superhero fatigue

I have been known to geek out and watch superhero movies, although I tend to be more interested in sci-fi and fantasy than famous comic book characters. But I have to admit that as cute as Chris Hemsworth is as Thor (and even cuter Tom Hiddleston as Loki) I am experiencing some serious superhero fatigue. I can't tell the difference between Iron Man 1, 2, or 3 and I simply don't care. I'm willing to bet that Robert Downey Jr. would find himself similarly challenged. I'm still not sure what brought us into the theater to see the first Captain America, but I have no intention of seeing #2. The only thing that I took away from seeing The Green Lantern was that Ryan Reynolds looked a little cross-eyed. Did CGI bring that unfortunate detail to light? I'm no fan of the Christian Bale as Batman movies, either.

What might have been ... Nicolas Cage in a costume test as Superman for Tim Burton's Superman Lives

But as much as I am starting to dislike the genre, I sat down and tried to watch Man of Steel the other day. It turned out to be just impossible. It is loud, ugly, incomprehensible, and the worst sin of all, completely boring. No matter how buff Henry Cavill may be, his Superman was just a big "No." Neither a plucky Amy Adams as Lois Lane, nor an earnest Russell Crowe as Superman's dad could save it. I didn't even get far enough into it to check out Laurence Fishburne as Perry White. All Man of Steel did was make me wonder what a Nicolas Cage Superman movie might have been like.

I suppose the Superman/Batman movie (with Ben Affleck as Batman, yikes) coming up will get an audience, but I am starting to wonder why. Lots of dark, murky action and way too-long and too noisy CGI explosion scenes seem to be the blueprint for all of these movies. Are comic books really Hollywood's only source material? Yawn.

happy (belated) birthday nicolas cage

Nicolas Cage just turned the big 5-0 the other day. What I like most about Cage is that his movies can be found on some of the best and worst movies of all time lists. Cage is an actor, and actors need to act. While some might say he doesn't always make the best choices, he is far from the only great actor who consistently turns up in crummy films (cough, Denzel, cough). He was undeniably great in Leaving Las Vegas, but it's not one of his flicks that I want to see multiple times. Here are ten, actually, eleven, of my favorite of his good (and bad) films.

The Croods (2013) Cage actually made me care about his caveman dad Grug in a movie that in every other way was pretty typical.

Nicolas Cage tries to connect the dots in Knowing

With Jessica Biel in Next

Looking for artifacts with Helen Mirren in National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Knowing (2009) This was a surprisingly engaging science fiction flick, with Cage trying to race against the end of the world to save his son.

Next (2007) I don't even remember what Cage and Jessica Biel were running away from or why Julianne Moore was giving them such a hard time, but I really enjoyed watching the two leads together - they should be teamed up more often.

National Treasure (2004) The National Treasure movies (a third one may be in the works) are completely goofy, fractured history action adventure films and I get a big kick out of them. So there.

Adaptation. (2002) Cage plays twins Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman in this wacky adaptation of Susan Orleans book The Orchid Thief. Cage is amazing and he is joined by Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper and Tilda Swinton. I've got to see this one again, soon.

The Family Man (2000) Nic Cage's version of a holiday/family film, so there's lots of angst and we're not sure exactly how we want things to end up for him in this modern riff on It's A Wonderful Life.

It Could Happen to You (1994) Is that Nicolas Cage playing a henpecked but sweet New York City cop who shares his lottery ticket with waitress Bridget Fonda? And of course they win? And he's married to Rosie Perez? I know it sounds crazy, but it works.

Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) Really silly, and just an excuse for Cage to trade barbs with the similarly uber-intense James Caan, which works for me.

Wild at Heart (1990) - Cage does an Elvis impersonation, inexplicably, throughout the entire film, but it's David Lynch, so inexplicable is de rigeur.

Moonstruck (1987) I love everything about this movie, and Cage's chemistry with Cher is palpable. His trademark two speeds, intense and intenser (via Roger Ebert) is on fine display here.

A Wolf Without a Foot Moonstruck — MOVIECLIPS.com

Raising Arizona (1987) Cage and Holly Hunter are amazing together in the Coen Brothers funny-as-it-ever-was farce.

a blurry croods

Last week, when I took the kid to see The Croods I really couldn't believe my eyes. Had my eyes aged on the walk from the parking lot, or was the screen really that blurry? I noticed it first during the previews, when the text on the bright green preview slide was out of focus. I looked around, but everyone else in the theater seemed to be happily munching popcorn, unconcerend. I blinked and looked again, but the next preview was also really out of focus. I sighed and got up and went to tell one of the kids behind the snack counter to come and check out Theater 6.

