Digital Fortress

I’ve never been a fan of the original Transformers cartoon series. Hindi ko na nga maalala kung nakanood ako nung mga episodes nun. Ang naalala ko lang e mga Shaider, Mask Rider Black, Bioman, Cedie, Princess Sarah, Tom Sawyer etc. Anyway, I immensely enjoyed Michael Bay’s Transformers. And I think it will definitely appeal to non-fans as well thanks to the inputs of Steven Spielberg (as an executive producer) and lead actors Shia Labeouf and Megan Fox.

I guess Shia LaBeouf is the male counterpart of Rachel McAdams in terms of the number of movies he’s appeared in a span of like a week. Shia starred in three summer movies like Disturbia, Surf’s Up (voice) and later on Indiana Jones 4. I was surprised to learn that he was born a day after I was born (June 11, 1986)…haha..wala lang.

His love interest is the newcomer Megan Fox. She’s sexy, bad-ass and has a wild look on his eyes. I’m sure audiences will really go “ohmigawd!!” too during that particular scene.

There are still typical Michael Bay shots here and there like helicopters swinging around the desert, military base camps and high-ranking officials in their command centers yelling cliched commands to aircraft pilots in the field. The weird thing about this Michael Bay flick is the non-appearance (only his socks) of the President of U.S. which I am really grateful.

The most amazing thing about this movie is of course the robots! Transformers continously wows me with its incredible special effects.The complexity of a single transformation of each of the Autobots or Decepticons is not meant to be viewed only once. It has this ‘repeatability’ factor that is very suitable for the DVD’s rewind function. There are so many moving parts that you can’t catch in one viewing which makes this movie spectacular. It is so believable that I didn’t notice any fake-looking CG element in the whole film even though I was really trying my best to spot them in some scenes. It works seamlessly! I think this movie will definitely raise the bar (yet again) in CG technology. As one reviewer puts it: “It’s like seeing the bullet time effects in The Matrix for the first time.” It’s really a different “experience” to see it on big screen especially during the battle between the Autobots and Decepticons. Nice sound work here. Metal on metal clanking to each other plus a terrific score from Steve Jablonsky. Although there are times that I got confused on who’s fighting who…who’s that on what…it’s a bit nauseous at times but I guess that’s what it’s really all about!

I watched this movie with fellow officemates as it is sponsored by a our company. And it’s a rewarding experience to watch with them. Minsan lang ako nakanood sa sine na pinalakpakan talaga yung film not only in the end but during the comedic moments and eye popping visuals. Nung nanood ako ng Spiderman 3 sa G4, one guy actually started to clap pero walang sumunod sa kanya. Pahiya. After the movie, I told my officemate: “Sulet na sulet kahit libre ang ticket”. And that’s saying na if I actually pay P170 for this movie, it was really well spent.

This is no doubt the best summer movie of the year. It appeals on all ages and it brings the kid on each of us. This is way, way better than t disappointing Spider-Man 3 and all other movies this summer. If I can rate all summer movies I saw, it would be like this:

1 Transformers
2 Shrek 3
3 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
4 Spider-Man 3
5 Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

I have yet to see Ratatouille and of course, my most anticipated movie this year, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on IMAX!

RATING: 9/10

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is one of those films that we pretend to understand very well that we don’t talk much of the plot but instead talk about our own favorite scenes  so that we might appear to be smart and that we understood the point of the whole movie.

But although I like this movie, more than last year’s Dead Man’s Chest (which I found very long, confusing, and well…long…), I think this series needs multiple viewings in order to be understood. I admit that some plot lines in AWE are too complex for me to handle since I’ve only seen POTC2 once (in DVD only). And you should consider yourself very very smart if you clearly understood every line in the film with those “pirate” accent. Well, I should assume that most of Pinoy moviegoers doesn’t understand every line spoken and so we rely on context clues or whatever is happening visually. The problem in this film is that MANY things are happening at once that I tend to ignore this plot exposition hoping to make sense of it. The confusing plot is what irk the critics. The current Tomatometer rating is 47%.

But I guess I enjoyed this movie more than Spider-Man 3 cause AWE doesn’t disappoint. It successfully tied up the loose end from the 2nd film. And just like its abbreviation, AWE is really an awesome visual experience. The production design is terrific. The sea battles are better than the one in Master and Commander although some pirate ships were merely backgrounds which do not actually participate in the whirlpool battle. Davy Jones beard tentacles looks very real as ever. Check out the ILM.com and click on Experience to see a demo on how Davy Jones was made in CGI. I also like that “up is down” thing where they flip the ship over…

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Is Spider-Man 3 worth the wait? Of course it is! I don’t really care kung gaano kami katagal pumila sa sinehan bago makapasok, what’s important is that finally, napanood ko na ang Spider-Man 3. So, first day ng showing, ang daming tao sa G4. Puro Spider-man ang palabas…ang papanoorin ko pa naman sana eh yung “Cute ng Ina Mo” (joke!).
Anyway, I immensely enjoyed the movie. One hour pa lang, marami na agad nangyari. It has loads of action sequences na parang mas marami pa kesa sa pinagsamang 1 and 2 plus the fact na there are actually 3 villains in the movie. These action sequences make this movie big…as in BIG. I read a review awhile ago citing that “those who flock to the theatres to watch Spiderman will chatter about how great the movie was. The terminology is wrong: it’s not great. It’s just big.”
Well, I certainly agree to that statement because personally, I believe that the second one is much better than this one. Yes, I do enjoy the action sequence but the overall feeling that I felt after watching Spider-Man 2 is different. The main weakness of the film is having three different villains. Mahirap isiksik sa film yung tatlo. Tama na sana yung isa or dalawa…pero tatlo? Minsan, mapapa-”Ay buhay pa pala yan…” ka sa dami nila e. Si Harry Osbourn, yung best friend nya, pampagulo lang sya sa mga new villains na sina Sandman at Venom. Bakit ko naman nasabi na pampagulo? Well hindi naman sya actually pampagulo in sense na hindi sya dapat nasa movie. We’re just continuing where we left off in the last movie. At dahil nga pampagulo sya sa introduction ni Sandman at Venom, binigyan muna si Harry Osbourn ng temporary amnesia para makalimutan nya na galit sya kay Peter Parker (parang pinoy soap opera na may usual element ng amnesia ang style). It’s the writer’s way of putting Harry away from Peter para si Venom at Sandman muna ang pakialaman natin.

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I have high hopes about this movie because of its massive hype just judging from the film’s look and the fact that it was based or rather a film “translation” of Frank Miller’s graphic novel. Although the film really looks fantastic, it failed to take my breath away. Sorry for being biased over LOTR but there were very few moments (or non at all because I got used to them in the trailers) where the hairs at the back of my head rise. I actually felt more dignified, heroic and glorious when Theoden charge over the Pelennor fields than the whole 300 movie, IMHO. The narration which was spreaded out throughout the film is a big letdown. It was kind of OK at the beginning but I get tired of it in the middle. (David Wenham’s voice is still too “Faramir”). In a movie as “visual” as this, there’s no need for narration. It should let the visuals “narrate”. So clearly, the purpose of the film’s look is to make it more epic and video-game like and to lure the audience with its “cool” look.

I was wondering why MTRCB gave it an R-13 rating whereas it should be R-18 with all its nudity, gore and stuff. But as far as blood is concerned, I felt cheated about the amount of blood on screen. Splats of blood are obviously computer-generated! Hindi man lang natatalsikan ng dugo ang mga Spartans!

And where are all those blood on the floor? Tsk. Tsk. Very unrealistic.

The battle scenes are highly entertaining and the nicely choreographed but it gets too redundant as the film progresses.

Overall, I’ll give it a 7/10. Quite an experience, I really enjoyed it. But I was slighly disappointed. It doesn’t live up to the hype. 

Ghost Rider is officially the first movie that I’ve seen using my own hard-earned salary. Even though I knew that this is not the kind of movie in which I will spend my first salary, I have no other choice because since this is the only good option that’s showing in G4 at that time. I’m not disappointed with the movie anyway. I really enjoyed it but I felt that the overall movie doesn’t justify my decision to spend my first pay on this film.
I have to turn off my common sense to enjoy the movie. Yes it has many funny moments but there arises some cheesy and lame dialogues. Although the special effects are spectacular and there are numerous “money shots”, there’s nothing more special about this movie. It was just like a sequel to Underworld: Evolution. Eve Mendes is one of this movie’s main attraction but there are times that she fails to mystify me. May angle sya na maganda, pero mas maraming panget. There’s something on her face talaga. Anyway, enough on the face, she’s still sexy especially on outfits she’s wearing on EVERY scene…hahah…
RATING: 6/10

When I saw the promotional ad of Bridge to Terabithia on TV, I thought it was another kid’s movie set on a magical kingdom similar to that of Narnia. And I thought it was gonna suck since Eragon sucked too. But then I was surprised that it got very positive reviews in RottenTomatoes so I decided to watch it with my friend.
It was a heartbreaking movie. I actually cried many times during the last third of the movie. I will not say much. I encourage teens and adults to see it. This is definitely NOT a children’s movie. Contrary to the trailer, there’s little fantasy elements in the film (about a total of 10 minutes) that may attract children 10 years old and below. Just don’t bring kids. Mag-iingay lang sila. This movie is for adults.
RATING: 9/10

This past few weeks, I’ve been under the Harry Potter fever. I’ve decided to read the fifth Potter book before the movie trailer comes out. But then, I become fully immersed (again) in Rowling’s world that I’ve finished the book before the deadline that I have set. I thought I’m gonna finish it 20 days given that I’m reading the book…an e-book actually…in the computer. Surprisingly, I finished it in 5 days and got to move on to the next book: The Half-Blood Prince.

Imelda Staunton as Prof. Dolores Umbridge
Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange

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