Terminator 2: Judgement Day

Rating: 100%
Now this was probably the first movie that my family got on DVD when DVD was new to the world. So whatever bit of the movie I saw whenever my parents were watching it, I thought was awesome and wanted to know what happened next. For probably around 7 years (maybe less) I waited for the day to fully see this movie once and for all. Finally after all that waiting, I saw it around the end of 2004 I fully saw it...AND I FREAKING LOVE IT!!!!!

Plot: In the last movie, Skynet sent a Terminator to kill Sarah Conner to prevent John Conner from existing. But it failed, so as a backup, Skynet sent another, this time to kill John in the year 1995 when he was only ten. So John in the future sends a reprogrammed Terminator to protect his ten-year old self and his mother Sarah.

This is one of the best movies there is. I mean the T-1000 is super creative, the plot is amazing, the characters are really lovable, the action is superb the canal chase scene has to be one of the best chase scenes there is known to man, the special effects is awesome, the things to just love about this film just never stops.

Acting/Characters:
Arnold Schwarzenegger/T-800: Arnold was awesome. He was funny, he was bad-a, he was just plain awesome!
Linda Hamilton/Sarah Connor: Sarah was just awesome. She was just as waitress and now she's just a military bad-a. Hamilton did an excellent job in showing us how much Sarah has changed since the event of the last movie.
Robert Patrick/T-1000: The T-1000 is epic. Before I fully saw this movie, I always wanted to know if there was ever a way to defeat it. The T-1000 was just suspenseful all the way and it's just one of the most creative villains there is.  
Edward Furlong/John Conner: Now some people apparently didn't completely like John because oh how he's a dick at that age. And I can understand that, but I like him anyway. He was a fun character and I liked how he interacted with the T-800. \


Music: Music Is awesome! I mean I enjoy the theme as usual. And the rest of the score for this movie is awesome...I mean it helps that it's not 80's music unlike the first film, but it's still very well done.

Editing: The editing was very well done. I mean it also was nominated for best editing that year so...what more do I need to say?

And that's my review for Terminator 2: Judgement Day. This is one of the best movies there is and one of my favorites. It's creative, it's clever, the effects and acting are awesome, it's just brilliantly done!

The Terminator (1984)

Rating: 95%
Now reviewing this movie has been LONG overdue. So without further ado, here's my review of The Terminator.

Plot: In 2029, machines come to exterminate what is left of the human race after they bombed them in August 29th 1997. The human have a leader named John Conner who lead the humans close to victory. But while they were defeating the machines, the machines' intelligent network, Skynet sent a specific machine called a Terminator back to the time 1984 to kill Conner's mother, Sarah Conner. So John sends one of his solders, Kyle Reese to 1984 in order to protect his mother from The Terminator.

Now I became aware of the franchise itself by sometimes watching scenes from the second movie whenever my dad was using it to test out our brand new (at the time) DVD. But it wasn't until about late 2004 that my parents finally allowed us to watch the series starting with this movie. And it goes without saying that it's a darn good movie. The plot is creative, the effects are very well done considering that time, and the acting was good. Is it a match for the second movie? Not even close. But that doesn't change the fact that it's an awesome movie.

Acting/Characters:
Arnold Schwarzenegger/The Terminator: Arnold did an excellent job being the Terminator. His facial expression (with there generally being none), his movement, his voice, it worked very well in terms of giving us an idea that this is a menacing machine that looks like a human.
Linda Hamilton/Sarah Conner: She did will in displaying what Sarah Conner was before T2. With displaying this person that's given this mission even though she has no idea what to do but in the end she's pulls through.
Michael Biehn/Kyle Reese: He did a very good job with his role. Showing how much he tries to stay alive and keep Sarah safe despite the fact that he was human while Arnold...well...isn't.

Music: I love the Terminator theme. But my one issue is that some of the music was more 80's which I don't think really works. I mean I know this was in the 80's. But...yeah...but then again that's just me.

