Twilight: Like, he's so hot, like, and amazing! *

Well this was one of the biggest movies of the year and it was one of the most successful movies so far at the box office this year so that means that it has to be a good movie right? Well this isn't always the case; in fact sometimes the highest grossing movies are sometimes the worst movies of the year. This is possibly one of the worst movies of the year.

In Twilight we have a story about a regular girl who's grown up in the city but goes to visit her Dad in a small rural town just off of the coast near Seattle but what ends up happening is there is more than just unruly kids; there are bloodsucking demons also known as Vampires. Now it sounds like a cool and credible story right? but the execution is what makes this movie absolutely horrible. Robert Pattinson and Kristin Stewart play the star-crossed lovers and their acting sinks this movie to new lows. Pattinson sounds like he's always constipated and trying to poo and Stewart acts like she's always stoned after a long session of smoking and it doesn't help when they aren't saying very intelligent things either.

The writing in this movie is atrocious; everytime the characters talk I just want to hold my head in shame as they dish out corny pre-teen love lines one after another and its interesting because they picked a woman director to pay attention the emotional development of the characters but that never ever happens in the movie. There is no attraction between the main characters; its like watching two people dance for the first time at their arranged marriage, it looks forced and the actors act forced as well. Watching this movie is like listening to a pre-teen girl rant on about a famous hot guy she likes.

The Story isn't much better than the writing and incorporating Vampires is a cool idea but before you do that make sure you know what your writing about please. First off vampires can't even go out during the day because the sun's rays will BURN them up; they don't make them GLISTEN, they make vampires BURN ALIVE. Second vampires can't fly. sorry. but they can't. This movie made vampires look stupid and that doesn't make me very happy. Having vampires play a baseball game for an entire 20 mins is just the dumbest thing I've ever seen in any movie. There is no intellectual character development in the writing or acting and these characters just stay static throughout the entire film; I never cared about their live or them throughout the entire film.

The special effects in this movie aren't great either; actually its like watching a TV show, its pretty bad. This makes the action look hokey and stupid; all I can do is laugh when I see it. There is an ending sequence thats actually decent, with a solid fighting scene, it wasn't half bad but once the two main actors started confessing their love for each other it was horrible, once again.

Overall this movie isn't good at all; the story is hokey and stupid, the acting is atrocious with writing that doesn't make it any better, the special effects are under par and look ridiculous, and this movie makes vampires look stupid, this isn't even a proper vampire movie at all, I can see why this movie made loads of money, Pattinson and Stewart are easy to look at and you can shut off your brain and still have a good time, sad. This is just a bad movie all around.

Angels and Demons: Pass the holy water please. ***

Well here's a little movie that kinda snuck in with the big spring rush as it came right inbetween Star Trek and Terminator Salvation and Its a good little film that won't disappoint.

Tom Hanks returns as Professor Langdon, a man who despises religion and who writes to exploit the horrible side of religion, and it deals mostly with the catholic side of christianity. But the Vatican has another problem and yet they come to the aid of Langdon once again. This is where this movie starts; we are introduced to the Vatican police and a young priest who's hoping to become the Pope one day.

Well the first Pope is dead and now a re-election gets underway but the men who are nominated go missing and they are being held hostage by a powerful group who has always been at war with the church because their science didn't match up with religious beliefs. But now this case may be the key to understanding how science and religion fit in with each other. This is an action, conspiracy thriller from Ron Howard and conveys the story in the best way posssible.

The story is great and well thought out as a murder mystery type deal its almost like watching a new day Sherlock Holmes flick as we take a ride with Langdon. There are a couple of times when the story becomes ludicrous but it can get away with it; and as the plot unravels there are plot twists that are unseen and are fun. This movie isn't all fun and games though; as some parts are just deathly boring and hard to get through but once you get through them it pays off in the end. The ending just baffled me and I really enjoyed as everything tied together. Another thing is that this movie's focuse jumps back and forth between the character's beliefs and the beliefs of those around them and then the beliefs of the audience, so it seemed a bit crazy and hectic at times but it still worked.

The acting was okay, Tom Hanks again has to work with one of the worst developed characters ever written, but he showed some slight developement regarding religion and such, and Ewan's supporting role was fantastic, what a great breathe of fresh air he was. Another thing I liked about this movie was the reverance it had for both sides: science and religion. In Davinci Code there was no respect for Christianity and Christ was mocked and such but in this movie there was a great reverance and respect for religion and I really appreciated that and in the end there is a conclusion that religion and science not only can coincide but they go together nicely.

