Review: Terminator Salvation

Sorry for being so absent lately. I’m backed up on writing reviews… life’s been nuts. I figured I’d start with the one we saw this weekend – Terminator Salvation…

Terminator Salvation is the story of a group of resistance fighters, led by John Connor [Bale] after Judgement Day – the day the machines nuked the planet in their quest to annihilate the human race, their struggles to stay alive and to foil a diabolical plot to create a new and improved Terminator prototype… 

To say I was looking forward to this one would be an understatement. Christian Bale and killer robots together = happy me. I’m a fan of the franchise [though T3 wasn't that great, but was still fun as a fan with all the winks and campy nods to the first two movies], and I LOVE the show Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which has supposedly just been cancelled [but I can't give up hope!]… don’t get me started on that… 

The Good: The visual effects and action sequences were amazing. It was great fun seeing the original Terminator ‘endo-skeleton’ robots in all their menacing, deadly glory looking as life-like as you can get. A far cry from the original stop-motion of the original. There were some really suspenseful sequences that did have me on the edge of my seat. And great performances by Christian Bale as John Connor, Sam Worthington as Markus Wright and Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese. And a cameo appearance by an old favorite was fun, too. 

The Bad: The story was mediocre and convoluted, the editing was choppy… it felt like something was missing. We found out after that they cut 40 minutes out, so maybe the ‘director’s cut’ will be better. There were some characters in the story that were unnecessary and actually brought down the quality of the whole film. There were subplots that weren’t explored enough to matter, so in the end they were a waste of screen time. The PG rating took away from it to in that it could have been a lot more dark and scary than it turned out to be. 

The Ugly: There were no big twists. They gave almost everything away in the previews. And the ending was over done – they ended up wasting another opportunity for a sequel [if they even make enough money on it to justify another one...]. And – this is something I almost never talk about – but the music didn’t match the movie. Danny Elfman, who is known for composing the soundtracks for Tim Burton and various animated shows and features just wasn’t the right choice to do this score. Rather than keeping it minimal, industrial and creepy, it was big orchestra, distracting and just didn’t jive. The characters while in their separate storylines should have been given their own themes to at least try to pull the movie more together. They could have just taken any instrumental Nine Inch Nails songs and sprinkled them throughout the movie and it would have turned out way better… 

So.. for the robots and effects, Christian Bale and Sam Worthington I give Terminator Salvation…

3 out of 5

Add’l Info: Released: May 21, 2009 • Runtime: 130 minutes • Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and language • Photo credit: courtesy of Warner Bros, Inc., via allmoviephoto.com

Review: Watchmen

“Justice is coming to all of us. No matter what we do.”

We saw Watchmen last night and it was every bit as good as we’d hoped. I started reading the graphic novel, but didn’t get that far, so I can’t give much of a comparison [I'll update when I do get through it if anyone cares...]. For what I did read, the movie followed it pretty closely. Now I’m excited to read the rest to see what they left out and how they actually ended it in the book since I read they went with an alternate ending to cut the runtime down. It’s rumoured that the special edition DVD will be closer to 4 hours long. 

Watchmen is about an alternate 1985 where Nixon is still President, it’s the height of the Cold War, and costumed super-heroes are a thing of the past. When one of them, The Comedian [Jeffrey Dean Morgan] is murdered, fellow costumed vigilante, Rorschach [Jackie Earle Haley], is set on finding out why – and whether the rest of their retired fraternity has anything to worry about. It’s Rorschach’s investigation that leads to a much larger plan. Good or bad, you decide. 

What I loved about this movie were the characters, as well as the parallels to what we’re going through right now with the economy and things heating up with Iran and possibly our old foe, Russia. The darkness of the story actually felt close to home, and my husband and I walked out in deep thought. We both enjoyed it, but it prompted a lot of discussion about what’s going on with us now, both as a nation and globally. 

