Arthur & Rango

Arthur

There wasn’t much that’s terribly original or special about Arthur. But I really liked it anyway. Russell Brand did a great job, pretty much playing himself, but he’s the best at it, and I find him and his fast quips entertaining. Helen Mirren shined as well. Maybe she’s too good an actress to be in movies like Arthur, but I’m glad she doesn’t think so, or at least didn’t let any thought like that stop her from being in it. There’s a great chemistry there with Brand, and it was able to provide for some really touching moments. Again, not terribly original or special, and definitely not perfect, but I was more than satisfied with it. I’d love to see more films with the Mirren/Brand tandem.

Also, Arthur makes me believe Brand could be a good fit doing something with the director of 500 Days of Summer. I don’t know if that would happen, with demand for Brand possibly having waned considerably--as Arthur likely underperformed at the box office--but maybe such “failure” will give Brand a sort of openness to seek out smaller budget films with filmmakers who shine in such films, allowing Brand to stretch out even more, dramatically.

Brand really does have a side of him that makes me believe he can go there and do it well. Certainly, his could be an interesting career to track, and I do hope that it is. I’d consider Arthur a good one on his resume.

Rango

I liked this. I fell asleep somewhere in the middle, but not really due to the film. It didn’t last long, and what I saw from that point until the end was pretty nice. I wish they had really were able to have Clint Eastwood work on this. But as it stands, it’s really good. The music was great. Liked the humor, and the animation was top notch.

On the Marvel Studios Flicks

My problem with the Marvel movies since the magnificent (--I know, I’m in the minority in this opinion--) Incredible Hulk is possibly boiled down easiest to one issue. That issue is editing. I was hyped for the Avengers movie after Iron Man, but there wasn’t a mention of it until the after-credit scene of that film. And then Incredible Hulk comes along, and instead of giving that film the Avengers-thing scene the post-credit treatment, the editor went ahead and made it the pre-credits rolling scene (the final scene of the film), when it obviously doesn’t end the film in the best way the way the scene before that one did (where Edward Norton’s eyes turn green and we cut to black).

Then Iron Man 2 comes out, and the whole movie is Avengers-things, basically. Thor makes about half of itself an Avengers thing, and then Captain America goes back to the way Hulk did it, with a scene with Samuel L. Jackson to close out the film, plus one with him as well post-credits, going into a teaser for the Avengers film.

So yeah, with the exception of Iron Man 2, and Thor, it’s pretty much editing. Also, maybe I would’ve been happier if, before we get a movie where everyone meets for the first time, there are movies where some meet each other first. Perhaps instead of Iron Man 2 and Thor being made into independent films of their own, they could’ve made that one movie, somehow, where they end up crossing paths, teaming up, kicking butt, etc. Maybe that’d make for one good film instead of the two okay ones we got.

I’m not sure I’m still hyped about The Avengers (and that probably means I’m not) now, because of my issues pointed to above, but I have at least a little bit of faith in the director, Joss Whedon. So I intend to at least rent the thing when it’s available.