The Reel World

"Eyes. Lungs. Pancreas. So many snacks. So little time."

The Marvel Venom character started simply enough with a desire to change the look of Spider-Man's costume in the 1980's. Spider-Man along with a collection of Marvel's heroes were abducted by a character called The Beyonder to fight on a battle planet. It's much like the iconic Planet Hulk story, which was used for the recent Thor film. When Spider-Man returns to Earth, he has a new black and white suit that he found in space. For quite a while the new look for the Web Crawler caused a debate in Marveldom about the hero’s new look.

When I first heard that Bradley Cooper would be making his directing debut with A Star is Born, honestly, I kind of groaned.  It’s not because I didn’t believe he’d have the chops; after all, he’s worked with many successful directors over the span of his career. I groaned because I believed the world didn’t need yet another remake of the film.   This will be the fourth incarnation of the film, and while many can debate on which version is their favorite, the film was pretty much a relic I felt should have stayed in the past.  I mention this and want to also put out there even after some of the trailers I had caught for the film; my excitement level was pretty low going into this.

by John M. Delia, Jr.

Our life experiences influence what we do in our future, and what our parents experience could also influence how we are as well. And in tragedy and death, we experience large amounts of loss that could also transfer to our unborn offspring. Lastly, we experience many ups and downs throughout our lifetime, and how we react to those good or bad experiences make up who we are and how strong our will is to survive. Keep moving along knowing that there will be good life experiences, even though you will always have many hurdles to overcome, as we see in Life Itself.

Children’s fairy tales have taken a new drift with the film The House with a Clock in Its Walls.  Packed with exciting action adventure, the movie, based on the book by John Bellairs, envisions the story with an incredible amount of CGI.  You could almost call the film animated, but that’s a good thing here as things go bump in the night, magic forms the basis, and solving the mystery becomes the prominent focus for older youngsters. Orphaned due to a car crash that took his parents, young Lewis Barnavelt (Owen Vaccaro) gets invited to live at his Uncle Jonathan’s (Jack Black) magical mansion. He’s a bit fearful of the old house with its grand stairway and many mysterious rooms, but Lewis sort of likes the flamboyance of the magician turned warlock.  There he’s introduced to Jonathan’s neighbor and best friend Florence Zimmerman (Cate Blanchett), who assures Jonathan that he will enjoy living with his uncle.

"Predators don't just sit around making hats out of rib cages. They conquered space."

In 1987 Predator became somewhat of a milestone film for many reasons. The movie would anchor a franchise thanks mostly to a wonderfully original Stan Winston creature design and the performance of Kevin Peter Hall under the suit. Both Winston and Hall have since passed, but the alien hunter that they created together is still going strong. The film also featured two stars who would later go on to become governors of their states. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jessie Ventura made their mark in politics. The film also featured Rocky's Carl Weathers. It also featured Shane Black in a small role that might not have contributed to the blossoming franchise then, but he has made his own impact by writing and directing the latest installment of that franchise The Predator.

There is something about the words “based on a true story” that seems to have a certain effect on us and seems to alter our perception of a film.  Then there is something about a true crime story that seems to excite us even more; at least for me, I enjoy these films where we get a glimpse of the seedy underbelly of society. So when White Boy Rick comes along to tell the tale of the youngest FBI informant who also happened to be an arms dealer and drug kingpin, well, this is the kind of film I tend to get excited about.  When I first saw the trailer, it had me thinking this could be a hodgepodge of American Hustle, Blow, and Goodfellas all wrapped into one. Unfortunately, though the film has some great talent and oodles of potential, the result is a good-looking mess on the screen.

The favor, a paramount commitment of friendship. Everyday friends engage in this covenant, without batting an eye. But what if that favor had lasting consequences? That is how this story begins, and it rapidly descends into a tale of love, loyalty, murder, and revenge. Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively join together for a quirky and campy mystery entitled A Simple Favor that I actually must admit that I enjoyed more than I was expecting to. I mean, obviously, Blake Lively is a captivating beauty, and Anna Kendrick is the embodiment of the girl next door. Not to mention no one does that quirky charming persona like Kendrick. However, if I had to pick who was the more entertaining of the two, I would have to give a slight edge to Lively, for reasons that I will soon elaborate on. A Simple Favor is based off a book of the same name. I’m not sure how closely the film followed the book, but I imagine that the audience will not be disappointed with the film.

Social media, along with our growing number of mobile devices, are dominating our lives. Today it's how we shop. It's how we communicate. Hell, it's how we date. For many of us, our devices have become how we see and experience the world around us. The new electronic culture has also changed our movie experience, as more and more films and television shows are going directly to our devices instead of our television and multiplex screens. It's also changed the way films are made. Recently, I reviewed a film shot completely on an iPhone. It should come as no surprise that a film would come along that tells its entire story through the lenses of these devices.

Too often the word classic is overused and often misunderstood. When I hear or read a critic calling a new film a classic, my blood boils a bit. I often say that the only thing wrong with instant gratification is that it takes too damn long. It takes the endurance of time to define a classic. There must be some lasting effect on a culture. The 1973 Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman film Papillon fits that description, in my not-so-humble opinion. It's a film that had a strong impact upon me when I saw it so many years ago and is one of a dozen films I try to watch at least once a year or so. Because of those vivid images that remain with us so long, classics are bad choices for a remake unless there is truly something more that can be done with the material.

Ever since Jaws splashed onto the screen back in 1975, Hollywood has been attempting to follow its success, and though some films have been valiant efforts, nothing seems to come close to the Spielberg classic.  Sure, effects have come a long way over the years,  and through the Hollywood magic of special effects they can create a more realistic looking shark, but to be fair, many of the film’s more memorable moments don’t even have the shark on screen.  When I first heard about The Meg, it was going to be in the hands of Eli Roth of Cabin Fever and Hostel fame. This seemed to be like a good pairing that would result in a blood-fest filled with shark carnage that would leave shark fans pleased, but eventually the studio decided to pass, and the project seemed almost dead in the water.