Guillermo del Toro's 2nd attempt to bring Mike Mignola's cult comic book icon Hellboy into the main stream is a huge success.
An epic plot is the cornerstone of this films prosperity. Drawing on the acclaim of del Toro's Pans Labyrinth, Guillermo's screenplay takes Mignola's creation and explodes him into the public conscious. As the catch phrase states "There are things that go bump in the night, we bump back!" The plot is interwoven with what seems to be a typical man vs Mother earth. Instead of a docile mother earth we have the privilege of seeing monsters, elves & even giant plant Gods doing her bidding and reigning terror upon the empty human shells that have caused so much damage to our planet.
Visually, watching the film is almost like an extension of  Pan's labyrinth. With each opportunity to visualize and create a "monster" Del Toro does not hold back, from the deadly tooth faeries to the smorgeshborg of freaks in "Troll alley" located under the Brooklyn bridge.
The sounds of the creatures, explosions & dialogue are so crisp (granted I watched in Dolby True HD 7.1) that one could hear each nibble from the tooth fairies as they ground bone & tooth like a root canal operation.
Selma Blair takes her role of Liz Sherman to a whole new level. Less teen angst, more pissed off, protective & Territorial. Like a girlfriend of a demon should be,
Jeffery Tambor reprises his role as the "establishment" fiqure Tom Manning. New Character German disembodied Johann Krauss is voiced by the Family Guy Creator Seth MCfarlen and adds more than enough comedic value to the role.
Ron Perlman & Doug Jones should continue to make movies together, they obviously prove that they could portray two love scorned men  as easily as they play two love scorned "Monsters" look for a great duet by these two excellent conveyors of their art.
When all is said & done and done some more Hellboy 2 is one of the best ever in the relatively new sub genre of comic book films. Having a Academy Award nominated director never hurts.

Michael Bay's reboot of my beloved toy franchise misses the mark in every aspect except for the Special effects/action sequences. The dialogue is corny, not corny good but corny bad. The plot is much less an origin story and much more a excuse to blow up as much stuff as possible.
The cast does have it?s moments. Upstart Shia LaBeouf  takes screenwriter Roberto Orci?s (Zena warrior Princess!) cheesy dialogue and almost makes it funny.  Megan Fox is the 2nd hottest woman on the planet so she gets a pass. The one shinning moment is the introduction of Agent Simmons played perfectly by John Turturro (A steady player in the Coen Brothers movie game). Turturro knows how to take a ridiculous subject matter and make it his own almost but not quite winking at the cameras. It is not veteran Actors Kevin Dunn & Julie White?s fault that ?their? main scene is the worst in this film. The old robots are outside and hiding from the parents inside, should never be used again in any movie ever. Seriously I wanted to kill my self every time an Autobot shushed the other.

Visually this movie has Michael Bay?s imprint all over it. Starting with the visually stunning desert scenes (Not dessert) where the full on military combat looks current and plausible and ending with one of the best ?in the city? smash fests! The palette is almost unrecognizable due to the stark colors that are given off by the Title characters. If Bay could of went the way of his previous block busters ala the Island & Armageddon and had a consistent color palette the film would have had more fluidity.

Transformers may be the best example of High resolution digital audio to date. From the small chirping Wall E esque sounds of the Air Force One stow away to the almost organic sound of the Titans as they change forms.

If you are looking for a film that requires you to pay attention and formulate opinions and interpretations don?t waste your time with this film. If you are a kid that played with these strange and wonderful toys and want to see explosions & Megan Fox fixing a car then this is your movie.

Robert Rodriguez's zombie/epidemic movie sticks to its genre and then adds the flavor to the film that Troublemaker studios is known for.

Rose McGowan plays the lead role as Cherry. A go-go dancer who is constantly on the Go Go. She shines in every way, from her humor to her down right Bathsheba like sexiness. The rest of the cast is a juxtaposition of bit actors and stars in the making. Josh Brolin plays the most evil husband alive, while Freddy Rodriguez comes across as the most bad ass 5? 2? guy that ever lived. There are too many awesome performances to mention them all but I will mention two more?.Fergies Boobs! Be still my road side peeping tom heart!

The films visuals are stunning. The blood is slightly over exaggerated ala kill bill, but it fits well with the films homage to GrindHouse cinema. I have one bone of contention with one of my favorite modern day directors, the squiggly worn film lines & hairs that populate the screen. If this method was used to tell a flashback or was only used in one location the aforementioned bone would be out of contention.

The films sound is great; the music is vintage Troublemaker and is performed mostly by the films talented director. Each decapitation, loss of limb & gun shot sounds so visceral that you almost forget that the over the top violence is supposed to be comical not disturbing.

With subject matter like Infidelity, rape, amputation, consensual sex & violence galore (severed balls in a JAR!!!) most people should not give this film a chance. But if you are a sick & twisted film buff that has enjoyed such films as Sin City, Slither & 28 days later, this movie is for you.

22 minutes of fascinating fun courtesy of Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, Paul Giamatti, the brother from Frasier & superstar Molly Shannon!

Mike Mingola is the closest thing we as a literary starved America has to a Progressive modern Edgar Allen Poe. His stories & characters transport us to a place and time that is recognizable but have an underlying taste of mysticism, macabre & lore.

The 2-D art is a mimicry of Mignola?s Art style that he uses when he is creating his aforementioned Hellboy comic book. Stark blacks, detailed backgrounds and great story telling translate well to the small screen. The colors are congruent throughout and the action scenes have a great sense of movement (something that is rare with 2-D art)

The voice actors are great in this short animated film, I wonder how Mignola and his production crew convinced seasoned Actors Giamatti, Peirce & Shannon to partake in this Civil War error story? Where they fans of his eclectic work or did some one owe someone else a favor?

Mignola says in the commentary that this is the 1st and last Screw-On head. To bad it was fun but it only lasted 22 minutes. Hey Mike, here is an idea, ala Grindhouse & Tropic Thunder make ?faux? trailers to run before your next Hellboy endeavor they could include the Amazing Screw-On head.

From the opening credits one knows that this franchise should be around for another 20+ years. Humor that can parody any current or past event, person or thing with such fervor is a God send. David Silverman veteran Simpsons TV show director (23 episodes) has the unenviable task of directing this first Simpsons feature length film. With so many characters and expectations, his vision does not disappoint and was obviously a labor of love.
 
As with all epic comedies the STORY is paramount. Once again Homer has turned people against him with his idiotic actions, this time it is the whole of Springfield that has turned on our protagonist (I use that term very lightly). Using Homers environmental faux paux as a launching pad creators Brooks & Groening weave a ridiculous story that spans the Country and reveals America's 1st Austrian born President Who was elected to lead not read.
 
Seeing the whole of Springfield in stunning HD wide screen may make subsequent Sunday evenings a little less special. The colors (especially the primary ones) jump of the screen like a substrate 3-D trick & the wide screen lends well to the films 2nd act which takes place in Gov. Palin's maverick state.
 
The amount of voice talent needed for a feature length movie is usually incredibly challenging, this seems to be the one area where the TV to Film transition was status Quo. Dan Castellaneta, Hank Azaria & Harry Shearer once again do the bulk of the voices (over 50) in the 87 minute masterpiece.
 
Laughs are cheap, socially relevant and extremely irreverent, but with enough double entendre to fool a child (which is difficult to do in the age of ultra irreverence such as South Park, the Family Guy & Drawn Together) Here is hoping we don't have to wait another 18 years for the sequel to go into production.

Frank W. Abagnale Jr. is a fascinating choice for the Spielberg Biopic.
Spielberg's most famous Biopic is most undoubtedly Schindler's List, but aside from this Spielberg seems to be more comfortable making movies about fictional characters or building a story around history, ala Saving Ryan's Privates. His contemporaries use such desperate & riveting subjects in their Biopics. Catch me if you can comes across as slow and boring. At least compared to Scorsese's Jake La Motta & Henry Hill, from Raging Bull & Goodfellas respectively.The only biopic comparison that I can draw from multiple viewings of CMIYC is the highly acclaimed Ed Wood directed by Tim Burton. Each have a character development centric purpose, followed up by great lead performances in their 3rd and final acts. Both meander and may bore some viewers who don't have an overwhelming interest in a famous con man and/or a cross dressing film maker (plan 9 from outer space and more camp classics).

Leonardo DiCaprio is near perfect as Frank. His inflated sense of intelligence and self worth propel him on a journey that lets him live the lives of societies elite. Never staying in character or location for too long, we as the viewer are able to admire DiCaprio's range. Not since his performance in The Basketball Diaries have I wholeheartedly believed one of his characters desperation. But alas young Leonardo tricked me. His stellar & desperate performance in France, is nothing but a ruse, not only to Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) but to us the viewer as well. The supporting cast is excellent Hanks, Martin Sheen, Amy Adams, & Brolin all do their part to move this meandering story along. Of course the best performance is Walkens, Frank Abagnale Sr. During the mental breakdowns of a delusional father, I never once saw Walken as the guy from the Fat Boy Slim video.

It is difficult to surmise if Spielberg consciously made CMIYC a drab looking film. Drab as it is the angles and closeups make it seem like a dialogue heavy Taratino film sans the quick cuts. The soundtrack moves the story along as we traverse decades, but it is difficult to tell if the score is well done or not because it is so nondescript.

The depth the actors show coupled with a interesting choice of subject matter make this film a must see.

German director Werner Herzog takes us on the harrowing adventure of Dieter a US pilot on a secret mission to Laos just before America?s involvement in the Vietnam War. The grit and grime of not only the Prison Camp but the Jungle is one of the main aspects of truth in this exciting film. Being filmed in Thailand adds to the films authenticity.

The aforementioned Dieter is played by Batman?s very own Christian Bale, who obviously has a penchant for loosing weight in the preparation of a film role (see the Machinist). Bale comes across as the most positive person the world has ever seen, and this at first is annoying, but as his character is revealed Dieter endures himself to us as the audience and his fellow captives. Fellow detainee Duane played coy & brilliantly by Comedic actor Steve Zahn is the films steady source of realism. When Bale?s character is concocting brilliant escape themes, Duane is quietly studying unlike the boisterous and insane Gene, played by Indie actor extraordinaire Jeremy Davies.

The look and Feel of the film is so un-movie like, it takes some getting used to, the pace is slow the camera moves are deliberate and the action seems to be taking place mostly off camera. In my opinion this method guides the viewer along as a participant rather than a viewer. The dialogue in this film is front and center and no amount of background noise ever encroaches on the most important part of this film- the speaking parts of brilliant actors.

The ending may throw an introspective viewer and may even illicit a ?BullShit!? to be screamed out loud, but upon viewing the films special feature documentary I was convinced that Dieter was portrayed fairly both at the beginning, middle and end of this masterpiece.