Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen Movie Review

First off, if you didn’t like the first Transformers movie then stop here because you won’t like the second, but if you were a fan of the first movie, and you believed it was short on robots and robot mayhem, then strap in!

Transformers 2 is an adrenaline pumped, steroid using big brother of the first film.  This film is filled with more robot action in the first half an hour, then the entire first film.  Transformers 2 has been super-sized and I like it! Now many people aren’t fans of director Michael Bay who made the Rock, Armageddon and the Bad Boys films, but I have to admit I liked all of the above mentioned films.  If you want popcorn summer action, then Bay is the man.  Now if you want a complex story and characters then you made need to look elsewhere.  Bay doesn’t bring complexity to Transformers 2, and to be honest, I don’t need it.  When I saw Transformers 2, I wanted to see as many robots as possible, transforming and duking it out with rocket cannons and blasters.  I wanted to see as few humans as possible, and I sort of got my wish.  Bay continues to include humans and the traditional love story bit into the films, which are adequate at best, but serviceable to the movie.  The characters are the same as in the first film, and they are just as paper thin, but they fulfill their purpose to give a human side to the movie. 

The story is also straightforward and simple, with the Decepticons (the evil transformers) searching for their leader Megatron and a lost power source to fuel their galactic ambitions for the glory of the Fallen.  The Autobots (the good transformers) defend humanity and try to stop the Decepticons.

So if you enjoyed the first one, then you will love the 2^nd one, although there is much more cussing than in the first one. A lot more humans die in this one than in the first one.  I would say a good 8 to 10 thousand people die in this film, although they are Star Wars type deaths, which means no blood or gore.  

I did have an issue with certain elements of the film. First of all there is a scene where the mom of the human hero Sam unknowingly eats brownies filled with marijuana.  She of course acts a fool, but it had nothing to do with driving the plot of the movie forward whatsoever.  Secondly, there were some Autobot twins, which gave me a strong memory of Jar Jar Binks, although not as blatant. They were annoying and some people will complain, but they were not too over the top with their stereotypes. Thirdly, I wish these directors would stop with the shaky cam and quick cuts! I am sick of it already.

 Despite my issues, this is a fun summer sci-fi film, which fulfills its mandate to entertain therefore it has earned a solid….B

UP Movie Review

So far the summer season for kid’s flicks is batting 100%, with a homerun with Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and now Pixar’s UP. With the glut of computer generated kids movies that have been hitting the scene over the past few years, it could have been easy to overlook this gem. The novelty of CGI movies wore off on me awhile ago, so I haven’t been as eager to see them lately. I should have known better with a Pixar flick. Pixar hasn’t made a movie yet that hasn’t touched me and thrilled me in some way. The trend continues with UP.

This movie is a heart tugging adventure that tells the tale of an elderly man (Frederickson) who years before had lost his wife, just days before they were to go on their grand adventure to South America that they had been planning since childhood. The following years he spends in seclusion and regret wishing he had taken the time to go on the journey with his life long partner. Just before being sent to a retirement home, Frederickson, who was a balloon salesman, outfits his house with hundreds of balloons and sails off in his house towards South America. Along the way he picks up a boy who is a Wilderness Scout, a talking dog and a giant bird, and his great adventures begin. If you have children or know children they have to see this movie. Adults, you won’t be disappointed either with this film. It is grounded in reality for the most part, and even the talking dog (Doug) has an explanation. The talking dog Doug is pretty funny, and his character is not portrayed as a human in a dog’s body. Doug is portrayed as a dog, and I think that perspective is hilarious and marvelous at the same time.

This film also has an emotional core that I think everyone can relate to, which is the idea of growing old, losing a loved one and being lonely. My tear ducts were trying to fire up, but I was able to hold them at bay. If you have loved Pixar’s other movie fare, such as Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo and the Incredibles, then you won’t be disappointed with UP.

Grade: A

Kameron: A+

Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian Movie Review

Kameron asked to see the Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian today, so Rahesha, Kameron and I drove over to the Colonial Commons 9 to check out the sequel to the original Night at the Museum movie, which I thought was pretty good.  This movie was not really on my slate of must see summer films, but I am glad that I saw it. 

 Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian is a fun filled, romp that is a great family movie.  If you are not familiar with the first movie, I will give you a brief synopsis.  Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) a new night guard at the Museum of Natural History in New York is stunned when the museum artifacts come to life at night and walk around and get into mischief.  The artifacts get their sentience from an Egyptian plaque that gives them life during the night until the break of day.  When day comes, the museum artifacts and figures revert back to their waxen shapes.  During the first film, Larry’s goal was to keep the museum pieces from escaping.  In the second film, the artifacts in the Museum of Natural History are shipped off to the Smithsonian archives where they are to be boxed up and never again see the light of day again.  However, one of the wax monkeys stole the Egyptian plaque from the museum and it goes along with them to the Smithsonian.  Once in the Smithsonian, the plaque affects all of the artifacts in the 19 museums and they come to life.  Larry who is now a successful inventor and owner of gadgets such as the “glowing flashlight” comes to retrieve the plaque only to find out that one of the Smithsonian museum figurines has different plans.  Once Larry gets to the Smithsonian, the fun and high jinks begin!

 Throughout the entire film, everyone was laughing at some point or another.  Rahesha, Kameron and I were also laughing on numerous occasions.  Although there are some areas in the movie that don’t make sense, like the lack of any humans whatsoever near the Smithsonian, Monument or Lincoln Memorial at night, I understand why it was done.  It cuts down on costs, and makes it easier to drive the story forward without having to explain to every person why the museum artifacts can walk and talk.  Regardless, this is a clean, family oriented summer film that won’t disappoint.  Check it out.

 Grade: A

 Rahesha: A

 Kameron: S for satisfactory (He is stuck on using his elementary grading system, which I think he does to get under my skin! LOL!)

Terminator Salvation

 The power of music and what it can do to human emotions is amazing to me. When I saw the first trailer for Terminator Salvation, with the Nine Inch Nails song “The Day the World Went Away” blaring out of my speakers, I could feel the desperation in the movie scenes as humanity battled the machines for its very survival.  I got chills down my spine as I saw the humans flying in on their choppers shooting it out with the Terminators.  Just from the music and that scene from the trailer I knew I had to see this movie.  I was then dumbstruck, when the scene from the movie trailer arrived in the first ten minutes of the movie, and I just sat there unmoved.  That is when I realized that music has true power.  The music from the trailer was not in the movie at all, and it changed the whole dynamic and feel of the movie for me.  The music says it all for me.  The new Terminator movie has action, terminators galore and more action, but it doesn’t have a soul.  It is almost like Skynet the evil computer in the movie, manufactured this movie for the masses, but didn’t know how to inject any heart, which of course a machine can’t do, at least not yet. Whoever put together that trailer with Nine Inch Nails needs to get a bonus.

This new Terminator has some plot holes and some character actions, which just didn’t make any sense, but I could have overlooked them if the movie would have moved me in some way.   The first Terminator movie, which I saw in theaters at age 14, scared me, but also made me care desperately for the fate of Sarah Conner and Kyle Reese as they fled the relentless and ruthless T800.  The second movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day also filled me with compassion for the young John Conner, who was trying to escape from the ultra cool T1000 liquid metal Terminator.   Both of those movies drew me into the characters and made me believe and care for their plight.  This current movie did nothing for me emotionally, although I enjoyed it much better than Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

 This is not a bad movie, but it is not great.  Although Star Trek had flaws it was a fun and exciting ride and I was drawn into the characters and their relationships. So far, Star Trek is still the number one movie of the summer in my book. 

 Grade C

 Roshawn B:  Some story changes needed

Kameron C:    More action needed

STAR TREK Movie Review

STAR TREK Movie Review 

“Captain Kirk was a great man…but that was another life time.” And that my friends is the quote of ages for all STAR TREK fans. The old Kirk, the old STAR TREK that we once knew in a time long past has changed forever…The memory of what once was burns deep in my mind, like a time traveler stuck in an alternate reality with the knowledge of something that was good, but has been forever changed.  That is what this new STAR TREK has done.  It has made me fondly remember the past, WHILE BOLDLY LOOKING TO THE FUTURE WITH THIS NEW AND REVITALIZING STAR TREK MOVIE!  Yes, I remember the James T. Kirk, Dr. McCoy, Spock, Sulu, Uhura, Checkov and Scotty from the 60s through 90s, who warped on the small and large screen bringing joy to fans.  I loved those characters and I would have strapped on a phaser and even a “RED SHIRT” (Inside joke for Star Trek Fans!) to hang with them, but they are gone, a whisper of the past.  I have a new crew now, an alternate reality STAR TREK crew that warped into my life today and made me wish I was a kid again, so I could fantasize that I too served with the new and improved Jim Kirk of the Starship Enterprise.

This film has resurrected STAR TREK in a way that no other STAR TREK film has.  I understand that I am a biased STAR TREK fan, but I will tell you I don’t like all of the STAR TREK movies, to put it into perspective for you.  JJ Abrahms and company have produced a new, fast and hip STAR TREK that has successfully recreated the personalities of the original characters and made them even better.  Even if they never made another STAR TREK movie, this movie was like a LOVE movie for fans.  It gave us the original characters, action, a good story and some awesome visual shots.  If I am not careful, I might have a dissertation by the time I am done, so I am going to try and keep this short.

If you are a fan of STAR TREK, you will love this film.  If you are a person who doesn’t know anything about STAR TREK you will probably enjoy this film.  You don’t have to know anything about STAR TREK to watch it.  This movie completely reboots the STAR TREK series, while bridging the gap with the old.  I am not going to give the story away although you can deduce it from my words above, but this is a good film.  Is it the STAR WARS of the 21^st Century? Will it take the nation and world by storm? Probably not, Why? We are spoiled today, by the visual effects and massive scale that have become movies today.  STAR WARS set the standard for that, and people expect movies of this nature to be grand sweeping space operas.  STAR TREK has never been a series about the battle of civilization and mysticism.  The issues the crew of the Enterprise face are generally small scale compared to the gigantic space battles you see in STAR WARS.  STAR TREK is truly about characters getting to know themselves as they go on missions to learn about their universe.  This movie is about that.  A group of young people who find themselves in a deadly situation and they have to step up, mature and make the best of it.  When I was a kid, I loved STAR WARS and I always pretended I was Han Solo or Luke Skywalker because they were cool, but at the end of the day I always wanted to hang out with Kirk, Spock and McCoy because they were the best of friends and I wanted to be a part of that friendship.  This new STAR TREK movie has given me that feeling again.  A friendship has been reborn, and I want to be a part of it.

Grade: A- : Why an A-? I am sick of that shaky cam and close up fighting!

Roshawn: My road dog has returned: Grade: A

Kameron: S for Satisfactory because they didn’t have Klingons.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Movie Review

The summer season is finally upon us, and the local movie theaters and I are going to develop a cozy relationship over the next couple of months, as I venture in and out of their cool interiors to see what summer movie madness the studios are serving up this year.  Wolverine has been on my radar for sometime, but unfortunately, with STAR TREK right around the corner, it has been hard for me to get overly excited about this film like I am getting excited about STAR TREK.

I never really read the X-Men comic books as a kid except for a couple here and there, so my only real knowledge of X-Men history comes from the movies themselves and discussions I have had with X-Men aficionados.  My review will be more mainstream based than fan based.  When I initially saw the trailers for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I was initially under-whelmed because the special effects didn’t look all that great and it looked low budget.  Now that I have seen the film, my opinion about the special effects and the budget still haven’t changed much.  I would be surprised if this movie cost as much as Iron Man or Batman: Dark Knight, but regardless, I have to say I really liked this movie!  The film is not as fun as Iron Man and it is not as epic as the Dark Knight, but it did everything that I want in a summer film, it provided, action, mayhem, cool special effects and a decent story.  As a matter of fact, one of my favorite scenes in the movie was the beginning where it chronicled Wolverine’s immortal journey through history from the Civil War up through the Vietnam era.  They even used that cool photo technique from the 70s I love, where they freeze the frame during the coolest part of the action scenes and show the names of the actors and so forth before unfreezing and moving on. 

 The storyline itself is pretty simple, which is your basic revenge story with a nice little switch up at the end.  Wolverine is pursuing his fiendish brother whom he has fought side by side with for centuries for killing his wife in present day.  Along the way, the U.S. government provides him with an indestructible skeleton; to help him track down his brother.  Along the way he runs across other former mutants whom he worked with in the past to help him on his quest.  That is pretty much the story in a nutshell.  The story and settings are simple, in a gritty and woodsy kind of way that fits the mood and theme of the title character Wolverine.  The guy that stole the show for me was Victor aka Sabertooth, who is Wolverine’s brother.  I just thought he was a cool dude, although pretty blood thirsty.  He is nowhere near as convincing or as entertaining as Heath Ledger as the Joker, but he was a good villain.  There is plenty of action and adventure in this film, but it is spaced out pretty well.  If you saw the Watchmen, you won’t be bored for stretches like you were in that film.  If you like the original three X-Men movies, then you won’t be disappointed with this one. Just add it to your collection and have X-Men day at some point and watch them in order.

