http://www.moviereviewblog.net/2005/08/01/fantastic-four-by-tim-story/ itsvery Movie Review - independent film reviews Sun, 20 Jul 2008 17:24:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.1 http://www.moviereviewblog.net/2005/08/01/fantastic-four-by-tim-story/#comment-11340 Wed, 15 Aug 2007 00:29:26 +0000 http://www.moviereviewblog.net/2005/08/01/fantastic-four-by-tim-story/#comment-11340 [...] Fans of the Silver Surfer have waited a long time to finally see him on the big screen, and now they may be a bit disappointed by some details in the movie - his power cosmic coming from his board, the non-appearance of Galactus in his giant-human form and the lack of any philosophical debate between the Surfer and Galactus. But on the plus side there is the appropriate depiction of his general appearance, his elegance, and his almost ultimate power. Oh, and almost forgot, the Fantastic Four are also in this movie. And they are much the same as in Fantastic Four, which means Ioan Gruffudd is still a bit wooden (and the FX when he stretches still a bit shoddy), but less than in Part 1, Jessica Alba still looks great (and has another nude in public-moment - but you don’t see anything, of course!), The Thing still doesn’t look like rock, and Johnny/Chris Evans is still the coolest of them. Victor Von Doom/Julian McMahon also returns, but is pale compared to the Surfer. Nice guest appearance by Stan Lee, though! Acting and characterization have not been, are not, and probably won’t ever be the strength of the F4 franchise, but the action/FX-scenes are decent enough (but not overwhelming) to entertain the fan for the moderate running time of 92 minutes. And the film score by John Ottman has definitly improved over the first Fantastic Four. [...] […] Fans of the Silver Surfer have waited a long time to finally see him on the big screen, and now they may be a bit disappointed by some details in the movie - his power cosmic coming from his board, the non-appearance of Galactus in his giant-human form and the lack of any philosophical debate between the Surfer and Galactus. But on the plus side there is the appropriate depiction of his general appearance, his elegance, and his almost ultimate power. Oh, and almost forgot, the Fantastic Four are also in this movie. And they are much the same as in Fantastic Four, which means Ioan Gruffudd is still a bit wooden (and the FX when he stretches still a bit shoddy), but less than in Part 1, Jessica Alba still looks great (and has another nude in public-moment - but you don’t see anything, of course!), The Thing still doesn’t look like rock, and Johnny/Chris Evans is still the coolest of them. Victor Von Doom/Julian McMahon also returns, but is pale compared to the Surfer. Nice guest appearance by Stan Lee, though! Acting and characterization have not been, are not, and probably won’t ever be the strength of the F4 franchise, but the action/FX-scenes are decent enough (but not overwhelming) to entertain the fan for the moderate running time of 92 minutes. And the film score by John Ottman has definitly improved over the first Fantastic Four. […]

]]> http://www.moviereviewblog.net/2005/08/01/fantastic-four-by-tim-story/#comment-3543 Wed, 28 Feb 2007 00:08:09 +0000 http://www.moviereviewblog.net/2005/08/01/fantastic-four-by-tim-story/#comment-3543 [...] Brought to the screen by Mark Steven Johnson, the man who already slaughtered DAREDEVIL, Ghost Rider is another Marvel comic film that reeks of a cheap cash-in. As comic-adaptations go, there is an A-League (Superman Returns, Batman Begins, Spider-Man), a B-League (X-Men, X2, Fantastic Four or Hellboy), and there is a C-League, reserved for the likes of Daredevil, Catwoman, or Batman and Robin. Sadly, Ghost Rider is clearly C-League. Reportedly, the production cost of Ghost Rider was $ 110 million. It looks like most of the money was spent for Nicolas Cage’s and Eva Mendes’ salary, and the rest for creating clunky CGI (Ghost Rider moves like he’s bored stiff by the lame action. The flaming skull is decent for a B-movie but far from spectacular). No budget seems to have been wasted for a decent script or good supporting actors. The supposedly powerful Nephilim are dispatched as easily as the next bagsnatcher on the street, Blackheart’s most threatening assets are pale skin and red eyes, and suspense only arises when the trailer for SPIDER-MAN 3 is shown before the main feature. Not only the villains are crappy, it’s also hard to care for the heros when Mark Steven Johnson’s idea of communicating the feelings between Johnny and Roxanne is letting them stand below a tree surrounded by blossoming flowers in an otherwise desolate CGI-landscape … not only once, but twice! [...] […] Brought to the screen by Mark Steven Johnson, the man who already slaughtered DAREDEVIL, Ghost Rider is another Marvel comic film that reeks of a cheap cash-in. As comic-adaptations go, there is an A-League (Superman Returns, Batman Begins, Spider-Man), a B-League (X-Men, X2, Fantastic Four or Hellboy), and there is a C-League, reserved for the likes of Daredevil, Catwoman, or Batman and Robin. Sadly, Ghost Rider is clearly C-League. Reportedly, the production cost of Ghost Rider was $ 110 million. It looks like most of the money was spent for Nicolas Cage’s and Eva Mendes’ salary, and the rest for creating clunky CGI (Ghost Rider moves like he’s bored stiff by the lame action. The flaming skull is decent for a B-movie but far from spectacular). No budget seems to have been wasted for a decent script or good supporting actors. The supposedly powerful Nephilim are dispatched as easily as the next bagsnatcher on the street, Blackheart’s most threatening assets are pale skin and red eyes, and suspense only arises when the trailer for SPIDER-MAN 3 is shown before the main feature. Not only the villains are crappy, it’s also hard to care for the heros when Mark Steven Johnson’s idea of communicating the feelings between Johnny and Roxanne is letting them stand below a tree surrounded by blossoming flowers in an otherwise desolate CGI-landscape … not only once, but twice! […]

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