Editing: I liked the editing. There wasn't anything I found wrong with it so yeah.

And that's my review for The Terminator. It may not be the second movie, but it's still a very enjoyable film.

Green Lantern (2011)

Rating: 15%
Now for a while I've heard a lot of things about this movie such as it being "just okay" at best and "Oh my gosh it's as bad as Batman and Robin" at worst. Personally, I didn't completely care because altogether, I wanted this to be bad since my loyalty in the comic world lies more on Marvel than DC. But that didn't stop me from wanting to eventually find out what is it about this film that's good or bad. So let's take a look at what I found.

Plot: millions of years ago, there was these beings called the Guardians who created the Green Lantern Corps which is basically as space police force to protect the galaxy using the green power of will. The main enemy against them was the yellow power of fear. The primary villain of fear was Parallax who was imprisoned by one of the Green Lanterns Abin Sur. But Parallax returned and attacked Abin Sur who escaped and crash-landed on Earth. During his last dying breath, he uses his Green lantern ring to summon someone on earth to take his place before he dies. So the ring summons a test pilot named Hal Jordan making him the new Green Lantern. So he eventually comes to the Green Lantern Corps homeworld of Oa to be trained.

Okay now that we have the plot out of the way, let's get the many plot holes and chessy lines and stuff I want to point out, out of the way. so *WARNING SPOILER* Okay let's start with plot holes: 1)why did Abin Sur make a prison against Parallax where we was capable of escaping if a couple of alien ever found him? I mean if that's the best he can do, he should've hidden him better. Maybe bury him deeper inside the planet or something like that. 2) why doesn't the Guardians tell Sinestro about Parallax right away? They just acted like everything is under control or something like that when things are totally not. 3) Hal discovers his power by using it to punch three guys when in fact we was intending to throw...some sort of garbage or something at them. So how did he use his power if he wasn't even aware of it. and the way he was trying to throw...whatever that was at them, it didn't look like it would help at all byt he way he was throwing it. 4) If the ring had this process where he can instantly learn about stuff like which sector Tomar-Re is guarding, why doesn't the ring to that so that somehow Hal automatically knows how to be just as good of a lantern as all the other Green Lanterns? or at least give him a quick idea at it kinda like Neo learning combat and stuff rather then just training him. Sinestro may still kick his rear, but I would think - based on how I understand the power of these rings according to this movie -  that doing something around that would save time and be a little more helpful for new Green Lanterns. 5) When Hal trapped Parallax with the sun, he used his power to create two planes to pull him away. Now I know that worked, but don't you think coming up with two space ships or something a little more powerful and faster than planes to make sure he's getting out of there alive? 6) What randomly inspired Sinestro to put on the yellow ring? He was all good with Parallax defeated and all that so why did he do it anyway? Now let's move to what's REALLY cheesy about this movie. 1) Kilowag going so far as drill sergeant as saying something even remotely like "This will be the most miserable day of your miserable life" (that's probably not what he said word for word but you get the idea) 2) the hero denies the responsibility at first...like Sam Witwicky, Timmy from Secret of NIHM 2, Moses, really there's a lot of them but let's not get intro too much detail. 3) Now here's the one that was the absolute worst in the movie. Hal refuses to fight Parallax because he's afraid. Now Carol asks him if he's father was ever afraid and he responded by saying that he would fight it if he would, which Carol responds to that by saying "There's a word for that: courage"...do I need to say more? Hal decides to be a hero pretty much by discovering (or may as well have discovered) courage...that's the stupidest thing they could've put in there in order to inspire a hero in a modern movie that's not for FREAKING THREE YEAR OLDS!!!! I mean this is Green Lantern not the Cowardly Lion!!!! In our modern age, whenever there are main villains that have to do with fear (ex: Dementors in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Bats in Batman Begins) they don't talk about fighting fear by being just courageous, they talk about using a power to defeat fear (Expecto Patronum) or become a sort of fear for your enemies (being Batman/creating an antidote to Scarecrow's fear gas) or whatever. So it really is pathetic that they use a line like that as part of introducing this superhero in a live-action film. In fact, wasn't there already a quote for the whole deal about being afraid? That his father always said "It's my job not to be" and that he picked that line up to tell his nephew later on? what was wrong with bringing that part about his dad up to inspire him to go fight? I mean it's not original, but the quote that they went with, makes Optimus Prime saying "from here the fight will be on your own" in Dark of the Moon have more dignity... AND HE'S BASICALLY SAYING THAT THEY'RE ON THEIR OWN AGAINST THE DECEPTICONS WITH THAT!!!!! So really they should've stuck with his dad's quote all the way. 4) Just how Hal mentioned that the ring saw something he didn't see yet which Carol in a very chessy way says that she see it and she always did. 5) simply that Hal managed to draw back Parallax just by saying the oath. Now for what really stupid. 1) In order to even know what the oath was, Hal had to touch the lantern where he seemed to have gotten hypnotized by it where that way he learned the oath and said it. Now it probably wasn't hypnosis, but they way they laid it out, the lantern actually did that in order to tell him what the oath is and even use it to make him say it. And even then, there's the fact that nothing happens after that. They just leave it be until Hal got attacked. 2) Hector looked WAY to much like a Klingon. And I know for a fact that, that is only in the movie.

I mean here on the left is Hector in the comics. and on the right is Hector in the movie...now I may be pretty new to Star Trek in general, but based on how they enlarged his head and even showed his veins on the head, he may not have dark skin, but he looks just a Klingon as Christopher Lloyd was in Search for Spock for all I can tell. 6) Hal having a flashback about his father was really random. *END OF SPOILER* So as far as everything else, the idea is nice. I mean the power to create stuff through will and things like that does sound interesting. But maybe they should've had more on the stuff of Hal in Oa then anything else so that we get a little more into it. So if I want to understand more, then I guess I'll have to check out some of the comics sometime. But based on what little I know already outside of the movie, this is not exactly what some fan were probably expecting.

Acting/Characters:

Ryan Reynolds/Hal Jordan a.k.a. Green Lantern: Now again, how I thought of him as a superhero doesn't look good after the whole fear thing. But that aside...he was nice. I mean we have Hal Jordan introduced as this screw-up and pretty much a jerk and stuff, and yet still having his nice side. Actually, they don't really get into the screw-up part per say. I mean he did screw-up earlier which did have to do with him being a jerk, but how he has that rep outside of what happened in that earlier scene we never really have explained. They kind of just say it.  

Blake Lively/Carol Ferris: She was okay, but the only issue about her character is that they really didn't go far in explaining her relationship with Hal. In fact, now that I think about it, a lot of relationships such as hector and is father or Hal with both the senator and Carol's father. I mean they do give you an idea, but I feel like they should've gotten more into it. It's the same with Carol and Hal because you know they have a past, but from the way it's displayed, you want to know more about what is that past? I mean they made it brief enough that I want to know more about them then just that they grew up together and that they had a fling or something.

Music: The music was nice. I personally liked the music for when Hal was flying with Tomar-Re were flying around Oa. It sounded really nice with the electric guitar.

Editing: Editing was mostly okay, but my main issue was the scene where Hal discovered his power. Because when he was fighting those guys he originally planned to take something and throw it at them or something. and we really don't know what it is. Hal already grabbed it before we would even notice. So I'd like to know what it was and if they even had footage to show what it was before Hal snatched it.

And that's my review for Green Lantern. The idea is nice and there were a couple of things that were different in a decent way as far as character development on the hero himself, but there's a whole bunch of plot holes, and stupid stuff and especially things that are just plain cheesy. This movie may be about fighting the yellow enemy of fear, but it still has the yellow enemy of being cheesy. So in the end, the movie is - in one way - about trading one yellow enemy for another.

The Hunger Games (and what I thought about Titanic in 3D) (2012)

Rating: 65%
Well rejoice if you'd like my small amount of loyal readers. I finally saw this freaking movie. It took longer than a lot of us, but I saw it. So let's take a look.

Plot: So after a big war against these rich people who live in a place called the Capital, every year, one boy and one girl between ages 12 to 18 in each of these twelve poor districts have to be selected in an annual lottery (apparently known as the "Reaping") where all 24 participants are suppose to play these Hunger Games where only one of them is suppose to come out of there alive in order to win. Katniss Everdeen's sister in district 12 is selected to be the girl this year for the games, but she volunteers to take her place. So she ends up in the hunger games along with the boy who is also representing her district named Peeta.

My honest opinion is that I hope I see more in the sequels when I read them, then I did with this movie and I possibly will when i read the book. I mean don't get me wrong, the idea is creative. But I feel that they could've shown me more than what they already show in the trailer. They did a little bit, when they actually got to the hunger games, but I feel like they could've done more. Although, in all honesty, I do feel this way because the way some people explained about the whole franchise, I thought part of the genre was fantasy in a way. Either that or that's a little bit what I probably would've done if I was told to write a story with the basic concept that I was given because of the trailer. I mean there's still a lot of creative things to enjoy, it's just that it wasn't as big as i thought it was going to be. As far as other issues, my brother warned me long before I saw the movie that there was apparently some seriously crappy camera work. Now I don't completely agree with him. I mean there was one fight scene were it was shaky enough that Michael Bay and a bunch of other action movie makers may have some competition. But the cameras after that didn't shake that much. I mean there's a lot of room for improvement in terms of lacking hand-held camera shots, but it's not that bad. Also *WARNING SPOILER* I have to admit that the whole relationship between Katniss and Peeta was a little sudden and it didn't really make a lot of sense. I mean what about that boyfriend she had earlier in the film?  I know she's going through a lot of crap with it being survival of the fittest and all, but after only a couple of days in the Hunger Games she's going to fall for the guy? Actually what's worse is kind how the falling in love started. I mean they eventually changed the rules so that two people can win if they're from the same district, so she starts finding him. Roughly as soon as the rule is changed is when she starts to really care about him. I mean they were kind just friends before, but then the rules change and then she's acting like she'd run a thousand miles to wrap her arms around him and never let him go. It really doesn't make sense to me. *END OF SPOILER*


Acting/Characters:
Jennifer Lawrence/Katniss Everdeen: She did a very good job with her acting. I think she did a decent job at her more dramatic scenes.
Josh Hutcherson/Peeta Mellark: I thought he did a nice job. But I do kinda of wonder if there's a little more to him in the book now that I think about it.

Music: I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the music. But it think it was good.

Editing: I thought the editing was good, but I thought the flashbacks where a little too quick and random. at least the first two. But it was still good.

And that's my review for The Hunger Games. It was only a nice film to me, but maybe I'll get a little more truly into it once I get into the books.

Okay so about less than two hours after I saw The Hunger Games, I went to see Titanic 3D with my sister. (Good grief it's messed up that it's April 10th 2012, which means it's already been 100 years since the Titanic departed from England) Now the 3D is just. completely. spectacular. They were really thorough with what they did. They made it look like you are really there by going 3D on every thing. I mean they even went really 3D on just the littlest of things from the rubble in the ruin of the Titanic to even the wrinkles on Older Rose. So really, if you want a really good idea on how far 3D has gone as of today, I'd recommend going to see Titanic 3D. Cause really the only down to it was that my sister had the nerve to text her boyfriend through...possibly close to the whole movie (I don't know if it's the whole movie. I wasn't paying complete attention...I mean why would I give that my undivided attention when I'm watching Titanic?...on the big screen like in 1997?...except it's in beautifully done 3D?...) If you want to know what I thought about the movie itself, here's the link to my review:  http://haksreviews.blogspot.com/2011/08/titanic-1997.html. And remember that very late Saturday night is when the terrible tragedy turns 100 years old. So if you want to do something about it that night, I say go for it. I myself already have my profile pic as a picture of Wallace Hartley in the movie on my Facebook profile, and I might see the movie again that night. So all around, I ask that you do what you feel you should do if anything at all on that night to respect the 1,514 people who lost their lives 100 years ago.

