'Real Steel' Review

Take the video game R.A.D. and combine it with Rock'em Sock'em Robots and you have 'Real Steel'. The post summer blockbuster movie, directed by Shawn Levy ('Night at the Museum'), is about a dad (Hugh Jackman) and his son (Dakota Goyo) bonding and just getting to know one another while attempting to make a name for themselves in world of robotic boxing.

We'll start were it matters with a movie like this, the action and effects. To say the least; they're awesome. I would even go as far as to say that the robots in this film looked better than the ones in any of the Transformers' films. Now sure that has a lot to do with the fact that they aren't meant to look like like big transforming robots from outer space and more like something we could possibly build. Regardless though they look better. The fights were all very well done too. Sure it's all computer animated, so the robots don't really move like "robots" should but it looked good. In fact most of the fights had a very 'Rocky' feel to them. Something most boxing movies would kill to have said about them. On a side note though, and this is just something weird that I noticed about the film, you only ever see one robot actually get into the ring. I know it's a strange thing to point out, but as a fan of boxing and other fighting sports I noticed that you never get to see the robots full entrance. Moving on.


It's rare for movies now a days to really grab a hold of you and make you care about the characters but 'Real Steel' does this flawlessly. Before you know it you're cheering for this father and son combo to win and ultimately just be happy. The story itself is quite predictable and nothing about the film is going to surprise anyone. Clichés that we've all seen before combined with a story we've all heard before may not sound all that good, but when they're done this nicely you just can't help but to admire the work of art that they create.

In closing here I say for everyone to go see this movie. Guys, girls, and families this film can be enjoyed by everyone and I definitely recommend seeing it. Also 'Real Steel' is far superior to the disaster that was 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' and actually knows how to mix a good story, great acting, comedy, and robot action all into a nice two hour bundle. Just saying.

'Bad Teacher' Mini Review

This is a horribly written movie with great actors. A few chuckles may be had but is definitely not worth watching. The best and funniest parts really were in the trailers, which really is a shame because I had such high hopes for this film.

'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' Review . . . . Kind of

Now I had all intentions of doing a "normal" review for 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' but life kind of got in the way and I ended up not writing one. What I did write though was an assignment for my writing class about the different aspects of the film.  I have also included a brief summary at the end giving my over all thoughts about the film as well.

Universal Themes - For this film it showed how most people look down upon animals regardless of intelligence and how they don’t know how to open their minds and accept anything different than what they think is “normal.” Which then fits into the much larger topic of bigotry and not being able to accept anything different and treat them as equals. The movie digs a little into this topic and very much into the repercussions of acting this way.

Personal Impact - As a huge animal lover this movie hooked me very easily and made me hate the humans in this film. Now sure it didn’t change anything about what I already thought, but it put a huge reinforcement into how I feel. I just really think it’s wrong what people do to animals and I wish I had some control over how they were treated. (Both parties, animals and loser people who treat them badly.)

Character / Plot Arc -  This movie did a great job of showing the relationship between man and ape. An even better job was done in showing the final break of they’re relationship and well, the rise of the planet of the apes. Now some of the human relationships between each other weren’t really developed very well and almost just shoved to the side, but I give major kudos to the film for doing that instead of putting the actors as the main characters. The movie is about apes, so the main character should be an ape, Michael Bay could learn a thing or two from this film.

Art Direction - Everything from sets to costumes was done very well, though it was set in current times so there really wasn’t much challenge there, although some films can’t even get that right, so good job, I guess. As for the effects, they were on the top side of “ehh” or maybe the low side of good, but nothing spectacular. There was really just one thing were they messed up too, the faces of the apes. It was super cool that they decided to CGI the faces because it did add a lot to the film but at the same time, it always looked fake. Now this wasn’t a HUGE problem but there were a few times were I was pulled out of the film and though to myself, “Wow, that looks fake.” Those scenes were very reminiscent of ‘Matrix Reloaded’ and ‘Spider-Man’.

Performances -  The performances were all solid across the board. You had a movie full of great actors, which after ‘Cowboys & Aliens’, I know for a fact means absolutely nothing but still it’s James Franco backed up by Freida Pinto and Tom Felton. Everyone was just very believable in there roles and had you rooting either for or against them. None of them made me wish they had cast someone else thanks to over or under acting, which is also a huge plus.

Final Thoughts - This was an amazing film and in my opinion the best film of 2011. I just don't see how anything will be able to "rise" above this film. Great acting, great story, great cinematography, this film has it all and I definitely recommend checking it out.

'Cowboys & Aliens' Review

'Cowboys & Aliens' a movie about a very one sided battle between, well, cowboys and aliens. The movie was directed by 'Iron Man 2' director Jon Favreau. An excellent cast was put together for this film as well with Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia Wilde as our main characters.

What I haven't gotten over about this film is the acting, it was just so bad. The main culprit here, Harrison Ford. It was as if he just showed up to get his paycheck. He never looked as if he was taking the movie very serious and every scene he was in, was just him being there, he never put any effort into the role and it showed. Wilde also didn't do as good as I had hoped but was the opposite of Ford. Instead of not caring about the film, she seemed to care a bit too much, to the point that it made her acting very hammy. Some scenes with her, serious scenes I might add, were turned into comedy just because you can't take someone acting like she was serious. As for Craig, he did a great job. He was very believable as the amnesic cowboy, even down to the way he moved and his expressions, it's just a shame that the rest of the cast didn't follow his lead here.

The effects here were great. Something about the aliens reminded me a lot of ‘War of the Worlds’ but that’s not really a bad thing, they just had a very cinematic look to them if you will. Also the gun fights in the movie were awesome, typical cowboy stuff mostly but the confrontations with the aliens really took it a level up. The problem though came in with the lack of these great battles, the movie relied too much on the acting and story to carry it which resulted in a very slow and forgettable movie.

Overall the film is a dud, which truly is a shame. With the plethora of talent in the movie, it could’ve been something great. I would say it’s still worth a watch if you’re a fan of the comic or if you really like Daniel Craig but just wait for it to come out in Redbox or something and pick it up as a rental.

'Captain America: The First Avenger' Review

Here we are again with another comic book movie this year, this time it's 'Captain America: The First Avenger'. The movie stars Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, and Tommy Lee Jones and was directed by Joe Johnston. The film tells the story of Steve Rogers, an incredibly tiny man from Brooklyn who just wants to go over seas and fight for his country during WWII. He is then given that chance when he is transformed into Captain America. (Cue music.)

Seeing as to how this is a war movie, we'll start with the action here. Although not as much action as one would have thought, seeing as how this movie is taking place and primarily about WWII, when it does happen, it's pretty damn awesome. Some of the effects needed a little work, mostly the green screens, but besides that, the movie delivers some very thrilling and entertaining action scenes. The movies pacing here was all wrong as well. They cut the film in half, the first part is all introduction and the second is all fighting, which is the way most origin stories go, but I prefer a better flow in movies. The only thing that this does do is that when you finally do see Rogers don the Captain suit, it's pretty exciting.

Since they did choose to split this movie and try to make it more than just an action packed WWII ride, then we'll move onto the acting. Evans did a great job of making you believe he really was just some wimpy guy from Brooklyn with no fear and with out his performance the film wouldn't be anywhere close to what it is. He's not the only one though, Jones did a fantastic job and stuck out as one of my favorite parts of the movie. I guess I just have a soft spot for the battle hardened war veteran with an interesting sense of humor. Now onto some of the not so good, Weaving did a decent enough job not to ruin the film but he was nothing spectacular and kind of hammed up his role a little bit. He just wasn't very entertaining, although he was very believable as a ruthless villain that will do whatever it takes to get what he wants. I just think he could've done much better. As for the rest of the cast, they all did a fine job, no complaints here.

This movie is yet another great movie in Marvel's ever growing library and it did an excellent job of telling the origin of the beloved Captain America. This movie really is for everyone, it doesn't have that "superhero-ness" that a lot of films seem to have lately. Much like 'Batman Begins', it's an origin story that die hard fans can enjoy alongside new comers, while still not shutting out the average cinematic adventurer. I highly recommend going to see this movie ASAP.

'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2' Review

The final movie in the Harry Potter franchise, 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2', has been released and the world now knows the "full" story of what happened to the boy that lived. The movie picks up exactly where the Deathly Hallows Part 1 left off, with Harry and friends attempting to find and destroy the rest of Voldemort's Horcruxes. The film is again directed by David Yates and stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson.

This movie is full of action, once it starts, it never stops going. In fact the entire film is climax, which is a good and bad thing. It's good because this movie is everything that Part 1 wasn't, from the action to actually moving the story forward. In the same sense though it's bad because they leave out all of the moments of Harry and friends, just living if you will.  I really felt like I didn't get the full Harry Potter experience watching this movie because of the lack of just seeing the characters doing things besides fighting. Now I get that this was a two part film and if they were watched together they would be fantastic, but to watch either by itself, doesn't quite work.

Now seeing as how this film was based around the action here, I'll touch on that next. It was phenomenal. The movie looked great from living statues too the giant snakes. The battles did however lose a little of there impact though every time someone died, it was as if the movie didn't want to deal with the death of any characters and it shied away from it, making it seem almost as if they didn't matter.

I would just like to mention that I didn't read many of the books, only the first two and until now that hasn't been a problem. This was the first time in the series where I really felt like I was missing something that was kind of important in the book and that the movie was just choosing to brush to the side. Not that this really hurts the movie or anything but it just makes the experience feel a bit more incomplete.

Overall though, this was a great movie and a must see for movie goers of all ages. Sure the film had a few minor problems  but in the end they weren't anything that really hurt film as a whole and definitely should not detour you from seeing one of 2011's best films.

'The Amazing Spider-Man' Trailer

'The Dark Knight Rises' Trailer

More The Dark Knight Rises Videos

What do you even say after something that awesome?!....Trick question, you don't say anything, instead you just watch it again.

Weekend Box Office Estimates - July 15- 17 2011

1. Deathly Hallows - Part 2 $168,550,000
2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon $21,250,000
3. Horrible Bosses $17,630,000
4. Zookeeper $12,300,000
5. Cars 2 $$8,344,000
6. Winnie the Pooh $8,000,000
7. Bad Teacher $5,200,000
8. Larry Crowne $2,573,000
9. Super 8 $1,925,000
10. Midnight in Paris $1,891,000

Harry Potter managed to break a lot of records this weekend, most notably the one previously held by "The Dark Knight" for the biggest three day weekend opening of all time.

'Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows' Trailer

More Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Videos

This one somehow looks worse than the first one did, and that's saying a lot. . . . . you know, cause the first one sucked. 

'Jack and Jill' Trailer

More Jack and Jill Videos

This movie looks, how you say, interesting. 

Weekend Box Office Estimates - July 8 - 10 2011

1. Transformers: Dark of the Moon $47,025,000
2. Horrible Bosses $28,110,000
3. Zookeeper $21,000,000
4. Cars 2 $15,209,000
5. Bad Teacher $9,000,000
6. Larry Crowne $6,264,000
7. Super 8 $4,825,000
8. Monte Carlo $3,800,000
9. Green Lantern $3,125,000
10. Mr. Popper's Penguins $2,850,00

Transformers 3 has now earned 261 million domestically, making it the highest grossing domestic release of 2011, taking the title from Hangover Part II.

'Apollo 18' Trailer #2

More Apollo 18 Videos

The movie looks interesting but I can't help but think about 'The Blair Witch Project' when I see this trailer. 

'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' Review

'Transformers: Dark of the Moon', the third in the Transformers film series, again directed by Michael Bay and written by Ehren Kruger. Shia Labeouf returns as Sam Witwicky, Peter Cullen as the voice of Optimus Prime, and new love interest Rosie Huntington - Whiteley. The plot for the movie is basically the same as the first two. Autobots try to find Decepticons; U.S. government reveals that they've been keeping secrets about Transformers; Government realizes Autobots really are good guys and team up with them; Big epic battle with tons of nameless robots shooting and dieing. No really that's the story again this time around, just with not as much comedy as the second film had.

The characters in this movie are just as horrible and outrageous as before only this time they usually don't stay around for very long, but they still are a bit annoying. The replacement of Megan Fox's character is a bit annoying for me too since it didn't really fit, they just expect you to go with it, but in a movie that should be primarily about giant robots fighting, it shouldn't really matter who the love interest is, because it's not really needed. As with the second film there are A LOT of new Transformers that are never really introduced or given names, they're just there to take a small part in some of the action scenes. They also took out more Transformers this time around, most notably Skidz and Mudflap. I for one am really pissed that they did this, I didn't see anything wrong with them in 'Revenge of the Fallen' and they were actually the main thing I enjoyed about that movie, well minus seeing Optimus die of course. Some people may think it's a good thing to have them gone but all getting rid of them, without giving any explanation in the film, did was allow Bay to create even stupider Autobots to replace them. And yes there are much worse Autobots than Skidz and Mudflap.

Now onto what this movie is really about, the action. To put it lightly, it was great. It still feels very mindless and almost gives you a "who cares who wins" attitude when you don't know who the two Transformers fighting are but it's still very entertaining none the less. The movie still hasn't managed to get the pacing down yet, some scenes drag out for way too long, while others end in the blink of an eye and leave you asking for more. This really is a problem and it becomes very apparent the farther into the film you get. Still though the fights were some of the best in the series and the movie tries yet again to make you believe this is the badass Optimus that we all remember from the original cartoon and to a point, it succeeds. Though it also succeeds in moving Megatron down even farther into the " Am I supposed to take this guy serious?!" category of villains.

All in all though 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' was a very entertaining and overall good movie. If you didn't like the first two films though, just stay away from this one, because it definitely won't make you fall in love with the series now. For the people who do love the other films in the series though, this is a film you definitely need to watch.

'Warrior' Trailer

More Warrior Videos

 Tom Hardy stars in this MMA drama about two brothers, both of whom are MMA fighters, who are both vying for the number one spot in the sport.

Pixar's 'Brave' Trailer

I'm a sucker for almost any Pixar film and this one looks to be no exception. Voice actors include Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, and Craig Ferguson.

'Green Lantern' Review

This summer's newest blockbuster is here with 'Green Lantern', a comic book movie about a group of intergalactic "space cops" known as the Green Lantern Corp. who battle all forms of evil with their power rings. The movie primarily revolves around Hal Jordan, the first human to receive a power ring and join the ranks of the Corp, as he discovers his new powers fights with himself as to whether he truly deserves this power and responsibility. The movie stars Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, and was directed by 'Casino Royale' director Martin Campbell.

The acting in this movie is very solid with performances that could've been excellent, I'm looking at you Sarsgaard, and stuck out above the rest, had the script been better. To put it simply, the writing here was just bad. The film's dialogue consist mostly of expository lines trying to explain everything while still leaving many questions and actions in the movie unanswered. There's also quite a few moments were someone or something conveniently shows up or happens. All these moments just seem lazy and make you ask why?

Another problem I had with this movie was the effects or lack of. This movie is very much like the 'Fantastic Four' movie in that there's really only one fight that takes place and it doesn't occur until the end of the film and then fails to deliver anything worth talking about. Every action scene also seems very rushed, making you want more. Normally that would be a great thing except they don't give you much more and at the end you're just disappointed. Something else that really bothered me was the lack of other Lanterns in the film. You do catch a few glimpses of other Lanterns but you never learn anything at all about any of them except for the names of a few of them and that two of them were good friends. You also don't every really get to see much of the Corps home base OA. I suppose this is a good thing since the effects there were horrible and pulled me right out of the film. It just felt like they were in front of a green screen or that you were just looking at a painting and not a place were all these creatures live and train.

I went into this movie really wanting to like it, but overall it wasn't very good. The plethora of bad writing and poor special effects make this movie hard to watch and not quite worth the price of a movie ticket. I do however recommend that everybody who is a Ryan Reynolds or Green Lantern fan check this out as a rental because I'm sure you'll get some enjoyment out of this film as I did.

'Super 8' Review

J.J. Abrams returns to the big screen with 'Super 8', a movie that he wrote and directed. The movie was also produced by Steven Spielberg, and I'm pretty sure he had a lot more to do with it than that. The film just has that Spielberg feel to it, although is still very much still an Abrams film at the same time. The movie stars newcomer Joel Courtney alongside Elle Fanning and Kyle Chandler. The film follows a group of teenagers in the fictional town Lillian, Ohio, as they are filming a movie on a Super 8mm film camera, when they see a train wreck that they suspect wasn't an accident. After which the town begins to be terrorized by what was on the train and is taken over by U.S. Air force troops.

The story here was very disappointing to say the least. It was almost the exact same story from 'Cloverfield'. The biggest difference here, well besides the elimination of the first person camera, is that this movie does feature the all knowing scientist character that 'Cloverfield' was missing. Don't worry though, Abrams doesn't stop at just ripping off his own movie, he also rips off 'District 9' by giving his alien the exact same motive and problem with humans that the ones from 'District 9' had, only he made his bigger. I guess bigger is better in Abrams eyes. Most of the movie just feels like a waste of time, it mostly revolves around these kids trying to make a movie about zombies while all this is going on and it just makes things kind of dull. I would however like to point out that the acting in this movie, and I'm referring to the kids here, was really good. Their characters weren't really developed all that much, you  do learn tidbits about a couple of them here and there but it wasn't really enough. Even still though, they were quite entertaining.

On the effects side of things, this movie is a pretty big success. Although there isn't really much action, there are only two or three action scenes in the movie, they all go above and beyond. The train wreck scene and the final scene of the movie both make this movie worth checking out. The effects on the alien were also really good but that was kind of over shadowed by the fact that it's just a generic big alien, nothing special at all. In fact it looked almost just like the Acklay, from 'Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones', if you gave him an extra pair of arms and made him a bit bulkier.

Overall this film wasn't all that great. It suffered from an extremely dull story, mixed with some very good acting, that had almost no point and just ended up being a generic monster movie with a sci-fi twist. The effects and action scenes were really great and definitely make this worth checking out as rental, just don't spend too much money on it and keep your expectations low.

'X-Men: First Class' Review

‘X-Men: First Class’ is the fifth movie in Fox’s X-Men franchise and is the start of what is said to be a new trilogy. The movie stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, and is directed by Matthew Vaughn. The plot primarily revolves around the relationship between Professor X and Magneto before they were leading their respective groups, The X-Men and The Brotherhood of Mutants. The film also shows the origins of many other mutants including Mystique and Beast.

The first thing I want to touch on here is the story though. Now I myself am a pretty big comic book fan and as hard as it is, I am ignoring the comics here and just referring to the movie franchise. Now the franchise has only been around since 2000 and only five movies have been made but yet they can’t seem to keep any of the storylines straight here. About the only things that are consistent are the names and whose good and evil….oh wait they screwed that up here too. Over at Fox they can’t even decide which mutants are going to be good and evil from film to film or the ages of them in the films. With all these problems, which I’m not going to specifically mention here, it’s almost easier to just look at the film as a reboot of the series, but wait! You can’t view a film as a reboot when they’re referencing the earlier movies in the series every few scenes. So to say the least, the story here was pretty screwed up.

As for the acting in the movie, it was pretty good. Fassbender’s portrayal of Magneto was very entertaining. He did an excellent job of making you feel what he felt, be it good or bad. The only part where he dropped the ball was when he was actually being Magneto, he just didn’t seem evil enough. McAvoy had a very interesting take on Professor X, he was something of playboy, using his knowledge of mutants to hook up at bars and yet he was still the all knowing Professor X when the story called for it. The problem is that while you see all the characters in the movie grow and evolve, he just kind of stays the same. He simply switches between the two sides of himself whenever he sees fit and it didn’t really work. I did very much enjoy Bacon’s portrayal of Sebastian Shaw. He’s the kind of villain you can really get behind, one that you truly believe will destroy the world if he isn’t stopped. As for the rest of the cast, nobody had any huge parts, some didn’t even have speaking lines.

The action scenes in the movie were all very well done. The best usually featuring Magneto. The movie has a lot of very short fights sprinkled throughout and even a nice training montage that could’ve been made a classic with some “Gonna Fly Now” (Rocky Theme). It was also nice seeing another teleporter in the movie. That’s just one thing these movies really have down, how to make fights involving teleporters look awesome. This is especially apparent in the fight between Beast and Azazel, which was definitely a high point of the film.

All in all though, this was a pretty great movie and probably the best X-Men movie to date. The story is very jumbled if you follow the movie stories but as a stand alone movie, it was nothing short of entertaining and I definitely recommend going to see this one.

30 Day Video Game Challenge - Day 30

Best Game of all Time.

I don't feel like there is really anything that I can add to what has already been said here about this game. Just go play it, no scratch that. just go buy it, you won't regret it.