Caught this the other day… A short film by Keith Kowalczyk and Martin Ott about a slush pile that eats Hollywood. Yes, that’s right. You heard me. It eats Hollywood!
Don’t believe me? Check this out! Pretty original premise for a parody… Makes me want to clean up that pile of scrap paper beside my desk though…
Kick-Ass is one of those movies you’ll probably either love or hate. If you take something like this film out of the realm of satire and try to look at it from a real world perspective, you will probably find it not only offensive, but a horrible influence on younger minds. But if you do that, you’re missing the point entirely and I’d suggest that you skip it. Nobody is forcing you to see it. And you can object in the comfort of your own home by changing the channel when you see a movie trailer. If you’re old enough to understand what Kick-Ass is about, but too old to see it the rampant violence as anything but rampant violence… again, I recommend you skip this film.
Rating:
Obviously this isn’t a movie for kids under a certain age. I suspect that age may be the middle teenage years, but your mileage may vary based on the kids involved. If you don’t think your kids can handle separating fact from fiction and reality from satire, then this isn’t a movie for them. It’s that simple. We don’t need any kids running around thinking they can fight crime in costumes. The results would vary from minor injuries to death, and it’s kind of tough to recover from that.
That said, what is this movie about? Kick-Ass is a movie based on a comic book series written by Mark Millar and illustrated by John Romita, Jr. that was published by Marvel Comics under their Icon imprint back in 2008. The story focuses on teenager Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) who decides he’ll take a crack at becoming a real life superhero called “Kick-Ass”. Lizewski manages to get his butt seriously kicked his first time out, but that doesn’t deter him from doing it again. And when he gets caught on amateur video, he’s an overnight sensation.
Lizewski is enjoying his new fame so much he doesn’t notice he’s getting pulled into a bigger war between a crime kingpin, Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong, Sherlock Holmes and the upcoming Robin Hood) and an ex-cop turned vigilante, Damon Macready (Nicolas Cage, National Treasure and the upcoming The Sorcerer’s Apprentice). Macready has donned the persona “Big Daddy” and dressed himself up as a wanna-be Batman while taking out parts of D’Amico’s operation a bit at a time. Along the way, Macready trained his 11-year-old daughter Mindy (Chloe Moretz, (500) Days of Summer) to be a lethal killing machine herself, donning the persona of “Hit-Girl”.
Add to that D’Amico’s son, Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Superbad, Role Models, and Year One), who wants to become part of the “family business” but is still considered a kid by his father. To get his dad’s attention, he comes up with a plan to help stop the costumed crime-fighters causing his father trouble by becoming a costumed hero himself and calling himself “Red Mist”. But will Red Mist help his father stop Kick-Ass, Big Daddy, and Hit-Girl permanently or help the heroes stop crime in the city?
The only way to really describe Kick-Ass is as an orgy of violence and gunfire. There are enough weapons in this film to stock a National Guard armory and enough ammunition fired for a small war. And watching young Moretz as Hit-Girl is both disturbing and entertaining as she attacks this role with unsuppressed glee. It’s obvious this was a role she was born to play.
For me, the only weak spot in the cast was Cage as Macready. I just didn’t buy him as an ex-cop focused on a vendetta. Sure, the costume was there and the cool room with all the firearms – but he never sold the role to me. Maybe it was because the majority of the cast appeared so much younger than Cage on screen. I really don’t know. But it wasn’t enough to spoil the raw entertainment of watching things develop as the movie progressed.
Kick-Ass has been compared favorably to Zombieland, and I can see the comparison. But Zombieland worked a bit better for me as a whole, even though I absolutely loved Moretz as Hit-Girl. Though Johnson’s Kick-Ass gets top billing, the movie should have been called “Hit-Girl”, ’cause that’s who you end up watching on screen.
So I’ll reiterate that if you can’t get past the idea of gratuitous violence, gunfire, and an 11-year-old girl committing some serious carnage, I’d skip Kick-Ass. But if you can get past that, be sure to leave the kiddies at home and enjoy this amazing display of comic book destruction. And if you get a chance, be sure to read the original Kick-Ass comic book series as well – I’ll be ordering mine soon!
–Fitz
p.s. Pick up these great Kick-Ass books for your reading pleasure!
Sometimes the Internet blows my mind. Have you ever heard of a live action fantasy web series called Spellfury? Until recently, neither had I. And though it’s a bit odd watching episodes less than 5 minutes long, it’s actually not bad for a series produced entirely for the web on a meager budget. The season is split into 12 episodes that are independently written and directed by Travis Gordon, an Ottawa-based filmmaker, and his crew. Every 45 days a new episode is released and the team, made up of Gordon, Julie O’Halloran (Actress/Production Manager), Rob Drebitt (Actor/Computer Animator), and Penu Chalykoff (Actor/Lighting/Sound Operator), is hard at work on episode 9.
