TOMORROWLAND

Walt Disney Pictures

Rated PG

Running time: 130 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Tomorrowland from YouTube.

In Walt Disney Pictures Tomorrowland, Britt Robertson receives a special pin that takes her to Tomorrowland.

Written and Directed by Brad Bird, a young enthusiastic Thomas Robinson builds a jet pack and brings it to the 1964 New York World's Fair. He is then recruited and given a pin by Raffey Cassidy to be able to gain passage to the secret dimensional metropolis Tomorrowland. Decades later -  activist daughter of NASA engineer Tim McGraw - Robertson suddenly finds a pin in her possession and - because of the pin's properties, is so intrigued by the wonders of  it - searches for Tomorrowland. She soon tracks down fatalistic George Clooney - who can lead her to Tomorrowland. However, Robertson and Clooney are soon followed by some bad guy Audio Animatronics.

The movie is rated PG, but there were some scenes that I thought should have been PG-13. There was one scene especially - although everything turned out okay in the end - that was pretty shocking to me when it happened. I was going - this is a Disney movie? There are also bad guys in the movie, so there is some violence that is almost PG-13. I would have liked Robertson to have been running around with her brother Pierce Gagnon trying to find Tomorrowland in order to have made the film even more of a family friendly movie.

The movie is split between being optimistic and pessimistic. The movie told the story of two wolves - one good, one evil. The wolves fight each other. Which one wins? The one you feed. That story is the basic theme of the movie. Clooney had fatalistic coverages of the news on his wall of TV monitors feeding his fatalism. While Robertson is chasing after the cool optimism of Tomorrowland. I loved the optimistic future of Tomorrowland, of the best and brightest of the world who wanted to actually change it. That was what I wanted to be fed with during the movie, with Clooney showing Robertson the wonders of Tomorrowland.

Tomorrowland's architecture looks very much like Tomorrowland from Disneyland. The technology of Tomorrowland was also pretty cool too. Some of the technology reminded me of the TV series Eureka. Although we did not get to see the best and brightest of the citizens of Tomorrowland as actual characters in Tomorrowland, except for Cassidy and the governor Hugh Laurie - both of whom were basically controlling the story of Tomorrowland. Actually the closest to seeing the best and brightest people of Tomorrowland, outside of the stars, were mannequins of Gustave Eiffel, Jules Verne, Nikola Tesla and of Thomas Edison. Actually it was pretty cool that the characters of the movie traveled all over the world, giving a true sense of optimism.

The governor of Tomorrowland Laurie was not so optimistic and did not seem as bright as one should be as governor of a scientific society like Tomorrowland. I was surprised and sad that the movie brought up such apocalyptic subjects like Mutually Assured Destruction. As a result, the movie was not as much of a fun positive entertainment as I wanted the movie to be with the threat of the future running out throughout the entire plot.

I liked the science fiction store with all the props and memorabilia of science fiction films. It was great having the owner Hugo Gernsback/Keegan-Michael Key make an entrance to the Star Wars theme song.

What was cool was that the movie had the song There's a Great, Big Beautiful Tomorrow in the beginning of the movie, giving the sense of a positive movie for Robinson. I was singing along with the song, although I was the only one around me doing that in the theater. I guess no one in the theater was old enough to be exposed to the song from Disneyland's late attraction - Carousel of Progress.

I cried at the end of the movie. There is a sense of optimism at the end of the movie, but the music played during the end credits was pretty somber in parts. The Tomorrowland animated sequence during the end credits represents Bird's animation influence.

Based on components of the themed land Tomorrowland at Disney theme parks, the end credits showed that the movie was filmed at Tomorrowland - although part of the movie was definitely filmed at It's a Small World at Fantasyland in Disneyland along with having the song It's a Small World (After All) in the movie, to which I was also singing to. I think it is quite appropriate that Tomorrowland opened during Disneyland's 60th Diamond Anniversary Celebration. I liked the end credit touch at the very end of the credits.

