Joe, You're Cool!

The last big stop on summer, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. The trailer looked very cool and this is a must-see movie of August. The movie is based on Hasbro's action figures--similar stuff like Transformers. G.I. Joe is directed by Stephen Sommers, the director of The Mummy, one of my childhood movies. So, I saw the super cool poster and watched the movie.

The story is about a secret elite team who faced a major threat from the terrorist organization Cobra. Cobra was backed by an ambitious businessman James McCullen. McCullen made an advanced warhead with Nanomite--some kind of microscopic metal-consuming bugs. The secret team, G.I.Joe, needed to save the world if that Nanomite falls to the wrong hands. McCullen with his evil mind, worked on both sides-the good and the bad. He had an ambition to be the hero of the world and made his family name remembered.

The movie was so action-packed and cool. The action started right from the beginning until the end. The movie was so loud and intensely decorated with Alan Silvestri's score. The story itself was very interesting though it seemed to take elements from The Day The Earth Stood Still with that cannibal bug. The story lacks motive for Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Destro. Why did he become Destro? Why did he became obsessed with Nanomites? The casts were quite star studded from Dennis Quaid, Channing Tatum, and Sienna Miller. Miller was so different from her other characters in her other movies. In the first bit of the movie, Tatum was very bad. How come he became a soldier with the attitude of a lazy boy? But after he joined G.I. Joe, he got better. Unfortunately, the CGI effects in this movie were not good enough. The Eiffel Tower scene was quite good though. But most of them were still visible to the eyes as a computer effect unlike previous effects-filled summer movies such as Terminator Salvation, Star Trek, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. However one thing did catch my eye: Rachel Nichols. She was marvellous with her red hair. The way she drove her bike in Paris (although I think it was a CGI), was incredibly stunning. She definitely became one of my favourite. As the ending was very open, a sequel is a must. So, I'm waiting for the second installment with Rachel Nichols returning as Scarlett. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: rated B+.

Up and Away!

I would never miss a Pixar movie which I always find very interesting and sometimes heart breaking, except Ratatouille which I missed. Last year we had WALL-E, one of the best movies of last year. Pixar always comes up with a really great story and smart characters which makes the movie worthful to watch. This year we are going to South America with an old man and a five-year-old wilderness ranger in Up.

The story told us about young Carl Fredericksen, a boy with vast imagination who idolized an explorer named Charles Muntz. Muntz was convicted of fraud of bringing back a skeleton of a giant bird from Paradise Falls. But Fredericksen was still a die-hard fan of him. Then he met a girl who was also a fan of Muntz too. They eventually got married but they could not have a baby. So, they had a dream to live in Paradise Falls. But that never happened. On the present day, Fredericksen's house was surrounded by a mall construction. He would not sell his land to be a part of the mall. So, he embarked on a journey with his house by balloons, many balloons. Unpredictably, a talkative broken-home boy named Russell came along with him. In Paradise Falls they went through jungle, chased by talking dogs, met a giant colorful bird, and encountered the long lost explorer Charles Muntz.

Once again, Pixar made it mark. Up is so sweet and delightful. It is also funny and enchanting. The real magic here is the flying house. Fredericksen is a very strong 76-year-old man and Russell unexpectedly was a boy with many troubles. That made this movie so interesting. It was about dream and goals. Russell was so eager to have his last wilderness badge, he would do anything to get it. Fredericksen was an adventurous man, he wanted to fulfill his promise to his wife. Some things are out of logic here but what the hell? It made a perfect movie. Defintely Oscar material, one of the best movies of the year, no doubt this is the best animated feature this year. One more thing, watching this in 3D is really a waste of money. The usual presentation will do just fine. Looking forward to next year's Toy Story 3! Up: rated A

Public Favourite Number One

Summer is usually a time when special-effects-filled movies are released and harvest money. Yet this year, there is one movie out of the mainstream line: Public Enemies. The good reason to see this is just one: It's Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, and Marion Cotillard so it must be flawless.
The movie tells about the story of one of America's criminals named John Dillinger. Dillinger had been caught several times but still managed to get out of the prison. This made the Feds furious. So, the FBI put a special team with special funds to get Dillinger or to kill him rightaway. Dillinger was smart and also kind of a rogue Robin Hood. He was admired by Chicago people who gave him a place to hide. He was not the type of criminal who greedily take all the money in the bank. However, the leader of the Dillinger Squad, Melvin Purvis who succeeded killing another gangster, Pretty Boy Floyd ambitiously and smartly pushed Dilinger and his friends to the corner. He even captured Billie Frechette, Dillinger's girl, and made use of her to be a bait to seize Dillinger. Foolishly, John Dillinger, dubbed as public enemy number one was invisible to people and police. Dillinger managed to watch a Looney Tunes movie with all the people and wander freely to a police station and even asked a football match score to a bunch of police. Dillinger was only known to several cops only. Sadly, Dillinger was betrayed by his used-to-be-safehaven-friend and shot dead infront of the theatre.
The movie is a serious Oscar contender for next year. To me, Johnny Depp gave one of his best performance and so did Marion Cotillard with her American accent. I do hope Johnny Depp get an Oscar finally. Christian Bale, as always, played his part seriously. There was also a very little of Channing Tatum who played Pretty Boy Floyd, his face was barely visible. I thought Tatum would get a quite big portion there. Director Michael Mann was great at this kind of movie as he helmed Heat and Miami Vice previously. The movie is also decorated with wonderful oldies melody which includes Bye Bye Blackbird sang by Diana Krall. The movie was very intense and thrilling with its old rifle battle. Undoubtedly this is one of the best movies of 2009. Public Enemies: rated A.

