Tag Archives: Movie Review

Transformers One Movie Review

Tags : Movie Review

The untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever.

Why did I come to this movie again?

I haven’t truly enjoyed a Transformers movie since 1986. And that one scarred me for life. If you’re over 40 and a fan of the original Transformers TV show, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. The previews for this show looked…fun. I expected it to entertain me.

4 of 5

Characters

I didn’t expect Orion Pax (Optimus Prime) to be the impulsive, rule breaker of the duo. Optimus is so straight-laced that it actually put me off for a few minutes. However, his reasons for everything he does make sense, and also go with the future Optimus that we know and love.

D-16 (Megatron) started out as the law abiding one. He believed that the system in place would afford him all the opportunities he would ever want. I honestly get this.

The two of them have interesting character arcs that lead them into the leaders they will be in the future. I thought they did an okay job of showing D-16’s decent into anger and bitterness, as well as taking the impetuous and somewhat rebellious Orion Pax into being a responsible adult.

I think this is a writing brain problem, because I thought they could have added one or two lines/small scenes to show us more of D-16’s point of view to justify why he turned. The hubby thought the arc was solid, so this could be me being picky. D-16 dropping Orion Pax didn’t quite work for me.

The other characters were pretty much along for the ride, which was okay.

I thought the bad guy(s) could have been explored a little better.

4 of 5

Did I care what happened?

Yup. Even though I pretty much predicted the plot (thank you writer brain) after the first five minutes of the film, I was still invested.

Part of that was because I was looking for Easter Eggs from the original cartoon, which I found plenty of.

4 of 5

Plot Holes

There were a couple of plot holes that pulled me out of the movie, but I was expecting that. Don’t look too close at the 1986 movie, because that thing is more holes than plot, but the ones in this movie didn’t ruin the experience for me, so that’s good.

4 of 5

How many times did I yawn?

No yawning. This movie isn’t that long and the pacing felt about right.

5 of 5

Cool Factor

The animation for this film was awesome. The action scenes were intense.

I could have used more transforming, but what they had was solid and they certainly embraced it during the action.

Speaking of action scenes, they were a little too fast for me. Maybe I’m getting old (which could totally be the problem), because two or three times I couldn’t quite follow what was going on.

4 of 5

The End

Anyone who’s seen the original cartoons knows that D-16 is destined to turn bad, and that Orion Pax turns into one of the greatest leaders ever, so the ending wasn’t a surprise, but that didn’t stop me from getting chills. There were even a few sniffles from the people around us.

I absolutely loved that Chris Hemsworth changed his voice and inflections when Orion Pax became Optimus Prime to be more like Peter Cullen’s (the original voice actor for Optimus). That was amazing. I saw an interview with him saying he did it deliberately, and I thought it was great.

5 of 5

Overall Enjoyment

I really liked this one! As I said at the beginning, my expectations weren’t high, which was probably good. However, the film is solid. The writing is pretty tight. The characters delivered.

I was worried that the brothers to enemies trope that they employed for Orion Pax and D-16 might be too cliché, but it worked.

4 of 5

Total: 34

That’s a Brown Belt!

White Belt: 1-10
Yellow Belt: 11-19
Purple Belt: 20-25
Green Belt: 26-30
Brown Belt: 31-35
Black Belt: 36-40

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Movie Review

Tags : Movie Review

Many years after the reign of Caesar, a young ape goes on a journey that will lead him to question everything he’s been taught about the past and make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.

Why did I come to this movie again?

The original Planet of the Apes holds a special place in my heart, and I’ve enjoyed the newer films in the franchise, so when we saw this one streaming, we decided to watch it. I didn’t have high expectations.

4 of 5

Characters

The main character, Noa, is on a classic heroes journey. There’s nothing super special about his character arc, but I did like him.

The hubby called the fate of the old wise master a few minutes before it happened.

The human…was weird. She was sometimes selfish, once in a while helpful, but mostly using the apes. She had no personality and she left a bad taste in my mouth.

Our bad guy was gloriously evil.

Pretty much a standard cast for a heroes journey.

4 of 5

Did I care what happened?

I cared about Noa and his quest to find his people. The human, not so much.

4 of 5

Plot Holes

This is a Planet of the Apes movie, of course it’s going to have plot holes. Some I could shrug away, and others I could not.

Mostly I got hung up on the human and what her deal was. I thought she was going to be the most interesting thing about the film, but she wasn’t. So it took me a bit to wrap my head around that.

My writer brain spent a lot of time shaking its head. Mostly because this film was trying to tell two stories and only succeeded in representing one well.

In general, the plot worked, but there are so many unanswered questions…

4 of 5

How many times did I yawn?

The movie didn’t feel long, which was good, and I didn’t get action fatigue.

I did get bored whenever the bad guys were on screen. Their motivation was thin, and their entire purpose was to drive the story forward. Yes, they were chasing the human, but we didn’t know why, and I think I would have liked it better knowing what she was instead of it being hidden for so long.

Don’t get me started on the “king” who they tried to make smart, but didn’t succeed.

3 of 5

Cool Factor

The filming was great. I didn’t get too distracted with the CGI.

One thing that was good but strange was all of the ape mannerisms they put in. It was distracting, but not bad. I’m not sure how to describe it, other than it was different. I guess it pulled me out of the story, which isn’t great, but it was a fun detail.

4 of 5

The End

Good things happened. The hero won. Yay!

But the humans…that whole subplot felt like it was a setup for the next movie, and barely had anything to do with this one.

4 of 5

Overall Enjoyment

I’d give this a solid, “It was fun.” I might watch it again if I was going through the whole series, but other than that, I may never see it again.

3 of 5

Total: 30

That’s a Green Belt!

White Belt: 1-10
Yellow Belt: 11-19
Purple Belt: 20-25
Green Belt: 26-30
Brown Belt: 31-35
Black Belt: 36-40

IF Movie Review

Tags : Movie Review

A young girl who goes through a difficult experience begins to see everyone’s imaginary friends who have been left behind as their real-life friends have grown up.

Why did I come to this movie again?

This one looked cute in the previews, so when we saw it streaming, we decided to watch it.

4 of 5

Characters

Bea, the main character, was cute. The actress did a great job of making Bea feel as if she was on the fence and balanced between wanting to still be a kid and needing to be a grown up.

Cal, Ryan Reynolds, was great.

I loved the imaginary friends.

All that being said, I wasn’t terribly invested in any of the characters. Most of the adults felt like idiots, which isn’t my favorite trope.

4 of 5

Did I care what happened?

I kept wondering what the twist was.

The fact that her dad was in the hospital for so long, but mostly in plain clothes, was weird. So I wondered if he was actually dead or something.

I figured there was something more to the Ifs.

4 of 5

Plot Holes

If you’re willing to overlook the non-explanation of pretty much everything in the movie, you won’t care about the plot holes.

4 of 5

How many times did I yawn?

I struggled with the pacing of this movie. The beginning is quite slow, which surprised me. The middle never really got exciting, and the end left me…a little confused.

So I didn’t yawn, but I never really connected with the film. Individula scenes were fun, but linking them together was, in my opinion, lacking.

3 of 5

Cool Factor

I really enjoyed all of the IF characters. I never had an imaginary friend (although, according to this movie, if I did I wouldn’t remember anyway) so I really didn’t get that part of it, but I enjoyed seeing what the creatives came up with for the IFs.

The sense of wonder was nice.

4 of 5

The End

While the concept of this film is super fun, it left me with too many questions. I couldn’t reconcile the twist with what had happened.

I always think about The Sixth Sense, and the moment I really figured out what was going on in that film. At that second, my mind raced back through the movie to pick out the things I’d interpreted wrong.

I didn’t have that moment in IF. It was more like…huh? Uh. Okay. Sure. That may as well happen.

3 of 5

Overall Enjoyment

I wanted to love this story, but I came away with my writing brain trying to reconcile the twist with the rest of the show, and I never could settle into it.

We don’t have kids, and it would be interesting to see if a child would love this film or not. I might have really dug it in elementary school.

4 of 5

Total: 30

That’s a Green Belt!

White Belt: 1-10
Yellow Belt: 11-19
Purple Belt: 20-25
Green Belt: 26-30
Brown Belt: 31-35
Black Belt: 36-40

A Quiet Place Day One Movie Review

Tags : Movie Review

A woman named Sam finds herself trapped in New York City during the early stages of an invasion by alien creatures with ultra-sensitive hearing.

Why did I come to this movie again?

I really enjoyed the first movie in this franchise, and wanted to see this one. Prequels aren’t usually great, but I heard from a few trusted friends that this one was quite good, so we decided to check it out.

5 of 5

Characters

At first glance, there isn’t much to these characters. A lot of people have complained that they were shallow. I can see why, but I disagree.

Samira is weeks or even days away from dying of cancer—and has pretty much given up—and Eric is a guy from the UK who came to New York to go to law school.

However, I think there’s a whole lot more going on than what you see at first glance.

Samira’s entire goal is to get pizza in New York.

Eric, although he never says this, doesn’t want to be alone.

We learn a bit more about each of them as the film goes on, but I think the limited amount of information works, because how much are you going to be discussing your hopes and dreams when you’re running for your life?

People raved about the cat, and although I liked him, he wasn’t quite as grand as I’d been expecting.

4 of 5

Did I care what happened?

It’s got to be difficult to tell the story of something that we all know turns out badly. The aliens invade and in three months there are hardly any people left in the world. So I wasn’t wondering if one of the characters was going to become the hero to repel the invaders, instead, I was invested in what happened to the two characters, and not the world.

5 of 5

Plot Holes

This is an alien apocalypse movie. Of course there are some plot holes. Most are forgivable, because the characters don’t really know what’s going on, just that they’re being hunted by monsters who hear noises from seemingly miles away.

There is one scene—if you’ve seen it, the one where the cat wanders off into the hell-scape building and Eric follows—that pulled me out of the story.  I couldn’t figure out why it was in there. Maybe I missed the point, or maybe it’s for future movies. It felt unnecessary, and that was irritating.

Also, how much the aliens can hear or react to seems to be inconsistent. I did notice that.

4 of 5

How many times did I yawn?

I didn’t yawn because I was bored, nor did I yawn because of action fatigue. I thought the pacing was good, and the plot remained interesting.

The writers used a lot of showing and not much telling, which is a good thing, but I think this film may have benefited from one or two more telling moments from the characters.

4 of 5

Cool Factor

None of this film was a surprise, because it’s a prequel. However, me knowing how the aliens worked didn’t lessen the impact of the characters figuring it out and the terror of making even the slightest nose.

The scene right after the initial attack, where Sam is wandering through the dust that’s so thick she can’t see more than few feet, was amazing.

5 of 5

The End

In the end, both people get what they originally wanted (more or less), which worked. I thought the last escape was cool. I would have loved a little more at the end, but that’s it.

4 of 5

Overall Enjoyment

I liked this film. I admit to being an apocalypse junkie, so this story appealed to me in many ways. I thought the characters were great. The experience of seeing this it in the theater wasn’t quite as intense as the original film, but it was still super fun to be with a crowd of people who were afraid to cough or even eat popcorn a few times.

I admit, it has been a long few weeks, and I was very happy to go to a movie and forget about everything else going on in my life. My judgement levels were low, because all I wanted was a nice escape…into the apocalypse. Sometimes I wonder if I should rethink my life choices.

5 of 5

Total: 36

That’s a Black Belt!

White Belt: 1-10
Yellow Belt: 11-19
Purple Belt: 20-25
Green Belt: 26-30
Brown Belt: 31-35
Black Belt: 36-40