This is the first theatrical film to be released in Dolby Vision.

 Click below to watch another movie trailer of Tomorrowland from YouTube.

 

Click below to watch a final movie trailer of Tomorrowland from YouTube.



Rated PG for violence. Running time: 130 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

NIGHT OF THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB

20th Century Fox 

Rated: PG

Running time: 98 Minutes

Click below to watch the movie trailer of Night of the Museum: Secret of the Tomb on YouTube.

 

In Twentieth Century Fox's Night of the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, the living museum exhibits of the New York City of the American Museum of Natural History are acting strangely and Ben Stiller must go to London to the British Museum where the other half of the exhibits are in order to fix the magical tablet that makes them come alive - before Stiller's museum friends become wax exhibits forever.

The final installment of the Night of the Museum trilogy, Night of the Museum: Secret of the Tomb is basically Night of the Museum set in London as the other exhibits, returning characters Teddy Roosevelt/Robin Williams, Jedediah/Owen Wilson, Octavius/Steve Coogan, Ahkmenrah/Rami Malek, Attila the Hun/Patrick Gallagher, Sacajawea/Mizuo Peck, and Dexter/Crystal the Monkey follow Stiller to London. The movie goes more into the history of the magical tablet. Given that, the only real British aspect of the movie is Sir Lancelot/Dan Stevens, as well as Rebel Wilson's Australian accent. I would have loved to have Stiller and his son learn more about London and the British Museum in this movie. The movie is also the shortest of the Museum trilogy, so that also makes the movie feel not as satisfying. My favorite scenes are of Neanderthal Stiller and Rebel Wilson. The juxtaposition between Neanderthal Stiller and Stiller's music DJ son Skyler Gisondo is interesting as is Stiller's relationship to both of them.

The uncredited cameos with Hugh Jackman and Alice Eve were cute. It is ironic that Jackman made his acting debut as King Arthur in a production of Camelot as a child. I liked the fact that the uncredited Alice Eve portrayed herself along with Jackman playing himself.

It was nice to have Dick Van Dyke, Bill Cobbs, and Mickey Rooney reprise their original roles.

At the end of the film there is a dedication to Robin Williams and Mickey Rooney. The scenes with Williams and Rooney are heartbreaking when you think about them, with this being Williams final onscreen role.

Rated PG for violence. Running time: 98 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

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Maleficent

Walt Disney Pictures

Rated PG

Running time: 97 Minutes



Click below to watch a movie trailer of Maleficent.




Walt Disney Pictures Maleficent is the story of the fairy queen Maleficent, Angelina Jolie, who curses the baby daughter of a king into a death-like sleep on her sixteenth birthday.

In this live action version of Walt Disney's 1959 animated movie Sleeping Beauty and released on Sleeping Beauty's 55th Anniversary in 2014, Maleficent is told from the point of view of the queen fairy Maleficent - who was the villain in Sleeping Beauty and is considered to be the greatest villain in Disney history. In this 2014 movie you get to know who Maleficent is. In a similar style to Walt Disney Pictures Oz the Great and Powerful, both visually and story-wise, in that Maleficent is also a tragedy such as in Oz the Great and Powerful. The movie Maleficent is a tour de force for Actress and Executive Producer Jolie as you feel for Maleficent as she goes through a very personal dark and painful time in the movie. Jolie worked closely with the costume designers and special make-up effects artist Rick Baker to maintain the scary look of the animated Sleeping Beauty. It is curious that all the actors were chosen in part for their likeness to their characters in the animated Sleeping Beauty. Fairy actresses Lesley Manville, Imelda Staunton, and Juno Temple were guided by the artists of Cirque du Soleil to give the proper feeling of featherweight and agility when Manville, Staunton, and Temple are the tiny fairies.

As the king, Sharlto Copley appears to show any love to his daughter Aurora/Elle Fanning. King Copley is so obsessed on his plans of destroying Maleficent/Jolie, that he has no time or interest for family. In fact, you do not know the queen/Hannah New at all. She only has a couple of lines and then you do not see her at all anymore. Queen New is basically just there in the movie as a cameo of Aurora's/Fanning's mother and you do not care about her at all.

