Transformers 2: So Insane, IT ROCKS!

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen has been receiving bad reviews from big critics since the first day it was shown. I didn’t give a damn on their reviews because I loved the movie, I watched it twice. If there’s a word to describe it, it’s INSANE.

If you watch Michael Bay movies, you’ll know how explosive the movie can get. This one has a lot of it. ROTF begins 2 years after the battle in Transformers 1. Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) is entering college and have to leave her hot girlfriend, Mikaela (Megan Fox) and Bamblebee at home. But the thought that they can get back to their normal life is immediately broken after a warning that the Fallen is coming.

From start, the film is already crazy. Ginormous decepticons, cool new autobots, little transformers, quarreling crazy parents, humping dogs and wherever you look is already catastrophic. Then at the middle, the main players are battling, car chases, fake humans, explosions, foxy Megan Fox, screaming Shia. I can go on and on until I spoil everything here, so I’ll shut up and end this review.

Optimus Prime is the newest Chuck Norris!

But no, I will not stop yakking! Transformers 2 is a movie that’s like every scene is a climax and the only time you rest your eyes is when you look at Megan Fox to admire her. I laughed with every witty lines they dropped, from the ghetto twin robots to the cracked parents. The lead characters here are the Transformers and the actors here are merely supporting roles. What’s even great with this film, you don’t have to be smart to watch this. All you have to do is sit back and feel that you’re in the warzone.

Megan Fox, what a relief.

The plot is predictable and that what pisses off the major critics. But for me, that’s what I sometimes look for in a movie. I get the most of the entertainment factor than thinking of what’s coming next. That’s what movie should be on the first place. Michael Bay did what he do best, make use of all the elements for a great movie and forget what others say. That’s the real artist. From sounds to visuals, everything is remarkable. What Bay did here is to make the audience feel that they are part of the movie. Entertainment factor is over the top and I can watch it over and over again because I don’t need a brain to see it. Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen is all about movie experience.

If you want to experience war, you better see this.

Ratings:

• Visuals: 5 out of 5 stars
• Intellect: 3 out of 5 stars
• Plot: 3 out of 5 stars

Blood sucks? Not really.

The first time I saw the full trailer of Blood: The Last Vampire (Live Action) I knew already that it would be crappy. You know why? It was too flashy for a trailer. Most shitty movies usually put all their best clips in a more than a minute cinematic trailer (like cheap slasher movies and most of our mainstream local movies) and you will realize that the whole movie is already in the trailer. But I think I judged the film too much on the trailer.

Blood: The Last Vampire is an adaptation of an animé of the same title. The film features Saya, a half human-half vampire who hunts other full-blood vampires. She’s like Blade, a daywalker, not a vegetarian, doesn’t glitter like Edward Cullen and she’s Japanese (played by Gianna Jun, a Korean). Saya is a tough kickass vampire with her samurai which Edward Cullen can’t do because she only kill girls with his looks and bad hairdo.

The movie is a one big mess. How will you make a 40-minute animé into a full-length 2-hour live-action film? It’s this way. Let’s stick how it began and ended in the animation and tweak it a little bit. Now, you already made a 50-minute film. No, it won’t make the cut. Let’s change the characters a bit, the setting, and add what-happened-in-between-to-make-the-movie-more-understandable parts. Yay, you now have a 1-hour movie… which is good for TV release only. Let’s add the tale of her origins; who taught her to fight, did she fell in love, whatever. Hurrah, you made an 80-minute film! You’re close. Add slow-motions to the fight scenes and add all the unnecessary visual effects to make it longer. Then, you watch it and you’re assistant said, “Sir, I think we only made a mess”. But you as the filmmaker spoke in firm tone, “Just serve it to them, we don’t have budget left.”

I don’t say the movie is totally bad. It’s just messy. CGI-bloodspills during the fight scenes are really unnecessary. It’s like 300, you can see the blood spilling everywhere but you won’t see the characters get stained. Yes, the CGI is bad, really bad. The CGI monsters are also awfully done. I know that monsters are supposed to be ugly, but not plainly ugly.

So far, what I like in the movie are the fight sequences. The fights are really amazing (without the ugly CGI bloodspills). Imagine Saya, our half-vampire heroine against hundreds of vampires and her foster father against dozens of ninjas coming out of nowhere. The plot is half-baked and if developed, it could have been great.

Overall, I underestimated the film too much. It’s not bad. It’s just a mess, but if they’ve reduced and put things in the right place it would be better.

Ratings:

• Visuals: 2 out of 5 stars
• Intellect: 3 out of 5 stars
• Plot: 3 out of 5 stars

Angels & Demons… Good or Bad?

Another Dan Brown book has been adapted to movies. Unlike the first Dan Brown adaptation, The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons didn’t garner much controversies against the Catholic Church this time. Maybe there were historical and factual inconsistencies, it’s still fiction. Even if the book/movie is based on half-truth, we have to keep in mind that it’s still fiction.

