The Soloist

Rating: 80%

Is was interested in this film already when I saw a trailer. But then I decided to finally see it when my best friend wanted me to after she saw it. So I wasted no time in placing it on hold and then finally watching this film just last Friday.

Plot: after bike accident, reporter Steve Lopez bumps into a homeless schizophrenic named Nathaniel Ayers who is shown to play beautifully on the violin. He becomes interested in writing an article on Nathaniel after he find out that he want to Julliard. The first article he write influences a reader to give him a Cello to give to Nathaniel where they being to form a friendship.

Now sure, we've roughly seen and heard stories like this before. I mean this isn't completely different from films like The Blind Side. But that doesn't really make it any less good. Or affect it from the particular message it brings. It did give you a really good idea of what life is like for people like Nathaniel.

Acting/Characters:
Robert Downey Jr/Steve Lopez: I think the general thing to say was that, He was Robert Downy Jr. I mean that's nothing wrong with his acting, just that he's the same guys we know him to be only that he's not beating the crap out of terrorists in an Iron suit.
Jamie Foxx/Nathaniel Ayers: He did a very good job. I just found out that he played Ray Charles in Ray which makes sense. I mean I haven't seen it yet, but I've seen a couple of scenes of him roughly doing the same thing that he does as Nathaniel here in the really tense moments for the character.


Music: It was really good. well done.

Editing: It was nice. I think it worked in bringing the story together.

And that's my review for The Soloist. while the concept isn't original, the message is still good enough to make this an enjoyable an interesting film.

500 Days of Summer Review

Rating: 100%

Now I wanted to see this film regardless because of how it got some pretty good reviews. But it wasn't until I started working on a scene from this film for part of my final in my acting class that I really decided to go borrow it from the library. The result; pretty darn good.

Plot: Tom Hansen meets Summer Finn during her first day as the new assistant for his boss. And after his friend and co-worker reveals to her that Tom likes her, they slowly but surely begin to become closer together. But they don't really form a relationship because Summer doesn't want a boyfriend.


Yes I know that I'm not telling a whole lot, but this is a film you're better off really seeing for yourself.  and it sounds more like your everyday, ordinary, cheesy romantic comedy roughly, but it's not. I mean it's more specifically a comedy drama film. and even then, it's actually a really good film. the characters were original, the story was more interesting as you get more into the film, plus - and what I'm going to say is quite frankly mostly coming from a lot of what I learned in my Film Expression class that I finished a couple of weeks ago - there's a whole bunch of subtext and symbolism in this film. there's symbolism in the colors primarily ( I think) usually in what people are wearing and also in Summer's apartment. and i think my personal favorite symbolism was how whenever Tom was sad, his hair was styled to look like Dustin Hoffman's hairdo for The Graduate. And then when he gets all happy the day after he sleeps with Summer, he styles his hair in the reflection of a glass window  of a shop and the reflection turns out to be Han Solo. That was just interesting in terms of symbolism but really funny when it got to the Han Solo thing. And for all I know, there's plenty more that I missed which is where I want to find the time to borrow the movie and watch it again, but just what I noticed from the first time with there actually being any symbolism at all just shows how this movie was more put together in closed form then what I was expecting.

Actors/Characters:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt/Tom Hansen: I liked his character. I would say he put it off really well. My favorite scene would definitely have to be the day after Summer spends the night with him and how he's being so happy that he's dancing with a bunch of civilians joining him and of coarse the Han Solo thing. He was just fun.
Zooey Deschanel/Summer Finn: I liked how she was so keen on her beliefs that there's no such thing as love and all that even though she was doing plenty of dating-like things with Tom. That did help in terms of really showing this character who she is even though she's going to a museum or the movies or watching porn or whatnot with this one guy.
Chloë Moretz/Rachel Hansen: Ah good ol' Hit-Girl. always nice to see her in something outside of being an 11-year-old killing bad-a. Granted she was only in a few scenes, but she still was being the really strong spirited preteen/young teenager we know her to perform as.

Music: The music was pretty nice.


