The Toys and Cartoons are attacking the Theatres..

It seems like a trend that Hollywood is re-inventing the toys, popular back in the 80s or 90s into movies

Transformer and GI Joe are good examples.....explosive at the box-office. T2 - $400M, GI Joe - $150M. But bit poor on the storyline. Some of them are quite "noob" to be exact. It's probably difficult to have a good script based on these toys. But I wonder, why Star-trek, a boring theme movie can be re-invented with such superior story, make me wonder is these just because of shareholder interest.

But Still I enjoy both movies alots.....just that u won't be watching them again....and again though

Transfomer 2 : Revenge of the Fallen

Story goes ...Deceptcon goes to revive megatron who in-turn revive the fallen to come to earth to activiate the energy source which will allow them to conquer earth. Autobots act to prevent this from happen. Optimus was killed while saving sam and sam use the energy source key to revive optimus.

New Characters (Some of those I remember only)

Mudflag and skids, the 2 twin that transform at first as a ice-cream car, to later a Chevrolet Trax and green Chevrolet Beat

The Fallen, As the title character, he spend most of his time lying around. Only after Optimus die, was he able to fly to earth to create chao....He transform into a figher plane.

Wheelie, the Decepticon that turn autobots....kind of cute...

Devastator, the combination of the Constructicons. Huge in size but easy to destroy. 1 shot from the gunship is all it takes

The Human Actors, Shia LaBeouf plays Sam Witwicky, Megan Fox plays Mikaela Banes.

Look at the toys...these movies created....

Amour-Optimus Prime...

Iron-Heart

The Bee...aka bumblebee..

Another Toy and Cartoon Related show. Story goes...Some Company created some metal eating weapon and launch into the creating chao and controlling the world. This evil organisation is lead by the "commander". On the good ends, we have GI Joe, fighting for a good cause, stopping these from happening...they manage to do that though, but the ending suggested that there will be a sequel.

I wasn't a fan of the series. But I must say..the bad guys are stronger here. Same goes with Transformer...

He is the leader of GI Joe

Summary of all the GI Joe Characters, We have a black(good) and White(Bad) Ninja here to.

The GI Joe's Girlfriend, who was with the bad guy, but turn for the good.

What's there to see this last 4 months of the year?

120 days to be exact and we will start welcoming the new 2010. I hope it will be a much better year than 2009, both financially, work and health.

As most of my close friend know...I quite a movie buff...so what shows am I looking forward to these 120 days.? not in any particular order though.

Musicial --> Fame. Never seen the "live" version though. But I have always love musicical. Mama Mia, and Hairspray....totally enjoy it. Let's hope it does not disappoint. Looking at the Cast, looks promising..

Disaster Movie --> 2012, as they call it...where lot of religious group has predicted this day....I doubt this movie is going to enjoy great reviews. But I am in it for the great CG effects.

CG --> A Christmas Carol, Starring Jim Carrey. So Am I look at comedy or a touching Christmas story? There has been lot of adaptation of this story book though. But Disney Take should give it an added advantage...

The girls are going to love this movie...lot of hot guys in here....and a hot looking babe..as well.....Now they have Vampire and Werwolfs....I have never been into the storybooks...but I abit tempted to read it though..lol...

Another CG kinda of movie. Not sure what's about, just that there is this "blue" creature in it and what could go wrong with Jame Cameron as the director.

Family Drama --> Alvin and the Chipmucks, the Sequel. Look like Alvin and folk has found love?

Summer Movies : Taking of Peham 123

Heard that this was a remade of an old movie shot in the 1974. I have never seen the early version. Was free so ask a friend out to enjoy a movie. The Taking of Peham 123 (Aka name of the train they hijack)

Cast

It Star, John Travolta as Bernard Ryder / Dennis Ford / Mr. Blue. These are the name he use throughout the movie to different person. He is the one who hijack Peham 123 and put the president career at risk as well as those of Denzel Washington at risk as well. He wasn't extremely smart here. He seem like a sadist here....not afraid to die. But I must say, He will real good here as the Villian here.

Sad thing I intro the Villian in the show first. Denzel Washington as Walter Garber, the New York City subway dispatcher, His job is to ensure train get moving and regulate the traffic along NYC busy train or subway system. He was damn "Suay" to have encounter John Travolta and having such a big responsibilty place under his shoulder. But he seem to have aged quite alot here in this show and look really fat. (See picture)

John Turturro as Camonetti, the lieutenant of the Emergency Service Unit of the NYPD of hostage negotiations.He is the one who provided the comedic moment here in the show. His Face does seem to point to a career in a funny role...

