The Simpsons Movie
David Silverman, USA, 2007
Rating: 3.5

Fans of The Simpsons – whether they’re diehards who can rattle off the names of writers and show runners across the program’s lengthy run or more casual, occasional admirers – expect a lot from a big-screen adaptation of the long-running TV show. How could they not? The Simpsons stands as pop-cultural high-water mark for its deft satire, exuberant sight gags, unabashed crudity and, above all, its sharp wit. Even accounting for a recent (and precipitous) decline in quality, its 18-season track record is in itself a remarkable achievement, one with which any 90-minute feature would be hard-pressed to compete.

Inevitably, then, that long-anticipated movie version will disappoint a percentage of its target audience. (How could it not?) But for viewers who can’t list every episode’s title or aren’t familiar with behind-the-scenes personnel like Ian Maxtone-Graham, that disappointment is likely to be minor.
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Interesting news this week regarding casting for 300 director Zack Snyder’s upcoming adaptation of Watchmen. If you haven’t heard: recent Academy Award nominee Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children) is slated to portray the enigmatic vigilante Rorschach; Billy Crudup (Almost Famous) has been tagged for the role of the godlike Dr. Manhattan; relative unknown Matthew Goode (Match Point) takes on the pivotal role of Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias; Patrick Wilson (who also appeared in Little Children) will play the Nite Owl; Dean Morgan (Grey’s Anatomy) stars as the cigar-chomping Comedian; and statuesque actress Malin Akerman (Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, Entourage, the upcoming Invasion) steps into the stilettos of the comparatively plain Silk Spectre.  (more…)

Live Free or Die Hard
Len Wiseman, USA, 2007
Rating: 3.8

It’s been a pretty hectic couple of months. I was recently promoted to Editor in Chief at the weekly paper I’ve worked at for almost three years, and as you’ve no doubt noticed, Shaking Through has suffered as a result. I’m trying to get caught up with all the movies, books, comics and music I’ve experienced and meant to write about since May, but it’ll take awhile.

As busy as I’ve been, though, my average 13-plus hour day pales in comparison to the kind of overtime New York cop John McClane logs in the latest Die Hard installment. (How’s that for a segue?) (more…)

Transformers
Michael Bay, USA, 2007
Rating: 3.3

Let’s face it: Transformers is stupid. Always has been. Even during its heyday in the ‘80s, it was a hokey piece of pop-cultural flotsam designed to sell toys. The mythology, if you want to call it that, was/is bush league and amateurish. Sentient robots is one thing – call me a dork if you like, but I kind of like that idea. Sentient robots from a planet called Cybertron, who for some reason gather together under the banner of “Autobots” or “Decepticons” – sorry, but your average episode of Teletubbies is better thought-out than that.

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Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Gore Verbinski, USA, 2007
Rating: 2.8

Give the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise this much credit, at least: It’s proven clever in its appropriation of character names and plot elements from disparate outposts of piratical and seafaring mythology, from the Flying Dutchman to the Kraken to Davy Jones’ locker to the Kraken. Andbecause the thing does have the word “Caribbean” right there in the title, it’s wisely thrown in a stereotypical voodoo priestess, to boot. But save for the occasional Jolly Roger or walking-the-plank reference, the series has turned a blind eyepatch to a crucial piece of freebooting lore – namely, that pirates are, well, pirates.

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 If you’re into comic-book movies (and who isn’t these days?), you’ve probably already seen the clever “Hi, I’m a Marvel …” videos (parodying those increasingly annoying Mac/PC commercials) circulating around the Internet. They started a couple of months ago, but have been getting more and more attention lately, what with the release of Spider-Man 3. Anyway, it’s funny stuff.  

But the best humor always carries with it the cold bite of hard truth. To wit: Why is Marvel kicking DC’s butt so thoroughly in the superhero-movie sweepstakes?

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Spider-Man 3
Sam Raimi, USA, 2007
Rating: 2.8

There’s a Saturday Night Live sketch from several years back that kept popping into my head during Spider-Man 3. It’s one of those Inside the Actors Studio bits with Well Ferrell, and to hammer home the impression of host James Lipton as a bombastic toady, guest host Tobey Maguire plays Dustin Diamond – that’s right, Screech from Saved by the Bell – as a developmentally arrested man-child whom Lipton, of course, treats like royalty.

Whether intentionally or not, Maguire pretty much recycles that performance for Spider-Man 3. The actor did a pretty decent job of conveying Peter Parker’s nerdy likeability in the first movie, but here he portrays Parker as a kind of cinematic descendent of Forrest Gump and Lennie from Of Mice and Men. His doughy features arranged into a constant mask of childlike wonder, he spends the first third or so of the movie walking around in a cloud of dopey obliviousness.

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Hot Fuzz
Edgar Wright, UK, 2007
Rating: 4.1

The key to enjoying Hot Fuzz, the British cop comedy by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright (the team behind the 2004 cult hit Shaun of the Dead) is to understand that it is not, strictly speaking, a parody. Yes, many references are made to big-budget Hollywood cop films (particularly Point Break and Bad Boys II), just as it was impossible to ignore the nods to George A. Romero’s zombie movies in Shaun of the Dead. But while there is some gentle nudging of the audience’s ribs concerning police-movie clichés, deconstructing the genre is not its sole (or even its main) purpose. Audiences who pay exorbitant ticket prices expecting a merciless evisceration of a genre overripe for parody may be disappointed by the explicit fondness Fuzz shows for its inspirations (yes, even Bad Boys II).

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From Wired magazine, an incredible story about how the CIA rescued a handful of escaped American staffers during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis by posing as a Hollywood production company.

It gets better: “Studio Six” was location scouting in Iran for a science-fiction film based on a book by Roger Zelazny, with early sketches done by comics legend Jack “King” Kirby.

The domestic release of Spider-Man 3 is two weeks away but already there’s all sorts of brouhaha surrounding the  future of the lucrative movie franchise. According to Entertainment Weekly, director Sam Raimi is seriously interested in the possibility of helming New Line’s upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit, which supposedly could seriously interfere with a potential Spider-Man 4.

No doubt there are diehard Lord of the Rings fans who’ll hurl arrows and crossbow bolts at any proposed director who isn’t named Peter Jackson, but if he’s not doing it — and given legal wrangles with the powers that be, it doesn’t look like he is — there are far worse choices than Raimi.

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