The Magic Continues

Harry Potter movies have always been favourites. Especially the sixth movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince which was delayed for 6 months. The movie became highly anticipated in the summer of 2009. This was strengthen by the early critics which gave 3.5 stars out of four and even Vatican gave their praise to this. There are always these kind of hype to this wizard boy.

The story continues from the previous adaptation. Harry Potter now attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on his sixth year. It was told that Professor Severus Snape made a vow to protect the heir of the Malfoy clan, Draco Malfoy to do the task given to him by Lord Voldemort. As always, new teacher emerged. This year was Professor Horace Slughorn, teaching Potions. It turned out that Headmaster Dumbledore did not summon Slughorn for the purpose of teaching only but also to discover a secret in the past.

The movie started in the manner of mystery and coolness. Unfortunately, sometimes the movie degradated into a unneeded romance. The romance's portion is somehow bigger than the important stuff. The movie lost its point at some part. Thanks for the actors' well performance it was covered a little. According to me, director David Yates which helmed the 5th movie also, missed his cue to deliver the important parts of the story. In my opinion, Yates made a terrible mistake not to show the Quidditch incident in the 5th movie. To people who did not read the series, it would be a question of why did Harry not playing the Seeker in Quidditch? Yates has acted selfishly to show the right tone and everything but resulting in total strangeness. The part of the great battle between Dumbledore's Army and Death Eaters which did not happen in the movie was very disappointing. Without the battle, Ron and Hermione looked useless to Harry and Hogwarts seemed to have no defense having Death Eaters walking in its walls. It was such a waste not to introduce the werewolf Fenrir Greyback whom appeared ferociously in the book. It was also a waste to not explore the madness of Bellatrix Lestrange whom I found very amusing and super. I wished director David Yates was not this selfish when he helm the two movies of the 7th part. Harry's scar hardly appear very clear in the movie and in only one scene did it appear so clear and thick. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: (when it could get an A) rated B.

Cool Age

For this summer, only one animated movie took my attention: Disney Pixar's Up. Things change when you get free movie tickets! The movie featured was Blue Sky's Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Actually I was not keen on this sequel, recalling the Ice Age 2: The Meltdown bored me.

The story of this third movie in the Ice Age franchise was that Manny and Ellie, the mammoth couple, was having a baby. The blunt sabre-tooth tiger Diego was losing his strength and was going to separate himself from his friends. The sloth Sid found three dinosaur eggs beneath the icy surface where they stayed. You must all know what would happen. Yes, the mother of the dinosaur babies came looking for her stolen children. The mother took home her children and also their 'stepmother'. So, as good-hearted friends Manny, pregnant Ellie, Diego, along with the twin Possums Crash and Eddie went to rescue Sid to the realm of dinosaurs below them. The dinosaurs kingdom was strangely packed with healthy, extremely gigantic, alive dinosaurs. The rescue team was helped by Buck, the ill-mental, pirate-eyed, dino-hunting weasel.

The story might be clichy but the way of telling it: it rocks. Maybe if there was no Simon Pegg voiced weasel Buck, the movie would be dull. I mean, who wants to watch a dumb sloth, a friend-shooing mammoth, and a 'vegetarian' tiger? According to me, Buck was the star of the movie. The good humor, the good movie scenes came from Buck with his delicate British accent. As for the animation, I think Hollywood movie industries could do better with this, just don't stop improving. With the usual friends forever theme, I think this is the best Ice Age movie compared to the previous two. Big contender for Up and Monsters vs. Aliens. Deep in my heart, I regret I did not watch this in 3D presentation. Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs: rated A-.

Living the Ink

How does a book tell the book and the book-adapted-movie tell the book which tells the book too? Well it's Inkheart. If you judged the cover, you must feel it is satisfiying. There were Brendan Fraser, Academy Award winners Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent, Paul Bettany, Andy Serkis (who 'played' Gollum) and a very little of Jennifer Connelly.

