Peter Parker is an outsider; nobody likes him. He lives with his grandparents and he has a crush on his next door neighbor, M.J. Then, one day, while on a school field trip, Peter gets bitten by a spider… and everything changes. Now Peter is Spider Man and he must save NYC from The Green Goblin.

Spider Man has never been my favorite superhero. Superman is the best, with his super strength and see through vision. At the same time, he’s a modest, honest guy (no rhyme intended) trying to seem normal. (I also like Batman, but for now I’m sticking to Superman.) Spider Man is very similar to Superman, but this review is focused on Spidey, not Superman.

Sam Raimi’s Spider Man is an intimate superhero film. At times it’s a high school teen movie, at times it’s a melodrama, at times it’s a crazy action movie, but it’s always a joyful movie. Whether Spidey is swinging from building to building, or Peter is talking to M.J., there’s always one thing connecting the film together: Tobey Maguire. Maguire plays Parker as a weak teen whom nobody likes, he shows us that Peter is an outsider, he’s bullied, he doesn’t have any friends. This works perfectly. The problem with Maguire is that when he’s Spidey, it seems as if he’s not.In my opinion he should play a heroic Spidey. Spidey as we know him.As for the rest of the cast everybody is pretty good: Willem Defoe plays William Osborn and the Green Goblin with an evil snare (he’s at his best when he plays both characters at the same time), Kirstin Dunst plays M.J., she might not give a wonderful performance, but when she does have a key role, and the worst supporting performance is James Franco who plays Harry Osborn with his usual blank look and stiff acting (although he’s better here than he was at the Oscars).

Action scenes have never been so fun. When Spidey masters web slinging we get to watch him go up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down, side to side, side to side. It looks amazing (let’s hope it looks amazing in the upcoming The Amazing Spider Man), too bad they put all of it on the menu.

The Spidey here is fun, no doubt about that. But work could be done. I hope part two is an improvement, as for part three… I’ll start with part two.

My favorite character is Peter Parker/Spider Man because he has to do deal with so many things and it’s cool when he web slings himself around NYC.

My favorite scene is a tie between the scene when Ben Parker (Peter’s uncle) says to Peter “With great power comes great responsibility” because those words echo (not literally) throughout the rest of the film as an ongoing moral and the last scene (I won’t spoil it) because it opens up endless possibilities for Spider Man 2 and it wraps the film up better than any action sequence ever could.

Spider Man is rated PG-13 and I agree.

Spider Man is fun and it leaves a heap of possibilities for the sequel, but it’s nowhere near perfect.

After being recruited, Agent J joins Agent K to protect the world from alien invaders.

Men in Black is the kind of movie you would think you watch and then it’s over and  then you don’t really think about it… But it’s not. The film achieves something better. It manages to be lot’s of fun with all of the chills and thrills you expect from a sci-fi film starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, and yet after watching it, it wasn’t swiped from my memory. I can still remember it very clearly. That’s good.

Smith and Jones have excellent chemistry in this film; if Smith throws a line at Jones, Jones will quip right back. That’s the essence of the movie, these two central performances. The entire film is witty; it’s as if your average a-couple-of-guys-go-save-the-world-from-aliens-movie was wittified (if that’s even a word). The action blends perfectly with the wit. After all, watch Smith and Jones battle aliens would be nowhere near as fun without the pair yelling comical lines at each other or vice versa.But, wit and aliens can only carry a film so far. In other words, Men in Black could have used a bit more heft. Somewhere in the middle of the film it gets lost, though fortunately, not for long. The doctor character, Laurel is halfway between a romantic interest for Jay and a damsel in distress: it’s too bad that she’s not good at being either one. But come on! Are damsels in distress and ten minutes of a storyline gong wrong, enough to spoil the fun in Men in Black? Even if you’re zapped with Jones’ “flashy red thing”, the answer is no.

My favorite character is Agent J because he proves his worth and Smith executes his lines hilariously.

My favorite scene is when J gets his MIB outfit on because Danny Elfman’s score is creepy (as always) and Smith gets to deliver the best line in the movie.

Men in Black is a lot of fun. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are wonderful, Danny Elfman livens things up with his heart-racing score, and Barry Sonnenfield brings it all together with his direction. Modern sci-fi films could learn a lesson here: invest us in your characters and then use your gazillion $ effects. It’s just too bad that the difference between Men in Black and Transformers, etc. is that MIB makes sci-fi look good.

Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. assembles Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye to stop Thor’s brother Loki from destroying the world with the Tesseract .