Oh yea! I have to give this shot out to my home city of Harrisburg because we make it in the film, although we are not mentioned by name. The final battle takes place at THREE MILE ISLAND! I live 10 miles from there! I am thinking of driving down there later today to assess the damage that Wolverine left behind!

Grade: B+

 Kameron: A

 Roshawn- Seeing it with friends. I’ve lost my 15 year old movie road dog to teenageitis, but as YODA said “There is another!”

Obsessed Movie Review

Obsessed Movie Review

 

I don’t normally go to the movies to see suspense thrillers, or mystery type films, but since the wife wanted to see it, it was a good opportunity for us to enjoy a rare date with just the two of us.

 

Basically, Obsessed is an updated version of Fatal Attraction, with a couple of twists in the storylines.  If you like Fatal Attraction, Idris Elba (Stringer Bell from the Wire), Beyonce, or Ali Larter (From Heroes), then you are going to enjoy this film.  The movie basically starts off with Derek (Elba) a high powered financial advisor bumping into a temp named Lisa (Larter) on the elevator.  Although you can see the mutual attraction, Derek keeps his heart and mind on his with Shannon (Beyonce) and his child.  Lisa on the other hand is smitten, and she spends the rest of the movie attempting to convince Derek that they are in love using a number of increasingly risqué schemes to get him in the sack.  Unlike Michael Douglass from Fatal Attraction, Derek has the will power of the Gods, and is able to rebuke Lisa at every turn.  However, Derek makes the mistake and lies to his wife about what the temp is doing.  This eventually leads to a very compromising situation, which arises on a business trip and excuse me, but all hell breaks loose! Shannon, unlike most movie wives is not some soft woman that doesn’t know what to do about the situation.  Once Shannon meets up with Lisa, she lets Lisa know that she was messing with the wrong man!

 

Put it this way, when Shannon met up with Lisa in the house, the entire audience was cheering and clapping and encouraging her on.  It has been awhile since I have gone to the movies in the evening just to avoid these types of interruptions, but for this film it was fitting and refreshing.  This is what the producers of this film wanted, audience interaction.  My wife was grabbing my hand and looking at me, whispering “If you ever…!” All I could do was laugh.  Is this a good movie? Sure, it is entertaining and gets couples, boyfriends and girlfriends to look at each other and shake their fingers, and their heads with the look of “You better not ever think about doing that…. You can finish the rest. LOL!

 

This is the new Fatal Attraction of the 21^st Century, and the young people that I saw watching it today will be talking about Obsessed like we talked about Fatal Attraction.

 

Grade B

 

 

 

Saga of the Seven Suns Book Series: Hidden Empire & Forest of Stars by Kevin Anderson

I have been struggling with finding a good book series to read, while waiting for the conclusions to two of my favorite fantasy series, the Song of Fire & Ice Saga and the Wheel of Time series.  These series are so involved and detailed, that I have become spoiled with the indepth character development, intriguing worlds and story lines that the authors created.  Each book in both series are an average of 700-900 pages.  Each series has over 6 books.  I finally found a new space series that I thought would fill my needs called the Saga of the Seven Suns series, which has 7 books.  The story line for the series is pretty cool.  The humans have come across an alien race called the Ildirans who have given them technology to travel amongst the stars.  During the humans journey across the stars, they colonize a planet which has trees that allow them to communicate almost instantaneously anywhere in the galaxy.  All you need is a specially trained person to touch the tree and people and communicate their thoughts.  The humans also come across a dead civilization of an insectoid race called the Klikiss.  They discover an ancient device called the Klikiss torch, which allows them to turn gas planets like Jupiter into suns.  The adventure begins when the humans ignite a gas planet, which is orbited by four moons they want to colonize.  Unfortunately for the humans, when they turn the gas giant into a sun, they didn’t know that the gas planet was inhabited by an ancient alien race  called the Hydrogues.  When they ignited the planet, tens of millions of the Hydrogueswere killed.  After this event the Hydrogues boil out of gas planets around the galaxy attacking all “rock dwellers”, which are beings that live on regular planets with the intent of wiping them all out.  So the saga revolves around humanity’s attempts to survive this tragedy, while also trying to maintain its iron grip on the colonies it dominates around the galaxy.

