Toy Story 3 - Saying It's "Great" is an Understatement

I have been a fan of Toy Story from the first movie. As a matter of fact, it's way up there on my list as one of the best films I've EVER seen. The second one may not have been as good, but since I have already grown attached to the characters, I was able to enjoy it nevertheless.

I've kept myself (quite well) informed of the happenings between Pixar and Disney, including the news about John Lasseter not directing the film. Because of this, I was pretty much sold to the idea that Toy Story 3 will almost certainly disappoint. But still, my anticipation grew.

Then came today, the day the film is finally shown in cinemas... and we were among the first ones to see it, my son and I.

You know what? I've never felt this satisfied after seeing a movie!

Comparing it to the two previous installations, Toy Story 3 is (in my opinion) more mature (with regards of the plot and antics) and much heavier in the emotions department. But, aside from that, all I can say is it's a WONDERFUL movie (that is an understatement, by the way).

If Toy Story will remain a trilogy, I wouldn't want it to end in any other way. Kudos to Michael Arndt for the great story.

UP

We went to see Disney's Up earlier today... me, my wife, my son, and our househelp (who has never been in a theater before in her life). Although it wasn't able to get my son's undivided attention, we three grown-ups give it a six thumbs-up.

It's way up there on my list of the best animated movies ever made, closely following Toy Story 1 and 2. The story's great, the animation... well, what else would you expect from Pixar? Even the animated short shown before the movie is highly entertaining!

I'm not going to give a blow-by-blow evaluation here as I can't think of anything to dislike about it... all I'm going to say is GO SEE IT, it's going to be worth your every second and every cent.

Oh, by the way, I almost forgot, this trailer was shown also...

I CAN'T WAIT! Let the countdown to June 18, 2010 begin!

Autobots, Roll Out!

I went to see Transformers (Revenge of the Fallen) yesterday with my wife, son, and mother at Trinoma.

Summing it all up, I enjoyed it. My wife liked it quite a bit (despite not being a fan of robots), and so did my 63-year-old mother. My three-and-a-half-year-old son... well... he fell asleep about halfway through the movie.

Here's what I liked about the movie...

• Megan Fox (I know this is rather unfair. We all know the main reason why many people... errm, men like her, it's definitely NOT because of her acting. And Wheelie couldn't have made the point any clearer!)
• Shia LaBeouf
• the giant effing robots especially Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Devastator, the "Ancestors", Megatron, Demolisher, Sideswipe (he deserves more screen time), and (I-didn't-expect-liking-him-but-I-did) Jetfire
• the ONLY true comic refief (in my opinion), Wheelie
• Optimus Prime not being the ultra "clean" goody-two-shoes anymore
• the voices of Optimus Prime, Soundwave, Jetfire, Megatron, and the Fallen

My dislikes:

• some of the main robot characters in the first movie were pushed to the sidelines (ending up as sort of extras)
• many robots were needlessly added (including the twins... I loved Wheelie though)
• was it just me or did the movie score also take a back seat?
• how the "Matrix of Leadership" worked (C-H-E-E-S-Y-!)
• the three sisters (motorcycles)
• a few cheesy lines here and there

Anyway, the story... well, it was fine. It was DEFINITELY NOT a five-star two-thumbs-up kind of thing, but it was generally ok. But really, for me it all came crumbling down with the Matrix-of-Leadership bullcrap.

Some notable scenes - in no particular order, I'll list them as they come into mind (contains spoilers, stop reading if you don't want me spoiling the movie for ya):

• transformation/union of Devastator
• Devastator climbing to the top of the pyramid
• chopper flying above Mikaela as she was crying over Sam
• union of Optimus and Jetfire
• Soundwave scenes
• the forest scene
• chopper dropping Optimus at the airbase
• destruction of the aircraft carrier
• Demolishor scenes
• Sideswipe scenes

One more thing I'd like to mention, I like what they did to Jetfire. I can still remember what I thought of him in G1... a pushover. He's now got my respect... too bad he had to go.

My personal rating... four out of five stars (largely due to the awesome effects and nostalgic quality). There's a 50/50 possibility that I'll change my mind on some of these if I would watch the film again.

Angels & Demons... the Verdict...

Everyone I know who's seen both Da Vinci and Angels has been telling me that Angels is a better movie than Da Vinci (which I've been hoping will be the case). But, I kept my expectations at bay for fear of getting disappointed come the time I would go and see it...

And saw it we did, my wife and I, yesterday, at Trinoma. Well, I couldn't agree more that it is (by far) a lot better than Da Vinci, despite the slight changes in the story.