It should be pointed out that the movie Maleficent is not exactly the same story as Sleeping Beauty. While the movie has elements of Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent does not follow the story that everyone has grown up with. Although Aurora's/Fanning's baby christening sequence is word for word from the movie Sleeping Beauty - because Jolie felt that this sequence was the core and setup of the entire movie of Maleficent, and the movie is really about what happened before this scene - the first time that I had realized that the story of Maleficent would be a different story was when a minor plot point was not revealed. I kept expecting that particular plot point would be revealed later on in the movie, but it never was.

It was great to hear the song "Once Upon a Dream" from the 1959 Sleeping Beauty film as the end credits song for Maleficent, which was sung for the movie Maleficent by Lana Del Rey, who was chosen to sing the song by Jolie.

There are so many wonderful movie trailers of this movie. It was hard for me to pick a movie trailer for this review. For this review, I choose the movie trailers that compared Maleficent with Sleeping Beauty, as people would be familiar most with Sleeping Beauty. Click here to watch the Maleficent movie trailers.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Maleficent.

 
Rated PG for violence and intense scenes. Running time: 97 Minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.

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OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL

Walt Disney Pictures

Rated PG

Running time: 130 Minutes




Click below to watch the Oz the Great and Powerful trailer.




In Walt Disney Pictures Oz the Great and Powerful, James Franco is Oz, a con artist carnival magician who gets caught up in a twister - and winds up in the Land of Oz.

Based on the works of L. Frank Baum and directed by Sam Raimi with music from Danny Elfman, this is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz from 1939 as elements from The Wizard of Oz is explained in Oz the Great and Powerful. Like The Wizard of Oz, at the beginning of the movie Oz the Great and Powerful, the movie starts out in black and white when it is set in Kansas - and turns into color when Franco/Oz arrives at the land of Oz. The aspect ratio of the movie also changes to the wider widescreen format and goes from monaural sound to surround sound when the movie is in the Land of Oz. And just like the original The Wizard of Oz, several characters from the black and white Kansas play characters in the land of Oz, such as Michelle Williams, Zach Braff, and Joey King.

After an unsuccessful magic show in a traveling circus, Franco/Oz gets caught in a twister while riding in a hot air balloon. When he arrives in the Land of Oz, Franco/Oz gets mistaken to be the Wizard that was described in prophecy. Franco/Oz soon gets recruited to save the Land of Oz from the wicked witch who had killed the king of Oz.

I liked the fact that the opening credits were created more like practical credits in line with the time of the movie instead of CGI credits and that practical sets were mostly used in the film. Elfman's music gives the movie a classic Hollywood movie feel to the movie. The song Almost Home from Mariah Carey is used during the end credits of the movie and is the only contemporary song in the movie. This is not a musical with characters breaking into song like in the original Wizard of Oz or as Disney musical animated fairy tale films tend to do.

While it has been years since I have read Baum's Oz series, and I have never seen the theater musical play Wicked, this felt like a true prequel to the movie The Wizard of Oz as we got to know much more of the characters from the original The Wizard of Oz movie. The story is such a tragedy, but the movie does set up the events to The Wizard of Oz movie that is set 20 years later.

I felt that Franco/Oz's relationships with the women in the beginning of the movie were a little too long to get to the story - but when Franco/Oz first arrives in the Land of Oz, it feels like riding in an attraction at Disneyland, which is quite appropriate as the movie was produced by Walt Disney Pictures. Disney had been trying to produce a film based on the Baum's Oz books since the late 1930's. Producer Joe Roth was happy to finally have a fairy tale with a male protagonist, such as the male protagonist in the origin story of Oz the Great and Powerful. Franco/Oz's desire to be a great man, obviously leads to him becoming Oz the Great and Powerful. Franco received magical training with magician Lance Burton in preparation for the role of a magician in this film. Franco and Braff reminded me of Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane. In fact, I could see Broderick and Lane doing their roles.