My favorite character by far was Rorschack, played perfectly by Jackie Earle Haley, with his ever-changing, ink-blot ‘face’, his uncompromising way of life and his brutal efficiency. It took some getting used to Dr. Manhattan [played by Billy Crudup... Warning - he does walk around nude most of the movie so if you're squeemish about radioactive blue full-frontal male nudity, you might think twice about seeing it... I got used to it fairly quickly... kind of like taking life-drawing class. You giggle for a sec and then get down to business and forget you're looking at a nude person... I didn't feel like it took away from anything... it made sense in the context of the movie. I don't get what the problem is with nudity in this country anyway... but that's another discussion].  ;) 

Watchmen is a great story with plenty of stylized visuals, ala Zack Snyder, the man who directed 300, and plenty of fight scenes, action and effects. The characters were well played with a great ensemble cast, and so was the period – the early to mid 80s – between hair, makeup and costumes [superhero and otherwise...]. Everything was over the top back then, and this WAS a graphic novel, and it felt it – in a good way. It’s LONG… so go prepared if you’re seeing it in the theater, clocking in at almost 3 hours. It kept my attention the whole time so it didn’t feel Lord of the Rings III long or anything. lol

4 out of 5

Add’l Info: Released: Mar 6, 2009 • Runtime: 163 mins • Rated R for strong graphic violence, sexuality, nudity and language • Photo credit: © Warner Bros. Pictures via allmoviephotos.com

Review: Taken

“He’ll Find You. And He’ll Kill You.”

Taken was exactly what I wanted it to be: a fast-paced action/drama with a satisfying ending. This movie has a bit of a Ronin feel to it – probably due to the seriousness of it and the European city backdrop. Liam Neesen was terrific – convincing, despite his age and you go the sense that he would do whatever it took to get his daughter back. His character, Bryan Mills’ family life leaves much to be desired – divorced from his wife [Famke Janssen] who’s remarried to a seemingly perfect rich guy [Xander Berkele] whom is daughter now calls ‘dad’, but he’s making an attempt to have a relationship with his daughter after being absent most of her life – due to ‘the job’. His daughter goes to France with a friend and gets… you guessed it… TAKEN. The cat and mouse game begins. 

What I loved about this movie was how much I felt for Neesen’s character. What I didn’t love was his daughter’s character played my Maggie Grace. I think being a LOST fan, I just feel like she’s older than the part called for [17 year old girl], so she was a little over the top on the naivité, but she’s a small enough part that it wasn’t a deal breaker. She did a good job, I just think it was a miscast. That aside, all the other supporting cast did a great job. I’m actually looking forward to seeing this one again on DVD. Directed by Pierre Morel and written by Luc Besson, whom I’m a big fan of… 

For the action and the revenge – because who doesn’t love a good revenge story? 

4 out o 5. 

Add’l Info: Released: Jan 30, 2009 • Runtime: 93 minutes • Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing thematic material, sexual content, some drug references and language • Photo credit: Stephanie Branchu. © 2009 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved via allmoviephoto.net

Review: Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is an origins story of Lucian and the Lycans – Werewolves that can control ‘the change’ and aren’t cursed to live out their lives solely in werewolf form. Instead, they are cursed to serve their vampire masters as daytime guards and workers. The original Underworld is up there for me for favorite vampire movie, so I was pretty excited to see this one. I have to say, it was good, but not great. Everyone did a fine job – especially Michael Sheen as Lucian, Rhona Mitra as Sonya and Bill Nighy as Viktor. This movie was definitley more story-driven than the other movies in the franchise… I felt like I had already seen it to some extent between the flashbacks in the first Underworld, and the trailer. I suppose I was expecting a little more, but I honestly don’t know what they could have done differently.

