Steven Spielberg

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

I just came back from the premier of the “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen“. After seeing the trailers for this film, my expectations were so high, that I was actually worried if the movie is going to be any close to what I wanted it to be. I happy to report that all my expectations were bitten down and torn apart. The real thing was so much better.

Now, I don’t want to spoil it too much for those of you who haven’t seen it, but let me give you this. There is non-stop action from start to end. Everything flies, swims, shoots, explodes, collides, and transforms. There were quite a few things on the scale that I haven’t seen before. Epic!

If I had a hat, it would be off, with all respects to Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg. And, of course, everyone else who worked on this film. It was so much worth it!

My rating: 5 stars. Highly recommended, must see.

P.S.: I don’t know why everyone is so turned on about Megan Fox. She’s not bad, but I don’t think she’s worth all the hype. Isabel Lucas (another hot girl in this film) is at least as good. Sometimes even better.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

I’ve heard a few negative reviews of the “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull“, so I wasn’t particularly rushing to see it. I have the box set DVD collection of all previous Indy films and I’ve seen them a few times by now – they are good, but the age shows. I like them, but you can’t call me a fan yet. With that, I went to the movies today.

I have to say that I really enjoyed the film. It was in exactly the same style as previous ones, but a bit refreshed. I think it feels exactly like the other ones felt back when they were just released. However if this film was shown 20 years ago, it would have blown the minds of a much wider audience.

In short, the film has everything it should have had – Spielberg’s directing, Ford’s acting, tonnes of action, a quest for something cool, much greater scale than anybody can imagine, and a few jokes here and there. Good value for money and not a time waster.

One thing that I particularly liked, how it was done for the PG-13 rating. There is a lot of action and a lot of people get killed in a lot of different ways, but there is no focus on that. There is not much blood or suffering. The scariest of the dead bodies are in bones, all over catacombs full of treasure – something you can’t take away from an adventure movie. Family-friendly and kids-recommended.

Overall, quality entertainment. 8 out of 10.

The Goonies

The Goonies (1985) Since I didn’t have access to many movies in my childhood, I still have to catch up with some classics. “The Goonies” I heard brings warm childhood memories to many of my peers.

Directed by: Richard Donner
Genres: Adventure, Family, Comedy, Thriller
Cast: Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Jeff Cohen, Corey Feldman, Kerri Green, Martha Plimpton, Jonathan Ke Quan, John Matuszak, Robert Davi, Joe Pantoliano, Anne Ramsey, Lupe Ontiveros, Mary Ellen Trainor, Keith Walker, Curtis Hanson
IMDB raintg: 7.2
My rating: 8.0 [rate 8.0]

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War of the Worlds

One of the good things about having a grandma around is that Olga and I can go to the movies again. We wanted to see “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” in the K-Cineplex, but they had some power problems (coincidence? I think not), so we made our way back to Rio and watched “War of the Worlds“.

Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Genres: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Cast: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin, Tim Robbins, Rick Gonzalez, Yul Vazquez, Lenny Venito, Lisa Ann Walter, Gene Barry, David Alan Basche, Michael Brownlee, Camillia Sanes, Marlon Young, John Eddins, Peter Gerety
IMDB raintg: 6.9
My rating: 5.5 [rate 5.5]

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The Terminal

Olga and I watched “The Terminal” today. I’ve been looking forward for this movie and I wasn’t wrong. The film is excellent.

Somehow this movie reminded me about all those films I watched while being a kid. They were from those times when movies mostly weren’t about the special effects or technology. They were about people and their relations. “The Terminal” is exactly that kind of movie. It shows how screwed up is the way that society is going. People don’t have time to enjoy themselves and things around them. Beurocracy is getting in the way instead of helping out. Noone cares about noone. Damn. This points of this film are very applicable to Cyprus, which is a small island with small number of people on it and very strong family relations. It is not that bad, but it surely is heading that way. I can only imagine what is going on in big cities and countries, such as film’s place – New York’s airport.

Anyway, back to the film. It is an excellent piece of work. Two people made the biggest contritubion to it – Steven Spielberg directing and Tom Hanks acting. Catherine Zeta-Jones was episodical, nice to look at, but she didn’t add too much to the film.

I’ll rate it as 10 out of 10. I don’t think that everyone will like it. It’s just that I do. And that’s all that matters.