Hook (1991)

My Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 80%

Now I will admit that this movie is not the greatest thing that Spielberg has done. it's a little cheesy and not that big with effects of design. But when you look past that, it still is a very fun film that I for one intend to make it well remembered by my children, and their children, and their children.

Plot: Peter Pan has grown up leaving the world of Neverland and is now a lawyer and is married with two children and has since long forgotten his days of never growing up. But things start to take a turn when Captain Hook kidnaps his children and challenges Peter to settle the fight between them once and for all.

This is more or less similar to the story of Burton's Alice in Wonderland...just better. part of what makes it good is how much heart you know they put into this film.

Acting/Characters:
Robin Williams/Peter Banning-Peter Pan: I find this one of Williams's better movies. I mostly mean that in the extent that this is one of the very rare films like Good Morning Vietnam where he is more on roles that carry out a bit of the potential he has rather than being just some really bad movies like he often does. and while you may it the case still for him in this film, i think you can at least appreciate how much more heart he puts in this one.
Dustin Hoffman/Captain Hook: Now Hoffman makes Hook a very interesting character. Because he gets deeper as he goes compared to how we get generally know Hook from whatever other adaptions there has ever been. His hate for Peter is deeper than ever before, he become suicidal at one point, and even attempts to use Peter's children against him as part of getting his revenge.
Bob Hoskins/ Smee: Smee is different in this film as far as not being clumsy or short, and he's even a good adviser for Hook.
Julia Roberts/Tinkerbell:she was interesting as far as being playful and yet still having those deep feeling for Peter. and it was nice for there being a version of Tink were she actually talks.
All of the children in this film: to me it's a mix. sometimes they actually have some emotion, sometimes they don't. But generally, they are better than a lot fo kid actors that you see in a lot of live-action, kid movies nowadays.

Aside from that, there's nothing else aside from a lot of star cameos that appear in this film such as Glenn Close as a male pirate, Gweneth Paltrow as younger Wendy in a flashback, and George Lucas and Carrie Fischer as a couple that accidentally sprinkled with pixie dust while Tink takes peter to Neverland

Design: this is where the film is strange. i'm mostly talking about some the things that appear in Neverland, mostly in the Lost Boys' hideout with it containing things like some snow and penguins, a basketball court, a skateboarding court (or whatever is the word for the places where skate boarders skate. I don't know. i don't care much about it)

Effects: they are not much, they are pretty good for their time. The effects were actually nominated at the Oscars...but then they lost to Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Who wouldn't see that coming?

Editing: Eh, not much to say for sure, but it was good enough.

Music: two words. John Williams. if you won't like the movie, you should at least like the music.

and that is my review for Hook. it really depends on what you think about this film, but i believe that the general take is that it's actually a very fun movie that should be remembered for a long time.

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

My Rotten Tomatoes (2004)

This one was better in terms of going with the general story of Spider-Man long after he was bitten.


Plot: It was probably been one or two years or so since the events fo the first movie. Peter, now living by himself, is going through some struggles with losing his job, facing financial difficulties and keeping up with his studies in college. He comes across his science idol, Otto Octavius who is working on a project at Oscorp Industries where Harry is now president after his father's death. Meanwhile, he hears from Mary Jane that she is seeing someone who eventually proposes to her. Things begin to change then when Octavius's experiment goes wrong.

What made this one better is that it outlined the general story of Peter trying to balance out his crime-fighting duties as Spider-Man and with his normal life as Peter Parker. Plus, we have a better story concerning the romance between him and Mary Jane and the main villain is Doctor Octopus who is one of the deadliest villains Spidey has faced.

Actors/Characters:
There is no particular change for Maguire, Dunst, Franco, or Simmons (which is very lovely with the last one particularly) so I will skip them.
Rosemary Harris/Aunt May Parker:This is where he part gets better because he become more of what Aunt May truly is; a very strong-willed, spirited woman who always had some sort of wisdom for Peter throughout his life.
Alfred Molina/Otto Octavius-Doctor Octopus: This is another example were just for the particular story of the film based on a comic series, there isn't too much on the character you can say is good or bad comparing it to the same character from the series. Doctor Octopus is this raving mad scientist who mostly infiltrates science facilities or power plants in order to work on some experiment or just to cause a little bit of chaos somehow. here we have the Doc having his arms temp him to reattempt the experiment by stealing money so he can buy the things he needs to make it again. in a way it's a little goofy, but still interesting with the story they have for this film. and even fi you don't like it, well hey, we still get to see Doc Ock fight Spidey. nothing wrong with that.
Other than that, I'll say that i do want to see this movie again now that i know that the banker turns out to be Joel McHale.

Effects. they were good. and i especially liked Doc Ock's arms they were cool.

Music: nuthun else to add aside from Doc Ock's theme being nice.

Editing: It was good.

So that's my review for Spider-man 2

Spider-Man (2002)

My Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 80%

This was a very good movie. While it has it's points of being a little cliche, it's more or less the cliche that makes his a fun movie in terms of telling the original story of Spider-man

Plot: Peter Parker is this science geek whole is generally unpopular in school. His best friend is Harry Osborn, Son of Norman Osborn who is the president of Oscorp industries. and his next door neighbor who is also the girl-friend of bully, Flash Thompson is Mary Jane whom Peter has fallen in love with. Peter gets bitten by a radioactive spider an gain the powers of a spider. and when His Uncle Ben is killed by a carjacker after Peter lefts that same guy get away from the police shortly before, Peter decides to fight crime with his new powers remembering his uncle's words "With great power comes great responsibility" and takes on the ever lovable identity of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

Now like I said, this movie is a little cliche, but generally you are able to see past it with, while it is not 100% accurate with the comics, it still makes a film a nice story about the beginning of Spider-man

Acting/Characters:
Toby Maguire/Peter Parker-Spider-Man: Maguire was...okay. I guess the thing is while he makes Spider-Man the character that he is, he goes slightly far with his emotions. I mean true, Spidey is known to be a little over-dramatic, especially in the earlier comics, but he doesn't go that far. but that aside, he made Spider-Man a good character with the narration and so on that made the movie entertaining.
Kristen Dunst/Mary Jane Watson: She was just okay too. I was fine with her at first...I mean i still am, but when i started to get deeper into the comics, I came to the conclusion that if i could go back in time to a particular conversion i had with my Biology teacher Mrs. Tripoli, i would actually agree with her for the most part when she told me how she specifically disliked Mary Jane in the films. Because while she was good, she mostly lacked the party girl side of Mary Jane in the comics that so many readers of the comics are familiar with.
James Franco/ Harry Osborn: Honestly, there's nothing much to say about him. he did exactly what he was suppose to do.
Cliff Robertson/Uncle Ben Parker: Originally, there was nothing deep put into the character of Ben Parker in the comics before the burglar shot him. The first picture of his was on top of page 2 of the very first issue, Amazing Fantasy #15, and 8 pages later he was dead. But i find it very nice how they actually did put some things in this film about him from before his death. I'm mostly talking about how before he died, he had that talk about how "great power come great Responsibility" with Peter. and while most of us are pretty much over that line by now, it still was a good inspiring conversation about facing life. and i liked that.
Rosemary Harris/ Aunt May Parker: she was fine, but it's not until later in the films when she really become the strong-willed woman that raised Spider-Man and became quite the mentor for him after Uncle Ben died.
J.K.Simmons/J. Jonah Jameson: i have one question. WHO IN THE FRICK IS GOING TO REPLACE SIMMONS IN THE REBOOT AS J.J.J.!?!?!?! I mean it's not that no one else and be him, it's just that Simmons hit if out of the ball park with this character throughout the trilogy and it'll be hard to replace him.
Williem Dafoe/Norman Osborn-Green Goblin: I think he made the Goblin exactly what he was suppose to be. and even if he didn't we did good enough to give people, especially newly readers of the comic, the right idea about who the Goblin is. I know he did for me.

