The other night I saw Transformers with the roomies. It was that or Lord of War, and having never seen Transformers, I thought I would give it a shot. For those of you who have no idea what the movie is about, it basically tells the story of two futuristic robots who have an epic battle on earth, in which the final outcome rests in the hands (quite literally) of some random kid.
As far as the making of the movie goes, the visual effects stole the show. There were only a small handful of shots where you could definitively tell there was CGI (except for the fact that these robots obviously don’t exist… yet). Now, as far as the writing goes… wow, I was stunned. I didn’t know that Transformers was supposed to be a comedy, and apparently it was because I spent half the movie laughing. I kind of felt like someone went to the Disney lot, pulled the good looking teenage stars, gave them something a four year old wrote as their first screenplay, and then started shooting rubber bullets at them telling them to read the script as it happened. As you can tell, that kind of ruined the movie for me as far as something I would want to own or see again (except for the comedic value of course).
But given better actors and writing, I think the film would have a lot more potential. I like Michael Bay’s work, but I think his writer and casting director could have done a much better job.
Kevin’s movie rating:
Good, but only time I am seeing it
Movie Rating Key:
- Best movie I have ever seen
- Absolutely incredible
- Pretty darn good
- I would watch it again
- Good, but only time I am seeing it
- Disappointing
- Not very good
- Horrendous
- Shouldn’t have been made
Last night (this morning) at 12:01, I went and saw Wall•e, the latest addition to Pixar’s family of animated features. To saw the least, it was amazing. The story was very clever (written of course by Andrew Stanton and Pete Docter), and made the idea of “robot emotion” seem feasible. Through Pixar’s creative use of humor and emotion, they made it possible to call an animated piece of metal “adorable”. That’s a feat in itself.
The film’s touching story was complemented by the studio’s usual ground-breaking animation techniques and of course another excellent score by Thomas Newman.
In addition to the feature, the new Pixar short showed before the film was fantastic! It was the story of a magician and a rabbit, and it was non-stop hilariousness.
I highly recommend that everyone go and see Wall•e at the next available and oppurtune moment. You’ll find a touching story, excellent animation, many laughs, a shout out to the Apple computer, a great score, and another smash-hit for Pixar.
Kevin’s movie rating:
Absolutely incredible
Movie Rating Key:
- Best movie I have ever seen
- Absolutely incredible
- Pretty darn good
- I would watch it again
- Good, but only time I am seeing it
- Disappointing
- Not very good
- Horrendous
- Shouldn’t have been made
The title of this post may be misleading, but it does refer to one who stays in their office for way too long. Actually, it’s about the TV show The Office. My roommates are addicted to it, to say the least. It’s not that I don’t think that it is funny or entertaining. From the episodes I have seen, it is definitely both of the above. But, the question is, how is it so addicting? What is it about the show that causes people to watch DVD after of DVD of episodes and break into hysterics?I would love to hear what you guys think.