Editing: I did really like the editing. I think for the most part, it worked to mix up which events to show from their whole time together. And I really liked how in the beginning, the narrator was talking about how Tom as a kid viewed The Graduate as a movie that shows what true love is. Then ben in the movie shouts "Elaine!" so that we know that Tom as a kid is watching the movie right now in that shot, and then it cuts to him as an adult in the middle of a meeting at work where you see he had the same hairdo as Ben which started off the symbolism in that. I really enjoyed that.


And that's my review for 500 days of Summer. It's actually a very well put together film that's hardly the usual romantic movie and it's more interesting in terms of it's use of symbolism and subtext than I thought there was going to be which made it much more interesting.

My Top 10 enduring battles (or basic fights were the good guys are outnumbered)

recently, one of my favorite words has come to be endure. because that the basic word to about just going through the fire and the flames of whatever goes through life for better or worse. in a way i think that's part of how you try live in this life. and with that, i've personally enjoyed many battles from either movies, video games or more often, comics where you are pretty much fighting to the last man or when it one or little more people against seemingly countless. So i'm pretty much stating my top enduring battles (or basic fights where the good guy(s) are outnumbered)










#10 300

well sure, this was not a great movie. but the idea of the battle is enjoyable. they knew they were going to die and they were more than willing to take as many as possible with them. And it seemed like for the most part they did fine. I mean at least with the beginning, they had a good defense and stood their ground taking so many people and rarely losing men at some point until the end. But my main problem was the battles against the Immortals. My brother who had just saw the movie at the time, through that particular battle started was stupid. basically, it started out with the Spartans making a barrack made out of their dead enemies from before. Then they attack by pushing the top of the barrack which fell on just one of those Immortalsm, killing him, and from there they attack to kill more. firstly, they did all that just to kill one guy, secondly, they should've kept their barrack as it was. they'd defend better and the Immortals are more vulnerable that way. And I checked to see that my brother was right. Plus when Daniel Wenham knocked off the mask of one of the Immortals, the Immortal turned out to look just like an orc from The Lord of the Rings. and not to long after that, he and the king were fighting a guy that one could consider to be something of a troll or something like Lurtz from the end of the Fellowship of the Ring. In other words, the One Ring has been destroyed for four years and poor Farimir still has to fight orcs and trolls. But other than that, I still enjoy it in terms of it having the concept of what this list is about, but there's enough about it that makes it really low on the list.








#9 the battle against the Hammer-drones in Iron man 2.

After  War-Machine's suit is no longer hacked to attack Iron-Man, they begin to settle the score once and for all against the Hammer drones.  This one is more just plain old b.a. I mean it's Iron Man and his friend in a updated version of one if his suits fighting a bunch of robots that are trying to impersonate them. and to be a little fair, this is automatically one of the more just battles where the good guys are highly outnumbered than an enduring battle. I mean they didn't really do anything to show that the drones were the least bit of a challenge. I mean I didn't see the point when Iron Man fired two or three tank missles each on three of those drones at one point. one should be enough. or better just just hit them with his repulsor rays. The other problem with this battle is that it's short...at least it's shorter than the final boss on the bright side so we know that that wasn't too inceadibly shot while it still was really fricking short. But it's still a cool battle with our old buddies, Iron Man and War Machine 







#8 The battle of the Frost-Giants in Thor

In this one, Thor, Loki and their friends went out to fight the Frost-Giants as Thor's stubborn response to a couple of giants secretly entering Asgard. What makes this a fun battle is because it's a battle against just about an entire world of enemies. The only problem about it is that it makes it more of a cool battle just for Thor. Which is  a good thing on one hand. I mean Thor is awesome and the movie made that perfectly clear through and through, but I would've liked to have seen a little bit more from his friends before one of them got injured. But that doesn't stop this scene from being fun with Thor fighting an entire world of enemies.