Effects: They were good. just the way it suppose to be as far as introducing Spider-Man.

Music: they were alright. the theme song for Spider-man throughout the trilogy was decent.

Editing: i thought it was good. just the way it was suppose to be.

and that is my review for Spider-Man

Iron Man 2 (2010)

My Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 70%

Now this was not the most spectacular sequel there is. but it was still a nice movie.


Plot: Well it has been six months since the events of the first movie and the word is well out that Tony Stark is Iron Man. And Tony has been using his suit to maintain peace and has used the opportunity to reopen the Star Expo. Tony however has also been trying to find an alternative element for the core in his reactor since the palladium he is currently using is slowly killing him. While not telling anyone is situation, he decided to make Pepper CEO of Stark Industries. Meanwhile another villain named Whiplash is in town who is attempting to destroy Tony and Stark Industries for revenge of his family.

now as fun as this film still makes Iron Man, it is also a little goofy. since Tony does not bother to tell anyone about his situation, he's been making a lot of choices as a way of making the most of things before he possibly dies which most of them are rash and ends up making a ridiculous catastrophe. In a way i makes this film similar to Spider-man 3 with how Peter was being this party creep or whatever that was practically destroying the love of spider-man to a lot of fans inside. I for one am just thankful that they did alot aside from all that, that made this movie still enjoyable. But i dislike how the final battle was VERY quick.

Acting/Characters
Robert Downey Jr./Tony Stark-Iron Man: Well the good news is that Downey continues to entertain us for the most part throughout the film. and that is a wonderful things considering. But with the things that Tony does that made the film a little goofy, you sort of start to like the character a little less before the climax, as much as they still remain loyal to the comic with that goofiness.
Gweneth Paltrow/Pepper Potts: Basically Paltrow was still pretty good. no change. She was still plain old the Pepper Potts we all know the character to generally be.
Don Cheadle/Lt. Rhodes-War Machine: I didn't like him being in the film. it's nothing completely against the actor at all, but in terms of appearance i disliked how different he was. I tried to see past it and enjoy just that Lt. Rhodes is being his old self in this film but i think the change was a little too much for me. Again, not the actor's fault. he did what he was suppose to do. The problem is just the particular situation that won him the role. That aside, I loved the character, especially since we finally see his as War Machine which was just AWESOME!!!!
Scarlett Johansson/ Natasha Romanoff-Black Widow: put it simply. she was an interesting character and a major bad-a and that was cool.
Samuel L. Jackson/Nick Fury:He was a nice character, but i do want to know more about what the character originally is as afar as personality. Because I only generally know Nick Fury in the Ultimate Spider-Man comics were the idea of him being African-American is originally from.
Mickey Rourke/Ivan Vanko-Whiplash: before seeing the film, i generally knew him just from The Wrestler before i saw this film. Since i only know him from that film is that it's pretty different from his performance in Wrestler, and that he did what he had to do. As far as the actual character aside from that, I dislike in a way how A) he doesn't exist in the comics as far as his actual secret identity and B) how he strangely is two villains in one character. He is Whiplash, but his father in the comics was Anton Vanko, the original Crimson Dynamo. and apparently in the final battle, Whiplash actually made a suit as Whiplash that is a reminiscent of various Crimson Dynamo suits.
The only other things to say is that I enjoy how director Jon Favreau made his role as Harold "Happy" Hogan bigger considering how the character is well known in the comics.

Screenplay:I'm just adding how cheesy it was when Tony was watching a film about his father that said that his greatest creation was him.

Effects: Awesome as usual.

Editing: I think they were pretty much what they were suppose to be.

Music: they didn't make it as big which was a little bit of a down.

so that is my review for Iron Man 2. it is not the best superhero sequel, but for what it is worth considering superhero sequels in general, i feel it deserves a decent seat next to Dark Knight and Spider-man 2.

