Revenge of the Fallen

Critics hated it. I loved it.

1. While watching, I couldn't help but think: "How much MONEY did they actually put into this movie?" - I would have to guess the number of (expensive) CG shots trumped that of Revolutions and Phantom Menace.

2. Andaming robot. Not needing to develop a back story for the characters, Michael Bay went all out using as much robots as he can without choking the audience. (Although, I hated the two gremlin-like twin robots he used - too much personality, I say - if that's even possible for movie robots.)

3. The story/plot was okay. They did need 2.5 hours to finish it though. But with all the eye candy, who cares if it was a tad too long?

4. Anyone notice Michael Bay's self-promotion with the Bad Boys II poster? And oh yeah, he used the same ecstacy/reefer drugged up funny scene with the Witwicky mom.

5. Shia Le Bouf was good. Megan Fox was good. Turturro was good. Although Duhamel and Gibson, felt like they were playing bit parts.

6. Congratulations, Michael Bay. You managed to make Megan Fox even more hotter.

7. The Decepticons went terminator-style and upped the ante with the robots-in-disguise thing. I'm still not sure on whether this was a good idea or not.

8. Revenge of the Fallen. Yep, better than the first.

4 DREIs

1 - DREIs: "Avoid Like The Plague" Why did we watch this in the first place? (i.e. Bangkok Dangerous, The Hottie and the Nottie, Scorpion King 2, etc..)
2 - DREIs: "Shite" No need to see this movie unless you have absolutely nothing else to do. Movies with high expectations but falls short on almost everything. (i.e. Righteous Kill, Max Payne, The Island, etc..)
3 - DREIs: "Okay" Good movies that could have been better. Usually gets half good reviews, and the other half so-so. The experience will also depend also on who is watching. (i.e. Clone Wars Animated, Fast and the Furious, The Devil Wears Prada, etc..)
4 - DREIs: "Great" Almost all facets of the movie were masterfully done. Great in almost all aspects. (i.e. 300, Dark Knight, Transformers, Slumdog Millionaire, etc..)
5 - DREIs: "Revolutionary" It will change the entire concept of filmmaking and how films are made from this point on. It will serve as the new gauge for movies of the same genre. (i.e. The Matrix, LOTR, The Godfather, etc..)

Noong Wala Pang Tint si PLU...

...pano ka nga naman makakatulog ng maliwanag...

Movie Reviews

Recently Seen:

Ip Man - I was hoping for something along the lines of an epic like Hero or even something just as entertaining as probably Fearless. Those standards proved to be way too high. Waaay too high. Ip Man = Fail.
2 DREIs

Fast and Furious (Old Model New Parts) - Yes, it is an upgrade over the monumentally bad Tokyo Drift. But really, not much else.
3 DREIs

The 13th Warrior - I saw this first in the theater (1999? 2000?). Recently got an AVI copy. Liked it before, still like it now. Probably the best movie adaption of the Beowulf saga.
3.5 DREIs

The Invisible - It is predicated in this movie that people that are near death can walk around the world "invisibly." As expected, not a whole lot went on; and just too many holes in the plot.
2.5 DREIs

The Horsemen - Starring Dennis Quaid and Zhang Zhiyi. Whodunnit Cops and Serial Killers. It seems that they used as much movie cliches as they can. Aside from bad acting and sciptwriting, it was just too easy to figure out.
1 DREI

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - I saw the "unfinished" copy first, and then the final cut. I have to admit I liked almost everything about it, everything was relatively good - plot . But this is where Dark Knight sticks it to almost every other superhero movie - compared to the Joker, Sabretooth was just... forgettable.
3.5 DREIs

Punisher: War Zone - I saw one or two scenes with flashes of brilliance, but see Dark Knight reference above: Jigsaw = also forgettable.
2.5 DREIs

Dead or Alive - Surprisingly entertaining. I liked the fight scenes and the slowmo volleyball game. And besides, this movie had Holly Valance mostly half naked! Nuff said.
3.5 DREIs

The Spirit - Frank Miller is thought of as a god in the comic book industry. But even deity sometimes does stupid mortal things. Like making movies like these for example. Shot almost entirely in the same manner as Sin City, just infinitely more boring.
2.5 DREIs



1 - DREIs: "Avoid Like The Plague" Why did we watch this in the first place? (i.e. Bangkok Dangerous, The Hottie and the Nottie, Scorpion King 2, etc..)
2 - DREIs: "Shite" No need to see this movie unless you have absolutely nothing else to do. Movies with high expectations but falls short on almost everything. (i.e. Righteous Kill, Max Payne, The Island, etc..)
3 - DREIs: "Okay" Good movies that could have been better. Usually gets half good reviews, and the other half so-so. The experience will also depend also on who is watching. (i.e. Clone Wars Animated, Fast and the Furious, The Devil Wears Prada, etc..)
4 - DREIs: "Great" Almost all facets of the movie were masterfully done. Great in almost all aspects. (i.e. 300, Dark Knight, Transformers, Slumdog Millionaire, etc..)
5 - DREIs: "Revolutionary" It will change the entire concept of filmmaking and how films are made from this point on. It will serve as the new gauge for movies of the same genre. (i.e. The Matrix, LOTR, The Godfather, etc..)

Terminator Salvation

1. McG delivered. Action-freakin-packed. When someone asks you: "What is an action movie?" You say: "This is."

2. Chel and Drei were right though: not much in terms of the story itself - but the action more than made up for it.

3. Christian Bale was amazing. It is hard for anyone to play John Connor and he did a good job of doing it. Method acting paid off, I guess... (and yep, I heard his 15-minute internet audio cursefest on this set... on a side note, continuous cursing is hard to sustain over a two or even three minute period, Bale was relentless for that entire time... THAT is something.)

4. Sam Worthington (Marcus) will probably have a Hugh Jackman-like career from now on.

5. (Semi-Spoiler Alert) The Arnold Schwaenenzggreenegegegr CGI should NOT have been there. It distracted you from the entire action sequence. I was thinking, if you can't put in the "real" Arnold, then DON'T put him in. (on another side note, the movie industry has made great strides in terms of computer animation and graphics for the past couple of years... but this goes to show you how we are still so far off in terms of people CG realism on closeups.)

6. (Major Spoiler Alert) I was really hoping they were going to finish the story. But instead, even after blowing up Skynet's main base, John Connor said something like - "Skynet's Global Network still remains strong, but the fight isn't over..."

7. I can't help but think of parralels between the Matrix and the Terminator mythology. The machines in the Matrix (sentinels, etc..) are way way way way harder to beat than Terminators (even if Skynet had nuclear capability). I'm just sayin.

8. Overall, good action flick. Monumentally better than the last one. However, I just had some issues with the CG and the ending.

3.5 DREIs

1 - DREIs: "Avoid Like The Plague" Why did we watch this in the first place? (i.e. Bangkok Dangerous, The Hottie and the Nottie, Scorpion King 2, etc..)

2 - DREIs: "Shite" No need to see this movie unless you have absolutely nothing else to do. Movies with high expectations but falls short on almost everything. (i.e. Righteous Kill, Max Payne, The Island, etc..)

3 - DREIs: "Okay" Good movies that could have been better. Usually gets half good reviews, and the other half so-so. The experience will also depend also on who is watching. (i.e. Clone Wars Animated, Fast and the Furious, The Devil Wears Prada, etc..)

4 - DREIs: "Great" Almost all facets of the movie were masterfully done. Great in almost all aspects. (i.e. 300, Dark Knight, Transformers, Slumdog Millionaire, etc..)

5 - DREIs: "Revolutionary" It will change the entire concept of filmmaking and how films are made from this point on. It will serve as the new gauge for movies of the same genre. (i.e. The Matrix, LOTR, The Godfather, etc..)