Reviews

Everyone has their share of good and bad remarks about this movie. But i have to honestly say reading the novels and actually seeing, "Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" Then watching the the three movies including this one i can say the Indy franchise is very story driven. What most people don't understand about this story line is that its set in years of his life and being that this movie was set in 1957, he was in his mid fifties if not older; And for those that haven't read the books chronicling his adventures i'm sure you would see that aliens are far more less than most of the stuff he's faced.

But anyways, The storyline might be okay at most being that its not fully connected to the Real crystal skulls but moves the idea to a different matter; but the action is still there; instead of fighting Nazi's he's facing Russians its a change of pace but the premise is still functional; its good to see old faces from the original adventures(I.E. Marion Ravenwood) better her than that loud ass and VERY annoying Willie Scott (I.E. Temple of doom). A lot of people complain that being that Harrison ford is a bit old to play this role again is a contradiction to the years that it was set; You have to understand this is going by a chronological aspect of his life until he reaches his older yet one eyed self (watch young Indy chronicles). I do agree some parts of the movie was a bit useless and some outlines were already established but yet they repeat themselves over like they are trying to jam it into people's minds. What I Don't agree is the fact there wasn't really much use for CGI in most places only in some parts so one can't complain about too much CGI in this film; unlike SOME movies that Whore on the CGI (*Ahem* Mummy: TOTDE).

But all in all this is a fun movie that didn't really try hard to make the adventure stick; But did its job to make the movie a fun ride it wasn't so deeply horror stoked like temple of doom, but it was just as breezy as Raiders and character oriented as the novels that portray the hero with the infamous bull-whip and hat. I think this movie was interestingly fun without trying too hard but then again not hard enough . one would say the mummy 3 was better than this movie and now that i've seen this film a couple of times and read the books and see the young Indy chronicles i can now say this movie was better than the mummy and i have more respect for the Indy time line and character(s)involved.

6/10 (An okay movie but there were some consistencies with this film)

Around August in 1945 was a day that changed not just two towns in japan but the world as well; what caused after that set up a lot of tragedy as well as a lot of fears for the future one that even Einstein and Oppenheimer feared the worst.

"White light/Black rain" is another Strong, thought provoked, Gritty journey into the nature of man. As a African-American man that actually had a chance to visit the Nagasaki Peace Memorial park it did bring a lot to me to actually walk the park itself and try to hold in some emotion and not cry in the process. But seeing the Documentary I had to let it out and this is a man saying that i cried for their generations beforehand that went thru the experience and the lives and families they have lost...the images throughout the film will have anyone that watch this give some emotion one way or another; the part that got to me was one of the survivors that watched her sister jump in front of the train due to radiation poisoning and her reaction when she tried to argue with an American solider who couldn't understand her but just smiled...it made a person like me angry at that though.

Around 140,000 people and an additional 70,000 died in the wake of this as well as the aftermath that would make the events of 9/11 feel like a cakewalk in comparison; its a strong realization of how human nature reaches a boiling point and set off a chain that will change the future...if anything this film is very thought provoked and will have anyone that view it either weep, or think and i recommend this film to anyone that wants to see a dark side of history that this generation is seeming to forget slowly but surely.

10/10- For a lot of powerful and scary images that will hit your senses in one way or another and the survivors and there stories from different points of view but all fall into the same fate, its a story that needs to be told but its also a story that every human needs to learn from.

After seeing Iron-man my first thought was that this is going to be the start to great summer movies...then i saw Indiana Jones and even though i was anticipated to see it, i was shot down by very poorly scripted story, and bad directions that could of made that movie an instant classic...but then, "The Dark knight" re leaved my doubts and yet much like anyone who loved the first and second, "Mummy" movies saw the trailer for, "The mummy 3 and thought...this movie is going to be the S**t. Well i got a chance to see Mummy 3 and I'm sorry i went into that theater with a mindless wonder and even still....this movie failed to capture me like the others...but for those that read my reviews i will give you the benefits of this movie before i set off with the negative so are you ready here we go:

The mummy 3 started off pretty strong (but i have to be honest it felt like the director was trying to recreate the original but in a Asian stand point) continues the saga of the O'Connell's as they face a mid-life crisis...basically the courageous Rick O'Connell (Brandon Frasier) is now a failed fisherman trying to deal not being in his "action junkie" fix and Evie O'Connell (Maria Bello....NOT Rachel Wietz!)has a writers block after writing the mummy and mummy returns (Yes it seems as the first two adventures were nothing more than stories from the mind of Evie...how DUMB is that!?) but yet as she put it, "it was a completely different person"...haha in a sarcastic way! So in a nutshell the son Alex O'Connell (Luke Ford....NOT Freddie Boath!) is out in china on a dig which due to some cohesion by the curator uncovers the tomb of the dragon emperor...oooooooh! and from there this much becomes a rush amalgamated mess of different cliché's from different movies like, "Big trouble in little china", "Crouching tiger", and the original "Mummy" movie only except replace Ardet bey (Oded fehr) the guardian of the tomb of Imotep with Lin (Isabella Leong) the guardian of the tomb of the dragon king....duh duh duuuuuh!

What ensues after this is got to be on record as the most rushed display of story, character development, and a typical display of romance than I have ever seen in a movie and I've seen A LOT of movies. I'm sorry i was trying to put positive to a pretty bad story...well, the soundtrack was good...and the action was very ummm abundant?? But that's what I mostly saw; it didn't pack that close-quarter danger and intensity as Imotep and the original mummy series, i mean after looking at this movie i thought, "The scorpion king" was a great movie and i don't like the scorpion king that much! When you have a director like Rob Cohen (Fast and furious, XxX, Electra and other pretty cheesy movies) who for some reason thought CHINA out of oh I don't know....Africa, SOUTH America....Hell EASTER ISLAND was the best place to make a mummy movie, Writers from, "Smallville" who ruined the plot, never really gave any depth to the characters and pushed a seamlessly typically rushed (sorry, i mean forced) East meets west romance, Replace a good actress like Rachel Weitz (The reason she turned it down was because she was a mother first and she didn't want to travel to china knowing that she has to take care of her kids...just to let you know!)with a person, Maria Bello who was trying her Damn-est with a bad English accent and attempt...replace a kid for someone who could of been written into the story as Rick's younger brother instead of son, have CGI of Terra cotta soldiers that look like marionette with Big weird looking baby faces and have a climatic fight seen that can be best described by one reviewer as, "Crouching tiger on the Nile" and pretty much like a cheesy video game and the end result is a action filled mess that failed to capture my senses like the original.

The movie lasted for nearly an hour and a half, and already i felt bad for Brandon cause it really looked like he was trying his hardest to make it work; Jonathan (John Hannah) was making his wise cracks and it did hit its mark but only just a tad. Jet Li was pretty cool but i felt that his powers wasn't used to the fullest....you see unlike its predecessors where Imotep used the sand and water to its full potential, Jet Li didn't. And the fact he only had very short screen-time didn't help the status of the movie either. I felt this movie should of been straight to DVD and it probably would of still made strong sales and hold more clout but it didn't and this movie became a hype that is failing badly. But that's my opinion as a reviewer...you have to see this movie for yourself and give your point of view but i tried to let my mind go for this film i REALLY wanted to like it...but i'm sorry with a typical east meets west storyline it feel flat fast.

3/10 for very strong beginning but fell short FAST. A forced set of character development and a very pushy romantic set up; movie started and ended way too quickly and didn't have the strength and eeriness as the original mummy....and having a son that's old enough to be your brother didn't help much. And i've mentioned this in my other review...i'm getting really tired of the typical white guy saves and fall in love with Asian female set up...its getting really tired, REALLY fast. Thanks Rob for screwing up another good franchise now go back and make Fast and the furious 4: The final frontier.

For nearly a decade there have been action, adventure, and even romantic comedies that have a strong interest and emphasis of the "east meet west" culture...i'm sure you seen this story a thousand times...middle aged or middle class Caucasian man goes either the the east or somewhere in the world meets up with Asian female (or east Indian depending on your movie and/or director who can't seem to find any other male of a different race appreciative for the main character role)...they have some weird and interesting adventures and then they hook up; yada, yada, yada....FINE!!! and if you don't believe that this type of obviousness exist check out movies like, "Snow falls on cedars" or "The last samurai", how about, "The quiet American" or how about something recent like oh...,"The forbidden kingdom" and another movie coming soon with Nicolas cage (Bancock Dangerous)or an upcoming movie with Hugh grant and zhang ziyi (HUGH GRANT...COME ON!!). This will continue sadly until someone from the minority starts to see this happen and say, "hey...i'm just as good as that person too and i'm BLACK or Asian or LATINO!" (Afro-American male actors very seldom is portrayed as a main character in a east meet west role and no "Mississippi Masala" doesn't count!)

But until then we are going to get the same tacky, and typical movies that displays a another case of the "Asian East meets Caucasian west" and, "Balls of fury" is another attempt at this from a comedian side of the spectrum. Now don't get me wrong Maggie Q and Aisha Tyler are HOT in this movie....but that's as far as good credit i will put towards this film. The jokes are not as funny, they try to overdo the comedy way too much and i felt that was making my head hurt, and GEORGE LOPEZ!!? come on what's wrong director and the casters that find these actors couldn't find a REAL comedian lately!? I mean Kevin Hart is more funny than this dude and he's an underdog comedian! The plot tries to be serious but fails badly...in a nutshell, Randy Daytona (Dan Fogler) a failed ping pong player is given an opportunity from the FBI to go undercover to stop some gunrunner Feng (Christopher Walken) and expose his true plan but in order to gain trust he has to play...yep you guessed it, PING PONG to stay one step ahead and outwit *or try to!* the opposition.

Now, let's see what's wrong with this picture well i say....EVERYTHING! again Feng who is played by Christopher Walken, a man that has been nominated many times in GOOD MOVIES to suddenly be dropped in this bat of acid; that's like Ben Kingsley in, "Bloodrayne" what are you doing!!? again in the typical of nature a Caucasian man trying to fit into the Asian culture and did it badly; it was really sad to see him placed in this position but i'm sure others will disagree but its really up to you to figure this out for yourself. The plot and storyline had a bit of the "Enter the dragon" aspect but they tried to copy on that in some weird mock-ish way. The romance between Randy and ironically Maggie was again falling under a typical line up of east meets west romance and i found that faulting, I felt that the direction could of made this comedy an actual comedy but the premise wasn't there to put that up this film in the standards of what comedy is.

The end result, was a poorly made movie for my taste there was no direction to this it was trying to make a straight out laugh movie but it didn't do that for me all it did was make me shake my head and mutter, "Typical, typical, and more typical" cause that's all it was. But beggars can't be choosers and what's bad for me might be different for the next person and when you come in watching this movie i guess you have to keep an open mind and i did...but it gave me a headache after the first hour so you can read this review but the choice is yours to figure if this movie was good...but you might as well rent this film cause you might want to take it back after its done.

4/10

Story: I felt this didn't have much of a story going for it; the plot outline is straight laced but that was about it. It faltered a great deal and that what made me lose interest in the movie.

Character Development/acting: Lack there was, seeing Maggie Q in something sexy and Aisha Tyler were the only two reasons i was watching this movie besides that...the characters were dull, and unsurprisingly overdoing their roles.

Direction: Its amazing these days that directors,writers, and people that finds these actors keep looking towards the same type of east meets west romance...its a sad state of affairs in Hollywood or wherever you go that they can't find an actor that's within the minority for a main character role, and don't get me wrong certain actors an play certain roles great and some i feel that they must of known the director or someone to get in that way...either way you put it was typical to my taste and very tiresome and hell will freeze over when i see a movie where the Afro-American main male lead gets swept into a fantasy ancient china to save a kingdom and fall in love with the woman and save the world and all of that lord knows that might be just as good as well...but i doubt that will happen; but one can dream so until this....movies like this will continue....sadly.

Back around 2005, Hideki anno came up with an idea for an amine that not only will astound but also question the fundamentals of religion as well as the psychosis of human nature at its best and worst. I must say around that time the idea of, "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and it's trailer was a push back in my thoughts but after seeing the very first episode of the series i was instantly hooked right up to its questionable ending. A year (and a couple of threats later) Anno, tied up all lose ends and even help answer some questions for the newbies in "Death and rebirth" and "End of Evangelion" which i say gone down as one of the best end all anime's so far but also the most mind screw ones cause you have to be either high or drinking to understand some of the plot points in the movie (which isn't a bad thing!...LOL).

Now in 2007, Hideki Anno does it again but only this time he's doing it a bit bigger and in fact better for those that are new and those that are already fans (such as myself) in Evangelion 1.0: You are (Not) alone. Now don't be mistaken for a all new Evangelion event cause this is NOT this is in fact a remake of a series (which is taking place in four parts covering the whole series in a 1 hour and 38 min movie) which i felt when i look at it now was missing a lot from it as far as emotional and deep rooted connections now this time all of that is placed back in with a all new backdrop, a deeper understanding for the hero of the story, and a much more updated action scenes which are indeed a bit longer. The story covers the tale of Shinji Ikari a 14-year old boy who is going thru one big emotional downpour after another, sometimes you feel bad for him and then the next you want to shake this kid to death cause he's so self doubtful but either case this remake offers a much more inner focus into his mind and his trails as he becomes on his way to becoming a hero or anti-hero depending on your outtake.

What caught my attention was not just the added story depth, but now the update in music which i must say its the music that moved me; and also added new feature, "CGI" for most of the anime which is great considering that some of the angels in the story I felt that they weren't getting their stronger appeal and i felt needed a lot more feel (specifically for Ramiel near the end which was the BEST). The connection between Shinji and Rei is also added more strongly giving Shinji a bit of hope where he felt hopeless each character has more facial strengths, more adamant emotions, and also more roots into their background which gives a better understanding but that's not all to this story and by the end of watching this i was already hoping to see 2.0 i'm 28 and i'm jumping like a kid at Christmas seeing how so much as been put now into this remake let's hope the next three will be just as grand.

10/10 Story 10: For those that already know the story you will be treated to the same story but with a all new deeper plot and understanding; for those that are new to the story will be treated to not just the the best looking art direction and CGI add-ins, but with a greater knowledge of the characters even if the movie is 1 hour.

Development 9/10: The development in this story is still strong if not better than the original series; The characters seem to know their place and then some. The connections are so strong that you start to sometimes relate to most of them and it makes the story just as grand but also it takes out some of the crap that was in the original making each person in this movie more human in their directions.

Music 10/10: I loved the soundtrack to this movie. It gets to you in ways that a present gets to a kid. especially when Shinji first enters the Eva i loved that part of the movie the music was gripping and updated so well that I was impressed.

General 10/10: You might can call this the Perfect version of Evangelion but everyone has a different taste to what they like; But this version is re-drawn, revised, and added in some new elements that most fans wanted to see in the original but never got to see; and for newcomers more stronger knowledge for Evangelion even the controversial ones. This is the first movie covering 1-6 of the original series in its entirety filling in all gaps and adding in some new elements to make a person want more...this is the definitive series and i'm very pleased by it.

