Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables is as brazen a piece of film making as I’ve seen in a long while. As teenage male fantasies go, it rivals even the testosterone amped Wanted in its ability to capture all of the subtle nuances of a young boy’s psyche. Or all of the explosions, hot babes, and fast vehicles. You choose which best applies. (more…)

For diehard fans of Batman and his mythology, it will come as no surprise that the second Robin was bludgeoned to death by the Joker. For those who haven’t been following the lore, the first few minutes of Batman: Under the Red Hood may come as a shock, as the Joker rains punishment on the Boy Wonder with a crowbar. It’s a telling scene, and one that sets the tone for the movie’s often violent material and subject matter. Not that the film strays into R-Rated territory either. It walks a fine line between showing and telling the gruesomeness at its core, a walk that it manages with surprising grace. (more…)

NOTE: “Movies Revisited” is a semi-regular column that gives TechTing writers a forum to review, discuss, praise or scoff at films that, for whatever reasons, are not part of current mainstream consciousness. These can be art-house films that were never very popular to begin with; cult films that hold significance for a few diehards; interesting flops; or even blockbusters that haven’t quite stood the test of time.

Our first entry in Movies Revisited comes to us from visual auteur and “king of the world”, James Cameron. Released in 1989, The Abyss’s original theatrical running time was roughly two hours and twenty minutes long, while its extended version, re-released in 1993 and the subject of this column, runs for about two hours and fifty minutes. Both versions of the film performed solidly despite being long, pulling in audiences with Cameron’s signature directorial style and the promise of snazzy special effects. Those familiar with Cameron’s oeuvre won’t find this surprising; the running times of Titanic and Avatar (his longest and most commercially successful films) put together are longer than the life cycles of some species of insect, yet both movies managed to set world wide box office records anyway. Certainly, no one can argue that Cameron doesn’t have that old Midas touch, but The Abyss doesn’t get quite as much pop culture love these days as his older Aliens or either of the two behemoths mentioned above. And that’s a shame for several reasons. (more…)

When Futurama was cancelled in 2003, it left behind four seasons of a show that was critically lauded and cultishly followed by a legion of fanboys. The show aired in reruns on Adult Swim for four years before being revived in 2007 with four full length direct-to-DVD films which, when pared down to 22 minute instalments, constituted a fifth season that was later run on Comedy Central. These films, though lacking the critical or fanboy approval that the series’s original run had, apparently did well enough to warrant the show’s revival on Comedy Central for a sixth season set to begin airing on June 24^th.

(more…)

Let me start by stating that I’m not the world’s biggest fan of comics or anime and the like. However, I am truly drawn to underdog movies and this certainly is one. So yeah, I liked it, a lot.

The movie starts pretty slowly, allowing Kick Ass to give us a narrated introduction of himself and other characters in the film. This narration continues thoughout the film and is used to great effect, helping to develop the characters fully.

Fast forward an hour though and… OMG. Violence! Oh the beautiful horror! Quentin Terantino fans will enjoy this one; think Kill Bill. At a couple points in the movie, I did have an issue with seeing an 11 year old girl do the things she did, but the characters were so developed and their motivations so clear as to enrich belief.

(more…)