Spellfury focuses on a half-elf named Druinia (O’Halloran) who’s trying to avenge her father’s murder. Since the show is set in a fantasy world, 75% of the scenes are shot in front of a green screen and filled in later in post-production. In addition to the computer animation and backgrounds, the show also uses puppets that are created and brought to life by Matt Ficner, a puppeteer based in Ottawa who recently worked on Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium starring Dustin Hoffman.
What’s amazing to me is that the quality is quite high for such a production. O’Halloran has been acting in independent films for the last 8 years and Spellfury is her first lead in a web series. But her acting and swordplay is better than most of what I’ve seen of the bigger budget show Legend of the Seeker, which I wanted to like but couldn’t get past the poor writing and acting. There’s a good deal of humor woven into the Spellfury stories as well, which makes it very apparent that the creators understand that without humor, the whole series would grow tiresome quickly.
Over a million people worldwide have seen Spellfury so far and Gordon is already planning a second season and has already started shooting. I’m guessing that the roleplaying gamers in the audience quickly picked up on the fantasy roleplaying aspects from games such as Dungeons and Dragons. All I have to say is that it’s amazing what a thief will do for 5 gold pieces and a magic sword.
I can’t say that Spellfury is at the level of something like the Lord of the Rings trilogy of movies, but it’s going to be a guilty pleasure of mine for the indefinite future. Puppets, humor, and all…
For more information and to watch all the episodes so far, check out their website – Spellfury.com!
Though I still don’t mentally lump myself in with the “media,” I have to admit I probably belong to that amorphous blob now. So when I see statements like this from the Geekosystem:
“Despite — or maybe because of — the almighty publicity blitz that has accompanied the movie since December, KICK-ASS has been garnering surprisingly good reviews… But one influential reviewer is dragging down those numbers, and the film’s backers have to be taking notice: Roger Ebert.”
The thought that Ebert’s review is dragging anything down is hilarious to me. His review brings some sobering thoughts to KICK-ASS, but in the grand scheme of things – I’d say that most of the folks who weren’t going to see the film anyway might agree with him and those of us who were looking forward to seeing a film completely disconnected from reality providing satire on the concept of super heroes in the real world will still go see it in droves.
But this is what I love about movies, and art in general. Art is perceived differently by everyone who views it. And that fact doesn’t invalidate the work of critics and reviewers, because those efforts can provide a common framework for individuals to hang their own experiences on and construct their own opinions.
Roger Ebert provides a valuable service to many folks who value his opinions. I’m among them. And in this case, I tend to agree with him to a point in that parents should not bring their children to see KICK-ASS. If you bring your kids to see the film, I would question the decision from my perspective, but if you’re prepared for the potential consequences (whatever they are for your kids), more power to you.
So the fact that people are up in arms about Ebert’s review “dragging down” approval numbers for the movie is amusing to me. Yes, he’s voiced an opinion that is different than most of the other reviews. That doesn’t invalidate it. He is just approaching things from a different, just as valid, point of view.
Let’s look at this from a different perspective…
Did Roger Ebert see the film? Yes.
Did he like the film? No, he gave it 1 star.
Does he explain the premise of the film and why he didn’t like it in a public post? Yes. Read it here.
Is Ebert’s review going to make me not want to see this movie? Heck no.
In the world of publicity, is even bad publicity good? Yes, I think so. Ebert’s review in the eyes of Lionsgate will probably be mana from heaven, as it is generating word of mouth about the film in the media (and yes, I’m contributing to this word of mouth).
Ultimately all movie-goers must choose whether to a) see the film themselves and b) who to share the film with. Am I taking my kids to this movie? Heck no. Am I even taking my wife to this movie? Heck no. I’ll take my best friend, we’ll have a good time hooting and hollering and then I’ll write more.
Until then – make your own decision whether to see the film or not.
–Fitz
p.s. Here’s a couple of KICK-ASS books in case you want to know more about the comic the film is based on and how they made the film…
Yes, you read that title correctly – Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire. Is it redundant? Isn’t a “Sword of Fire” typically “Flaming”? Probably. But for a comedy action adventure set in a strange fantasy land oppressed by an evil ruler, you probably need just a touch of redundancy.
Though Krod Mandoon only lasted 6 episodes, I watched them all when they aired on Comedy Central starting in April 2009. My wife thought I was crazy. And undoubtedly I probably am. But I enjoyed this strange, off-kilter show with a kind of sick glee each time a new episode aired.
Now you can find all the episodes, plus some great bonuses on a new DVD from Comedy Central.
