Friday, May 29, 2009

UP


My love for PIXAR films has been a tough one. I thought TOY STORY was awesome and then came A BUG'S LIFE and that one didn't do it for me so I was done. TOY STORY 2 came along and I was hooked again, but just only on that series. It wasn't until THE INCREDIBLES that I took the guys at Pixar seriously. CARS was a let down for me, too much of a kid's movie. I really want to take a second look at the one about the rat that wants to be a chef and I still have yet to watch MONSTERS INC. Then came WALL-E, this was the first time in my adult life that a animated movie could very well be a best movie of the year for me. Pixar was starting to make actual films and not just eye candy for kids and parents. This studio is getting the love it very so much deserves from critics, movie geeks, and most importantly moviegoers.

How much did I like UP? I liked it enough to turn around and go see it again in a heartbeat. I have loved adventure movies since birth and UP is one of the coolest I have seen in a gosh darn while! My head is still spinning over this movie. I haven't felt this way towards a movie since KILL BILL VOL.1, that was way back in '03 so I may be missing a movie or two, but that just shows you how much I really liked UP. I need maybe a few days to get my thoughts together. In fear of just rambling gobs and gobs of praise I will sum it together with saying that this movie has it all.

In closing I realize that I don't really need to sell people into seeing UP, it's a Pixar movie and the quality that comes from this studio sells itself. People will see it and like it and say 'yep, another masterpiece from Pixar'. I hate spoilers so this holiday season I will give a more detailed review seeing as this one will no doubt be one of my top ten of 2009!

A+ Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!

~Caleb

Friday, May 22, 2009

Terminator Salvation


“Terminator” is one of my all time favorite movies. It was also my introduction to Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, I couldn't watch “Conan The Barbarian” because of the nudity. Everyone who knows 80's cinema knows why this movie is a classic. In the early 90's “T2: Judgment Day” became all the rage and old fans and a generation of new one's hailed the sequel as the best action science fiction movie of all time. To this day “T2” is still considered the best, I disagree. The popular sequel is an achievement of cinema and a high mark in special effects but just not my favorite. The third installment of the franchise is a very entertaining installment but is just more of the same old same old. It was time for a Terminator movie to be about the future war. With “Terminator Salvation” that time has finally come!

What a rough bumpy road it has been with just weeks before this new movie was to hit theaters across the country. The ugly word of mouth was that it's main star the Dark Knight himself really did not want to play John Conner in the first place. The much talked about leak of the ending raised some eyebrows of shock including my own. It was just days before wide release that world renowned movie geeks were calling it a steaming pile of dog poo. This fan was afraid, very afraid.

The time had come and it was show time at the good ole Springfield 8. From the very start of the film I was having fun, I was finally seeing a Terminator movie that was the future war. Was it as dark and bleak as the glimpses we all saw in the first two films, no, but man this was awesome. The only complaint I have with the movie is that since it's a prequel I lost the sense of suspense of what may happen to these characters. I loved everything else about “Terminator Salvation”! The action is cool and in my opinion the movies hero Marcus Wright was very cool. In still liking what I saw very much, I did think that the last act could have had just a few more T-800's and the scene with everyones favorite Terminator could have been longer too.

“Terminator Salvation” gets a B+ from me! Enjoy!!!!

~Caleb

Monday, May 18, 2009

Star Trek


Ever since I was a kid I have been a die hard Star Wars fan. I grew up on the trilogy which to this day is still one of my favorite sagas. Another series of movies I grew up one was the Star Trek films. Sadly it is a memory forgotten, but my dad tells me that the family went to see “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” at the drive-in eons ago. Back in the early eighties at the Radio Shack in the Mall I remember watching parts of “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn”. “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock” was the beginning of seeing the rest of the series at the theater, the Tower Theater. Watching these films were really special to me. I had always felt that I was watching the Star Wars that my dad had when he was a kid. Going to a Star Trek movie with my dad is a tradition I will never forget. I never cared much for the original television series or for that matter any of the spin-offs. There was the occasional watching of a few episodes from time to time. In high school I became a casual fan of the next generation series watching episodes at my friends house after school. In short I guess you can say that I am a casual fan, but not enough to call me a Trekkie, I mean Trekker, or whatever the kids are calling them now.