Overall this movie was a great watch, everything was good, nothing spectacular, but at the end of this one you'll be satisfied as the ending and other elements make this a good watch, but its not a terribly fun watch. The Direction is scattered a little in the middle but it wraps up nicely in the end and Ewan Macgregor's performance steals the show. This is a great little movie.

Star Trek: Lets have a grand ol' time in space. ****

Well this movie was THE movie to see if the spring time as many people were hoping for the ultimate best from this movie and for many "Trekkies" this was a scary addition to the Star Trek franchise but it was a nescessary one at that.

I personally am not a Star Trek fan simply because everytime I watched a show or episode of it; it just seemed really boring with cheesy effects and nothing exciting ever happened. As soon as I saw this trailer though I knew that this was going to be different and I was a little upset because I knew that this movie could very well get me into liking Star Trek and it very well might. This movie was fantastic, everything from the casting, to the plot, to the effects, to the emotional elements, to the action, everything was stellar and put together nicely.

I think what really boosted this movie up the most was the acting and the way these beloved characters were portrayed. Zachary Quinto did an amazing job portraying "Spock" as I actually felt for his character and connected with him on many levels and I think there couldn't have been a better actor for this role. Chris Pine played "Kirk" and to me Pine's job was the hardest because Kirk is a beloved character and central character and following up the very charismatic William Shatner is always hard but Pine did it with flying colors. His bad boy presence was well felt through the entire movie and the clash between him and Spoc was great but what was even better was seeing that development into where they are fond of each other, both actors executed this perfectly. The supporting cast was great too and I felt having "Scotty" being portrayed by Simon Pegg was an excellent choice. The weakest link for the actors I felt was "Chekov" who was played by Anton Yelchin he just seemed a little out of place, but had some great humour. Having Eric Bana as the villian was absolutely amazing as well but I thought they could've done a little more with his character, but what they did with him, and what Bana achieved with it was great already.

The Story for this movie was fantastic; it was easy to follow even though the time warp could've been confusing but it was simple yet cool and really intiated a new beginning for the Star Trek franchise. They paid respects to classic Star Trek as well by implying some "Trekkie" jokes and such so old fans of the series had a little to be a part of as well. But this story was still science fiction but not too much so that a new generation can enjoy this franchise which I think was important for this almost dying franchise.

The Special effects were fantastic; the len's flares were a little much but instilled a cool effect, and the look and feel of the movie was just spot on. The action was awesome too filled with big monster fights, to fencing, to brute laser fights, it was just a fantastic movie to watch filled with bright colors and the set for the new enterprise was really cool and futuristic.

Overall this movie has a lot to offer, it has fantastic action, funny and relevant humour as well as old "Trekkie" humour, state of the art special effects, a riveting story, and great character development, this movie is a great summer flick. This is probably the most fun you'll have at the theaters this summer, but as I watched it, a little part of me wanted darth vader to appear with a light saber, Oh well.

Terminator Salvation: Salvation is not the right word for this. **

Terminator Salvation Must've been a movie that the studio was just wanting to get out as soon as they could. With a director with a knack for making crowd pleasing films (Making Cameron Diaz dancing in panties in Charlie's Angels) and this is why fans of this series cringed at the first sight of this movie. I cringed; but as trailers came out this movie looked like it had promise so now did it live up to the hype of Terminator? or does it simply miss the mark? I would say neither.

Basically this movie has next to no story; or it doesn't have a story we don't already know as an audience. If you've seen the trailer then you know the story, and what happens, and such. This movie is a debriefing on how it happens and why it happens. The acting in this movie is cardboard; when the actors spew their lines I continually mistaked them to be robots themselves. I didn't care about anything that was going on. The Story was lacking big time as well. They started the movie after the "Hell Fire" and they told the story of Connor finding Kyle Reese and Saving him. That is the entire story, there are no plot twists (that we haven't seen because of the trailers), no character development, and no connecting the characters with the audience, just lots of big bangs, guns and pretty ladies. This movie is a crowd pleaser, it doesn't care about its content, it just cares if it looks good for the general population.

