Feed: Raymond Camden's ColdFusion Blog - Movies - AggScore: 73.8

Talk to me about Green Lantern (non-spoiler)

---

I just got out of seeing Green Lantern with my boys. (My eldest loved it. Said it was the best film he had seen all year.) I have to say - despite all the negative reviews I heard - I really enjoyed it. It was early in the film when I figured out exactly why. Movies like Iron Man and Thor - and I assume Captain America to come - are all "Films based on Comics." That's great. But Green Lantern felt like a "Comic Book Movie." When you spend the first five minutes or so deep into cosmology and aliens you're in an entirely different world than what you get with Iron Man. Shoot, even with Asgard in Thor, Green Lantern just felt a lot more 'comicy'. (Yes, I'm creating that word. I own it and will be charging royalties.) Green Lantern is far from perfect. A lot of the romance felt like - well - comic book romance. It also spends a surprisingly large amount of time away from the main character. That being said, I really enjoyed it. I was never a Green Lantern reader so I can't comment on how well it pays homage to the comic. I can say I'm considering picking up the comic - especially with DC about to reset everything in a month or so. So - what did folks think? (And please - try to keep it spoiler free!)

Thoughts on Tron Legacy

---

It's rather late - but my eldest boy is keeping me up so we can see the eclipse in another hour so I figured I'd do a quick write up of my thoughts on Tron Legacy. Everything above the word SPOILER will be spoiler free. Anything below, including comments, should be considered free reign for anything folks want to say. There are a few movies from my youth that hold a warm spot in my heart. Star Wars (and Empire and Jedi of course) are one of them obviously. Tron is another. In fact, I'd probably say Tron had the biggest impact on me as a young computer programmer. Tron came out in 1982. I was 9 then and to be honest - I don't remember if I had even used a computer at that point. But I remember being in awe of the special effects and even more so - at the idea of a living, breathing world inside of computers. I know that when I did begin to program (Apple IIe FTW!) that the idea of my programs being actual living creatures was always there in my mind. All thanks to Tron of course.Tron was one of those magical films of my youth. I had no expectations that Tron Legacy would be magical. Computers aren't a brave new world for kids today. My own kids are living in a house where our phones have more power than I had until college. Right now my eldest is next to me on an older Macbook Pro while I type on a laptop and another desktop is about 10 feet away. My wife's laptop is nearby as well. That's 4 machines in this room alone. I certainly don't think anything is wrong with that - but a lot of the magic of the original Tron is something that can't quite be recreated today. So with that in mind, my hopes were simple. Let me see what transpired in the world of Tron and let me be impressed by the visual design and effects. As cool as Tron was in terms of CGI, a lot of the iconic designs are what impress me today. Take the Recognizer: Pretty simplistic - but I remember being in awe of them on the big screen and they still look menacing to me today. The entire movie was full of design choices that just... felt right. And this is where Tron Legacy succeeds well. Obviously the effects are top notch. But frankly, we live in a world where crap SyFy shows have more than passable decent CGI. Tron Legacy does a good job by both being impressive and imaginative. The updated Recognizer reminds me of comparing Windows 7 to 95. You can see a similar hand in the creation of both but the newer model is quite a bit shiner. The story is full of many nods to the past. When Sam first returns to his father's arcade and turns on the power - the wave of nostalgia was overwhelming. I love my XBox 360. But growing up I spent a heck of a lot of time in arcades. The "wall of sound" you experience surrounded by a hundred or so arcade machines is just not something you experience now. The movie captured it perfectly. Unfortunately it will probably mean nothing to most kids today. The actual plot - and I don't think it's a spoiler to say that most of it occurs in the digital world - is a bit muddled at times. This is a show about the visuals above all else. But there was certainly as much depth as Avatar and most other films. This is no "Inception", but there was enough of a narrative to keep me interested in between the hyper-kinetic action scenes. And let's not kid around. I can remember the first time I saw the light cycle scene in the original film. The new light cycle scene is damn good. It's not just 'prettier'. It's like moving from 2D to 3D (literally in terms of game play for the characters). The action scenes in Tron Legacy are both high paced and just darn plain cool looking. All in all - I enjoyed Tron Legacy. Will it be as good for folks who don't have quite have such fond memories of the original? Probably not. But even then it's worth seeing on the big screen. (I can only comment on the 2D showing though. Frankly I'm sick and tired of this 3D bull crap and I'm going to do my best to not put any more money into a 3D showing if I can help it.) I'd recommend seeing it - but if you've not yet made time to ever watch the original, do try to do so first. It will add quite a bit of context and make for a more complete viewing. Ok, stop reading now if you want to avoid spoilers.... SPOILER A few things in no particular order. * I love how a company that is made out to be like Microsoft has a grand total of one fracking rent-a-cop guard. Seriously? One guard? * I love how the fact that the OS was leaked on the Internet was a big deal. Aren't all OSes leaked on the net? And isn't it not much of a big deal outside of us nerds? I doubt if more than 2% of Microsoft's customer base know what a torrent is and would have any clue that a leaked version would exist on the net. * Did you notice the OS was "OS 12" - a Mac shout out? Sam also had a Mac as a child. If any computer is a dystopia on the inside it's a Mac. ;) * One incredibly creepy scene: In the night club, after the violence has started, note the quick shot of a woman holding the "bits" of her lover and crying in agony. That came out of nowhere and surprised the hell out of me. * Absolutely loved the music. Daft Punk's sound track is great. * Speaking of sound - there were more then one throw back to the old movies. During the light cycle game the sound was a direct reference to the first movie. That really sold the scene for me. * Clu's "creepy" young Jeff Bridges was great. If there was ever a case of where the "dead behind the eyes" look works - then this is it. * I really with the Iso's background had been fleshed out a tiny bit more. It felt forced. One or two more lines of dialog would have really helped here. * Loved Flynn's line about how he had the original idea for wifi. Speaking of Flynn - I liked him in general. His whole vibe was very much like a man out place in the modern world. It really worked well in the film. * Alas - I still miss the MCP. My number one complaint about the Matrix series is that when we do see the big bad guy - it's an boring old white man. To me - nothing will ever be as cool as the big giant spinning MCP. I'd kill to see that on the big screen again.

Coffee talk about Avatar

---

I just got back from seeing Avatar, the latest film from James Cameron. I won't call this a review - just a smattering of thoughts - but I'd love to hear what others thought. Let's keep it spoiler free though. Overall, I thought it was a good film, a strong film, but not quite great. It tried real hard, but in the end, the story was lacking enough for me to keep it from being great. Technologically, the film is perfect. Seriously - this film has set the bar for special effects, and probably will be the film by which others are judged. The Na'vi looked realistic enough for to be 100% believable. You didn't have any of the "Dead on the Inside" type feeling you get from other movies with computer generated characters (I'm looking at you, Polar Express). The 3D was also well done. You had none of the "in your eye" type shots to remind you of the 3D, and in fact, except for a few scenes, I pretty much forgot that there was any 3D at all. There was one scene with insects though that - I swear - almost made me raise my hand to bat them away. This is how 3D should be done. So from a special effects angle, the movie gets an A+. Shoot, higher than that. I really think it was perfect in that regards. It's the story that... I don't know. It just didn't rock my world. It wasn't a bad story. Not at all. In fact, when I realized that the movie had lasted over two hours I was truly surprised. The movie never dragged or got boring. Some of the mysticism did get a bit corny at times, but I could live with that. No - what I didn't like was how... simple the story was. It seems like something we've seen many times before. Big bad corporation, evil military forces, face off against a technologically inferior but more spiritually aware native force. It just felt... easy. Too simple. I mean, there was one offhand remark by Jake (the main character) where he mentions that there is no more green on Earth, that it is dead. If the corporation were mining something that Earthlings desperately needed to survive as a race, well, at least we'd have some complexity, some deepness to the story. I did enjoy the story. Really. And I can see buying it (I bet it will be stellar in Blu-Ray), but I wish that some of the subtlety and innovation that was brought to the special effects had been put to work to the story as well. Ok, so that's my non-review. One last note. I love ship and vehicle design in Sci-Fi movies. The first shot of the film - the long range ship that beings Jake to Pandora, was incredible. It had a classic 60s feel to the design. Very unique. Oh, and one last last note. Did folks catch the anti-Bush/anti-Iraq war one-liner in there? Ugh. While I may agree with the politics, it had the subtlety of a brick to the side of that head.

