The story unfolds and feeds you the life of these characters “post-facto”, alcoholic father, divorced family, loss, and failures. The protagonists are played by Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy, the latest who’s fame grew after his role in Inception and his upcoming portrayal of Bane in the next Christopher Nolan adaptation of Batman, The Dark Knight Rises. Tom Hardy is one of these actors that goes all the way in order to get the role, he goes through actual physical transformation and he plays it real though in Warrior.

The movie is mature and is somewhat inspiring. Possible spoiler, but the drive of the film is that the two fighters that end up in the finale are brothers. Both fighting for their honor and the prize money. You feel that they both deserve to win, but you’re shown that family ties a so strong that they can overcome almost anything. There is an entire sub-plot with one of the brothers who was in the military, whereas the other was a physics school teacher. The broken family and the past of their father, played by Nick Nolte, is a great portrayal of how bad things can get before they can get better.

I’ll give Warrior a few thumbs up, it’s a definite “Must Watch” in my book, it goes past the silliness and grounds itself in reality in a satisfying way. Watching the trailer might give you the missing incentive to get out there and watch the movie this weekend.

Rottentomatoes: 87% | Metacritic: 74/100

In order to enjoy their UltraAVX screening you must add 3$ to your regular admission price, once you step inside you immediately notice the area was built recently. The seats are a bit more spaced, they’re leathered and can be reclined a bit. The screen is definitely larger and the digital picture quality is really satisfying. The promos say we’re enjoying 7.1 surround sound and I can tell you that for Super 8, it was worth it.

Also consider the fact that the tickets you buy include reserved seating. The best scenario is if you purchase your tickets online and get to reserve a row for you friends and not having to worry you’ll get the worse seats (even if you run late into the previews).

I feel like all the rooms should be this great in a movie theater. But the premium price starts to take it’s toll if it’s a 3D movie, because they add an other 3$ for these showings. For now I’ll enjoy this kind of screening on a Tuesday evening where prices are reduced.

The movie is a fun ride and I highly recommend it. Fans of prior movies will recognize to nods and famous quotes from the series and there are legitimate “oh snap” moments. In my book this is the last of the summer feeling movies of the season, grab it in theater while you still can.

IMDB: 8/10 | Rottentomatoes: 82% | Metacritic: 68/100

First off, I must say that I knew nothing from the source material, I’ve seen how he looked in the comics and I had basic knowledge of Norse mythology (Odin, Loki, Thor, Asgard and Ragnarök). So with all that, when I saw the first trailers for this movie I was very skeptical. Even with the latest TV spots I was not sold on the movie’s potential. The premise of the movie is presented simply: Thor used to be a big shot in his world until his father Odin exiled him to Earth. He is taken out of his element and stripped from his powers. But that is not really how the movie starts, you get to enjoy a full initial chapter in the other realms where Thor and his warrior friends fight and kick ass.

In many ways, this movie’s sets and costumes can be very annoying. They either looked fabricated for a movie set or where essentially CG elements. But it can be forgiven when you understand that this movie tries to be funny above everything else. There are silly characters, poor one-liners but they serve their purpose gracefully. Chris Hemsworth who plays Thor has invested a great deal to the gym and thankfully has very few lines to say, how often does your main character also serve as comic relief.

Now what is so special about this movie? It clearly binds together other Marvel properties by making references to Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and cameoed Hawkeye played by Jeremy Renner.

Times again I fall back on my feelings on how to judge a movie. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and I fear the marketing failed to let audiences figure out the scope of this movie. It’s a movie about family, friendship and redemption. I felt I could relate to that and was entertained until the end. Make sure to stick past the credits for the usual stinger tying this movie with others ramping up to the release of The Avengers in 2012 that will feature all the characters they’ve spent millions presenting on the big screen. I almost forgot about Nathalie Portman… well that’s all there is to say really. She had the opportunity to matter as a love interest and I did not buy it, and didn’t care. Haha!

Visually outstanding along with the usual gratuitous eye-candy in the form or girls and cars. This film also brings back most of the original cast while integrating some characters for subsequent movies. The movie is silly and there is nothing wrong with it. It’s action packed and is a great outset for the summer.

As the story unfolds we are lead to believe that the Source Code is a sort of simulation program that allows the subject to relieve the last 8 minutes of a deceased person. We are told that as someone dies they leave a sort of “echo” that can be tapped into. A kind of sample of their existence of some sort.

Any how, the character is quickly frustrated by the whole process since he has a hard time getting the right approach to find where is the bomb and who is the bomber within 8 minutes. The interesting thing is that by reliving those 8 minutes multiple times he is able to piece together more and more informations to eventually help him stop the bomb.

However we are also told that he can’t change the outcome of what happens in the Source Code. He’s told they are past event, and they’re pretty much just an alternate reality of what could of happened.

The final twist of the movie, is that the Source Code actually works differently if he manages to save the life of whomever his connected to. The only way to explain it is he was actually controlling the body of someone who was about to die. It’s the only way the character could derive so much information from his surroundings and other people, a single guy recalling of the past 8 minutes of his life does not contain detailed information such as passengers names, license plates or other. Now the bug is that each time he dies into the Source Code, he’s back to square one, connecting to someone who died, who was going to die. The point where the reality is altered is when he successfully changes the events to a point where he does not die, thus never connecting in the first place.

My deduction is far from perfect, and I’m still trying to piece it together. But it’s a start. I’ve you’ve read this far and haven’t watched the movie your not going to regret going anyway. It’s a decent movie, well paced and leaves room for reflexion.

This film screams of geek themes, steam-powered zombies, samurai, dragons, orcs and androids. Along it’s punchy soundtrack this movie hits actions beats  from the start. It doesn’t linger on plot details, but you have to be able to fill in the blanks and enjoy the ride. You are taken through the imagination of these girls, that have to overcome a series of obstacles in order to achieve freedom, but instead of being presented with their literal challenge the movie turns it into an epic battle. The trailer below illustrates best what you can expect through most of the film.

Please take note that the conclusion is stunning and even on my best days I could not of predicted. One thing to always keep and mind is that you have all the tools you need. Always. Now get out there and do something!

The Last Airbender movie was none of that. At times I felt the characters were dangled by strings, instead of actual bending (using their abilities to manipulate: fire, water, air or earth), they were actually doing a bunch of yoga poses. If you’re looking of a bad cinematographic adaptation this movie is all you need. The current Tomatometer keeps it below 10%. I yawned, I turned left and right not believe how everything felt stitched together and rushed. It was an accurate re-telling of the events of the first season, but I no way did I feel attached to ANYONE, and understood how any of the characters had any emotions towards each other. The special effects might of been cool, I’ve my theater had the options to see it in 2D, how the movie was originally developed. I curse, figuratively, studios that spin a movie in 3D just to jump on the bandwagon, if it’s not made for 3D don’t bother showing it in 3D.

I’m getting ahead of myself, my point is that you should avoid this movie for as long as possible. You may allow yourself to catch of glimpse of it if it ever airs of TV. The value of the production seriously felt like a direct to TV movie.

Somewhat after seeing the feature film I found myself craving to learn more about the property. I found myself reading the graphic novel, watching interviews and documentaries on the making of this movie and the book that inspired it (iFanboy 111 & 112). I’ve even tried my hand at the demo if The End is Nigh, a Watchmen brawler. All that to say, that the movie can give you so much content to think about. Not just plot wise or the themes of humanity. The film itself, by the way it’s made, tries to provoke. I clearly remember telling myself halfway through the movie: “I don’t think I’m really going to like this movie”.

But somehow by the end, everything made sense. The awkward music, the shots, the convoluted dialogue, the nudity. Everything came full circle, that may very well be attributed to the fact that I had not read the graphic novel prior to seeing the movie. I did not know the conclusion, I did not know who lived and died, who the villain really was. Discovering those characters was by definition a “geekgasm“; the character of Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan alone, were more developed than Spider-Man was in three movies. The opening sequence provides, on it’s own, an amazing amount of back story into the Watchmen universe. I’m not a history buff, and I clearly missed on several references, but the existence of these masked heroes altered the timeline as we know it.

America dominates in Vietnam, thanks to their super-powered hero.

The movie was rated R, meaning people under 17 have to be accompanied by a consenting adult, we’re clearly departing from comic book properties targeted at kids. The movie is DARK, DEPRESSING, VIOLENT, CRUDE and GRITTY. By doing so, it feels grounded in reality, the same way Battlestar Galactica feels. It’s like Science fiction, with less fiction. The movie sticks the original material like a gum under your shoes, dialogue and shots are reproduced with great fidelity. We have Zack Snyder to thank for this feat, the work he did for 300 surely helped some fans understand he could pull it off.

In my book, I consider this movie to be a triumph, what it represents as a medium, art form, entertainment media. It does justice, in my opinion, to a graphic novel that was considered “un-filmable”, this property was put in the spotlight, sales of the book sky rocketed in anticipation of the movie. But I consider myself happy to have experience the film first. Things are constantly thrown at you stimulating your brain, when it comes to reading content, everyone has his pace, can take the time to discover the subtleties of each frame. You experience a movie as a whole, not knowing and discovering can be a blessing. What I learned about Rorschach was truly disturbing and came right at me. No famous Hollywood actors where used in this picture, many I’ve seen before, but they out performed any of my expectations. This movie goes right beside V for Vendetta in terms of meaningful movies.

Feel free to share love or hate in the comments.

Source: Joystiq