FLiPTiPLY

Michael Bay + StevenSpielberg = Kaboom!!! Mega-blockbuster!

Are there even any doubts?? If there was a tandem that was going to mess with a franchise that was a part my growing up years, it can't get any better than them (sorry Lucas, but you and Spielberg stick to the Indiana Jones movies).

I've said it before, and I will say it again, I am a Michael Bay fan!!! And this just reinforces it many times over. Throw away everything you know about the Transformers from the cartoon and just sit back and enjoy the movie. It was treated superbly for the big screen! I can guarantee a sequel coming up, around 2009 maybe?

I will watch it again within the next few days, maybe many times over. And I will buy some toys, and I will buy the original DVD when it comes out.

MTV was right for giving it the "Best Summer Film You Haven't seen Yet" award in the recent MTV Movie Awards. Hands down.

Just for a little extra fun, try and see how many German cars (of a specific brand) they destroy in the movie =) hehe.

Okay, this is said to be the last of the summer blockbusters for this year, but personally, I don't really know if it is the blockbuster that it was all said to be. I may get a lynching (not the tv show host, but if I do get her, hell I'm not complaining) by some people, but its my site, so =)

I watched the movie very objectively, how I did it you may ask? I never even watched the first one =) I'd regularly catch glimpses of it on cable recently, or have a DVD within borrows reach, but I never really seem to finish it or the movie never really grabs me to make me want to watch the whole thing. Which may be the same reason why I'm not all that impressed also with this one.

Basically, it's just weird for me, the movie doesn't know if it wants to be a Bruckheimer (The Rock, Bad Boys, Glory Days, etc) or a Disney film. For me, that's where it loses its appeal. There are moments when you just want the action make your heart jump out of your chest, but it never does. There are supposed to be funny and dramatic, but it never really gets there.

Sorry if this may be a spoiler, but come on, you can't compare the scene of Johnny Depp going against the Kraken, with Bruce Willis pushing Ben Affleck and sacrificing his life for him (Armageddon). By blockbuster standards, this one really just isn't delivering.

Not enough action, not enough drama, comedy that's just too shallow. It's just a half-shell of what it could have been. I think the Dead Man's Chest was just a big time fish with a lot of bling, trying to swim with the sharks (and we all know what happens there).

I have mixed emotions about this movie, a few minutes into it, I must admit that my friend had to wake me up because I was snoring. But when I woke up, it was a decent enough time. The movie was just a bit slow to start with, even the cute Jojo couldn't sustain my attention.

Robin Williams is just really funny, but he doesn't sustain my laughs as much as he used to though. I was able to watch a stand-up show he did in New York, and I had such a tough time finishing the whole show, I kept on sleeping midway through the DVD.

The movie can be too wholesome and cheesy for some people's tastes, hardly any dirty humor here (except for the sewage scene, watch it and you'll know). I wouldn't really recommend it for my friends to watch, but if you plan to bring your family, I guess it would be good enough.

This is a tough movie to watch, because you might fall asleep! Thing is, the setup was too long. This would've made a great short film, if edited down, but now, its just a dragging full-length.

Another note, (apologies to my Arab/Islamic friends out there) but watching this movie just makes you want to beat an Arab guy even just a few minutes into the movie. I'm sorry, but if this is the way religion is supposed to be fought for, and how you're supposed to praise your God, there is something terribly wrong in the translation. On the other hand, imagine if we were in time of the Crusades, but that's another story.

I am very curious though how they were able to recreate what went on inside the plane, since everyone died there and all. What was happening on the ground was really something, I could feel for those who were working that day, trying to look for the planes, but their hands were tied.

Its a movie to watch if you want to remember 9/11, but it may bring out mixed emotions in you. Its not meant to be a blockbuster movie, so be prepared for lulls and dragging moments.

I know this may be a little late, and probably by this time everyone on the web has seen the movie already, but it will just bug me if I skip it.

Amidst my recent very very busy week (check my blog), Superman Returns opened. Even if I had hardly any sleep and I had to be alone to watch it, because practically everyone I knew watched it already by the time I had time to do so, I still had a great time.

Two of my favorite movies of all-time are Superman 2 & 1, in that order. I remember the endless times of watching and rewinding my friends' betamax copies when we were kids, practically every other week. This Superman movie obviously pays homage to the first 2 Superman movies.

There were small details that really made the movie consistent with the earlier films. Superman's cowlick, Lois Lane's cigarettes and spelling (remember in Superman 1, one of her first lines is "how do you spell...?"), Kevin Spacey's similarity in delivery to Gene Hackman, and his sidekick who's dim-witted personality stays the same, but now has a different name (formerly Miss Tesmacher).

The movie provided a great thrill ride, and really grabs you into Superman's world, it missed one crucial thing. He didn't do something REALLY SUPER. Remember in Superman 1, he turned back time? In this one, he just took that bullet in the eye, pero astig yun ah! But I have a feeling, for the Super thing, they just took the cue from 2, and made him human. Oh well, so much for creativity.

Although, I have yet to see this in Imax, which I plan to do so very soon. This should give the thrill ride it gave times 4!

If there is still anyone who hasn't watched this, where have you been? And if you have watched it, watch it again :)

Best movie of the F&F franchise! That's it.

It's more exciting than the first, and leaves the second in its dust. Plus, the chick factor here is pretty cool too, haha! =)

Seriously, the car driving here was very impressive, and the camera angles used to bring that point across was very effective. To think, I know how they did most of it, and I don't particularly have a love for cars, especially the tuner types, but this movie really got me into the Tokyo world of racing. Obviously, if this got me interested, I can imagine what it would do to car-heads out there.

From the start, I loved the character of Han, more than the male lead. Surprisingly, Bow-wow was the only "popular" name in the flick, but it really doesn't matter... I'm telling you, it really doesn't. If Inside Man makes you think, this movie makes you strap on for the ride

AND I love the plot point near the end! It made an already worth it movie, worth more than what it was!

I must say, this one was good. I don't get though why it took so friggin' long to relase here, when it was released early this year in the US. My theory would be it got stuck with the releases of the summer blockbusters from the US.

At any rate, this was a good movie. Although I would not suggest it for those who don't like to think while watching a film. The characters are well made and can be deep at times, so if you aren't paying attention, you have a chance to misunderstand them and their actions.

The cast was utilized perfectly. I loved the character of Jodie Foster. Everyone was really believable in their character. Unlike what The Lakehouse did for Christopher Plummer, I'm glad this one made me appreciate him again.

As for the robbery, he was right, it was "perfectly planned". I just wonder though, will you be able to do this in the real world?

I have been waiting for this movie ever since they promoted it during the Oscars, because I was able to watch the original Korean film, Il Mare, which I really liked.

I anticipated that they would make the necessary changes to make it palatable to the American and global market. But alas, I feel that the end product failed.

The movie was paced slowly and there were too many lull moments, if not for the fact that I really wanted to make a comparison, I would've surely slept through it. One thing I didn't like though was that the city, Chicago , was more of a character in the movie than the house or the mailbox, as with the original. I think part of the soul of the movie was lost there.

One key thing why I know that this let me down is that I didn't even cry in this one. Had a small tear at best, but it didn't make me cry, like the original. Believe me, I know if a sappy movie is good, and I've seen a lot of them. Try watching "A Moment to Remember" (Korea 2004), and you'll see the benchmark for sappy movies.

The acting wasn't all half-bad, and they had a decently put together cast. The cinematography and the shots were decent also, but still not as impressive as the original.

In the end, I think The Lakehouse just sank under the weakness of its foundations.

Okay, as I mentioned in an older review (The Wild) I would be eagerly awaiting this one to see if they broke new ground in the CG world. I must say though, I was fairly disappointed. The CG was nothing ground-breaking, and I've seen better (Final Fantasy: Advent Children and The Wild).

As for the story, well, it was mildly enjoyable at best. There were too many lulls in the story, and things were drawn out too much. Don't get me wrong, the cars were cute though, and a world with cars (and amusing "bangaw" cars) was a nice adaptation, and the end scenes during the credits were funny, but it ends there. I laughed more during the credits than the movie itself. And while watching I was tempted to sleep already so many times. Although my friend was able to easily snore through some of it.

In the end, it is a movie that will be amusing for kids, and acceptable enough for adults. The story can't hold a candle to Over the Hedge, and the animation was again, just normal.

I was able to already watch at the IMAX theater during its opening weekend, but I was only able to watch the Everest in 2D film. Not that it's disappointing though, I had to wait until I also watched the Nascar 3D film, so I could give a really fair assessment of the whole experience.

For those who don't know what IMAX is, just imagine your normal movie theater on steroids. The size of the screen is over 4 times bigger than your typical makati theater screen. And the cameras and film used to make these IMAX pictures are about 4 times the size of normal film cameras. Hence, the resolution and the picture quality is HUGE.

But back to the IMAX at MOA, I cannot complain about anything. The seats are so good, that I was able to fall asleep during some parts of the Nascar show =) For the 2D, it is really great, you feel that the images are so close and realistic, there is no detail that you miss when watching the whole picture. There may just be a moment though that you miss some of the details of the whole picture because you have been used to watching on a smaller screen, the tendency is to concentrate on the area near the center of the screen. On 3D however, this is really where the format delivers. I suggest you bring the kids for this one. They will really enjoy the closeness of the action and how the images just really come to life. It will really seem as if you were in the middle of the action. Guaranteed enjoyable experience.

Although, I must say that it was only great because of the technical aspect of it, but the Nascar picture had an unsustainable storyline that there were really parts that lulled me to sleep. What the hell do I care about this event, it's about cars, and it's so "White". I don't think I even saw a single African-American in the crowd, and considering I have over 20/20 vision and this is on IMAX. I was just there for the technicality of the picture.

If you want a whole experience though, I suggest you purchase your snacks not at the counter in the lobby, get your drinks at Jollbee, and snacks somewhere else. For me, the snack counter at the lobby is not fully functional and well-stocked, and this will most certainly not do. Having no Kettle Corn, Jamaican Pattie, Fruit Shakes, Hotdogs or Ultimate Nachos within arms reach is totally unacceptable and will not help the whole entertainment experience.

As for the 4 stars on top, don't bother with it too much, that's only for the technical side of it, it will be 5 stars when it delivers good stories and a helluva entertaining time.

So to those that haven't watched at this theater yet, do make the effort even once and surely you will come back for another one.

Just to add, optimum seating is on Rows J to N. If you're too close, it's not as fun.

As with any Happy Madison Production, this movie gives you value for your money, if you want laughs, you will get it. The way they made the characters are good enough. There can be some pretty exaggerated comic moves already, which didn't need to be done, but maybe that's why Adam Sandler didn't star in this one.

In the end, there is a lesson to be learned, and you can bring the kids to watch it. I have a really strong feeling there were a lot scenes that got cut though, to make the movie appealing to kids.

It's not a waste of money, the movie guarantees a laugh. Should watch it to take away from the intensity of the blockbuster movie season.

I'm sorry, but I had to add another star to my review! I just watched it for the second time a short while ago, and to those who left early, THERE IS A SPECIAL CLIP AFTER THE CREDITS!!! BRETT RATNER RULES!!!

And even if it was my second time watching it, it was still worth it. I missed that clip the first time around, man, it was worth going back to catch it!

I'm sorry to the fans of M:I:3, but for me, so far, this is the best movie of the summer blockbuster season! There are a few slow moments, which helped in the set-up of the film, but once everything started rolling, it was a real Hollywood thrill ride!

So what if it wasn't exactly how the X-Men Phoenix saga goes in the comics, if you want an exact adaptation, read the comic. Even if I was a follower of the comic, and was expecting that the movie have the Sentinels in it, there are really things that have to be done to make a story into a great movie. As one friend of mine put it, this was a real "popcorn flick"! It is everything a summer blockbuster is meant to be. Astounding special effects, great action sequences, and big name stars. Aside from that, there was great casting for the new characters and supporting cast.

I wish they would have this in IMAX (a review on that soon, I've watched it last week, but I have to pace my reviews). This is a great movie, not a film, but a movie. And it was funny that after the last scene, and they showed the credit that it was directed by Brett Ratner (of Rush Hour, Red Dragon and Family Man fame), I think only my friend and I were the only people in the theater who actually cheered that he was the director. Kudos to Brett!!! Man, everything he did about it was so Hollywood. His execution of the film made it a great stand-alone (pun intended) movie as compared to the previous X-Men flicks.

Man, I wish Brett will make a part 4. It just makes me sad that I hear that the cast is on contract only for a 3 picture deal.

I waited a few days before I posted my review on this, I watched it immediately after the opening day of the Da Vinci Code, and I must say, I am so glad I watched it!

For one thing, DVC was an experience that I wanted to forget, and this movie delivered right on the money. I have been waiting for this to release for some time now, I am a Wanda Sykes fan, I know they've been working on this for about 3 years already, and I am happy with the finished product.

The characters are developed well, and you will really see their growth throughout the movie. The action and comedy scenes are very well paced, there was hardly a dull moment. It is one that surely the whole family, or your group of juvenile friends, will enjoy.

I must admit though, the CG work was not really ground-breaking, The Wild (listed in an earlier review) from Disney had a lot more impressive CG. The CG work here really reminds you of their previous products, Shrek and Madagascar. Pixar still delivers a great CG movie with an excellent storyline.

The first things out of my mouth after watching the movie? "I had a better time watching this rather than Da Vinci Code!"

This is my review, so you don't have to agree with this. All the controversy and marketing hype just made it the summer blockbuster that it SHOULDN'T have been.

I have to be honest, if I didn't pay over Php160 for a ticket, I might have slept through it. Actually, my buddy who was watching with me slept through some parts of it. There was so much hype leading up to it and so many times it was on the front page of the papers that everybody was brainwashed into trying to see what the hype is all about.

To be honest, I didn't read the book. And after watching the movie, I think it was a really good book. I admire Akiva Goldsman, a multi-award winning writer, for doing the screenplay for this, but in the end the medium was wrong for the material.

Aside from the ticket price, I was just kept awake by wanting to find out "what the hell is all the hype about??" In the end, when I left the theater, it led me to wonder, "what in the world is the church worried about??" And to think, i'm a pretty open minded person. If the average Filipino watches this flick, at the end of it, he'll just wonder "what in the world did I just watch??"

It was a nice story, and I like how history was shown from a different point of view. But I think the movie didn't add to the mystique of the book. Paul Bettany was great, and he reminded me of the documentary we shot in Pampanga over Holy Week.

In the end, it didn't make me want to watch it again. It's not about the movie's length, I watched LOTR 2 thrice even before it opened, but the experience of watching Da Vinci once was enough for me. I would rather watch Poseidon again, and treat my friends to it too!

I got my money's worth with this movie. I was wondering how it would compare to the original, with the "capturing my attention" factor, and indeed it did deliver. I chose this particular point to compare because technically, with the advent of CG and big budgets, there could really be no comparison.

It was able to sustain the emotion of conflict throughout most of the movie, something which is hard to actually achieve. It is evident that the movie has no A-list stars, and because of this, it is heavily dependent on the storyline and the arising conflicts to keep the viewer at the edge of their seats. The acting was decent enough at best, and there is a futile attempt to have an "Armageddon-ish " drama scene, which was just wasted because of the poor execution.

Nonetheless, the story is well paced and sustained, and the CG work is impeccable and it was hard to play "guess the CG" in this one.

Don't expect great acting here, and it may never be as well-respected as the original, but the ride Poseidon delivers is still as big as the wave that brings it down.

This is supposed to be one of the most awaited blockbusters of the year, which would lead you to wonder why I only gave this movie only 2 stars, which would rank it next to The Wild. There has been so much hype about this movie, especially with the TomKat scoops that have been going around for the past several months. You just have to watch this movie for the sake of satisfying your curiosity. And you know what they say about curiosity, it killed the cat.

On the technical side, this is acclaimed TV director JJ Abrams, of Alias and Lost fame, first full-feature film outing, and I think this is where is the film may have lost a few stars on me. I think he was trying to give it a rough-action-indie'ish look, which I believe, really didn't work. I think there were too many close-up shots which didn't allow you to appreciate the whole breadth of the action scenes. Another thing was the fact that they had TOO MANY shaky hand-held shots, didn't they have enough budget to use a steady-cam or a tripod for the whole shoot? Obviously, JJ Abrams isn't John Woo, so don't expect the dramatic and flashy action scenes that you had in MI:2.

On the story side, it was actually decent enough, and there was a good amount of action to go around. The casting was fairly good, although having "Felicity" there really didn't work for me, but Maggie Q made up for it though. I've been sort of a fan from several years back, when she started out in the asian modeling circuit, and she had that movie Naked Weapon.

MI:3 is just a movie to satisfy your curiosity for the movie franchise, but I honestly don't think any of you would want to watch it twice.

Even by just looking at the poster of the movie alone, you had a feeling that this movie was just going to be a copycat of Madagascar, they practically had the same lead animals in the cast. Having seen Ice Age 2 only several days before, I had some expectations on the quality of the animation that this movie should hold. True enough, I was not disappointed, the animation is SUPERB! The quality of how the movie is finally delivered on the screen is nothing like I've seen before, and that includes the short films in CG that you can watch over the web.

But, that's where the good points end. You can't help but be reminded of Madagascar as the story progresses. Although, you might have a hard time staying awake after 35 minutes into the film. The story was weak, and the comic relief was too dependent on a few characters, who obviously couldn't deliver on a consistent basis. They used too many contemporary songs, imagine Coldplay in a Disney movie?? And their signature song was weak, no recall or impact like the Lemur Song in Madagascar. Musical scoring is a Disney signature, but I think they used the wrong pen to write down this one.

If you want to see really good quality CG, then you might enjoy this. It really makes me wonder how good the CG of Cars (coming soon also from Disney) will be. I just hope the story and final screenplay is nothing close to this one.

Let me make this short... this is better than the first Ice Age movie. I may have critics on this one, but this is my review, so feel free to comment.

The characters here were all well-defined, and each of them had their own conflicts to deal with. I felt that the first movie had too much of a cute factor because of the kid being there, whereas here, this appeals to a broader (older) audience. Surely the script was set perfectly before they even started making this. The timings were so Hollywood (the villains appear 15 minutes after starting).

Surprisingly, the flow of the movie leaves little time for you to get bored and doze off. There was a good number of comic moments supplied by the comic reliefs.

I thought the past week had a weak line-up of interesting films to watch, but I wasn't really disappointed at all.

Before going in the theater for this one, I just hoped that it would not let me want my money back, and to this it did not dissapoint.

Eight below is no blockbuster film, but it delivers a good story, especially for dog or pet lovers, nonetheless. They did well in giving the dogs their own distinct personalities and traits. Kudos to the dog trainers on this one! I can only imagine how many takes and hours of training it took to deliver the shots the way they were in the final cut. The shoot must have been amazing. I tried to play "guess which is the CG scene", but with the landscapes, I really had a hard time.

There were some dragging parts at the start, and obviously because of the lack of real dramatic conflict, it will not really be able to pull you off your feet. But when you step out of the theater, you will have a smile on your face from the movie, one way or another.