Review: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

---

As always, I will divide this review into two sections. The top portion will be spoiler free. Everything after the SPOILERS! mark will be, well, full of spoilers, and I'd assume the comments will be as well. Going in to this film, I was worried. I had heard many good things about this adaption, but frankly, I wasn't convinced they could convey the proper tone for the book. Sure, Harry Potter 1 was all magic, smiles, and laughter, but things have progressively gotten darker and moodier. For me, Goblet of Fire, almost stands out as the Empire Strikes Back of the series. It's the turning point where the laughs kinda die off and the body count begins. What I love most about the series is that it goes from light-hearted magical fair to a much more serious, emotional, and frankly, painful story. To Rowling's credit, she never turned the book "adult." There isn't sex, gratuitous violence, or other cop outs. Rowling moves the series expertly along as the characters age and the stakes rise. So back to my worry. The books convey this pain, this fear, so well, and I wasn't sure the movie could pull it off - especially the pivotal ending. Happily - they did it. Obviously a lot was cut out. But I think the movie did a fair job of striking a balance between length and representing the book. This movie is sad. Overwhelmingly so. And I'm happy they kept it like that. There is no "Hollywood" cop out here. If you are a fan of the series, and maybe felt a little let down by the last movie, definitely see this one. It's worth seeing on a big screen. You may not want to bring your youngest. I brought all my kids, and while there wasn't anything objectionable (even with all the teenage hormones), the movie may drag a bit for them. Again, it's more dark, more serious, than the previous ones.

SPOILERS!

To me, there are 3 critical parts of the entire series. The death of what's his name at the end of Goblet of Fire, the death of Dumbledore, and the revelation of Snape at the end of B7. I thought Snape's history in Order of the Phoenix wasn't handled well. But they handled his character great here. Ditto Malfoy. The movie did a great job conveying how tortured he felt. The scene with the bridge in the beginning was incredible. It was a great way to demonstrate how the Muggle world was being impacted as well. I do wish they had spent a bit more time on Voldemort's past. They didn't do a bad job - that young kid was perfect (remind anyone of Damien or the Omen or whatever that old movie was?) and I wish they had maybe cut a bit more of the teenage hormone stuff and spent more on him.