The wait is over. But was the four years of watching Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Captain America: The First Avenger, and Thor worth it? Let’s just say I was hoping for a little more. There’s action galore in The Avengers, Joss Whedon’s new film. Whedon himself has described the film as having a three act structure. I completely agree, but that’s the problem with the film: it’s too structured.The first act (the worst of the three) could have lost twenty minutes and nothing important would have been lost. Nothing of course, except Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor beating each other up while spitting hasty one liners at each other.

The second act of the film is a lot better; the Avengers are finally united and they battle Loki, Thor’s evil brother (played with a Shakespearean fizz by the up and coming Tom Hiddelston who you might recognize from The Deep Blue Sea, Thor, War Horse or Midnight in Paris). My description of the second act sounds very been there, done that, but it’s not. Whedon manages to pull it off and hurtle the action onto the screen with great skill.

The third and final act is the best. Anybody who’s ever wanted to watch seven different superheros go head to head with a villian played by one of the great modern British actors (it’s a lot of fun watching Robert Downey Jr. and Hiddelston spar with each other while battling) and an army of aliens will get their money’s worth. The action goes on and on and on, but it never loses it’s comic vibe or how-did-they-do-that CG.But even if the second and third acts are enjoyable, you have to admit as with any superhero movie (except Richard Donner’s Superman and maybe one or two others) there’s not a lot to think about. Actually there’s nothing to think about except for one liners, crazy action scenes, and evil gods. The story is slim, no matter which way you look at it: superheros come together to save the world. Sometimes they clash their egos, sometimes they yell at each other, sometimes they punch bad guys, but never ever do they sit down for a quiet moment to just think about what’s happened (except for after alllllll the credits).

There’s really only one redeeming factor about this movie and in my opinion it’s why anybody even bothers to go to these crazy movies: the action. Whedon let’s it kick in full throttle especially in the third act, which is a lot of fun. The action is THRILLING. THRILLING. It’s absolutely amazing but if that’s all you’ve got for me, Whedon, Marvel, superheros then I’m… done.

My favorite character is Iron Man because he’s played with charisma by the charming Robert Downey Jr. and he’s by far the funniest character in the movie.

My favorite scene is the climax because the 3-D came right up in your face only at key moments (it did the same throughout the whole film) and the Avengers finally worked as a team.

The Avengers is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action throughout, and a mild drug reference and I agree.

Joss Whedon’s The Avengers is a lot of fun, but in terms of story it’s underwhelming. However the effects are spectacularly overwhelming (and the 3-D is wonderful).

May 4th: Walt Disney has made only a little over $200 million so far this year (that’s about $300 million off from the the highest amount from a studio so far which is $500 million). Luckily they’ve made a deal with Marvel Studios and are producing The Avengers. The film was released on April 27th in the rest of the world (Marvel’s foreign high was Iron Man 2‘s $316 million and this will likely surpass that number this weekend). This will definitely be the second highest grossing movie of the summer. Marvel’s largest opening weekend was Iron Man 2‘s $128 million and the lowest was The Incredible Hulk‘s $55 million. Here are some other stats: Domestic Money: Iron Man‘s $318 million is the most but The Incredible Hulk‘s $134 million is the least. International Total: The lowest was The Incredible Hulk‘s $128 million. However this film will likely do a lot better than all of those movies, not least because all the characters are being combined.Why? Fan anticipation, a recognizable previous franchise, added 3-D money, and a current 92% on Rotten Tomatoes will help this movie avenge at the box office. The will also likely beat The Hunger Games as the third highest opening weekend ever. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel will likely get a weak $1 million US opening.Meanwhile this will also be a weekend where past weekend releases The Hunger Games (now 4th spot: $5 million), The Lucky One (3rd spot: $8 million), and Think Like A Man (2nd spot: $10 million) will die down. The Avengers OWG: $157 million DTG: $500 million ITG: $1 billion The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: OWG: $1 million OWG: $15 million ITG: $75 million

May 11th: This will be one of the closest weekends of the summer. If Dark Shadows didn’t open the weekend after The Avengers then it might make more money but it will be top spot (The Avengers is safe with a $60 million second weekend, dwindling a little over 50%, similar to The Hunger Games although The Hunger Games would have done worse if it opened during the summer). Alice in Wonderland‘s $116 million opening is way out of reach but Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street‘s $9 million is also a lot lower goal. This will be in the middle of Johnny Depp\Tim Burton collaborations, which is not bad for an adaption of a 1960′s soap opera TV show. Meanwhile April releases and The Hunger Games will basically stop making money. Dark Shadows: OWG: $65 million DTG: $200 million ITG: $300 million

