Atlas Shrugged part 2 (2012)

Part of me felt like I could start writing this before the movie even started. But, much like I made the agreement with Ayn Rnad 20+ years ago, I always wait until I'm done watching, not counting jotting down a note on scratch paper of course. One of the ladies I regularly talk about movies and television shows with tells me how she and her husband watch television and movies - they have something to read or work on while watching. If it's a really good movie, she might only get a little reading or sewing done. I'm not that kind of watcher. It's that whole social contract thing, but at least now, when it's crap I just stop watching.
Okay, I don't know what happened between part 1 and part 2, but damn, there is actually some good acting going on in this movie, and even more so, there are actors I recognize - like the opening scene with Robert Picardo. The drawback is that some actors have been replaced, and they're pretty noticeable changes. For example, oh lets see, how about everyone? Different production company, more money and voila, a whole new cast!
I swear that if I ever hear the phrase "who is John Galt?" again I will likely hit the speaker right in the nose. Truth. (Did I just say that? Gawwww.) Speaking of John Galt, they did continue to underwhelm me with the SF/X. When they dismantle the John Galt railroad line, and they show the super suspension bridge, it''s only one line running across, but in the first movie, it's very clearly two lines and wide enough to have held a third. Completely amateurish. As it turns out it's because they have (literally) blown their load on the bit train collision scene.
Instead of dwelling on the completely unsatisfying ending, let's instead reflect on Ayn Rand, science fiction author. Sure, when I read the book I didn't picture cold fusion engines, super steel or holographic mountains, but that's because I'm not one of the ielite. I only wondered who John Galt was until I saw something sparkley out of the corner of my eye. Did I mention the futuristic stealth jets?
Here's the important part - if you can make yourself sit through part 1, part 2 is the pay off, relatively speaking.

Atlas Shrugged on IMDb

Atlas Shrugged part 1 (2011)

