Star Trek

Star Trek (2009) could convert anyone into a Trekkie. Are you up for the challenge?

James Kirk (Chris Pine) joins Starfleet to try to live up to his father, who sacrificed himself to save the people on his ship (including James and his mother). James Kirk is irresponsible and cocky, however intelligent--finding his way to trouble by hacking the space stimulation training. Spock (Zachary Quinto), the tattleteller, is a half-Vulcan-half human (which is kind of like being a mudblood). His logical Vulcan side is constantly at war with his emotional human side, but he decides to shut his emotions down to be a calculating and cool Commander. James Kirk manages to get on the Enterprise despite his violation and encounters the same Romulan ship that killed his father. Kirk's laidback and impulsive personalty clashes with Spock's, but they eventually team up to save whatever planet that needs saving...

 Run away! Run away! →→→

Although I haven't watched the original Star Trek [yet], I felt like the movie was too short to express the vastness of their universe. J.J. Abrams wanted to include so many awesome StarTimeWarpAlienKickAndLazerAndNotToMentionTheFoldingKatanaScenes that he forgot about the storyline. I guess Star Trek didn't really need a great plot because of all of the special effects...it just would have made Star Trek more cohesive (instead of sending Captain Kirk to all these weird places just so he can have some cool action scenes). 

Don't worry...these redshirts are safe.

Setting the plot aside, I really enjoyed Star Trek. The vision was there and this new world that J.J. Abrams created consumed me.Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto were great (although Zachary was a little too Sylar-creepy to me--maybe it's the ears). The Enterprise crew was perfectly cast and provided a little comic relief that lightened the mood.

Perhaps more background information on the different crew members will be revealed in the next movie (especially because of that cliffhanger ending)!

Cliffhanger! Hanging from a cliff!

Noticeable side effects: Headache, Nausia, Heartburn, Indigestion, Upset Stomach, Diarrhea. Yay! Pepto Bismo!

I had no idea why I had a headache until I watched the behind-the-scenes footage...deliberate lens flares with handheld flashlights and spastic camera shaking? You've got to be kidding me. I could have gotten a seizure.

Live Long and Prosper!

The Last Airbender

M. Night Shyamalan sure had us fooled...who knew his true calling was COMEDY? The Last Airbender gave me a few laughs because it was like a spoof video of the show. I showed a clip of the movie to my friend and she thought it was a fanvid.

In the world of Avatar, there are four nations: Earth, Water, Fire, and Air. The people in their nation can bend the corresponding element if they're born with the ability. The Avatar is supposed to bring balance to the four nations with his powers (ability to bend all four elements). Katara (Nicola Peltz) and Sokka (Jackson Rathbone) from the water tribe find Aang (Noah Ringer) in an iceberg and free him. They find out that Aang is the Avatar that ran away 100 years ago because he didn't want to be the Avatar (can't have a family) and he got caught in a storm, resulting in getting trapped in the iceberg. Aang is hunted by the Nazi-like Fire Nation, who wants to take over the world with their fire bending with the absence of Aang. Prince Zuko (Dev Patel) is banished to hunt the Avatar in exchange for his fathers acceptance. When the firenation captures Aang, Katara and Sokka decide that it is their "responsibility" to help Aang. They escape with some swoosh swoosh airbending and Aang and his new friends stop by some small Earth kingdom towns to stop the firebenders little by little. He has to learn waterbending as the first step to mastering the elements (he already mastered air) to defeat the evil fire nation.

Oh my goodness! He's bending fire out of nothing! It makes all the other firebenders look like wimps.

People in the theater probably thought I was crazy because I was laughing so much when the scenes were solemn. Aang is only twelve years old, but he acts like his mother beat the childhood out of him or something.   Every single character in Avatar is stripped of his/her personality, which makes the show what it is. There is absolutely no excuse for Shyamalan's suspicious casting. I can act better than Noah Ringer and just use his stunt double to do some cool flips. Nicola Peltz had no emotion. Might as well cast a rock for Katara and invest the money on a better camera (most scenes looked blurry and foggy). Heck, I can write a better script than Shyamalan.
Aang (being a Liberater): "There's earth under your feet!" 
Earthbenders in prison: Really?? Ooh there is!! I can earthbend this earth that has been right under my feet for the past 100 years!
Me: *facepalm*
The bending in the movie reminded me of a video game. Opponent's turn. Fire ball: → O ↓ ↑ X ← Enter. You dodge. Your turn. Rock Throw: ↓ O ↓ ← ← Enter. Opponent defeated. You gain 10 EXP.

← ← ← Run away! Run away!

It takes so long just to move a tiny rock. Why waste your time bending when you could just go up to your opponent and stab them? It would be so much faster. If firebenders need a fire source, why can't everyone put out their stupid campfires? There are so many things in this movie that doesn't make sense. Even though it's a fantasy, Shyamalan's ideas wouldn't even make sense in the Avatar world. I may be a bit biased because I'm a huge fan of the show, but people that don't watch the show have common sense and are probably lost in The Last Airbender's super fast pacing. I can't say that I'm disappointed because I kind of predicted that this would be a bad movie, just not this bad. 1 star for making me laugh sometimes and promoting the show (you should watch that instead). I really hope this isn't a trilogy...

Wanted

Wait a minute...why is Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) only on the tiny corner of the poster? Isn't he the main character? Nope, Fox (Angelina Jolie) stole the show.

