Calling all Readers of Watch It

As I'm sure you've noticed I've been neglecting this blog for some time now. Without going into too much detail I'm simply too busy.

I would like to save Watch It from dying and at least keep it on life support until later this year when I have some free time again and can go back to writing reviews. So I have a request for all of you, would you consider writing a guest review? I will publish it unedited.

Review any movie you want, old, new, good, bad, a list of some sort (I love lists)... anything goes. Feel free to use my rating system or one of your own.

Send your reviews to davecoutts@yahoo.ca

Hope to hear from some of you soon.

Tony Tanti

The X Files: I Want to Believe - $1

I'll make this short, this movie sucked.

I used to love the X Files TV show and it's previous movie incarnation was quite good too. This movie just felt like the most boring X Files episode I've ever seen. The plot was simple, the characters were flat and had no chemistry, there was nothing frightening or creepy, no aliens, no conspiracies... what the heck was this piece of crap?

This should have gone straight to video.

I put The X Files: I Want to Believe on my 'Please Don't Ever Watch It' list and give it a value of $1. The dollar is for Amanda Peet, no movie with her will ever get a 0 from me.

The Incredible Hulk - $6

I didn't mind Ang Lee's Hulk (2003), it was interesting and worth watching if only for the unique way it was made. For all the comic book movies out there these days, Lee's version was the closest any movie has come to the feel of a comic.

This new incarnation of The Incredible Hulk is a much more typical comic adaptation movie. Lots of action, explosions and CGI. Interestingly neither Hulk movie has made much money at the box office and I have some theories there. Ang Lee's Hulk was too different for your typical comic movie fan and this one, while a continuation of the first, was not really a sequel either so the interest level wasn't there. There was some confusion when it came out as to whether it was another remake of the first one from only a few years earlier or if it was a sequel. It really wasn't either. Rest assured, both Hulk movies are far superior to Spider Man 3.

The Incredible Hulk begins with Bruce Banner living in a very poor area in South America and working at a drink factory. He is of course hiding out from the military that created his alter ego, the Hulk, as he attempts to find a cure. Once day in an innocent factory accident a drop of Banner's blood falls into one of the drinks. Weeks later a man dies from the same kind of radiation poisoning that created the Hulk and the military finally knows where to look for Banner.

The rest of the story revolves around Banner finding Betty Ross, the woman he loved and left behind when he went into hiding. When he finds her she helps him hide and look for answers and a cure to his condition. There is also a member of the special forces team trying to capture the Hulk who voluntarily undergoes procedures to give him similar powers as the Hulk, that being the ability to transform into a monstrous like thing with super strength. His procedure goes wrong of course and he turns in the Abomination. In an ironic twist the very military trying to capture Banner/Hulk have to turn to him in the end to help stop Abomination.

Though it's predictable and somewhat formulaic, I'm recommending The Incredible Hulk. Ed Norton turns out to be a very good Bruce Banner and Liv Tyler is actually pretty convincing as Betty Ross. William Hurt is, as usual, fantastic playing Gen. Thaddeus Ross, the man in charge of the experimental program which made Banner become the Hulk. He also happens to be Betty Ross' Father, insert drama here.

The Incredible Hulk manages to be intriguing and finds a way to further the Hulk story without truly being a sequel to the 2003 movie. The CGI is good, as it always is when more than 100 million dollars is spent, but more importantly there is actually some character development and a bit of a story told here.

I'm putting The Incredible Hulk on my 'Watch It' list and giving it a value of $6.

Two Quick 'Don't Watch It' Reviews

Street Kings - $1

This predictable action movie tried way too hard to be epic and ended up simply being not very good. Needlessly overdone violence and terrible dialogue dominate this story about cops who break the rules to get the bad guys.

Despite having a few actors in it that I like I'm saying you should skip this one, it's on the 'Don't Watch It' list and gets a value of $1.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - $4

Ok, full disclosure, I almost recommended this one. I grew up loving the Indiana Jones movies and really Lucas and Spielberg got a lot right with this newest incarnation of Indy. There was goofy dialogue and unrealistic action galore but really, those things were in the other classic movies as well. Harrison Ford is way too old to be doing this but at the same time the movie acknowledges and pokes fun at his age instead of trying to pretend he's still in his prime.

So while Indy 4 could have been a lot worse, it still wasn't good. I never felt the darkness and fear of the enemy that was prevalent in the old Indy movies. I never once worried that Indy was in any danger or that anything bad was going to happen to him. It was all just a little too simple.

Still, if you like Indiana Jones and you want a brainless and fun movie night, you'll have a good time with the Crystal Skull.

It's on my 'Don't Watch It' list though and I'm giving it a rating of $4.

Twin Peaks - $9

I don't want to say too much about Twin Peaks yet because I'm just finishing season 1 tonight but so far it has been just about the most quirky, creepy, funny and entertaining TV I've ever watched.

Twin Peaks centers around Agent Cooper, who has to be one of the best TV characters of all time. He's an FBI agent visiting the small town of Twin Peaks to investigate a murder. He's weird and eccentric but smart and strong at the same time. Obsessed with good coffee and finding the meaning of his dreams, Cooper would be dismissed as unstable if he weren't right so often. The picture above is from my favorite scene so far, it's a dream Cooper has and it's better seen than described, but essentially the murdered girl and a little person talk to him in voices that sound as if they've been recorded backwards and played back forward.

This is just good television.

The characters in Twin Peaks are all either crazy, mysterious or solid every day people. As weird as the show is it might be a pretty accurate portrayal of a normal town.

I can't wait to finish watching it and I highly recommend you see it if you never have. I give it a value of $9 and it's obviously on the 'Watch It' list.