Now there are some good things in this movie that save it from completely heading for a nose dive. The action is amazing; great stunts and great set pieces and excellent camera work around the action sequences. MCG uses engaging angles and rolling camera shots to help engage the audience into the action. The explosions in this movie are massive as well; everything action action wise in this movie is huge and well put together. But it seems like this movie was written, acted, and made around the action. I feel like the writers thought out these huge action sequences then wrote the script around that, I feel like this movie is scared to breathe its own breathe because it doesn't want to displease the general population so it resorts to cheap action tricks.

Overall this movie wasn't very good; it was okay, passable. It didn't introduce anything new and exciting into the series, the characters were driven like drones, and we really didn't care about anything at all as an audience. I feel like I've already seen this movie and I'm upset that they never expanded on what I saw in the trailers; but the action was good, but not good enough for me to see this movie again. When the credits started rolling I sighed and said "It could've been worse but oh well," this movie is its own within the series and that is what saves it. The fact that its a totally new look and refreshing "story" and such is the reason why this movie isn't a huge flop; but its because of this that it isn't a Terminator installment. Please if you they do make a new; please write an engaging and intelligent story!! If you don't know how to do that just watch Terminator 2. Thanks.

A passable, popcorn, action flick, no more, no less.

Let the Right One In: A beautiful yet horrific masterpiece.****

Well I've always been a huge fan of the vampire genre, Interview with the Vampire, From Dusk till Dawn, 30 days of night, Vampire these are some of my favorite vampire movies to have ever come out. Now with this year we have Twilight and Let the Right One In. These two new additions to the vampire genre are welcomed but one hits the mark in a grand way and the other puts vampires to shame. Let the Right One In, is not only the best vampire movie ever made but its also one of the most beautiful drama's ever made starring two pre-teens trying to search for acceptance from the adult world.

This movie is a swedish movie that came out of absolutely no where with a little story involving a vampire, a young boy and how they fall in love and accept each other for who they are. This drama is so deep and intricate that it falls upon many themes some involving love, others involving teen bullying, others involving young kids trying to find a place in this world, it was'nt a mistake that Eli was a vampire stuck in a young girl's body. The movie stars a young boy named Oskar who the movie is seen through his eyes, so we adults that don't care what kids are doing, and a bunch of boys threatening to beat him up every second of every day. Oskar is just a boy who vengefully wants to show these boys who's boss. The movie starts with him practicing by stabbing a tree over and over again. This movie is driven by this bullying and Oskar constantly wanting to lash out; he's a very confused boy who loves violence. Then he meets Eli. Eli is a little girl who is really a vampire, she's evil, and she gets very hungry. She also feeds Oskar's fantasies about hitting the boys back; she says "hit back harder than you'd ever dare, then they'll stop and if they don't, then I'll help you, I can do that" This is what she tells him. Slowly he figures out that she is a vampire and they fall in love.

This movie is about a boy trying to fight back for his place in this world where no one cares about him; and a monster who wants to be more human or who wants to be accepted by another hman with love. See its incredible because even a vampire, who's pure evil, wants to be accepted and loved. In the end they finally help each other, he finds people for her to feed on, and she gives him protection, this love that they find is the deadliest thing to ever happen to both of them. In the center we have this beautiful love story between two people that genuinely love each other, and that emotion is felt through the entire movie, but there is this stain of inevitability that Eli the vampire simply can't become a human. This violence will always have to happen. But the love is so deep that these two characters don't care. This emotion is so real and innocent and brilliantly conveyed in this movie.

This movie is horrifying, beautiful, and haunting. It'll stick with you. Its a movie full of life and emotion that is so real and tangible its impossible not to fall in love with it. I would have to say that this is the best movie I've seen all year and the very best vampire movie I've ever seen. It has hints of true vampirism throughout, a vampire burns alive in the sunlight, they only come out at night, they feed on blood, and cats hate them, this is throughout the movie in a very chilling way. This movie will send chills up your spine as well as show you a very unlikely love that you personally would want in your life. The acting is brilliant, the writing is top notch, the mystery is constant and it'll simply just freak you out. This movie is marvelous. A true gem. There is not one bad thing in this movie.

The Village: A flawed but extraordinary vision. ***

Well I'm a massive fan of M.Night Shyamalan simply because of his amazing vision and his love for new and original ideas in film so I was very excited for his next film and quite frankly I was pretty impressed by it.

