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DVD Hellboy (Two-Disc Special Edition)
In the ongoing deluge of comic-book adaptations, Hellboy ranks well above average. Having turned down an offer to helm Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in favor of bringing Hellboy's origin story to the big screen, the gifted Mexican director Guillermo del Toro compensates for the excesses of Blade II with a moodily effective, consistently entertaining action-packed fantasy, beginning in 1944 when the mad monk Rasputin--in cahoots with occult-buff Hitler and his Nazi thugs--opens a transdimensional portal through which a baby demon emerges, capable of destroying the world with his powers. Instead, the aptly named Hellboy is raised by the benevolent Prof. Bloom, founder of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, whose allied forces enlist the adult Hellboy (Ron Perlman, perfectly cast) to battle evil at every turn. While nursing a melancholy love for the comely firestarter Liz (Selma Blair), Hellboy files his demonic horns ("to fit in," says Bloom) and wreaks havoc on the bad guys. The action is occasionally routine (the movie suffers when compared to the similar X-Men blockbusters), but del Toro and Perlman have honored Mike Mignola's original Dark Horse comics with a lavish and loyal interpretation, retaining the amusing and sympathetic quirks of character that made the comic-book Hellboy a pop-culture original. He's red as a lobster, puffs stogies like Groucho Marx, and fights the good fight with a kind but troubled heart. What's not to like? --Jeff Shannon
As Spiderman 2 slowly faded away from our cinemas, Hellboy has come to take his place with cigar chomping vengeance. While Peter Parker hid behind a mask and fought evil, Hellboy was born evil. He ground down the stubs of his horns in a futile attempt to look more or less human.
Underneath all the make up and prosthetics Hellboy is Ron Perlman. In Blade II and Alien: Resurrection he played kick ass bad boys who did good deeds when it was in their interest. Now he is the star of the film, given a great script and enough screen time to somehow express the vulnerable side of a monster far worse then anything he has played before.
Hellboy was born in 1944 on a barren Scottish island, which just happened to be a crossroad into a hell dimension. Lead by none other then Rasputin (Karel Roden), the Nazis try to unlock hell. Only to be stopped by Professor Broom (John Hurt), and a bunch of cigar chomping American soldiers. Hellboy is then found by Broom, who raises him to be an agent of the super secret FBI Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense.
Almost from the start of the film, this means Hellboy fights creatures, which are bigger, meaner and even more ugly then himself. He seems to relish these visually fantastic CGI (Computer Generated Image) encounters, which are shot like lovingly detailed tiles in a comic book. His giant stone right hand, super strength and intellect mean Hellboy usually ends up winning, but as you soon work out, its the battle with his destiny that is soon going to be the biggest problem the world has to face.
Hellboy is according to Rasputin the demon whose destiny it is to bring forth the destruction of humanity. In a way Hellboy knows this, and it helps explain his self-loathing. Although even then, in his monster suit, Perlman at times shows a surprisingly sweet gentleness. His love of kittens, and especially fire starting babe Liz Sherman (Selma Blair.)
Like in a comic book, the other characters are only really seen in their relationships with the hero. So along with Blair, the centuries old fish man Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), and new team member FBI agent Joe Myers (Rupert Evans) don't develop in their own rights.
Del Toro has carried across the dark, articulate visual language of this comic book into his film. It works because of his attention to detail, and what this communicates to the audience. Walking out of the cinema, I felt I'd read a comic, not seen the film. I think this is the effect he wants it to have on us.
endearing comic book adaptation
***1/2
Based on the works of Mike Mignola, "Hellboy," written and directed by Guillermo Del Toro, is a better-than-average comic book adaptation that boasts a refreshing sense of humor amid all the customary action sequences and first-rate special effects. The story begins in 1944, near the end of World War II, with the Nazis attempting to open a portal between earth and a hell-like dimension where seven evil deities have been lying in wait for just such an opportunity to come in and take over the world. One creature from the other side makes it through before the Nazis` scheme is thwarted, a young "boy" who is adopted by an American expert in the paranormal and groomed to become a superhero who can do battle with all the supernatural creatures who apparently exist in an abundance undreamed of by the vast majority of the human race.
The makers of the film have wisely chosen to keep Hellboy life-sized and believable in both his physical and psychological dimensions. Despite his red skin, stone right hand and ability to leap from rooftop to rooftop with gravity-defying ease, Hellboy is really just an Average Joe-type, with a bit of an ego, a sardonic sense of humor, a strong sense of loyalty, and a really good heart. Heck, he even has problems in the romance department not much different from what all the rest of us go through at one time or another in our lives.