The new movie is great and probably going to be my favorite of the summer this year.
This review is somewhat late seeing that I have already talked to a lot of friends and acquaintances and everyone's reaction seems to be the same, everybody likes the movie and the reboot concept. If you haven't seen the film yet, your in for a treat and I won't spoil a thing. The special effects are amazing, ILM really hit it out of the park with this one. The reboot concept ended up working really well in this new era of a franchise that has been lacking since say part IV. I am in the minority that thought “Star Trek: Nemesis was a good Trek film. With the new film Paramount again has a mega hit franchise on it's hands. Back to the film, the cast is off the charts superb. Everyone shines in the roles that they play. The stand out performance for me was that of Karl Urban as McCoy, I had a feeling that J.J had an ace up his sleeve in casting Karl in a role like that, but I just had to see it to believe it. Eric Bana as the villain was a good choice as well.

The only thing that I thought the film lacked was that it was too short, but honestly that really may be a good thing? Since this review is late, I can't think of anything to add that already been said in reviews already? Next up is “Terminator Salvation” which I am already having a hard time keeping an open mind after hearing a bunch of stuff I have heard about the story so far. I will try to have that review up Thursday evening? In the meantime I may or may not see “Angels & Demons” I am not 100% sold on this one seeing that I thought the first movie was REALLY BORING. A small little science fiction action movie comes to DVD tomorrow called “Outlander” that I have been wanting to see, so you may see a review of that. Go see “Star Trek” if you haven't already! I give the reboot an A+! Enjoy!!!!!

~Caleb

Friday, May 1, 2009

X-Men Origins: Wolverine


Stop! If you have not seen this movie yet you may not want to read what I have to say until you have seen the film. The review you are about to read will contain spoilers, so reader beware. I am not real happy with the movie, so beware of what I may say as well. Continue at your own risk.

"Wolverine" is not a bad movie by any means, it's just not a very good one. Most theaters across the nation had midnight showings so Catchafick went to the ole Springfield 8 to witness the first blockbuster hit of the summer. For months the Internet movie geek community would not shut up about how "Wolverine" was going to suck and that 20th Century Fox is raping many a popular franchises by making awful film adaptations. I will admit that Fox is doing something wrong, so very wrong. All three X-Men movies were for the most part solid, even the much hated X3 which I liked quite a bit. So with a solid franchise like the X-Men, how could Fox mess something like this up? The only thing that I can come up with is that the suits at the studio don't care about making a remarkable film about the most popular mutant of the X-Men. The only thing that they know is that based on the success of three movies, it doesn't really matter how well "Wolverine" does, because they know that we will go ahead and give them are hard earned cash. FOX doesn't make these kind of movies for fans, the fanboy is the minority. The real money comes from the regular movie going public. That's enough FOX hate, on with what I thought about the movie.

My feelings on the movie are this, it's for the most part an okay Wolverine film but a horrible X-Men movie. It has a strong promising start. The characters of Wolverine and Sabertooth are strong and acted very well. I have always liked what Hugh Jackman has done with Wolverine, even in this movie. Liev Schreiber is the dark horse of "Wolverine", every time Victor Creed was on screen I was happy. What makes this origin movie just a so-so movie is that a lot of what happens in the story seems very one dimensional, nothing ever truly seem that bad@$$. Things seemed to happen so matter of fact, and that is a real let down. The tone of the movie is also a mess. Jackman being a Executive Producer said that the character was going to be a lot darker this time around. It seems the finished product got it half right. Stryker's special team do sound like a bunch of mean motor scooters, but the action in this movie is just cartoonish. When Wolverine and or Creed attack people blood is not really anywhere to be seen. Even X2 had some blood when Wolverine was fighting in the mansion?
For the most part I like the beginning and most of the middle and none of the end. My first problem I have is with what Stryker says after Logan who is now the successful unstoppable killing machine Weapon X goes AWOL,(sorry for paraphrasing)"Well, the only thing we can do now is kill him". What? You just got done making the perfect killing machine, how are you going to kill him? It's just that what Stryker said came off really lame sounding. What came next is the worst thing about the movie. The solution someone that works for Stryker came up with is that "...the only thing that can stop him now is if we shoot him in the head with an Adamantium bullet.", lame. What happens next is even worse, they come to the conclusion that the bullet in fact won't kill him, but make him forget how any of this ever happened. Wait a minute, the film just made a big plot hole just now. With how the pieces of his origin are gathered in the first and second X-men movies, it sure seems that it is implied that Logan's memory loss was due to the intense process of grafting Adamantium to his skeleton? Two more things then I am done, I promise. The thing that killed this movie for me the most is Gambit. Let's just say that his mutant power is momentum killer. A fight scene between Wolverine and Gambit occurs in the movie for no real reason except for Logan to hack and slash a fire escape...lame. This whole fight scene just really took me out of the movie. I really didn't care much after that. The climax with Deadpool at the end was just poor. In the end, I realize that I may have had too high of hopes for this movie, but not once do I feel that I have been to hard on it. "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" gets a high D+. Enjoy.

~Caleb