Terminator: Review

I was going to think of something witty, but because I got my days confused (and then was computer lacking yesterday), I figured I just play it straight. So....This will be a free flowing discussion so spoilers may (and most likely will) be mentioned.




Much like most franchises (most recently Star Trek), Terminator had keep the original fans happy, update the story (to appeal to the younger audience) and make it entertaining. Since I am not a Terminator fan (only liked the third one), I cannot speak for the fan base. Was I entertained? Well, I didn't hate it....

As I have said many many many times by now, I like things to make sense. I felt that the second act (and even more so in the third) left me trying to figure out the logic behind the people's actions. But I think I am getting ahead of myself. Let's talk about the first act.

Terminator continues the story of John Connor (who was conceived in the first movie, and will become the sole reason for the computers to send a couple of killer robots (or Terminators) to the past) who in this movie is a high ranking officer in the human/computer war (it isn't called that in the movie, but that's what it is!). It starts off pretty good and gives us a quick background on the other movies and tries to further the story as opposed to re-boot it. While the past 3 movies were set in the present day and the terminators come from the future (along with an equally from-the-future protector) this one takes us ahead to the actual war (which makes it a prequel and a sequel at the same time).

We are quickly introduced (or in some cases re-introduced) to all the players. Events are set in motion and we get a few nods to the other 3 movies, a few surprises then then we are left awaiting the next two sequels (which if they do this right (and they probably won't) will leave us with Connor's father (Kyle Reese) going back in time which will take us right to the first movie.

At the end of the movie I was left wondering a few things: 1) how did the machines know who Kyle Reese was? and if they did, why not kill him the second they had the chance (seeing as how he was #1 on their kill list)? 2) If Marcus (a special prototype of Terminator) could interact and control Skynet (the main computer bad guy) why not just destroy them instead of shutting down ONE gun? and 3) How is John Connor supposed to lead anything if his great plan is to waltz into Skynet all by himself and then let all the humans escape? Even Neo (from the Matrix couldn't pull that one off).....

RUBRUBRUBBIRUBBARUBRUBRBRUB

Some things out there just really hit all my funny buttons. This video is one of them.



Now here is where all you faithful readers come into play. If you enjoyed this as much as I did, sign on to facebook (if you don't have one sign up!) and become grassman's friend. If there is enough people as his friend, there will be a sequel video.

Click the title of this entry for the link!

Star Trek: The Movie Review

OK, what does Felicity, Lost, and the new Star Trek movie have in common? Answer: right after my obligitory notice.....

This is a free flowing conversation so spoilers may (and most likley will) be mentioned.

Time Travel. Yep the last few episodes of Felicity had (a sort of) time travel. Turns out that the only way to stay faithful to the Trekkies, and to update/reboot the Trek franchise was to have a story that includes time travel and alternate universes (Back to the Future 2 anyone?)

Basically, Spock (one of three, (well four if you count Generations) original series characters who were featured in Star Trek:TNG) accidently travels back in time (along with our main villian for the movie, Nero, a Romulan) and inadvertenatly creates an alternate universe (just by being there).

The alternate universe created gives Director J.J. Abrams the ability to have new stories of the original cast while not messing up with anything that has come before. There are no tweakings or things "left out" (unlike any other movie based on a product that spans a couple of decades such as, say a comic book movie). And as a bonus, the movie was pretty good. I'll go as far as to say it was AWESOME!

I consider myself a "moderate" trek fan, having watched all of TNG (excluding Nemisis), and most of Voyager, Deep Space Nine, and Enterprise. So I can say that as a fan, I was blown away. The effects, the story, and the cast were top notch and it all made sense (a big point for me).

Just a few quick notes, Did anyone get the "Slusho" mention? Howsabout Wynonna Ryder cameo? or possibly all the movie dialogs lifted from the other Trek films?

Also, this past week, I saw Next Day Air. I just wanted to mention that the female lead is smoking hot!!!!

Wolverine movie review

Wolverine is out (made $87 Mil), which means that it is summer movie season (yay?)!
I got to see a special screening of wolv...err "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and here are my thoughts....

As usual, this is a free flowing conversation, so spoilers may be mentioned.



Let me say first off, I have never been a "fan" of the X-Men. I'm even less of a Wolverine fan. However, I have seen (and enjoyed to varying levels) the three X-Men movies.

So with that bit of info, I have to say that I did not enjoy this movie that much. It was nice to see how they decided to prequel Wolverine's story tho. As a non-Wolverine fan, I have an idea on the comic's version of his history, but (to me) it's like watching a cartoon of a comic to see how close they get to the "real thing".

The movie had alot of X-Men cameos, most importantly (to me) was Cyclops (how did more in this movie than he did in the other three!). I also was surprised that Patrick Stewart actually showed up (the scene was leading me to believe that it was just going to be a voice over with a back of some other bald guys head on camera). Gambit finally shows up and had an important role (sort of).

As I have mentioned many many times before, I like things to make sense and because of this reason I couldn't fully enjoy the movie. Gambit's role was really unnecessary. Not only does he stop a fight between Wolvie and Sabertooth (who was in the first movie) to turn around and help Wolvie go and get Sabertooth, but then leaves only to come back to "save" them from Deadpool at the end of the movie. Speaking of Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds did a good job playing the character and out of all of them, he was the one that (I felt) was closest to what I have read of him in the comics.

The two things that bother me the most is that (in the movie) they said that if Wolvie was shot in the head (with adamantium bullets, the indestructible metal which Wolvie's bones are coated with)) it would make him lose his memory! First, the bullets would not penetrate his skull, and secondly how would they know it would affect his memory?

Overall, I'd say it was worth a look if you wanted a quick "insight" on Wolvie. If you have already seen the movie (either online or in the theaters), you probably have only seen one of the two different endings. It's a little bit after all the credits (about 2 minutes long) where 1) Wolvie is at a bar which leads you to believe that he is in Japan for the sequel (fighting ninjas) or 2) they show you how tough Deadpool is.