I'm a AVID movie goer the first thing i look at when it comes to movies are plots, acting, and direction to where the movie is going. Lately, I've gotten a chance to see, "The forbidden kingdom" and I've also followed the director's (Rob Minkoff)work from the cult classic, "Love potion No. 9" to the children's favorite, "Stuart little" and i have to admit for a martial Arts fantasy movie it falls under the line of Crouching tiger but even if a movie is good there are some faults that this movie contributes too as well and when i saw this movie the first thing i thought about from the beginning when the movie started was that i was looking at another version of, "The never-ending story".

Now, let's look at "The forbidden kingdom". In this movie you have a kid name Jason (Micheal Angarano) who's an avid karate movie lover and lives with his mother (who we don't really see but he talks about her) and his father is NOT in the picture; who visits a mystical martial arts video store and in the middle of escaping bullies have to take another mystical item to a far away fantasy world to save the day.....do you somewhat see the resemblance? And that's the movie plot in a nutshell, While in this new world Jason must overcome his fears and learn the ways of the arts in order to make it out alive, save the monkey king from a evil tyrant, and save the day and he's not alone in this quest, he runs into a drunken immortal, Lu Yan (Jackie Chan)and from the very first scene was phenomenal, next you have Golden Sparrow (Who's played by the ever so cute Yifei Liu) who's after this Jade warlord (Collin Chou) out of revenge. Finally, the strong silent monk (Jet Li) who has his own purpose to why he needs to bring this mystical item back to its rightful owner. All four of them played their roles respectfully and I have no problem in that and i'm sure you're wondering the fight between Jackie and Jet Li would happen and it did and i have to say both were GREAT but one would wish it was longer but both gave it their all in that scene and i can't complain with that.

But here's something i will complain about and this has been going on in movies and T.v for decades....why the idea of the White American kid into an Asian culture i mean from the last samurai to Tai-pan to The Karate kid this has been a very typical move on the director's part My feeling to this is don't get me wrong Micheal must of worked Night and day to perform those moves which in the movie it felt like he learned them in about 12 minutes; and the end result was great. But don't you think an Asian teen could be just as better or maybe a African-American teen, or an East Indian kid i mean there are a lot of possibilities and the end answer was so typical that i wasn't surprised at the near romantic scene between Jason and Golden sparrow (In fact, I knew it would happen!). It was a very tired and tried constant approach that never changed the move of the film but when you look pass that and watch the action footage then you start to see art and how fluent the fight scenes worked and for me that made this movie more bold, fast, and intense and they should of kept on that.

Story (5/10): Take a look at the never ending story and watch this movie and you'll understand why i compared both; Its a tried and true tale that i felt the director somehow had gotten his inspiration from and then stole it.

Character Development (7/10): Even though you can quickly understand and know a bit about the background of the character i felt that it was a bit rushed to getting to the point of the movie instead of focusing on why Jason's father is not in the picture...his connection to his mother if he has any and why he's all into the martial arts movies...is it to hide away from what's reality? there are a lot of questions that was never really fully answered in this movie and not enough depth to bring an, "ohh I see" from me...all i know is white kid needed to bring staff to owner, stumble upon war, finds Jackie Chan, learns arts in 10 mins, fall in love with Asian girl, saves world, the end.

Pace (9/10): If anything this movie had a lot of pace....I watched this film and enjoyed how fast the action was and how brutal it nearly got (there are some parts that aren't for kids). This movie hold a lot of action with some good music to boot you felt drawn into the pace and wished for more but if you added great story and character development you would have a nominated movie.

Film (7/10): Regardless of my flaws to this film this is definitely a summer flick you want to see; you have two of the best martial arts actors together in a beautiful fantasy setting with fast pace intensity but with a typical main character and a cheesy somewhat and already known romantic approach the movie falls nearly on its ass but has redeemed itself with the music, setting, and strong flow of the fight scenes but I felt that the director and A LOT of directors need to know that you don't always have to put a white teen into an Asian culture there are other races out there as well...but all in all, "The forbidden kingdom" is still a movie i would like to see again simply because Yifei liu and cute and the white haired witch, Ni Chang (BingBing Li) is sexy.

I had the chance by shear luck to see both movies the American version in the theaters recently and the early Japanese version as soon as i got home (and would you believe the Japanese version started just as soon as i entered the door which was awesome in my favor). "One missed call" is another attempt at hacking a pretty decent and pretty damn nerve jolted J-horror movie and make it into another americanized, "one tree hill-ish" horror movie where the black chick dies within the first 5 minutes and the pretty white kids are left to figure out who is trying playing this dangerous game in telling the teens the date, time, and how they are going to die via voice mail...you can pretty much think of this version as, "Final destination 4: ONE MISSED CALL" which makes this movie an A-typical remake that doesn't really live up to Takashi Miike's version that was years before.

