The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Who would have thought that you could create a two hour film based off of a five minute animated musical short? Sure enough, big-producer Jerry Bruckheimer has teamed up with Nick Cage to create a magical story very loosely based off 1940's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", a short included in "Disney's Fantasia" that stared our favorite magical mouse. But does this new adventure capture the magic that Mickey did 70 years ago? Sadly that goal is next to impossible to achieve.

It's 740 A.D. and the wizard Merlin has trained three apprentices, Balthazar Blake (Cage), Veronica (Monica Bellucci), and the back-stabbing Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina). Horvath betrays Merlin and his two apprentices and sides with the evil sorceress, Morgana le Fay (Alice Krige). A battle ensues between the five characters ultimately resulting in Merlin's death and Balthazar trapping Morgana in the Grimhold, which resembles a nesting doll. Before his death, Merlin gives Balthazar his dragon ring and instructs Baltahzar to seek out his successor who will be known as the Prime Merlinian because only that person could kill Morgana once and for all.

Balthazar searches for centuries for the Prime Merlinian. Along the way he defeats foes trying to release Morgana and eventually defeats Horvath, trapping them all in the doll. Finally Balthazar finds his magician and his name is Dave (Jay Baruchel) who is a physics wiz at New York University. Balthazar tells his story to Dave and the boy agrees to train with him and help defeat Morgana. But things will get complicated because Horvath escapes from his prison and he plans on bringing a few friends to help bring down the two heroes.

There are two things that "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" relys on and they are visual effects and action scenes. The CGI was impressive whether it was a dragon tearing up Chinatown or a steel eagle from the Chrysler Building coming to life, everything looked good. Next to that the movie was pretty much a non-stop action roller coaster that ranged from wizards hurling spells at each other to car chases through the streets of Manhattan. However, there must be more than just good visuals and action to make a film decent, the disappointing "Transformer 2" proved that statement.

Now about the connection to this film and the cartoon on which it is based. There is really no similarities between the two with the exception of one scene where Dave tries to uses mops and brooms to clean his apartment (while the music from "Fantasia" is played) which is an ode to the animated short. Besides that it puzzles me why the makers of the film bothered to say that it is based off the cartoon and not just say it is its own film. But as it turns out, that one scene was probably my favorite in the film.

The main problem with "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" is this, at this time in cinema history where "Harry Potter" rules the magic/wizard genre, no film can quite live up to the originality and greatness of the "Harry Potter" films. "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" did not bring anything new or original to the table and ends up being just another visually impressing popcorn film that will very quickly be forgotten. I give it one and a half stars out of four.

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" has a running time of 110 minutes and is rated PG for fantasy action violence, some mild rude humor and brief language.

Inception

By now it is a known fact that director and writer Christopher Nolan (most known for the two newest "Batman" films) is very good at what he does...making great movies! Since 1998 Nolan has released a new film every two years(with the exception being Batman Begins being released in 2005) and now it is 2010 and the time has come to witness his next project. There is no doubt that Nolan's reputation precedes him greatly in this new mind-blowing and mind-boggling film, "Inception."

Cobb (Leonardo Dicaprio) and Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) are very good at what they do and believe me what they do is a long shot from a walk in the park. Cobb and Arthur have mastered the technology to enter other people's minds and partake in their dreams. In this profession, they create a dream for the victim and then enter said victim's dream and try to find information for themselves or for the clients that hired them. Quickly after the film gets started, Cobb and Arthur are approached by a man named Saito (Ken Watanabe) who has been observing the two men's skills. Saito has a job for Cobb and Andrew and it includes something that is considered impossible. The thing which I speak of is known as inception which is where those who invade the dream attempt to place an idea in the victim's mind. Saito owns a buisness that is threatened by a rival buisness. The head of said business is about to hand over the company to his son, Robert Fischer Jr. (Cillian Murphy). What Saito wants is to plant the idea in Robert to break away from his father's company and start his own buisness thus dismanteling his father's empire. Saito not only offers money but tells Cobb that he will grant him a way to finally go home, something that Cobb has wanted for a long time. Why can't Cobb go home? That's one of the many mysteries.

The two, even though Cobb made the decision without Arthur's input, take the job and assemble a team of other's who are skilled in the art of invading dreams. The team includes Ariadne (Ellen Page) who is responsible for constructing the dreams that the team goes into, Eames (Tom Hardy) who has the skill of taking of the shape of those known by the victim of the dream in order to more easily convince the victim of telling secrets, and Yusuf (Dileep Rao) who makes liquids that enable people to sleep longer and/or become more relaxed. This team attempts to target Robert Fischer Jr. with the goal of convincing him to break away from his father's business.

When looking at "Inception" it is much like looking at pieces of a puzzle. There are many pieces of the puzzle that include the acting, the script, the cinematography, the music, the story, the originality, the visual effects, etc. The bottom line is, "Inception" has all of the puzzle pieces and they all fit together perfectly. Now let's look at each piece.

Starting with the acting, it is very noticeable in the trailers that "Inception" is filled with A-listers and I don't mean just the popular A-listers (Megan Fox) I mean the A-listers who are both popular and can actually act (not Megan Fox.) The acting for all cast members is impressive, the best performance coming from the very talented Leo Dicaprio who has shown outstanding acting in both of his films the year (the first being "Shutter Island").

