Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Back in 2007, Michael Bay introduced us to a new kind of sci-fi action that included transforming robots that kicked butt on the silver screen. Now the whole crew of Autobots and Decepticons has returned in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." But this time there is twice the action, twice the CGI, and twice the amazing machines. However, when the movie is said and done, is it twice as good as the first one?

Shia LeBeouf reprises his role as the main contact to the robots, Sam Witwicky, who is going off to college and trying to live his life without interference from the Autobots. However, when the Decepticon leader Megatron(voiced by Hugo Weaving) is resurrected and Earth is threatened by a greater evil known as The Fallen, Sam and his girlfriend(Megan Fox who magically seems to always have make-up on after she gets blown all around the battlefield) is taken back into the war with the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime(voiced by Peter Cullen). During the film we learn the story of The Fallen and that he wants to destroy the human race by blowing up the sun and so the new found army of Autobots must stop both Megatron and The Fallen from destroying the world.

YES! Finally I have seen a movie that has a firm plot line. The story in this movie is clear, they explain what the problem is, they say what both the antagonists and the heroes need to do to achieve their goal, and they clearly show how the problem is overcome. Now the only thing that wasn't so swell was that there were many variables in the plot that the makers of the film could have done without. For example, Sam's roommate gets sucked into the adventure but really does nothing important except run around screaming and the movie would have been just the same without him. Sure, the plot line is complex but at least there is one.

In this film, not ten minutes went by without something blowing up or flying across the screen. The action in "Revenge of the Fallen" was relentless and made up a good 3/4 of the film. The CGI was improved and immersed me in an all-out fighting extravaganza between small, mediocre, and larger than life robots. Now these factors were both a good and bad thing. On one hand, the action was great fun, and was of course the biggest thing that made the movie enjoyable. On the other hand, Michael Bay went a little overboard on the amount of action shown in this movie which dragged the film out, which is what I will talk about next.

The movie in all had a just a few problems that made it less enjoyable. For starters, the film could have been a little shorter. Some of the fight scenes were drawn out and the makers didn't do a good job on the pacing. Scenes just lasted forever when they should have been cut a little shorter to make the movie move along faster. Another weird factor was that some of the robots had human traits that were inappropriate including sexual dialogue and humor and lots of cursing. These lines just sounded weird coming from a robot and was also something the movie could have done without. The last thing that degraded my enjoyment was that, like in "Terminator Salvation," there isn't a lot of human emotion or feel to the film because the plot focuses more on the transformers instead of the humans. Besides LeBeouf and Fox's characters, there wasn't a lot of depth from the other characters.

"Revenge of the Fallen" has many good traits like the action and adventure, and many bad traits like the long running time and lack of depth. In the end however, Michael Bay has given us a fun film that will satisfy all fans of the action genre. 2 1/2 out of 5. "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has a running time of 2 hours and 30 minutes. The film is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, language, some crude and sexual material, and brief drug material.

Year One

The last comedy I saw, Land of the Lost, was terrible. So when I was walking into Year One I hoped that I was about to see a better and funnier film. When I left the theater however, my mind was thinking one thing...CRAP! Sadly, Year One is yet another meaningless so-called comedy full of raunchy jokes and disgusting material that the filmmakers think are funny.

This film stars Jack Black and Michael Cera as two Neanderthals who have horrible lives in their tribe. When they are banished from the clan, the two embark on a journey that consists of many biblical events from the Old Testament. On this journey the two encounter both obstacles and pleasure but in the end, they both emerge as praised people.

It seems that the problem is like a disease that spreads to all the new movies and the problem is...the plot line. Once again I have witnessed a movie that has a messy plot. The plot is composed of two characters walking around finding different biblical characters and interfering with their lives. At times what happens in the film is completely random thus adding to the messed up plot line. The last word I have to say about this is that there were several small twists that also did not make any sense and it seemed like twists that the writers just put in the film because they were bored.

Like Land of the Lost, this film was just not funny. A few chuckles were the only thing that escaped my mouth in this film except for the frequent "ewes." Oh yes, this film wasn't only not funny but it was also incredibly gross. Even though the film steered clear of nudity, there were other elements including crass dialogue and situations and just downright stupid material. I can not understand why the writers thought that the gross areas of the film would be funny to the viewers. There were certain times I just wanted to push a fast-forward button to skip over it and this was the biggest element that ruined the movie for me.