The acting in this movie is pretty much what you would expect in any typical horror that is on American shores....bland, expecting, and somewhat off in most cases. Now don't get me wrong....some movies that were Japanese based that comes here most are pretty good...but then you have some like this...and it makes you wonder. I'm a big fan of Takashi Miike's works right down to Koroshiya 1 (aka. Ichi the killer) and Audition (another one of my favorites)He makes the viewers guess what's coming after them instead of using CGI to over blow the spectacle of the climax; there are some cases where as one critic on here says, "Not knowing is a lot better than already knowing" which is true sometimes its good to not know who your enemy is in certain movies therefore it gives off the element of surprise right till the climax which in the Japanese version that did it perfectly....this version....not so much.

In the end, I had to give this movie a 4, nice attempt but when you have a director who has never seen the Japanese version and advised the actors to not see it to for research then you have all the makings of a nearly semi-bad movie and a semi-bad remake; my advice watch the Japanese version instead you might find that its version is slightly better and if you prefer the American version then to each it own...but it was just done poorly. sorry.

Superman/Doomsday is supposedly based off the phenomenal and epic comic arcs, "The death of superman", "Funeral for a friend", and "The Return of superman". I've gotten a chance to see the full preview of this movie and now i'm going to give you my review of it. This movie is a bit darker than your typical superman movie and/or series; they pull no punches with the violence so expect blood, death, and a bit more deeper tones that may not be for younger kids and I'm saying this cause this movie has a lot of adult tones that may not be for children who are a big fan of shows like, "Justice Leauge" or "Superman: the animated Series". The fight scenes are fast, furious, really brutal, and just as much vicious which all the means you will probably like; the story line "Somewhat" sticks to the comics which is good but its also its greatest flaw which I will explain soon.

Adam Baldwin as superman was pretty good but i rather had Tim Daly again as superman he made that character work on the series and some of the movies so it would of seemed fair to bring his voice back again to have some fans of the series familiar with the tones but all in all he did his job and it worked for this movie; but James marsders (Spike from Buffy and angel)as Lex Luther did NOT, he sounded bland, no emotional depth to the character and not much feeling of synergistic grandeur like the voice of the person playing lex in the justice league series honestly you'll watch this film and will be asking that same question, "where's that other dude's voice-over from Justice league?" other voice-overs like Anne heche as Lois, Swoozy kurtz as Clark's adopted mother did their job well but you wouldn't really notice all of that as the movie picks up steam but at the same time falls short quickly with the story.

For a movie that's at least an 1 hour and 45 minutes they should of pushed it for a normal movie length for 2 hrs cause there's a lot of story that was missing from this movie; For comic fans, most will notice it on the fly like where's the four impostor superman that took his place?, where's the justice league (Booster Gold, etc.) that at least stalled time against doomsday for the inevitable battle?, Wasn't super girl in this as well?, how come they didn't get into detail about Doomsday background to at least understand why he is the way he is (even though its mentioned briefly) along with other plot holes? For those that haven't read this comic or novel you probably wouldn't really care and the movie will fly by with fast paced violence and cool fight scenes.

I gave this movie a 6 out of 10 for the fact that even though this movie did it's job to discuss his death and made it a pretty climatic battle which I did enjoy; the artwork was a bit off not your typical superman: TAS artistry some might like it and some like myself would find it and the character design a bit flimsy and off. The story was worked both good and bad...even though it discussed some of the events leading to superman's "Demise" and apparent return it didn't really stick to the comics Ergo, it's missing A lot of story to the main premise and a lot of characters that made the comic fun, exciting, and deeply story driven and you will be asking where are they in this. Even though this movie is pretty good, dark, action-driven it missed the mark with a lot of plot holes which i felt they were compressing to make the movie faster but if they kept it in they would of had a good epic animation event that would of made this movie just as much good as if they kept it out!

Hopefully, they will make an extended cut or something along the way. which i doubt.

After finishing season 3 of "doctor who" and seeing the trailer for the upcoming spin-off of an organization that deals in investigating and eliminating alien, and supernatural treats called, "Torchwood" i was happy hoping that the spin-off might just be more adventurous and action-filled as like The doctor's quest...i was half right and half mistaken and at all the while the end result after watching half of the first season was me looking at friend and saying, "The last hope of mankind is in the hands of mentally confused and sexually disturbed heroes." Like i said, "Torchwood" is a dark gritty spin-off of the long running epic of "Doctor who" so in this case you can't walk into this show thinking its going to carry the same feel as that of its counterpart cause you will be sadly disappoint but all the while still feel compelled to watch and hope that this show will get better. Some of the show's saving graces is that two episodes that nearly connects to the Doctor who series like, "Cyberwoman" and even Jack's mention of an organization called, "UNIT" (for those that don't know you might want to check out the VERY original Dr. who i believe the one with tom baker as The doctor). all the while the premise of this show is pretty much what we want...SEX, MORE SEX, and of course violence; but as i was watching half of the first season they emphasized A lot of homosexuality and even the thought of lesbianism...not that its a bad thing to see two woman kiss and all; but DAMN every episode!!?

let's get into the character you have the female cop who never used her gun a day in her life suddenly becomes a liaison for torchwood, here's the kicker she is sleeping with one of the members but stays with her live in boyfriend...all the while there's a possible hint of her attraction to the main leader the hero Jack harkness who was a companion to the doctor in the counterpart but lets not get started with him for there's a lot of questions about his sexuality as well (watch a couple of episodes and you'll see what i mean), you have the technical computer genius Toshiko (who is very sexy to me) wants so badly to be in love at the same time saving the world she sleep with the first woman she sees who's' an alien i mean what gives? and finally you got the also questionable male somewhat doctor owen, who might go both ways but i might be wrong. In the end each character does undermine the leader's decision, goes behind his back, sleep with each other (which has a different question as far as professionalism is concern), and nearly get the rest of the team killed and what does jack do...gives them a slap on the hand and call it a night (ex. the episode Cyberwoman and Greek give gifts). sometimes i just want to say, "These guys nearly got you and your team compromised what the HELL are you thinking!!?"

Reagarless of the stranger than usual story lines and plots, the show's dark edgy approach can somewhat keep the show going but every now and then there are some points that makes no sense along side the confusing heroes. It feels like the X-files but without the very stern group...there are some occasions you just want to slap one of these guys on the head (Or shoot them) cause they are so easily distracted or manipulated in some form; the only person that keeps a cool head is the now immortal Jack and place my bets on him than the rest of the team. Another gripe is the feel of the torchwood team..there should be more of them i mean add a little bit more culture as well as people than just keeping the stereotypes that i feel is placed in there; hey i would like to see an African-American dude that had military background or something or maybe someone from an alternate time-line that was connected to the doctor in some form anything to make this show and Doctor who connect on a level that keeps watchers interested.

But honestly, I think Toshiko is hot even though she's falls along side the rest of the group, laddened, confused, and jumps into bed with the first alien that notice them.

Don't get me wrong, years and years ago when I seen the trailer for this...I thought, John woo directing this is awesome; then I saw this movie and from my impression not only I felt really insulted but also cheated at the fact that Mr. Woo added pretty much everything INCLUDING the kitchen sink to explode on impact with merely one bullet and some flashy moves. No disrespect to the director he really is good at his game....when he was doing old school Hong Kong flicks like hard boiled!

Mission Impossible 2 (aka Mi: 2) was the long awaited and anticipated sequel to the 1996 sleeper blockbuster and based off the highly successful TV show also with the same name. But in all honestly, this movie didn't raise the bar it just made it worse and nearly almost screwed up this franchise if it wasn't for J.J. Abrams smart approach to the third installment. Tom Cruise returns as the now almost superhuman Ethan hunt who pretty much makes it clear that bullets can't touch him, he can scale mountains with his bare hands, perform flashy martial arts, and have time to woo the girl with his charms damn I'm surprise he's not playing the saxophone and surfing the stair rails blindfolded while shooting the bad guys left and right....wait a minute...I think he did do that!! The storyline is weak but simple, You see there's a virus that is capable of wiping out humanity and they gave it a code name: Chimera (oooh Greek roman history lesson somewhere) but in other to fight against this virus a anti-virus was created code name: Balerafont (cause even in viruses there are good verses evil battles!) so of course there's a race against time and they eventually needed someone who can get the job done but unfortunately superman/Ethan was climbing mountains with bare hands and another partner a sexy thief by the name of Nya (Thandie Newton)..oh yeah I forgot his team of Luther and Billy Barty (did I mention that both characters are hardly seen as much in this movie) and who can bring these guys together than Hannibal himself (Anthony Hopkins) which I think the was only there cause they must of paid him a lot but the look on his face said he was pretty much bored in this film but you be the judge on that.

Lets face it the story was sub par bad (due to bad and lack of script), the romantic kindling between Tom and Thandie's character was VERY much rushed and obviously typical to the movie goer, and the bad guys were pretty much whinny little babies that can't shoot straight for the life of them but yet Ethan aka. The batman can hide in the shadows make, one shot an explosive one every damn time, can pop wheelies and burn rubber on the side with his feet while riding a motorcycle at very high speeds...did I mention he can cook too!? John Woo's approach wasn't bent on intellect like the first one and third, you can see him trying but it failed in many areas I mean DAMN even Luther (Ving rhames) didn't get that much screen time it was like Woo was saying, "screw the black man, I want super white guy flashing his pretty hair every chance he gets" I mean its not like woo hasn't done that before (The big hit and pretty much ALL his Americanized movies). The action scenes were pretty much IMPOSSIBLE I seen tom pretty much risk his ass in ridiculous moments in this movie it made me wonder, "I wish I can do that!!" but then was hit with reality and physics. This movie is pretty much a stuntman's dream with the white dove even at the climax I felt really cheated being that I could of sworn I've seen the dual shootout before (face/off) I could say more to why I didn't like this movie but I'm going to watch Mi: 3 on DVD now and be reminded on what could of been done to part 2.

Zoom is another superhero flick for the family that stars Tim Allen ( I wonder what happen to him lately) as the once greatest superhero and team leader, "Captain Zoom/Jack Sheppard" who lead a group of heroes along with his brother "Concussion" who once affected by a powerful weapon known as, "Gamma 13" went rouge and took out some of the zoom team and left captain zoom without a brother throwing Jack into a state of melancholy as well as the real world forgetting his life as a once known superhero that comics were made of. Now called once again to bring forth a new team to combat the threat of an old team member gone powerful beyond his limits; Besides having a Marvel/DC'ish beginning that looked cool the rest of the movie wasn't all that polished to a perfect shine sadly.

