The Music’s in my soul!

Yesterday was a day that will go down in pre-teen (& teen… and adult… and, well, basically everyone) history! The premiere of the Disney Channel Original Movie Camp Rock finally arrived! I, as well as I’m sure many many others, sat down on the couch and tuned in for the first showing (out of I’m sure to be many more repeats) of this movie starring Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato. I’m a big fan of the JoBros and have been for a couple of years now, and I have to say, I knew I’d like this movie but I didn’t necessarily expect it to have as much substance as it did.

No, this was no Iron Man, there wasn’t extreme depth – I mean, hello, it’s Disney. But there was that familiar Disney Channel movie feeling and morals that always come through with their movies. Joe Jonas actually was the star of this movie, not the Jonas Brothers, and I was surprised by how well he can act! Yeah, I tuned in for the episode of Hannah Montana they co-starred in and it definitely didn’t showcase any sort of acting ability the boys may have within them, so I was pleasantly surprised to see Joe actually bringing some realness to the movie.

Camp Rock is a place for young budding musicians to go and help achieve their full potential. For a little while there I wasn’t sure if it was a camp for kids to realize their true love for music and help nurture that or a place for kids to turn into rockstars – which I would not have been OK with the latter. Mitchie, played by newcomer Demi Lovato (who surprisingly did not annoy me), came to the camp to further her love for singing and could not afford to go on the money her family had. Lucky for her her mother found a job as a cook on the campgrounds and got her daughter into the camp at a discounted price! Isn’t it nice how things work out this way in movies?

Mitchie lies about what her mother actually does to get in with the popular girls and continues to lie to everyone throughout the movie, including Shane Gray. Shane is the lead singer of Connect 3, the band the Jonas Brothers portray, who comes to the camp to better his bad boy image in the press. What we find out is that Connect 3 have been playing cookie cutter pop tunes just because that is what their label says “sells” when Shane actually wants to play songs with substance (well, eventually, it takes him some time to figure this out). Did I mention he is a complete jerk?

Eventually, of course, Mitchie’s lies are revealed and everyone gives her a cold shoulder. You’ll just have to watch the movie to see if they all embrace her in the end (spoiler: IT’S DISNEY, what do you think happens?).

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie, however, even though it was predictable – as are most every Disney Channel movie. I will definitely be giving it another viewing (to show Shooter, of course) and probably still enjoy it. Though I did not like all the music in the movie, it added to their whole “be yourself” moral of the story that definitely was the point of the whole thing. I won’t be surprised to see a Camp Rock 2 on the horizon sometime soon, and I already know there will be loads of merchandise just like the High School Musical phenom. Disney has done it again – and I’m not complaining.

The Incredible Hulk Review!

So Poprocks and I just got back from seeing the new Marvel film “The Incredible Hulk” and let me say I was not disappointed. Now, I know I am alone in this category, but I didn’t actually hate Ang Lee’s 2003 take on the Hulkster. Sure, it had a lot of dumb stuff in it like Hulk-dogs, weird comic panel transitions, and Nick Nolte being…well….Nick Nolte. After seeing this new revamp of the Hulk, however, I realize what a Hulk movie should be: fun.

The new film starts out in Brazil, with Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) hiding out and avoiding the US government, especially General Thunderbolt Ross (William Hurt). Although a sort of revamp of the series, the movie does not go through the whole origin story again and does mildly acknowledge that the first film does exist without ever saying “Hey Bruce, remember when you fought those Hulk-dogs 5 years ago?” Anyway, the film catches those up to date who may not have seen the first film during the opening credits by giving viewers stills of what happened during the first movie, similar to the opening sequence of “Spider-Man 2.” While in Brazil, Banner works in a bottling company and lives off the grid; no phone, credit cards, or anything that could be flagged by the government. Also, at the start of the film, Banner has been almost five months without a Hulk-out. Of course, that is about to change as we paid to see a movie called “The Incredible Hulk”, not “The Bruce Banner Suppresses the Hulk Using Strategic Breathing Exercises.”

Eventually, Banner does mess up and the government is hot on his heels. Thunderbolt Ross sends a team of soldiers, lead by Russian soldier Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), to apprehend him. They corner him and we all know what happens from there: Hulk smash. Banner then goes back to the states to continue his search for a cure to his gamma induced illness. Along the way, he reunites with his true love, Betty Ross (Liv Tyler), daughter of Thunderbolt Ross. The government does not give up that easily though as they put Blonsky through a series of treatments that makes him faster and stronger in order to oppose the Hulk.

The action in the movie is top-notch, as are the special effects. The thing about the Hulk is that he has to be completely CGI all the time, unlike other Marvel superheroes who can be done practically with costumes. The Hulk in this film looked a lot better than the 2003 version. He wasn’t the bright lime green like in that film. He was still green, but it was a darker green that was more visually pleasing. Also, the CGI was also top-notch in designing the monster Blonsky becomes, Abomination. I really liked the way that they actually had a villain in this movie. The first film didn’t have anything that resembled a villain or legitimate threat to the Hulk. Sure, the Army had tanks, but the Hulk threw those tanks five seconds later so you never believed that the Hulk was in any kind of danger. Here, you have something opposing the Hulk that is equal to him in size and strength.

The ending fight in this movie is truly a testament to how you do a final fight in a comic book movie. While “Iron Man” is definitely one of the best superhero films to come out, I felt that it suffered from a pretty weak final fight. The fight between the Hulk and Abomination is about as visceral as you get. Huge haymakers being thrown, grabbing anything that isn’t bolted down (or is bolted down, I mean, it’s the Hulk, he’ll hit you with what he damn well pleases), and just swinging for the fences in general is how you want a final fight to be. You want full power versus full power, non-stop action, and this film brought that.

The acting in the film is also great. When I first heard Edward Norton was going to be playing Bruce Banner, I was baffled. This is Edward Norton, an Oscar nominated actor who is going to be playing in a comic book movie? Usually the big name award actors turn their nose up at such “childish” roles. I never doubted, however, that Edward Norton would do an amazing job, and he did. Tim Roth also was a great choice to play the villain as all his other work has been good. I really enjoyed him in “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction” so there was no doubt that he would play an incredible villain. Liv Tyler also brought realness to the character of Betty Ross that was lacking when played by Jennifer Connelly. William Hurt also played Thunderbolt Ross like a champ.

In conclusion, I’ll say this: The new film was incredible. Marvel is 2/2 this summer and I look forward to see what else they come out with.

Final Score: 4.5/5