#7 Almost anything with Optimus Prime

As far as a character goes that really wants to go through the fire and the flames to save all that is good, there's not a lot of heroes that are as completely willing as Optimus Prime. I mean he is a cheesy character when it comes to fighting for what is right and all that, but when it comes to the actual fighting and making the hard choices, Optimus truly knows how to willingly accept what is front of him and faces the consequences for the sake of Autobot and Human lives/Earth/ the entire universe  no matter the cost. And that makes him an ultimate b.a. because of that, especially in the sequals when he single handedly took on Megatron, Starscream and Grindor in the second one and did that whole mile long Decepticon slaughter before with killing Shockwave.

But there's a reason why I say almost. There are times when Optimus gets carried away with enduring the dangers all by himself. Sometimes he dies as a result or gets really close to dying. and it's a matter that has been gravely overused. I mean it was heartbreaking when he first dies in the animated movie.

I mean like I said in my review for that film: despite some Autobot characters were already getting killed, it was Optimus' death that got people to leave the theater and for the creators to get angry mail from parents whose kids have been locked in their rooms crying their eyes out over his death.

But then it started to happen so often that you may as well expect it to happen every 30 issues after he's ressurected in the comics.

At that point, he's so good at dying, that it was because he was killed when he was Orion Pax millions of years ago that there was ever an Optimus Prime.

But the worse death was the video game kill. some guy made a video game where he put Optimus and Megatron inside the game where they have to fight and the loser gets their bodies in the real world blown up by a bomb the kid planted inside them.

Optimus won the battle but he killed a few video game characters in the process. feeling ashamed that he killed life (even though those things have to life or characteristics or anything) he claims that he lost the battle so the kid blows up Optimus' body.

But here's the kicker. before the body was destroyed, the kid putted all of Optimus, his whole set of memories adc characteris, his whole life inside a one gig floppy disc. I'm really not kidding. a one gig floppy disc put the list of a highly advanced mechanical organism where they used it to ressurect Optimus with a new and much more cool looking body.

So Optimus does really get carried away at fighting for the greater good, but when he does regaurdless is enough for me to enjoy how he'll endure anything to stop the Decepticons.








#6 The Battle of Pelennor Fields

This is the second to last final battle in The Lord of the RIngs where 200,000 orcs attack the city of Minas Tirith which involves Rohan eventually taking part until they end up fighting the Harradrium and their Mumukil. Now I know you guys are wondering why the heck this battle is not so high on the list. The reason is because it's not really edurance through and through. I mean don't get me wrong,  90% of this battle does contain the good guys getting their butts handed to them. But there's still the 10% where the good guys did put up a good fight, twice. I mean in the beginning, the seige towers aside, the Gondorians were doing really well with defending the city with their trebuches, strong gate and archers that mowed down hundreds of orcs. And later, the 6,000 Rohirrim did make that big charge where they may've won the battle if it wasn't for the Harradrium. Regaurdless, this battle was big and dark enough to go fairly high on this list




#5 The Wild Bunch (Last Stand)

I have a confession: I actually have not seen this movie yet. I only know about this scene because I watched it when my brother and I looked at the rotten tomatoes list for best gun fights. But it's still awesome. The wild bunch did a very exciting job at fighting to the last man. Especially with the gatling gun. I enjoyed every minute of one of the characters mowing down a whole bunch of enemies until they were shot. This is all I really have to say about thsi fight other than admitting that I really hope to see the movie soon. 




#4 Omaha Beach (saving private ryan)

In a way, the idea of enduring worked on both sides. the German only had a few guys and the Americans knew a lot of them were going to die...thus the river of blood.  but  truly gets you. like how powerful it is along with the rest of the movie, you still have to like the idea of how they were willing to endure through the line of fire throughout the scene. It is a very brutal battle.





