Incredible Hulk Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Above: Incredible Hulk, Flight of the Red Balloon, The Strangers

Incredible Hulk
"There once was an angry young man..." sounds like a fairy tale, but the rebooted Hulk got a huge leg up with the casting of the intense Edward Norton as the scientist who turns green with rage. This Hulk has narrative problems, but as a straight-ahead action picture it keeps a pretty good beat as it rocks along, and definitely benefits from Norton and Tim Roth as his nemesis; Liv Tyler and William Hurt also star. Scott examined all the features of the 3-disk Special Edition on DVD; also available in a single-disk DVD edition and on Blu-ray. Buy it.

Flight of the Red Balloon
Juliette Binoche hires a Taiwanese film student as nanny for her son, and magical moments begin. Jeffrey M. Anderson said Binoche was "simply miraculous" and that the film itself "could be one of those magic moments that people could appreciate if only they would take the time." Now's the time, people! Hou Hsiao-Hsien is an amazing filmmaker and this a perfect alternative to Hulk's smash/bang. Available on what looks like a bare-bones DVD. Rent it.

The Strangers
It's Liv Tyler week! She and Scott Speedman play a troubled couple besieged by masked strangers in their own home. Writer/director Bryan Bertino takes a commendably low-key approach to their night of terror, but there were far too many cheap scares and telegraphed thrills for me. Eugene Novikov was much more impressed, however, so decide for yourself. Available on DVD and Blu-ray; both include R-rated and unrated versions. The unrated cut includes about five minutes of additional footage, mostly near the climax. Rent it.

After the jump: Indies on DVD (Go-Getter! B-Ballers! Ben Stein!), Blu-ray (James Bond!), and Collector's Corner (Looney Tunes! Gangsters!).

A few weeks back I received an early copy of the Iron Man SE DVD, and although we all griped a little bit about the lack of an audio commentary -- I'm pretty sure the fans are still happy with that purchase. So now let's try it again, only instead of Iron Man, we'll be picking through the 3-disc Special Edition of Louis Leterrier's The Incredible Hulk. And while it's definitely a good package (provided you dig the film), here's one simple warning right out of the gate: The third disc is nothing more than a "digital copy" platter. Maybe I'm missing something, but I just don't see the big appeal of "digital copies." Why the hell would I want to overstuff my hard drive -- when I have the DVD sitting right here??

Anyway, the Special Edition has lots to recommend it, and the main feature is certainly something to see -- doubly so if you happen to have Blu-Ray. (I do not.) Even better the second time around, The Incredible Hulk is a simple yet very well-made action adventure flick in which a fugitive scientist must avoid the military while trying to get a powerfully monstrous alter-ego out of his system. Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, William Hurt, and Tim Roth bring an excellent air of professionalism to "yet another" superhero movie, and while it might not have been the Action Event that Iron Man was, I think it's safe to assume that Marvel and the fans were pleased with the big green semi-sequel as well.

So on disc one we get an audio commentary with Leterrier and actor Tim Roth, as well as six deleted scenes that run about 14 minutes total. The deleted footage is mostly early (Brazil) stuff and a few villainous rants between Hurt and Roth. (All good cuts if you ask me.) As far as the commentary goes, it sounds a lot like a cool Brit and an enthusiastic Frenchman talking about their action movie. I'm only about fifteen minutes into the chat-track, but it's pretty amusing stuff...

Read on for the Disc Two delights.

It's difficult (and a little silly) to try and judge an entire quarter-year's movies in one lump sum -- but that's what we seem to do at the end of every Summer Movie Season. That's when all our excitement, expectations, and final reactions come colliding together and we find ourselves thinking: "Was I actually looking forward to that piece of crap for four months?" But to me, each summer is like a walk through a carnival: Some of the attractions dazzle me, others simply don't interest me, and a few are just a waste of tickets. But once early May rolls around, I'm always ready for another trip to the Hollywood Movie Carnival. (It's where you find all the tentpoles!)

So while I'm elated to greet the upcoming season of "prestige movies," there's little denying that we've had one hell of a good summer, cinematical-ly speaking. I'm not talking about box office grosses, because frankly that stuff is so unimportant. What matters is that we got some good flicks, a few pieces of mindless (yet well-made) popcorn adventures, and even a few great films that will enjoy a very long shelf life. So while I'm not exactly sure that 2008 represents the finest Summer Movie Season of all time, I'd definitely say it was more good than bad. But if you can think of a summer that was better than this one, you know where to throw your comments. (In the comments section.)

I haven't seen this weekend's The Incredible Hulk yet, and will do so a little begrudgingly because it's an implicit (or explicit, depending on whom you ask) diss of Ang Lee's Hulk, a film I admire. But to the extent my interest in the Louis Leterrier version is piqued, it's mostly because of the casting of Edward Norton as the title character's alter ego. It's such an interesting choice -- partly because Norton usually stays away from projects like this, partly because he's so uniquely gifted, and partly because my mind just reels at hearing "you wouldn't like me when I'm angry" coming out of his mouth. I'll watch The Incredible Hulk less because I want to see another movie about Bruce Banner than because I'm curious to see Norton's interpretation of him.

All of which got me thinking about superhero/comic book casting in general. It's a subject that attracts a lot of breathless speculation every time a new movie is in the works, and there's rarely consensus on anything. In this edition of Cinematical Seven, I take a look back at what I think have been the most inspired, interesting, or appropriate superhero (and villain, because why not?) casting choices in recent history -- not so much the resulting performances (though it can be hard to distinguish in hindsight) but the initial casting decisions.

As I like to do with these lists, I tried to mix the obvious with the out-of-the-blue, so feel free to weigh in with what I unjustly left out. In no particular order:

USA Today has a piece up today about 16 "hot" movies to watch for in 2008. Here's the list:

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Sex and the City: The Movie
The Dark Knight
Mamma Mia!
The X-Files
Quantum of Solace (aka the New James Bond Flick)
Star Trek
Iron Man
Speed Racer
The Incredible Hulk
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Madagascar: The Crate Escape
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Day the Earth Stood Still

Back and forth, back and forth -- The LA Times have finally come out and cleared up the rumor that Edward Norton started during ComicCon. As previously discussed, it was during Marvel's The Incredible Hulk panel where Norton made a comment that suggested he was writing the script. This confused a lot of people (including me) who were under the assumption that Zak Penn had (and was) penning the kind-of-sequel-but-not. Well, now it seems we know what happened. According to The LA Times, Penn was indeed the original writer and had written three drafts of the script prior to production. However, when the script needed more work -- and with Penn busy promoting his indie mockumentary The Grand -- Norton stepped in, offered up his own ideas, and came on as not only a writer, but also the film's star.

This, of course, is the story we're being told. As The Times even suggests, Norton is somewhat known around town for strong-arming his way into the writer's seat. There are rumors that he took it upon himself to re-write dialogue during Brett Ratner's Red Dragon -- not just his own, but also Anthony Hopkins'. Norton's reps insist that Ratner asked the actor for help, but others beg to differ -- not that it matters much; the film still turned out like crap. Keep in mind I'm in no way saying that Norton decided to take the role on the condition that he could re-write Penn's script, but it was part of his initial deal. And not for nothing, but if I was Penn, I'd be pretty pissed that I spent a whole year on three different versions of a script only to watch Norton come in and change up the entire thing. For all we know, Norton's additions helped the film, but one day I'd love to get my hands on both versions to see if Penn's would've translated better to the big screen. The Incredible Hulk is set to smash its way into theaters on June 13.

If you just casually glanced through Kevin Kelly's superlative coverage of the San Diego Comic Con Marvel event, then you may have overlooked a tidbit from Edward Norton that will have the Incredible Hulk producers wringing their hands while screenwriter Zak Penn politely asks the Writers Guild for a friendly arbitration. What was it that Mr. Norton said?

"Well, you're making me be immodest ... I came into this and I wrote the screenplay. I was a Marvel kid growing up, and I used to subscribe to a lot of the books. Remember when they used to come in plastic with the little piece of scotch tape on the back? This story has almost limitless potential in it to be remade and redone. It's a really classic modern mythology."

Hmm. Now, I know full well that Mr. Norton is a multi-talented guy. In addition to being Oscar-nominated two times in three years (for Primal Fear and American History X), he's been consistently strong in The People vs. Larry Flynt, Rounders, Fight Club, 25th Hour, The Italian Job, The Illusionist, etc. He directed the romantic comedy Keeping the Faith, and his second directorial effort (Motherless Brooklyn) will mark his "official" screenwriting debut. He also produced The Painted Veil, edited Down in the Valley, contributed an amusing cameo to Kingdom of Heaven, and recorded music for Everyone Says I Love You ... and, um, Death to Smoochy.

But I thought Zak Penn was the one who wrote the screenplay for The Incredible Hulk. Penn, the comics expert who is credited on X-Men 2, (ahem) Elektra, X-Men 3, AND the Fantastic Four video game! (How does one receive credit for the game but not the movie??) Could it be that Mr. Norton signed on for the role of Bruce Banner under the arrangement that he could script-fiddle? Heck, maybe Mr. Penn knows all about it, couldn't care less, and is already knee-deep on his Spy Hunter and Avengers projects.

