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Post by BlackCatWhiteCat on Jun 17, 2008 11:17:43 GMT -5
You know, I can emphathize with 'ol Bruce. No one likes me when I'm hungry, either.
It is only by the purest of flukes that I am sitting here right now writing this review. I had absolutely no plans to see this and was happy and secure in that knowledge. This was one of those movies that, had I been asked, I would have rather taken a rusty spoon to my eyes before being subjected to it. How do I know that I would prefer home surgery? Three words: The Hulk (2003). The memories, they hurt.
I watched The Hulk *shudder* 5 years ago I was young and naive. Flowers bloomed, birds sang, children laughed and played. Then my future husband decided we should watch every terrible movie that man had leashed upon the world. And not to give them the MSTie treatment, either. So, my friends, is love. I spent many nights in agony, watching some cinematic drivel, trying desperately to fall into the sweet release of sleep lest I begin searching the house for instruments with which to end it all. And then I married the man.
So now you know why it took something mighty special to go to see what I deemed The Hulk 2: Because You Haven't Suffered Enough. A mutual friend bought our tickets as thanks for having him over multiple times for dinner. I never say no to a free movie.
I never have and never will be a Hulk fan. I love Batman, Spiderman, X-men, all that...but not Hulk. Never was my thing. Given that, I was still able to enjoy this movie. I'm not saying it was a marvel (ha!) of dialogue and direction. I'm not saying it doesn't have the prerequisite flat jokes oddly placed in otherwise tense moments, or cookie cutter characters. What I will say is that they picked good actors to play these cookie cutters, the direction was decent, the scenery was beautiful and there were in fact funny moments. Also the Hulk didn't look like a huge pile of lime green snot like in That Other Movie. Oh and might I add how much I LOVE the actor's name that played the general? William Hurt? Yes, they will. They ALL will.
Casual Comic Book Movie goer, you'll like it. The plot is easy to follow. So much so that I, having no working knowledge of the Hulk's backstory, never felt confused or left out. I actually sat through the whole thing and didn't sneak my cell phone back on to check the time.
One beef I do have, though, is this: When are we going to get to a point in time where CGI fights don't give the audience vertigo?
Hopelessly Obsessed Comic Book Lover....from what I could tell from my husband and friend's reaction you won't be disappointed. Some reasons why, as told to me: The movie does justice to tying in lots of little and a couple of not so little things in the Hulk universe, including Stark. The introduction of his powers was done at appropriate times and in appropriate ways. The Hulk was not as ridiculously stupidly big and stupidly green like in the first one. I heard no complaints about it not being true to the source. As always there are a couple of cameos in there, which you probably expected anyway, but just so you know...they're there.
Oh, and he doesn't jump-fly across continents like some mutated flea with anger issues.
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Post by bladestarr on Jun 17, 2008 19:16:37 GMT -5
I sure as heck hope you're talking about the Mark Hamill live action movie and not the AWESOME anime series that the movie was based on!  |
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Post by BlackCatWhiteCat on Jun 17, 2008 20:54:59 GMT -5
I sure as heck hope you're talking about the Mark Hamill live action movie and not the AWESOME anime series that the movie was based on! Unfortunately I am. That AND its sequel. Excuse me while I go hate my life. |
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Post by bladestarr on Jun 17, 2008 21:08:23 GMT -5
Then go watch the first episode of the anime with the provided link. It will cleanse your SOUL. ;D
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Post by BlackCatWhiteCat on Jun 17, 2008 21:14:52 GMT -5
I'm all for anime, but.....I've been hurt. And the pain will be there for many years. There's a wall there, you know?  |
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Post by BlackCatWhiteCat on Jun 17, 2008 21:19:43 GMT -5
Hey...since this IS the review board and all....how'd I do? This is my first one and I'd appreciate some constructive criticism. Unless I happen to be a humanoid of pure awesome and this review is worthy of the Smithsonian.
Obviously it isn't, though, so any suggestions or otherwise?
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Post by bladestarr on Jun 17, 2008 21:23:02 GMT -5
It is very MRFHy..... but I'd probably balance more of the movie and less of the personal life stuff. MRFH is all about personal life in their reviews, but MOST of their reviews use the personal life stories to segway into the movie commentary, which usually takes up most of the review.
Think of this formula and it might look even more MRFHy: 40% Personal Life + 60% Movie. Yeah, that's basically the MRFH "formula". There are exceptions to this formula of course, but most reviews look something like that.
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Post by BlackCatWhiteCat on Jun 17, 2008 21:35:43 GMT -5
It is very MRFHy..... but I'd probably balance more of the movie and less of the personal life stuff. MRFH is all about personal life in their reviews, but MOST of their reviews use the personal life stories to segway into the movie commentary, which usually takes up most of the review. Think of this formula and it might look even more MRFHy: 40% Personal Life + 60% Movie. Yeah, that's basically the MRFH "formula". There are exceptions to this formula of course, but most reviews look something like that. Drat. I love to give tireless amounts of personal life info. Look through my posts and you'll notice a pattern. Favorite Gaming Experiences and Big Bang Theory come immediately to mind. Hm....so is there some sort of unspoken rule against doing the posting of personal life info? (I ask because I noticed a definite lack of PLI in other reader reviews). If I made it more like the 40-60 ratio would that be ok or would it then be like copying the MFRH format? I have debated tirelessly (over the past 10 hours, haha) about my personal life to movie pertinence ratio in this review. In the end I decided to leave at as is because, well...I really didn't think I could do much as far as plot and backstory because that'd be like writing a review of Spiderman and telling everyone what the story is behind that. On a site like this I was going for the assumption that it would be redundant to rehash the story. So in this case if I took out the PLI I would basically be left with a two-paragraph review. Am I wrong on this assumption? Should I retell a storyline in a movie such as this one? BUT I appreciate the criticism, especially since it calls attention to a worry that I already had, and look forward to your replies to the current inquiry.  |
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Post by bladestarr on Jun 17, 2008 21:41:50 GMT -5
There are no "rules" against personal info, just whatever you feel is "safe" to publish. As far as "copying the MRFH format", honestly this IS the Reader Reviews section. This is OUR section. We can choose to review any way that we want, and the others are just here to guide us and help us improve our writing. I treat this section as a continual "audition" for Mutant Reviewer status, so I TRY to make every review more and more like the ones I see everyday on the site. Why do I do this? Because I've submitted several applications, some which I thought were quite clever and inventive... and yet here I sit as a commoner like yourself. So I'm trying to change my writing style to match the site, in the hopes that it will increase my chances of "getting in".
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Post by BlackCatWhiteCat on Jun 17, 2008 21:52:07 GMT -5
Lol. Ah, to be one of the beautiful people! Anyway thanks again. I was curious as to whether or not it was looked down upon to write in a similar style to what the MFRHers do. Honestly one of the things that initially attracted me to this site is that very writing style, since it is much like my own. I feel a lot of times as if people don't "get" my writing. It seems too wordy at times, what with me putting so much personal info in and going off on tangents. One of my friends criticized me once for having to do so many drafts of my writing. That's what I love most about reading reviews here: To be among those of my own ilk. I will work on doing better with the ratio next time, maybe pick a movie that I could feel like I was actually informing the audience of something. Aside from giving vignettes about my silly experiences.  |
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Post by pfrsue on Jun 18, 2008 8:14:29 GMT -5
We have a formula? We have a . . . ratio?
Are you accusing us of . . . math?
Can I look at that wedding album again?
Out of all the mutants, I'd guess that I'm the most guilty of interjecting personal life/family related minutia into my reviews, but I've never really looked at it as formulaic. Certainly not intentionally so. Food for thought there. Have I become that predictable? Is that why I can't get a date?
Our goal as reviewers is basically to engage the reader with a conversational tone. Sort of like a couple of friends hanging around and shooting the breeze, if you will. There are any number of ways to do that, but the personal background is a nice way to segue into it.
I thought it was a pretty nifty review, Heather. Very engaging and fun.
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Post by bladestarr on Jun 18, 2008 10:26:13 GMT -5
Yes you do and yes I am. ;D My problem is that I've moved 800 miles AWAY from everyone I know, all my friends and family... so I basically no longer HAVE a personal life to use apart from the movies I see and video games I play....  |
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Post by BlackCatWhiteCat on Jun 18, 2008 11:01:52 GMT -5
We have a formula? We have a . . . ratio? Are you accusing us of . . . math? Can I look at that wedding album again? Out of all the mutants, I'd guess that I'm the most guilty of interjecting personal life/family related minutia into my reviews, but I've never really looked at it as formulaic. Certainly not intentionally so. Food for thought there. Have I become that predictable? Is that why I can't get a date? Our goal as reviewers is basically to engage the reader with a conversational tone. Sort of like a couple of friends hanging around and shooting the breeze, if you will. There are any number of ways to do that, but the personal background is a nice way to segue into it. I thought it was a pretty nifty review, Heather. Very engaging and fun. *Squees with excitiment* Of COURSE you can look at the wedding album again. I'm always happy to show pictures of when I was skinny and tan! Thank you very much for the compliment! I'm glad that it was engaging and not off-putting, like I feared. For those who have seen the movie....tell me you "get" that first line. I had my husband read the review. He, who had seen the movie just the day before, responded "Sure I get it. You are kinda scary when you're hungry." I gave him a minute-long stare, during which he squirmed uncomfortably, and said "No. Nevermind." See? There I go...injecting PLI again. |
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Post by Hucklebubba on Jun 18, 2008 11:56:27 GMT -5
I sure as heck hope you're talking about the Mark Hamill live action movie and not the AWESOME anime series that the movie was based on! Yeah, don't make Phil get all "Land of Confusion" on yo azz. You will most certainly be wondering where Superman is if that happens, believe me. . . . Okay, yeah, it's only funny when Sue does it. . . .and yet here I sit as a commoner like yourself. Hey, if it's any consolation, I don't quite feel justified in looking down my nose at you as of yet. I'm workin' on it, though! Heather; As for your concerns over whether or not there's a stricture on injection of life experiences: Man, I sure hope not. 'Cause if there is, I'm not gonna last long. A common gimmick for the reviews I've submitted thus far--that will likely remain prevalent in future reviews as well--is to open things up with a little short story about how I ended up watching the movie in question; kind of like what you did in this review. On that note; your writing style actually reminds me very much of my own, to the point that I'm feeling more than a little threatened. Please stop. Oh, and another thing that is completely tangential and has nothing to do with your review; I have a cousin whose wife is named Heather, and who also lives in California. This in itself is not so remarkable, but she also bears an eerie resemblance to you, both in appearance and manner. The fact that the two of you aren't exact duplicates has forced me to rule out my Robot Army theory (and that was my favorite one, too. . .), and fall back on that old reliable standby, Supersoldier Program. I'm getting ready to e-mail my cuz and warn him to keep a cool head around his wife, if he wants to keep his head at all. |
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Post by BlackCatWhiteCat on Jun 18, 2008 16:45:03 GMT -5
A common gimmick for the reviews I've submitted thus far--that will likely remain prevalent in future reviews as well--is to open things up with a little short story about how I ended up watching the movie in question; kind of like what you did in this review. On that note; your writing style actually reminds me very much of my own, to the point that I'm feeling more than a little threatened. Please stop. *wrings hands evilly* Yeeessssss............. I'm sure you have nothing to worry about. You're much funnier than I am, you are your own special Huckley person who was picked for special Mutanty reasons, and besides...I think they've got all they need. So yeah you're not goin' anywhere. For now..... OhaamuahahahahmuahahahAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm getting ready to e-mail my cuz and warn him to keep a cool head around his wife, if he wants to keep his head at all. And so should all men everywhere be warned. Especially if any of you make us watch The Guyver. Or, Heaven help you, The Guyver 2. |
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"If I'm going to be desensitized into a mindless stock animal, I may as well do it with a cushy ergonomic seat and magnificent THX-certified sound. -Kevin Murphy