James Gandolfini as The Mayor of New York City, who is under heavy pressure to address the hostage crisis. He seem like a "bo Chay" here....wonder is this a typical politician behaviour in the States or it just for the movies? lol

Story
Simpy Story I must say. Started of with the regular day to day event. Then the hijacker came to the station and just hijack a train which happen to be called Peham 123. It really make me wonder is it really that easy to hijack a train in NYC? pointing a gun is all it takes

Once the Train is hijacked, the hostage are the focus of the story. one particular guy is off interest as he manage to leave is notebook on, with an internet connection to stream live video. How stupid of the hijacker not to realise that could be a potential downfall for them...(Lame)

They demanded for a sum of money and will start Killing hostage if they demand is not met within a certain timeframe. Here the Depatcher will be killed next....(not shown though)

The Police start to send backup down the tunnel. Some misfired happens and some of the hijacker got shot....making John really upset.

All the while he is maintaing communication with Denzel Washington via the train comm system. and The latter are having help for the hostage negotiations from the experts.But Seem like only Denzel can keep John occupied. lol

After going through a series of process to get the money the hijacker wanted. Denzel Washington wss task to bring the money to him. He also became the unlikely hero as he know the operation really well and got the John and got him killed. Some scene are really not understandable as during the ending portion, when Denzel Washington was holding a gun at John. The Police really took their own sweet time to get to him....lol

Worth the Money?
Well. It turn out better than expected. But nothing really fantastic though. Predictable storyline but with strong acting and good pace overall. I give it a 6/10. Go for it as it is enjoyable though not a must see.

Summer Movies : Night at the Museum 2

The Sequel to Night at the Muesum, this time round focus on another museum in DC, The Smithsonian. Though I have been to DC years ago, have never been to this muesum before, plus I am not really a museum person....and seldom visit any during travelling.

Story

Nothing particularly new with the story, in order to continue the story where it first left off, they started with the Natural History Museum closing for renovation and the exhibits moving to the Smithsonian. However, the Tablet that give them life will not move there and not all the exhibit will go over.

However, the tablet was stolen by the monkey (Dixter) and now the exhibit @ Smithsonian are alive and attacking them (Aka the NHM's exhibits)...This start the story for the whole 145mins film

Characters/Cast

Ben Stiller is the main Character here, Larry Daley, here, his job is to rescue all the exhibit and bring them back to the Natural History Museum with slight help from his son and the beautiful lady with her...which he kinda fall in love with...

Theodore Roosevelt (Robin William) has a lesser presence here, cos he was not brought over to the Smithsonian and with the tablet stolen, he was reduce to a talking scrupture with half a body...

The bad guy here is Hank Azaria as Kahmunrah who according to the film details also acted as /The Thinker/Abraham Lincoln.
Here he is kinda stupid, wanted to take over the world and open the door to bring in his evil friends (Birdmen) from another dimension, using the tablet. Of course he failed to succeed, mainly due to his stupidness...lol...Also the Statue of Abraham Lincoln from the Lincoln Memorial came to life and walk over to save them from those birdy guys...He ended up banish to the underworld...via the door which he opened...

His company of evil-doing includes

Alain Chabat as Napoleon Bonaparte and Christopher Guest as Ivan The Terrible (Grey guy)

Both are really funny and stupid, Napoleon here appear to be a coward and a cry baby...

Even Darth Varder and Oscar...came to audition to join them ....

The Only Lady in the show....I meant Watchable ones...

The most interesting to watch character must be Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart. The First women pilot. She still think she is in that Era. She make the show worth watching. She got to fly Larry home.....though she know that she cannot be with Larry. She Later appear at the Natural Museum as a patron....how interesting...

Summary

The show was't very bad, it is just not as funny as the original and though they have added in more

characters into this one, still it did not make it funny enough. Most of the jokes are not funny at all,

though you would be quite satisfied with the amount of CG put into this one....make me wonder how

advanced in CG we have become. I hope Amy Adams goes on to be a big star in the future, she does show potential both as a serious actress and a comedian...lol

A 5/10 will be good enough for the show....

Boxoffice 2009 so Far

1. Transformer 2 - $350Million and counting..Review coming right up

2. Up - $276Million - Yet to seen this one yet....probably in Sep

3. Star Trek - $253Million. Seen it ...Best show so far...

4. The Hangover - $227Million - Comedy, yet to seen, wonder how come it is doing so well

5. Monster Vs Alien - $197Million - Crappy....

6. X-Men Origin - Wolverine - $179Million, Popcorn movie...

7. Night at the Museum 2 - $171Million, Ok but not funny enough

8. Fast and Furious 4 - $155Million, Love the Cars!!

9. Paul Blart: Mall Cop - 146Million, Funny

10. Taken - $145Million, Yet to Seen

I suspect another 2-3 movies will be out of the Top 10, in the coming weeks, With Ice Age 3, Harry Potter and probably GI Joe taking over soon....

