing in this movie is original, so you know that someone says the required line, “He’s the best we’ve got,” and someone else says the other required line, “We don’t negotiate with terrorists.”  You knew both of those lines would be in this movie from the description.  Ass-kicking, action, and complicated nuclear missile protection systems activated by three separate codes ensue.

I was expecting this movie to be terrible, I can’t say for sure why, I have always like Fuqua as a director, and Gerard Butler is a far better action movie star than a romantic comedy star.  It was surprisingly good and entertaining.  I have to hope that our national security and defense systems are better prepared for an incident like this than we were portrayed as being in this movie.  These terrorists get into the White House pretty quickly, and with a whole lot of destruction. 

The cast is pretty great for what would otherwise be a dumb action movie.

·         Gerard Butler as Mike Banning:  Again, Gerry (I’ve been a fan since Reign of Fire, so I’m going to call him Gerry) is far better in action movies than in the slew of rom-coms he’s been making lately.  I’m still not convinced he can pull off an American accent.  The Scottish accent creeps in here and there, but he’s great in this as the one man who can save the day – and refuses to fail until his objective is completed.

·         Aaron Eckhart as President Asher:  This seems like a small role for Eckhart; see him in Thank you for Smoking, if you want to see him at his best.  He’s pretty good as the president, but the aforementioned three part nuclear missile control code subplot is predictable (although, to be honest, the whole movie is predictable).  Why would the three people who have pieces of the code all be together so they could all be trapped in the bunker?  And why would the President order the other two to go ahead and give the bad guy their codes, because “he’ll never get mine.”  Isn’t that negotiating with terrorists, and didn’t you just say we don’t? 

·         Dylan McDermott as Agent Forbes:  Again, a small role for a good actor.  He’s (spoiler alert – sort of) the recently retired secret service agent who becomes the American turncoat working with the North Korean terrorists.  The reasons for his turn are not clear, so it doesn’t really play and doesn’t really seem necessary.  It’s not like they needed him to take over.  I think he’s there just to identify Banning when he appears on a monitor.

·         Rick Yune as Kang:  Rick Yune used to be a Hedgefund Trader on Wall Street and got into some modeling; which lead to some acting (Fast and Furious 1, Die Another Day).  He’s very American, but of Korean descent and so has become the go-to villain lately in action movies as North Koreans have become the go-to action movie bad guys (when I was growing up in the early 80s it was always Russians, then it went to Mid-Easterners, then China a little, and now North Korea – funny how that works).   He seems to really be enjoying himself in this movie, chewing the scenery a little as the big bad who gets to push the president around in his bunker.

·         Morgan Freeman as Speaker of the House Trumbull:  Morgan Freeman is (surprise) not the president in this movie, but then he becomes acting president and things return to what you expected.  He very calmly takes control of the situation and does a good job.  The majority of his scenes are with Angela Bassett in the control room yelling things at Banning through a speaker on the table.

·         Angela Bassett as Secret Service Director Lynn Jacobs:  Likewise, Basset does a good job yelling at Banning through a speakerphone.  Both she and Freeman seem like really big names to have small roles in this, but I would imagine they had a good time shooting their pieces.

·         Melissa Leo as Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan:  I don’t recognize her when I see her and this is the second movie where at the credits I went, “oh, that’s who that was”.  The other movie was Flight.  Melissa Leo plays the Secretary of Defense as very tough and no-nonsense, and she does have some pretty great scenes in the bunker both with the President and the bad guys.

·         Radha Mitchell as Leah Banning:  This was interesting, Banning’s relationship with his wife is established, but then nothing is ever done with it – except to reunite them at the end.  The terrorists even mention that they know he’s married, and where she works – which of course led me to believe they would go in and capture her to use as leverage against him, but that never happens.  A good thing I suppose, but strange to throw in that potential, take the time to mention it, and then do nothing with it – I wonder if a scene was cut out there?