My Giant (1998)

Now during my little break from writing reviews because of school and a couple of other things, there was a bag full of VHS movies that the owner somehow lost somewhere at my church. We do not know how this became the case, but my mom (who is the receptionist for the church) suggested that maybe I would like to take a look at these movies since I am technically the current owner of our old family TV and VHS player. Now out of the 11 videos in this bag, the only one I've seen and reviewed is Princess Bride. So some of my next few reviews will be over all of the videos from that bag that's not Princess Bride.

Rating: 35%
Yeah after recently thinking about it, I think it's time that my ratings are changed a little so it's not just either 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 etc and make it so i could also rate the movies as 5, 15, 25, 35, 45, etc. Probably overdue but better late than never. But anyway, here's the first video from the bag which is this drama comedy that was co-written and starred by Billy Crystal: My Giant.


Plot: Sam is an agent who just got fired by his current client who is shooting a film in Romania. While leaving the set he crashed his car and is saved by a 8 foot tall Romanian man named Max. Sam gets the idea to make Max a star, so he convinces the director to cast Max as the villain in the movie. From there, Sam tries to get him more roles and along with it, help Max find his old paramour he had 20 years ago.

Now if  you are wondering if this movie is not very creative when it comes to the concept of the story. A) Don't finish reading this review yet if you don't want to know until you've seen it because B) I'm just going to say it for those who don't really care or have already seen this film: yes, it's not a creative concept. Quite honestly, I wasn't very amused very much with a lot of the first...15 minutes give a take of this film because if you've seen enough movies like this film, you know exactly what is going to happen. Also I have to say that it really isn't much of a comedy. Because I heard one or two things that were cute, but that was really it. It mostly stayed a drama. But...when you get to the last 40 ish minutes the drama is a little nice. I mean don't get me wrong, the whole story in general is just plain cheesy, but the drama is still a little...nice. I mean it's still dumb in terms of creativity, but you could be interested in the characters enough to enjoy it anyway.

Actors/Characters:
Billy Crystal/Sam: He was just okay. Like I said, they really do much with the comedy and that pretty much went the exact same way with Billy Crystal in this movie. But his part in the drama later on did make his character a little more interesting or at least more like someone we could care for than being the person he introduced to us in the beginning.
Muresan/Max: He was nice. His character wasn't original, but if you do like a story about a nice giant like Max, he did do well enough that I think you would easily enjoy him.

Music: I didn't really pay attention to the music much. I mean it's a drama/comedy with Billy Crystal, so there really isn't anything that stands out as a score either good or bad for that kind of movie.

Editing: The editing was okay. There were one or two cuts that I didn't really think were necessary, but for the general part, they did good.

And that's my review for My Giant. It's a very cheesy film that while they lack a lot of comedy, the drama in the film no matter how cheesy it is could make it nice enough that you could like anyway.

The 400 Blows (1959)

Rating 100%
Here's another movie that I saw in my Development of Film Expression film. It's this french film called The 400 Blows. Not much else to say about it as an intro so let's get on with it.

Plot: Antoine Doinel is a 12 year old boy who is growing up in Paris. He is misunderstood by his parents, is tormented by his insensitive teacher, and this eventually leads him to steal his father's  typewriter in order to sell it and run away. but he is captured and sent to prison.

I know it's not saying a whole lot, but it's basically a very well done film. The cinematography, the editing, the acting, it's all been very well done. One thing that I particularly enjoy about being introduced to this film through my class, *WARNING SPOILER* is how I was aware...or that is to say, more aware of movies whose purpose is to just show what life is like in that particular time or occupation or all around world the characters live in. Which is where it's nice to be aware of that when it came to films like Ides of March. *END OF SPOILER* 

Acting/Character:
Jean-Pierre Léaud/Antoine Doinel: He did an excellent job with his character. He did well in portraying this boy who has gone through all these particular things in life.

Music: I actually don't remember a whole lot of the music. But I'm pretty sure it worked really well with this film.

Editing: The editing was very well done.

And that's my review for The 400 Blows. I know I didn't say a whole lot other then the fact that it was well done and a couple of other things, but maybe it's for the best that you find out for yourself if you haven't seen it.

The Graduate (1967)

Rating: 90%
Hi everyone. Sorry it's been a long time since my last review. I've had work on school and a couple of other stuff going on. But the important thing is that I'm back and it's time I continued to make all these reviews starting with one I've been meaning to write for months. So here's a classic that I saw for the first time years ago when I was visiting a relative who lived near Chicago, and one that I saw again at my Film Expression class, The Graduate.

Plot: Benjamin Braddock is a shy almost 21 year old college graduate. At his graduation party, the wife of his father's law partner, Mrs. Robinson asks him to drive her home from the party which he reluctantly agrees to do. At her home, Mrs. Robinson attempts to seduce him, but he manages to avoid her thanks to her husband coming home. But a few days later he gives in and they begin having an affair. But Ben soon has troubles with the choices he's made when his parents set him up on a date with Mrs. Robinson's daughter Elaine.

Now I agree that this was a very well done movie. The subtext was very well done, the acting was excellent, the list goes on. But the story is still messed up. In fact, quite honestly I had originally planned to rate this a 100% as it rightfully deserves. But since I should be honest when it comes to how I all around like the movie, I had to give it a slightly lower rating. Why? Because, as I hope at least some of you are aware after my The Little Mermaid review, where I explained that basically because of that particular film, it kind of started this little habit of mine for when I want to avoid watching a film or tv show where the main character is getting into big trouble or doing something really stupid. And this film is not an exception in the slightest. I mean I shouldn't have to explain why what happens in this film that makes it messed up. I'm a little over it now that I've seen it at least once so I know what generally happens, but I should be honest since this is also about what I personally thought of the film. So let the record show that as a film, I fully agree that the rating is rightfully 100%, and that it's only because of my one silly issue that it's even half a percent lower than that.

Acting/Characters:
Dustin Hoffman/Benjamin Braddock: So this was Hoffman's second film and I believe his first big hit. Well I can clearly see why. I mean to put it simply, he really pulled through in giving us a shy and very confused young adult that's going through all this crap. Really it's not much of a surprise that he even got a best actor nomination for that year.
Anne Bancroft/Mrs.Robinson: She did a very good job with her character. Mrs. Robinson was a woman who you can kind of understand why she did what she did. But at the same time you do have to hate her for pretty much everything that she does. So yeah, Bancroft deserved a nomination at least just like Hoffman.
Katharine Ross/Elaine Robinson:Well what more is there to point out? She did a very good job portraying as this confused young adult just like Hoffman and she got a nomination as well.

Music: The music was very well done. Sounds of Silence worked very well to what was happening to Ben. And then there's Mrs. Robinson which was very good and they also did a very good job with using the music for when Ben's car was running out of gas.

Editing: The editing was very well done. The L cut and J cut from the scene where Ben hops into the pool after having sex for the first time with Mrs. Robinson was very well done. (apology to any particular film geeks or film makers who have anything against using the terms "L cut" or "J cut"- which seems to originate from anyone using Final Cut Pro - as the way to describe the specific editing that was done in that particular scene.)

And that's my review for The Graduate. I may have my little issue that keeps me from honestly giving it 100%, but in truth that's truly the rating as a film because it's just very well done.