Review: Star Trek

---

Before I get into my thoughts about the Star Trek reboot, let me be clear. Any and all spoilers will be marked as such, and will be at the end of the blog entry. So if you just want to know what I thought, you can read the blog entry up until the warning block and turn away. As for comments, I say anything goes.So, folks know I'm somewhat of a Star Wars nut (the whole cfjedimaster, the tats, etc), but I am a fan of Stat Trek as well. I've watched pretty much all the episodes that ever aired (except for Voyager, back when it was on air it was a busy time in my life, but I have every intention of watching them one day) and have seen all the movies. The quality is not always there. I think any Star Trek fan can attest to that. Shoot, I know there are Star Trek films I can't even describe because they are so forgettable. But as a whole, the mythos, the story at large, is darn good. I love the rich history. (I know a lot of people didn't like Enterprise, but I'll always have a great appreciation for the depth it gave to the early Human/Vulcan relationship.) I love the ship designs. (I especially like how they warp theory impacts the shape of the ships and can be seen in the all the different cultures designs.) But most of all - I love the feel of Star Trek. Much has been said about the general optimism of the Star Trek universe, and I definitely agree with that. There is something personable, warm, and just generally emotional about Star Trek that I don't get from Star Wars. This is what I wanted from the reboot. I knew the special effects would rock. I knew there would be twists and nods to the past (and there was one in particular that is a great nod to Kahn fans). What I really was worried about was how well the show would capture the feeling of Trek. In general, the movie succeeds. The characters are dead on. I especially liked Kirk. He is an ass. An overconfident jerk. But you know what - this is precisely how I imagined him as a younger person. The actor (Chrine Pine) nails the role, much like Ewan McGregor nailed Obi-Wan. Ditto for Sylar... err.. sorry, I mean Zachary Quinto, as Spock. We get to see a bit of his upbringing on Vulcan and I thought it was great. Bones was good. Everyone else.. well. They were ok. I don't think they brought much to the characters outside of basic imitation. Chekov was basically a Russian accent joke. Again, they weren't bad, just... nothing new. Although my son (who is South Korean) got real happy when Sulu had a scene kicking ass. The story itself was pretty good. Very fast packed, full of action. But (mild spoiler) it does involve time travel, and frankly, I feel like Trek falters whenever they introduce characters hopping through time. However, this does give us a logical way to pretend none of the earlier movies ever happened, and frankly, that may be a good thing. It is a bit of a stretch to see so many young people at the helm of a ship. I have a hard time believing that no one over 30 works in Star Fleet. But I'm an old fart so I don't really count. I liked this movie. It was fun. It had some great nods to the old series (maybe a bit too much), and I'm looking forward to the next film. It's a good beginning, but I hope they can kick it up a bit more in the next edition. My biggest disappointment though is truly a small thing, but it kind saddened me. The title screen. I know, the title screen/opening credits aren't really that important, but, the fact that the Star Trek theme wasn't used was just kind of... I don't know. Sad. It felt like an essential thing was missing. Maybe this will sound sappy, but I always watched the intros to Star Trek, even when I had them on tape. I always found them uplifting. In the movie, the title screen is about 30 seconds and just plain bland. Again, this is a very minor thing - 30 seconds of a 2 hour movie. But I did feel a bit cheated. Ok, consider yourself warned. Spoilers are after this. 1) Am I wrong, or was this the very first time we see a black hole in a Star Trek show? Black holes and bathrooms - they just never show up. But this movie had a bunch of em. Anyone know why black holes were never used? 2) The bad guys. Ugh. I felt like they were a bunch of bikers. These weren't Romulans. These were... white trash. I don't know. Star Wars pretty much sucked on handling the bad guys as well. The Romulan race are proud, haughty, just rich for material and they were handled so poorly here. 3) Not even one Klingon? Oh, and Uhuru hears about 47 Klingon ships being destroyed, and that doesn't scare the crap out of the Federation? I mean, think back to the Cold War. If we heard that half the Russian fleet sunk by some mysterious attacked, wouldn't we be a bit concerned? 4) The bad guys show up at Vulcan, and no one else is there? I get that the Federation fleet was busy. But... um... you send every ship away? You don't keep a few ships around your planet for - well just in case? 5) The scene with Kirk as a young kid - stealing the car. Perfect. Absolutely perfect. That sold me on the Kirk character in this movie. 6) One thing I never quite got. Maybe this is talked about in one of the numerous books/comics/or whatever. So in the early 21st century there was a nuclear war. Yet someone how we rebuilt. Look at San Francisco in the movie. It looked beautiful. Was it not nuked? Did we maybe discover some way to clear up radiation that - as far as I know, lasts for thousands and thousands of year? Where are all the scars from the horrible war that almost ended humanity? That could have been a good movie. Start off with the Eugenics Wars (I believe it was called that), reboot Kahn, and skip ahead to the modern time of the Federation. 7) Kobemashu Maru (yes, I spelled it wrong) was done very well. I loved how it setup the antagonism between Kirk and Spock. 8) Old Spock. Well... I don't know. As I said, time travel stories tend to not work well for me in the Star Trek universe. I felt like his acting was a bit rushed. And... seriously - he didn't arrive in time to help Romulus? What - no one knew the star was going to supernova? There weren't any astronomers on Romulus? I mean maybe that was implied. Maybe most of the people got off the planet. But it felt like Nero was saying most of the race was killed off. If so, they were a bunch of idiots.

Want to see something really scary?

---

It's almost Halloween and this year I'm trying my best to enjoy it as much as possible. Halloween seems to be slowly fading away as everything seems to be pushing towards Christmas insanely early. Sure Halloween is more a kids thing, and maybe I shouldn't care as much now that I'm an old guy, but I really feel like getting into the mood this year. I visited a haunted house earlier in the week. Our house is decorated (my wife found some awesome and unique decorations this year) and I can't wait to go out trick or treating with my young ones. Forgive the rambling. I brought all this up because I wanted to talk about movies. Scary movies. Growing up I was a big horror fan, but in the last ten years or so I've found myself really turned off by gore. I don't know why exactly. When I watched Hostel, I found myself disgusted and had to turn away multiple times. Maybe it has something to do with my kids. Most horror films involve young kids and I can't seem to watch a modern horror film without thinking that those could be my kids up there. Or maybe I'm just a wuss! While I don't care for horror films, I'm really getting into the more subtle, suspenseful films. I can remember watching The Adominable Snowman when I was a young kid. (Staring Peter Cushing, the future Grand Moff Tarkin.) What fascinated me about this film was that while it was obviously a monster film, they never showed you the monster! You got glimpses here and there, but in general there wasn't ever a "money shot". A few years later I saw Alien. Easily one of the best sci fi films ever made, the monster spends more time in the shadows and comes off far scarier for it. I remember the first time I saw a complete shot of the alien in some magazine and I wished I had not seen it. My imagination had made it far larger and scarier in my mind. Some other examples:

• Blair Witch Project: Ok, so this is a love it or hate it type movie, and it got way too much marketing, but this film scared the living crap of me.
• The Village: Really the beginning of Night's descent into crap-hood, and featuring what my wife calls the Giant Killer Badger - the early scenes by the woods were very well done. When one of the kids goes to the edge of the woods, and turns his back, I can literally feel my legs tensing in some subconscious attempt to get him to get the heck away.
• El Orfanto (The Orphanage) - A well done ghost story with a grand total of one shot of gore, this one was simply incredible. My wife really enjoyed it as well.
• Communion - Supposedly a true story of alien contact, any film with Christopher Walken is worth watching in my opinion. It's been years since I've seen this, but I remember being royally creeped out multiple times. One scene in particular has the main character simply sitting down in a room - and across the way an alien sticks his head out - slowly.

So that's all I can think of right now. Any other recommendations? Think high creep/low blood.

Review: Clone Wars - It didn't suck!

---

Yesterday I took my three kids to see the new Clone Wars movie. I knew it was coming to TV eventually, but I couldn't pass up the chance to see more Star Wars on the big screen. My boys are pretty big Star Wars fans themselves (gee, I wonder where they get that from) and my daughter, well, she loves her daddy so that was enough for her. The title of this blog entry is a bit of a joke. I am not one of those Star Wars fan who hate Lucas or thinks he is raping the franchise. I do think some parts of the prequels suck. But at the same time - I don't see Jar Jar being any more worse than the Ewoks. (Although we do get to see an Ewok die though...) I read quite a few negative reviews of the movie, but I went with an open mind and figured - at worse - my boys would absolutely love it. Turns out the movie really doesn't suck! I had been extremely pleased, surprised even, by the first Clone Wars series that came out a year or so ago. Some of the scenes in that series were easily as cool as any of the stuff in the both the prequel and classic series. (Especially the giant foot ship!) In my mind, this new series is even better. The pacing is a lot more intense, and I felt that the story comes off better then the first series. (To be honest though, seeing everything at once does tend to reinforce the storyline more than seeing a series by watching a few minutes at a time.) I found it kind of cool to see the Jedi bending over backwards to help Jabba. It was also nice to get a bit more detail about the war in general. I think this movie opens the door to a lot more material in the period. The animation style is... well interesting. It's definitely different from the first series, and it's a bit artsy, but I thought it was ok. The only character design I didn't care for was Dooku. I just couldn't take my eyes off his super deformed nose. On the flip side, Ventress was awesome. Easily as cool as Darth Maul, she is a welcome addition to the Universe and I hope we can see more of her. If there was one thing I really didn't care for - it was the Mardi Gras Hutt. I don't remember his real name, but if you see the movie you will know what I'm talking about. His part in the story - fine. But his voice, design, etc, just annoyed the heck out of me.

Sunday Mega Media Review

---

I've been meaning to post a few quick reviews and as I've got nothing to do until I board my plane, I thought I'd take the time and share some. The Incredible Hulk - I saw this last night with some friends at CFUNITED. While not as good as Iron Man, it was pretty darn good. Yes - the CGI is very fake looking. There is no way you are going to make a 1-ton green monster look real. But - Edward Norton did a great job, the story was well done, and I loved the nods to the old show. Oh - and I won't ruin the spoiler, but the entire movie was made cooler by one line uttered by the Hulk. We should also give credit to the movie company behind Iron Man for letting their actor appear in another company's movie. Both may be Marvel properties, but still, that was pretty cool. Sex and City - Ok, so this is trash, but I enjoyed the series when it was on TV. The movie was way too long, but if you liked the series, then this simply adds a few more episodes to the run. I'd probably just rent it from Netflix or Blockbuster though. Kung Fu Panda - Jack Black is the king. This is one of the best kid movies I've seen in a while. I thought the animation style was done well. The Happening - Absolute, 100%, trash. I've given up on Night. Completely. I've seen better acting in high school. I'd rather push rusty, dull, smelly nails through my eyes, backwards, than watch this film again. The Invasion - An older one - but I just saw it. Meh. Nicole Kidman is nice to look at, but outside of that, this is just one more remake.

(Short) Review: Iron Man

---

As it's 2AM and I've gotten back from seeing Iron Man, I'll keep this short and sweet. The movie was absolutely wonderful. I don't profess to be an Iron Man comic book expert, but from what I do know of the history, Robert Downey Jr. nailed him perfectly. The "playboy turned hero" thing was done very well and the CGI for Iron Man himself was great. Definitely worth seeing. I have to say - after all the good comic book movies lately I'm considering going back to my local comic book shop and opening up an account again. Back when I was a kid I used to read Star Wars and X-Men, a bit of of New X-men, but that was it. I got into Sandman and other Veritgo lines in college, but when Sandman ended, I kind of gave up. I picked up a (ahem) "appropriated digital" copy of the Ultimates, and I'm really beginning to dig Marvel again.

Semi-Pro, All Bad

---

Ugh. I'll keep it short and sweet. You would be better off seeing Brittany Spears recite Shakespeare than see Semi-Pro. It was so bad - I kid you not - my wife and I turned to each other and we walked out 40 minutes in. I've never walked out of a film, but this was just so amazingly bad we figured we had no other choice. Semi-Pro has now surpassed Highlander 2 as my worst cinema experience.

Cloverfield is...

---

Amazing. Simply amazing. I'm going to keep this super short and sweet. Why? Going into the film, I had read next to nothing about it. I knew it was from Lost creator JJ Abrams. I knew it was a "monster" film. But that was it. I avoided any spoilers and I'm very happy I did so. Cloverfied is a monster film - but much like Lost isn't just a sci fi show, Cloverfield is much, much more. I definitely recommend going out and seeing it - and again - avoid any spoilers. Two unrelated notes. In front of the film they played the trailer for the new Star Trek film. I had had my doubts about it based on what I've read online, but I'm now totally psyched about it. It is also from J.J. and I think he can do a great job with the material. Also - in the theater itself was a sign for The Happening, Shyamalan's new film. Supposedly it involves a natural catastrophe of some sort. Frankly, there is no possible way it could suck more than Lady in the Water, so hopefully this movie will be an improvement.

This Movie Is Not Yet Rated and C.S.A.

---

This week I watched two interesting movies, both of which are associated with the Independent Film Channel. The first was This Movie Is Not Yet Rated, a rather scathing look at the MPAA (Movie Picture Association of America) and how ratings are doled out to films. I always knew the organization was a bit weird, but I had no idea how secretive they really were. The movie covered some things most intelligent folks already know - that sex is much more dangerous (in their mind) than violence, so it's ok to shoot the woman in the head, but showing her naked is something else entirely. Now as a parent, I do like having an idea what is in a film, but honestly, I can tell most of the time from the trailers what is appropriate and what isn't. What I didn't agree with is that the MPAA has led to censorship. While films do end up getting cut to get ratings, I think there is a difference between a company trying to maximize profit (by going for an R instead of NC-17) compared to a government cracking down on speech it doesn't like. I think there are plenty of countries in this world - right now - who would love to have our "censorship". The second film I watched was CSA (Confederate States of America), this is billed as a "mockumentary" about a world where the Confederates won the Civil War. I'm a huge alt-history fan so when I first heard of this film I was pretty intrigued. While the film can be considered alt-history, it's main point was to look at racism as it exists today. One of the most jarring parts of the film are the "advertisements" (the film pretends to be a documentary being shown on television, so it has regular commercial break) - especially when you learn the real world truth behind the ads. Taking it strictly as an alt-history show though I found it enjoyable as the documentary approach was much different than how typical novels read. Oh yeah - and I watched 300 in HD-DVD as well. I had seen it at the movies so I already knew it rocked - but god dang what a cool movie. I need to pick up the comic sometime.

Review: Transformers

---

This afternoon I took off a bit early and saw Transformers. Let me just say that this is one of the best films I've seen in a long time. Not in the Godfather/Children of Men/etc type area but as a pure action/popcorn flick - it was near perfect. From the first few minutes to the end it is almost non-stop action and the slower/mushy/comedy type scenes are nicely spaced throughout. If I had only one complaint - it was a bit too long. I can't imagine what I'd cut though. There wasn't any obviously horrid scenes like the Jazz club in Spiderman 3. (I still shudder to think of that train wreck of a scene.) I just would have made it a bit shorter. What follows now could be considered mild spoilers, so please stop reading now if you want to be surprised. I knew the film would be cool, and man, it was cool. What I was worried about though was how the personalities of the Transformers would be handled. I had no reason to worry. The Transformer were perfect. Seriously - perfect. My memories of Optimus Prime was that he was a good guy who would never shut up about doing the right thing. He was so, blah, so, "We must not harm the humans", and while I sound like I'm complaining, thats just how his character was played. They nailed it perfectly in the film. The other autobots also had personality as well. If there was one thing I wish they had more of it was Starscream. He was always my favorite character growing up. He was always trying to scheme his way to take over from Megatron. While that wasn't really shown in the film, there was a scene where Megatron makes a condescending comment to Starscream and I swear I felt like I was a kid again. Again - they nailed it perfectly. A few random notes: I think there were a few easter eggs in the film. For example, the cop car (Barricade I think), had something like "To attack and enslave" instead of "To protect and serve". I swear I saw a few other things as well that may have been injokes/geek references. At the end of the film, don't leave. There are three additional scenes. Two are pure comedy, the last one... it's important. What was it with the 'spark of life' making little monsters? It seems like every time it would make a new Transformer, it would make an evil one. My only guess is - these new robots were like babies. Powerful, transforming robot babies. Maybe back on Cybertron they were immediately trained how to control themselves.

Few Sunday Notes

---

ColdFire has been updated. Check the blog there for the release notes. 300 rocks. That's all I'll say. One of the best, most exciting, and darn cool films I've seen in years.

Children of Men - More than worth your money (and time)

---

I had the chance to see Children of Men, and while I'm not quite sure I'd call it "This generation's Blade Runner", the movie is darn good. Just to be sure folks get it - this is not a science fiction film, not any more than 1984 or Brave New World. It is a rather chilling look at how quickly things can downhill when faced with an inescapable situation. Luckily we don't have to worry about losing our civil liberties over here. ;) Sly personal attack against our lovely President aside - I would strongly recommend this film. On a side note - I also saw Lady in the Water. Now - I've always like Night's film, even The Village. Lady in the Water is horrible though. Almost "Highlander 2" horrible.