Movie Review: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

Two years ago, the first Transformers movie captured the hearts of fans of the 1980's cartoon and the robot action figures. As a matter of fact, it netted over US$300 million in box office receipts and generated momentum for a sequel. Heck, even oft-criticized Michael Bay was hailed for his ability to mix humor and mechanized action scenes.

What about Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen?

Let's just say if the Transformers is going to be a trilogy, this second installment is the weak movie that will let you hope for the third movie.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is overly long (2.5 hours!) and it could have benefited from more thorough editing. There are sequences in the final hour of the movie that could have been left in the cutting room. (Clue: desert action in Egypt). Plus, the plot is just unsatisfying, even for a fan like me. It involves the "All Spark" (again!) and the links of humanity's past to the Transformers, but it's just too winding and shoddy if you ask me.

The only saving grace is the action scenes, which director Micheal Bay seemed to mastered the art of. A great deal of them involves the Autobots and Decepticons in human-like combat, and they are more fluid and dynamic. Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox reprise their roles and they provide the needed human element in the film. Not that they were excellent, but they were able to givea decent amount of humor and some romance in the robot battle-fest.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a huge drop-off from the first film. If the box-office results reflect the movie's over-all quality, then we have a film franchise that has fallen from grace.


Rating: 1.5/5


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Movie Review: The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009)

First off, I'm not from New York City and I didn't watch the 1974 original film starring Walter Matthau. Too bad for me because I think those two things would have made the experience of watching The Taking of Pelham 123 much better.

Set in modern day New York City, the film is about the hijacking of a subway train by a loose cannon named Ryder (played by John Travolta) and how a disgraced Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) employee (played by Denzel Washington) becomes the accidental hero. Like many films directed y Tony Scott, the movie features lots of fast cuts and hyperkinetic action that will satisfy the popcorn crowd.

But this film is no Die Hard-- the plot is hard to follow and the film, in my opinion, gets confusing as I had a hard time following the motivations of the hijack and Ryder's intentions. Likewise, the hero of the film is just too drab. Washington plays a family man, but I never got to root for him. (Heck, I found Ryder's ingenious plan more admirable!)

But the 2009 version of hijack classic is an update that makes sense today. From the energy, the technology, and the post 9/11 sensibilities, The Taking of Pelham 123 is a nice ride.


Rating: 3/5


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Smart Sandbox Media Event at A. Venue

Smart Communications, the Philippines' largest telecoms provider, held a media event for the launching of Smart Sandbox. The event was held at the A. Venue in Makati City, and it was well-attended by television, print, radio, and online media folks. The program was hosted by deejays Mo Twister and Mojo Jojo of Magic 89.9.

Since I've been part of the beta testing group of the new local social network, I've known almost all about the project and I've even posted my evaluation of Smart Sandbox. The surprise for the evening was the official release of the four different television commercials of SandBox (I think this is the first time a website in the Philippines will be given such promotional mileage). The new commercials star superband The Eraserheads, Ateneo basketball stud Chris Tiu, and celebrities Kim Chiu, Gerald Anderson, Piolo Pascual, and Angel Locsin. Here's the old TVC Smart showed initially:



Of course, healthy contingent of Filipino bloggers were there. Here are some folks I saw:

• Fritz
• Arpee
• Markku
  
• Jayvee
• Juned
• Carl
• Sire 
• Azrael
• Rochelle
• Karla
• Sha
• Melo
• AJ
• Noemi
• Eric
• Coy

If you were there, don't be afraid to gimme a poke, OK? :P


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Movie Review: Drag Me to Hell (2009)

After doing the Spider-Man circuit, director Sam Raimi is back on the horror genre and fans should be happy-- Raimi's Drag Me to Hell looks like an instant horror cult classic.

Drag Me to Hell stars Alison Lohman as Cristine Brown, a bank employee who finds herself tormented by an evil spirit after publicly humiliating a gypsy witch. In the next three days Cristine experiences frightening visions and violent visits from the evil spirit, while trying to maintain her professional life and personal relationships. It is in that context where Raimi finds the nice balance between the scary gore-fest and campy humor.

At some point during the movie, I realized that it was getting a little more over-the-top and scary that I didn't take the film to seriously anymore and just enjoyed the jolts and the scares. I then had a glimpse of what Raimi was trying to do: come up with an old-school horror movie away from the "Ring's" and "Saw's" of the world.

And it looks like Raimi has succeeded: Drag Me to Hell is in the Top 50 rated Horror movies in the Internet Movie Database.

Note: The Philippine version of the movie has far too many cuts and edits. And that really diminishes the Drag Me to Hell experience.


Rating: 4.5/5



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