So once again, Hollywood has failed to produce a good comedy(that isn't rated R.) Year One was a messy, crass, and crude film made up of complete nonsense and loads of B.C. blasphemy. Even the actors failed to impress in the sad comedy. As far as rating this film, I don't think it even deserves one star. Year One has a running time of 1 hour and 40 minutes and is rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout, brief strong language, and comic violence.

News Update

It's now June and unfortunately, half of the big summer movies are slowly beginning to leave theaters. Ahead of us we have Transformers 2, Public Enemies, Harry Potter 6, and GI Joe. These seem like the last exciting movies we have this summer but right now I have news of many upcoming blockbuster films.
MARVEL UPDATES:
-The producer of Spider-Man 4, Todd Black, has said that Kirsten Dunst(Mary Jane) will return for the next installment of the franchise. Black also said that they are currently deciding on who the villain will be. He said that whoever the bad guy is, he/she will have a big connection with New York city. This leaves me guessing that Kingpin will be the villain. Kingpin is a billionaire crime lord that has immense strength. He is a villain in comics like Daredevil, Spider-Man, and many others.
-Ryan Reynolds did a great job playing Wade Wilson/Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and he is not done playing the "Merc with a mouth" yet. Reynolds commented on the progress of the new Deadpool movie that is in pre-production. He said that he has control on his character so that means that fans of the character will love how close the filmmakers follow the comics. This is one that I can't wait for.



-We now have a first look at Mickey Roruke in the upcoming Iron Man 2. In the second Iron Man, Mickey Roruke plays the villain Whiplash who has a few sweet inventions of his own including a pair of long whips.

-The director of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Michael Bay, posted on his site different ways that the sequel is better than the first. The list included better effects, more character development, and that the film showing in IMAX theaters will actually be a little longer than the cut in regular theaters. This is due to the fact that Michael Bay used IMAX cameras to film certain parts of the film. Michael Bay also made sure that Transformers would have four weeks in IMAX theaters so sorry Harry Potter fans, you will have to wait until July 29th to see Harry on the BIG screen.

Land of the Lost

Even in the summer all movies can't be entertaining. Land of the Lost, a movie adaption of an old TV show, is more than a perfect example of this. Will Ferrell stars in this supposed comedy about three people getting transported to another dimension. What the movie boils down to however, is a mess that doesn't make any sense and the only thing that kept me from leaving the theater was Ferrel who made this movie somewhat enjoyable.

In this film, we see a has-been scientist named Rick Marshall who has created a device that allows people to travel to another dimension that he comes to name, the Land of the Lost. Dragged alongside him in this disaster are his assistant Holly(Anna Friel) and a brainless survivalist(Danny McBride) named Will. In this land they find primates, lizard-like creatures, and dinosaurs that run around at any given moment. The group proceed to try and find the device that got them stuck in the crazy land and get out as fast as they can.

The big flaw with this film is that it just is not funny at all. I never gave a big laugh the whole film with the exception of one of the last lines of the film. What the makers of the film probably wanted to seem funny, actually was incredibly cheesy. At select times in the film, the only reason I laughed, was because of the cheesiness. Lizard-like creatures...really? I don't see why anyone would find that entertaining especially because they looked like Halloween outfits.

The other problem with this film(which has been a problem with many films this summer) is that the plot is a complete mess. So many things in Lost were so random that by the end of the film, nothing made sense. For example, in the middle of the film, a secondary plot was tossed in that also was very cheesy. NO! This film is already having trouble maintaining the original plot so why did it toss in another one? There are too many factors to comprehend and they are all jammed into 90 minutes of a film.

The acting is on the borderline of not good and OK. The acting doesn't allow me to see character development and so I never get to truly know the characters besides the fact that they are all losers who get sucked into a vortex. By the end of the film I am left thinking the characters losers because the movie doesn't do a good job at connecting me with them.

So sadly, Will Ferrel fails to entertain in this crazy comedy that is Land of the Lost. Fans of the old TV show may be slightly entertained but for me, watching the film made me feel like I ordered a grande nacho cheese platter without the chips. 1 out of 5.

Land of the Lost has a running time of 1 hour and 33 minutes and is rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, and for language including a drug reference.