CARAMBS

Photo from Yahoo Movies

This post contains spoilers.

I have been waiting for this movie for months.  The first time I saw the trailer, I told myself that this is one of my must-see movies – these are the movies that I should watch within the first week of showing.  It turns out that this isn’t really a must-watch movie at all.  It’s entertaining at times, but I wouldn’t lose sleep if I missed seeing it in the theater.

From the start, I felt that it was trying to be amusing.  For me, it didn’t come naturally.  Not like the Pixar movies where you really get lost in the world of the movie, feeling all the emotions felt by the characters, anticipating what’s going to happen next.  The funny scenes felt ‘planted’, especially during the first two-thirds of the movie.  There was really only one strong character, Gru.  I expected more from Agnes, she was just too cute in the promotional photos.  But she was no Boo (the little girl from Monsters Inc., even if they do look alike).  Even her doe-eyes scene didn’t work – Puss (in Shrek) was way cuter when he begged with his eyes.  Vector, did not factor into the movie at all, which is disappointing because he is supposed to be the villain.  Gru’s mom was even more entertaining.   The little yellow characters were hit-and-miss. It was obvious that they were there for the cute/funny factor.   Some of their scenes were cute, some forced, some funny, and some were just plain useless.

Gru and his little yellow minions (Photo from Yahoo Movies)

The movie improved greatly towards the end.  The emotions were stronger, the characters were more interesting, and the pace was faster.   It was also funnier.  At least I was a bit satisfied in the end.

With the latest non-Pixar animated movies (sans “How To Train Your Dragon“, which was Pixar-level in my opinion), I’ve learned that you really shouldn’t expect much story-telling.  The entertainment will come from some cutesy scenes, few and far-between laughs, some slapstick, and not much else.  Despicable Me is no different.

Here are some other links you can check out:

Despicable Me Official Website

Despicable Me on IMDB

Rottentomatoes: 79% (as of September 3, 2010)

Photo from Yahoo Movies

I was really excited to watch The Expendables, thinking that it was going to be very amusing and entertaining.  I was wrong.  It is the typical B-action movie – the only thing it can be proud of is that it stars big names.  It was entertaining enough – I mean it’s worth watching in the theater – but to enjoy it, you shouldn’t expect much of a story.

Sylvester Stallone has a long way to go in terms of directing.  There were a lot of effects especially at the start, but they felt forced.  Then all of a sudden, after these “cinematic shots”, it’s just one action scene after the next, with exaggerated violence which just makes you blurt out WTF!   The story was weak, and very predictable.  Basically, the movie is pure testosterone.  On steroids.  If that’s even possible.

There is something good about the movie though.  I thought Mickey Rourke was brilliant.  His heartbreaking scene was, for me, the only high point of the movie.

Other links:

The Expendables Official Site

The Expendables on IMDB

Rottentomatoes: 43%

(With spoilers…)I haven’t watched a movie in months so I went to ClicktheCity to check out the current movies. I chose Enchanted because of the very interesting premise of a straight-out-of-a-fairytale-book story that ends up in modern New York.

The beginning brings back childhood memories, as the story combines elements of Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella. Giselle, the story’s lead character, has many animal friends, who sing and dance with her as she dreams of her prince. As she sings, Prince Edward hears her voice, looks for her, and ends up saving her from the troll. They fall in love, and plan to be married the next day. But the prince has an evil stepmother who doesn’t want him to fall for any girl so she can remain queen. The day of the wedding, she turns herself into an old woman, who tells Giselle to make a wish in front of the wishing well. She pushes her into the well, and Giselle ends up in New York City. The evil queen chose New York City because “happily ever after” does not exist there. Or so she thinks.

The fairytale is exaggerated to show how perfect it is in fairytale land. The characters sing lovely songs, the animals can talk, and the couple lives happily ever after. Giselle actually brings this to New York – when she sings, the animals go to her and help her out with the chores, and the people in the park all join in the song and dance number.

Giselle learns about the “real world” through Robert and his daughter, Morgan. She learns about dating, and ends up falling in love with Robert. However, Prince Edward follows her to New York, together with Pip and Nathaniel. The queen got alarmed when Prince Edward found Giselle so she followed as well. All hell breaks loose, the queen is defeated, Robert’s girlfriend Nancy ends up with Prince Edward, and Giselle ends up with Robert. And they all lived happily ever after. Of course! This is a fairytale!

Though predictable, the movie is very entertaining, especially if you take it as it is. It pokes fun at fairytales, and it’s amusing to see Patrick Dempsey goofing around. Don’t expect too much so that you’ll enjoy it.

Here’s the trailer:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dII79IIEXMA&rel=1]

(With spoilers.)

If you haven’t watched the movie, don’t read this yet.

Guess what, I wasn’t a Transformers fan. I never followed it, the only things I know about it was the song, Optimus Prime, Megatron, the Autobots and the Decepticons. I knew that they were robots that transformed, but that’s about it. I didn’t know about the story, I didn’t know the names of the other robots. I watched the movie because of all the hype.

And boy, what a movie! IT WAS AWESOME! I still can’t get over the fact that Michael Bay was able to make me CARE about a bunch of robots. Bumblebee almost made me cry THREE TIMES – when he was captured by the annoying Sector 7, when he lost his legs, and when he asked if he could stay with the boy. Optimus Prime was so fatherly, there were times I forgot he was a robot.

The movie had enough light and funny moments, emotional moments, and action scenes (maybe a bit too much). The mix was good, except that I felt the last part was TOO action-packed. I believe that the audience should be given some time to recover from too much action. The first part of the movie was just perfect for me, a dash of cutesy scenes (Bumblebee playing “Drive” and “Baby Come Back” – hilarious!) here, some funny moments there (“I love you Dad!” and the Autobots trying to hide), and just the right amount of action (Barricade going against Bumblebee).

I’m not a big fan of the raw type of cinematography used, but I didn’t mind it at all with this movie. I guess it was necessary to make the movie ‘human’, as opposed to the cartoon version. It also helped bring out the hotness of Megan Fox and Josh Duhamel. THEY ARE SO HOT, it’s ridiculous!

Shia LaBeouf – I still remember him in Even Stevens. He was perfect for the role of Sam. Believably funny, and with very expressive eyes, who would have thought he would be a hero? It makes us think that even if we are nobodies, we can still be important.

One thing though – the movie didn’t showcase the Transformers that much, which is ironic because hey, it’s entitled “Transformers”, right? It was all about Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, and Megatron. Because I wasn’t a fan before, I didn’t know the names of the other Autobots and Decepticons. And I still don’t. I only remember Jazz.

There are rumors that the producers are already cooking up a sequel. Maybe in the next movie we’ll get to know the other robots more. I can’t wait!

A.W.E.S.O.M.E.

(Let me compose myself first and get over it before I blog about it…)