Just saw an ad for the new Punisher movie.  I saw the first one (the Dolph Lundgren one) back in the early 90’s, but I didn’t see the Travolta one (probably because I’m still bitter about seeing Battlefield Earth (no one warned me!)).

Anyway, it looks like it’s going to suck.  Which is a shame, because I’m a fan of the guy who’s playing the Punisher.  He was Titus Pullo from the HBO series Rome, which was an awesome, if a little indulgent, TV series (and it’s a damn shame it was cancelled).

Punisher was one of the first comics I started reading back in the 1980’s.  One of my earliest memories is reading a Punisher comic, in the course of which, the Punisher stabbed out a guy’s eyes with chopsticks (a sad day when I lost that comic).

How did that effect my childhood development?

Hard to say, but I’ve got the good judgment to just Netflix the damn thing when it comes out on DVD.

(I’m pretty sure Battlefield Earth scarred me more than the Punisher chopsticks thing.)

Also, they’re making an Ant-Man movie?  Seriously?  Is the thing a 90-minute apology from Marvel executives for its very existence?  Ant-Man sucks.

I was saving up for Europe, and then recovering from said trip while this movie was in the theaters, but I still feel bad about missing it on the big screen.  I fell ill earlier this week, and my wonderful wife saw fit to gift me with the DVD.  It’s good to be loved, which I guess is the message of this movie.  I don’t want to get into spoiler territory, nor do I know enough about film to really give you a great analysis.  I can say it’s a B+ in my opinion, and a good comic book movie overall.

The sets, creatures, and camera work are all impressive and beautiful, and the story is fun enough to keep interested.  Ron Perlman does a great job as Hellboy, just as he did in the first, and I hope there is another installment of this franchise somewhere in the future.

My one main complaint was the music.  I felt constantly jarred by the musical choices, which is very strange for me.  I am tone deaf and rythmically challenge (per my wife), so I rarely notice music in movies.  Not a huge thing in the grand scheme of things, so I would still recommend viewing the film.

‘Tis the season for movie releases, though I guess that is essentially a year round thing these days.  In November I went to see Twilight, which was a total stinker but I knew that going in.  It got me points with the wife, and really that is what’s important.  Next we were off to see the newest Bond film, Quantum of Solace, which I really loved.  I would give it a full five stars on the Netflix rating system. Now for Christmas we were given some movie gift cards, and the question is, what should we go see?

The Spirit?  I’ve heard this is a rental at best, which is a bit of a dissapointment.  I was looking forward to a good comic book movie release, since I haven’t been to a comic related movie in theaters since The Dark Knight.

Valkyrie? Anyone seen this yet? I haven’t heard from anyone that I know, so I don’t know what to expect.  Bryan Singer kind of hurt my heart with Superman Returns, and Tom Cruise is kind of crazy last I heard, so can I expect great things?

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button?  I just heard that this movie was painfully long, and though good should be viewed as a rental so you can take a break…so it is probably out.

Any good potentials I am missing?  Anything brilliant on the silver screen right now?

Up until a few minutes ago, I had heard nothing about this movie.  After seeing the preview all I could think was “holy crap. holy CRAP. HOLY CRAP!”

In other words, I think it looks like tons of fun.   Starting in March this might be a fun movie year after all!

9.

EDIT:
The original short film that inspired the feature film. Worth watching!