Angel & Demon Movie Review

SYNOPSIS

When Robert Langdon discovers evidence of the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati -- the most powerful underground organization in history -- he also faces a deadly threat to the existence of the secret organization's most despised enemy: the Catholic Church. When Langdon learns that the clock is ticking on an unstoppable Illuminati time bomb, he jets to Rome, where he joins forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and enigmatic Italian scientist. Embarking on a nonstop hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals and even to the heart of the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra will follow a 400-year-old trail of ancient symbols that mark the Vatican's only hope for survival.


Angels and Demons commits the gross movie sin of having the plot and characters ultimately not honestly landing where they were aimed. There’s twist for twists sake. There is nothing wrong with the audience figuring out how a movie is going to end and who the bad guys are. It’s wrong to figure it out and then have everything you’ve been shown and told be twisted off the rails for the sake of a surprise ending. While watching Angels and Demons, I could feel that there was a twist coming. It was plainly apparent. Because of this, I could not take the characters in the movie at face value as they were portrayed, with the exception of Tom Hank’s Robert Langdon, who must remain a pillar of truth for anything to work. I knew that many of the characters in the movie were not going to arrive in places honestly that the narrative was leading them. If Angels and Demons had finished telling the more than interesting story that it had set out to tell, we would have had a scholarly but facinating and especially honorable movie to watch.

Review From beyondhollywood.com

17 Again Review

Story Review......
What would you do if you got a second shot at life? Class of 1989, Mike O’Donnell is a star on his high school basketball court with a college scout in the stands and a bright future in his grasp. But instead, he decides to throw it all away to share his life with his girlfriend Scarlett and the baby he just learned they are expecting. Almost 20 years later, Mike’s glory days are decidedly behind him. His marriage to Scarlett has fallen apart, he has been passed over for a promotion at work, his teenage kids think he is a loser, and he has been reduced to crashing with his high school nerd-turned-techno-billionaire best friend Ned. But Mike is given another chance when he is miraculously transformed back to the age of 17. Unfortunately, Mike may look 17 again, but his thirtysomething outlook is totally uncool in the class of 2009. And in trying to recapture his best years, Mike could lose the best things that ever happened to him


About 17 Again....
"17 Again" isn't exactly a remake, insofar as it's not based on any specific movie. But it's certainly a retread, a whacky comedy about an adult magically reverting to a younger version of himself in order to remember what's important in life. This places it firmly in the vein of "Freaky Friday" and "Vice Versa," and it isn't too different from Tom Hanks' "Big."

There's a reason these movies get updated every 10 years or so, receiving face-lifts to anchor them in a new decade and give them a contemporary feel. Wanting a do-over in life is a timeless theme in both literature and movies, and playing up the absurdities of both adult and teenage lives is always good for a laugh or two.

The movie opens with an adult Mike O'Donnell (Matthew Perry) wondering just how his life has gotten so messed up: He has been kicked out of his house by his wife, Scarlett (Leslie Mann), and forced to move in with his dorky best friend, Ned (Thomas Lennon). His children, Alex (Sterling Knight) and Maggie (Michelle Trachtenberg), ignore him — and he has been fired from his job as a drug sales rep after 16 years and zero promotions.

It turns out that Mike has always resented the fact that he didn't get to go to college on a basketball scholarship because of Scarlett's unplanned pregnancy. He thinks if he could do it all over again, things would be different and turn out right.

Then, voila! Out of thin air appears a magical janitor (Brian Doyle-Murray) who makes it happen. All of a sudden, Mike is de-aged to 17 and played for the rest of the film by Zac Efron.

Mike re-enrolls in high school with the help of Ned (who, in turn, falls head over heels for the principal) and sets about righting the wrongs in his life. He gets in touch with his children to help them sort through their problems and joins the basketball team. However, as time goes on, he realizes he doesn't want some imagined superior life. He wants his old life back.

"17 Again" isn't going to blow away audiences by deconstructing genres or through the bravura performances of its actors. But it is a reasonably entertaining time at the theater, offering something both for youngsters (especially girls) in the form of Mr. Efron and his high school antics and for their parents in the guise of Ned's amorous misadventures and obsession with geek culture.

The role of the cool kid recapturing his game is well-suited for Mr. Efron; he's not asked to stretch his acting skills too far and responds with a charming performance. Miss Mann plays the put-upon housewife with characteristic spunk and wit — and just a hint of sadness.

The hidden gem in "17 Again" is the pairing of Mr. Lennon with the high school's principal, played by Melora Hardin (Jan on "The Office"). The comic timing between the two is a real pleasure to watch.

Star Trex (2009) Movie Review

The story of a young crew’s maiden voyage onboard the most advanced starship ever created: the U.S.S. Enterprise. On a journey filled with cosmic peril, the new recruits must find a way to stop an evil being whose mission of vengeance threatens all of mankind. The fate of the galaxy rests in the hands of bitter rivals. One, James T. Kirk, is a delinquent, thrill-seeking Iowa farm boy. The other, Spock, was raised in a logic-based society that rejects all emotion. As fiery instinct clashes with calm reason, their unlikely but powerful partnership is the only thing capable of leading their crew through unimaginable danger, boldly going where no one has gone before.