·         Cole Hauser as Agent Roma:  Also, not enough Cole Hauser in this movie.  He’s plenty good as the secret service agent in charge when Banning is removed, but then he doesn’t really get anything else to do.  Go watch Pitch Black again.

·         Robert Forster as General Edward Clegg:  Forster is good in everything he does – provided it’s within his wheelhouse.  He was one of the most watchable parts of the Descendants, and he’s great in this.

It’s not original – it’s basically Die Hard in the White House – but it’s well put together with some really impressive action sequences and commitment from the actors.  Again, if you’re not expecting too much, you’ll really enjoy it.

7 out of 10.  Gained points for the long, slow-motion shot of the flag falling from the White House, at the same time cheesy and moving.  Lost points for not enough Cole Hauser, although he did get the pretigious role of getting to say the title.  Gained points for Melissa Leo being tough and refusing to give the bad guys her code, but then lost points when the President ordered her to give it up.  Gained points for the kid never really being in any serious danger – I appreciated that.

Bonus Video 1:  Reign of Fire, back when Gerry was young and fresh and before Bale was Batman and McConaughey still did not own a shirt (wears a vest for most of this movie).

Bonus Video 2:  Pitch Black, both Cole Hauser and Radha Mitchell in an absolutely fantastic Vin Diesel sci-fi picture.

Bonus Video 3: 1600 Penn – this show is slowly growing on me, really only because of Josh Gad (who helped to create it), and who really has the guts to set a sitcom in the White House?

Bonus Video 4:  Cast Interviews…

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Movie Review: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (PG13 – 100 minutes)


Earlier this year I was lucky enough to see David Copperfield on stage in Vegas.  Yes, all the dramatic, intense eye contact and super fancy hand flourishes were present, but it was actually a small theater, with an intimate show.  He wandered through the audience doing as much up-close magic as big stage magic.  There was a wind machine one time (which he fully acknowledged was cheesy), but no showgirls doing fancy hand gestures.  It was a really great show, and the man turned a piece of paper into a paper rose, and then into a real rose about 3 feet from me, and I have no idea how he did it.  Truly great magicians provide that amazing “how did they do that?” moment, with the sense of awe and wonderment.  The best movie I have seen with magicians/illusionists is Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige.  If you haven’t seen it, check it out now, it’s really cool and weird, and non-linear.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is directed by Don Scardino, and this is his first feature film.  He has previously done a lot of sitcom directing, which you feel when you watch this movie.  For something shot it Vegas, which could have been really big, with great shots of the strip, it has a small feel.  Burt Wonderstone and Aton Marvelton have been friends since childhood and have had a long-running Vegas stage “Magical Friendship” show at Ballys.  With the up and coming street magician Steve Gray gaining a following, their ticket sales have taken a tumble.  They put together one large trick to gain back their fan base; it goes wrong; they have a falling out.  Wonderstone then ponders his existence, his spending, and his ego.  He randomly encounters his childhood idol magician, and rediscovers his love for magic.  He makes up with Marvelton; and they get together to pull off one last big trick to re-establish their reputations.  This, along with the stars, makes you think this movie should be hilarious.

Congrats to the marketing department.  The movie looks hilarious in the commercials.  However, it would appear that again the majority of the funny parts are all in the commercials.  Wonderstone is such a pompous ass that even when his redemption occurs, I didn’t care.  It felt to me that the majority of this movie was missed opportunities and wasted potential.  I also felt like it would have been stronger as an ensemble comedy, instead of so strongly being a Steve Carell vehicle.

·         Steve Carell plays Wonderstone well, but again – he’s such an ass that I really couldn’t stand him.  Wonderstone’s journey of rediscovering his love for magic makes sense for the movie, but again, I felt no attachment to it.  His performance is really over the top, so more comedy in the movie would have made sense.