The musical score, the cinematography, the effects... all very nice. The acting was pretty good too, though I got a bit bothered by Ewan's... I don't know, he seemed a bit stiff and unnatural.

The catchphrases were pretty good (IMO)... as a matter of fact I got a couple stuck on my mind (though they may not be 100% correct):

"If you're going to write about us, and surely you will write about us... be gentle."

"Religion is flawed, and that's because MEN are flawed..."

I'm giving it 4 out of 5 stars.

By the way, does anybody know why they changed the fifth brand/ambigram???

Madagascar Escape 2 Africa

I’m still depressed… and I think my preoccupation in fooling myself into thinking that I was having the time of my life inside the IMAX Theater while watching the movie has muddled my opinion about the movie. So allow me to include some second-hand opinions.

My son enjoyed it quite a lot and my wife thinks the first movie was better (period)

Not that it matters now (or ever), but I never liked the character designs that much (with the exception of “Moto-Moto” in this one).

The old lady who beat Alex (the Lion) to a pulp at the train station in the first movie appears again in this one. I thought she was funny in the first movie, but she’s very annoying in this one. For me, she’s become a joke that’s been stretched well beyond the limits of its effectiveness that she lost all her charm. But that, I think, is the worst I have to say about the movie.

The story is generally okay… though somewhat weak in some parts. And some of the jokes were quite funny.

Alec Baldwin was very effective such that I developed a disliking for his character, “Makunga”, from the moment he first appeared on screen.

And, as I’ve already mentioned, “Moto-Moto” is very likeable, from his “design” to his personality.

I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
Short description: So-so…

Angels & Demons the Movie Due Out in May 2009

Ok, I’m feeling really excited about this.

I’ve heard something about this some months ago (maybe even over a year ago)… that they were going to make a movie based on this book by Dan Brown. But, somehow, I’ve forgotten all about it.

That is until I visited the comingsoon.net website a while ago and found the movie listed there with a release date of May 15, 2009.

In my opinion, Angels & Demons is WAY much better than the Da Vinci Code, as far as the books are concerned.

This reminds me of the first time I heard of Dan Brown…

My then girlfriend (wife now) and I were at PowerBooks in Greenbelt in Makati at the time, and this book, “The Da Vinci Code” which was displayed on the “New Releases” stand, caught my eye.

I had a very strong feeling that I would enjoy the book the moment I laid my eyes on it, so much so that I spent the entire time we were at PowerBooks thinking and deciding whether or not to buy it. It had a price tag of around 850 pesos, I think.

After “thinking out loud” a couple of times, my girlfriend told me “just wait for the paper back”.

Before we left the place, I headed back to the stand where I saw the book, grabbed a copy of it, flipped it over, and looked at Dan Brown’s picture that was printed on the back cover.

Then, in an attempt to discourage myself from buying the book, I thought to myself that he didn’t look like someone who can “convince” me. So, I put the book back from where I got it and left.

Days (or was it weeks) later, the book (or mentions of it) was everywhere… on the papers, on the web, on the news… it was causing a stir which I’ve never heard of since Harry Potter came under the spotlight! How I regretted not buying the first edition of the book. I’m actually still regretting it up to this day.

Anyway, I eventually bought a copy of the paperback version along with a copy of Angels and Demons which was said to be the prequel to Da Vinci Code.

And since it is the prequel, I started with Angels & Demons.

It was so good that I finished reading it in record time. I won’t go into specifics regarding the time frame, but I am quite a slow reader and basing on my standards, I finished the book really fast. Just take my word for it.

And (I NEED to mention this), John Langdon’s works (the ambigrams shown in the book) were so amazing and mind boggling that I became an instant fan!

Naturally, after finishing Angels and Demons, I proceeded directly to reading Da Vinci Code. And, as I’ve already mentioned, I didn’t find it to be as good as A&D which caused me to “stall” a bit in the later chapters. I sort of “forced” myself to read it to the last page just for the sake of finishing the book.

Likewise, I was kind of disappointed with the movie (to which the MTRCB gave an “X” rating which, in turn, resulted to its being banned from all SM cinemas). It didn’t come close to how I imagined it with the book. I like Tom Hanks, but it just didn’t work for me (though, I’ve watched the movie about three times already). But, then again, most book-to-movie adoptions are like that, with the exception of The Godfather parts 1 and 2, in my opinion.

Anyway, I sure hope that Angels and Demons the movie will be better than the Da Vinci Code and/or be as good as the book.

I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.