Wesley Gibson has it bad. His life sucks. His boss is crazy annoying, his girlfriend is cheating on him with his best friend, and he has absolutely no search results when he googles his name. It all changes when he meets Fox and gets into a gun fight/car chase. Fox tells him that his father was an assassin murdered by an assassin and introduces him to the Fraternity. The pact leader, Sloan (Morgan Freeman) says that he could be a superhuman like Fox if he used his panic attacks to his advantage and ultimately take revenge for his father. He trains and ups his endurance, strenth, etc, etc, and joins The Fraternity in assassinating the people that the Loom of Fate spells out. 

Oh boy. Wesley the Loser has a panic attack again

Wanted was an awesome action-adventure ride. The fighting scenes were very cool and nicely choreographed. Wesley Gibson was great at screaming his head off in the beginning of the film and Jolie had enough kick-butt to cover for that loser. Everything is slick until Sloan introduces the magic loom: total what the heck moment. Stand aside, Morgan Freeman. It's the Loom of Fate's turn to play God. Then came the magic bath..then the magic bullets...then the "I am your father" thing...then the exploding rats. It's a cool concept, but a bit too technical for me. And Mythbusters busted the curving bullets myth.

"This is me taking back control of my life. What the f*** have you done lately?"

Curious George

In celebration of Jack Johnson's new CD, I'll review Curious George, which has awesome jams by Jack.

Curious George is brought to life (or animation) from H. A. Rey's classic picture books. The colorful illustrations translate well into the film, which stayed faithful to traditional animation (too much 3D definitely would have ruined the movie). Ted, aka the man in the yellow hat (Will Ferrell), works at a museum that is lacking in funds and the only visitors are Miss. Dunlop and her class. The museum's owner, Mr. Bloomsberry (Dick Van Dyke) wants to close the museum to make room for a parking lot that Bloomsberry Junior (David Cross) has always wanted. To save the museum, Ted accidentally volunteers himself to go to the jungle to search for the giant lost shrine of Zagawa. Junior is jealous of Ted being the "favorite child" (even though Ted isn't even Bloomsbery's son), so he misleads Ted from the Zagawa shrine. But then again, Ted is no adventurer, so he probably would get lost without Junior's help anyways. Instead of finding the lost shrine of Zagawa, a real monkey follows Ted back to the city. Mr. Bloomsberry got the city hyped up about the monkey shrine, so Ted and George has to somehow recreate the shrine or tell the truth. They work together to try stall and think of ways to fix the shrine problem. Instead, they end up on tons of adventures: George's hologram terrorizes the city King-Kong-style, they tour the city with balloons, and they get tons laughs because they're just being silly.

Ivan the not-so-Terrible returns!

Curious George surprised me. I watched it with my little sister, thinking that it was a children's movie like Clifford the Big Red Dog, but it wasn't boring at all. This movie really entertained me. The animation was minimalist, which was fitting for this movie. All of the voice acting was perfect and very comical at times. The dialogue is hilarious, especially with Will Ferrell, and there are so many funny quotes that I got out of it. George, my personal favorite, was super cute. George is the reason why kids ask for pet monkeys for Christmas. Sometimes, there are breaks with the natural laws of physics, but that's the great thing about being a kid. Everything's possible. This film makes me feel like I'm eight years old again. Kids, tell your parents that balloon travel is possible and stop analyzing it. There's some speculation that the "frightening" abandonment in the movie would scar the kids, but seriously, those people should get potty trained and suck it up. Everything doesn't need to be sugar-coated. That's why obesity is a growing problem.

Curious George hangin' with his buddy, Jack Johnson

Iron Man 2

Cue the heavy metal music! It's Iron Man! Two!! Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) returns with his identity as iron man revealed along with an ego bigger than his new muscles. He's having the time of his life because of his shortened life span due to palladium poisoning. Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) becomes CEO of Stark Industries and Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson) becomes Tony's new assistant. Tony also gets a new arch rival, Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), who copies Iron Man's arc reactor to make an electrical whip thing. Ivan joins forces with Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), who owns a rival weapons company and gives Ivan materials in exchange for his innovation. Meanwhile, Tony Stark tries to find a substitute for palladium and ends up with a new armor. Tony and Lt. Colonel James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) become the Iron Men and battle Ivan's robot inventions.

"I want my bird."

Doesn't he look so much more menacing with that bird on his shoulder? He's like a pirate.

I was very excited for this movie. I watched Iron Man 1 not too long ago and that open ending just left me hanging. I was so disappointed with Iron Man 2. There wasn't much plot in it for Tony Stark or anyone, really. The whole movie felt like Scarlett Johansson's character: all glitz but no substance. I have no idea why she needed to be in the movie, to tell you the truth. I haven't read the comics, but I assume Natalie Rushman was more than just someone that looks pretty and flights people with her thighs. Ivan wasn't so terrible (haha). He wasn't much of a threat, especially with that new triangle arc reactor and Mr. Rhodes in Tony Stark's posse. Robert Downey Jr. did a great job portraying Tony Stark again. Iron Man 2 was just a pretty movie to look at. Cool fight scenes and good acting...with an occasional laugh. The first movie was better (it always is).

BFFs 4ever.

I found the distracting spinning thing that was on Pepper Pott's desk on Amazon.com! The comments are hilarious.