Posts Tagged ‘action’

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Review

It’s becoming more and more difficult to review action movies with all the amazing effects thrown into the mix. At surface value G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is movie magic. You will be dumbstruck by some beautiful explosions and amazing machines, as we’re coming to expect from our action movies. But, unfortunately, the movie doesn’t get any deeper than that.

The premise is taken from the very popular action figure of the American Hero, G.I. Joe. An idea which is noticeably popular in Hollywood thanks to the success of movies like Transformers. The storyline revolves around some high tech weapons which were created by people who had every intention of stealing them to cause mayhem.

Sound familiar? That’s probably because we’ve seen it before. Most of the plots twists and turns are tried and tested. In fact, you may be forgiven for thinking you’re watching a rerun. The guy looses the girl, she fights against him on the bad side, and it’s all about who has the biggest guns and who can be more deceptive. I found myself predicting the next move of each character and like a prophet of God; I was spot on every time.

It’s not that the movie’s bad. No, in fact the effects and non stop action keep you watching. You’ll find yourself saying, “man, that’s cool,” countless times but that’s as far as it goes. If you want to watch a dizzying 2 hour effects spectacle, than this movie is for you. Everybody else, stay clear.

4/10

Experimentation

Saturday, March 14th, 2009

ExperimentationExperimentation. Over the last month I have began to loath that word from the very core of my being. A Google definition search pulled up the following:

experiment: the testing of an idea; “it was an experiment in living”; “not all experimentation is done in laboratories”

An experiment in living? That needs some clarification. What does that mean? When we grow up we are taught the difference between right and wrong, most people essentially think they’re good people and boy do they not have a clue.

“Come on bro, you never drink? We have to get you drunk sometime.”

Please excuse the verbal attacks that will follow. Are you mentally handy capped, retarded, stupid, dropped as a baby, or just blind?

“Ah, you’ll never know what it’s like until you try.”

Buddy, you’ll never know how great it feels to have a truck roll over your head until you try either, that doesn’t mean I’m going to do it. Forget all the normal logical and spiritual reasons for just staying away from alcohol to be safe, why would I ever want to put myself in such a venerable state? I can’t even trust you to look after your own life, let alone mine.

You see, what people just don’t seem to be picking up is that every decision you make today, and every stupid thing you do will affect your entire life in some way. It will shape you as a person, put you into almost unbreakable habits and lead you down paths that would cause your seven year old self to run away screaming if they saw you.

It’s not the kids of today, or the people of today. It’s been happening for centuries. We make the same stupid mistakes our parents made, and one day you’ll sit and tell your kids not to do what you did. When they do it, you’ll probably sit back and say – ah let them experiment.

Hello! That’s not how this deal works bud. It’s not just an experiment; it’s a decision to engage in whatever activity against your better judgement just for… That’s just it, I don’t know why? Why do people take drugs? Why do people smoke? Why do people drink excessively? Why, why, why? I just don’t understand the logic, reasoning, stupidity, whatever you want to call it that’s involved.

Don’t blame it on divorce, television, poverty or anything like that – those aren’t the reasons. I guess it’s just a lack of God in their life. No light means dark.

Today I got told that one of my younger former friends was now experimenting in smoking stuff. The way he’s been going I’m not surprised but it still made me so sad. I can’t even imagine what God must feel. He’s wasting his life on something he knows isn’t right.

I’m a person who really enjoys spending time with young people, but as they get older most change in ways that just make you so sad. They forget God, they ‘experiment,’ they loose who they are in a world that encourages compromise and rejects truth. Maybe that’s why I love young people; they are uncorrupted, open, honest and free. But unless they choose to stay that way, and most don’t, they become the so called good people of today. People that are so caught up in the nothingness of their lives that they don’t even know right from wrong anymore.