Because it takes place almost 1,000 years ago, it’s a pretty dark movie in that there’s no electricity to light the characters up. There were times when it was tough to see what was going on… There also weren’t the more exciting weapons like guns, and no cars for great car chases… just swords and arrows – which are great, but when the film is so dark, it loses some of the drama in the fight scenes. I do enjoy all the battle armor and fighting on horseback, and wish they had more of that. I guess I just expected it to be a bit more ‘epic’… I also felt like the visual effects were really good in some scenes and a little distracting in others. The one thing they got right were the crazy light blue contact lenses for the vampire eyes. They were hypnotic. lol… [exhibit 'A', photo above...lol].

I did enjoy seeing the origin of other regular characters in the franchise. This is a classic case of me probably liking this movie more each time I watch it, after knowing what to expect. I went in expecting a little too much. In the end, this was a pretty decent movie – a sort of typical ‘Romeo & Juliet’ type romance… with monsters… and Underworld fans will like it, but it isn’t realy on par with the original. And what’s funny is, I can’t figure out if this is a better movie to see first out of the Underworld series, or if seeing Underworld first really is the way to go… if you have an opinion for those who haven’t seen it, let me know! You can read my review for the first Underworld HERE.

3 out of 5.

One thing to note – they ended it hinting at another movie to detail the origins of other characters, which I think would be pretty cool… we shall see.

Add’l Info: Released: Jan 23, 2009 • Runtime: 92 minutes • Rated R for bloody violence and some sexuality • Photo credit: © Screen Gems Entertainment, via allmoviephoto.net.

Preview: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

We saw the trailer for this one back in December… X-Men Origins: Wolverine is as the title states – a look into the origin of our beloved hairy mutant with the killer claws. From the trailer, it looks to deliver everything we expect out of a comic book based origins/action flick: drama, pain, metamorphosis, revenge and a new reason for being, along with kickass action and effects, no doubt. lol… 

Due out May 1st, it looks to kick off the summer blockbuster season with a bang! Can’t wait to see it. Starring along with Hugh Jackman are a bevy of great actors like Liev Schreiber as Sabertooth, Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, Dominic Monaghan as Beak, Lynn Collins as Silver Fox, Taylor Kitsch as Gambit and Kevin Durand as The Blob, just to name a few… Directed by Gavin Hood who won critical acclaim for directing Rendition…

Check out the trailer here if you haven’t already seen it: Marvel.com

If you don’t blink you’ll see a young Storm, and I’ve read there’s a young Cyclops as well, although I didn’t see him [or didn't recognize him] in the trailer… 

Add’l Info: Release Date: May 1, 2009 • Runtime & Rating: TBD • Photo Credit: Still taken from official movie trailer ™ and © Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved,

Review: The Spirit

“My City Screams. She is My Lover…  And I am Her Spirit.”

I was excited to see The Spirit because I’m a big Frank Miller fan. I love his visual and story-telling style. It’s not for everyone, as was evidenced by the fact that a few people left the theater halfway through watching it the day we went to see it. The movie didn’t give away all it’s cards right away, so if you have the attention span of a gnat, you won’t understand it and it can get understandably frustrating. I didn’t have any problem going with the flow and enjoying it as it unfolded. It was definitely more ‘campy’ than serious, which made it that much more fun. Based on the graphic novel series by Will Eisner, the little quirks of each character in The Spirit were so fun and charming to me, but I’m sure could be lost on others, which is why it’s not surprising that it didn’t do well at the box office. From what I’ve read, people either love it or hate it. Fans of the graphic novels seem to think it was a very close representation of the original [which I haven't read]. 

The Spirit is about rookie cop Denny Colt [Gabriel Macht], who comes back from the dead as the protector of ‘Central City.’ As the tagline states, ’she’ is everything to him, as is every lady he comes in contact with… the list is long and includes such beauties as the money-loving thief ‘Sand Serif’ [Eva Mendes], the spirit of Death, ‘Lorelei Rox’ [Jaime King], The Spirit’s former wife Dr. Ellen Dolan [Sarah Paulson], the evil scientist and sidekick to Sam Jackson’s ‘The Octopus’… ‘Silken Floss’ [Scarlett Johansson] and the deadly belly dancing beauty, ‘Plaster of Paris’ [Paz Vega], among others. 