On Thursday night, my brother Jon and I spent a combined total of $21.50 to go see the new Bourne film: The Bourne Ultimatum. Jon is not much of a movie goer (though I can say the same about myself), and as such, we had to get candy and pop to accompany our cinema adventure. I can’t remember the last time I did that. So Jon munched on Reese’s Pieces, and I slurped down a Coke while we were highly entertained by yet another Matt Damon thriller.The movie, to say the least, was a thriller. It continues the story of Jason Bourne, who is a United States assassin slowly coming out of amnesia, and discovering more about himself, his life, and his abilities. The Bourne Ultimatum finishes off the Bourne series, and I must say I extremely enjoyed the movie.The thing about the three Bourne films, and this one in particular, is not they are not action movies in the way we would consider a movie to be an action movie. The trilogy is not about shooting guns, and in The Bourne Ultimatum, there must of only been, maybe, 10 gun shots the entire film. What makes the movies action movies or thrillers is the constant unawareness of the situation. It’s a CIA movie, a spy movie, a movie about running, chasing, and hiding. But, it’s a cool spy movie. The wits of Jason Bourne add a new dimension to spy movies that makes them thrillers that are also entertaining, instead of just pure adrenaline rushes.One of my favorite parts about the movie was the soundtrack. John Powell does a great job of creating a soundtrack that is not domineering, but rather just another component to making the movie about the story and the thrills. I also enjoyed the Moby remix of “Extreme Ways” for the movie’s credits.The Bourne Ultimatum is a stupendous movie, and will certainly keep you entertained. I loved it, and I can’t wait to complete my DVD collection of the Bourne trilogy.Kevin’s movie rating:
Pretty darn good
Movie Rating Key:
- Best movie I have ever seen
- Absolutely incredible
- Pretty darn good
- I would watch it again
- Good, but only time I am seeing it
- Disappointing
- Not very good
- Horrendous
- Shouldn’t have been made
Last night, I spend $11.25 to go see the new Pixar movie Ratatouille with some of the other Development Technologies engineers on my floor.Pixar has always had just incredible feature films, and going into Ratatouille, I had really high expectations. But, after 90 minutes, not only was I not disappointed, but I was amazed. To say the least, the film was absolutely incredible. It was hilarious. The story was really well written. And of course, the animation was superb. The plot follows a rat named Remy who really knows how to cook, and how he helps an unfortunate human who does not. It was brilliant and witty, and had me just doubled over in laughter.I don’t really know how else I can compliment the movie. I have no complaints, no critique, nothing I would change. All I know is that when movie is available on iTunes, I’m adding it to my collection.Kevin’s movie rating:
Absolutely incredible
Movie Rating Key:
- Best movie I have ever seen
- Absolutely incredible
- Pretty darn good
- I would watch it again
- Good, but only time I am seeing it
- Disappointing
- Not very good
- Horrendous
- Shouldn’t have been made
For my Fourth of July, I worked. Well, not the whole day. I spent 2 hours and $8 to go be entertained by the new Bruce Willis movie Live Free or Die Hard with my roommates Matt Ronge and Dax Norman.And I was certainly entertained. Actually, I quite liked the movie. The plot followed a computer heist that cripples the country, and leaves Bruce Willis and computer hacker Justin Long trying to save the world. The story was largely unbelievable, but it took place in the future so that is some what OK. Die Hard is all about Bruce Willis doing ridiculous stunts, shooting a machine gun, and yelling “Yippee Ki Yay.” Die Hard or Live Free certainly met all of those, and took the previous Die Hard series to the next level. In fact I would place it as the best of the Die Hards.I also enjoyed the movie because of the fact that I really like Justin Long. Yeah, it probably has to do a lot with his success in the Apple “I’m a Mac” commercials.Die Hard is a fast moving, action-packed, and extremely entertaining ode to the Die Hard series, computer nerds, machine guns, and good defeating evil once again.Yippee Ki Yay.Kevin’s movie rating:
I would watch it again
Movie Rating Key:
- Best movie I have ever seen
- Absolutely incredible
- Pretty darn good
- I would watch it again
- Good, but only time I am seeing it
- Disappointing
- Not very good
- Horrendous
- Shouldn’t have been made
I just spent $12 to go see Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End with some of the Apple interns. I wanted to be social, to branch out and not be a complete and utter hermit. After two hours and 45 minutes of film, I left.Actually, I fled. I think that the movie is one of the worst films I have ever seen, if not the worst. The movie had 15 different stories lines (literally, look it up), and none of them really got resolved. It was drawn-out, boring, confusing, stupid, cliche, and terribly implemented. OK, the visual effects and music (go Hans Zimmer) were ok, but everything else was utterly horrendous. I do not recommend that you waste your time to see the movie, but rather that you save the money, buy some popcorn, and watch a movie that your love at home. Pirates of the Caribbean 3 did not deserve to be made, watched, or enjoyed. (wow, that was pretty harsh).Kevin’s movie rating:
Shouldn’t have been made
Movie Rating Key:
- Best movie I have ever seen
- Pretty good
- I would watch it again
- Good, but only time I am seeing it
- Disappointing
- Not very good
- Horrendous
- Shouldn’t have been made