Do you remember reading this book? I bet you don't. I am one of the seven people in America that read this book of their own free will, by which I mean not as part of class requirement for university or to get in with the hot girls at the Young Republicans meetings. Let's be honest, most of those people didn't read it either. But I did. You see there used to be a time where I believed that once you started a book (or a movie or television show) that you had to finish it based on the notion that starting it was some type of social contract whereby the reader vows to finish the book at any and all cost and the writer agrees to write a book that is worth finishing. I didn't figure out until I was in my late 30s that many writers and even more readers were failing to hold up their end of the deal. If the book sucked from the reader's perspective, there was a clause in the contract that allowed you to complain about the quality of the writing, citing in detail with examples if so desired passages which utterly failed. By virtue of the social contract between Ayn Rand and myself I retain the right to any and all criticisms of the novel, Atlas Shrugged. First of all, it's longer than the Fountainhead which was plenty long enough, thank you very much. It's also downright pastoral in places describing what you see out the train window - reminding me on more than one occasion of the great Russian writers but without any of the interpersonal drama that at least makes those books interesting. Do we even want to go into the politics or gender issues? At least on the latter it was better than the Fountainhead, in Atlas Shrugged a woman could run a company and be subservient to a man instead of just being subservient to men. Okay, you really want politics? I don't think you can handle the politics, but I'll toss a little your way. The book is not as dense as the Fountainhead in this area, not that it was terribly dense. This book is the pinnacle of Libertarianism, wherein is put forth the notion that every person would be allowed to earn what he is worth, which he does by working hard. Oh, and I guess one or two women should get paid too, at least until they get married and can live on what their husband is earning. While the man is working hard and being fairly compensated the government should keep it's hands off his money. Period. There should be no taxes, regulations or required deductions, no exceptions. So, what about the people who can't provide for themselves? If they are unlucky enough not to have a man in their family that can help them out, never fear, because the ultra-capitalists are not immoral - they will give nicely to charity if asked. Rand is so clear in this book writing about politicians - there are no good ones. Thee is nothing that the government does which can be achieved by unfettered ultra-capitalists work in to let the market take care of itself. I must mention that Rand's idea of the ultra-capitalist (my term not hers) are self-made men who are captains of industry, and everyone striving to become these things. They make the best product they can, provide the best service they can, because it is a direct reflection upon their personal character - shoddy work or product equals shoddy character. The left is not very fond of Rand's works, but the right is very fond. The problem I see with this is that if they truly believe in her philosophy (google this and see who claims to be devout believers in her ideals) they will not go into government because all politicians, nor matter how well intentioned must at some point compromise their principles and therefore are not being the best capitalist they can be, and I do mean any compromise at all, not just with opponents. Not to mention that as a politician you take money from others whether they want you to or not, whether or not you are providing a service they want - this would be taxes. Few of the business people on the right could truly be for Rand's ideals because you are morally obligated to succeed or fail based on your own virtues - you can not take a loan or subsidy. Period. I think in some ways Rand and Marx are a lot closer than anyone would like to admit - while Marx thought the oppressed worker would rise up to overthrow the decadent and worthless bourgeoisie, Rand thought that the true captains of industry would rise up and overthrow the decadent and worthless bourgeoisie - same goals, just from the other end of the field.
I realize that no one is even reading at this point because Rand's long-windedness has inspired a bit of my own, but I feel obligated to at least give my impressions of the film.
The first thing you will notice in this film is the acting. It is truly mediocre at best. Every character is being played uni-dimensionally. I find it impossible to get emotionally involved with cardboard cut-outs. Some of the acting isn't mediocre, it's just downright bad and looks and sounds like the actor is reading off a cue card. Some of this is due to the source material - Rand's characters live in a black and white world with very clearly drawn lines. But the screenwriter and the director can still make that seem interesting.
They've updated the story in a few respects to make it reflect modern trends and to be set in the near-future. I don't mind this at all. I do think it is important to mention that the film's makers do not point the finger at one political party, and in fact it's implied that the problems facing the nation have been going on for some time which implicates both parties, but party politics are only implied at best as they really are sticking to the idea that all politicians are sanctimonious demagogues looking to cheat hard-working people out of their money. Kudos to them for staying on point.
Acting aside, because a good film with bad acting is still tolerable, this isn't a good film. I have mentioned it in this blog before, the one sin of film-making, whether it be for the small screen or the large screen is that you can not be boring. You can make me laugh, make me cry, make me howl with anger, but you can not let me fall asleep or change to something else.
Not a show stopper like the issue above, but just downright em brassing in this day and age, you can not use sub-par visual effects and expect to be taken seriously. You can be cheesy for comedic effect, but even that can not just be bad. There are several scenes of the train making it's maiden voyage on Rearden Steel rail lines that look horrible by having the train look crisp even though the scenery is not so sharp. And even bigger, the train traveling through shadowed areas but the shadows never falling on the train. There is one stretch along a waterway where both of these problems coincide, and then the train traveling right to left across the screen moves up a pixel while the backdrop stays still - I don't mean a bump in the track, I mean the whole train moves up a pixel for what must be two dozen frames and then moves back down. How sloppy.

Atlas Shrugged on IMDb

The Road to the Avengers: The Incredible Hulk (2008)

I feel I must start with full disclosure, I liked the  Eric Bana Hulk movie. I thought they took the story and humanized the Hulk as well as giving him an interesting villain to battle which had nothing to do with the comic books. Normally, that's the kind of thing that would piss me off, but I've never been a fan of the Hulk comics so I didn't mind if they strayed away from them. I was also a fan of the 80s Hulk television show and watched it and the live action Spiderman movies every chance I got. It's okay that they were cheesy because I was just a dumb kid and didn't know any better. When I learned that they were making this movie, I learned at the same time that Ed Norton was replacing Eric Bana and that they were going to reboot the story. I was skeptical about why they would need to reboot a movie that I thought was pretty good. I don't know how the first one did at the box office, but I thought pretty well since they were immediately talking about a sequel. At first I thought it might be a money issue, but I can't imagine that Norton made less than Bana for their respective Hulk films. Throw in the other big names that started getting attached to the sequel and I knew something was up, just not what. Then the rumors started that based on the success of the X-Men, Spiderman and Iron Man movies that they were looking to put out an Avengers movie. I could see at once the wisdom of leading off with Iron Man, but the Hulk, no matter who was starring in it would not have been my choice to promote the Avenger's Line. I would have gone with Captain America and then a movie about Dr. Henry Pym in anyone of his heroic guises along with his wife in one of her guises, or was there only one as the Wasp?
This all sounds like I am leading up to saying that I hated this movie, but I didn't. On the contrary, I thought it was quite good. William Hurt was great as General "Thunderbolt" Ross. He was the blustery kind of General that expected to everyone do everything his way whether under his command or not. Liv Tyler's Betty Ross was the weak point but I thought she did an adequate job. Actually, I can' think of anyone who could have done better with the lines she was given and the way that she was portrayed in her professional capacity, where she was made to look like a sidekcik at best. Had their been more in the role, they would have needed a better actor. I don't know anything about the comic book version of the Abomination other than what he looks like and that he's a gamma-irradiated freak. I thought Tim Roth's portrayal of Emil Brodsky was appealing.
What I really paid attention to this time around, it being my second full time through the film, were the small details. There are several references to S.H.I.E.L.D. before the little Tony Stark cameo at the end. It will be interesting to see how the other 3 movies that precede the Avengers show the presence of S.H.I.E.L.D. The first Iron Man movie is literally crawling with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. I'm guessing upon rewatch of Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America I'll quite a few as well.

The Incredible Hulk on IMDb

A question for Mr. Dylan

Dear Mr. Dylan,

How, exactly, does one win the war after losing every battle?

Sincerely,

Me

G.I. Joe: Retalliation (2013)

I admit that I had been looking forward to this movie. You could almost say that the first G.I. Joe movie (and the Transformers movies) was a guilty pleasure, except I don't feel that guilty about it. They did not remake the cartoons I watched as a kid, nor the comic books I read. But let's be completely honest here, those cartoons and comic books served the sole purpose of selling more toys. Marvel worked a little bit on trying to make the Autobots and Decepticons fit into their universe, mostly with a mini series that featured them and G.I. Joe and Cobra with a small part, little more than a cameo really, by Spiderman. The G.I. Joe comic at least had some mini series spin-offs and developed some story lines far away from what the cartoon did, however they were obligated to throw in at least some of the new characters and contraptions whenever Hasbro released another batch. They mostly provided simple stories for us kids to act with our toys if we had right ones. Present company included. I've got to say that I personally, when left to myself, i.e. not playing with my dollies with my friends, saw G.I. Joe teaming up with the Rebel Alliance to fight the evil Empire which had joined forces with Cobra because those generic Cobra soldiers looked a lot like the Bespin guards who we all know are Stormtrooper wanna-bes. Then legos would get involved to make fortifications quickly followed by the Transformers and some other robot toys, as mechs to help their sides do battle. But, eventually they all joined forces to battle He-Man and his posse. He-Man even though vastly outnumbered would lead his giant troops to victory, only to appear to be thwarted by the Warlord (from DC comics) who lead forces including Hercules who were the same size as the He-Man figures, but they would join forces at the crucial moment and the Star Wars/Transformers/G.I. Joe army would be defeated with the rare exception when the Justic League of America would show up to fight the giants. But mostly I built defenses and little vehicles to prepare for the epic climax.
The first movie was a sci-fi action film with some surprisingly strong characters. This time around the sci-fi is pretty much dropped. Oh, it's there, but is secondary at best. What has replaced the sci-fi part is a ninja part, or more correctly, G.I. Joe seems to be part of a ninja movie.The character building has been completely replaced by more ninja action
With that being said, it's not a very good sequel, but it is a decent movie. Aside from a very small number of characters, it's new folks all the way around. Don't they know that the new toys were always fun because you integrated them with the old toys, not replace the old toys?  I guess not.
I had heard before the first one came out that there was a planned trilogy. I wonder if those plans still exist or if two and three got pushed together. They totally leave the end open for more, but the story arc seems to be pretty well wrapped up. I guess I'll have to just wait and see.

G.I. Joe: Retalliation on IMDb