Theater Review: Transformers 3

I can hear the naysayers already. Why would you ever fork over the money to see this in the theaters?

Well, as much as I enjoy the Oscar-worthy films and the films with a lot of heart, story and dialogue, every once in a while I just love seeing a movie with amazing visual effects, fight scenes and stuff that blows up.

I know exactly what I am going to get with Transformers 3 and it honestly didn't disappoint me in that aspect.

A quick rundown of the film, it has been a few years since our last encounter and Sam (Shia LaBeouf) has graduated college and finds himself searching for a job. One of his complaints is he has saved the world twice and can't even land a job.

Gone is Sam's former girlfriend, Mikaela (Megan Fox). It isn't exactly stated why they broke up, but they take plenty of shots at her (no doubt because of her feud with Michael Bay). However, don't cry for Sam because he somehow manages to snag another hottie in Carly (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) - even though I felt she wasn't the best choice she fit in pretty well.

The main story goes a little something like this, during the first moon landing the United States located a crash on the moon of an Autobot ship that apparently contained Sentinel Prime (Leonard Nimoy) - on this ship are pillars that allow the transformers to open a portal and recreate their lost home of Cybertron.

Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) and the other Autobots head to the moon to see if Sentinel Prime is still alive and still in possession of the pillars - and try to do so before they get into the wrong hands of Megatron (Hugo Weaving) and the other Decepticons.

That is pretty much the premise of the film and I have to admit it was much better than the second.

All of the major characters from the first two films return, including Lennox (Josh Duhamel), Simmons (John Turturro), Epps (Tyrese Gibs0n) and Sam's parents, Ron (Kevin Dunn) and Judy (Julie White).

New characters that played an important role were Dylan (Patrick Dempsey), Mearing (Frances McDormand), and Dutch (Alan Tudyk) - who in my opinion was hilarious. John Malkovich and Ken Jeong were also added, but in much smaller roles.

I felt the battle scenes in this film were far superior to any of the first two. The panned back a bit and allowed you to actually see the fights and who is actually fighting.

Overall, I got exactly what I was looking for - a great summer, popcorn flick. Plus, the story was a bit better than the second - which was a total bonus.

Grade:

Theater Review: Cars 2

There are a ton of naysayers out there who say that the original Cars film is not worthy of the Pixar name. They say it is the worst of the Pixar films - which technically still isn't a bad thing.

I, on the other hand, have watched Cars about 20 times thanks to my 4-year old son. I have to admit, after the first viewing I was probably having the same thoughts as many of you, but on further views I have really learned to love Pixar's red-headed stepchild.

So, when Cars 2 was announced I was very eager to take my family to see the film. And, I wasn't disappointed.

The gang's all back, led by Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and Tow Mater (Larry the Cable Guy). The lone missing character is Doc Hudson, who appears to have landed in that junk yard in the sky - which is a nice ode to Paul Newman, who passed away between the movies. Fillmore, however, does return - with a new voice after the death of George Carlin.

Anyway, the plot goes a little something like this. Sir Miles Axelrod (Eddie Izzard) has created a new green fuel Allinol, and plans to show just how great it is with a three races - Japan, Italy and England. Joining the races is Italy's hot racecar, Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro), who manages to rope McQueen into joining the race.

McQueen brings along Mater, Fillmore, Sarge (Paul Dooley), Luigi (Tony Shalhoub) and Guido (Guido Quaroni) as his pit crew. Mater is a fish out of water - and embarrasses McQueen on a number of occasions - and accidentally gets mistaken for an American spy and joins Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) and Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer) as they attempt to find a criminal mastermind.

The film feels like two separate stories being told at the same time, Mater's spy game and McQueen's race. However, both come together in a good way.

I enjoyed the action sequences in the film and it was amazing to look at. The racing scenes were beautifully created - seeing the three different race courses in the different countries.

Although a little Mater goes a long way, I didn't get too Matered out, like I thought I would. This was mostly his story - McQueen's story was told in the first film. And, it was enjoyable.

Again, it will be attacked - I know it will be. No, it is not the best Pixar film - but I don't feel anything can touch Toy Story. But, it is not a road bump either - it has a great, touching story about the meaning of friendship. And, enough action to appease the spy junkies.

Attack it if you must - but my son and I will watch it another 30 times, and enjoy it more with each watch.