One good thing of not reading the book made me not compare the movie from its origin. I can clearly focus my attention to the movie itself.

In Angels & Demons, Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) tries to save Vatican City from symbols scattered around the churches of Rome against a secret organization called Illuminati. Robert Langdon has to scour Rome to find clues just to find the antimatter which CERN discovered that may lead to the Path of Illumination; destruction of Vatican and all the cardinals attending the conclave. Will Robert Langdon save and change the world with his hairdo?

Angels & Demons is a quite predictable movie. I have even predicted what may happen in the end. Though, the plot twists made me go “He isn’t? “Yes, he is.” “Oh no he’s not!” “I knew it!” “Damn”, a lot of times. In the end, I realized I was right by the very beginning, but I’m not. It’s really confusing like that.

Unlike The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons didn’t play much mind games and math problems like the Fibonacci sequence. It’s much easier to digest and mostly revolved on different statues and landmarks. Sadly, the movie didn’t highlight the beauty of Rome. It’s still thrilling to watch as the characters move around Rome and solve the clues with the sculptures.

Though predictable, it’s still entertaining to watch. It’s even better if you’re not familiar with Rome and don’t care that much with history. Just take the movie lightly.

And also, what’s with the hairdo Tom Hanks? Please explain.

Ratings:
Visuals: 3/5 stars
Intellect: 3/5 stars
Plot: 3/5 stars

Star Trek is an Awesome Movie without the Hohumm

Klingons, Vulcans, Romulans, Enterprise, James Kirk, Spock… I think everyone knows now what I’m talking about. It’s Star Trek, sillies! If they don’t have a basic idea what Star Trek is, then they better do their research because Star Trek is now back on track.

Casting young stars for Star Trek made me dubious on how this movie will come out. Everybody is more familiar with William Shatner as Captain James Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as Spock. This is also a movie that no one should mess with because of its large fanbase. Nobody messes with Star Trek fans because they can pulverize the movie outfit with their blasters.

I was not THAT interested to watch Star Trek but everyone who watched the film was raving. I decided to watch the film and to my surprise, I loved the movie. Saying that the movie is good is an understatement, it is AWESOME. Almost everything I like to see in a movie, Star Trek gave it to me. Adventure, drama, wit, action and visual effects, they are all in this movie.

Star Trek didn’t even made me burn my butt for sitting too long. There has so many great movies like “The Dark Knight” but most of them are just damn too long to watch. Even those movies still have hohumm moments. In Star Trek, they have balanced the action and the drama. Just like what everyone wants in a sci-fi, a lot of space action and just right character depth in a span of two hours. Beat that.

The actors played their roles very well. Kudos to Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto for their excellent rapport and performance. I never thought that a boy-next-door type actor Chris Pine can give justice as Capt. Kirk, or Zachary Quinto be Spock and not as Sylar. It’s their typecast but they have broken it with Star Trek. I saw Kirk in Chris and Spock in Zachary (amidst the raising eyebrow of Zachary which is so Sylar). And yeah, Eric Bana and Winona Ryder is in this film too and I am not aware of that.

Star Trek is a must watch movie for this year. A fan or not, this movie is for all. And saying Star Trek is a good film is an understatement. Star Trek is so good, guess who’ll be in its sequel.

Ratings:

Visuals: 4/5 stars
Intellect: 4/5 stars
Plot: 5/5 stars

Scratching Wolverine

He has healing abilities, superhuman senses and claws coming out of his knuckles. His bones are bonded with adamantium alloy making him nearly indestructible. But what happened before Logan became one of the X-Men? That’s what the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine tries to answer.

If you are a big X-Men fan, you may already know the tale of James Howlett how he became Wolverine. The movie retold it the Hollywood way. Big budget, big stars and a lot of media hype, that’s Hollywood alright. With the hype, is it worth to watch in theaters now that almost everyone have seen the unfinished leaked version?

A popcorn movie is always good to watch on the big screen. If you expect Wolverine a movie with depth and substance like the Dark Knight, then, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not for you. It’s good to watch in theaters because audience will enjoy the explosions and visual effects better. Well, if you have a home theaters, you can wait to have it in Blu-ray or DVD. That is if you can endure the spoilers or people around you talking about it.

One of its drawback on me is that this movie focus too much on Wolverine… oh wait, no… on Hugh Jackman. Yes, I know that the movie is about Wolverine, but it doesn’t mean that most of Team X will be destroyed. It’s more of “Our Wolverine is Hugh Jackman, the sexiest man alive, let’s give other stars a shorter screen time; KILL ‘EM.”

What I like with the movie is Liev Schreiber. He is effectively gritty as Sabretooth. Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool would have been the comedic relief if given a longer screen time. Lynn Collins as Silverfox is exceptionally hot on screen, I was drooling over her. And of course, the showcase of different mutants.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is nice to watch without expecting too much from it.

BTW, don’t leave your seats if the credits start rolling.

Ratings:
Visuals: 4/5
Intellect: 2/5
Plot: 3/5