·         Steve Buscemi plays Anton Marvelton, and knowing how good Buscemi is at comedy (go back and watch some of his 30 Rock episodes), it’s disappointing that he didn’t have more to do comedy-wise in this movie.  Instead, he’s just the foil for Carell, and really is not in that much of the movie.

·         Olivia Wilde plays Jane/Nicole.  She’s a magician who is looking to get an opportunity, and settles for playing Wonderstone and Marvelton’s assistant.  The fact that Wonderstone never bothers to use her real name is a ‘funny’ running gag.  She then briefly works for Steve Gray before helping Wonderstone on his journey.  Her character was interesting, and had some funny moments, and is the only female character in the movie.  The movie completely threw all the positive things she had going for her out the the window by (spoiler alert) having her fall for Wonderstone at the end, despite the fact that he was terrible to her the majority of the movie, and is way too old for her.  According to the storyline, just a month prior he was still not remembering her name and demanding she sleep with him as part of her job.  I know it’s a comedy, but it was infuriating and exceptionally insulting that she hooks up with him.  It was unnecessary and didn’t add anything to the story.
·         Jim Carrey plays up and coming street magician Steve Gray.  He’s a cross between the long street stunts of David Blaine (I’m going to sit in an ice cube for a week!) and Criss Angel (I’m dangerous and goth, is this your card, my eyes are red - mindfreak!).  Carrey is perfect in this role, and also completely despicable.  He’s also pretty toned-down for Jim Carrey.
·         James Gandolfini plays the billionaire owner of Ballys who gets rid of Wonderstone and Marvelton, then hires Wonderstone to play his son’s birthday party, then holds a competition for magicians to win the stage act at his new casino/hotel.  He’s fine, but the role doesn’t demand much.  The running gag that he does not know the age of his son does not play, and really makes him despicable as well.

·         Alan Arkin plays Rance Holloway, the magician that young Burt and Anton idolized.  When Burt stumbles across him in a retirement home, he helps teach him the love of magic again.  Arkin is great, but not enough to save the movie, he also feels slightly phoned in.  Just go watch Argo again.

·         Jay Mohr surprised me as Rick the Implausible (great name!).  I have always found Jay Mohr irritating, and this is the first time I have not found him irritating.  He’s in a small enough role that he’s just funny, not annoying.  In fact, the scenes I enjoyed the most were the ones in the “magician’s bar” where they gathered to have drinks and talk shop.

·         David Copperfield briefly appears as himself, and he did help coordinate some of the Burt and Anton tricks behind the scenes.

·         Gillian Jacobs from Community plays a woman who Wonderstone picks up during a show, and ‘romances’.  She basically is there to demonstrate that he is so bored with existence that his whole routine is a well-oiled machine, right down to the autographed picture he leaves for her after their encounter.

All in all, this is another one of those movies that is all wasted potential.  I feel like between the subject matter, the cast, and the setting – it could have been completely hilarious.  Instead, I found all the main characters terrible, and didn’t find enough comedy in this comedy.

5 out of 10 – oh, how I wanted this to be better.  Gained points for David Copperfield.  Lost points for Wonderstone’s 8 person bed.  Gained points for the magicians hanging out in the magician’s bar.  Lost points for not enough scenes shot on the strip in Vegas. Lost so many points for having Wilde’s character hook up with Carell’s – ugh.
Bonus Video 1, the companion movie to The Prestige, the Illusionist.  It came out right around the same time, but in my opinion, wasn’t quite as good.

Bonus Video 2, David Copperfield in action:
Bonus Video 3:  some vintage Jim Carrey - these were always my favorite sketches from that show - because honestly, no one does physical comedy like him!
 