Also Known As: Star Trek 11
Genres: Action/Adventure, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Adaptation and Sequel
Release Date: May 8th, 2009 (wide)
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence and brief sexual content.
Distributors: Paramount Pictures
Production Co.: Bad Robot, Kurtzman/Orci, Spyglass Entertainment Holdings, LLC
Studios: Paramount Pictures
Filming Locations: Los Angeles, California USA
Produced in:United States

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Review)

James Logan aka Wolverine and his brother Victor Creed (who will later become Sabretooth) run away together as children in the mid 1850's after Logan kills their biological father who had murdered Logan's adoptive father. After serving together in many wars they are recruited by William Stryker to serve in a special unit made up of mutants. After wiping out an African villiage, Logan quits the unit and goes off to live a life of peace in the Canadian Rockies with his girlfriend later to be known as the Silver Fox.

Six years pass for the both of them until Stryker shows up and asks Logan to come back and be a part of a new Weapon X project. Logan refuses but Creed shows up and murders Logan's girlfriend leaving him wanting revenge against his brother. Logan accepts Strykers offer to be infused with Adamantium so that he can be indestructable and go after his revenge but is double crossed by Stryker and hears him give the order to wipe his memories. Escaping before this can happen, he goes searching for Creed killing anyone who gets in his way.

After reuniting with a few members of his old team, he finds out that Stryker and Creed are actually working together to kidnap mutants and keep them in confinement working on a new project, Weapon XI and that only one person knows where their new base of operations is. Remy LeBeau aka Gambit is the only mutant to escape this place and Logan along with John Wraith go searching for him in New Orleans. They find him in a card game where Logan tries to question him but with less than desireable results. After being blasted through a wall by Gambit, Logan sees Creed standing over the dead body of Wraith and the fight is on. Right when Logan is about to get his revenge and kill Creed, Gambit comes flying in with his staff and blows everyone apart. Creed uses this distraction to escape while Logan and Gambit go at it. After showing Gambit the light (with his claws), Gambit agrees to take Logan to Three Mile Island where the facility is hidden.

Arriving at Three Mile Island by plane, Logan finds many mutant children kept prisoner by Stryker and Creed with the support of the U.S. Government. Logan confronts Stryker while he is at the finishing point of his Weapon XI project and learns the truth that Silver Fox isn't dead but was keeping and eye on him those six years and manipulating him with her mutant power of persuasion. After leaving, Fox confronts Stryker demanding the release of her sister only to be placated and told to wait. Creed comes in and Fox tries to persuade him that Stryker is only using them. Only this doesn't work and she is almost killed by Creed. Logan hears her screams and comes to her rescue almost killing Creed but being convinced by Fox that if he does that then they will be no better then Stryker. She also convinces him that she truly loves him.

Fox and Logan then go to free the children. Fox leads them out of the facility while Logan goes in search of Stryker. In a firefight, Fox is wounded and sends the children on while she goes back to look for Logan. The children make it out of the facility and are met by none other than Charles Xavier who offers them a ride in his helicopter and protection at his school.

While Logan is searching, Stryker activates Weapon XI who is a combination of all the mutants abilities with none of their weaknesses. XI and Logan's fight ranges from the inside to the outer top of a nuclear reactor and it appears Logan is outmatched until Creed shows up to help save him using the line; "No one is allowed to kill you except me..." Back to back they take on XI together until Creed grabs him by the neck, stabs him in the chest and Logan decapitates him with those claws. XI's head and body go falling into the reactor cutting chunks out of it the whole way down. Logan tells Creed that this changes nothing and they go their seperate ways.

After getting to the ground, Logan is saved from the falling debris of the reactor by Gambit. They then go their seperate ways in search for Stryker but Logan comes upon the wounded body of Fox and starts carrying her toward the plane. Stryker intercepts them and shoots Logan in the head with Adamantium bullets which are the only thing that can really "hurt" him. This knocks him out long enough for him to go after Silver Fox but she turns the tables by touching his ankle and telling him to "walk until you bleed... Then keep walking."

Gambit comes back finding Logan regaining consciousness but without any memories. Finding the body of Silver Fox, Gambit asks if Logan knows her but he doesn't. Going their seperate ways, the movie ends here but you should watch through the credits all the way. Stryker is picked up by the MP's with bloody feet for the murder of a general and Logan is last seen in an Asian bar drinking shots and trying to remember who he is

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Dominic Monaghan

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Dominic Monaghan, Ryan Reynolds

Director: Gavin Hood

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Review

Release Date: July 15, 2009 (conventional theaters and IMAX)
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: David Yates
Screenwriter: Steven Kloves
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Jim Broadbent, Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Timothy Spall, David Thewlis, Julie Walters, David Bradley, Jessie Cave, Frank Dillane, Tom Felton, Matthew Lewis, Evanna Lynch, Helen McCrory, Natalia Tena, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Bonnie Wright
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
MPAA Rating: PG (for scary images, some violence, language and mild sensuality)
Official Website: HarryPotter.com

Plot Summary: Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort's defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, the well-connected and unsuspecting bon vivant Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information. Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts. Harry finds himself more and more drawn to Ginny, but so is Dean Thomas. And Lavender Brown has decided that Ron is the one for her, only she hadn’t counted on Romilda Vane's chocolates! And then there's Hermione, simpering with jealously but determined not to show her feelings. As romance blossoms, one student remains aloof. He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.