Summer Movie Review

Wow, I can't believe it's been 2 months since I last updated! Anywho, I'm sure you're all dying to know my opinion on the big summer blockbuster movies. I'll start worst to first.

Transformers 2
I really had high hopes for this one since the first one was so good. What I thought was good was seeing Optimus Prime kicking butt and taking names. That was about it. The movie was way too long, had too many robots, too much robot swearing, too much marijuana, too much robot anatomy, too much super lame dialog, too much robot leg lovin', too much robot bodily functions, and most offensively, too much of the Jar Jar twins. I really wanted to watch this show with Jesse but after seeing it I knew that it wasn't appropriate for him. Transformers 3 has already been announced for July1st, 2011. Hopefully the series can improve.

Final score: 1.5 out of 4 stars


X-Men Origins: Wolverine

I have a better name for this movie: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. Here's the good, they stayed pretty faithful to the comics as far as the true origin story. Wolverine's brother Sabretooth looked and acted much better than in X-Men 1. Deadpool. Cyclop's optic blasts were finally as powerful as they should be. The bad, the plot was silly, some of the special effects were cheesy and some of the acting was laughable. The ugly was the last guy and that the movie had multiple ending depending on which theater you were in. Overall I liked the show but I didn't love it. Wolverine 2 is being planned out, but no future release date yet.

Final score: 2.5 out of 4 stars


Terminator Salvation
One misconception that people have about the Terminator movies is that they are really good movies. Truth is, they are really good action movies, but the acting, which the exception of T2, isn't great. This is no exception. This is a loud movie with lots of explosions and killer robots, and it's fun. The visual effects were very impressive, as were the sound effects. There is an Arnold look alike in there as well, but the Governator did not make an appearance. Terminator 5 is in the works for a summer 2011 release.

Final score: 2.5 out of 4 stars

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
This movie is a bit of a mystery. The acting was silly, the SFX were ok, the plot had holes that you could steer an aircraft carrier through and there really wasn't anything original or new, yet it was quite entertaining. It does meet the trifecta of awesomeness: Ninjas, explosions and babes. Darth Maul returns as the silent ninja Snake-Eyes, and his moves are as impressive as they have ever been. My main complaint about the show was the mask that Cobra Commander put on at the very end. I've seen more sinister looking CPAP masks. Past that, the show really did play out like a live action version of the cartoon.

Final score: 3 out of 4 stars


Star Trek
This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. This movie was amazing in so many ways. I have very little to complain about when it comes to this show. The awesomeness that Star Wars was in the 80's is what this show will be for the next decade. I can't wait to buy it and watch it again and again.

Final score: 4 out of 4 stars

Honorable Mentions: In all my movie going experiences I haven't been able to see Harry Potter 6. I've heard it's good, but I'll probably wait until it comes out on video to see it. Melissa saw The Proposal three times in the theater and loved it. The kids and Melissa saw Pixar's Up! but weren't thrilled by it.

Not to be outdone

About the same time that Jesse started riding his bike Owen began to ride a scooter and his little tricycle. Owen is definitely channeling the spirit of Evel Knievel, just like his dad. :)

Learning to ride

This weekend my son Jesse's world just got a whole lot bigger. We've been trying to teach him how to ride a bike more intensively the past few weeks, but on Saturday everything just seemed to click and off he went.

Is Star Trek better than Star Wars?

Yes.

Now let me say that I have forgotten more about Star Wars than most people will ever know, and my favorite movie of all time is still "The Empire Strikes Back", but with the launch of the new Star Trek movie I had to rethink my stance. The first Star Wars movie to me was magical and one of my very first memories. Then came Empire which was better in every single way. Finally Jedi came out in the summer of 1983 and I remember watching it 3 times in a row at the Sandcastle theater. Then came the 16 year drought. Rumors would come up every now and then about George Lucas wanting to go back and do episodes 1-3, but nothing ever happened until around 1997 when filming started. I was ecstatic! When the first trailer came out I think it crashed the internet. Everyone wanted to see it and see more of it. Then Phantom Menace came out, and what a woeful movie that was. Highlights: Darth Maul and cool lightsaber fighting. Downers: Everything else except the podracing. Maybe Episode 2 would be better... Nope. Not even a hyperactive Yoda could save this one. Please let Episode 3 be what the fans want! Once again George Lucas gave us a film that could have been great, but was not. The Star Wars prequel trilogy was SO DISSAPPOINTING!!!!!!! The acting was awful, the story was convoluted, and it never even came close to making me feel like the original trilogy did with the exception of the "Duel of the Fates" song.

Then came the new Star Trek movie. J. J. Abrams knows how to tell a story infinitely better than George Lucas. The Star Trek movie was funny, smart, engaging, crisp and extremely enjoyable. It wasn't a perfect show, but never at any point did I think that something was silly or lame. Star Trek aliens looked like aliens without the need to be digital. They were dudes in costumes!!! George, Jar Jar sucked and Yoda looked fake. The star ships in Star Trek were amazing. I'm convinced that ILM's FX department took a quantum leap forward when they did Transformers, and haven't looked back since. Transformers looked great, but then they did Iron Man, and a new level of awesomeness was established. Star Trek looks that much better, but like the very first Star Wars movie, the special effects were used to help tell the story, not be the reason for the movie.

Watching Star Trek filled me with mixed emotions. It was amazing and brought back characters that everyone knew in a way that was fun and imaginative. And that's what bugged me too. Everything that Star Trek was, the new Star Wars movies weren't. They could have been fantastic and wonderful, but they weren't. The new Star Trek franchise has already signed on for 2 more movies with the same cast and crew. I can't wait! Even if the next movies are only half as good as the first, it will still be light years ahead of those other Jedi guys. So here I am a lifelong Star Wars fan deciding that that which I loved so well was good for what it was, but there is something new and shiny and better. I'll never completely give up Star Wars, but if you hear me saying "Live long and prosper" instead of "May the Force be with you" you'll now know why.

Playtime with Bruticus

I am very grateful that I kept my toys in good condition. Lately my boys have been on a Transformers kick, especially Owen who loves to play with the triple transformer Astrotrain, who, as the name implies, is a space shuttle, train and robot. Owen loves playing with it in space shuttle mode! Anywho, once a week I'll break out an old transformer from my box o' antinques and let Jesse see that his Transformers are a lot better designed and articulated than mine, however his are all plastic and mine are metal, as robots should be!!! Last night I busted out Bruticus, one of several combiner robots that I have. It was way fun! Owen was happy to play with the little space shuttle guy, Jesse loved the tank and jeep, and I loved that I still had all the pieces to put it all together!

Free Comic Book Saturday

It's that time of year again when you can venture on down to your favorite comic book shop and pick up free stuff! Go here to find the nearest participating location, then go there this Saturday May 2nd. Enjoy!

A child's prayer

Every once in a while something happens that validates your existence.  Yesterday my little Owen said his first prayer without any help, and it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard.