Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

Just came back from the movie. Loved it.

By the way, this is really true. Chauvinist pig.

[This, unfortunately, isn't.]

The new Transformers movie has an ass-ton of robots in it, even though they're more of the blink-and-you'll-miss type. I feel that The Fallen looked cooler in his promo pic (more red and Carnage-y); the Egyptian look threw me off a bit, as it's a bit of a cliché look for something that's been around for a long, LONG time.

One problem I had with the movie was the close-ups in the beginning. I was really looking forward to see the huge-ass robot with the wheel in the beginningDemolishor transform, but couldn't really because of the camera close-ups, but that only happens in the beginning of the movie. The camera-work in the scene with Sam and Mikaela before he goes off to college is annoying. Like, seriously, how many times are you gonna revolve the freakin' camera around the two? We get it, it was a pivotal moment.

I was getting a bit bored (which is weird, because I never get like this with action movies) till the part when we find out that Alice is a Decepticon. That totally turned my interest back on. Also, I would've prefered the fight between Optimus and The Fallen to be longer. A bit disappointed with that, even though the movie isn't short of robot fight scenes.

As expected, the robots look fantastic. Devastator was awesome, by the way, and I loved Jetfire. Surprisingly, I didn't find the Twins annoying. They remind me of Cletus from The Simpsons, plus street slang.

[And, Wikipedia tells me that Skids also lives in a pineapple under the sea.]

There is so, SO much more humor this time around. Some parts are just filler, though, and isn't really necessary; I feel they could've done without those and focussed on other things. Don't expect storyline, they're backseat material when it comes to Transformers 2. Fans of the original animated series will find one part very familiar, though. *wink*
Good performances from the fleshlings all around, especially Ramon Rodriguez.

So far, reviews on Transformers 2 are not good. I wonder what the critic consensus would be if the movie HAD storyline, and compromised by having less transforming robots.

8.5/10. Visuals are simply amazing. Just don't use your brain too much and you'll be fine :)

[Besides, I find Linkin Park's song this time around nicer than the previous one.]

And it IS on YouTube!

The Last Airbender teaser trailer, that is:



Visually, it looks good. As expected for a big-budgeted Hollywood movie. And, we can see his arrow.

The trailer looks promising to people like us.

It seems accurate.

And that's what I hate about the trailer. Because based on production photos, it's far from accurate.

I used to go around telling people that AvatarThe Last Airbender is like a Chinese kung-fu movie, except that it's animated series and the characters speak good English. I mean, who doesn't love an old-fashioned Chinese martial arts movie, right? But with this movie coming along, everyone will come to know of the MOVIE first, rather than the original animated series. And there's nothing like lousy adaptations to deter you from delving into the original.

[Or misleading adaptations. *cough*Golden Compass*cough*]

Sure, the current idea for the movie has the potential to be a huge summer blockbuster. If the entire concept for this franchise had just randomly come to M. Night Shyamalan in a dream or something a few years ago, provided there's no twist, he'd be sitting pretty, and his film-making skills wouldn't be made fun of in discussion forums. Yeah, white people saving yellows from brown baddies is offensive, but it wouldn't be THIS offensive. I'd just be avoiding the movie, instead of ranting about every other production photo that's coming out, or blogging about it every other post.

But that's not the case here. The movie is an ADAPTATION, which means that it's BASED on something, in this case, the Nickelodeon animated series. And to drastically change important aspects of the source material, loosely-based adaptation or no, that's a major faux pas in my book.

[That's despite my puristic beliefs]

The potential for TLA to be a hit on the big-screen is definitely there; fans can see it, the people involved with the movie can see it (heck, Paramount is calling it, "Their Harry Potter") , even NON-FANS can see it.
And the fact that Hollywood is going about it the wrong way is what really pisses me off.

Last Airbender trailer on June 24th!

It'll be attached to the Transformers 2 movie, but since I'm not in the States, I'm not sure that I'll be able to see it on June 24th proper.

A preview-type thing will be on Entertainment Tonight on June 22nd. We don't get that here, either, so I'll be scouring YouTube from then till I find one of it.

Stay tuned, folks! :)

EDIT: I found an 8-second preview from ET on YouTube:

Michael Bay to quit Transformers?

Say it isn't so!