Obviously you can tell that Tim Allen's character was even though somewhat funny in some parts it felt like he was really stalling the time until the end. His witty banter and sarcastic way of things was just pressing the moments until his brother returns and even still it wasn't really good enough to hold this film in line; Now lets move to the story line...even though they did try to make a good story the scriptwriters somewhere along the way much like some superhero movies perform a rush job not giving good character arrangements as well as developments making most of the characters unknown in some areas...they never explain if their parents wanted them to join this "Superhero academy" nor you never see the emotional value of each of the characters just their enjoyment of being there; And if there was so much of a academy of heroes...how come you have to pick only four people I mean COME ON there's a classroom full of desks and only four heroes...I thought that was pretty lame not to mention pointless they could of added more people to the cause but then I had to realize its a family film not the X-men...but still it would be cool to have a REAL team not just 5 to 6 superhuman.

Each of the characters powers was pretty cool you had, "Mega boy/Tucker Williams" (Spencer Breslin) who can expand in size which was awesome but the special effects sucked in that area. Next you have, "Houdini/Dylan West" (Michael Cassidy) who can become invisible but has another gift of foresight or whatever they called it, "Wonder/Summer Jones" (Kate Mara) is the very attractive girl that has telekinesis, and finally the ever so cute, "Princess/Cindy Collins" (Ryan Newman) as the super strong child in the ever so different costumes. I personally thought there could of been better super names for these characters but they choose the latter and plus princess was the one that stole the show with her ever so cuteness that makes you think of a power puff girl...I'm sorry all I could do was say, "look at her she's soooo cuuuuuutee" If ever there's a live action movie of the power puff girls (which I doubt) bring this little girl aboard. Even though all these powers fit into the academy there developments didn't; again due to bad script writing there were lack of developments in their personality the romance between Dylan and summer was rushed and I felt more could of been done to spice it up a bit but never was tried.

The climax of the movie was even worse. I felt that there could of been a more better battle between the new zoom team and "concussion" (Kevin Zegers) but it was very short lived and the special effect was kind of bad and somewhat off in areas if looked closely; This movie is no "Sky high" at least there were more characters in that movie than just Four and I think that's the direction this director wanted to go but was afraid to push the boundaries and try not to compare it to Disney's version. But don't get me wrong this move had its fun moments and its pretty interesting if the script was re-done properly, Tim Allen had some funny moments that made me laugh but that was it...just funny moments; I honestly thought, "Galaxy quest" when seeing this movie cause he was pretty damn good in that movie I felt that the director didn't let Tim do is thing and be funny cause he is. Courtney Cox as, "Dr. Marsha Holloway" as the geeky doctor with a secret of her own was pretty funny and it would of worked between Tim and ms. Cox's characters but again never tried and it was rushed.

All in all. With a cool comic book beginning, a somewhat story line, not much plot twist, Not so good special effects, short fight scenes, and a bad climatic battle this family movie really didn't live up I'm sure for the kids it might be pretty good and fun; but honestly I'm sure there good family heroes movies out there like, "The incredibles" but if you like this type of movie you have to be the judge and ask yourself if this movie is for you or not...this movie REALLY could of been good if it took its time before reaching theaters.

At least Cindy is soooo cuuuuuteeee awwwww!

I was surprised when I heard they made a sequel to the somewhat okay movie "White noise" staring Michael Keaton but after seeing this movie I was brought back into a very eerie and very interesting movie and in my book that's a good mix to a very good scary film. White noise 2: White light, follows the story of Abe (Firefly star Nathan Fillion) who witness his wife and child's murder which seemed somewhat random; filled with guilt and sadness over the loss he too nearly succumbs to death but his near death is just the beginning as he is brought back and suddenly has a particular gift of seeing others with the same white light which now gives him the choice to save others. But at what cost and what does this have to do with his family as well as his own future?

First things first, The acting was really good but when I watch Nathan acting I still see Capt. Reynolds from the short lived and very popular series firefly; he has this flare about him that keeps the movie really good and he shows a side that's real and emotional and that too puts this movie in a good pace. As you journey with Abe to uncover the truth you see some very interesting and surprising plot twist that made my mouth drop at the same time I love the way the brought some of the elements from the first movie into this movie, for example the idea of EVP (Electronic Voice Pattern) which lets you hear spirits. Also you might notice a certain location that seems somewhat similar to Michael Keaton's character job area in the first movie which I thought that was surprisingly cool to interweave it into this sequel but that's just the taste the rest they added more to it and that was risky but it was a very good risk.

Along the way he sees people with the white light meaning they are about to die; This puts more of a fast pace race against the clock type action that felt somewhat like "final destination" but only somewhat, along the way he saves Sherry Clarke (Katie Sackhoff) who adds a sensual and charming ambiance to the movie which is like a 180 from her role as starbuck in Battlestar Galatica cause its nice to see her show off her very sexy smile because it make you want to just say, "she looks really good when she smiles". The story is on the mark, like I said it's fast paced and it interweaves the first movie into this movie but tops it more with compelling plot twist and lots of scary and very eerie moments that comes to a shocking revelation and a very cool climax. The action wasn't over the top it was just right and the acting was just as good, not trying to be over dramatic or trying to find reason when reason is already found but it puts humanity and even makes you question if given with this gift/curse what would you do and how far would you go?

In the end, this is a very good and a surprising sequel I have to admit I'm glad this is a straight to DVD movie cause I don't know how it would do in the theaters in competition with most of the summer movies that are coming soon; But regardless this is a movie worth watching and even though it doesn't have that typical gore as most horror movies it doesn't need to add that element cause you will be just as scared regardless. So check this movie out whenever you get the chance but don't' take my word for it. Be the judge yourself! If anything just watch it to see Katie's so cute smile....

Recently i've gotten the chance to read, "Astonishing X-men" joss whedon's vision of the xmen and the cure that comes with it...i've also taken the opportunity to read the dark phoenix saga written by Chris Claremont and and try to put two of them together in a way that the movie did...unfortunately, the results ended badly and thats' why i'm giving my second opinion of X-men: the last stand.

The last review i made of this movie i really lashed out at it without giving a reasonable view of this movie. Truth be told, I REALLY didn't like this movie on the basis of a convoluted story arc that tried REALLY hard to be put together by the screenplay writers. Much like spider-man 3 tried to do they, "Tried" to merge different stories to make a much interesting and maybe action-packed movie but failed on the idea that maybe it was a bad idea and just stick try and true with the original story at hand and it made me wish for Joss whedon's view cause for the action and character depth. But let me point some of the good before the bad just to be fair, for those that like this movie i can say this movie was a good, "popcorn flick" as far as the action/adventure is concern. The fight scenes were fast and intense and the music made the pace just as good; I enjoyed how fast and cool they made this work out in their favor. However now for the bad, Brett Ratner's vision isn't up to par with such directors like Singer or long term comic writers like Claremont or bendis; his focus was more intent on two characters...storm (Halie berry) and wolverine (Hugh Jackman) which for some way storm DID get a longer part which I'm not complaining but when its at the cost of some those other characters that deserved their time as well in one form it was being selfish on the director's part.

Other X-men vets did make an appearance like the Beast (Kelsey grammar) who did pretty damn good for taking the time to dress like a, "Blue fur ball" and then there's angel (Ben foster) who's very talented as well as athletic so i can see why they chose him for this role but you only see at least 15 mins of his character before he walks off or disappears into the crowd of the less important co-stars...word to the directors, if you are going to put a character on a poster claiming that he will be in most of all the scenes of the movie....MAKE IT SO! if this was the case you might as well had him come into the room and say, "hi guys, i'm angel" and walk away and never see him again which i felt it was really unfair to most of the fans who were expecting him to be part of the fight and climax for the long run. Now lets move to the story...as much as it was full of action which I thought was hot, the story was not! Technically in a nutshell, taken place a month after X2 Jene gray sacrificed herself to save her teammates knowing that there was a deeper power lurking that saved her and it was about to show itself; meanwhile doctors Kavita rao and warren Worthington Sr. created a "cure" that can solve the mutant "problem" most will take it and others will oppose against it...like magneto who believed a war is brewing against homo sapiens (Humans) and mutants which is happening. IN the middle Scott summers is grieving...everyone somewhat forgot about Jeane...Phoenix has risen some X-men characters die and phoenix don't do crap except stand in the background as a poster child or reminder to join magneto's crew which i found really insulting giving she's is powerful than magneto and the whole mutant-kind combined.

which leads to a whole new set of problems, the direction, as much as it was fun to watch the story and direction was all over the place...lack of character depth of new characters and understanding of old ones puts this movie on a downward spiral; it got caught up in its own action that it forgot the purpose to what the dark phoenix saga was about...i mean a comic fan would ask, "where's the hellfire club?" and "shouldn't Emma frost be introduced to this?" which was never asked thus leading this movie into a confusing twist of just action nothing more...nothing less. Jugganaunt was cool, and the line at the climax did make me clap but that's all it was an enjoyable feast. Honestly, after reading both comics i saw Whedon's vision and wanted THAT version into this movie if it was going to stick to the "Cure". But if they were going the route of the Dark Phoenix they should of added the elements that the comic portrayed like the hellfire club and ms. frost instead of setting off meaningless deaths that should of never happened.

All in all, I give it a "5" cause even though this movie was fun, and going into the movie leaving your mind behind is a good way to enjoy this movie; most movie goers go into this movie hoping of a good story to go behind it; this movie was confused in its own world and too hyped up for its own good making this movie a confused mess; i didn't know where the story was going and why characters didn't stay to fight it was unfair to most true comic fans to see something like this made in a way that didn't set the bar of the comic itself instead it just made it a roller coaster ride of adventure with no development whatsoever thus is why i don't like this movie cause it lost that feeling of what the other two movies tried to do.