The Spirit has a bargain with the local police – he helps them keep the crime under control while keeping a low profile, and they let him continue to do the job he lives for… keeping his city safe. Along the way he crosses paths with his nemesis ‘The Octopus’, his old flame Sand, and a mystery that needs solving… oh, and also gets the answer to the biggest question of all: how is he still alive… again? 

Being a designer, I LOVE the idea of having a color palette for a movie. For this one it was simple: Black & White & Red… it doesn’t get any more classic than that. The Spirit really felt like we were watching a graphic novel. To that end it was perfectly executed. Great period and theme costumes, clean, graphic effects and a long list of great actors and performances. Pure, fantastic fun, and as usual… visually stunning. 

4 out of 5

Add’l Info: Released: Dec 25, 2008 • Runtime: 108 minutes • Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of stylized violence and action, some sexual content and brief nudity • Photo Credit: Copyright © Lionsgate via allmoviephoto.com

Review: Bolt [3D]

“A Hero Is Unleased.”

Due to a massive cold, the holidays and vacation I’ve fallen behind with reviews. Luckily today is a slow work day so I can finally catch up! 

We went to see Bolt when we got to the theater too late to see The Spirit originally… but I’m happy. Bolt in 3D was a lot of fun! It had been in the theaters for a while at that point and there were other kiddie movies out so it was relatively quiet, which was nice. 

Bolt [voiced by John Travolta] is the story of a pooch that thinks he’s a super hero because he has no idea that all his “powers” are carefully orchestrated special effects for a hit TV show, of which he is the star. Ratings start to slide because the audience knows the Bolt formula of him always saving his ‘person,’ Penny [voiced by Miley Cyrus] at the end of every episode, so the studio demands they change things up. The Director doesn’t like it ubt complies [voiced by James Lipton] and give the audience a cliffhanger ending for the season finale by having Penny be captured by the ‘evil Dr. Calico’… [voiced in classic villain style by Malcolm McDowell].

Being that Bolt lives in a Truman Show type world, he has no idea that Penny is safe and sound at home with her Mom, and escapes from his trailer to save her in what ends up being a crazy, cross-country adventure full of danger and furry sidekicks… including an ‘evil’ cat named ‘Mittens’ [voiced by Susie Essman] and a fiesty little hamster/superfan named ‘Rhino.’

The best part of this movie for me was Rhino the hamster [voiced by Mark Walton]. He was hilarious! Some of the lines had me in stitches. In classic Disney style, there were the sad moments and the lessons to be learned, but they weren’t dragged out too long… 

As for the animation and the 3D effects, they were top-notch. I actually didn’t know it was 3D until the ticket girl handed us the glasses. Then I got annoyed because the thought of wearing those heavy, cheap glasses for 103 minutes wasn’t appealing, but they were surprisingly comfortable [not like the old IMAX 3d glasses] and once I got used to the whole 3D thing, I LOVED it. I’m actually looking forward to seeing live-action movies in 3D to see how they do with that. 

For the fun, humor, effects and overall experience, Bolt is a solid…

3 1/2 out of 5

[as an adult... I'm sure it's even higher for kids!]

Add’l Info: Released: Nov 21, 2008 • Runtime: 103 minutes • Rated PG for some mild action and peril • Photo credit: Copyright © Walt Disney Pictures via allmoviephoto.com

Preview: Taken

“They Took His Daughter. He’ll Take Their Lives..”

Taken is coming out relatively soon. We’ve seen the preview a few times but I haven’t had time to post it until now! It comes out on January 30th and stars Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills, a former spy who’s daughter is abducted while on vacation with a friend in Paris [played my Maggie Grace of Lost fame], and sold into some sort of prostitution slave trade. Mills will have to use his years of training and experience to get his daughter back – and if he does, kill whomever is responsible… 

From the preview, Taken looks like a great fast-paced revenge flick. Check it out here: Taken Official Site

Written by Luc Besson and Directed by Pierre Morel who did the cinematography for the original Transporter… So I have decent expectations. Famke Janssen also co-stars. 