The twister was much more intense and violent than the twister in The Wizard of Oz. It was more like the movie Twister than the sanitized fantasy version that was shown in The Wizard of Oz. In fact there were several times that I expected Franco/Oz to be seriously injured during the various episodes of the movie.

I saw the movie in regular 2-D, but the movie was obviously designed as a 3-D movie. The movie does have some scary scenes that Raimi had to edit down to get a PG rating, which is Raimi's first PG film. For those of us who were scared as children from the original The Wizard of Oz, Oz the Great and Powerful is a scarier movie for children - especially the flying baboons. I am sure the movie is even scarier in 3-D.

Rated PG for violence. Running time: 130 Minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.
 

WARM BODIES

Summit Entertainment

Rated PG-13

Running time: 98 minutes



Click below to watch the Warm Bodies trailer.



In Summit Entertainment's Warm Bodies, Nicholas Hoult falls in love with Teresa Palmer - the problem is Hoult is a zombie.

Based on the novel by Isaac Marion, this is a different kind of zombie film with a "dead boy meets girl" plot, which is actually a loose retelling of Romeo and Juliet. I like that Palmer's best friend Analeigh Tipton is a nurse, similar to Juliet's having a nurse, as well as having an "R" and Juliet balcony scene in the movie. Warm Bodies is also told from the zombies point of view with Hoult's voice overs, which I do not think I have seen before. Usually it is zombies just walking around eating people, and there is some of that in the movie - including Palmer's boyfriend Dave Franco. I don't think I have ever seen zombies starting to be cured before and regaining their humanity. These elements make the movie different from what someone may expect from a regular zombie movie. What is curious from a movie making aspect, is that the zombie actors chose not to blink on screen, until they started to become more human.

I think my favorite scene in the movie, aside from Hoult's first meeting with his best friend Rob Corddry as "M", was the Pretty Woman scene with Roy Orbison. Music was a very important part of Hoult being a zombie, and probably added the most humanity to me aside from Hoult's relationship with Palmer. Having Hoult's home being at an airport was an interesting location for zombies that I never considered before.

John Malkovich was great as the para-military Colonel of the surviving humans defending their enclave amongst the zombie outbreak, almost despotic in his zeal of protecting his people and with killing zombies. I liked his video about zombies. The Bony zombies - zombies that are all muscle and bones - were appropriately scary and were definitely the horror part of the movie. I just wish the Bonys were more graphic as well as the child zombies.

I would not be surprised if Warm Bodies becomes a cult classic.

Rated PG-13 for violence and language. Running time: 98 Minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.

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THE HOBBIT - AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY

Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer

Rated PG-13

Running time: 169 Minutes



Click below to watch The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey trailer.



In MGM's The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey, hobbit Bilbo Baggins, Martin Freeman, is recruited by the wizard Gandolf, Ian McKellen, to help the dwarfs of Middle Earth reclaim their homeland from the dragon Smaug, Benedict Cumberbatch.

Directed by Peter Jackson and co-written by Guillermo del Toro, The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey is the first of three movies that is the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy written by J.R.R. Tolkien. While I have not read the book since college, this film seems like a good adaption to the first half of the book The Hobbit as Freeman goes on an adventure as the company's burglar.