Grade:

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

I have to admit, I was very pleasantly surprised when I walked out of the theater after taking this film in. I had heard arguments from both sides, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen takes place two years after the conclusion of the first film. The Autobots are still calling Earth home and are actually helping a new branch of the military called NEST, along with Major Lennox (Josh Duhamel) and Master Seargent Epps (Tyrese Gibson). Their main objective is tracking down Decepticons hidden on the planet and terminate them.

Meanwhile, Sam (Shia LaBeouf) is heading off to college and is forced to leave his uberhot girlfriend, Mikaela (Megan Fox) behind - although they do try the long distance relationship via webcam.

Of course, something goes wrong just before Sam leaves for college and the allsparks information is downloaded into his brain after he touches one of the two remaining shards from the cube.

This is where everything begins, and the action picks up as the Decepticons try to capture Sam yet again to gather this information - and finish what was started hundred of years ago by The Fallen.

I am not here to spoil this film for anyone, so I will the information at that.

Let's just say that I was pretty impressed with everything. I know that this isn't a masterpiece in terms of dialogue and plot, and all of that - but that is not the intent of the film, and for those people going in expecting Gone With the Wind 2, then your disappointment is on you.

This is a pure summer blockbuster (a popcorn flick). And boy did it deliver.

The action was pretty much nonstop, and despite how everything unfolded, I actually enjoyed the way things came together.

Not to mention, the film was pretty darn hilarious as well. I have read reviews that Mudflap and Skids was blatant racism - I would agree that it may appear that way - but they were still pretty darn funny (Note: I read that someone was up in arms that this was a knock on African Americans when one of the twins said they can't read - just wanted to make it clear that they didn't say the couldn't read, just that they didn't read much).

Also, the inclusion of a remote controlled truck known as Wheelie, also had some great one-liners in the film. And Sam's parents (Kevin Dunn and Julie White) along with Agent Simmons (John Turturro) were also a lot funnier in this film than in the previous.

A few things that did bother me, however, was the inclusion of yet another hottie, Alice (Isabel Lucas), and everything about her just being sort of written off very quickly. Plus, Sam's new college roommate, Leo (Ramon Rodriguez) didn't really have a lot to do with anything except whine a lot - not sure if he was really needed. Finally, Wheelie's disappearance. He was a pretty big part of everything once he arrived on the screen, then is somehow missing during the final part of the movie without any real reason.

That's pretty much the bulk of the things that bothered me. I wouldn't say this film was better than the first, but it did have more action and more comedy.

If you want to enjoy a movie for that alone, I highly recommend it.

Grade:

You Don't Mess with the Zohan

I had a few moments last night while eating dinner and finishing up a few things around the house, so I tossed in You Don't Mess with the Zohan.

The film stars Adam Sandler as Scrappy Coco/The Zohan. He is a military phenomenon for Israel. But, he no longer enjoys the fighting - he has longed for being a hairdresser under his idol Paul Mitchell.

During an assignment to track down his nemesis The Phantom (John Turturro), The Zohan allows The Phantom to believe he is dead so that he can escape to America.

Once in America, he changes his look and his name, and takes a job as a hair sweeper at a small beauty salon - after getting turned down by everyone else, including Paul Mitchell.

It isn't long before one of the salon's stylists quits, and Coco jumps at the chance to cut hair - and all of the ladies absolutely love his style - and of course the happy endings.

The owner of the salon, Dalia (Emmanuelle Chriqui), soon begins to fall for Coco and vice-versa. But, Dalia is from Palestine, the mortal enemy if Coco's Israel.

All the while this is going on, a businessman Walbridge (Michael Buffer), is trying to force out all of the local businesses in order to build a large mall. But, none of the patrons are budging - so he gets creative. He hires people to vandalize local businesses and disguise themselves as either Palestinian or Israeli.

This forces both sides to blame each other for vandalization - and again has the two countries at war, this time on US soil.

The movie was actual pretty enjoyable. I must say I was not expecting much, which is why I might have actually enjoyed it - I had low expectations. Sandler's accent is a laugh, but pretty much everyone who had to pretend to do an accent did it pretty awful.

There were also the cameos throughout the film, like Chris Rock, Kevin James and John McEnroe. Missing, however, were Sandler's usual compadres Peter Dante, Allen Covert and Jonathan Loughran.

Another person I was not expecting to see - Dave Matthews as a redneck racist, gaybasher. His roll was pretty hilarious - especially the final scene.

Is this Sandler's best work? No, but it was a pretty good watch for the most part.

Grade: