It seems like we’re in a comic book craze that never ends. The latest addition to this category is The Losers, a comic by Andy Diggle and Jock. It’s about a group of ex military types who are burned by their handler, Max who has influence over the CIA, US government, and other organizations. The team consists of Clay (Jeffery Dean Morgan) who is the leader of the bunch, Roque (Idris Elba) who’s second in command and looks out for himself, Jensen (Chris Evans) – the hacker techie guy and communications expert who can’t stop communicating aka talking his mouth off, Pooch (Columbus Short) who handles pretty much all of the transportation, and Cougar (Oscar Jaenada) who’s the sharp shooter/sniper.
The Losers is your classic revenge story and it’s very predictable so you probably already know how it ends. Trust me, you do. It’s your typical action comedy so you’re going to be entertained and have a few good laughs…but it’s not up to the level that we’re used to seeing these days. It doesn’t add anything you get from other comic book movies or action/comedy films except, of course, for the gorgeous Zoe Saldana. I don’t understand how she got more beautiful from scene to scene, but somehow she did…her outfits, poses, and just about everything were stunning. More on her later…
Even though the whole movie is supposed to chock full of laughs, the only scenes that I noticed myself laughing at were scenes with Chris Evans in them. Chris’ character is the eccentric one out of the group with random comedic remarks and pop culture references. He fit this role perfectly.
The other actors played their parts really well too, but Chris stood out. Jeffery Dean Morgan and Idris Elba were both what you would expect from military guys…hard attitudes and not much emotion. Columbus Short was kind of funny at times but under the shadow of Chris Evans. In many of his films, Short seems to be “that other guy” which sucks because he’s pretty talented…can’t wait to see him in a role where he can stand out himself. Oscar’s character is the silent type which is coincidently what Oscar is like in real life, so that worked out for him…but for the film, he was just an extra character on the team. Jason Patric played the movie’s villain, Max, who is your crazy “I can do anything I feel like” bad guy. The way he portrayed Max was annoying at first but then you just accepted the quirkiness for what it was because hey, Max can kill you if he felt like it.
The movie had its fair share of slow scenes which dragged the movie along but then the movie would pick up and you’re back in the action. The Losers has many unbelievable scenes, both good and bad. Some scenes were unbelievably cool, hot, and awesome while other scenes were just unbelievable. There are a few parts with guns, grenades, and other fun stuff in pure daylight and you wonder how nobody sees or hears anything or how they get away with some things…but hey, it’s a movie…based on a comic book so I guess you just have to go with it.
Did I mention Zoe Saldana is in this movie? She is a mystery character who comes into the picture after the incident in Bolivia. She bankrolls the guys and helps them back to the States where they can get their revenge (and hers) on Max. We’re seeing the beginnings of an amazing career from a new leading lady of Hollywood. From Drumline and Pirates to The Terminal and After Sex to Star Trek and Avatar to this, we’re going to be seeing a lot of Zoe and I’m not complaining one bit…I’ll watch her in any film especially if it has steamy scenes like this one. But don’t go in expecting too much, you see most of the good stuff in the trailers.
So, after all that, should you watch The Losers? Only if you were planning on it or you’re a fan of the comic book or any of the stars in the movie. It’s a fun movie but nothing out of the ordinary.
Posts Tagged ‘Columbus Short’
REVIEW: The Losers
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010REVIEW: Death at a Funeral
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
With such an amazing cast including some of today’s best comedians, how could this comedy turn out so shitty? (pun intended) Death at a Funeral goes for the quirky everything that can go wrong does go wrong feel but ends up with a plain old movie that’s as stiff as the body in the casket they’re having the funeral for. Chris Rock, playing Aaron, has been living with and supporting his father, mother (Loretta Devine), and wife (Regina Hall) who is trying to get pregnant. Martin Lawrence is Aaron ‘s younger and much more successful brother Ryan who everyone adores…except, of course, Aaron. Joined by the rest of his family, Aaron tries to hold a service for his late father but one thing leads to another and you’re supposed to laugh.