Although I love the storyline and the universe the author Kevin Anderson created, his writing style is very juvenile.  He doesn’t do a very good job of describing interaction between his characters, and he has this habit starting each chapter with a different character and describing their story.  This in itself isn’t bad, because George R. Martin does this in the Song of Fire and Ice series, but there are so many characters in the Saga of the Seven Suns that it gets confusing.  The author also has a very slow writing pace, and there are pages and pages of filler that don’t move the story forward whatsoever.  His description of the action scenes are average at best, and in the beginning didn’t fill me with much excitement.  He also doesn’t even bother to give descriptions and details about the way the ships look or anything of that nature.  Despite these drawbacks, I am still drawn to his overall story and want to finish it, even though I am not all impressed with what I read so far.  I have read two of the seven books, but I haven’t been able to justify buying the rest.  I may have to see if the library has these to finish up, what started off being a very promising series.

Grade so far C-

Dragon Ball Evolution Movie Review

I admit Roshawn and I knew this movie was going to be bad before we went to see it, but being fans of the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z anime, we felt an obligation to go and evaluate how the film compared to the Japanese animated show.  There is no comparison to give.  This movie is horrible, so please avoid it like the plague!

 

There is nothing redeemable about this film, it is short (thankfully!), has a poor story, horrible special effects, terrible acting and they changed everything that even remotely related to the animated show.  I figured the film would be on life support based on what I saw in the movie trailers, but I didn’t think it would be dead on arrival and rotting like a week old corpse in the desert sun.

 

This is the worst movie of the year! I am glad I caught the 10:45 am show and only spent $12 bucks for three of us.

 

 

Grade: F-

 

Roshawn (Age 15 in 3 days): C-/D, but the more we talk about it the worse is thoughts get.

 

Kameron (Age 10): F-/He just said it was horrible, and is still bashing it 30 minutes after we got home.

WATCHMEN Movie Review

WATCHMEN

 

I never read the graphic novel WATCHMEN, but I have heard people rave about it for years.  For some reason, my curiosity was not enough to read the adult comic.  When I saw the trailers for the movie however, I was hooked.  In a nutshell, the WATCHMEN is a story that takes place in an alternate Earth, where Nixon is still President of the United States in 1985.  He is serving his third term, and the world is on the brink of nuclear oblivion. The heroes in this world are no longer popular and have begun to show signs of old age.  That is the set up for the film, but the story itself is rather interesting.  Someone kills a hero called the Comedian, who is not much of a hero at all.  The movie is basically an investigation about who killed the Comedian, and how it ties into the nuclear conflict that is about to be unleashed between the Americans and Soviets.  The investigator of this murder is a hero/villain named Rorschach, who kills bad guys and maims police officers who get in his way.  Along his journey we meet his old partner the Night Owl (A low budget Batman), Dr. Manhattan a supercharged blue titan, Ozymandis a rich super hero and the Silver Specter (I think that was the other ones name.)  All of these heroes in this movie are pretty interesting and very real.  As a matter of fact, I would even hesitate to call any of them heroes. Rorschach and especially the Comedian are very disturbing.  Rorschach is like a psychotic Batman. 

 

I don’t want to give away too much of the story because it is a super hero murder mystery with a touch of action.  If you plan on seeing this movie, don’t expect a super hero vs. super villain slugfest.  This movie is about investigating a murder, and solving the crime before the world ends.  The movie is a little slow at times and light on the action, but when the action arrives it is very brutal.  I can see why this movie garnered an R rating.  You are going to see bones getting split, bodies exploding, arms getting cutoff etc.  These heroes don’t take many prisoners.  This movie is also chock full of nudity and love making scenes as well.  Dr. Manhattan the blue nuclear type guy walks around naked for most of the film.  You get to see the full frontal on this dude.  This movie was definitely made with adults in mind.  That being said, the movie is good, but like I said before a little slow.

 

Grade B-