Summer Movies : Monster and Alien

The First CG Toon Released by Dreamwork Animation this year. But I must say I was quite disappointed with it. The Story is just too simply and though the CG and drawing + the voice over is good, it just feel like ..."been there...done that" .....I catch this show while waiting for a "Chicken" running it's first ever night run...

Story

Simple and predictable. About a lady about to get married, hit by a metoerite and become super huge and was capture by Human Scientist.

She met fellow monsters in the lab and got to know them.

The Alien, came to conquer Earth, and the last weapon they have against it was the Monsters.

The Heroine, finally have to fight the Alien, and end up defeating it

Thus start the story...about these misfits, saving the world and making a fool of themselves while doing that, I must say the jokes are way too Lame to make me laugh...

and the ending kinda suggest a sequel, but I think it is better for Dreamworks to start thinking of a credible and good storyline instead of rely on Stars' voices and 3D to attract audience....(We are'nt that stupid anymore..lol)

The only saving grace for this show was the highly-detailed CG rendering...and of course the Star-studded Voicing Cast...

Voice-Cast

Reese Witherspoon as Susan Murphy, aka Ginormica

Seth Rogen as B.O.B. (Bicarbonate Ostylezene Benzoate)

Hugh Laurie as Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D

Rainn Wilson as Gallaxhar

Will Arnett as The Missing Link

Summer Movies : Terminator Salvation

Didn't expect to see a Part 4, to the Terminator Series. I thought they have already decided to close shop on this one....Last I heard, they are making a few more...look like we can expect Terminator V and VI.

The Trailer look impressive enough to give it a try for $10 at the theatres.

Story

I always thought, Terminator Series is always about the character John Coner, the one who is suppose to lead a rebel against the machine. I was bit surprise that this movie focus much lesser of him compare to Part 3

Though I must say, Christian Bale, fit the role really well, just that the script doesn't seem to put him on focus. His Screen time also seem lesser

They introduce what we have already seen in Part 3, a Humaniod, Aka (Man + Machine), in the form of a man,Marcus Wright, he was introduce as a prisoner waiting for the death sentence when some scientist ask him to be part of the experiment - Man Merge Machine.

References were make to Part 1,of a character is, Kyle Reese, who in part 1, was send from the future to protect the young John Coner, The machine know about his importance and decided to hunt him down. (Kyle is the one in the background)

Story was pretty ok, though I felt it put lot of screen time on Sam Worthington, Who play the humaniod. But I must say, he show potential to be a future big star, much in the line of StarTrek - Chris Pine, Transformer - Shia LaBeouf . These star are likely going to make it big. He was very convincing as a humaniod, initial kinda "feelingless" to a more human form later toward the end.

Honestly, I see myself enjoying the show more with both of them on screen, than just seeing John Coner. I felt bit "sad" for Christian bale after doing so well for Batman have to downgrade himself here to just acting angry and worry....

CG and Effects

A large reason of seeing the movie is due to CG they use to create all those robots and fighting sequence. I am not disappointed here, though it have the "seen that" kinda feeling.

The way they animate the robot was impressive though we seen something similar in part 3.

Was also wondering when why are we human still using machine guns, in the year 2018, when the robot have seem move on to more powerful weapons. No wonder they find it so hard to defeat the machines....furthermore, I think the machine are getting smarter, at time ..better than their makers...

Something new they introduce here must be the "motor-machine", cool effects, though, they are kinda stupid.

Overall, it was still an entertaining movie, I give it a 6/10. Sam worthington make it all worthwhile to see the show. But too bad, he isn't going to be in the sequel. The CG although impressive are still kinda normal, couple with a relative short and weak script typical of action movies, I was wonder why would they still want to spend on all the CG, they should have focus on the story in the same way, Startrek did.

Just an update of the current 2009 Top 10 Movies (Jun 20th)

1. Star Trek - $240Million - Best Movie so far this year

2. Up - $228Million - Yet to seen this, overtaking ST soon

3. Monster Vs Alien - $196Million - Crappy, wonder how come it still earn so much

4. The Hangover - $178Million - Yet to seen this, look like some slapstick comedy

5. X-men Origin : Wolverine - $177Million - Not too bad, pop-corn movie

6. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian - $155Million - Not as good as the original

7. Fast and Furious - $155Million - Great, if u like sportcars

8. Paul Blart: Mall Cop - $146Million - Funny and witty, saw it on rental though

9. Taken - $144Million - Yet to Seen

10. Angel and Demon - $125Million - Good, but not as good as davinci

11. Terminator Salvation - $115Million - Flawed, but still watchable