The dwarfs were great, although I could not tell most of them from each other. At least we knew the leader of the dwarfs, Richard Armitage - who was the most vocal of questioning Freeman's burglary skills and not having Freeman join them on their quest of reclaiming the dwarfs home when the dragon Smaug attacked their home and claimed the dwarfs treasure. I always wondered why Gandolf/McKellen as so determined to have Baggins/Freeman join the dwarfs company. having Baggins/Freeman giving Gandolf/McKellen courage is not enough of an answer for me. With Freeman and the dwarfs the same size, you normally do not realize they are supposed to be small people unless they are standing up next to McKellen. This lack of size ratio often throws me as I forget what creatures these magical characters are supposed to be, thus forgetting that you are in the world of Middle Earth that you are experiencing. I kept thinking they were all human. Even the ponies seemed the appropriate size for humans. When they were all up against the disgusting trolls, you would think the trolls were giants, but considering the size of dwarfs and hobbits, the trolls were probably human size, which makes the orcs as almost dwarf size as they were basically the same size as the dwarfs when they were battling. I just wish there was more singing as Middle Earth was full of song. I am not expecting a musical as this is not that kind of movie, but I was hoping for more singing. My favorite scenes of the movie were in the beginning of the movie where Bilbo was home in the Shire where the dwarfs gather. I never quite understood his sudden desire to join the dwarfs on their adventures.

I saw the movie in 3D. Maybe it was the glasses, but my eyes got tired and I had to rest my eyes by the time  when Bilbo met Gollum, Andy Serkis, who was also the second unit director - so I unfortunately missed out on most of their dialog, which was a shame for me as I am sure there was some nice characterization between Freeman and Serkis. The Hobbit is the first film shot and projected at 48 frames per second, which is twice as fast as the movie industry standard of 24 fps to give a smoother and more realistic motion with reduced picture strobing. This was supposed to be benificial when watching the film in 3D which helps to synchronize the images for each eye. I did notice that there was less strobing when I watched the film which made it easier on my eyes to watch, but there was still some strobing which was noticeable during the camera moves. The performance capture of Serkis was great and Gollum's computer generated eyes were very expressive. Cumberbatch is also supposed to be performance captured, but that will probably happen in the later movies as there was very little exposure of the dragon Smaug. Actors from the Lord of the Rings trilogy made cameos such as Elijah Wood, Christopher Lee, Cate Blanchett and Orlando Bloom in The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey, whether or not those characters were in the original The Hobbit book or not. Former Doctor Who, Sylvester McCoy's character of Radagast appears - even though his character was omitted from the The Lord of the Rings films.

 Click below to watch another trailer of The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey.




Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 169 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

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WRATH OF THE TITANS

Warner Bros.

Rated PG-13

Running time: 99 Minutes



Click below to watch the Wrath of the Titans trailer.



Warner Bros. Wrath of the Titans, has Perseus, Sam Worthington - from ancient Greece - having to fight the Titans as Worthington tries to rescue his father - the god Zeus, Liam Neeson, from the underworld.

In the sequel to Clash of the Titans, Wrath of the Titans has Worthington - a decade after the events of Clash of the Titans - trying to live a quiet life at home as a fisherman and being a single parent to his son John Bell. When Worthington learns that his father Neeson - the god Zeus - is being held prisoner in the deadly maze-like underworld of Tartarus from a dying Poseidon, Danny Huston, Worthington along with Huston's son Agenor, Toby Kebbell, goes after Neeson. Worthington's brother Ares, Édgar Ramírez, and Neeson's brother Hades, Ralph Fiennes, had captured Neeson in order to free Neeson's and Fiennes's powerful father Kronos - who they had all gotten together to overthrow Kronos and had imprisoned Kronos in the underworld long ago and was weakened by the lack of devotion by humanity. With the draining of Neeson's god-like powers, Kronos - the Titan's - strength grows stronger and escapes from the underworld to threaten to destroy the world.


