TV & Movies

No one else can ever play Iron Man - Robert Downey Jr. owns the role and owns this film. That is an accomplishment considering the talent stacked up in Iron Man 2: Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell, Don Cheadle, Gwyneth Paltrow, Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Shandling, and Scarlett Johansson.

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Two movies, probably aimed at similar audiences, yet greatly divergent viewing experiences.

Clash of the Titans is a truly horrendous film, made worse by the poorest 3D conversion I have seen. Watching it was like looking at an old Viewfinder for almost two hours. Nothing really felt like 3D. Things just had artificial looking edges. I'm a big fan of well done 3D. Avatar was wonderful in the immersive experience it provided. There is nothing immersive about Clash of the Titans. Even without having to sit through it thinking about the extra money you wasted for the 3D "upgrade", I can't imagine many people getting much enjoyment out of the film. It is dreary, dull, and unimaginative. I thought that Sam Worthington showed promise in Avatar, but as Perseus, he made me think much more highly of Harry Hamlin. The original film works so much better than this new adaption. As cheesy as Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion effects are when compared to state of the art computer graphics, they worked better than the CGI in the new film. In the original film Medusa was scary, in the new film she is clearly a Russian model's face digitally attached to a CGI snake.

Clash of the Titans is the story of Perseus and his quest to save the princess by defeating the monstrous Kraken. To do so he has to travel to Hades and kill Medusa. The journey features wonderful locales and imaginative mythological beings. How is it possible to take such a great and visually inspiring story like the one this film tells and make it dull? This film was so bad that I get annoyed just thinking about it - so I will stop.

Kick-Ass does kick-ass! The film manages to be simultaneously super-violent and super-charming. (Although Mark Strong again disappoints me and makes me concerned about his depiction of Sinestro in the upcoming Green Lantern film.) Although he doesn't look anything like the character in the comic book, Aaron Johnson is perfect as Dave/Kick-Ass. His voice is perfect for the narration and his eyes are very expressive, allowing the masked scenes to work so well. But as good as Aaron Johnson is, the film belongs to Chloe Moretz. She is without doubt the best 11 year old assassin in film. Kick-Ass has a simple premise. What would happen if an ordinary person decided to try being a costumed hero? The result is a funny, action-packed, geekfest.

These are the choices I expect to win, not necessarily the choices I want to win. Damian Ricci will owe me lunch when I get more correct than he does.

Best Picture – Avatar
Actor – Jeff Bridges
Supporting Actor – Christoph Waltz
Actress – Meryl Streep
Supporting Actress – Mo’Nique
Animated Feature – Up
Art Direction – Avatar
Cinematography – Avatar
Costume Design – The Young Victoria
Directing – Kathryn Bigelow (Hurt Locker)
Documentary Feature – Food, Inc
Documentary Short – The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Film Editing – The Hurt Locker
Foreign Language Film – The White Ribbon
Makeup – Star Trek
Music (Original Score) – Up
Music (Original Song) – “Down in New Orleans” (The Princess and the Frog)
Short Film (Animated) – The Lady and the Reaper
Short Film (Live Action) – Kavi
Sound Editing – Star Trek
Sound Mixing – Avatar
Visual Effects – Avatar
Writing (Adapted Screenplay) – Up in the Air
Writing (Original Screenplay) – Inglourious Basterds

Director: Kathryn Bigelow Writer: Mark Boal Starring: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse & Evangeline Lilly

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Director: Martin Scorsese Screenplay: Laeta Kalogridis Based of the novel by Dennis Lehane Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Sir Ben Kingsley, Olivia Williams, and Max von Sydow

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