Bonus Video 3:  Cast Interviews:

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Movie Review: Oz, The Great and Powerful (PG – 130 minutes)


There is a special place in my heart for the original 1939 Warner Brothers owned Wizard of Oz movie.  I think almost everyone can say that.  It is an absolute classic, beloved on multiple levels for multiple reasons.  Based on the books of L. Frank Baum (he wrote about 13 Oz centered books), it is a simple story with a perfect lesson (you already have all the tools you need, you just have to realize that you have them).  It is also epic with a true sense of grandeur for a movie from the 30s/40s.  The sets were stunning and beautiful, plus the transition from Sepia tones to the amazing colors of Oz is fantastic.
To say nothing of the fact that it inspired the Wiz:

I have also seen the 1985 Return to Oz, which gave me nightmares at the time.  I don’t remember much about it – except that it terrified me.  It seems to have had that effect on most people who have seen it.

Sam Raimi started his career making Super 8 movies with his friends Rob Tapert and Bruce Campbell and his brother Ted Raimi in the woods near their Michigan homes.  They are responsible for the Evil Dead franchise (my favorite is Army of Darkness, because by then it’s a comedy), Darkman, the Hercules and Xena TV shows, the Toby MacGuire Spiderman Movies, and now the latest trip to Oz.

Oz is a carnival magician, traveling with the Baum Brothers circus through Kansas.  He makes his living scamming locals with his tricks and illusions.  We see him interact with his assistant Frank, a girl in a wheel chair and a former flame –important because they re-appear as different characters later.  The circus strongman discovers that Oz has been flirting with his lady, and sets out to cause Oz some serious pain.  Oz hides in a hot air balloon, and flies off, directly into a tornado.

The tornado transports him to the Wonderful World of Oz, with all of its surrealistic colors and wildlife.  He stumbles into Theodora, who assumes he is the wizard of prophecy, sent to save the kingdom from the wicked witch and in doing so, become king, with all the riches and power that entails.  That sounds pretty good to Oz, so he sets off with her to fulfill the prophecy.  Incidentally, neither of the other two witches he meets are fooled by his charms, and are completely aware that he is a con man.

The movie is charming and colorful.  Kids will love it – nothing is too scary, except for the wicked witch’s flying baboons, they were pretty terrifying.  Raimi brings the same lighthearted fantasy from Spiderman to this.  The music is by Danny Elfman and adds to the tone.  I didn’t see it in 3D, but I would imagine it was spectacular in 3D.  The colors were amazing, and the look was fantastic; however, while the visuals were great, I felt no connection to any of the people in the movie.  I did love the river fairies.

·         James Franco as Oz:  Franco is good, but a little annoying.  I can’t tell if he is annoying because the character is annoying, or just because Franco is annoying.  It’s a puzzle.  I find that I appreciate him more in smaller roles – for example, he and Kunis in Date Night.

·         Mila Kunis as Theodora:  Kunis is good in everything she does, and the fantastic look of Oz flatters her crazy big eyes and makes her look even prettier in this movie.  Ironic, considering how she ends up.  I felt like her performance was really big in some parts, but that may come from trying to fill the set (the sets were huge).  It almost felt like she was performing as if she was in a stage production in some theater, and wanted to make sure the back row could get what was happening for her performance.  I know that’s an odd thing to say, but it’s just my opinion.  It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, it certainly fit this movie.

 
·         Rachel Weisz as Evanora:  Weisz was actually better in this than she has been in most of what I have seen her in lately.  Probably better than anything she has been in since the Mummy.  She makes Evanora feisty and confident, and really fun.

·         Michelle Williams as Annie/Glinda:  I thought Williams did a really good job in this as well, providing some depth to a character that doesn’t really have a lot.  She is never fooled by Oz, and knows exactly what he is from the start, but is willing to help him find the ‘good man’ within himself.  Plus, she gets a little action sequence, which she seemed to enjoy.

·         Zach Braff as Frank/Finley:  I’m not going to lie to you – I hated Garden State, but I did enjoy most of Scrubs.  It was nice to see Braff, and he provides some fun, heart, and soul to Finely, the flying monkey that Oz confides in.

·         Bill Cobbs as the Master Tinker:  This man has been so great for so long, I just wanted to mention him, and that he’s good in this.  The character is nothing you haven’t seen him do before – but he does get to wear fake hair that you’ve never seen him wear before.

