The Incredible Hulk (2008)

It wasn't good but it wasn't terrible. I adore Liv Tyler--she is luminous and pleasure to watch, though I'm not sure she does much acting. Maybe it doesn't matter. Ed Norton (Bruce Banner) was good and an improvement over Eric Bana. Norton is so low-key and that is perfect for this role. I enjoy watching Norton more in smaller pictures but he can easily carry a blockbuster.

The plot is rather incidental to the action in this movie. It left me time to ponder how, post angry flare-up, the Hulk always manages to find a waterfall in the midst of a shady forest as a retreat? And, the age-old question: how does he not wind up completely naked?

Possible favorite moment of the film: the Hulk gets angry at the lightening and throws a huge rock into the sky! Charming.

The culmination of the action was a Hulk versus big-scary-Hulk-like-creature show down. The creation of the scary Hulk-like creature was woefully under motivated. The battling was well staged, but the outcome was never in much doubt and the lack of suspense made it not so interesting.

Even so, the ending was ambiguous--we don't know what will happen to the Hulk. Also, the door is left open for a monster tie-in with some other recent superhero types, which would be a lot of fun.

Last: HULK SMASH!!

Juno

This is full of spoilers, be warned.

I'll say it was a fine movie but one thought kept running through my mind as I watched, "Why are they talking that way?" the jargon/slang used by the teenage protagonists was too clever by half. I am no enemy of quirky slang dialog in teenage movies—I thought it was used to great effect in Brick. But Juno went too far in this regard. Also, the theater was crowded and the laughing stepped on many of the lines. I would actually need to see it again to hear everything. Did I like it? I'm not sure. I liked a lot about it but I didn't seem to find it quite as hilarious as everyone else. Was it the woman's Knocked Up? I don't think so. It wasn't from a "full grown" woman's point of view—it's the story of a sixteen-year-old girl. A relatively mature one, but not an adult. Knocked Up mostly took the man's perspective—a grown man who acted like a sixteen-year-old. It's not equivalent. It's not about a woman who should be, but isn't, ready for adult responsibility. It's about an almost adult girl who isn't ready and knows it and figures out a way to be responsible (I guess). You know what bothers me about this picture? It's not the short-shrift given to the abortion option, which, thankfully is at least presented. It's the short-shrift given to the sex that leads to the unplanned pregnancy. Now, it may be silly to ask that sex be motivated between teenagers. They are teenagers! They all want to have sex all the time! Ok, I was a teenager and I remember what it was like. That's not what it was like for me. Juno is a girl who is very cool and smart and, perhaps we're all meant to identify with her, but I only sort of did. The sex is never shown, which is good. But it's never clear how it comes to be. I wanted to know more about her relationship with the boy. It's still a boy-gets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-fill-in-the-blank-girl story. Where are the details? Why must it be so elliptical?

And, why are they talking like that?

Possible favorite line: "I'm a cautionary whale." Particularly amusing from the too-tiny-to-be-believed Ellen Page.