The Croods, a modern Stone Age family (and in focus, here)

Tick tock. Tick tock. The previews ended and the feature started. There it was, the film title, "The Croods" in big, blurry, glory. Oh, come on! Up again to complain. The girl behind the counter said that "the projectionist" (I suspect the guy who got me my hot pretzel earlier) had already been up to check on 6 and thought everything was OK. I told her that the picture was still pretty blurry — could someone check again? She said he would. I returned to the theater. Still no one else seemed concerned, everyone was happily looking at the screen, watching a blurry movie. A few minutes later I could tell that an adjustment was being made, but it still didn't look right to me.

I considered asking for my money back, but that would mean uprooting my daughter and my mom, which would be a disruptive project unappreciated by the rest of the vision-challenged audience. I gave up. As I watched the film blur by, I wondered if 3D might have something to do with this. The Croods was released in 3D and 2D. Are the lens adjustments slightly different? We were watching a 2D version of the film (I really am not into the 3D experience or the inflated pricing). Was the film designed for 3D and the 2D version just not as good a print? Or am I, with my large-scale, high-definition television set at home just spoiled by sharpness? Is it that I am so thrilled, so spoiled by my sharp picture, with everything beautifully delineated (even more so on Blu-ray), that I just can't bear anything fuzzy around the edges? Maybe ...

Nicolas Cage as Grug

I have have had to get up a few times in the past and complain about the volume being too loud or some slight blurring while at the movies, but the problems were always eventually fixed. That didn't happen here, unfortunately. Roger Ebert has complained about film projection at multiplexes, and an article he cites by Ty Burr of The Boston Globe may provide the answer:

"Many theater managers have made a practice of leaving the 3D lenses on the projectors when playing a 2D film ... So why aren't theater personnel simply removing the 3D lenses? The answer is that it takes time, it costs money, and it requires technical know-how above the level of the average multiplex employee."

I'm still baffled by how no one else seemed to be as put out by the lack of sharpness as I was.

Oh, and how was The Croods, you might ask? It was cute. Nicolas Cage was wonderful voicing the dad, Grug. He actually turned in a performance. The story was fun and the completely made-up prehistoric environment looked like it was made with a lot of care. I just had a hard time seeing it flash by. I'll probably enjoy it a lot more when it comes on cable, and I can see it, bright and sharp and in focus.

buffy's back ... with an evil twin

I'm interested in checking out Sarah Michele Gellar's new show this fall, Ringer. It's a mystery/suspense show where she plays twins. I'm glad she's back on television and I hope this series is fun for her and the audience.

Doesn't every actor want to play their evil twin? Not so sure audiences clamor for twin stories, but they do make for quirky, sometimes campy classics. Here are some of my favorites:

Bette Davis plays sisters Margaret (rich and bad, a husband murderer) and Edith (good and poor) in Dead Ringer. This is not a great movie, but it is compellingly watchable. Bette has to vie with good guy cop suitor Karl Malden and naughty boy toy Peter Lawford in this sordid '60s murder mystery. Apparently Bette played twins in another earlier film, A Stolen Life, which I have yet to see.

Eddie Murphy as movie star Kit ("Keep it Together, K-I-T") Ramsay and his nerdy brother Jiff in Bowfinger, a sarcastically funny take on Hollywood from Frank Oz and Steve Martin. This movie is just as funny whether you're watching it for the first or fifteenth time and Murphy is truly great at two very different, wacked out twins. He has always liked to play multiple characters, and did that to perfection in The Nutty Professor, his riff on Jerry Lewis's '60s version.

Jeremy Irons as creepy twins in the creepy Dead Ringers, directed by creepy David Cronenberg, who always seems to make creepy movies. They play twin gynecologists, who both start messing around with the wonderful Geneviève Bujold, who deserves much better.

Nicolas Cage plays screenwriter Charlie Kauffman and his nebbish brother Donald in Spike Jones's Adaptation, a surreal take on Susan Orleans's bestseller about the orchid industry in Florida. Meryl Streep, Tilda Swinton and Chris Cooper are along with the Cage (s) for the ride.

Twin-age is not limited to comedy and arty films. Action-adventure's own Jean Claude Van Damme beats himself up in Double Impact - what's not to love about that? Well, a lot actually, but it's still pretty fun.

If you were expecting the classic twinfest The Parent Trap, I'm sorry, but I don't like either version, Mills or Lohan. But I do love the concept of identical cousins, which isn't exactly a twin scenario, but it's wacky enough to fit this theme, and has that unforgettable theme song, to boot.

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