May 16th\18th: Another close weekend. Sacha Baron Cohen’s new movie The Dictator will easily get $25 million, which is not terrible for an R rated political spoof comedy. Cohen’s comedies have done okay in the past and this should do just a bit worse (there are a lot of comedies being released this summer). Dark Shadows will probably have about$26 million and The Avengers is a good bet for $40 million. Meanwhile the big new opener is Battleship which will wind up close to the first Transformers movie (in tone, style, critics reviews, and box office money). The film itself looks bad, but then so does Transformers. Meanwhile, What To Expect When You’re Expecting is a star studded romantic comedy that should open fairly high, due to it’s prestigious cast lineup. The Dictator: OWG: $24 million DTG: $75 million ITG: $175 million Battleship: OWG: $70 million DTG: $210 million ITG: $310 million What To Expect When You’re Expecting: OWG: $25 million DTG: $100 million ITG: $200 million

May 25th: The Avengers will be massive but to a lesser extent I’m predicting Men In Black 3 will too. The two previous Men In Black films (from 1997 and 2002) mad $51 million and $52 million on their opening weekends, $250 million and $190 domestically, and $589 million and $441 million, respectively. Of course adjusted for inflation these movies made a lot more, though the second film is widely considered to be one of the most disappointing sequels in movie history. However the first is said to be a comedy classic. The latest film should be a comeback movie and after the fun, funny trailers it should open to $55 million at the least. Also the movie is in 3-D which could boost it’s box office haul. Will Smith has not been in a blockbuster since Hancock (2008 so people will have an oppurtunity to see him in an action movie again. Tommy Lee Jones is back and Josh Brolin joins as Lee’s character in the 1960′s. Meanwhile that very same weekend Moonrise Kingdom gets a limited release and the movie it should open closest to is Midnight In Paris (OWG: $5 million DTG: $56 million ITG: $148 million). Both are star studded summer romantic comedies that open Cannes. Men In Black 3: OWG: $85 million DTG: $20o million ITG: $500 million Moonrise Kingdom OWG: $5 million DTG: $60 ITG: $145 million

May will have a massive blockbuster (The Avengers), a small art house flick (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) a surprise success (Dark Shadows), a profitable comedy (The Dictator),a big, bad blockbuster (Battleship), a comedy success ( a comeback hit (Men In Black 3), and an indie hit (Moonrise Kingdom).  I can’t wait to see The Avengers and Men In Black 3, I hope to see Moonrise Kingdom, and wish I could see Dark Shadows. Bye- Bye!!!!!

Flack reviews The Pirates! Band of Misfits.

Flick reviews The Pirates! Band of Misfits.

Photos Courtesy of TIFF – Toronto International Film Festival.

James Cameron, Marine and Astrobiologists and more travel 2 1/2 miles below the surface of the ocean. They encounter alien-like sea creatures and test scientific experiments.

The man that made the two of the highest grossing films of all time, Avatar and Titanic (both beaten only by Gone with the Wind) is also fascinated by the depths of the ocean. In 2003, he made the film Ghosts of the Abyss where he and Bill Paxton, an actor in Titanic traveled to the sunken ship itself. Then, in 2005, he directed Aliens of the Deep. It’s no wonder that James Cameron shows off his knack for visuals; while this film is a documentary Cameron does show off his talent, and that’s fine with me, as long as it doesn’t get in the way of the documentary aspect of the film. Fortunately, it doesn’t. The creatures in the film are fascinatingly shown off in scenes that give us great cinematography and teach us interesting new things. It’s obvious that Cameron has talent, and he displays it, here but not in the way he did in Avatar. Here we actually learn something.

Cameron himself says, “Here’s the deal. I love this stuff.” That is completely evident here. I learned many new things that I didn’t know before. Absolutely nothing in the film is complicated (no brain work today buster!) but that’s not the point. Cameron is much more interested in trying to interest his audience. He does, brilliantly.The film is basically two short films: the first half focuses more on the wonder and spectacle of the deep sea animals, while the second half focuses more on how Cameron and his crew traveled, explored and researched the deep sea. This is why the movie works well. Cameron doesn’t let his knowledge fall into a mess. No, no, he keeps everything organized. The whole film is organized. So perfectly. That’s actually my problem with the film: it’s so perfect. Only once do we see a failure with the crew. It would have been nice to see some more faults that occurred during the journey and that’s the problem with Cameron, he doesn’t want to show his mistakes or faults. A perfectionist as they call ‘em, a perfectionist.

