Tonight I went on a movie date…with myself!

I took myself to dinner and then went to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I may be a little biased, but you could probably save your money and go see a matinee or wait for the DVD. I admit, I had fun, there were some very funny parts, but overall, wasn’t my favorite.

First…the movie starts off in the Spring and then all of a sudden they are in the snow, huh? Is Megan Fox a bad actress or was it just a bad role for her or written and/or directed poorly for her? I’ve only seen her in two other movies, both Transformers movies and one thing I have said for a long time, it became hard to concentrate on anything she says once she got her lips done. It was a little hard to take her seriously when she was riding her bicycle and helmet with lots of stickers, yes she is an adult.

Will Arnett was his normal cheesy self, I used to like William Fitchner so much when I first saw him on Grace Under Fire, Tony Shaloub was Splinter, the ginormous rat Sensei, Whoopie Goldberg was the news producer, nothing crazy.

I didn’t watch the show when it was on tv or see the original movie, so i don’t have anything to compare it to, I do know who the characters are, which is a good thing. As long as you suspend all your belief and just watch for some entertainment, you’re good. 

You got the back story for this version, that part was fun to watch, the turtles growing and to see their personalities, each individual and funny, but all loving pizza and Pizza Hut being a sponsor was fun to see because KAB is a General Manager for a Pizza Hut, how cool. I will say there were two COWABUNGAs! That much I know from the tv show, Cowabunga.

Ok, I totally sound like I’m dogging the movie and I apologize, it wasn’t horrible and you know I love movies and movies from tv shows or cartoons, and if you’re looking for a mindless movie to kill some time, go for it. Yeah, that’s about it. 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1291150/?ref_=nv_sr_1

If I just say “Go see this movie” would that be enough? Ok, so I’ll tell you more. 

First, a great cast! Chris Pratt was fantastic and cheesy and sexy and goofy as the reluctant hero, Peter Quill or ‘Starlord”, Zoe Saldana, as Gamora, she kicked arse, yeah, that’s it. Question: what color will she be in her next movie? Dave Bautista, the wrestler was terrific as Drax, very colorful. Rounding out our group are Rocket, a genetically modified raccoon, voiced by Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel voicing Groot, the giant tree who had a wide vocabulary of “I am Groot” yeah, that’s it, but it was all in the inflection, very funny.

Some of the other good guys; Glenn Close as Nova Prime, John C Reilly as Corpsman Dey, he was a very funny cop.

Benicio Del Toro is “The Collector”, who you might remember from the end of Thor, not good or bad and Michael Rooker was Yondu Udonta, a blue dude with awful teeth, but with the coolest arrow that he could command with a whistle, I want that arrow!

Now, moving on to the bad dudes. Lee Pace was Ronan he was blue with purple eyes and a mean s.o.b.! Djimon Hounsou was Korath, one of Ronan’s guard, Karen Gillan, from Dr Who was Nebula, she was blue and really bad, trained to be a killer, along side Gamora, but so very different!

I’ll tell you about some memorable moments in the movie. One that wasn’t fun was in the very beginning, there is a mom in the hospital dying, but luckily for the sensitive, hint hint, the scene lasted only about five minutes. The movie had some great 1980s references and if you grew up in the ’80s and how great is a soundtrack that did not have anything that came out after 1988? If you remember Avatar, I’m going to say there was an Ewah moment, not going to expand on that, just let me know if you get the reference. There were some great fight scenes and how literal can you be? Oh, very.

Are you hooked on a feeling? You will be!

Stan Lee makes an appearance, not a speaking role, but he’s there and of course, you need to stay after the credits. Don’t expect any revealing moments to give you insight into the next Marvel movie, but you have to stay, it’s goofy.

It’s funny, silly, clever, goofy, exciting, great adventure, fighting, thievery, gambling, womanizing, crazies, revenge, torture, outer space, what more could you want?

Let’s just say…while I was watching this movie I was ready to walk out of the theater and get the DVD! How’s that for an endorsement!? Go see it!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2015381/

Optimus Prime!!! Bumble Bee!!! Optimus Prime!!! Bumble Bee!!! Optimus Prime!!! Bumble Bee!!!

Oh yeah…and Marky Mark!

Today, I went to see Transformers, Age of Extinction, with MM and we both had mixed emotions. I’m a purist, so to speak and I love the first and third Transformers movies, the second one didn’t do very much for me, but I still watched it and I think I own it, but I have Dark Side of the Moon on my iPad and I watch it when I fly frequently, although, I don’t always finish it because some of my flights are not long enough! They are trying to revitalize the series and Michael Bay is a fantastic director, but I’m not sure I would watch this one again, if not for Optimus Prime and Bumble Bee. I think I’m still working through the fact that Shia LeBouf wasn’t in it, you get used to and comfortable with certain characters and that’s what made the movies so great!

Of course, we love Mark Wahlberg, he was good in it, all muscled and the “everyman”, just a dad trying to help a friend and protect his daughter. I’m shallow, I liked the way he looked in the tight t-shirts wielding a welding iron. What I didn’t love was his stunt double who was very noticeably not Mark Wahlberg in some action sequences.

