So, let's start
Name of Topic Being Reviewed: X-Men: First Class
Category: Movie
Rating:
By far the best X-Men movie ever, (yes, this includes the Wolverine origin movie).The movie centered on the relationship between Professor X and Magneto. How they met, how their friendship blossomed and how they parted ways. the story was delivered with such clarity it did not leave you qustioning the "how" although the "why" was in my mind after.
Story wise, it had substance. The delivery of the actors in the movie was just okay for me. Although, the two actors who played Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) did an amazing job of portraying their characters that they fit perfectly with their predecessors. Kudos to the casting director for getting them for they have excellent chemistry. Their acting was believable and you could see that they have emulated their "older" selves very well that they had done justice to the character.
Although the other actors were just okay for me. Some were overacting while others were under. Though because of it, there was some sort of weird balance to the whole film.
I will not delve in the difference between the movie and the comic book because I don't really know the "lore" behind X-Men and if they followed the comic book but from the reaction of my friends, I guess they liked this interpretation. I guess, it was a far cry from the last X-Men Movie that it was a breath of fresh air from the purist.
The effects were great. Kudos to the CGI team for a job well done.
Yes, there were missing elements but heck, they were forgettable and didn't really destroyed the whole film. So, 4 out of 5 tumbling babies for me.
Name of Topic Being Reviewed: Green Lantern
Category: Movie
Rating:
In brightest day, in blackest night
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil's might
Beware my power, Green Lantern's light.
Honestly, I was a bit disappointed with this movie. It was my mistake to have gotten a hyped up from the trailers.The movie focused on Hal Jordan, the first Modern day Green Lantern. It told the story of how he became part of the Green Lantern Corps, his training, his trials and his victory.
I'll get to the good parts first.
The CGI was amazing. It was flawlessly done. Oa seemed so real that you would actually think that it was a real planet. The Guardians were created well the same with Parallax. You can see the contrast between green and yellow so well that it can clearly be seen as two opposing colors colliding in an epic battle.
The music was done right. The background music really fit the scene that it adds to the ambiance of the whole movie.
Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern would have been okay. He was really right for the part. He's gotten that cockiness about right but at teh same time the soft side of him that made him a real hero. It was just the general interpretation of Hal Jordan that I didn't get.
And so I segue to the negative aspects of the movie.
I had perceived Hal Jordan to be a natural in everything he does. He should have easily controlled the ring and its powers. His will is really strong that anything he creates are really great and hard to dissolve. He was cocky but has every right to be because he was a good at what he does. He was the embodiment of what a Green Lantern Corps should be. Ryan Reynolds was missing the "umf". Like I said, he would have been great but you would feel that there was something nagging at the back of your head telling you something is off.
There was no chemistry between Reynolds and co-star Blake Lively. You'll keep looking for a spark that's just wasn't there.
The story itself was all over the place. You really couldn't place what's going on the whole time. It felt like they were trying so hard to put a puzzle together but the pieces of that puzzle just doesn't fit into each other. One minute it was this scene, the next minute it's different. I was left confused the whole time.
One of my main concern in this movie is that the Lantern Corps wasn't really seen much. And if they were seen, there would only be a handful of them. I felt like their CGI creation of the planet Oa was wasted because of it. There were just there for a quick seen and then revert back to earth. And I had always associated Green Lantern with a team (whichever incarnation of Green Lantern it was). He always worked with a team, whether it be with the Justice League or the Green Lantern Corps but in the movie, he was always flying solo. Which personally for me shouldn't have been the case even if the movie was all about Hal Jordan. For me it wasn't really a Green Lantern Movie without the Lantern Corps.
Which brings me to the destruction of Parallax. An army of Green Lanterns couldn't destroy him and it all took one man to do what an army could not. The essence of Green Lantern wasn't really there.
So, I would have given this a two out of five. But I was wowed by the effects. It actually left me breathless with excitement. The shock factor was there and they really gave you a lot of it in the whole movie but unfortunately, that's all there was to it...shock.
Name of Topic Being Reviewed: Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon
Category: Movie
Rating:
(Yeah, I know. It shouldn't be categorized as Superheroes but come one, they're the good bots and they've saved the planet one too many times that they deserve to be called "superheroes")Well, all I can say is that it was better than Revenge of the Fallen but still pales to comparison with the First Movie.
Set a few years after "Revenge", the Autobots have began a partnership with the US military to protect the world from the Deceptecons and of course against other humans as well. Sam Witwicky was having trouble looking for work being forgotten by the world he saved twice. But an Autobot techonology was found in the moon during the Space Race brought the whole team back together, in another action packed sequences that would eventually lead to the Deceptecons defeat.
The CGI was great! Although there was not question in my mind that they have done a superb job since ILM took the helm of the CG. The robots seemed so real that you would think that they were there standing in front of you.
Music in the background was just right. They placed it just right for a scene that gave it such a dramatic effect.
Story wise, it was confusing. There were a lot of things happening all at once and it was everywhere. There was no balance in the storyline and the way they merged the different plot lines to make it one leaves you with different questions that starts with "What the..." and "How the..."
The actors were okay. I guess working in three films together would make working with each better. Even Patrick Dempsey as the bad guy was done okay. He had made you wonder until the end whether he was a good guy or a bad guy. Shia Lebeouf to me was a bit over acting to the point that he was irritating. There were parts in the movie that I was actually praying for his characters death. But if that was the effect that he was gunning for then kudos to him for a job well done.
I never got the point of the female trophy. She's pretty. She can't act. She's pretty. She's forgettable. Oh...did I mention that she was pretty? For a movie with a lot of kick ass robots, I don't really think that the token female was needed. Guys would gawk at her for a few seconds but in the end they would forget her because the fight sequence of Optimus Prime was awesome!
But like I said, the fight scenes were marvelously done! Optimus Prime was kick ass yet again! And when the military guys sky dived and glided around Chicago dodging bullets was for me the highlight of the movie (Optimus Prime kicking ass was a close second).
But yeah, aside from the fantastic CG, music and fight scenes, there was really no story. So, that's a 3 out of 5 for me.
Sometimes I wonder if the movies nowadays are just being done to promote the 3D effects of it and not really done to create a fantastic movie with a good story backed up by excellent effects.
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