I’m not trying to judge other people, because I’m just as susceptible to doing wrong in different ways. In fact if I don’t check myself I easily fall in to the trap of thinking I’m a good person when that’s not what it’s about. God first, life second. That’s how it should always be. If you don’t believe me, try it, you just might find this is the last experiment you’ll ever need.

God means life, love, eternity, happiness, completeness. He makes you want to be a better person all the time. I am a very judgemental person by nature; I look at people and often accurately sum them up at face value. What I’ve learnt to do is see what I don’t like and instead of judging them look at myself and say, do I do that? Am I like that? If I am then it needs to be sorted out, if not then thank God for that and move on.

People often say they just can’t stop sinning in a particular way. My first question is do you really want to stop? The difficulty is not in stopping the action; it’s in the reasoning behind the action. How badly do you not want to do it? That’s what you should be correcting, that’s the root of the problem. If you don’t want to change for the better than nobody can force you, but it’s a shame that your life would have been wasted when there is so much more to find.

What makes a movie great?

Friday, August 22nd, 2008

OscarWhat makes a movie great? Is it the actors, the director or the script? Why watch animated movies when you can watch real people acting on the screen?

Movies have been the voice of men and woman throughout their time. They are used as message carriers and entertainment for the masses. Movies can be hated and loved at the same time. They can be successful and the can be disasters, money spinners and money losers. Surely then there must be a formula for the perfect movie, a perfect way to create a perfect movie!

Teenagers seem to have a vendetta against animated movies, they feel that they are for little children and that if they watch animated movies they will be seen as babies! It’s a pity that they think in this way, some of the greatest movies have been animated movies and those movies contain the formula of the perfect movie!

The formula for the perfect movie is not simple. Many have failed to achieve the perfect magic that the formula releases when all the reactants are mixed correctly. The most important ingredient is a good script. The script of a movie is the foundation of all that is to come. No actor, director or producer can make a poor script turn into the magic ingredient it needs to be. So surely before adding any money, time or energy to a film the script should be perfected.

Story telling is what the movie business is all about, the script is the story’s heart. Action movies can be fantastic. Comedies, dramas, musicals can all be great and they can all be terrible to! So how can a script be perfected if all movie genres can be failures and successes? What must the script contain to make sure the movie is a success?

Iron Man

The answer is simple, the best movies are not specific to genre. The best movies are the ones that change your life! The best movies are unforgettable, they make you as a person want to change, and they make you want to be a better person. The best movies make you the main character, they take you somewhere purposeful and don’t waste your time! Some of my favourite movies of all time are Disney movies. The movies have heart, they makes you wish you where in them, interacting with the characters. The acting is done with passion which makes it so much better. All successful actors and actresses act with a passion unique to themselves.

Dark Knight

However, you can’t compare a made for television movie with a big screen movie. What makes movies like Peter Jackson’s King Kong of 2005, the Dark Knight and Finding Nemo so popular? They must have an element that was the same in making them a success. I think after a while the crucial elements become simple. You can watch a movie and know which are missing and which are there. The crucial ingredients are a great script, money, a passionate crew, passionate actors and actresses and a fantastic score!

Wall E

More importantly though is an ingredient that most movies lack, an ingredient that King Kong has but ‘Dude, where’s my car?’ lacks. It’s a moral story line, something that is often subconscious and goes by unnoticed in the greatest movies. It’s a sad but true fact that the world today is in a shambles, we don’t need more rubbish fed to us over and over again! What we need is moral movies encouraging the youth and the world to wake up to what is happening around us. It is not a matter of religion, although God is an important part of it for me. Any person can appreciate good values and morals if they just try hard enough!

I am Legend

Tuesday, January 1st, 2008

Quick Review:

This movie brings in some awesome acting from Will Smith. A great stroryline, great acting and fantastic directing. New York is totally transformed and is 100% believeable. The dog is just amazing in the movie - move over Lassy! You are more worried about the dog than Will Smith when trouble brews. Not for people who don’t really like sci-fi though.

Rating: 8/10