Spring movie round-up

Oops; didn't mean to leave this blog un-updated for so long. So, to get back into the swing of things, I'll do a couple of entries containing quick blurbs about all the movies I've seen in the last few months. First, the Spring movies.

Hot Tub Time Machine - As a child of the 80s, I was probably predisposed to liking this one. Fortunately, the cast did a great job, and the premise was endearingly ridiculous.

How to Train Your Dragon - Dreamworks has never quite achieved Pixar levels of greatness. How to Train Your Dragon is damn close though; they're on the threshold. At the time I saw it, I considered it my favorite movie of the year-to-date.

Clash of the Titans - Lives well the legacy of the Harryhausen movie it is a remake of, which is to say it isn't very good. And without the amusingly bad effects of the original, the remake lacks some of the original's charm.

Kick-Ass - Significantly better than the Millar-penned graphic novel it adapts. The movie drops some of the more interesting ideas contained in the source, but Matthew Vaughn's execution of what remains is generally much better.

The Losers - Excellent over-the-top action movie. Solid casting with excellent performances all around. The comic is in many ways a loving homage to The A-Team, and it shows in the movie adaptation.

A Nightmare On Elm Street - I like the remake more than the original, actually. It carries many of the same flaws, but I prefer the pacing of the remake. Jackie Earle Haley is an excellent successor to Englund.

Iron Man 2 - Not as good as the first one, but Downey's performance still makes it fun to watch. Rourke made for a great villain, and the movie should have focused on him instead of throwing in a second villain (Hammer). I missed Howard as Rhodes, because the chemistry between Downey and Cheadle was lacking.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - Best video game movie ever made, although I guess that's not a tough feat. Entertaining at the time, but ultimately forgettable.

The A-Team - I think I prefer The Losers overall, but The A-Team didn't exactly disappoint. Plus they make Face a second-in-command in more than name. That always bothered me in the original series.

Jonah Hex - *shudder* About the only thing Jonah Hex got right was Josh Brolin in the title role; pitch perfect casting there. Everything else about the movie is in unholy mess. Bad writing, horrendous pacing, and Megan Fox are just of few of the movie-making sins on display here. And other than the name and the scar, the movie bears little resemblance to the source material. Until The Last Airbender (more on it in the next entry), I considered Jonah Hex the worst movie I've ever paid to see.