When I sat through the opening credits I was getting a little creeped out and this tone resonated throughout the entire movie; just this eerie feeling lurking behind every picture of the film was hanging around giving me a sick feeling to my stomach. Shyamalan is a master of suspense and a master of creating this suspense using images and camera work; he's creative in what he sees and even if his writing is a little iffy at times he makes it work. But the writing is this movies biggest crutch as its borderline perposterous but like I said he makes it work.

Well the good of this movie: the camera work. Wow, the way he uses music and images to his advantage is wonderful; this man can make ANYTHING look creepy. He uses a chair in this movie look disturbing just amazing filming and manipulation its wonderful to watch. I actually thought the story was engaging and wonderful as well; it was a new fresh breathe into the cinematic world that was very needed and people may say this plot was preposterous and out of this world but simply this actually happened back in the day and some communities still live like this with beliefs of monsters in the woods; so before you criticize do your research. I thought the story was engaging and the love triangle was unsuspected and disturbing to watch and the themes of the story were brilliant as well; using the notion of running away from sorrow is virtually impossible because sorrow is a part of our lives and its what makes us who we are.

This movie is crippled in the execution of the story; some of it is the monotonous acting of the two leads but most of it is in the writing. But the director makes it work in this movie as he directs quirky characters that we somehow connect with; I think Shyamalan gets lucky with this connection but he gets it somehow. There were times of the movie that were slow as well; as the story took a while to develop and move along I could sense a bit of antciness residing within the audience but once it took off it was okay.

The last thing I want to touch on is the strict boldness this director has with his movies; right before the scariest part of the movie he tells you that what your about to be scared of isn't real and yes he still scares you with it; this boldness shows us just how much charisma and intellect this man has behind the camera. His camerawork is so good that this notion actually gets pulled off within this film.

This is a love story and the main theme regarding this movie is the notion that love overpowers every sorrow and heartache we have in this life so we must hold dearly onto it. This is a vision that is extraordinary and I thank Mr. Shyamalan for blessing the world of movies once again for this little treat; yes it may be flawed, but its originality and creativity overcome that slight notion quite beautifully in the end. Endure the ride; its worth it.

The Matrix Revolutions: Straight Action; No Thinking Required.**

Well we completed The Matrix Trilogy the other day and after watching all three movies basically in a row I had some speculations on the third installment. Basically the Wachowski Brothers took the easy way out and gave the mass population the ending they wanted.

If it weren't for the wicked eye candy throughout the entire movie I would've hated this flick. I was very impressed with all of the amazing action, the war with the machines was gritty and intense and looked brilliant, and I loved the superman showdown between Agent Smith and Neo I was basically so happy with the movie by that point simply because it just looked so awesome. But there was something missing at the end of the movie that made me not quite satisfied.

First of all they didn't really conclude anything; they kept the Matrix around and Neo never destroyed it he just made a truce with the machines, this was unexpected and seemed like an easy way out for the direction; it seemed like they wanted to please everyone rather than doing what they really wanted and they kept the matrix around to explore the world via videogame; so they basically sold out their franchise, very uncool. Plus there wasn't any intellectual ideas explored in this movie, it just seemed like bullets were flying everywhere and plot was being run along like a rollercoaster without stopping to assess intellectual ideas like the previous two movies; the script wasn't very smart.

Well they did write a sweet climatic movie that pleased the eyes; the special effects were again top notch, but the story was lacking the punch the first two had; plus the conclusion to the franchise wasn't very concluding and left everything wide open which is okay but really I wanted to see a more bold vision come from these guys as we have seen before. But I'll take this as one sweet action flick and thats it so its not entirely a waste but in terms of a Matrix installment, it is a waste.

Thank you again for blessing the world with a fantastic Trilogy Wachowskis.

The Matrix Reloaded: Lets see how deep the rabbit hole goes. ****

Well we watched the first Matrix and we couldn't help but put in the second Matrix right afterwards and I have to say that I absolutely love this movie. Basically the first movie opened this brand new world up to us now in this movie we really get to see a lot more of the Matrix and know it a little deeper than before; its like saying to a kid "here's the candy shop; now run free and do what you want" and The Matrix Reloaded does a good job of having fun.

Some of the most spectacular action sequences I have ever seen on film are in this movie, everything from a bunch of Smith's fighting Neo, to a Twenty-minute long car chase, to fighting on top of trucks, to jumping out of windows and shooting an Agent while falling, and even a flying Neo. This movie has it all and yes it breaks new special effects grounds while doing so. But the action isn't the only thing going well for this movie the story is also top notch as well.

