Mud Songs

The X-Files: I Want To Believe is a made-for-TV special given a theatrical release. That’s my guess, anyway. It’s not entirely unwatchable, but the writing is silly, ridiculous and lazy, especially the ending which just sort of happens and then disappears without much explanation. There’s a short epilogue about the main characters, but does anyone care? I don’t think so. Perhaps most of the original fans of the show, having grown up over the years, will see this movie and realize that the TV show was never really that good anyway.

If you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen all there is worth seeing in this movie. Any 3 minutes of Flight of the Conchords has 10 times more laughs than Tropic Thunder. Normally I’d stay clear of anything with Ben Stiller’s name on it (he wrote and directed this one), but I heard good things about Robert Downey Jr. playing a black guy that made me think, “Okay, maybe it’s alright.” But it’s not. I admit I laughed out loud maybe 3 times after some of Downey’s lines, but the rest of it was like every other Ben Stiller so-called comedy: a waste of time. Movie goers must be pretty hard up for laughs if this is what passes for comedy.

Journey to the Center of the Earth (3-D) is a theme park ride for kids. The 3-D effects are disorienting. It’s difficult to focus on objects in the foreground when objects in the background are flying all over the place. Great for kids. I love Jules Verne’s original novel. It was fun to see certain scenes from the book come to life — the movie is faithful to the geography of some of the main scenes from the book. But otherwise, for adults, this is a lame night at the movies.

Although it can’t help but fall into comic book territory from time to time, The Dark Knight doesn’t feel like any super hero movie I’ve ever seen. It is a mean and twisted Batman movie made for adults. It may not be an emotionally engaging film (who cares if Batman’s girlfriend gets killed?), but the storyline keeps you on edge the whole time — because of Heath Ledger as the Joker (he’s likely to get a posthumous Academy Award for his performance). Ledger establishes his character within seconds of appearing on screen — and it’s powerful. By the time his first scene is over, everybody knows who and what the Joker is all about: he’s clever, calculating and 100% homicidal, so look out. Villains don’t get much better than this. There are also plenty of explosions, chase scenes and other neat stuff. I’m not a fan of any of the previous Batman movies, but I may see this one again before it leaves the theatres.

Hellboy II — Ron Pearlman wasting his talent in a lifeless pay-cheque comic book movie.