Add’l Info: Release Date: Jan 30, 2009 • Runtime: 94 minutes • Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing thematic material, sexual content, some drug references and language • Photo Credit: © 20th Century Fox & Europa Corp. via Taken Official Site Trailer

Preview: 2012

We saw what I’m assuming is the first teaser for 2012, which states in the preview, “How would the governments of our planet prepare 6 billion people for the end of the world? They wouldn’t.” Then it tells you to “find out the truth” by googling “2012.” Being a sucker for viral marketing, I did. Turns out the Mayan calendar runs out on December 21st, 2012 because some believe the Mayans predicted the world would end… [queue Smashing Pumpkins' "Doomsday Clock"...].

The visuals are pretty cool from the little we could see. Check out the official site and teaser here: 2012 Official Site, Sony Pictures

Packed with star power including favorite John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Thandie Newton, Woody Harrelson, Danny Glover, Chiwetel Ejiofor and others. Directed by Roland Emmerich, the man behind Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow and Godzilla, among others, 2012 will probably be an action-packed ride, if nothing else. 

Add’l Info: Release Date: Jul 10, 2009 • Runtime: TBD • Rating: TBD • Photo Credit: © 2008 Sony Pictures via 2012 official site, all rights reserved.

Transporter 3

 

 

This Time, The Rules Are The Same. Except One.

Transporter 3 was exactly as we expected: action packed, fun and sexy with a little bit of ‘yeah right’ thrown in. Not enough to ruin it for us, and certainly less of it than the last one. This time Frank [Jason Statham] has a job literally crash into him. One he refused to do the first time, and isn’t allowed to refuse again. All he has to do is deliver a package that has something to do with toxic waste, tanker ships and evil Americans. His motivation? His life…

Since I didn’t do a preview for this one, here’s the official site with a lot of bells & whistles to play with, including trailers if you’d like to check them out: Official Site

… and since that site is a little complicated and slow loading you can go directly to the trailers on IMDb.com here: Trailers

If you’ve seen the first two, you know all about Frank Martin’s ‘rules’ – no names, no questions, no attachments. This time, there are exceptions. There’s plenty of great chase scenes, plenty of gratuitous shirtless Frank scenes and a cute, long-legged redheaded Ukrainian named Valentina [Natalya Rudakova]. Frank’s Inspector friend Tarconi [François Berléand] is back and is as likable as ever. And it took my husband and I FOREVER to place Valentina’s father [played by Jeroen Krabbé], so I’ll save you the brain fart and tell you he played one of the doctors in The Fugitive – the one that sold out Harrison Ford’s character. lol…   

Frank’s auto of choice is the Audi A8. Nothing too exciting – I would have prefered the A5, but that car’s been everywhere lately and it’s too flashy for a ‘transporter’ I suppose. lol… Anyway… I digress. 

Written by Luc Besson [of 5th Element fame] and Robert Mark Kamen, and directed by French director Olivier Megaton, Transporter 3 has a slightly different feel from the previous two. A little more real and edgy [minus a few obvious digital effects]. It’s great for the action, the driving and the fight scenes. The soundtrack is actually pretty cool, so I’m hoping they release it. There’s a little sexy times too that seemed gratuitous, but you’ll never hear me complain about seeing Jason Statham sans clothes. Although I prefer it when he’s stripping down and using every article of clothing on his person to kill people…  ;)

Hop in, buckle up and enjoy the ride.

3 1/2 out of 5. 

Add’l Info: Released: Nov 26 • Runtime: 100 minutes • Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence, some sexual content and drug material • Photo credit: Magali Bragard, ©Lionsgate via allmoviephoto.net