Animated Movies: Movie #1 Puss in Boots 2011 4 out 10

The animation looked good......The movie had some nice action sequences......but it just wasn't good.
A great animated movie has a really good story and characters you care about.....this film didn't have any of that for me.  All visuals and no substance.

To be honest I wasn't exactly dying to see this film in the first place.  I didn't like the character of Puss in Boots in the Shrek films to begin with---so the thought of his getting his own movie wasn't something that interested me.  I'm a dog person and not a cat person. This was a Netflix request by the kids  (and don't get me wrong I love a lot of kids movies---I'm a Disney/Pixar fan---I love Spongebob and Scooby Doo--so I have seen and enjoyed a ton of animated kids films).    Puss in Boots is just not one of those animated movies that I enjoyed.    Not liking the main character gong in never helps.....but then giving him a boring sidekick makes things even worse......I wasn't a big Shrek fan----but at least he had Mushu (I mean Donkey).   Puss I stuck with a bad egg (literally)  Humpty  (boring) Dumpty.   I can see the kids opening their kids meals now and going  "All I got is a rotten egg".    The plot itself was dull....Puss in Boots and Humpty Dumpty pulling a Jack and the Beanstalk and stealing the Golden Goose ---which later attacks the Mexican town that Puss in Boots in supposedly from.   Very disappointing!....It was unoriginal and not a lot a fun.     If you want to watch a Jack and the Beanstalk movie....check out Mickey and the Beanstalk from 1947.

So all in all...Yes kids like it ---but kids also like fart jokes The Smurfs and Alvin and the Chipmunks.
This is one Dreamworks animated movie that I could have done without.

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Aside from Wrath of Khan (which was great) Why do so many of the Star Trek movies suck?

A Couple of things made me think about this today.........First --I just saw Prometheus this last weekend, which caused me to reflect on the terrible Star Trek movie the Final Frontier---where they search for god to be totally  disappointed at the end of the film just like the films audience.  This was such a terrible Star Trek movie.   Another reason was that in Long Beach the movies on the beach series began this week and Wrath of Khan was the first movie playing......It made me think.....why are there so many bad Trek movies???  I mean Star Trek Next Generation  ( which I wasn't really even a fan of had some better individual episodes than some of these films --where is Q when you need him). So here is my list of the Time Trek movies  (I mean Star Trek---forgot the name for a second since they are Time Traveling so much in these films that you would think the Enterprise was a Delorean).

 Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan  1982  8+ out of 10  By far the best Trek movie Kirk versus Khan in a scene chewing battle of overacting and action..  it was a great idea to bring back this vilian from the old TV Series.  it was like a great boxing match.

Star Trek into Darkness  2013   8 out of 10

 

Yes they went back into the Khan well yet again.  I couldn't stand the reboot.  But now excepting that this unfortunate alternate universe Star Trek world exists,  this entire into the lackluster Star Trek Movie franchise was actually one of the best.......See my full review

Here...

http://bradgeekness.blogspot.com/2013/09/star-trek-into-darkness-2013-8-out-of-10.html

 

Star Trek: First Contact   1996   7 out of 10   The second best Trek movie.......Bringing back the Borg was a good idea after the lame Generations movie...  The Borg brought a sense of peril that was lacking in other Trek films.   A true villain worthy of standing up and fighting against.....Of course this film had time travel as well ---because apparently the Trek Franchise thinks it is a Time Travel series ---but still this one was a good solid fun movie.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country…1991  6 out of 10    A decent Star Trek film....At least it doesn't have any time traveling in it.  It was a throwback attempt at trying to recreate Khan with Kirk battling some Klingons and one of the better Trek films

Star Trek: The Motion Picture  1979.....5 out of 10     It was an okay movie until the slow.....slow pan shot of Vigor at the end the dragged the entire film to a halting stop...

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home 1986  5 out of 10      Many people actually liked this one....Me not so much.....It should have been called Star Trek the Silly Time Travel movie or   Star Trek:Save the Whale.......Wissles---we need to get your wissles....indeed.