The Matrix Reloaded is a true sequel where it respects what the first one achieved and tries to go deeper into that; we have hints of themes that stretch so deeply and intricately that you'll find something new every time you watch this one. The brainpower is here in full shape; just like the first one, and it just keeps going and going. At the end of this movie you sit there and try and decipher the theories this movie dishes out. They stick with you and make you chew on them and that is why this movie is so brilliant, not only is there extraordinary eye candy but you actually feel apart of the story because you get involved intellectually. The writing is top-notch as well giving awesome dialogue. Again the only downside to this movie is the acting. But like the first one, acting is only a little factor to this colossal masterpiece. One of the best sequels I have ever seen.

The Matrix: Lets Redefine Cinema. ****

So Yesterday we decided to watch "The Matrix" and I simply forgot how awesome this movie really was.

Well as the movie starts it gives a scene the audience has to watch and chew on as their curiosity itches as to what the matrix is. Trinity is shown taking out a bunch of cops simply by breaking the rules of gravity and climbing on walls and kicking chairs to redirect bullets. This can't happen in real life so what is The Matrix? This is the question that drives the entire movie. Yes the beginning is mysterious, edgy, and melodramatic but that just adds to factor of what the matrix really is. This movie acts like a new invention, we sit there waiting and wondering what the heck this special machine does, then when it springs into action it absolutely blows our minds. The special effects in this movie are top notch, some of the best since "Terminator 2" and they are timeless in a sense as well.

This movie is very smart as it develops its theory of "The Matrix" and not only does it tell us what the matrix really is but it give comments upon human existence and how we are viewed not only by God or other humans but possibly machines as well. This movie is so creative that it alludes to religious savior like attitudes as it alludes to Jesus using "The One" perspective. This movie not only blew our minds but redefined Cinema forever because of One scene, Bullet Time. In this scene, Neo, Dodges a chamber of Bullets as an agent is shooting him and the camera pans around him as we see these super slow motion bullets just grazing him. This scene is spectacular and one the most memorable scenes in any action movie ever made. This new invention is brilliant and sweet.

Well to summarize, this movie has a really awesome story, a creative theory and brilliant allusions to life and humanity, the acting is its big downfall as a rigid Keanu Reeves utters his lines like a drone but he still fits the role perfectly. Basically this movie is just so on top of its game in every other aspect that really the acting doesn't even matter. This is one the best action movies ever made. Its a classic.

X-Men Origins: A Bust. *

So I guess this is my first movie review of the blog so heres out it works. See the star beside the title? well the meter is out of four stars; four being excellent and one being not so excellent.

So here we Go!

X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a movie that I was so ready and excited to see. Having seen the trailer a dozen or more times I was more than ready to see just how Wolverine began, but who knew that it would turn out so boring? The most exciting part of this movie was the trailer. In the beginning there is a War scene that is also the credits scene and this is probably the coolest shot in the entire movie. After the titles arrive on the screen the movie just stops the excitement and tries to use drama to tell the story. But, if you're going to use dramatic effects please use actors that know how to act and please find a good writer. The dialogue in this movie is so disastrous, there is no wit, so substance to this drama. The drama just acts like a train transporting the audience from fight scene to fight scene.

Now this would work if the fight scenes were plenty and good but they aren't. There are Three big fight scenes in this movie and they aren't even that big at all. After the gambit/sabretooth/ wolverine fight I seriously sat there and exclaimed "That's it?" And the final climatic fight scene looked so fake I was just simply bored. If your going to use big special effects please use good ones. The horrible special effects just took me out of the movie; there was even a part when wolverine was looking at his claws in a bathroom mirror and they looked so fake; it was so stupid. Another big downer was that the use of the characters wasn't well done at all. If I was Stan Lee and saw this movie I would be so upset with how badly the characters were treated, there was zero development of any of them; and they were all mechanical and lacked life with every line they uttered.

Well to summarize this movie is simple, the script is giant cliche, the fight scenes have potential but simply didn't excite me what-so-ever, the special effects were notoriously horrible, and the story wasn't exciting at all. Basically as I sat in the theater after the movie I just said to my buddy, "man I'm glad wolverine forgot his origin, because it sucked." We had a chuckle. I hope the rest of the summer blockbusters aren't like this because if they are, its going to be one crappy summer.