My favorite character (explorer) was Dijanna Figueroa because she was (like so many of the other explorers) clearly interested in doing what she was doing.

My favorite scene was when James Cameron and some other divers saw the squid because it summed up the spectacle aspect of the film and the creature looked unique.

Aliens of the Deep is rated G and I agree.

Aliens of the Deep is almost perfect, it’s a hugely rewarding experience; you’ll come out of the theater or your living room or where ever and you’ll wish you’d never come out. This is James Cameron at his best.

Indiana Jones and his friends race against Irena Spalko and other Russian soldiers in order to get the crystal skull in the mythical city, Akator. The legend has it, whoever obtains the skull is granted control over it’s unearthly powers. Also, Indy reunites with an old time friend and deals with a double agent.

After a nine year hiatus from the big screen our favorite archeologist returned in 2008 with this over two hour epic that brought back old characters and introduced Indy fans to the supernatural. This is without a doubt entertainment. The franchise would have been better off without the preternatural and yes, Harrison Ford’s performance isn’t quite what I hoped for, but at least the man with the fedora and whip is back.

Indy and his friend, “Mac” are held captive by the Russians. The first five minutes of the film I can’t really argue with, but then, comes Area 51 where the E.T. and Close Encounter‘s feel is thrown into the mix. I really have no idea why Steven Spielberg wanted to bring back alien elements from his old films into his new Indy film. Anyway, it just doesn’t work here because Indy has never seen aliens before and the aliens are only in the film for about two minutes.While I wish there weren’t any aliens, the action scenes are fast moving, epic and easy to follow which makes for some superb battles. The chase with the cars in the jungle in particular is one of the best scenes in the film, simply because every movement in the sword fight, every turn of the wheel in the car chase and every line of dialogue is choreographed in an exciting way. Even better? Spielberg manages to have the sword fight, the car chase and the dialogue all happening at the same time without anything becoming confusing. The editing, by Michael Kahn is quick and the cinematography, by Janusz Kaminski is bold. The rest of the film, however is anything but bold; it’s full (and I mean full) of fun action but the story is lacking in many ways. It lacks the suspense that the first and third delivered and it’s also more predictable which is not what you would hope for in a Spielberg film. Picture this metaphor: Indy is riding in a car and he’s zooming along (the action scenes are swift) but the tires, what’s holding the entire truck up are wobbling and flattening. The tires are the story and the story is falling apart.

My favorite character is Indiana Jones because he’s funny and adventurous.

My favorite scene is when Indy, Mutt, Marian Ravenwood, Oxley, Mac, Irena, Dovchenko and the other Russian soldiers are in the boats/cars in the jungle because it’s full of action, sword fighting and lots of fun.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is rated PG-13 for adventure violence and scary images and I agree.

Spielberg’s forth Indy film doesn’t rival the first and third, however it does bring back the classic Indy fun, despite it’s many plot flaws.

Pina Bausch, a dancer and dance choreographer died in 2009. Her students pay tribute to her.

Pina is a tribute to Pina Bausch and it features nonstop dancing. That is all you need to know before going to see the film. If that is all you want to know before seeing the film, stop reading now. However, there’s no way to “spoil” the movie because after all it is nonstop dancing interspersed with Bausch’s students describing her. Helene Louvat, the film’s cinematographer uses the camera in an indescribable way. In all the movies I’ve seen, I’ve never seen anybody use a camera like this; Louvart is an important part of why the film works. Her use of the camera is stunning. Also the music, by various artists that include Thom Hanreich and Jon Miyake (the writer of the best track in the film, Lillies of the Valley) is catchy and jazzy, the perfect paring for a beautifully shot tribute to Bausch. A problem in many films these days is the length. At 103 minutes, Pina moves along quickly and rightly so; Wim Wenders’ film could get tiring after a while because the dancing is so mesmerizing.I didn’t see the film in 3-D, but I think that would add another layer to the film. That leads me to my next compliment of the film. The dancers in this film are amazing. However it’s obvious that Wenders adds another layer to the dancing. The dancing + the cinematography + the score + the costumes (which I haven’t mentioned, but are very good) = a cinematic delight. Wenders uses everything to make the dances more exciting, more vivid, more real. He brings a boulder, chairs, water and (best of all) a red jacket to life on the big screen.

My favorite character (dancer) is Pina Bausch because almost all of the dancers described her and yet so much was left unsaid, especially how she died making for an interesting portrait of her.

