When the Red and the White and Blue Comes Through

This is a review that has long been in development. Finally came out with it.

            After having been disappointed more than overjoyed by the offerings of superhero flicks this year, it was hard for me to harbor any form of high expectations for the last big-name superhero movie of 2011. It was still hard to discount Joe Johnston’s interpretation of one of the more iconic heroes from Stan Lee’s stable of superhuman misfits.

Transformers: Michael Bay's Last Ditch Effort

Was unfortunate enough to have reserved a seat for the latest... and last?... release of Michael Bay's Transformers. The result? I had to contend for seats on the side and not the middle area of Shang Cineplex' Cinema 3 - not a 3D cinema since I really don't see the point in spending that much money for an experience that you'll only end up regretting paying that much money for...

I have to say this latest installment really had people abuzz. Apart from me not getting the usual row H, I, or J seats (eye level) in the middle section, there were long lines at the ticket booths of people waiting to buy tickets for the movie... unless they were there to watch the chick flick that was showing at the Premiere theater... yeah, Transformers wasn't being shown in the Premiere theater. Instead, it was... Marco... uh... Monte... yeah! Monte Carlo... which, based on the short trailer I saw while waiting IN LINE at the E-See Pass Lane - yes, even the E-See Pass Lane had a line - is about a girl who just graduated and went to Europe with two other girls - one of whom was Leighton Meester - and probably has a coming-of-age story happening there complete with falling in love and all that stuff that makes chick flicks what they are... but I digress.

Dark of the Moon suffers from yet another lack of imagination in the minds of the people who came up with the titles for these movies. As if Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen wasn't bad enough - bad, because THE FALLEN was actually the name of the enemy - they come up with Transformers: The Dark of the Moon... Why? Because The Dark of the Moon was where the focal plot point originates. That area of the moon doesn't even factor in except in the start - which was cool by the way since it showed the Ark at a crash position that is so reminiscent of the cartoon version which crashed on Earth and because they were able to come up with a conspiracy theory about the real reasons behind the Space Race between the US and the USSR - and towards the middle, when new developments were introduced into the movie.

My Money's Worth on Green Lantern: Neither was it Brightest Day Nor Blackest Night

Finally got the chance to catch Green Lantern in the cinemas with the girlfriend this evening. As per my previous post, this was one of the few movies that I really looked forward to this summer as I've recently developed great respect and admiration for the green-clad ring-bearer of the DC Universe.

Off the bat, I have to say I was impressed by this movie. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a great movie, or a "wow" movie, to quote the girlfriend. Then again neither was it a flop by my measure.

The movie is an origins story of Hal Jordan (played by Ryan Reynolds)as he goes through life from working as a test pilot for Ferris Aircraft, run by Carol Ferris (Blake Lively) to becoming one of the greatest to ever wear the emerald ring on his middle finger. It also introduces the rest of the Green Lantern Corps, including drillmaster Killowog (voiced by Michael Clark Duncan), the wise Tomar-Re (voiced by Geoffrey Rush), and Corps leader Sinestro (Mark Strong). It also gives audiences a first glimpse of the green light of willpower's worst enemy, the yellow light of fear, as symbolized by the evil entity Paralax.

Super 8: Super? Riiiiiiiiight...

When you hear about a collaborative effort by Lost creator and Star Trek director JJ Abrams and THE Steven Spielberg, you have to think it's going to be a movie that's going to take your breath away with its story-telling and good filmmaking. Well, at least you would think that it would be a really good one.

Enter Super 8, a movie about a group of pre-adolescent kids who, in the process of shooting a short film on an 8mm camera, stumble upon a catastrophe that blows a secret US Air Force operation into the open. They then embark on a mission to finish their film while using the ensuing chaos and commotion brought about by the catastrophe and the Air Force's subsequent takeover of their hometown as the backdrop.

Well, at least that should have been how the story progressed if they wanted to keep the title relevant.

X-Men: First Class - Subtlety in Acting, Not in Lines nor in Costumes

I was always sort of a fan of the X-Men comic books. I found the idea of being a mutant very... interesting to say the least. I started following them during my high school days but never really got into "cult" status. I merely knew the central characters, most of their powers, and a bit of their back stories. It also helped that during those times, there were local versions of trading cards of Marvel Superheroes circulating in the kids' world, and me and my friends collected the cards.

And so, when the first X-Men flick came out, I was actually kind of... disappointed. Here were some of my favorite Marvel characters (I always held Spider-Man in high regard) and Hollywood was... Hollywoodifying them! Halle Berry as Storm?!? A Wolverine that stood past 5'3? A Jean Grey who wasn't as pretty as the one in the comics?!? Blasphemy (and here I was saying I wasn't a fanboy). The only good casting I saw from the first films (I am sure that girls who are completely going gaga over Hugh Jackman would disagree) were the ones of Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Sir Ian McKellen). These two actors were perfect fits for the characters that they portrayed (though I personally figured Magneto to be a bit younger and more... fit)

My Money's Worth on: Kung Fu Panda 2

photo taken from:

http://www.shockya.com/news/2011/05/21/

kung-fu-panda-2-partners-with-zynga-for-the-first-ever-integration-in-cityville/

Caught the 2:30pm show of Kung Fu Panda 2with the girlfriend at Shangri-La Cineplex Cinema 3. I have to say that it is one of the most entertaining movies that I've seen in while. This was the most I laughed during a movie in a while. I mean, there were times when we were both laughing at parts that the other audience members - majority of which were kids - weren't laughing at.

The film takes place some time after the first one, and Dragon Warrior Po (voiced by Jack Black) has a new quest, and a new enemy to vanquish - Shen (voiced by Gary Oldman). He is still with the Furious Five: Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Crane (David Cross), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu), and Monkey (Jackie Chan). Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) is still in the movie, but with lesser screentime. New characters introduced in the movie are the soothsayer (Michelle Yeo) and other kung fu masters Ox (Dennis Haysbert) and Croc (Jean-Claude Van Damme), while a third - Master Rhino (Victor Garber) is seen for a short while.

Po's story continues and takes a similar form to Spider-Man 2 in the Sam Raimi helmed trilogy: the hero has to come to terms with who he is. Po's past is

Blast from the Past! MMW Rewind

Haven't gotten the chance to watch the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie yet. I just checked back on my old movie reviews and ran across this one...


My Money's Worth on Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (originally posted on my multiply site)

photo taken from celebritywonder.ugo.com

The World is Flat!

At least that’s what the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End proved. I just watched it last night. This makes me three out of three in making reviews about the Pirates movies. I started with the first one a couple years back, then made another about the less than satisfying sequel, and I complete the hat trick with this one.

Let me just say, to start it all off, that I was more than satisfied with the way this movie was played. I heard a lot of people complain about the length of the movie but, personally, I did not notice it. It hardly had any of those long sequences with nothing but dialogue like the Lord of the Rings movies (though I’d still watch those even if they took nine hours long each.)