The story was about Mortimer who had the ability of bringing characters from storybooks to life by reading them out loud. These kind of people who had this ability were known as Silvertongues. hen he read a book titled Inkheart, the characters were brought alive and his wife got into the storybook world. Unfortunately, the book to bring those characters back and to save his wife was extremely rare. He discovered that the antagonist part from the book, Capricorn had built an army and a castle full of imaginary and real monsters brought to life. Not only Capricorn ambitiously dreamt of ruling the world, he also held captive of Mortimer's wife.

If you watched this based on the trailer, you must been fooled by the cool trailer. Actually Inkheart resembles a good story but unfortunately weak. In the end of the story, Mo's daughter, Meggie could write and read her writing and made it happen. Why didn't Mo write and save his wife at the first place? Also, why should Capricorn required Mo or Meggie to be his Silvertongue? he could use Darius who was more stupid and easily fooled, just make him read the whole thing and it should be fine. Furthermore, the special effects were still visible as fake. There are also good things though such as the actors' acting, they were quite well. Paul Bettany looked cool as Dustfinger. Inkheart: rated C-

I've Got Garuda On My Chest!

I saw Garuda Di Dadaku along with other families who brought all of their children inside a full house 220-seat-theatre. Unlike if you watch this in a place where Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen also play, this movie would be filled with less than 50 people who really want to enjoy it. In my opinion, children who watch this movie was encouraged by their parents or their proud nationality. Such a contrast if compared to spoilt, noisy little children who watched TF2 without really knowing the story itself.
The story of this movie is about a boy named Bayu (Emir Mahira) whose father was a soccer player. Bayu lived with his mother and his ambitious grandfather (Ikranagara). Inside his heart, Bayu knew that he was a born soccer player, so with the help of his friends, he applied to Arsenal Soccer School. From that prestigious soccer school, he became more excited to join the U-13 Indonesian Soccer Team. However, he needed to keep these things secret from his grandfather who despised soccer very much.
The movie started energetically with the song by the band Netral titled the same as the movie. The story of the movie is encouraging, in a big quantity also quality. There is genuinely entertaining funny moments also. However, according to me, there is one scene that is unneeded. The scene where Darma's father tried to bribe the coach Johan, it doesn't relate to the movie or maybe there's a message there: you can not buy your way, especially when you're too old. One confusing thing also: did the coach already cross out Bayu's name from the team? How can Bayu come to the team again? Despite those things, Garuda Di Dadaku is one of Indonesia's quality movie of all time. Furthermore, there are also other good movies releasing this summer like Ketika Cinta Bertasbih and King. Garuda Di Dadaku: graded B+

An All-out Robotic Wars: Bad Idea

The first Transformers (2007) was an absolute masterpiece. It was cool and great. It made the sequel: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen became highly anticipated. I was crazy about the movie before it came out. The trailers promised that there would be high-quality action like the first movie and yes there was.

The story of the TF2 was that in 17.000 B.C., an alien robot landed on Earth. The name was The Fallen, he was a Prime. He brought with him a weapon that would suck the Sun. His plan didn't go well because other Primes disagree with him. Back to modern times, the Autobots had joined forces with the US Army, making NEST whose goal was to terminate all Decepticons. Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) was going to college and met strange college friends. Sam found a small piece of the Cube which still held power to energize things like kitchen appliances into transforming little robots. The small piece made Sam had a knowledge about Cybertron, the robots' planet. And so, the resurrected Megatron along with its Decepticons (which were unnamed and unintroduced) plus the Fallen were battling the many (and also some unnamed and unintroduced) Autobots once again in the eternal battle of the two high-tech machinery alien races.

Start with the positives, the action in the movie is still great and still cool. Also there's Megan Fox who appeared hotter than in the first movie. Shia LaBeouf also great as always. The transforming yellow Camaro Bumblebee was damn sexy just like in the first one. The negatives: there were way too many robots here. It's a pity that Michael Bay didn't give a chance to properly introduce the new Autobots and Decepticons. I guess 46 robots is too hard to introduce anyway. furthermore, there were clearly too many unneeded jokes, especially Judy Witwicky. Some opinions by myself: i think the Autobots had gone rogue, really rogue this time and somebody just got to explain how did the transformers learned how to change into human. I hope that Transformers 3 will get better and hopefully to be the same like the original Transformers. (C+)

What did they say about this movie?

"...a horrible experience of unbearable length, briefly punctuated by three or four amusing moments." Chicago Tribune - (D)

"...it knows how to feed your inner 10-year-old's appetite for destruction." E! Weekly - (B)

"Transformers: The Revenge of The Fallen is beyond bad, it carves out its own category of godawfulness." Rolling Stones - (F)

by: Marcel

First Post

This is the first post in this blog. I planned that this blog is full with movie reviews. So, wait for the reviews. :).