I just found it interesting is all. All I know is that if Norton's writing contributions make for a more entertaining flick, go for it. As I've mentioned only 455 times by now, The Hulk is definitely my favorite Marvel character. And frankly I'm pretty thrilled with the way the new flick is coming together.

We're here, literally crammed like a sardine into some of the first few rows at the Marvel Studios panel, and they've hit the ground running by introducing the talent right away. No fancy speeches or anything.

The Incredible Hulk just started shooting, so we unfortunately won't have any footage or pictures coming your way, but they did manage to bring Liv Tyler and Ed Norton down from the set. Woot! The questions are from the moderator, IGN's Eric Moro.

• So where does The Incredible Hulk fit into the movie mythology? "This is a part one, and it's the beginning of a whole new Hulk saga."
• Why another Hulk movie? "Because he's The Incredible Hulk!" Well, that tells me a lot. "We also won't have a Hulk that is three different sizes."
• Edward, you're contributing more than acting to the film, what else are you doing? "Well, you're making me be immodest ... I came into this and I wrote the screenplay. I was a Marvel kid growing up, and I used to subscribe to a lot of the books. Remember when they used to come in plastic with the little piece of scotch tape on the back? This story has almost limitless potential in it to be remade and redone. It's a really classic modern mythology."
  
• Liv, Betty Ross definitely isn't a damsel in distress ... what's your take on the character? "Well, I haven't started shooting yet, so I'm a bit out of the loop, but I used to love the television show and I'd watch it with my mom. In this film, we're searching for a cure for him."

By the time next Monday rolls around, just the near mention of ComicCon will most likely make me sick to my stomach. That's because we plan to cover the hell out of this convention when it kicks off later this week. And when I'm not reading our coverage, I'll be trolling the many sites out there for stuff we've missed. I'll be up to my neck in geek news, as will most of our team, but why bitch now when things haven't even started yet. I won't be heading out to San Diego this year (which kinda stinks -- I would've loved to meet some folks from other sites); instead, Cinematical is sending two of our West Coast boys, Kevin and Chris. To say we will make their lives crazy over the next week is a massive understatement. That being said, with all that's going on (and all they have planned), I'll owe them each a nice cold one if they can successfully pull it off.

There's so much taking place at this year's Con that it's kind of hard to say which aspect of it I'm looking forward to the most. Do I want to hear J.J. Abrams announce the cast of Star Trek XI, or do I want to hear J.J. Abrams clue us into this damn Cloverfield project a bit more instead? Do I want to see photos of the new (and improved?) Incredible Hulk, or do I want to see the first teaser for The Dark Knight? Or how about that Watchmen cast (which, when it's all said and done, will probably be leaked online in its entirety before the actual panel discussion)? Will 20th Century Fox decide at the last minute to duck out from behind a bush and present something? And how stupid will the Kevin Smith questions be ( I don't even want to go into the absurdity of some of the questions asked to Smith during New York ComicCon)? Will we get an Iron Man teaser? An Indiana Jones 4 teaser? And, how long will it be until the clips leaked onto YouTube get pulled? So much going on, so much to anticipate -- how will we get through it all?

So, I ask you: What's the one thing you're looking forward to the most regarding this week's ComicCon?

In the vein of everyone having an opinion, many of which don't agree, The Guardian's film blog has a piece about superheroes -vs- talented actors. The spin -- the actors who are taking on the roles of comic icons are being fooled into doing so: "What seems to be happening is that the actors themselves are being duped into thinking that these are roles of Shakespearean complexity." Is that the case? The piece mentions George Clooney's less-than-loved Batman and Robin and Halle Berry's terrible stint as Catwoman. If either of them took on the roles thinking they were getting a meaty, complex story, they should probably get their heads examined.

The blog goes on to talk about the increase of suffering and torment in superhero roles, and that the ones who are truly successful don't take themselves seriously -- Spider-Man, Wolverine. Wait ... Hugh Jackman? His role isn't the darkest thing out there, but the character definitely has his share of angst. Considering the built-up aversion to dark superheroes, it's no surprise that the piece then goes on to describe Batman Begins as "a po-faced, dark (in every sense) and confusing two hours in the company of a man with the lowest voice and most clenched jaw in Gotham city." Sure, if Spidey had to fall into the depths of despair, that would be strange, but can you fault Batman for being dark? Isn't it supposed to be? It's based on an orphan who wants revenge. That's not light and happy fare, even if the television version made it that way.

What do you think? Are some superheroes failing because the actors are taking the roles too seriously? Did Eric Bana's green, fighting fiend fail because he made it too awkward and real life? Is Batman Begins not half as good as we've all said it is? Does suffering make superheroes smaller?