In the Yahoo! News UK article, Bay says that he's sick of his detractors, and wants to do movies of the non-action type. More specifically, the genre which "...an art movie in a winery in the South of France" is categorized.

[Ugh.]

But seriously, I don't care that Michael Bay's movies lack the occasional storyline and has too many slow-mo scenes, or that he painted flames on Optimus Prime. He. Makes. Action movies. Who on earth would go to an action movie, expecting or even wanting to see character development and all that other stuff they put in heavy dramas, or even regular dramas for that matter?

[It's like expecting Watchmen to be the DC version of the X-Men movies.]

Sure, it'll be even better if those elements are there, but even if they're not, it's no friggin' biggie. An action movie's an action movie, and really, the general public wouldn't want to see anything else.

[That's why Watchmen technically bombed in the box office. One of my favourite comic book adaptations, by the way.]

Hannibal Rising (2007)

Rather long and draggy for some part in this movie. Not too much to much to expect from this, but still a nice one though. The ever so lovely Miss Gong Li never look better!
A 5 3/4.

In The Valley Of Elah (2007)

Somehow being a mild person, I like this. Slow pace, easy going, not so complicated story line. For a father person who gets f***ed up after the death of his two sons, Mr Jones certainly portrays it well enough. This movie basically tells about emotion, mind all f***ed crazy after returning from war, making them afraid of their own shadows. Nice one I like.

A 6 1/2.

Indy 5?!

According to Shia LaBeouf.

In an interview vid with the BBC (about THAT yet-to-be-released movie with the giant robots), LaBeouf says that Steven Spielberg pretty much has the story figured out, but gives no further details to it.

After the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull last year, there have been rumors that LaBeouf's character, Mutt Williams, is set to take over the franchise, with Harrison Ford making a father figure-type cameo, similar to Sean Connery in The Last Crusade.

To that, I had said, "Fuck no."

Make a spin-off, a spin-off. Don't call it Indy 5 if Harrison Ford is not going to be the lead. Don't put the titular character (especially a POPULAR one that many of us grew up with) in the backseat.

At least give people fair warning by calling the movie Jones: The Next Generation or something.

To read a basic summary of the vid, click here for the TotalFilm.com article.

G.I. Joe test-screening review!

Amid rumors of director Stephen Sommers getting the sack, an early, early review (made in March) of the unfinished print has been posted up on SlashFilm.

I won't spoil anything on the movie (and I don't mean the storyline), so if you really want to know, mosey on over here.

More sucknews on The Last Airbender.

We have here a new article in the "Racial Impact" series (links to the previous few can be found here), titled Gaiden - Hanzi Characters.

In essence, the article compares the original title shot from the animated series with the supposed movie shot (taken off a ComicCon promo T-shirt), where the original title shot has Chinese calligraphy, and the promo T, doesn't, and discusses the direction the movie might be heading.

(l-r) Original title shot from the animated series, title from ComicCon movie promo T.

The article further discusses that there may be NO CHINESE CALLIGRAPHY in the movie, instead, replacing it with a made-up language akin to Elvish or Klingon.

[Or worse. Smudge it out like 4Kids does. Imagine a world that reads and writes Smudge. Ugh.]

Once again, the writer of the article has mentioned that this is a rumor. However, if it DOES turn out to be true, I really doubt I'll be wasting bandwith on this movie.

[I'll just wait till it comes out on satellite TV the following year.]

Liam Neeson will be A-Team's Hannibal?!

Unfortunately, you read right.

CinemaBlend.com is reporting that Neeson is in negotiations to play Col. John "Hannibal" Smith, a role originated by late George Peppard. Unless they're going with a 'new take on the series' (Hollywood's excuse to screw every single thing we know and love up these days), I really cannot see Liam Neeson as Hannibal.

[The only person that remotely looks like Hannibal would be Steve Martin, and we all know HOW appropriate for the role he is.]

I think George Clooney wuold be a good choice to play Hannibal. I'm not exactly a fan of his, but based on his Ocean movies, well, I'd say he has the experience of playing the cocky leader.

[THRICE!]

Day Watch (2006)

Now, I won't go into the storyline, because I've been trying to figure out how to write the summary, and this review has been put off for two weeks already, so I'll just dive in:

Visually, the movie was fan-bloody-tastic. Especially the part where Moscow gets decimated. It was fricken' awesome.
Even the subtitles were awesome. A bit small, though, but I liked how they sometimes fade away, following the mood of the scene.

The only quibble I have with the movie was that I kept confusing Anton with several other similar-looking male characters (like the Parrot), but that was due to my unfamiliarity with Russian actors. And my abominably small TV.

My advice is, do see Night Watch first before you see Day Watch (something I didn't get to do because I was lucky enough to change the channel when I did), because DW continues directly off from there. You'd be able to follow the storyline A LOT MORE if you do.

[I managed to catch on halfway through the movie. I am happy :D]

I give it a 7.5/10.

Revisiting... Balls of Fury (2007)

With Sylar's apparent demise, a disillusioned Hiro tries to make the world a better place.

Balls of Fury is about disgraced ping-pong prodigy Randy Daytona, who gets the chance to avenge his father and redeem himself when he is approached by the FBI to help take down crime boss Lord Feng by participating in an exclusive underground table-tennis tournament.

Comedy, slapstick, and an ass-ton of cameos ensue. In other words, it's the Dodgeball of ping-pong, minus Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn.

Before seeing the movie, I had the impression that Dan Fogler was a knock-off Jonah Hill (since Balls of Fury was released after Superbad) which makes it worse, really, since I don't really like Jonah Hill, but the movie proved me wrong. Fogler was simply adorable as the misfit Randy trying to get his competitive groove back, and he reminds me of a younger version of Tim Curry, except American and stouter.

[He looks so huggable xD]

Christopher Walken easily steals the show as the flamboyant Lord Feng, who's really supposed to be Chinese and not just a Caucasian person heading the Triad. Even though Walken looks Asian, the first line he has in the movie dispels any notion of that. I'd never laughed so hard at "Okie dokie, artichokie" in my life. I would've preferred him to show up for most of the movie, instead of the second-half onwards.

Also, 'moar ping-pang' :D

James Hong is also hilarious as the blind Master Wong, with Maggie Q as Wong's niece and Randy's love interest. My only problem with the movie is that the love story was a bit, well, instantaneous (right 'round the part before Randy played the Dragon). George Lopez (playing FBI Agent Rodriguez) was a bit 'in-your-face' at times, but wasn't as annoying as I thought he'd be.

7/10.
Watch it if you're a Walken fan (which I am, by the way), or if you want a good laugh and don't give a crap about storylines.

Another Rod Hilton gem!

The prop finds out too late the true meaning of "...DONE, professionally".

Tried and tired out, I know. Cut me some slack here; it's my first time :p

The Terminator: Salvation Abridged Script is just out, and you wouldn't need to have seen the movie to enjoy it. I would know, because I did not see it.

[I am saving up for Transformers 2 and GI Joe. Plus, I may be seeing Up this weekend xDStupid nuts, it only opens here in August!]

As of now, the script is not up on his Editing Room site just yet, so you'll have to mosey along to Cracked.com to see it.

"Racial Impact" - A Last Airbender Commentary.

An excellent serial write-up analysing each character, between both animated and movie versions. Without spoiling too much of the articles (aside from full titles, of course), the links are below:

Racial Impact (Part 1): Being Amazing and Asian is Not Enough

Racial Impact (Part 2): The Barbification of Katara

Racial Impact (Part 3): The Evil Brown Fire Nation

The series hasn't ended yet, so I'll be adding more links as they come.

Gridiron Gang (2006)

This movie is nice. Actually I like the way "The Rock" portrays himself. It has moral values to add on. Just watch.

A 7

It's still early...

...but this picture made my week.

Comic book cross-overs translated onto screen.
With their ORIGINAL actors portraying the heroes, to establish continuity in the series, who (probably) won't be bitches and hold up production.
We already know ONE who's not likely to be.
Robert Downey, Jr.
Because he's already signed onto the Avengers movie in 2012, and hasn't acted like a self-righteous money-grubbing bitch so far.

*cough*EdNorton*cough*

Eric Bana might be game for it this time around.

Superhero movies leading up to one, MAJOR, major event: A big-budgeted Ensemble Movie.
Movie. History.


[I hope the end of the world doesn't happen before May 4th.]