Change Your Image
tikiroomfan
Reviews
TMNT (2007)
Brings back memories
My history with this movie has been as much a roller coaster as the films plot. When the first teaser came out, I was stunned, could it be that my favorite childhood icons were making a return in a Batman Begins style way, by going back to the origins and having a bolder, darker Turtle movie. And then, my hopes were crushed when I saw the full length trailer. Gone were the dark, shadowy figurings jumping on the rooftops in the teaser, now we had a full blown cartoon. I was pretty much crushed. It seemed that the release of TMNT would hail as much fan fare as any run o the mill CGI movie, which is, hardly any. The TV spots just confirmed my fears that offically the Turtles were back, but offically back to their old post-comic book "cowabunga" days. But then I read the IMDb reviews, which were fairly positive, so I decided to check it out. The end release was a mix of both what I had hoped for and what I kind of dreaded. By far the biggest complaint I have about this film is the way it treats the human characters. It seems the only cool human characters were April and to a lesser extent Casey Jones, though I think Casey lost his edge with this. Most humans are animated very cartoonishly, they remind me of Incredibles rejects, but thankfully the main humans, April and Casey, are pretty cool. As I mentioned before, Casey was a bit of a let down considering the darkness of the original character, but still, it's cool to see him back in vigilante form, and April is smoking! I don't think I've ever been attracted to a few pixels like this. (Call me a pervert, when you see her in her ninja gear near the end, you'll think otherwise) The plot is just so-so, I would of liked to see a famous villain like Shredder or Ooze, but this works just fine, besides, the main attraction here isn't the story but the turtles themselves, and they are well accounted for. I love the personalities in this, though Don, my favorite Turtle, oddly has anything to do, the relationship between Leo and Raph is very intense and more then makes up for less screen time for the other two. (Plus, Mikey has always been a little annoying to begin with) plus Splinter flat out ROCKS!! Although his design reminds me of Chester Cheeta a little to much. The action in this film is great. There's not a lot of violence, and therefore not a lot of fighting, but when they do fight, it's really cool. The best scene in the film is a fight between Rapheal and Leonardo in the rain. It really shows off how beautiful the animation really is. Every rain drop is accounted for as the two duke it out. In the end, the film really is a great return to the Turtles I used to love, even a bit darker then the original TV show and live action films in some respects. I really hope they make a sequel and bump the rating up to a PG-13, with that rating, they could REALLY make something incredible. 7.5/10
Meet the Robinsons (2007)
A great big beautiful tomorrow
I'll admit, I've been a big skeptic of this film from the time it was still called "A Day with Wilbur Robinson". I just though the concept of a mad race through time chasing a boy genius seemed like Back to the Future meets Jimmy Neutron to me. Well, I'm happy to report that even though Robinsons does owe a great deal to both concepts (Yes, sadly, it does seem "Inspired" by Neutron even down to the art style) Robinsons comes off as a great to film to add to the Disney library, something I haven't said since I saw Home on the Range (And this doesn't include Pixar or live action films) Now, the one thing that's always struck me with this film is how flat out awesome Bowler Hat Guy looks, I remember seeing a concept drawing a couple years back of him creeping up on Lewis, it just seemed so...creepy, I love it. The art design in this film is also eye popping, I wish you saw more of the future and not just the Robinsons household, but in one memorable scene, when Lewis and Wilbur arrive that, you get the feeling of a great big beautiful tomorrow indeed.
Now, I loved the first 20 or so minutes of the film more then anything else, and mind you, this is before we even get to the future. I thought the story of Lewis as a misfit orphan was just touching, plus, Lewis's roommate, Goob..EASILY one of the most adorable supporting characters Disney has created since Thumper.
When you get to the future, things start to get a little messy, and weird, there are times when I really felt like the animators dipped into the same sauce they used to create Fantasia and Alice. Some of the Robinsons simply aren't that fleshed out, like, what's up with that Mr. Garison look alike for a paper bag for a wive, you never get if this guys insane, if that bag is actually alive, or what. There are some Robinsons you really get to love, to. I was easily one over by Adam West's deliciously cheesy (No pun intended) Pizza Delivery super hero and Wilbur's spunky mother. And Bud was just a hoot.
There were some I feel who could of been a lot more fleshed out, the dog who wheres glasses, for example, is only seen in one joke. While Frankie the frog steals every scene he's in and is probably the coolest thing about this movie, well, he's again not in very much of it. There's also Robinsons who just are not fleshed out at all, such as the guy with the sausage cannon, the chick with the train, and the butler.
While the second act is mostly just randomness, things get better in the final act, and there's actually quite a bit of Don Bluth/Tim Burton style darkness going on, the final chase is really quite intense. I don't want to spoil it, but this film has some really cleaver plot twists as well.
So, if you don't mind some randomness, I'd say Meet the Robinsons is easily one of the strongest animated films Disney has done for quite some time, while I thought Chicken Little was a disaster, this easily brings the company back up. There are a few plot holes, and as I mentioned, the film could use about 10 minutes more of character developemnt, still, it's one of the best movies of the year and possibly the best non-Pixar CGI animated movie ever. 8.5/10
Grindhouse (2007)
First half rad, second half BAD
Before I go anywhere with this, let me just say that I would of LOVED to review this event as two sepperate films with two seppart scores on two sepperate marks on the score sheet, but because the film really is meant to be an experience, I have no choice but to review it as one film.
Planet Terror
From beginning to end, Planet Terror is all kinds of awesome, it's easily the best zombie movie since 28 Days Later. The entire film is one huge roller coaster. If you like blood, guns, and explosions, this is pretty much bliss.
The film starts with an infection affecting a whole small town in Texas. Before you can say "Machine Gun Leg" there are zombies everywhere. Slowly but surely, the three sets of characters come together (And we don't really even see exactly how, thanks to a brilliantly placed "missing reel") and kick ass.
It's worth warning that Planet Terror is a TON of fun, but it's also pretty bloody, in fact, it makes other bloodbaths like Kill Bill, Sin City, and 300 look like chick flicks in comparison. But it's all for the fun of it. If you like zombies and blood, Planet Terror is worth the price of admission. 5/5
Death Proof
Lord almighty, if Death Proof would of been half a good as Planet Terror, Grindhouse would of gone down as a classic. Sadly, it's not. It's actually got an eye on Norbit as wanting to be the WORST movie of the year.
Heres the premise, two women, sit in a car...and talk.....and talk...and talk...and...stop for dinner...and TALK!! It's really an hour and 15 minutes of talking, with 10 minutes of car chases, and if you think the car chase is WORTH the bloody talking, think again. Even Kurt Russell himself can't save this film from being boring and unnecessary. It's really a shame, because the entire experience is truly authentic grindhouse. 2/5
Now, for the experience itself. It DOES admittably feel very authentic, and I have to give an extra point for the incredible fake trailers. If they made a movie with just 10 or 20 fake trailers strung together, it would of been incredible. There are also tons of scratches and missing frames in the film, and great "missing reels" in both movies. There's even a taco shop ad somewhere in there.
All in all, this is an experience for the ages, it is pretty unbelievably epic, that being said, there's really no reason to stick around for Death Proof
Score: 8/10
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters (2007)
Fans Only
If you are not an uber Aqua Teen fanatic, stop reading this review, because you will NOT enjoy this movie, so I wouldn't even waste your braincells on reading this. Aqua Teen Hunger Force is just TOTAL fans-only. If you can't name the three main characters, you really will never get what the hell is happening on screen. For those of you who do appreciate the pure brilliance of the off the wall, random yet still kind of plot driven nature of Aqua Teen, you're in for a treat. Movie Film is a haven for fans and among the best TV-shows to movies ever, though that's not really saying much. Overall, the plot doesn't make a whole lotta since, nor does it have to, this is Aqua Teen were talking about, in episodes you're lucky if you get an ounce of actually thought out plot. Here, we have an evil exercise machine. Sounds weird, but it works surprisingly well. Dr. Weird is also somehow in on the whole thing, but don't ask me how. This brings me to the thing I liked most about the film, the excellent use of supporting characters. I was worried that due to the offbeat nature, great characters like Dr. Weird and Carl would be omitted to just a few brief cameos, this is not the case. Basically, any character that has appeared more then once on the show is accounted for brilliantly, each have their own great little scenes and memorable moments. The Cyber Ghost of Christmas Past was a highlight. The Aqua Teens themselves were also handled brilliantly. Nothing was lost in translation here. Frylock is still a genius, Meatwad is still not bright but well meaning, and Shake is still an ego maniac. And unlike TMNT, all three characters have a pretty equal amount of screen time. Overall, there's really not much that separate this from the TV show, which I like, but at the same time, I didn't like. In the South Park movie, they went WAAY over the top and did a totally epic plot that could never be squeezed into the show. Not the case here, the bizarre plot could easily be trimmed to ten minutes. Not that the extra 80 minutes weren't brilliant, but I'd love to see a more epic plot line. Despite some faults, fans of the show will NOT be disappointed, my semi-low score is ONLY because of my harshness as a critic, but make not mistake, if you are at all a fan, seek this out, it's well worth the effort. Score: 7.5/10