Reviews

I caught an early screening of this movie last night. I went into it with high expectations considering the high ratings it has been getting already. My expectations were not high enough however because this film exceeded my them in every way possible.

I will not go far into detail because I would prefer to not spoil anything. This is unlike any sci-fi we have seen in years. Forget Terminator 3 and 4, forget the AVP movies, forget all those laughable sci-fi movies, this film is what we have been waiting for. An original idea, an original concept, brilliantly executed, great CGI, good acting, it just has it all. We have seen many aliens come to earth movies, but this is different, I will not say why though. That is for you to find out when you see it, which I HIGHLY recommend you do.

This movie, quality-wise, matches up with the popular Sci-Fi films we love. The original Alien, the original Predator, The Matrix, Star Wars, etc. While I enjoyed those ones more because they are classics, this one clearly meets the standards we expect today when it comes to quality. A big driving force behind this, in my opinion, is the fact that high esteemed Peter Jackson is behind this project as the producer. After seeing his masterful Lord of the Rings saga, anyone can see that he knows what he is doing.

As far as movies for this year, this is definitely top 5 so far on my list (Up, Star Trek, 500 Days of Summer, HP6, and District 9). Thank you Jackson and Hollywood for finally producing the best Sci-Fi in years. If this movie does not make its way to IMDb top 250 then I will be in awe.

See this movie!

Before I begin: people, we all know the movie was not so good, but NO movie deserves 1 star as you are doing unless it is an absolute piece of crap like Epic Movie or Love Guru. 1 star ratings are for the lowest of the low and are beyond description of how bad they are. This is not one of them. OBVIOUSLY this movie had more going for it than those pieces of no good crap, seriously people, put more thought into your ratings. This movie was not like Epic movie.

Overall, I enjoyed the film, but I also know it was not a very good film. Here is why...Michael Bay. Bay, as we all know, is still a child at heart...a VERY little child. Which means he finds things like sex jokes, explosions, and fooling around hilarious. We were unfortunate enough to have him put on the transformers series, honestly anyone else would have made them better. He took his inner child and spilled it all over this movie. Between robot humping, explosion after explosion, farting jokes, and overdone closeups of Megan Fox we can see the Michael Bay traits in this film. All this added together ruined a lot for me. At times it was almost hard to watch, especially when Sam's mom gets high which was not necessary, yet Bay finds it amusing. You all get the idea, Michael Bay is the reason this film had all it's negatives.

Here is why I enjoyed the film. Simply because I love action. This movie delivered all of what I wanted to see in the first Transformers when it came to action. In the first one, we say very little fighting especially with Optimus. A lot of people saw the first wanting to see Optimus woop Decepticon butt, however he ended up getting HIS ass wooped. With Revenge of the Fallen, we get an all new badass Optimus Prime whose voice sounds like god, "I'll take you all on!". When I was in the theater watching Optimus during the Forest fight, the audience was rooting out loud for Optimus. The last time I saw that happen was during the 2005 King Kong T Rex fight.

Overall, this movie delivers on action but fails on story which is what everyone else has been saying, but don't give it 1 star for that! 1st one had better story but not as much action, this one went vis versa. Big lack of character development in this one, way too many autobots, but it did not ruin the movie for me. What ruined a lot of it was Bay's inner child.

My thought? I think Michael Bay should be pulled off the project and they should put J.J. Abrams on the project. See what he did with Star Trek? Imagine what he could do with Transformers. Let us all pray that Michael Bay does not do this again, or the 3rd movie will full out suck. Pray with me people.

Dragonball, my precious childhood cartoon, how much I hate to see you fall to the hands of such a pitiful director.

What on earth was twentieth century fox thinking? James Wong is by far one of the most under-classed directors in the field, and they decided to put him on the Dragonball project? Has anyone looked at his movie history? He did the Final Destination movies, the first one was good but the rest were laughable. Also The One with Jet Li. To think that it would be really hard to make a movie stink with Jet Li in it. Guess what?...James Wong managed to do it.

Also, what on earth was he thinking with the cast list? Justin Chatwin? What has he done that is noticeable? Oh and Joon Park. He has done two movies in the U.S. He was a driver in Speed Racer and now he is doing Yamcha and Dragonball. He did the audition in shorts and a t-shirt and he was given the part...excuse me? How can a director make such a poor decision when coming to auditions? Emmy Rossum was a good acting choice, but what is the point of good acting if you also have poor duologue? The writer also, look at his history. He has done almost absolutely nothing. Basically what twentieth century fox did was take the worst of everything and everyone to try to make a movie for fan-boys/girls. Look out it turned out.

Now that I am done with the ranting, let me quickly summarize how this project should have been gone about.

For a director, they should have told James to take a hike and hire someone who actually has a good amount of experience. If it were up to me then I would put Zack Snyder on the project. The man is a brilliant director with a visual mind unlike any other. Look what he did with 300 and Watchmen. I could definitely see him doing the same for Dragonball. As far as the cast, it is simple, find people with experience. The cast of Watchmen was not very noticeable before the movie but they did great with this movie because the director actually cared about the movie when it came to auditions. For a scriptwriter, It is not a hard concept, find a smart well known scriptwriter and have him adopt from the Manga. James Wong just seemed too lazy to do any of this. Anyone who is not James Wong would have known all of this which proves how under-classed he is.

Do us a favor Hollywood. Redo this movie someday and tell James Wong to take a hike and do it right. Thank you for ruining this experience for me James, really.

I saw a screening of Watchmen today, and I knew walking in that the reviews were a bit mixed because of the idea of it being based off of a graphic novel. So I walked in forgetting that a novel existed, and I watched it as it's own individual movie. In this case, I happen to enjoy it very much.

Why I liked this film: First off, Zack Snyder is a genius when it comes to artistic film making. His idea of fast motion to slow motion fight scenes, and artistic motion capturing is phenomenal. It felt like 300, which I assume what going to happen when they said "Visionary director of 300" in the trailer. Along with an artistic environment, I also enjoyed the idea of a whole bunch of new faces that Hollywood hasn't paid much attention to. It was good to see some fresh new unknown faces on screen to play these roles instead of out commonly own overused actors today. They all did great with their roles and brought some fresh blood to the movie. Overall, what keeps this movie on the positive side is it's artistic value (Just like 300).

The negatives about this film: Yes I enjoyed the film, but the most important base of a film is the plot. The movie was way too plot heavy and had too much going on at once, I lost track half of the time. I also don't think they spent enough time on the past of the Watchmen, like how did they all learn to fight and get their high tech gear? truthfully, I think this film should have been split into 2 films. there would have been a lot more room for plot explanation, and a lot more could have been done. It was just too plot heavy. That's the major criticism Overall this is a good film. HOWEVER, you WILL NOT enjoy this film if you go into the theater expecting a perfect adaptation of the graphic novel because to be honest, it doesn't follow it that well. Take it for it's own movie. Go and watch it for the soul purpose of seeing it as it's own movie, not to relate it to the novel, otherwise you will not enjoy it for silly reasons.

I saw this movie today on opening night down the street. From previews and the cast list, it sounded like a good movie. However, it definitely did not live up to any of the animated films we have seen this year. I enjoyed films like Kung Fu Panda and Bolt, along with Horton Hears a Who. This film just didn't live up to standards.

I wont go into much detail because I don't want to spoil anything. This movie was only mildly funny. Maybe a chuckle now and then, but it never actually had me laughing at loud like I did in other animated films this year. The voice acting I liked, especially Dustin Hoffman who I've liked, along with Matthew Broadrick. However, voice over and famous actors aren't the only traits that makes a movie good. The storyline wasn't very original, and very very predictable. A fairy tale that they tried to bring to life but just didn't go according to plan. I wouldn't even say a child would find this amusing. My brother who is 8 usually sits through a whole movie, however he didn't mind getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of this movie and missing some of it.

I give this movie 5/10 stars for the voices and the animation/CGI. It reminded me of Ratatouille in the animation sense, but it didn't help. Other than those two factors, this isn't a very memorable movie that I would say is worth paying for, even with a child. It just doesn't live up to this year's animated features. Not a very detailed review, but I don't like to spoil anything.

My dad decided to being me and my brothers to the movies the other day, we have a little brother so we decided to see Bolt. I had a good attitude walking into the movie, and I walked out of the movie with an even greater attitude.

Bolt was simply Adorable. The animation was very impressive, and really brought everything to life. I loved Bolt, and I was a huge fan of the character of Mittens, and especially Rhino. Mixing these three animals on a team was a weird concept, but it turned out to be funny and lovable. Very nice plot, nice characters, and overall tells a cute little story that turned out very funny. I smiled almost the whole way through. The only set back was that I simply DESPISE Miley Cyrus. Besides that, I enjoyed this movie more than Kung Fu Panda which I also loved, but doesn't quite live up to Wall-e.

If your given the opportunity to see this movie, don't hesitate. It's worth the money and is STUNNING in 3D digital. 9/10 stars.

I saw this film with my father and brothers a couple days ago. I can only say that I mildly enjoyed it. First off, this movie could have been a lot better (Acting-wise) if they didn't choose Hayden Christensen as the lead role. As charming as he looks, he is definitely not Hollywoods greatest actor. Jamie bell saved it though with his witty humor, and funny lines. The humor was strong, but some jokes we have heard and seen before. However they are delivered very well I think. Also, we all love a good superhero movie, however we have seen this power before in Xmen and in several other movies. Teleportation is a very common ability in movies, they just decided to call it "Jumping" to make sure it didn't come across as unoriginal. The storyline itself is not so good, again nothing original or fascinating. It was cheesy, and cliché at the same time the entire way through. I would say it was worth the money but I would not see it again. Acting-wise it is horrible, storyline isn't so hot, not very original, comedy stays strong. It is still an interesting movie but I still would not recommend it to viewers.

Lets put this all together.

Jackie Chan + Jet Li = The greatest martial arts combo in History. A White American noob + Martial Arts movie = Surprisingly great Humor. A Great Story Line + Woo Ping, the greatest martial arts choreographer in history = An epic martial art combo story line

Add this together and you have the Forbidden Kingdom. The movie delivers much satisfaction to it's audience. The fight scenes in the movie inspired me, especially a Li and Chan Spar which is something we have been waiting for years now. A good story line that filled in the movie well with a great amount of humor thrown in for our audience to enjoy. And an overall beautiful scenery on the great edges of China give the movie a great look and feel for it's audience. Some details like the questionable acting in this movie may seem like a distraction in this movie, but they are always made up later in the movie with it's greatness. Overall this is a great martial arts epic with the two greatest martial art masters in history with good humor and storyline that will definetaly satisfy you.

I saw this movie with my little brother expecting that I would just have to sit through another boring kids movie. The thing is that it wasn't at all boring. The movie was very entertaining even for me. The humor was very well put together and always made me laugh. I especially thought that the animation was truly fascinating. THe landscaping looked so real you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between that and real life. And the cars, they're characters were very well done, the voices matched and their facial expressions were fascinating. And there's also a lesson to be learned from it, but thats for you to find out by seeing this movie. My advice, see it, it's very entertaining and is well worth the time.