The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

I need to catch a plane in about 5 hours, but I wanted to make sure you all got this message.

Kick-Ass is being marketed as a kind of slacker action-comedy take on the superhero flick, and while it certainly contains those elements, Matthew Vaughn effortlessly, almost invisibly, adds layers of depth and heavy personal drama. Like Tarantino’s best work, Vaughn damns the consequences and goes for broke. The tone of this film is spot-on from start to finish.

A lot has been said about Chloë Moretz, who steals the spotlight from her co-stars as Hit-Girl. About halfway into the film, we learn just what the director was going for and understand completely why she is who she is. It's not just some flash-in-the-pan, "look how cool this is" kind of thing. She’s one of those rare characters that makes going to the movies worthwhile.

Each of the film’s fight scenes has its own energy and look, and one of them is just about heart-stopping. It’s interesting that so little of the action takes place early in the film, but Vaughn builds up to the visceral pay-off through his characters. Once we’re on board with them, the real fun begins.

So I implore you to run, don't walk, to your local multiplex and SEE THIS MOVIE. This is the kind of movie that simply demands to be seen in a theater on opening night. I don't know if I'll see a better movie this year, and it certainly and without question is the Greatest. Superhero. Movie. Ever.

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Aliens? Us?
Is this one of your Earth "jokes?"

Hmmm, interesting.

I can honestly I wasn't too hyped for this initially. I'm generally not a fan of comedies, spoofs or parodies.

But your review has me reconsidering.

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Okay, I just got back from seeing it.

I am in total agreement with IamJacksUserID's first post. Well, okay I don't know if I can say that it's the greatest superhero movie ever, but it's sure as Hell the best movie I've seen in a really long time.

Allot of films that I've gone to see recently have left me with either, 'it sucked, it was okay, or it was pretty good'.

Kick-ass?

It was AWESOME!

And on a similar note I highly recommend 'DEFENDOR' starring Woody Harrelson. It is similar in allot of ways, just with a much smaller budget.

In regards to both films I think the trailers are marketing the films improperly and going about it all wrong. Yes both films have their comedic moments, but are overall quite serious, dramatic and very moving.

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Okay, I'm giving everyone one more weekend to GO SEE THIS MOVIE and tell us what you think. Surely those of you not brave enough to go last Friday will be over your Marathon hangover by now...

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Aliens? Us?
Is this one of your Earth "jokes?"

I've seen it twice now, and will be going to see it for a third time today.

I'm amazed at the seemingly 50/50 love hate split this film has generated, and how scary the people are on both sides.

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Well, considering that the 50% of folks that love KICK are often the same folks that loved that piece of cinematic rot called INGLORIOUS BASTERDS last year........I probably won't bother with KICK.

One thing that got me right in the trailer is that they apparently set up a premise with these being 'normal kids' with 'no superpowers' and then they show them flying through the air in CGI.

Uh, that's called KICKing your own premise in the ASS.........

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Long Live the Orson Welles Cinemas

Actually, Kick-Ass himself has no powers or special training. Hit Girl has been trained for this practically since birth.

You're missing the point. It's the flying wire and cgi aided special effects I'm talking about. Sure, I know it looks "cool", but, it belies the gap between holding to your theme and giving in to craven commercial instincts.

What intrigued me early on were the descriptions that came from Comic Con that this was a 'realistic' comic book movie in which ordinary folks became superheroes using their wits and what physical skills they could muster.

But, the trailer was the first clue that the filmmakers gave in to the almighty twin churches of the box office and the school of cool. Then the reviews from NON-fanboys reinforced that impression from the trailers. @##$ reality! If it looks cool it'll make more money. Pure and simple.

Having the girl go through tactical training does not make her able to fly through the air and defy the laws of physics.

P.S. A couple of pre-emptives:

1. No, I don't expect a comic book movie to be realistic. But, if it's part of your premise , then, I do hold it to a higher standard.

2. The 50-50 split factors in a high positive among fanboys.Take out the fanboys, and the reviews haven't been so great.

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Long Live the Orson Welles Cinemas

1. The film has never advertised itself as being "realistic," so if that is what you were assuming, then that is your problem. If you'll notice, not once in my review did I mention how "cool" anything looked. The special effects and fight scenes are an integral part of the story told by the film.

2. I posted a review on this site because I thoroughly enjoyed the film and feel that other like-minded individuals would appreciate it like I do. I really don't give a rat's behind what other critics may say, but as far as I know there is no "fanboy" sub-category for the critics whose opinions are tracked on sites such as Rotten Tomatoes and MetaCritic, so it's not possible to "take out" those opinions on a film that has had generally favorable reviews.

I don't know how you expect your argument against the film to hold any merit until you have seen it. Right now your opinions are based totally on false assumptions and anti-fanboy snobbery. Heck, Mecha74 thought it was a parody, so obviously the pre-release buzz has been all over the place, which may account for the hugely underestimated opening weekend box office grosses which even the "fanboys" couldn't save.

If you don't want to see the movie, then that's your loss. Knowing how inflexible you are about these things, I don't think you would enjoy it anyway.

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Aliens? Us?
Is this one of your Earth "jokes?"

Miller the comics creator and Vaughn the director both claimed realism in the hype surrounding the release. See below. (and there are a number more Miller/Vaughn quotes like these, not to mention dozens of fanboy reviews that claim realism)

Believe me, I am hesitant to wade in on a film I haven't seen. I really was tempted to go last weekend. But, seeing the clips and reading the non-fanboy reviews (it ain't hard to dissect the fanboy vote on rotten tomatoes most of the time), I paused. Sorry, but the filmmakers do want it both ways - to be taken seriously (realistically) AND to have their cool CGI wire-sfx stunts. Like Tarantino, this bowing to the altar of cool turns me off.

BAD LIEUTENANT, THE INFORMANT! and IN THE LOOP were all over the top satires that came out last year. Enjoyed them all tremendously. But, what sets them apart from the KICK ASS/Tarantino stuff is that they meld form with their themes.

""Kick-Ass" co-creator Mark Millar claimed that unlike other stories, where there had "never been a superhero comic set in the real world," he and John Romita Jr. were "now showing superheroes as real people for the first time."" [i]


http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/02/2 ... -kick-ass/


[i]For Vaughn, the main appeal of “Kick-Ass” was in taking familiar comic-book tropes and placing them in a realistic setting, then standing back to see what happened.
“There isn’t a single thing in this movie that couldn’t happen in real life,” Vaughn says. “That was my rule. All the costumes were made of materials that could be bought on the Internet. Big Daddy’s costume is made up of French riot-police gear. When it came to Hit-Girl, I told the fight choreographers I wasn’t interested in going too over-the-top. With a few things she does, they said, ‘Look, there’s only a one-in-a-thousand chance this could actually happen if we did it for real.’ But that was good enough for me, because there is still some reality to it.”
The strict adherence to realism inevitably drew an R-rating, because teenagers swear, they occasionally do drugs and if they leaped off a roof wearing a cape and thinking they could fly, they would plummet and land in a bloody heap.
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/04/14/18 ... rhero.html
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Long Live the Orson Welles Cinemas