My favorite scene is the second scene in the film with the brown dirt, women, men and the woman with the red jacket because the use of color was so effective and the dance was very well done.

Pina is rated PG for some sensuality/partial nudity and smoking, however it’s is appropriate for almost anybody (whether or not they’ll sit through it is a different matter).

Pina is provocative, full of color and a must see for any fan of cinema.

John Carter, a civil war veteran is transported to Barsoom (Mars) via magical silver medallion. Carter finds himself trapped in the middle of chaos; the Tharks, a green alien species struggle to stay peaceful, meanwhile the Helium people are on the brink of war with the Zodangan people. All of the species want Carter because after being transported to Barsoom, Carter acquires the power to leap as high as he wants.

I didn’t know what to expect going into John Carter. The trailers are packed to the brim with action, but Andrew Stanton, the director or Finding Nemo and Wall-E, has shown that he’s a master at storytelling. Now that I’ve seen the film, I can tell you that any predictions I had were wrong. The beginning of the film is in simple terms a mess. Many subplots are introduced very quickly but not very coherently. It seems to me as if Stanton and co. were very ecited about the middle of the film, so they didn’t spend much time on the beginning. The dialogue is hard to understand. Whenever anyone on Jarsoom (Earth) says a word they mutter it while they breath heavily and in Taylor Kitsch’s (John Carter) case you might see a muscle or two (more on him later).

Once Carter meets Tars Tarkas, voiced expertly by Willem Dafoe, the film kicks off.  Tarkas is a unique character especially when it comes  to his relationship with Carter: the two are friends but they both have different ideas about what’s best for everyone. Many ideas are very interesting and a lot of the scenes are exciting. There are also a considerable amount of subplots that include: Carter and Tarkas’ shaky relationship; Carter’s life on Jarsoom; Carter, Dejah Thoris, and Sab Than’s love triangle; Matai Shang and Sab Than’s “let’s go destroy the world” story; Edgar Rice Burroughs figuring out who Carter was and more.  The end isn’t as bad as the beginning, but it’s still confusingly uninteresting. Not to say I didn’t get caught up in the world of John Carter (I did for some of the film), it’s just that by the end I felt like saying “again?”. Really? Taylor Kitsch. Next up is big ships in the ocean and an Oliver Stone drama, but right now he’s sinking. His muscles are big but his performance could have been much better.  Kitsch speaks and acts in a way that leads me to believe he doesn’t want to be in the film.  What’s even worse is that Kitsch is surrounded by Defoe, Mark Strong, and Thomas Haden Church who are all giving expert performances. Muscles and Martians and Mars, oh my!

My favorite character is Tars Tarkas because Dafoe’s acting is great, the Virginia scene is funny and the CGI is good.  Carter and Tarkas had a great relationship and the CGI was wonderful.

My favorite scene is when Matai Shang captures Carter and then Shang tells him (I won’t spoil it) because Mark Strong was great and the dialogue was well written and spoken.

Andres Stanton’s live action film debut is incomprehensible at the beginning and end, the 3-D is not impressive, and Taylor Kitsch is a bore. However, the middle is fascinating, all of the actors other than Kitsch are strikingly powerful and the original book was one of he first sci-fi books. So I recommend it.

Rear Window is based on the short story “It Had To Be Murder.” The movie tells the story of L.B. Jefferies, a photographer with a broken leg in a cast.  Because he gets stuck in his apartment with nothing to do because he’s in a wheelchair he decides to look at his neighbors.  There are dogs, husbands, wives, and others that he peeks out at. But when he thinks he sees a man commit murder, his time-wasting game becomes something much more.  He is joined in uncovering the mystery by his girlfriend, his nurse and an old detective friend. Together they must solve the possible crime.

Another thing that surprised me was that the actors were not only great but also as important to the story as Hitchcock’s direction.  It’s also interesting how the whole movie is set largely in one apartment room.

My favorite scene is the part when the suspected murderer walks into L.B.’s room because it’s is super scary and super suspenseful!!!!!  And freaky!!!!!

My favorite character is L.B. Jefferies because he is likeable.  Also Stewart does a good job making you want him to stay safe and not get hurt (after all he already is)!

Rear Window is better than the two other Alfred Hitchcock movies I’ve seen (the entertainingly enjoyable 1959 North by Northwest and the so-so 1934 The Man Who Knew Too Much.)  Rear Window is well acted , suspenseful, exciting, full of mystery, funny, fascinating, perfect, a classic, masterfully edited, and most of all terrifically directed by Alfred Hitchcock!!!!!