His daughter was kind of annoying, typical teenager, more focused on the boyfriend she wasn’t supposed to have and forgetting it was her dad who really saved her life all those times. Her boyfriend is cute, but really annoying, even with the Irish accent, and we know how I feel about those. I’m not sure how he added to the plot, but I guess there has to be a love story in all of these movies.

There was a strong supporting cast, Kelsey Grammar and Stanley Tucci, I’m not telling you who was the really bad guy and who was the sort of bad guy who turned around in the end and became a good guy. The voice actors for the transformers included, of course, Peter Cullen playing Optimus Prime and Frank Welker playing Galvatron, also the voice of Megatron and John Goodman was Hound, all great actors for the roles, Peter Cullen and Frank Welker being the original voice artists from the original cartoons.

We both thought the movie was a bit long and I know I should not have had the 32 oz bottle of water, as I had to get up and use the facilities twice and anyone who knows me knows I do not like to get up during a movie for that! Luckily the bathroom was right next to the theater.

There were a few good fight scenes and a lot that might not have been necessary, but it was the Transformers after all. The government is paranoid and feeds mis-information to the public and incites panic. The working man rises up against the government and the people trying to hold them back and put fear in their hearts and minds. The Decepticons want to destroy the earth, fun.

There were explanations to the ice age and extinction of the dinosaurs, bad transformers, metal hyenas, with fur!, transformer dragons and dinosaurs, oh my!  Optimus Prime took his rightful place as leader of the Autobots and brought himself to his true ‘height and strength’ the leader he truly is. The personalities of the Autobots, more than the Decepticons, fit their body style and personalities. The Decepticons are all bad, so who cares what their personalities are like!

The bottom line is that no matter what, we should always have faith in ourselves, you may lose it in others, but never yourself.

I hope MM was ok, I kept hitting his leg every time Optimus Prime first came on the screen and when he transformed, kicked arse, got a new body and paint job and generally was Optimus Prime. Not to mention when Bumble Bee hit the screen, so happy to see him!

I enjoyed the movie because it was The Transformers, yeah, that’s pretty much it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2109248/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4

Go see this movie! That’s all I have to say, go see this movie!

I loved the first How to Train Your Dragon, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0892769/?ref_=nv_sr_2, about a boy viking who is being brought up to hunt and kill dragons and discovers there may be more to them than he realized and forms a bond that cannot be broken with a night fury dragon he names Toothless.

In the first movie, which came out in 2010, Hiccup, our main character and hero was about ten, I believe and in this movie, he is twenty. Isn’t it amazing how fast kids grow up! [And I just took a peek and the next movie is coming out in 2016! You bet I’ll be there and adding it to the collection, like this one!

This story is about responsibility, family, love, understanding, forgiveness and courage. The courage to stand up to those who will hunt you and take you down, courage to stand up for what you believe in, courage to face even your family for what you know is right.

There is love, unconditional love, long lost relations, family, a major heartbreaking loss, the realization that you are stronger than you realize and we really are made up of both of our parents, we get both good and bad from them equally. I can’t tell you how difficult it is not to tell you everything, but there would be too many spoiler alerts! Did you know that in the dragon world, there is hierarchy, just like in almost any society; an alpha and all stem from them and must pay heed to them and do their bidding. Which can be both good and bad…

Lastly, there are dragons, I mean a lot of dragons, all shapes, sizes and colors and baby dragons, it turns out, are just like any other kid, they don’t listen to anyone.  But, everyone’s favorite dragon is there front and center, Toothless. Toothless is a great friend and companion and protector for Hiccup and Hiccup is nothing but fierce about Toothless. And just when you think the  movie can’t get any better…Toothless finds his footing, does what he does best in protecting his best friend and discovers something inside him that no one knew was there. Especially Toothless!

Everyone has to find their own way, make their own path in this world and it’s interesting to watch the journey that Hiccup goes through to find out what everyone else could see in him already.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1646971/?ref_=nv_sr_1,

Do we really need another Godzilla movie?

Well, some days I might say yes, those are the days I am nostalgic and a little kid on a Saturday morning watching movies: Godzilla, Godzilla vs Mothra, Son of Bambi meets Godzilla, yeah,no,  not that one.

And then some days, I might say no and that enough is enough already! It’s Godzilla, he’s a monster and he wreaks havoc on all that get in his way and even those that don’t get in his way. What are they going to come up with next? That’s new? That’s different?

The last “new” one I saw was in 1998, and it was a little on the funny side, from what I remember. Don’t get me wrong, I used to love B sci-fi movies, I loved to watch them before the Bruce Lee movies that came on Saturday morning as well, but come on!

Did you know that there are over THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTY different Godzilla movies? WHAT? So…enough already? Maybe?

Not to worry fans, I know I am going to be overruled and there will be another Godzilla movie in the next 10-20 years, maybe there will be some Mothra movies, maybe they’ll fight each other, maybe someone will finally win!

Will I go see this one? Not sure, but you know I’ll keep you posted if I do!

Check out the list of all the Godzilla movies: http://www.imdb.com/find?q=godzilla&s=tt&ref_=fn_al_tt_mr

ROARRRRRR