The movie starts off slow with everyone heading to the funeral. You’re introduced to each character and their accompanying story lines. You have the beautiful Zoe Saldana as Elaine with her boyfriend (James Marsden) that’s extremely nervous about her family getting together because Elaine’s father doesn’t approve of him. They pick up Elaine’s brother (Columbus Short) who’s a pharmaceutical student with some interesting pills he keeps misplacing. Next you have Tracy Morgan playing Norman who’s a friend of the family but thinks he’s as much part of the family as everybody else. He’s with Derek (Luke Wilson) who’s in love with Elaine and Elaine’s father approves of him so much that he keeps trying to get them together. They are charged to pick up Uncle Russell (Danny Glover) who’s a cranky old disabled man. And finally, you have a mysterious character in a leather jacket nobody in the family really knows. Still with me?
The movie started to pick up when everyone arrived at Aaron’s house for the funeral but sadly, the movie had to resort to physical humor, potty jokes, and over the top antics. Even worse is that those are the best scenes in the movie…and biggest laughs. The funniest scenes come from James Marsden while he’s high off of his mind from drugs he didn’t know he was taking. Since he was so nervous about dealing with Elaine’s dad, Elaine gave him one of her brother’s pills – she thought it was Valium. Of course the high scenes are backed by stereotypical one drop reggae music.
James Marsden and Danny Glover actually made the film manageable for me. James Marsden’s high scenes were really funny and never got old (he’s high almost the entire movie). Danny Glover gave the other best performance as the cranky old man…most people don’t see him as a comedic actor, but he’s great in comedies. He blesses us with this little tidbit, “Let me tell you something about women, they’re smarter than you think they are…but not nearly as smart as they think they are.” The biggest laugh, maybe in disgust, comes from Danny Glover and Tracy Morgan’s scene with Norman assisting the handicapped Uncle Russell in the bathroom…I’ll let you figure out the rest. Tracy Morgan has small patches of brilliance but they’re bogged down by other scenes of boring run on dialogue and a running gag that just gets annoying.
Other than that, all of the parts could’ve been played by anybody…there was nothing special about them at all. It actually felt like Chris Rock was trying not to be funny and just saying his lines as dry as possible. There were a few clever lines from him and other characters thrown in here and there but they felt more like wasted material that should’ve been saved for a good movie or performance. When Aaron tells his wife what a mess the funeral has turned in to she replies, “I don’t know…I think it’s kind of exciting…for a funeral.” Perhaps, but not nearly exciting enough for people to watch this movie in the theaters.
Oh yes, and this was a remake of an English film of the SAME TITLE that came out three years ago. THREE YEARS! They even used Peter Dinklage to play the same character in both! You can see a great post comparing scenes from both movies side by side at Cinemablend [Death At A Funeral Vs. Death At A Funeral: A Scene By Scene Remake Analysis].
Anyway, look for both Columbus Short and the gorgeous Zoe Saldana together next week in The Losers (with many advance screenings) which I hope will be a lot better than this movie. You can check out our post for The Losers Q&A at Wondercon.
WonderCon: The Warner Brothers Panel (The Losers, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Splice, and Inception)
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010Warner Bros didn’t tell anybody who or what they were talking about at WonderCon until their panel started. They let us know that we’d get to hear about The Losers, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and a little known movie called Splice. For the first 2 films, many of the cast showed up to answer questions and for Splice and a surprise at the end, Inception, the directors came out to talk about the projects. Warner Brothers also gave everybody in the audience a swag bag which contained a Losers bag, Nightmare on Elm Street shirt and key chain, Splice t-shirt, and Inception t shirt and top. Let’s get on to what I saw….
The Losers
You may not know a lot about The Losers yet, but you will. The footage that they showed looked great and for me, Zoe Saldana sells the movie on her own. I guess for women, they have Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Chris Evans. They showed us a fight scene between Aisha and Clay, Zoe and Jeffrey’s characters which have a love/hate, intimate/cautious relationship. The director, Sylvain White said that he believed it was a new benchmark in boy girl fight scenes and I agree with him. Not only was it action packed, it was hot and steamy. There are very funny scenes and great visuals to accompany them: think big guns and bad asses carrying them. Jeffrey Dean Morgan commented that it’s like a throwback to the Die Hards and Lethal Weapons…good comedic action.
I hope the back and forth dialogue during the panel gives a glimpse of what to expect from the movie because it was awesome. The group of actors they pooled together seemed to have great chemistry. Jeffrey Dean Morgan was the leader, taking charge. Zoe was the badass hot chick and commented He (Jeffrey) wears a suit; I don’t wear much of anything. When asked how she felt about being the only female in the main cast she said that she feels very comfortable around men. Chris Evans is the Hacker/IT Guy with a high IQ and he’s surely solidifying his spot in the comic book era of movies. Columbus is the heart of the group and kept referring to his character as the black MacGyver. Oscar is cougar who is the silent quit guy who is just like him in real life. Columbus said his new nickname was Juanny Depp. Sylvain said they were a crazy group of kids and fun to film and it really looks like it – from the panel and the footage they showed.
The Losers attack on April 23, 2010.
A Nightmare on Elm StreetA Nightmare on Elm Street may be the first actually scary movie in quite some time. It’s obviously a remake of the classic horror film which sequels have fallen to the wayside. However, the remake is said to be more dark and serious like the first film. The biggest story in this film is that Jackie Earle Haley is replacing Robert England as the iconic Freddy Krueger. Jackie said that he tried not to incorporate the last Freddy but tried to find a way to play the character where there’s still something familiar for the fans but where he was also able to call it his own. He tried to get into the mind of Freddy Krueger by studying serial killers and realized he was beginning to watch slasher films. He had to stop because Freddy isn’t a serial killer he’s a boogie man…so that’s what you’re going to see in the film. Thomas Dekker, who plays Jesse in the movie, said that remakes and reboots are a tricky subject but Jackie replied that with the visual effects and technology of today, they can show us things that we haven’t seen yet.
A Nightmare on Elm Street dreams come true on April 30 2010.
SpliceYou probably haven’t heard of this film but if you’re into sci-fi…especially genetics, you will. Splice is about two scientists who decide to take genetics a step further and mix together human DNA with animal DNA to create a new organism. It’s a creature film with social commentary which will go into touchy subjects we haven’t been exposed to yet. The scientists get too attached to the science and once the creature becomes its own…things begin go terribly terribly wrong. It stars Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley as the scientists and the story begins with them in the lab. They escape with the create to a home where they take it as their own child acting as parental figures until the creature, dren (nerd backwards), escapes. The film was made completely independent and took about twelve years. Vincenzo Natali, the writer and director, started writing the film back when Dolly was cloned and then began filming with they made the embryo in the UK so science has been catching up and evolving with the films vision which is kind of scary.
Splice busts out the lab on June 4, 2010.
InceptionTo everybody’s surprise, Christopher Nolan showed up to present his next film: Inception. Not a lot is known about this film but he presented us with an extended trailer which gave us more hints to the plot. From what we saw and what Nolan said, Inception is a heist film where a group of individuals who can construct dreams access the subconscious and extract documents and sensitive information from people. It looks like an amazing and epic film…it’s sure to be this summer’s biggest blockbuster in my opinion. Even though the film was described to be more personal, it was filmed in seven countries and takes us on a journey both physical and mental. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio and it looks like he will be training Ellen Page to join the company which infiltrates your dream. Look out for this film!
Inception comes out on July 16, 2010.
WonderCon is one of the country’s best comics conventions featuring guests and events for comics, movies, video games, and other popular media. This year, WonderCon had presentations by such Hollywood studios as Disney, Warner Bros., Sony, and Lionsgate.Visit WonderCon’s Official Website