Star Trek: Generations 1994   4 out of 10     It started off pretty good for the first third of the flim.....It got worse in the middle and the ending was just plan horrible......Seriously what a lame way to send off captain Kirk...The time travel plot in this one was like a slice of Swiss cheese and their was no tension at the end of the film.


Star Trek III: The Search for Spock  1984    4 out of 10  The search for Spock???  You never should have killed him off in the first place ----the ending was so bad ....Really bad --they should have left him dead.'

Star Trek: Nemesis 2002   4 out of 10    Lame ---Okay this is the third time you have made this Trek movie....This time the Khan wannabe is a Romulan that is part Picard???.....Come up with something new already 

Star Trek: Insurrection  1999    3  out of 10    It should have been called Star Trek a complete waste of time...  Let's help the people on this planet......Not movie worthy…

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier… 1989   3 out of 10  This one was so bad that it should have been the final Frontier.....In there search for God they and the audience end up disappointed....Eeeeewwwwwwwweeeeeewww!  (Why are they putting seatbelts in theaters this summer????  Not for this movie that is for sure)

 

 

And here was my rant after the Star Trek movie in 2009  4 out of 10   came out....

Of course after making this list above ---maybe I should rethink it......I mean it definitely was maybe in need of a reboot after all........Oh well.......I put it here separate from the list above because apparently this Trek movie takes place in an alternate universe???? whatever.

http://www.myspace.com/bradmrdiff/blog/488605056

Here is a look back at Star Trek the Tour from a few years ago.....

http://bradgeekness.blogspot.com/2011/05/star-trek-tour-review-in-photos-jan.html

I leave you with something good....A battle to the death with GORN

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Prometheus 2012 8 out of 10: The Return of Ridley

  I was extremely excited to see the early teaser trailers for Prometheus. The Return of Ridley to Sci-Fi! How could I not be excited??   The man you brought us the space horror of aliens and the awesomeness of Bladerunner.  The man you basically set the design style of years and years of sci-fi movies to come.  That is why I was setting myself up to be slightly disappointed by the film.  It is hard to live up to classics (ask George Lucas and Spielberg about that).    Prometheus follows a familiar Sci-Fi plot of humanity's  search for answers and is a little bit of a mix of every Sci-fi movie that has come before it.  A team of scientists travel to space to answer the question of where we come from.....and end up what exactly getting the answers they seek.

The movie looked and sounded amazing.  We are definitely returning to the world of  H.R. Giger and Alien in this film (which they can't deny any longer).  It was part Alien,  part  2001 a Space Odyssey, part Bladerunner, and part about half a dozen other films.  The plot moves along fairly slow at the beginning in order to set up the characters for the horror that awaits them---which I felt was nicely done.  The problem comes in the type of story that it is.  Like an Arthur C Clarke novel it is all about asking interesting questions, but never really answering them in an way that truly delivers.    I've read a bunch of Arthur C Clarke books and felt the same way about most of them that I did about this movie.   A feeling like   ......Wow this is really, really cool and interesting ....I can't wait to see how it ends or how he answers the question.....never to really get that answer at the end of the book that I was looking for.   That is exactly how the movie felt.  A cool concept and cool delivery --but leaving you somehow not completely satisfied at the end.   It may be the fault of the film trying to use so much of what has come before it or simply the type of story that it was.  It obviously did a better job than the Star Trek movie where they search for god only to be really disappointed,  but somehow I was expecting a little more.  That being said it was still a good film.  It definitely had its moments. Ridley knows how to craft an amazing looking Sci-Fi film and loves his androids as a way to showcase humanity and its search for answers.

Bigfoot 2012 4 out of 10 (There is no such thing as a good Bigfoot movie)

Guy in Bigfoot outfit about to be brutal killed by a giant Bigfoot at a concert that should have been cancelled, but wasn't because of what I like to call the Jawa Scenario.

I'm now firmly convinced that there is no such thing as a good Bigfoot movie......I've tried---over and over again, but Bigfoot just doesn't make for a good movie....  Syfy's latest movie titled  Bigfoot  is no better than the rest.   They were going for the over the top cheesy (So Bad it is good) and it didn't make it to that status like Mega Python vs Gatoroid did.   It starred Danny Patridge and Greg Brady....(trying to copy the success of the Tiffany vs Debbie Gibson battle)---it also featured a old (looking for a paycheck singer)  Alice Cooper getting munched by a really hungry Bigfoot just like Mickey Dolenz did in the Snake vs Gator flick.....Just like Joey Fatone in Jersey Shore shark attack----apparently old out of work singers getting killed is a new horror movie cliche.    

As for the plot.....(lol----sorry collecting my thoughts)   there was no plot other than a Giant Bigfoot that is having a really bad hair day impresonating  King Kong  (even climbing Mt Rushmore at the end ,  while Greg Brady and Danny Patridge  (recently both on Celebrity House Hunters) chase after him with different agendas.....This movie was laughable ---but not in an enjoyable way.   I should have enjoyed watching the  goofy digital  (way to big to be Bigfoot) crushing and kicking people all over the small South Dakota town---but alas I did not.  The movie also featured an old and not so hot anymore Sherilyn Finn and Howard (I thought he was dead) Hesseman.   I keep watching these bad movies in search of the occasional so bad it is good film....and mostly just get stuck with bad.....And Bigfoot just hasn't ever broken through.  Shame on you Bigfoot.  Finding an enjoyable Squatch film is just about as easy as Finding Squatch himself

Here is my old Bigfoot film blog which has some of the other bad Bigfoot films....

http://bradgeekness.blogspot.com/2011/07/great-yeti-blog-feb-2009.html

and here are a few more

http://bradgeekness.blogspot.com/search?q=bigfoot&updated-max=2011-07-05T11:05:00-07:00&max-results=20&start=1&by-date=false

Five Million Years to Earth 1967 7+ out of 10

Five Million Years to Earth is a really interesting little sci-fi film that came from a BBC 6 part series orginally (which now I would very much like to see)   The first portion made me think fondly about   one of my favorite sci-fi books  Inherit the Stars by James P Hogan.    A scientific discovery is made while working on the extension of a subway train that leads to so much more.  The movie builds from this discovery into larger revelations that eventually like Inherit the Stars explain  human evolution.  This theme is also central to  Prometheus --which I will be seeing coincidentally later this week.  Even with the cheesy special effects of this Hammer film--it was still an effective thinking man's sci-fi movie---whose influence can be seen in the works of horror film makers that followed.   

The movie takes place at a subway station at Hobb's End.....The entire time I was watching the movie that seemed so familiar....I had to look it up after the fact.  Look it up below and you can see how this influenced others as they paid homage to it in their films using the name in their stories.  John Carpenter made it the central town in his movie In the Mouth of Maddness which features an a famous horror author (modeled after Stephen King).   Several of King's works seem to have been influenced by this film's theme as well. 

Learn about Hobb's End.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobbs_End

It is weird when you stumble across an older film like this and can immeadiately see how later works t were either consciously or subconsciously influenced by them.  Like the case with Equinox and the Evil Dead which I noticed when I saw that film.

http://bradgeekness.blogspot.com/2011/11/equinox-1971-so-bad-it-is-good-7-out-of.html

Super Shark 2011-----Super Shark NOT SO MUCH 3 out of 10

"So it's a shark then"

"A giant one"

Yet another Shark movie???  Yes that is correct.  Another bad shark movie.....This one has J.J. Dynamite Walker and John Schneider of Dukes of Hazard fame and a giant digital shark that repeatedly launches itself on the same stretch of beach like a bad hand puppet chomping on people in a digital blur.  The plot of this bad shark movie isn't much to speak of.  You know the story....a oil rig opens up a underwater shaft and out comes a Giant digital shark that is a little hungry.  Then you get a bunch of dull dialogue and a lame bikini contest and J.J. Walker basically playing himself and more chomping and then the U.S. Military tries to take out the shark unsuccessfully.  Super Shark is a poor man's Mega Shark.....This is un example of a Giant Shark movie that has all of it's best moments in the trailer.  All in all Super Shark isn't that Super.  

"Blow his ass up"

Must See TV : Jersey Shore Shark Attack Trailer

I guess the Sharks like their victims tanned orange.

Movie review will be up tomorrow night  June 10th 2012