Wednesday, June 29, 2011

'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' Review - An Unexpectedly Solid Sequel


This is everything a summer blockbuster should be. Loud, fun, and full of action that knocks you back in your seat and barely lets you breathe! This is a huge step up from Revenge of the Fallen, and in many ways, better than the first. Michael Bay and the cast pulled out all the stops in their final outing with the Autobots and the Decepticons, and have proven that this series really is more than meets the eye. It's not just a series based off toys anymore, but a series with real characters, real fun, and real stakes. And I'm pleased to see that Bay and Co. went out with a bang.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

'Super 8' Review - An Incredible Nostalgic Adventure of Family and Friendship


I won't beat around the bush about this: I LOVED Super 8. From the opening moments of seeing the Amblin logo back on the screen, the music, the atmosphere, and the characters I couldn't help but have a big grin on my face while watching the movie. These are the kind of movies I grew up on. The Spielberg produced and directed films of the 80's which had amazing casts, great stories, and incredible special effects for good measure. If you put ET, The Goonies, and Close Encounters in a blender, Super 8 would be the outcome. Hollywood doesn't make movies like this anymore, and this was a big gamble for Paramount and those involved, and I'm glad to say that they hit this one out of the park. This is a very special little movie, and the must see of the summer.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

'X-Men First Class' Review: A Return to Form for a Broken Series


It's been eight years since I've truly loved an X-Men movie. I'm a fan of the comics and I've been burned many times over the past few years by the series. So going into this, I was expecting the worst. The ads have been awful, the behind the scenes sounded disastrous, and the movie just seemed rushed. It wasn't since Bryan Singer's X-Men 2: X-Men United came out in 2003 that I really loved an X-Men film. Singer got the universe and the characters and took the series to new levels after the first movie, paving the way for a great third and final movie, but when 2006 came around Singer was gone and the series nearly imploded on itself with X-Men: The Last Stand. Fox decided to try and take the series in a new direction with X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which was also poorly received by fans and critics a like. It seems Fox realized what it was missing in the series without Singer and brought him back as a producer and got Matthew Vaughn, the director of Kick-Ass, behind the camera for this movie. The movie these two have crafted is really, really well done. Between the cast, story, and score, the film truly brings like to what I thought was a dying series. So much so that X-Men First Class has made me fall in love with the X-Men universe all over again, and may be the best movie in the series.