The series follows the exploits of hero Kröd Mändoon (Sean Maguire) as he and his band of freedom fighters struggle against the evil ruler Chancellor Dongalor (Matt Lucas). Accompanying Kröd in his quest are his “girlfriend” – the beautiful pagan warrior Aneka (India de Beaufort), his servant – a Grobble (sort of like a pig/man combination) named Loquasto (Steve Speirs), a young warlock who’s true strength is the power of BS named Zezelryck (Kevin Hart), and the Gay lover of Kröd’s mentor General Arcadius – Bruce (Marques Ray). The evil Chancellor also has a few team members helping his along on his quest of world domination – the always loyal Barnabus (Alex MacQueen) who tries mightily to guide Dongalor to better decisions, but is often ignored; and the love of Donaglor’s life – “Cute Girl” (Remie Purtill-Clarke) – a concubine taken when Dongalor killed her father to prove a point.
Yes, it’s a rather strange cast of characters. But as someone who has enjoyed playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons over the years, I have to say it’s probably not the most bizarre party I’ve ever seen. And as a gamer, this show plays on many of the various themes and plot twists we find regularly in our gaming sessions.
Through the six episodes (a one hour premiere and five thirty minute shows), we see Kröd and Dongalor stumble through situation after situation until the plot comes to a head. We learn more about Kröd’s relationship with the pagan Aneka. Aneka isn’t a one-man kind of girl and resists being tied down to Kröd, but that doesn’t stop Kröd from trying to change her mind. The “Resistance” was led by General Arcadius until his death, but now looks to Kröd and the resistance ruling council for direction. And all along, Chancellor Dongalor has been assembling the deadly Eye of Gulga Grymna – an ancient weapon of immense power – and he wants to eradicate the resistance once and for all…
Honestly if you’re not a fan of Monty Python, Mel Brooks, or the group behind movies like Scary Movie, you probably won’t enjoy the humor. It gets pretty sophomoric in places, including many visual references to genitalia and sexual relations throughout the series. But if you like that sort of thing (and I have to admit I do if it’s done well), there are a lot of very funny scenes – especially when you get to “O Biclops, Where Art Thou?” The whole bisexual cyclops twist had me in stitches for quite a while.
Also included on the DVD are several special features. Among them I found the “Behind the Scenes with Kevin Hart”, the “Outtakes,” and the “Cast Interviews” enlightening to see and hear more about what went on during production. The interviews were especially interesting, since I had no idea Sean Maguire was British!
If you like sexual humor, raunchy sight gags, and stereotype-based humor, you’ll probably like the series and should check out Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire on DVD at your favorite rental or retail counter. But it won’t be for everybody.
–Fitz
p.s. Pick up Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire below!
Even his wife Claire (Lisa Kudrow) has pushed him away… Will Abby be his only real friend?
This trailer captures a piece of the innocence we lose at some point in our childhood and become adults… And it’s that innocence most of us long to recapture as we get older. I’m really looking forward to this film.
What do you think? Explosions… Gunfire… Wise-ass remarks. Zoe Saldana. It’s a perfect movie. Ok, maybe not perfect – but fun I hope. Lots and lots of fun!
Yes, I’m a cartoon junkie at times. But not the cartoons you might think. Case in point is the recent release of Bugs Bunny‘s Easter Funnies on DVD. I’m a huge Bugs Bunny fan and have loved all of the classic cartoon characters from the 1940s and 1950s, even though I grew up in the 1970s – Bugs, Sylvester, Tweety, Granny, Pepe Le Pew, Foghorn Leghorn, Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, and all the rest. But starting in the 1970s, the cartoons I saw were compilations of bits and pieces from those earlier classics mixed with bridging clips for continuity of a particular story or theme.
As a kid, I didn’t catch on that the studios were doing this and I just enjoyed the shows. But as I got older, I noticed that the voices weren’t the same for the characters in some places or that the animation style was slightly different here and there. And to see Bugs Bunny’s Easter Funnies on DVD after all this time, it really drives home how weird those bridging segments really were in a few places. (It originally aired in 1977, which makes me feel really old!)
This collection is focused around the Easter Bunny, who is sick and can’t deliver eggs to all the good little boys and girls who expect such things on Easter morning. EB calls Granny, who tries to find a suitable replacement. Bugs of course comes to mind, but he’s required by contract to finish a few cartoons and won’t be free in time to help. But together, Bugs and Granny hunt for someone else who might work. Daffy Duck of course thinks he’s the best replacement and eventually steals the job (though Granny and Bugs know it’s him), but along the way they watch several cartoons from other possibilities.
So if you were a fan of some of these collected shows, I apologize. This one is tough to complain about because it includes segments from some of my favorite WB cartoons of the classic era.
Sylvester and Tweety appear in a clip from “Birds Anonymous,” which features Sylvester trying to go “on the wagon” and swear off our fine feathered friends. Obviously that doesn’t go very well and Sylvester tries to eat Tweety. And when Sylvester’s friend from Birds Anonymous tries to help but falls off the wagon just as quickly. This short won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Subject in 1957.
“Knighty Knight Bugs” sends Bugs Bunny on a quest for King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table to retrieve the stolen “Singing Sword” from the Black Knight (Yosemite Sam) and his vicious dragon. Though Sam puts up a valiant fight, in the end Bugs saves the sword and sends his foe to the moon. This short also won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Subject in 1959.
Also included were clips from “Robin Hood Daffy” where Daffy Duck pretends to be Robin Hood and Porky Pig as Friar Tuck laughs uproariously at his antics. Even today, I still laugh when Daffy tries to use his “dollar and a quarter” quarter staff to protect himself. His “ho haha guard turn parry dodge spin ha thrust…” where he smacks himself in the head with the staff makes me giggle just to think about it.
Also included are clips from “For Scent-imental Reasons,” “Sahara Hare,” Rabbit of Seville,” “Hillbilly Hare,” “Tweety’s Circus,” and “Little Boy Boo.” And you get a bonus short – “His Hare-Raising Tale” – and a set of interactive puzzles on the DVD.
Now if the DVD just included each of those classics in their entirety, I would have called this a great bargain. But you only get snippets of each pasted together with this forced plot of finding a replacement for the Easter Bunny.
However, if you have kids, Bugs Bunny’s Easter Funnies isn’t a bad way to have them spend about 50 minutes to have a good time. I know my two daughters enjoyed it and they hadn’t seen it before. Look for it at your favorite rental or retail store. But if you’re looking for the full versions of these classic cartoons, I’d look for the Looney Tunes DVD collections on DVD.
–Fitz
p.s. Pick up some of these great Bugs Bunny shows on DVD!
Are we really ready for another Resident Evil? I mean, yes, Ali Larter and Milla Jovovich are beautiful actresses and deadly if put in the right set of fictional circumstances… but do we really need to to be in 3D?
Yes, I’m a sucker. I’ll probably go see it when it comes out September 30, 2010.
Every once in a while, a movie comes along that pulls on your heartstrings. Yes, I’m a sensitive guy. I have to admit I like sports movies though, some of them anyway. And when you see a movie that combines an amazing story with sports, I’m either in the theater or have it in my queue on Netflix. The Blind Side is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time that preaches that family is important, regardless whether you’re in the family by blood or not.
Michael Oher or “Big Mike” (played in a powerful, understated way by Quinton Aaron) has not had a good life so far. He can’t live with his mother, Denise (Adriane Lenox), since she can barely take care of herself, so he’s forced to wander place to place scrounging food and shelter where he can find it. Some take pity on him and lend him a couch now and then, but it doesn’t seem to take long before he has to move on again.
Now put the Touhy family into the equation. Leigh Anne Touhy (Sandra Bullock) is the family matriarch and a successful interior designer. Sean Touhy (Tim McGraw) is a successful businessman in his own right, owning a chain of restaurants. Daughter Collins (Lily Collins) and son S.J. (Jae Head) round out the family.
One day on the way home, Leigh Anne spots Big Mike walking along the side of the road in the rain and she asks if he has a place to stay for the night. When he eventually says no, he begins his journey to a better place. He starts going to high school and playing football, eventually becoming the first-round pick as an offensive left tackle for the Baltimore Ravens in the 2009 NFL draft.
Based on a true story and the book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game written by Michael Lewis, The Blind Side is a bit like Pygmalon with a little Cinderella thrown in for good measure. Lessons are learned on all sides by teachers, coaches, the Touhys, and Michael Oher.
Included on the single-disc DVD version are four deleted scenes. Like most deleted scenes, I can see why they might have been cut from the final product. However, at the end of the “Lunch Ticket” scene is a scene with Big Mike and science teacher Mrs. Boswell (Kim Dickens) that I would have liked to have seen in the movie. It showed a bit more of the realization that Mike was actually retaining knowledge from his classes and just couldn’t take tests well, but when tests were given verbally he did better.
The Blind Side is an inspiring story that will sit proudly on my DVD shelf and get pulled out when I need a reminder about the importance of family. Be sure to check it out at your local rental or retail counter.
–Fitz
p.s. Pick up the movie and books at Barnes and Noble below:
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There used to be an Amazon ad here, but since Amazon and the state of Colorado can't agree on how to handle taxes, they've blocked my affiliate account. From now on or until this is resolved, links to products will be through Barnes and Noble.
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