·         Joey King as the girl in the Wheelchair and the China Girl:  The China Girl is an amazing effect.  She looks fantastic through the whole movie, enough that I was constantly worrying she would break. 

·         Tony Cox as Knuck:  Not sure how I felt about this role, it seemed to make fun of Tony Cox more than let him perform.

I loved the visuals of this movie, but honestly, that was the only thing I loved.  Everything else was just okay for me.  I didn’t feel any connection to any of the characters, and Oz himself was so irritating that I wasn’t really invested in what happened to him.  And, there’s not nearly enough Bruce Campbell in this Sam Raimi movie. 

6 out of 10 – similar to Jack the Giant Slayer – great to look at, but that’s about it.  Gained points for the China Girl – she was amazing, and looked real.  Lost points for Munchkin half-song, really?  Gained points for Bruce Campbell being there…lost points for him not being there long enough.  Simultaneously gained and lost points for the flying baboons – they were terrifying and cool!  And hey – poppies!
Bonus Video 1:  Franco and Kunis in Date Night…

Bonus Video 2:  Army of Darkness – so fun.

Bonus Video 3:  Rachel Weisz at her best – the Mummy

Bonus Video 4: Cast Interviews…

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Movie Review: Jack the Giant Slayer (PG13 - 114 minutes)


Bryan Singer has made some truly great movies.  The Usual Suspects is easily one of the best crime thrillers out there, with one of the best twists in movie history, and – in Keiser Soze – one of the great movie mythic villains. 

In the launch of the X-Men movie franchise, he brought Hugh Jackman to American audiences, something we’re eternally grateful for.  And while you may be iffy on X-Men and some of the casting (Iman is Storm, Halle Berry is not quite), the second one is absolutely fantastic. 

I heard it once said of Darren Aranofsky’s The Fountain (perhaps the worst movie I have ever seen) that it takes a really great director to make something that truly terrible.  That being said, Singer has had some major flaws in his history, most notably Superman Returns.  It wasn’t horrible, it just wasn’t good.  It was overly long, overly ambitious, and overly preachy. 

My expectations for Singer’s Jack and the Giant Slayer were fairly high.  I should have been wary due to the fact that it was originally Jack the Giant Killer and due for a June 2012 release.  It’s finally out, and it is a spectacle.

 

 
It has some great moments.  The story is average, but improved on the original 1807 fairy tale in which a farm boy trades a cow for some magic beans, climbs up the resulting beanstalk three times, stealing each time (bag of gold, golden egg-laying hen, and self-playing harp), then being chased down the final time by the giant, he cuts down the beanstalk, killing the giant.  In Singer’s version, Jack is attempting to sell a horse and cart in town, develops a crush on the princess, gives a desperate monk the horse in exchange for the magic beans (see, many years ago there was a war between the giants and men, and these monks made a crown to control them and hid the beans that created the bridge between worlds – and now a villain is after both – you know, to control the giants and take over the kingdom, then the world).   Jack accidentally gets the princess stuck in a house as the beanstalk grows up underneath it.  The king sends his guards to go up after the princess, Jack volunteers to go with, and unbeknownst to any of them, the villain who wants the rule the giants goes too.  Chaos and CGI giants ensue. 

Jack doesn’t steal anything in this version, though he does come across both a golden egg and the harp – both seeming to make cameos.  He does rescue the princess and help the kingdom stave off the giant attack. 

The movie seems uneven from the start.  While some scenes are gorgeous and lush, with beautiful landscapes and colors, there are a number of scenes that are dark, colorless, and difficult to see – made worse by the 3D glasses.  The 3D, by the way, was pretty good.  I also felt like the tone was uneven.  Ian McShane and Stanley Tucci seemed to think they were in two different movies: Tucci in a silly kid’s campy story; and McShane in an elegant fairy tale (again, see Stardust if you haven’t).  The giants are okay, but I think my expectations of the CGI were higher than they delivered on, and most of them are ugly and stupid.  There’s even an appeal to the base line of comedy – fart jokes.  Clearly the movie is meant for kids, and this is the first PG13 movie I’ve seen in a while.  It made me appreciate the raunchy, profanity-laden Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters even more! 

