Change Your Image
DrAmanda
Reviews
X-Men: Evolution (2000)
Enjoyable pure fun
You either hate it because you've been reading every single comic book since you were 5 and can't accept change or *gasp* adaptation, or you love it because you enjoy fun stories and characters, cheese, and good animation.
I never knew of the legendary comic book series, I never watched The original cartoon from 92 (?) I was a busy teenager. When I got to college, I watched the movie from 2000, and from 2003. I did some google research on the comics, became familiar with storylines, characters, etc. Then I found this cartoon on Cartoon Network, (my town doesn't have WB). And I enjoyed it for the same reasons I fell in love with the new movies.
They're good. They make these characters relatable, and as 'real' as you can get for a kiddie cartoon. There are no off the wall alien spaceships (yet, and I hope there never are.) All of the off the wall things that occured in virtually ALL comics in their enormously long lifespans are simply not present, and I find that refreshing. There are no alternate timelines, and alien attacks, no cloning of characters by the opposite team, no confusing crap. They took the essence of each character, their qualities, their personas, and took all of their 'history' and worked it into something not quite as far fetched. (Same goes for the movies).
And it works if you're not close minded. And it cuter than anything I've seen on tv in ages. Highly reccommended.
She Spies (2002)
random late late late night tv
One of the most grossly misunderstood genres of film and theatre is the SATIRE. This is a great satire. Unfortunately SATIRE rarely works on TV on a week by week basis. Which is probably why this was on at 3am on a Friday night. But it IS funny.
Love & Sex (2000)
Had promise, ended up just mildly enjoyable
The screenplay was witty and had a sense of true comedic timing.
The movie only showcases a bit of what the screenplay held.Valerie Breiman wrote a fantastic script, but her direction was somewhat lacking, and I felt that the actors did the best they could with what she gave them. There were some elements of great comedy, but the timing was just a BIT off. A more experienced director could have played up the many one liners and the countless funny moments from Kate's love life. The ending just sort of showed up, which was disappointing, and she could have worked more of the new article deadline into the story. And unfortunately, the one serious moment in the story (which was acted very well) was too short and it could have been explored more, and could have exhibited itself further in the story as something like that affects someone very deeply, even Kate.
Jon Favreau is a very funny man and from what I've seen a pretty good actor. Famke Janssen, while best known as the best bad Bond Girl and Jean Grey from X-men, isn't known for her acting ability, having taken some roles in some very VERY bad movies. However, I think almost each and every time she makes a movie she gets better and better. This was the first time I'd seen her play something other than the one dimentional characters from her previous roles. I think that in 'Love and Sex' and also in the new 'X-2 X-Men United' she's starting to show some real acting chops, some true depth, indicating that she's more than just a former-model-turned-actress cliche. She turned out some very very funny scenes, but the director as I said earlier just missed out on the very jokes she had written. Hopefully, Ms. Janssen will start to get some meatier roles to play, based on the potential she showed here and the heart and soul she's brought to a comic book character for crying out loud. But that's another review and a completely different type of movie. I'd like to see her do more comedy.
Ms. Brieman gave a decent 1st time out movie, it just could have been so much more. I still really enjoyed it and if I had the money I'd go buy it. I got the humor, and appreciated it, even though it was poorly put on the screen. Maybe its because I'm just as neurotic as Kate and Adam.