Yes, I'm sure admitting this will open myself up for all kinds of abuse, but I dragged the wife to see TMNT today.
I felt obligated to see the film because I am a comics fan. That and because Kevin Smith has a cameo as the voice of a short order cook in the flick. I see that Kevin Smith is getting more and more acting roles (besides this, he also was in Catch and Release and is in the upcoming Live Free and Die Hard). I have one thing to say about this. HE SHOULD STOP SLUMMING AND WRITE AND DIRECT MORE MOVIES!!! AND MAYBE FINISH DAREDEVIL TARGET!!
I wasn't a big fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles back in the day. Sure, I bought some of the toys, played the video game (which I like), and bought a comic or two, but I was a little too old to get completely caught up in the zietgeist.
But I did love the story behind the TMNT. Two guys, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, who spent their income tax check to put out their own Frank Miller parody ended up creation a multi-million dollar property. It was like the American Dream, comic book style.
The movie is all computer generated, which I think works well for the Turtles. It was better than the puffy animatronic suits of the previous films and more realistic than your typical cartoon.
As for the plot, it was suitably complex and worked well if you didn't put through the microscope. There was a lot of emotional beats and plenty of action. The one problem I have is a problem I have with a lot of comics and movies. The portrayal of Ninjas.
From what I understand of the Ninja, they were the silent assassin of ancient Japan. They were quiet, deadly, and lethal. The bad news was that if you saw them coming, you were already dead. The good news was that you never saw them coming.
However, in this movie, about 10 of them are taken out by April O'Neil, former TV reporter, current archaeologist, who has, as far as I can tell, no formal fighting training outside of swinging a ken do stick around a few times. Comics and movies has taken something completely bad ass and made it lame.
I walked away from the movie liking in quite a bit. It was better than Ghost Rider and Catwoman. I know that's not that high a complement, but...
Now, the previews:
- Are We Done Yet?: It is a bad trend. This is the second movie in the last three day that I walked in while the trailers were one. Luckily, it was the preview for this movie. I'm sure that back in the N.W.A./F**k the Police days, if you were to say that in 15 years time, Ice Cube would be acting in cuddly, family-friendly movies where he gives advice to his children while falling down a lot, people would never had believed you.
- Fred Claus: This is the same brilliant trailer that they showed last year. How do you promote a movie that isn't coming out in a year? Put the lead actors in a room and have them improv. Awesome.
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: I have yet to read this book. The reason? Because I have yet to read any HP book. I listened to them on CD. Once you hear them with Jim Dale voicing the whole cast, you can't go back.
Bill
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