The cast was one of the things that had me most excited about this movie:

·         Nicholas Hoult, who was wonderful in Warm Bodies and X-Men First Class (and About A Boy – if you want to go back that far) is good in this.  Jack comes off a little flat throughout most of the movie, and is honestly the most interesting in the beginning when attempting to sell the horse.  From that point on, it’s a lot of running and yelling.
·         Eleanor Tomlinson is fine as the princess, Isabelle.  She doesn’t have a lot to do except pout about being a princess, and not getting to live her own life.  It’s pretty much what all fairy-tale princesses pout about.  She learns her lesson when she takes off to find adventure and ends up in a beanstalk-wrapped cabin, then as a giant prisoner (not a really big prisoner, but a prisoner of giants…you knew what I meant).

·         Ewan McGregor is really great in this, and I would say is the one person who nailed the tone: fun and lighthearted, not too serious, not too campy.  Also – the best hair in the movie.  He plays the king’s number one guard who goes after the princess.
  •   Eddie Marsan plays Ewan’s number two guard, and seems to be there to warn everyone about how dangerous everything is. 
·         Stanley Tucci is usually genius, (see Easy A if you haven’t), and is funny in this, but again, just seems a bit off.  He plays it like a campy kids movie which is fine, except he’s playing the main villain, so I’d have liked the character a little darker. 

·         Ewen Bremner (Spud from Trainspotting – what did he and McGregor talk about on set, I wonder?) plays Tucci’s number one henchman – and if Tucci is playing like this is a campy kid’s movie, Bremner takes it one step further, playing it like it’s a campy Adam Sandler kids movie.  Nevermind, go watch him in AVP again, where he was really good.

·         Ian McShane plays the king, and does so really well.  Again, seems to not fit with anyone else, but maybe that’s because he’s the king, and has to take things more serious than everyone else?  Also – the costuming is odd.
·         Bill Nighy provides the voice/performance of the Giant general.  Not much to say there, he does a good job, and gives the general some personality beyond the other giants.  He’s great, but then, I kept thinking I would rather be watching him play Victor in Underworld.
·         Warwick Davis is in this, he has a small part.  Sorry, couldn’t resist, but it’s true.

All in all, I think this is one of those situations where my expectations were too high and I was disappointed by the final result.  The giants weren’t as intimidating as I wanted them to be, mainly because they were mostly played for laughs.  The exception was the one named Fum (of the Fee, Fie, Foe fame).  He clearly had some plans of his own, they never come to fruition, but the potential was there. 
People are mentioning this along the lines of John Carter last year, and other notable bombs.  The budget was near $190 million, and it’s only made around $30 million so far.  I’m sure it will make it up overseas.  If you see it, see it in 3D, but by all means, go during the day and do not pay full price.

6 out of 10 – above average, but just barely.  Gained points for McGregor’s hair, it’s amazing.  Lost points for Tucci’s fake (?) teeth, what is going on there?  Gained points for Fum, but lost points for Fum not getting to start the giant uprising I wanted.  Gained points for the last scene, the very last scene where we find out what becomes of the mystic crown that controls giants and who is looking at it right at the very very end.  Now that was interesting – almost enough to make me want to see where they could go from there!!!

Bonus Video 1: AVP – like I said, Bremner’s great in this.  I loved it, even though a lot of people did not.

Bonus Video 2:  Willow – hey, Warwick Davis had a really big part in this, and it’s one of the best epic fairy tale movies ever.

Bonus Video 3:  The Fountain – I’m not kidding, one of the worst movies ever made.

Bonus Video 4:  Cast Interviews: