Summer Movie Malady - Weeks 4 & 5

Clearing out the queue yet again.

The Incredible Hulk
Ang Lee's movie was better.  Yes, I'll say it again.  Ang Lee's movie was better.  The acting, the inspired motion capture animation of the director's own movements, the storytelling techniques.  Ang Lee's movie was better.  I don't care that there was more action, I don't care that Ed Norton lent more star power to the leading role of Bruce Banner, the first one was much better.  What was wrong with it?  Liv Tyler was decent, but no match for Jennifer Connolly.  William Hurt was good as always, but the gravitas of Sam Elliot made Thunderbolt Ross more vulnerable and human.  Tim Roth was an excellent villain, but I prefer my Emil Blonsky more Russian and my abomination more reptilian.  Yes, I'll say it again, Ang Lee's movie was better.

Overall Score: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Wall-E
Pixar continues its dominance of the computer generated animated feature.  It's sad that their success has relegated 2-dimensional hand-drawn animation to television, but their success has bred some of the most memorable films of the last decade and a half.  What makes them so amazing, however, is not their fish-out-of-water formula, but their dedication to quality character and artistic ingenuity.  Wall-E is an animated film unlike any other.  The introductory 30 minutes are devoid of any proper dialogue, the main character has a limited vocabulary, and action takes a backseat to beauty.  What's surprising is that it all works.  There is more pathos in Wall-E than in most of the year's dramas combined.  The amazing part remains that the entire audience (the majority of which included young children) was engrossed in the story.  Suffice it to say, I loved it, loved it, loved it.  Surprisingly romantic and socially relevant, the film does not pander nor talk down to the audience.  It's true to the heart of its story and even loaded with enough themes to even inspire the slightest bit of controversy.  The animated short, "Presto," an excellent introduction prior to beginning the film, was just an appetizer of what was to come, for that hour and a half running time, I was immersed. 

Overall Score: 4.5 out of 5 stars