The movie is overlong and the screenplay probably includes one or two monsters more than it needs to in order to get the job done, but Ron Perlman, even under all the heavy makeup, makes Hellboy a three-dimensional, sympathetic character, while John Hurt brings warmth and authority to the role of Professor Bruttenholm, the "father figure" who raises him.
Hell Boy: Recommended - great special effects!
Hell Boy was born in hell, but is that the end of it?
Can it be that it's not how a person begins their existence,
but how they choose to end it that makes the difference.
Fantastic special effects. Does Hell Boy become a Christian?
Like a roller coaster ready to fly off its rails, Van Helsing rockets to maximum velocity and never slows down. Having earned blockbuster clout with The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, writer-director Stephen Sommers once again plunders Universal's monster vault and pulls out all the stops for this mammoth $148-million action-adventure-horror-comedy, which opens (sans credits) with a terrific black-and-white prologue that pays homage to the Universal horror classics that inspired it. The plot pits legendary vampire hunter Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) against Dracula (the deliciously campy Richard Roxburgh), his deadly blood-sucking brides, and the Wolfman (Will Kemp) in a two-hour parade of outstanding special effects (980 in all) that turn Sommers' juvenile plot... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Hugh Jackman - Kate Beckinsale - Richard Roxburgh - Shuler Hensley - Will Kemp Director(s): Stephen Sommers DVD Release Date: Released the 19 October 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Bigger isn't always better, but for anyone who enjoyed Pitch Black, a nominal sequel like The Chronicles of Riddick should prove adequately entertaining. Writer-director David Twohy returns with expansive sets, detailed costumes, an army of CGI effects artists, and the star he helped launch--Vin Diesel--bearing his franchise burden quite nicely as he reprises his title role. The Furian renegade Riddick has another bounty on his head, but when he escapes from his mercenary captors, he's plunged into an epic-scale war waged by the Necromongers. A fascist master race led by Lord Marshal (Colm Feore), they're determined to conquer all enemies in their quest for the Underverse, the appeal of which is largely unexplained (since Twohy is presumably reserving details for subsequent... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Vin Diesel - Colm Feore - Judi Dench Director(s): David Twohy DVD Release Date: Released the 16 November 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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More than a few critics hailed Spider-Man 2 as "the best superhero movie ever," and there's no compelling reason to argue--thanks to a bigger budget, better special effects, and a dynamic, character-driven plot, it's a notch above Spider-Man in terms of emotional depth and rich comic-book sensibility. Ordinary People Oscar-winner Alvin Sargent received screenplay credit, and celebrated author and comic-book expert Michael Chabon worked on the story, but it's director Sam Raimi's affinity for the material that brings Spidey 2 to vivid life. When a fusion experiment goes terribly wrong, a brilliant physicist (Alfred Molina) is turned into Spidey's newest nemesis, the deranged, mechanically tentacled "Doctor Octopus," obsessed with completing his experiment and... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Sam Raimi DVD Release Date: Released the 30 November 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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2002's popular video-game-derived hit Resident Evil didn't inspire confidence in a sequel, but Resident Evil: Apocalypse defies odds and surpasses expectations. It's a bigger, better, action-packed zombie thriller, and this time Milla Jovovich (as the first film's no-nonsense heroine) is joined by more characters from the popular Capcom video games, including Jill Valentine (played by British hottie Sienna Guillory) and Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr, from 1999's The Mummy). They're armed and ready for a high-caliber encounter with devil dogs, mutant "Lickers," lurching zombies, and the leather-clad monster known only as Nemesis, unleashed by the nefarious Umbrella Corporation responsible for creating the cannibalistic undead horde. Having gained valuable experience as a... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Milla Jovovich - Sienna Guillory - Oded Fehr Director(s): Alexander Witt DVD Release Date: Released the 28 December 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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While setting a milestone in the progress of digital filmmaking, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow resurrects a nostalgic fantasy world derived from a wide variety of vintage inspirations. It's a dazzling dream for anyone who appreciates the look and feel of golden-age sci-fi pulp magazines, drawing its unique, all-digital design from such diverse sources as Howard Hawks adventures, Fritz Lang's Metropolis, Buck Rogers, Blackhawk comics, The Third Man, cliffhanger serials, and the action-packed Indiana Jones franchise. Writer-director Kerry Conran's feature debut is also guaranteed to inspire digital dreamers everywhere, suggesting a paradigm shift in the way CGI-dominated movies are made. It's a giddy adventure for the young and young-at-heart, in... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gwyneth Paltrow - Jude Law - Angelina Jolie Director(s): Kerry Conran DVD Release Date: Released the 25 January 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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