Iron Man (2008)

My Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 90%

Iron Man is one of the best superhero movies i have ever seen.

Plot: Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark is head of the large military contracting company, Stark Industries. He has become a very famous billionaire and also a Playboy for his genius mind for creating weapons. Then Tory gets captured in the Middle East after he makes a demonstration to his latest weapon, the "Jericho". His captors force him to create the Jericho for them with the help of another captive named Yinsen. However Tony and Yinsen plan on escaping by making an Iron suit. Tony escapes but Yinsen is killed in the process. After he comes home, Tony decided to make another iron suit and use it to fight forces of evil.

This is a very fun film. i mean if anything makes it entertaining, it is how Iron-Man become a major Bad-A throughout the film. But it is also good as far as the story of Iron Man's secret identity. And personally what often gets me when I see the film is how it seems to give me the feeling to go make something big, like maybe write some stories i've been thinking about making. Because throughout just the first half of the film I for one at least, get the excited feeling of doing that considering how Tony, in making both Iron Man suits Mark I and II, has an idea plugged right in his mind both times and during the creation of both suits, he just takes that idea and carries it out and even expands it at times. which makes it even more exciting to me when that idea gets carries out almost flawlessly, primarily when he fought in that Middle Eastern village. The only problem i have is how his final battle with the Iron Monger was a little quick. but even then the movie was great.

Acting/Characters:
Robert Downey Jr./Tony Stark-Iron Man: Downey did an excellent job with this film. He made Tony Stark especially, a very fun character. he did a flawless job.
Gweneth Paltrow/Virginia "Pepper" Potts: now when I first saw this movie, the only time is saw Paltrow before was in her brief role in Hook. But now we have her as Pepper and I really liked her character.
Jeff Bridges/Obadiah Stane-Iron Monger: Bridges did a good job with his character. while Obadiah Stane's story with Stark Industries and Iron Man is different in the comics, this one was better and it worked for the particular story for this film.
Terrance Howard/Lt. Rhodes:I liked Howard as Rhodes. He was more fun and more into the character and appearance wise, he was a good choice in being similar to the character in the Comics. I know there were a lot of good reasons why the did not come back for the second one, but to me fact is fact, Howard could not really be replaced.

Effects:uh, try Awesome. made all of Iron Man just fun to watch all the way.

Editing: i think it was pretty good. the made the right cuts and so on to tell this story.

Music:Very good. I think the Music was one of the main keys that made Iron Man fun and exciting through and through.

So that is my review for Iron Man.

Hulk (2003)

My Rotten Tomatoes rating: 20%

This was not much of a movie at all.


Plot: David Banner is a genetic scientist tries to improve human DNA by experimenting on himself. But when his wife has their son Bruce, he finds out that he passed on mutant DNA to is son as tries to cure him. General Thunderbolt finds out about his experiments and shuts down David's Research, as a result, he accidentally kills his wife and destroys the gamma reactor of the facilities. years later, his son Bruce, has become as researcher himself after graduating College, and his father returns when an experiment goes wrong that eventually starts turning into HULK!

now here's the things about this movie, which it does okay in terms of telling the origin of Hulk, I found it to be very boring. Bruce turning into the Hulk is where it gets cool in anyway. but even then A) that happens at the rarest of times which makes the rest of the film about either preparing for it or otherwise just containing a lot of dialogue or otehr things that no one is going to care about, and B) altogether, the film is contained with some things that happens that are either confusing or just do not make a whole lot of sense.

Acting:Pretty much bland is what i generally say.

Effects: it did what is was suppose to but it still wasn't that much of a 'WOW'

Editing:the trouble witht eh editing is how some of the film is told through comic book-like transitions. in a way it was interesting and it worked in one or two points but other than that, it was stupid and uninteresting.

and that is pretty much my review for Hulk.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

My Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 50%


A long time ago, when the Twilight films were still far, far away...

(upload this link for the rest of the intro)
http://www.starwars.com/games/playnow/crawl_creator/index.jsp?cs=8c36qdp6sw

the coming of this current millennium was near, Titanic became the second movie to win 11 oscars not to long before, and many people were still recovering from Batman & Robin. as for Star Wars, tens of thousands of fans have been excited for this movie after years of waiting, expecting the best that could be offered now or ever again...practically. unfortunately, while some loved it, the general truth was that many heart were broken after watching this film.

Plot: two Jedi Knights are sent to end a blockade from the Trade Federation who are blocking trade route from the planet naboo...what specific trade, we don't know. rather than negotiate, the Trade Federation try to kill the jedi with their battle droids...who really don't totally kill anything...and even if they do they generally, if you are familiar with the expanded universe of Star Wars, give the battle droids from thousands of years before the events of this movie, an excellent name. so the jedi manage to get to the royal city of naboo as the trade federation begin their invasion and manage to take the queen and her royal guards and maidens past the blockade (using only one ship) and try to go to Corusant...but they head to Tatooine to get repairs with the help of Anakin Skywalker who they free from him master and take with him to try to make him a Jedi. once they reach Corusant, the queen tries to ask the Republic to help but is use by Palpatine, the senator of Naboo to use the situation to kick the supreme chancellor of the republic out and make him the chancellor. meanwhile, the jedi take Anakin to the Jedi Counsel but they deny him being trained because they believe that Anakin will bring grave danger to the jedi. the queen decides to go back to Naboo and try to regain the planet with the jedi, and army of naboo creatures called gungans, and a small pack of naboo troops. OH! and during all this it's revealed that a Dark Lord of the Sith is the one that made the Trade Federation cause the blockade in the first place. eventually with four different battles, naboo is freed but one of the battles is a duel between the two jedi and the Dark Lord of the Sith's apprentice, Darth Maul, and he kills one jedi while the other kills him. so Naboo is freed and despite the danger that is said about Anakin, the Jedi Council decided to let the surviving jedi train anakin to become a jedi, and until the next film, everyone lives happily ever after.
now i'm not being very specific about things going on in this movie...but this is pretty much summarizing it the best you can with only telling the name of two characters.

Characters/Actors:
Liam Neeson/Qui-gon Jinn: he was pretty bad. this was not a good role for him. heck, there's one youtube review about this movie were the guy says that maybe his last name is Jinn because the whole time he acts like he is on GIN (Jinn, gin, get it?)
Ewan McGregor/Obi-Wan Kenobi: not quite as expressionless as Neeson but still expressionless and acted slightly more sleepy like. and again, he dis have some expressions compared to Neeson, but other than that...yeah.
Natalie Portman/Padme Amidala: based on what i remember from this movie, Portman was probably the best actor in this film...i mean that makes sense, cause i do recall her being viewed has having a lot of potential after her first film and she had the most face expression in this film...it's kind of tempting me to see this movie and the others again just on account of what i'm specifically going to think of her differently from now on as i watch these film after Black Swan.
Jake Lloyd/Anakin Skywalker:yeah just as expressionless. i'm glad that the actor has seen the light at how bad this movie is last anyone has heard of him.
Jar-Jar Binks: well...let's just say he's not in the last two movies after this and that's a very good thing.
Darth Maul: he was total bad-a and it's a bit of a shame that there wasn't any more of him.


Music:it was pretty good. "Duel of the Fates" was a very good song. Keeping John Williams was a very wise choice i think is the best way to put it otherwise.

Effects: not the best but they were pretty good, they made some pretty fun fight scenes and a cool pod-race throughout the film.

Editing:well the main problem was the climax were they were juggling four battles at once. other than that, i do not like how they made the type of cut to show the Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon were using Force speed to escape form the Droidikas earlier in the film.


so that's my review for Phantom Menace. it had a lot of cool effects and stuff, but altogether it was just not a good movie.