EAGLE EYE.

So what we have here is a fairly entertaining action movie with some logic issues. After the death of Jerry Shaw’s (Shia LaBeouf) twin brother, Jerry goes home to find his place covered with military things that point to him being a terrorist. Meanwhile, Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan) is a single mother via divorce whose son is going on a big train ride to Washington D.C. in order to play the trumpet in a junior orchestra. Then suddenly both of them get calls: Jerry to escape from the FBI, and Rachel to do as she’s told unless she wants her son to die by having the train derail. After them both are military officer, Zoe Perez (Rosario Dawson); Defense Secretary Callister (Michael Chiklis); and FBI Agent Thomas Morgan (Billy Bob Thornton). So the rest of the movie is a big chase scene with cool tech-related things getting them through situations while the mysterious woman’s voice commands them to certain places at certain times. And sometimes they aren’t even alone in their journey.

The coolest part about the movie was the action. A lot of stuff reminded me of the really awesome movie The Game, except with more tech-related things happening. There was a great car chase sequence… hell, there was great everything with the action. But one thing that bugged me about it was that there could be so many different horrendous car wrecks, but only one time in the movie (when it was plot-necessary) did it actually affect any character. They would get up and walk or run around with sometimes not even a scratch.

On the subject of illogic happenings, one of the biggest issues I had with the movie was one that the whole plot rested on: the train trip of Rachel’s son. Seriously, what kind of train ride lasts almost two freakin days? And not to mention in that time span, they only slept once and didn’t have a total body failure from all the running around? I suppose, though, adrenaline could be part of the latter.

On the acting side of things, I think everybody did really well. Shia and Billy Bob were the best. It was so refreshing to see Billy Bob in something that wasn’t a dark comedy lately. And just imagining Shia going from Even Stevens to this is an amazing thought in and of itself, so I commend him there.

The story was a bit out there, though, but I don’t want to go into the story too much, as it could spoil quite a bit. There’s a nice twist halfway through that for whatever reason I didn’t expect. Maybe at one point, but I didn’t follow the trail of that thought. I did like the fact that they made the movie show the bad sides of the government instead of having some underlying theme of patriotism like any other movie dealing with terrorism would. Maybe that’s why a lot of those stuffy, old, conservative critics didn’t care for the movie, eh?

Honestly, to me, the movie was a fun time. Things about the story could have been tweaked a bit to fit better, but otherwise it was a really fun action movie. I could give two movies that I could say “Combine these and you’d have this movie,” but then that’d give it away. Let’s just say one of them is The Game… but I can’t tell you the other until you’ve seen it. And I do recommend it if you don’t mind going out for some action-packed fun and aren’t easily annoyed by logical issues. So yeah… good times.

A Keanu 'Whoa'

P.E.S.T.

Another exciting weekend is upon us! It's time for Pre-Emptive Strike Thursday!

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Title: Miracle at St. Anna.

Pre-Thoughts: I think this looks like an amazing film by a great director. I've also heard the book is amazing, as well, though I haven't read it. Even though I'm not a big war-film fanatic, I'd love to check it out, definitely.

Pre-Score:

A Keanu 'Whoa'



Title: Choke.

Pre-Thoughts: Where the hell has all the advertisement for this movie been? The next big film based on a book by the guy who wrote Fight Club? I've seen a couple different T.V. spots for this, and none of them tell anything about the film whatsoever. This movie is going to bomb completely. I'd like to see it, though, just for the sake of having seen it... but seriously... what the heck?

Pre-Score:

I Am McLovin!


Title: Eagle Eye.

Pre-Thoughts: I think this will be the big one of the weekend. I've already got plans to see it with a friend, so I know there'll be a review up for this either late Friday or early Saturday, so keep an eye out. I've been excited for this movie for a very long time. To me, it just has one of the most awesome trailers I've ever seen. Can't wait for tomorrow night.

Pre-Score:

A Keanu 'Whoa'



Title: Nights in Rodanthe.

Pre-Thoughts: A movie for old people and/or people who like sappy romances with old people. I'd say this'd draw the same crowd as, say, The Notebook, except for the fact that the leads are... well... not Ryan Gosling. And are old.

Pre-Score:

Feed Me, Seymour!



Title: The Lucky Ones.

Pre-Thoughts: Ironic in title... I hadn't even heard of this film up until a few days ago. Never seen a trailer for it, never heard anything about it. Therefore, much like The Women, I can't really give it a pre-score.

Pre-Score: N/A.

R2D2... The One With Trailers.

Just wanted to give a quick update on some random thoughts. I'm working on a new article that I'm too lazy to do right now and put up, but it's in the formation process. So here we are. I just thought I'd give some random comments on some trailers (all available trailers are linked, for those who haven't seen some that are mentioned).

-The brand new teaser trailer for Terminator Salvation has gotten my hopes up a bit. And it is Christian Bale, so that automatically boosts it up quite a few notches. Looks epic and cool.

-When the hell are they going to release the bloody trailer for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince already? The movie comes out in 4 months, and they haven't even released a teaser yet. It's ridiculous. The teaser for Twilight (which is awesome, by the way) has been out for about 2 months now, at least, and it comes out in December! Though rumors are flying that a trailer, whether it be teaser or full (hopefully full by this point in the game), is to come out with The Mummy 3. There were also rumors, though less reliable than the ones for The Mummy release, of it being released with The Clone Wars, but I wouldn't even grace that movie with my presence just to see the trailer (which I have done with movies before for a Harry Potter trailer). Whatever... just release the damn thing already.

-Speaking of Twilight, a second teaser (or at least new footage) was shown on Entertainment Tonight... it's not high quality or without narrative voice-over from the ET host, but it's still cool.

-I'm not one for political thrillers, but Traitor actually looks pretty good.

-I want to stab (in as many inventive ways as possible) whoever came up with the idea for Beverly Hills Chihuahua... and then stab them some more for putting it with that horribly so-annoying-it's-catchy song in the teaser trailer.

-Say what you want about Vin Diesel, but I'm really excited for Babylon A.D. It just looks like one awesome movie. He might not be the best actor in the world, but his action movies are always fun. This movie looks like what would happen if you mixed The Transporter with Children of Men (if the future of CoM was more high-tech). And then throw in some other awesome looking stuff...

-And some people thought Wanted looked like a Matrix rip-off? Just check out the teaser trailer for Eagle Eye. However, now that the full trailer is out, almost all similarity goes out the window, and the new trailer is awesome. I so can't wait.

-Blindness. Wow. This movie looks amazing. I'm tempted to check out the book. Spanish literature is always poetically beautiful, and the trailer for the movie alone gives that same feeling. I really can't wait for this one.

-Once again I'll mention Quarantine. The movie is a remake of [REC], an amazing Spanish horror movie, and this movie, at least from the trailer, looks like it's taking [REC] and making it even better... so here's to hoping. Though... if the ending is the same as the original movie (and they don't add to it), they totally gave the ending away in the trailer.

-Is it just me, or does it seem like the trailer for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button tells the entire movie just within its small time frame? Still, it looks good.

-The Tale of Desperaux, on the other hand, will probably be a skip for me. I attempted reading the book a while back and couldn't. I honestly couldn't get into it... though it was mostly due to the writing style (there were only a few words on each page, though the book made it feel like it was a bigger story than it really was). From my literary opinion, I don't think it's worth all the praise it's been getting. And I have no idea how they turned it into a movie... don't think I'll find out, either.

-While it is a little kid's movie (and starring the voice of Miley Cyrus), for the most part, Bolt actually looks like it could be funny... specifically the hamster in the rolling ball.

-Disaster Movie. One Word: WHY? Seriously, those movies don't even make money anymore. They're almost as bad as Uwe Boll. And none of the movies that are ever portrayed in them, or at least shown to be portrayed in them via the trailers, are even remotely close to being what the title of the movie implies. Since when were Enchanted, The Incredible Hulk, Sex and the City, Iron Man, or Juno disaster movies? The only disaster that I know of being portrayed here is The Love Guru.

Anyway, I think that's about it... all I really wanna talk about for now. Later!