#3 The Bride vs. the Crazy 88 (kill Bill Vol.1)

of all the movies, to my knowledge that contains a scenes where it's one person against seemingly countless. the bride aginst the crazy 88 is one of the best examples there are. they just keep on coming and she just man-handles them to the point were the whole place is just red with blood. it's just so cool. and it's pretty much the one thing you can see similar to a lot of video games (I mean in some video games, you can do just as much killing like in Assassins Creed where if given the chance, you can kill a couple dozen enemies in one spot. I've done one fight where i killed 30 guards over saving a civilian...it was awesome.) but you are showing it in film with this fight. You just have to love it




#2 Kick-Ass vs. the thugs (Kick-Ass)

in a way frankly, this falls in line more to the graphic novel than the movie, but this still represents how Kick-Ass as a major attitude to endure troubles. cause with his messed up nerve endings and metel plates, sure he can take whatever he likes easily. but still, if you read the book, you'll find times were not even all that will save him from a lot of pain, he'll make some mafia guys keep on hitting him until the chair he's tied to breaks, where from there, he'll grab some broken legs from the chair and face the mafia guys going "alright, how's first?" ignoring their laughter. and even while there isn't too much like that in the movie, they show enough on how he endures in exploring the idea of actually becoming a super hero with saving a guy from a group of thugs and when one of the thugs asked if Kick-Ass was really going to fight for somone that he didn't even know, Kick-Ass reminds him that there are witnesses watching the fight and then shouts "yeah, i'd rather die. so BRING IT ON!!!" so really that falls in line for Kick-Ass as one of my favorite super-heroes and makes this fight #2 on this list.




#1 Battle of Helm's Depp (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers)

if anything truly lead me and my brothers to love The Lord of the Rings, it was everything in The Two Towers and the best part of it all, The Battle of Helm's Deep. with only a few hundred to hold the defenses, you watch as Aaragorn, Legolas, and Gimbli, generally face Uruk-kai of all different sizes, strengths and military kinds, witness almost all of soldiers die one by one, and have hope diminish step by step from the Uruk-kai going up the wall via ladders,  to the destruction of the wall, all the elven allies die including Haldir, and ultimately all but the great hall is captured. then at the end with the sun rising they decide to ride out and meet then with Theoden as their last stand before Gandalf, the Rohirrim and the trees of Fangorn to destroy the rest of the Uruks. Now again, some think Pelennor Fields is a more enduring battle. But think about it: like I said before, Gondorians at Minas Titirh at least had trebuches, a strong gate, the Rohirrim charge, and archers that made large piles of orcs corpses. Altogether, they had more of a fighting chance. But in the Battle of Helms Depp, they hardly had anything worth calling a defense because  1)their wall was nothing two bombs and one lone Berzerker that doesn't die easily couldn't handle, 2) The Elves were alright in terms of Archery, but as soon as the actual sword fighting started, they were getting slaughtered.

I mean Haldir was probably the only Lothlorien elf to actually kill an Uruk-kai on screen through sword fighting, but he ultimatey died too 3) their gate was broken in three to four hits, 4) In a way, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimbli were there kinda there just to make sure any Uruk-kai were being killed at all, and 5) quite a few of the soldiers were actually old men and kids. KIDS!!!! And the most they generally did was throw rocks at the Uurk-kai that were at the gate...I mean they killed a few then but STILL!!! I mean my brothers and I weren't too thrilled about Lord of the Rings right away after seeing Fellowship of the Ring, But when this movie came out, our parents saw it first to check and were a little concerned with this battle because it was so dark and suspenful that they used kids as soldiers. one of my bothers and I decided to see it anyway just to try, but my youngest brother went "nope" and hung out at a friend's house when we went to see it. I mean sure, we were kids ourselves back then. I mean I'm the oldest and I was only 12 at that time. but still, even if you don't think of it from that point of view, you have to agree that you are practically facing hell itself if you're going so far as using kids for soldiers.

I mean even the battle when you're palying a Lord of the Rings video game is usually hard. I mean I remember only too well how with the deeping wall level especially was an arch-nemesis for me and my brothers in the video game to the actual film. and I have plenty of friends and aquintances who will tell you the same thing.

It was a bit hard in LOTR: Third Age as well,

but thankfully, it eventually was too easy when it comes to Battle of Middle-Earth... after everyone died the first one or two times.

and sure the level in LOTR: Conquest was easy but that's just because it was level one. 

