The Karate Kid - Trailer

So if you haven't heard Will Smith is doing a remake of the Karate Kid and He is using his son Jaden as the main character, Dre Parker, and Jackie Chan as the Mr. Miyagi figure, Mr. Han.  I have yet to see anything on this, but I just found the trailer.  Should be exciting.  Click the link to see the Trailer.

Watch the Trailer

Release Date: 11 June 2010
Genre: Action | Drama
Cast: Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan, Taraji P. Henson
Director: Harald Zwart
Writer: Michael Soccio

Plot:
Work causes a single mother to move to China with her young son; in his new home, the boy embraces kung fu, taught to him by a master.

The remake isn't an exact copy, but I wasn't sure how they were going to do that anyway.  It seems like they are taking the most important elements and modernizing them, and making the story cross-cultural.  So far what I see I like.  Although there was one part in the trailer where Chan's character says the only way to stop them is to face them.  I'm pretty sure Mr. Miagi would never have said that.  He was the world's ultimate pacifist.  The main character seems a little young to me too.  I mean, Daniel Larusso was a high school kid, Dre Parker is probably just reaching middle school.  I don't know if I will see this in theatres because I don't have an unlimited budget, but I guarantee you that I will see it eventually.

Sex and the City 2: Trailer

So I think that I am going to take this blog in a new direction.  So far I have been only reviewing movies, but from here on out I will also be bringing you trailers and letting you know what I think of them, and whether or not I plan on seeing them.  I will also hopefully have a book review for you soon, so keep your eyes out for Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol.  The first trailer review I bring you is Sex and the City 2.


Check it out:


Now I wasn't much of a show fan.  Actually I am not and never was a fan of the show.  However I did see the 1st movie and was pleasantly surprised by it.  Now that I have seen the trailer I am intrigued by the second movie.  People who get paid the big bucks to make trailers sure are good at what they do.  I think this trailer looks awesome.  It's very sleek and hip.  It will be interesting to see the girls outside of New York.  The whole premise of the show and first movie was finding love IN New York City.  I will probably see this movie.

ROBsessed

Ok, I know what you're thinking.  Why on earth did I watch this?  I got it as a birthday present.  I love R Patz but I probably wouldn't have bought this on my own.

ROBsessed is a documentary of Superstar Robert Pattinson's life.  It has some great photos, good sources and an indepth look at where his fame began.  Believe it or not, this guys story is what every young actor out there dreams about.  One day he's a brooding musician, playing gigs at open mic nights and the next he's Edward Cullen, a heartthrob vampire in one of the world's biggest movie franchises ever.

The documentary pretty much gushes over how pretty he is and how he came from humble beginnings with a taste for dramatic acting and music.  There is no RAW footage of R.Pattz at all.  Neither he nor his family or any of his costars are interviewed.  Some of his early indy directors, a playhouse director and photographers are interviewed, but no one truly close to him.  I was a little disappointed that we didn't actually see R.Pattz in his natural habitat, just had people talking about it.  That being said it is an eye opening documentary in the sense that you do feel like you know him a little bit better by the end.

Rating: 1.0★ stars (out of 5)

Recommendation: Only diehard fans will get real enjoyment out of this documentary.  Buy it only for those who truly are ROBsessed.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Three Months out of the year the Trans-Siberian Orchestra goes on tour.  Their show consists of a Christmas based story that is narrated by one of the greatest voices of our time, a deep compelling voice that can lull anyone into a trance, and music accompaniment in the form of Christmas Rock.  There are original songs from the orchestra and remakes of Christmas classics with a rock twist to them.

The show is complete with an excellent light show, beyond excellent vocals, and tons of pyrotechnics.  The fire alarms went off in the arena as everyone was exiting.  That just goes to show you how intense the whole show is.  Crowd participation is important, so be prepared to cheer, holler and cat-call whenever possible.

Rating: 4.0★ stars (out of 5)

Recommendation: This is a great show that's fun for the whole family.  It's rock, but not so hard core that a grandma wouldn't enjoy.  If it comes to your town, see it!  Tickets might get a little costly, but it's worth the 3+ hours of a show that you will get.

Jennifer's Body

I had a lot of trouble figuring out Jennifer’s Body.  At first I thought I was laughing at the movie because everything was so ridiculous, but I talked to people and remembered to take in who wrote the movie.  Diablo Cody (Juno) wrote a very unique movie.  It’s a satirical spoof of horror films as well as a social commentary.

Needy (Amanda Seyfried) is best friends with Jennifer (Megan Fox) who is the hottest, most popular girl in school.  Everything is fine in their small town until an Indy band passes through.  They take an interest in Jennifer.  They need to sacrifice a virgin for a ritual that will make the band rich and famous, and Jennifer is their choice, but little did they know that Jennifer isn’t even a “backdoor virgin.”  The band gets what they want, but what they leave is a demon in the form of Jennifer.  Now she must feast on the flesh of humans to stay strong and beautiful.

The dialogue is great because it is so ridiculous and extremely quotable.  I laughed through the whole thing.  There were moments of suspense and even some spots that make you jump.  Megan Fox did a great representation of a high-strung high school girl.  It’s hard to believe that she says she was never actually popular in high school.  The photography was excellent.  There were a lot of unique camera angles and wide variety of shots.  The whole film was very visually interesting.  There was one make out scene in the middle of the movie was quite random, but guys will love it.

Rating: 3.0★ stars (out of 5)

Recommendation: This is a fun movie for those who don’t like scary movies.  There is a little something for everyone, but it’s more directed towards young adults.  I don’t think older generations will get a lot of the jokes.  It would make an good rental choice.

Twilight Saga New Moon

O Twilight, how tweens and twi-moms love the.  New Moon was a definite step up from it's predecessor Twilight, and audiences around the country agree.  In it's first night it racked up $140.7 million making it the 3rd most attended midnight showing in the history of movies behind The Dark Knight and Spider-Man 3, and just in front of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (that's ridiculous, and twice as much as Twilight).  What is more surprising is that that movie only took $50 million to make.  They made a profit in it's premiere hours.  So far the movie has sold close to $220 million in tickets.

Now I bought my ticket about 2 months in advance on fandango and was right there for the midnight showing.  I loved the movie, but that's because I love the story.  So saying that, I will try my best to give an objective review.  Here we go...

New Moon is the sequel to Twilight, and the movie opens in one of Bella's (Kristen Stewart) dreams on the dawn of her birthday.  She doesn't want to get older since her vampire love, Edward (Robert Pattinson) can't age.  The Cullens throw Bella a birthday party, and all hell breaks loose when she gets surprisingly bloody paper cut that sends Jasper on the attack.  Edward decides it's in Bella's best interest to leave and let her live a normal life.  This sends Bella into a depression where she can only find peace in her friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner).  But Jacob starts acting weird and disappears for a while.  It turns out that Jacob has a special Quillette gene that turns him into a Werewolf who hunts vampires.  Bella is still hung up on Edward and sees visions of him whenever she does something dangerous.  Edward learns of one of her daredevil attempts, thinks she's died and decides that he no longer wants to live.  Now it's up to Bella: stay with Jacob or rescue Edward.

New Moon had a new director, Chris Weitz, who also directed films like The Compass.  Depending on what review you read, he either did a horrible or a terrific job.  I'm following the latter.  He did a much better job of portraying vampires running, and he was good for all the animation that they used.  The acting was better too, but only slightly.  I'm not sure if any director can get Kristen Stewart and Rob Pattinson to jell on screen.  If they do have a relationship, why don't they translate that to the screen.  On the other hand, Kristen and Taylor Launter had tons of chemistry.  The feel of the movie was much warmer, but the pacing was off for most of it.  Drama was drawn out where it didn't necessarily need to be.  I didn't notice this the first time cause I was so amped to see it, but the second time it was pretty clear.  Lautner was topless for half the movie which will have young girls (and cougar moms) squealing everywhere.

Rating: 2.7 ★ stars (out of 5)

Recommendation: Boys, take your girls to this movie (unless you are insecure about your body). This is the yet another perfect tween movie, but if your not a fan already, I'm not convinced that the films will do it for you.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Ah, Transformers...what can I say? It brings out the little boy in all of us. Just the name, Optimus Prime, makes boys everywhere giggle like school girls.

Ah, Michael Bay...what can I say? He can make anything explode. Just the sound of his name sends crashes and bangs to my ears. He makes audiences everywhere “Ooooooh” and “Aaaaaaaah” with his high intensity actions sequences.

Here’s the deal with Transformers, you have to judge it on two scales: 1) compared to other feature films 2) compared to Michael Bay films. I have included 2 star ratings to justify the film for both scales. Most women will judge by the first, and from my experience, most men judge by the second.

The movie was essentially a 2 1/2 hour action sequence. I saw it at midnight, and frankly, I wanted to fall asleep because I got so action bored. In order for action to be awesome and exciting, there needs to be breaks, to allow the audience to catch up. I became numb to the action after the first hour and a half.

For all you drooling men out there waiting to hear about Megan Fox, here you go...

I was a little bit upset by how much she was objectified in this movie. In the first half hour, there wasn’t a single scene with her in it that didn’t include a full body tilt. I get it, she’s hot, whatever. Her acting was acceptable.

Shia LaBeouf sported a hand injury for a car accident in real life that had to be worked into the film. It worked out. His acting was by far the best in the film. He didn't have much to work with dialogue wise, but he worked it nonetheless.

Don’t get me started on the dialogue. If negative dialogue is the equation dialogue - explosions = total dialogue then this movie would be so far negative that it would reach the bowels of hell. Sure it was cute and funny in the beginning, but it had nothing to offer the story. (Ha, STORY!)

Rating: 2.0 ★ stars (out of 5)

Michael Bay Rating: 6.0 ★ stars (out of 5)

Recommendation: If you're not seeing it at midnight, at the IMAX, or are a man reliving his youth, then there's no need to see it. Renting it when it comes to the RedBox will be just fine, just make sure you have a big TV and preferably HD.