Monday, July 18, 2011

Transformers: Dark of the Moon and The Tree of Life

It has been a long long time since I was able to see 2 movies on the same day. Over the weekend, I was able to see the captioned movies and these are my thoughts.


Transformers: Dark of the Moon
The third movie of the Transformers franchise is definitely better than the last one (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen). I didn’t blog about that one as I actually watch it few weeks back on my computer. Now, the 3rd one is a 3D one that I quite enjoy on big screen. The first one was certainly a surprise when I first saw it, I was shocked and awed by the fact that the transformation of robots were finally realized marvelously on big screen and I thought the making of Gundam or Macross could finally be possible on big screen! Of course, those were still dreams….Anyway, going back to Transformers…the first one was fresh and new. Being a long time viewer of Michael Bay’s flicks, I don’t expect anything great from him storywise. Also, I wasn’t a follower of the animated original series, so it was definitely fine for me. The second one, well, just too messy and confusing in terms of both story and action scenes. I think he was too ambitious to show as many characters (robots) as possible, so it was just a mess. Anyway, the third one is much better. Let me list out the pluses:

Story – Well, it is not an Oscar material, but it is easy to follow. Jobs is done for brainless viewers like me (respect to this type of movie). Some mindless jokes on Shia, his parents, the Chinese guy are fine.

Characters – John Malkovich is a surprise in the movie, Frances McDormand was fine too.

Actions – much better because slow motions were added, I could see the car-to-robot-to-car transformation finally. Michael Bay obviously listened to what fans had said. Also, the scene of jumpers from plane was just awesome!

The major minus is:
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley – Well, she got a nice body, but that’s about it. When I look at this chick’s acting in this movie, as many critics or viewers had said, we miss Megan Fox badly! This Rosie chick’s acting makes Megan Fox like Meryl Streep! I know what the Rosie’s character is for in this movie, but she is not that pretty comparing with Megan. Rosie reminds me as a younger but uglier version of Cameron Diaz.

Don’t get me wrong this movie has only one minus, I just don’t have much expectation on this flick and surprising get entertained quite much by it. So, I just didn’t pay much attention to other aspects of this movie. So, I gave it a pass. Overall, is that worth viewing? I would say for sure. 3D doesn’t add or take away much to this movie. However, I still have not got any chance to see this on Imax, just can imagine that should be quite an experience.



The Tree of Life
I was so disappointed by the flick. Learned that this movie won the biggest awards in Cannes Festival, also Brad Pitt and Sean Penn are in this flick directed by the mysteric Terrence Malick has only make 5 films through out his decades of career. I thought it must worth seeing it. Critics do love it and viewers do split their views really far apart. Some love it and some hate it. I neither love it nor hate it indeed. I just felt disappointed upon viewing it. Before going to this movie, I was told that I must be very patient for the first half hour or so, as the images in the movies are very confusing and disoriented. Without patience, audiences did walk out of the movie. So, I already prepared my mind to view of such. Basically, I’m fine with those images (Discovery + Nature + National Geographics) and clips with Brad and Sean. My disappointment was mainly due to the end of the movie. I expected the movie should have a tight and explainable ending to tight all the loose ends of various elements over the 2+ hours of images, so that we can ‘realise’ what the movie is all about. At the end, I just saw Sean Penn on the beach with bunch of people including Brad Pitts, his sons and perhaps including his younger self. That’s it. What the Fxxk was that?

I know the movie is about life, how lives related to God? how we are come about and all that? But, what would the movie want us to conclude? At the end, I’ve not freaking idea what the director wants to convey to us. Just want us to think? No thanks!

Brad Pitt did a decent job in the movie. Basically, he is the highlight. Sean Penn was a total waste in it. Only seeing him spoke to his wife once, on the phone once, and just wandering around inside glass buildings, up and down in elevators, and running on the beach/desert. What’s the point? With such script, I think any actor can do that. What a waste! Those young boys that played Brad Pitt’s sons are fine, especially the oldest one. Guess he will have a good career in years to come. The actress who play Brad Pitt’s wife has many scenes in the movie, but her acting is also forgettable. Anyway, I think this movie is certainly a waste of time, especially I’m getting very picky in choosing what to see these days. Just don’t have much time to waste.

1 comment:

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