And while we're only beginning to get into the Two Towers story with Rise of Isengard, only heaven knows what terrors await for online gamers out there once they get to the extended pack for Lord of the Rings Online that eventually contains the fighting against Isengard's fricking forces in Helm's Deep. I mean say what you will about it, but i say it's one of the best battles i've seen and it is more than enough to be the biggest enduring battle i've ever seen.








and that's my list for the top 5 enduring battles. tell me what you think.

Spider-man 3 (2007)

My Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 20%

for me, spider-man 3 was the most disappointing thing for me since Aaron Carter when it came to him becoming a true celebrity. it's only better than Batman forever because not every thing was JUST laid out or out adding WAY too many things to the character that were not even what the characters truly are in the comics. or decided to do some random theme.

the acting sucked. some of the emotions were totally unnecessary such as Maguire crying like he's in kindergarten.

now they made peter parker a complete idiotic crybaby. he's not caring for his girl almost at all, he randomly starts getting ticked off at people, and think he's all that ALL even BEFORE the venom costume. and having the venom costume didn't help obviously i mean the whole saturday night fever thingy and trying to win MJ by trying to go out with GWEN!?!?! in mean the dance scene... the fricking dance scene... THE FRICKING SCENE!!! THOSE PEOPLE HAD THE BALLS TO RAPE MY SUPER HERO WITH A FRICKING DANCE SCENE!!!! I'LL KILL THEM!!!!! I'LL KILL ALL OF THEM!!!! I'LL TAKE TAKE THEIR HEADS OUT OF THEIR BODIES AND BREAK THEM IN HALF WITH MY BARE HANDS!!! MY BARE HANDS FRICK IT!!!!  AND THEN I'LL THRUST THEIR BODIES ON SPIKES FOR EVERYONE TO SEE!!!! THEY MUST PAY FOR THEIR CRIMES AGAINST SPIDER-MAN AND AGAINST HUMANITY!!!!!!

 * 4 months later* I apologize for that outburst. It's just that even now, it gets me with the horror within that is that particular scene. 

The other thing is, what the frick is with gwen getting in the picture? Stan Lee should've had that disapproved that gwen was going be that nuisance that she was in peter and mj's relationship as WELL AS... *takes a deep breath* you-know-what-scene. i mean spider-man LET gwen kiss him even though he has girlfriend he as already planned to propose too. i mean that may make sense to some readers to the spider-man comics in some idiotic way, but with how they played this franchise out that MJ is always clearly the one shows that gwen should not have been in the movie at all if she was going to be in it just for that frick.

now the villains: some of the effects for sandman i thought were kind of cool when it came to his sand form and stuff even though it was kinda freaky with spider-man ramming his head into a train. but HOW he became sandman was stupid. you'd think they'd check to see if it was a bird right? but the biggest disappointment villain wise was Venom. the action was fine with Venom. heck the action in the movie was not too bad to begin with. but what about Venom himself? they have eddie take off his venom face for the dialouge. FRICK EDDIE!!! some of us fans have been dying for over a year to see Venom in a spider-man movie. and they barley show his face or himself to begin with at all. we have seen ENOUGH of eddie we want Venom. i mean i had to use the snipping tool on the family computer so that i would have actually clear pictures of Venom in the movie (if you guys want to see them please don't hesitate to ask me.) 

plus he hardly looked anything like venom from the comics. i mean here's Venom in the comics

and here's he is in the right side of an awesome picture of what people hoped we would look like for this movie

 and this is what we got instead

I mean it sort of looks like him but based on how so many of us are familiar with venom, he could've been so much more.

altogether, it was good just for the action and for what little there was for Venom. and may the Lord have mercy for everyone who is working on this fricking spider-man reboot.because you know it's bad when we, the fans have come up with very simple opinions like this:

 and the best point in my opinion:

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)

My Rating: 70%

Man...10 months I worked by way researching about Transformers outside of Bay's movies, hoping to find something bigger than Revenge of the Fallen...

let's review on that, last year, I started reading the comics, and from there became interested to know what Transformers is outside of the movies. what is a waste of time...probably, but it made things better in terms of understanding that franchise. I did the following things:

Tv Series
All of the original series,
all of Transformers:Energon,
a few episodes of Transformers:Armada
All of Transformers: Beast Machines
All of Transformers: Animated

Movie:
saw the animated film.

and several comics.