The next big factor of "Inception" is the plot. Every now and then there are movies that you see that after watching you say, "Wow! I have never seen anything like that!" (think The Matrix or The Lord of the Rings). Inception is the perfect example of that kind of film. The story is so interesting, so gripping, and so original, I was struck with awe at how brilliant the film was because of this. Now one thing I feared when going into this film was that I would be confused and lost a lot. WRONG! Thanks to the brilliance of Christopher Nolan, the story, the whole concept of going into dreams, and all points of the story are clearly explained leaving no questions.

As for the rest of the puzzle pieces, there is a big list but some of the key ones include the cinematography, CGI, and score. Like most Nolan films, the camera-work is outstanding. The lighting and clearness gave the film a beautiful picture. Since "Inception" dealt with dream sequences, there were many different angles that the camera's were placed in and all in all, the way those scenes turn out is visually impressive.

The cinematography combined with the CGI was a great mix. Slow-motion is a much-used effect in "Inception" but thankfully it wasn't overused like it is in many action films (Mission Impossible 2). One scene features the team falling backwards into a lake while strapped into a van. In this scene, the way everyone moves, the way the camera looks, the way the van crashes into the water, everything just works perfectly. This scene is just a fraction of what "Inception" has to offer.

One of my favorite things to look for in a movie is a great score and I couldn't have been more excited when I saw that Academy Award winning composer Hans Zimmer (composer of "Pirates of the Caribbean", the "Batman" films, and "Sherlock Holmes") was attached to this film. Zimmer is very good at composing intense scores and he does it once again in "Inception." The music fits perfectly with all of the intensity, suspense, and emotion of the film.

I could go on and on about how fantastic this masterpiece is. "Inception" was a brilliant puzzle made up of important pieces that fit together and it is, what Mary Poppins would say, "Practically perfect in every way!" Inception is a great film and quite possibly one of the best films I have ever seen. I give it four stars out of four.

"Inception" has a running time of two hours and twenty eight minutes and is rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action throughout.

The Last Airbender

When it comes to Nickelodeon movies, my expectations are never very high (in fact most of the time I have the "oh great" attitude) because most films distributed by this studio are not very entertaining. To add to that, when I saw M. Night Shyamalan's name I went deeper into my low expectations because his past few films have not been great either. So as you can tell, my expectations for the action/fantasy film, "The Last Airbender" (based on the mega-hit TV show, "Avatar: The Last Airbender") were not high to begin with. Let's see if my mood improved.

Meet Aang(Noah Ringer). This twelve year old boy learns that his destiny is to be the next Avatar (not James Cameron's blue aliens). Avatars have been around for centuries and they keep peace throughout the world. The world is divided into four nations: the Earth, Air, Water, and Fire nations. Some people in each of these nations are known as Benders who can control the elements of their own nation. Example: Benders of the Water nation can control water/ice. The special thing about Aang is that he has the power to control all four elements. Unfortunately Aang is caught in a fierce snowstorm and his Avatar powers seal him in a snow sphere of suspended animation.


One hundred years have passed since his disappearance and during this time the lord of the Fire nation, Lord Ozia (Cliff Curtis) has started a war against the rest of the world killing off and imprisoning all Benders. Soon Aang, now the only hope to saving the world from the Fire nation, is found by two teens, named Katara (Nicola Peltz) and Sokka (Jackson Rathbone). The two set out with Aang to help him learn how to master the four elements and take on the Fire Nation. On the journey the three will have to fight numerous battles with people of the Fire Nation and the exiled son of the Fire Lord, Prince Zuko (Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Patel) and in the end, Aang will have to master his powers to fight off an army of the fire nation and their fleet. And the biggest mystery of all will be answered...did M. Night Shyamalan finally redeem himself and make a decent film?!

These days when it comes to action films, it is more rare to see martial arts which is, in my opinion, one of the most entertaining forms of action. Luckily for me, "The Last Airbender's" action focuses around the martial arts. The cool thing about it is that they combine the martial arts with the elements that the Benders control (almost the the Karate Kid with superpowers). This kept the action entertaining and was what it seemed like the makers of the film focused on.

However, there are other things that the film should have focused on but did not. To start it off, "The Last Airbender's" goal was to cram the TV show's first season into one hour and forty five minutes. Now from hearing the reactions from those who watched the show, it seems like the film did a good job of including the key parts of the first season. But since they tried to cram so much into the movie, there were some important things left forgotten. As I've said before, the best formula for a wannabe fantasy/hero trilogy is to devote the first film to the characters and not the action (much like what the "X-Men" and "Fantastic Four" franchises did). "The Last Airbender" did the exact opposite.

The films plot line suffers from being unclear and open. By open I mean that there is no firm plot line and that the "plot" is just whatever the main characters happen to be doing at one time or another. If someone asked me for the plot I would have to reply like this: "In "The Last Airbender", Aang goes to do this, then this, then he realizes this, but forgets do this, then he fights in a huge battle, and then he does this." It's too choppy and scattered to be a good plot.

Both of the above "cons" of the film demonstrate that certain TV shows should not be adapted into films. TV shows have 10-13 episodes each season to develop their characters. TV shows have a set plot in every single episode of every season. "The Last Airbender" doesn't have these advantages and so it ends up being an unorganized film with fun martial arts and sub-par acting. I give it one and a half stars out of four.

"The Last Airbender" has a running time of 103 minutes and is rated PG for fantasy action violence.