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Is FF2 a great piece of cinema history? Nope. Is it as good as X2 or SM2? Not at all. But it’s exactly what it sets out to be: a silly, escapist bit of fluff.

By Fred Richardson

What is it about movies based on Marvel comics? The second time around seems to be invariably better than the first. X2 was possibly the finest superhero movie ever made. Spider-Man 2 was amazingly spectacular. Now Fantastic Four: The Rise of The Silver Surfer surpasses it’s predecessor. Granted, the first Fantastic Four movie (2005) was horrible, with only the effects and Chris Evans’ Johnny Storm/Human Torch to redeem it, but that’s beside the point.

Is FF2 a great piece of cinema history? Nope. Is it as good as X2 or SM2? Not at all. But it’s exactly what it sets out to be: a silly, escapist bit of fluff. Ioan Gruffudd has settled into the role of Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic quite nicely and Jessica Alba is perfectly acceptable as his bride-to-be Sue Storm/Invisible Woman. Michael Chikles’s Ben Grimm/The Thing is pretty much here for comic relief and carries it off without being overly ridiculous. Evans again shines, but Julian McMahon’s Victor Von Doom still seems out of place as the classic FF baddie. Joining the cast this time is Andre Braugher as the semi-heavy General Hager. The titular Silver Surfer is played by two actors and lots of CGI. Laurence Fishburne is the voice and Doug Jones is the non-CGI body. As the character speaks very little in the movie, Fishburne’s contribution is minimal compared to Jones’ excellent physical representation combined with some of the best computer character work since Andy Serkis/Weta Workshops’ interpretation of Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies.

I went in thinking this movie was going to be as bad or worse than the previous installment, but was pleasantly surprised. Again, it’s got problems, but as a big dumb summer movie, it delivers plenty of amazing action and effects work while managing to never really stretch credibility. It’s probably not something good for people who take the FF comics too seriously, but casual fans of the series should have fun. My only huge complaint is the sheer volume of marketing in and around the movie, but there’s a scene in the movie addressing “selling out” that totally disarmed my cynicism in that area.

Incidentally I saw the movie on a screen with DLP digital projection and was blown away by the picture quality. I recommend seeking out such a screening if you care about such things.

The Sopranos Ender

So I’ve not really been keeping up with HBO’s great drama “The Sopranos” since season two, but I figured the big series ender would be all over the news the next day so I fired up the DVR to watch it late that night. Sure I didn’t really get the details of what was going on, but I’ve caught an episode or two and heard enough from the media to kinda get the gist of it all. While the series was nowhere near Scorsese’s gangster work in Goodfellas or The Departed, the show was always quite good but then there’s this seemingly anti-climactic ending. Like many others I thought my DVR stopped early, but then the credits started. I was stunned and outraged for a few seconds but then I got it. I really got it in all it’s brilliance. I can’t remember a series ender that was as open ended yet satisfying with the possible exception of the series ender for the criminally underrated “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.” If series creator David Chase had really wanted to force-feed us an ending, I suppose there’d be an uproar about that too but instead he chose to give us clues as to what happened and then leave it to us to work out. If we don’t like that implied fate for Tony, we can hope for a movie or some other continuation, though Chase has said there’s nothing in the works and that he’s happy with things as they are.

Oh and if you missed it here’s what happ…