Just today, I finally saw the third film...it was satisfying all around, but good golly did they have ways to make it just about twice as bad as it was good.

Plot: it's been a few more years or so since the death of The Fallen and the destruction of the harvester. Sam has graduated from college and Mikaela has broken up with him. But he is currently Living with his new girlfriend Carley and is looking for a job. Meanwhile, after encountering the Decepticon Shockwave and his pet Driller, the Autobots find out that an autobot ship which was lost for ages is on the moon with their old commander, Sentinel Prime. They find Sentinel and resurrect him and he tells them that he has the key to save Cybertron. Sam finds out that bringing Sentinel is a trap and tries to warn the Autobots. But before long, Sentinel kills Ironhide and reveals that he is a Decepticon and he plans to make a space bridge on earth to bring Cybertron into Earth atmosphere in order to try to save it and the Transformers race.

What truly kills this film is the first...hour or so of the film. because there you're throwing in Ken Jeong, and John Malkovich. that was painful...slightly funny...but painful. The only things i particularly liked about the beginning was how the Decepticons started out...especially with Laserbeak and Soundwave. Actually all around, there were a lot of things that were like a normal transformers episode from the original series when it came to most of the scene in the beginning where there were Transformers. The film got a little better once the action started but it still took a while before it was really worth it. I loved the ending I really hope there's no movie after this one because if not, than I'll will be all the more content with that kind of ending.

Acting/Characters:

Humans
Shia LeBeouf/Sam Witwicky: I really did not care for how he was in the beginning. he was having this temper and making a big deal about his girlfriend and her boss...it was just painful. But lucky he got better by being back to his normal self concerning his part in helping the fight against the Decepticons. Which isn't awesome but it's better than he was at the beginning. All around, LeBaouf, I like you, i've enjoyed seeing you since Holes...but i really hope things change for the better for you with your Transformer days finally over for you.
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley/Carley Spencer: I actually liked her. I thought she was better than Mikaela. Most of what I liked about her aside from things like not letting Wheelie hump her leg, was that she wasn't that much of a sex symbol. I mean she was a little bit in the beginning, but generally, you hardly saw a cleft around her chest area at all. it was all face to me. And I liked what she did in the ending. It showed that she wasn't just standing there being the hotty of the battle field.
Patrick Dempsey/Dylan Gould: I really did not like his character. I mean I liked how he started in the beginning when he showed his true colors with Laserbeak and Soundwave, but that was it.
Jen Keong and John Malkovich/Jerry Wang and Bruce: they may have given us a few laughs, but there are scars...for also bringing us painful things to watch.
John Turturro/Simmons: well...he wasn't good, but he wasn't being as weird as he was in the first two.
Kevin Dunn and Julie White/Ron and Judy Witwicky: the best thing about them is that they're there for three scenes and that's it. It would've been better if they weren't there at all but for what we have, this is good.

Autobots:
Ironhide: He was awesome to the end.
Wheelie and Brains: Just as painful except there was a better ending with them.
Q:Q was a waste and they should never have made him all Einstein-like and he wasn't even there for that long.
Bumblebee: I was okay with Bumblebee's part. It was good.
Optimus Prime: Action wise, I enjoyed Optimus. I especially liked how his carrier thing that he carries (I don't know what you call it.) had a purpose. Cause that thing almost never has a purpose when it comes to Optimus. The thing that really got me was the fact that he had the Matrix of Leadership...how did he get it? wasn't it destroyed when he destroyed the harvester? I mean I'm fine with it still existing and all that but still. that aside, all around I was alright with his part as staying a simple b-a.

and for honorable mentions, once again, there were characters like Rachet, Sideways and Mirage that were hardly there at all.

Decepticons
Laserbeak and Soundwave: To me, they were the highlight of the beginning of the film. I mean Soundwave is my favorite Decepticon and i loved how he was doing his normal role in the Decepticon army, especially with Laserbeak by his side. Laserbeak may have been a little silly with his flying inside that building but he still did good up to the very end.
Shockwave: How could they do that to Shockwave? He started out as a possible main villain and he really only said one line. "OPTIMUS!!!!" and he was only there for three scenes. Shockwave in my opinion is the most underused, excellent characters in the whole Transformer universe, and I thought for sure that there would be so much of him in this film. and what happened? he's there for three scenes...THAT HOW MANY THE PARENTS WERE IN!!! from there is were I really say Frick you Bay.
Starscream and Megatron: they really ended up as just the background characters. I mean they kinda were in the second film but this made it worse. But there were some pretty good endings concerning both of them. But what was stupid with Starscream was all that spitting. what the heck.
Sentinel Prime: I was shocked when he betrayed the Autobots. I mean many people seemed to have saw it coming but since I have led to think like they do, I was shocked. I mean Sentinel being a bad guy was a bit of a punch in the face. Practically Mon Mothma joining the empire big. That made the film more interesting...but what gets be plot hole wise is the fact that when Optimus offered the Matrix to him, he gave it back...i mean maybe he's not too much of a Decepticon, but still, it would make more sense to take it.


Music: eh, not the best choice. I especially didn't care for the song they chose for when the Decepticons attacked Chicago.

Effects: much better.

Sound effects: well there's no mixing the original sound effects for Transformers actually transforming..right until the very end. so almost there on not doing that. and there was one sound effect that sounded like metal hitting metal when Sentinel's ship was hit by a cannon at one point when it was chased at the beginning. plus there's the part where the sound made it seem like Bubleebee was going to blow up Gould, but instead they used a machine gun which just trashed his place...really? all around it was good but those parts were just a total fail.

Action: like the film...eh. I wanted it to be much bigger. that when I saw the trailers, I was expecting Pelennor Fields with robots. And while the action was still good, I didn't get that big of a battle. so...eh.

Editing: Well what makes it really good is that you got to understand things better. better shots and less as quick. But i hated the middle. because then there's those sudden black-outs and instantly it's night time and Decepticon ships and raising hell against Chicago. that ruined that part for me.

Screenplay: well some the jokes were okay. I liked it when Epps said "how come the Decepticons always get the good stuff?" not only was that funny, it was a pretty good point. plus I really loved that Sam didn't tell Carly that he's follow her to the end of time. because after they had a fight, sam's parents told him were his dad said that in order to make up with his mom. I had a feeling that because of that, he would say the same thing as part of the happy ending for the couple. But it ended with them just saying that they love each other. I mean yes, he did at least say i'd find you anywhere, but at least it wasn't the whole 10 yards to what his dad said to his mom. I mean that's not the most romantic thing, but compared to what i thought was going to happen, I was pretty good with that. I thought it was stupid that Optimus' narrating in the beginning was saying almost the exact same thing he said in the first film.

Star Trek References: there was a whole bunch of them. I mean there was Nimoy being the voice of Sentinel. but the there was Brains and Wheelie was watching an episode of the original series. then Sentinel did say "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." then when Bumblebee said goodbye, he use part of it with another part of Star Trek when Spock said "I will always be your friend." And I don't think this is really a reference, but I for one argue that the whole separation between anything yellow or red things where Sam works could be a reference to the shirts in Star Trek. I mean they were being all patriotic in being in the Yellow level and made a thing over anything being RED.


Final verdict about The Transformers: Well seeing this film completes my research in terms of knowing about this franchise. And my verdict is that Transformers is a nice franchise with a very creative concept and some lovable characters. The main problem with it is that it can be so much more to me. I mean it seems like they're a little bit more with some of the things Bay made the Transformers to be with their life and culture and how they are with action or just with transforming. Plus they really need to use other really good characters that have been very underused throughout the series such as the original Soundwave from the original series and the original Shockwave from the original comics. as far as being entertained all around, it's best to stick to the video games and the comics. because with the games you have just action, and with the comics, you have action too as long as you use your imagination, but also, the comics, even the ones based on the movies, have the best plot and the most character development. as far as my part in Transformers, I'll continue to read those comics and play the games at least, I may see a series or two as far as the future series goes, and when it comes to the films, I'll see them around from time to time and i might make a big video review of all movies including the animated one. who knows? But for now, I'm just going to be content with most of the result of what came out of those 10 months, by watching this film.


And that is my review for Transformers:Dark of the Moon, it was not a good movie, but it was better than ROTF and all around decently satisfying.My personal favorite out of all the movies.

M (1931)

My Rating: 100%

This is another film that I finally saw at my Development of Film Expression class.

Plot: There is a mysterious child murderer in Berlin. A little girl named Elsie has been recently found to be the most recent victim when her mother realizes that she did not come home for dinner. This bring the attention to both the police and the criminals of the city to pursue the murderer. We mostly pay attention to the criminals because the whole matter with the murderer is affecting their business.

This is a kind of movie that i do want to see a number of times to make sure I get everything. But it's still and excellent film. Good cinematography, good lighting. and good film expression with using that song In the Hall of the Mountain King. and While the ending isn't what you'd want it to be, they do give you a very good message to follow.

Actors/Characters:
Peter Lorre/Hans Beckert: brilliant performance. In a way you may not really know what is really happening to him. on one note, you see him look himself in the mirror working on some facial expression to give you the idea that the character might be an actor, but on the other hand, you really can help but wonder if the really is as insane as he truly bring himself to be.
Gustaf Gründgens/Der Schränker: I kinda liked how they showed that he was in power with some of the cinematography and how he generally lead the underworld to go find the murderer.

Music: again, they were playing In the Hall of the Mountain King which helped us with knowing if the murderer is near and to bring a little suspense.

Editing: it was very well done. I think my favorite shot was how even Beckert's lawyer wasn't going to be much help with the separation using that wall and how while his lawyer was appearing taller, Beckert was on his knees worried for his life.

And that is my review for M. It's an excellent film with very good editing and cinematography with a very mysterious character.

Taxi Driver (1976)

My Rating: 90%

Well everyone, here's another timeless classic that I've finally seen.

Plot: Travis Bickle is a lonely depressed former Marine who just got a job as a night time taxi driver. He has trouble sleeping, he usually hangs out at some porno theaters, and he is possibly a Vietnam veteran. He become romantically involved with a woman who is a campaign volunteer but fails to get to her, and he also tries to help a 12-year old prostitute to go back to her parents.

This was a well made film. the thing about it is that for me, I wasn't totally sure about how to take it right away. particularly with the actually character Travis. In a way he was a lot like how Betsy interpreted him earlier in the film with being "a walking contradiction." But personally, I feel a bit more like he's just...confused and misunderstood which is what altogether leads to his actions. I mean he did some villainous things, but to me he's more of an anti-hero than anything else. which is where I really liked the ending.

Acting/Characters:
Robert De Niro/Travis Bickle: Like I said, to me he was more of an anti-hero. but either way we can all agree that he's a very good character and De Niro did an excellent job with his performance.
Peter Boyle/Wizard: So this is a little bit of the less comedic stuff old Boyle did before his lovable moments in While You Were Sleeping and Everybody Loves Raymond. (may the lord rest his soul) Well that's interesting. and a very good performance.
Jodie Foster/Iris: So that was Forster. Well done obviously and it sort of wants me to know a little more about her work as an actress considering that I technically was just introduced to her after finally seeing Silence of the Lambs.

Music: eh, wasn't a lot of music to there's not a lot to comment on.

Editing: very well done. I did like how they introduced him have that Mohawk because that left me off guard that they were going to introduce that. And I do wonder if there's suppose to be some sort of film expression concerning that statue shown in that long shot during the political rally. and if so, what.


So that's my review for Taxi Driver. It's a very good film with an interesting character and my heaven help us if they do actually make a sequel or remake of the film.