I had mixed feelings about this movie. As much as I wanted to see a story about the gods and seeing Titanic battles, it was hard for me to care about the characters. Without caring about the characters - the battles meant nothing to me, which was a shame. Part of my not caring about the characters was that I did not care about Worthington. Despite the fact that Worthington had a son that he loved and was trying to protect, I could not relate to Worthington as he did not seem to relate to the others. I did not care for Worthington in the movie Avatar either for the same reason. I related more to Agenor, Toby Kebbell, as the son of Poseidon, Danny Huston, rather than to Worthington as Kebbell was much funnier. The weapons-maker of the gods Hephaestus, Bill Nighy, was also funny. There was a subtle sense of humor to the movie that at times I was wondering if the dialog was supposed to be funny, or if the audience had just considered the movie funny. The directing style of the movie by Jonathan Liebesman was more of a European style than an American style, which is curious as Liebesman directed Battle Los Angeles and the movie Battle Los Angeles was more in the style of an American film. The action of Wrath of the Titans was mostly up close and personal, which was a bit much for me as the movie did not allow me to feel some distance and perspective from the action. As for the bestial Titans, you never really got a good look at them - as these monsters were moving around so fast. With Kronos being the father of the gods, I wanted some dialog from him berating his children - but you never got that, you just got a big angry monster Titan.

When talking about the Greek gods and demi-gods, I forget at how large a dysfunctional family the gods were. With their god-like egos, the gods definitely are at odds with each other - and humans get caught in the middle of the gods. Humans like Queen Andromeda, Rosamund Pike, and her army get caught in the middle and must battle the gods. Having the family of gods at each other's throats, makes me very disconserted when compared to my loving family who have each other's backs. While Neeson is appropriately wise as the god king, Neeson does not seem to me as if he were the lecherous, promiscuous god who was well known for begetting dozens of gods and demi-gods.

I saw the movie in Dolby 3D. The movie was very good in 3D, both in the action and in the intimate moments with a roundness and deepness to the closeups as well as the objects flying at you in the action scenes. I did not see the first movie, and I heard the first movie was converted from 2D to 3D and heard that the conversion for the first movie was bad, but Wrath of the Titans was very good in 3D. As the kid in front of me said at the end of the movie, "3D was awesome!"

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 99 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

MIRROR MIRROR

Relativity Media

Rated PG

Running time: 106 Minutes



Click below to watch the Mirror Mirror trailer.



In Relativity Media's Mirror Mirror, evil Queen Julia Roberts steals control of her dead husband's kingdom and exiles her step-daughter Snow White, Lily Collins.

This retelling of the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs story is a cute retelling of the story by The Brothers Grimm, and reminds me more of The Princess Bride rather than of the Disney Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs movie. The seven dwarfs also have different names in this movie than what they had in the Disney movie, such as Grimm, Butcher, Wolf, Napoleon, Half Pint, Grub, and Chuckles. The dwarfs on their stilts make awesome bandits and adds to the stylized look of the movie. When Collins discovers that Roberts servant Nathan Lane is collecting taxes from the poor people of the kingdom, Collins has the taxes returned to the people and credits the dwarfs for the money's return. Feeling appreciated, the dwarfs decide to teach Collins how to fight, and Collins soon learns to kick butt - thus making the movie a swashbuckler. Collins sword fight against Prince Armie Hammer is reminiscent of the sword fight in The Princess Bride, despite the fact that Collins loves Hammer. Having the Queen wanting to marry Hammer, both for his money and his looks is almost obscene - especially when she uses a love potion on him. It made me want Collins to thwart Roberts wedding plans and win back Collins birthright, which Collins was determined to do.

Instead of just talking with the magic mirror - which would have made me think that would have been one of the main points of the movie considering that the title of the movie is Mirror Mirror. Roberts walks into the mirror in her castle, and winds up in some type of other dimension besides a lakeside hut which houses the real magic mirror which contains Roberts reflection - who continually warns Roberts of the consequences of using magic.

The scene that got to me, was the scene where Roberts is undergoing a "beauty treatment" - with foul substances, as well as a "beauty treatment" with insects. Having all of that put on me would definitely creep me out. I could not watch that scene with the bugs. Arghhh! While the beast of the forest looks like something that could have survived in the forest, I wanted something bigger and scarier. At least the beast was something similar to the Disney beast from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which made the beast somewhat acceptable to me.

I liked the musical dance number that the characters did during the end credits of the movie.

Rated PG for violence. Running time: 106 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

 Pancho's Movie Reviews

JOHN CARTER

Walt Disney Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 132 Minutes


Click below to watch the trailer of John Carter of Mars.



In Walt Disney Pictures John Carter, American Civil War hero Captain John Carter from Virginia, Taylor Kitsch, is teleported through space to the planet Mars, which is in the middle of their own civil war.

Based on the books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Carter is a combination of a space-going Tarzan who is playing Cowboys and Aliens and Avatar in a desert, although I liked John Carter better than Avatar. While I have never gotten around to reading the books by Burroughs, I was familiar with the basic John Carter story and I felt the movie was quite entertaining. Some people apparently could not follow the story - but for those who have been watching movies regularly, I think you should be able to follow the storyline as this is not a European artsy film. This film was directed by Andrew Stanton, who made the Toy Story movies.

While trying to escape from being conscripted into the U.S. Army by Colonel Bryan Cranston for being a hero in the Confederate States Army, Kitsch finds a mysterious secret cave where he encounters a dangerous stranger with a mysterious medallion - a medallion which transports Kitsch to the planet Mars. On Mars, otherwise known as the planet Barsoom, Kitsch is able to leap incredible heights in the lighter gravity of Barsoom. As a result of his leaping, Kitsch impresses the local green Martian leader Willem Dafoe - who wants to make Kitsch in what is basically Dafoe's white ape warrior. Soon airships approach their territory as the airships have an aerial battle and Kitsch encounters red humanoid Barsoomian Princess Lynn Collins. Collins was using her airship to escape from marrying the diabolical Prince Dominic West - whose wedding Collins father Ciarán Hinds had arranged between Collins and West in order to try to keep the peace between their two cities. Dynamic in the martial arts as well as intelligent, Collins soon convinces Kitsch to stop his quest to return home to Earth and to fight for her people against West and the strange religious Martians like Mark Strong that are controlling West.

Various versions of John Carter have been in development since the 1930's and it is only until now that a major movie of John Carter has been made. What is significant is that now in the year 2012, it is the centennial of the character's first appearance from a magazine serial from 1912 which was originally titled as Under the Moons of Mars in the pulp magazine The All-Story. The serial was retitled as A Princess of Mars when the serial was published as a hardcover. I remember reading a movie outline of John Carter of Mars by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio back in the 80's and I was waiting for years for their screenplay to be made. Unfortunately, part of the delay was for the technology to develop enough to render the Martian biology's. While various elements of the movie may have been seen in movies before, a lot of those elements have had their origins from Edgar Rice Burroughs and the John Carter books. The film is also more PC than the original books with Collins being clothed, instead of just wearing jewelry, and the red Martians having red tattoos instead of being red people. Since this was an origin film, John Carter did not become John Carter of Mars until the last few minutes of the movie. Future sequels will then supposedly be titled John Carter of Mars. Of course, having the movie just called John Carter is very enigmatic for people who do not know who he was - which made me upset that they had dropped the of Mars from the title. Although I understood artistically why they did that. From a Marketing point of view, dropping the of Mars from the title killed their audience - especially with the young people who have never heard of John Carter. A friend of mine, who goes to the movies a lot, asked me "what is John Carter?" And this is a film that had commercials everywhere.

What I thought was cute in this movie, aside from Kitsch's loyal Martian dog Woola, was that Edgar Rice Burroughs, Daryl Sabara, was used as a character in the movie as Kitsch's nephew - who was given a journal of Kitsch's adventures on Barsoom. Sabara reading Kitsch's adventures from the journal leads into the movie, and the story of John Carter. Implying that Edgar Rice Burroughs was inspired to write John Carter books after reading about Carter's adventures in Carter's journal is rather cute. The credits were basically graphic images of the pages of the journal and of Kitsch's maps of his worldwide quests to find a way to return to Barsoom. Too bad I have not seen any cute toys about the Martian dog Woola in the stores and fast food places.

At the end of the movie, at my screening, people applauded. What was touching, during the end credits, was a dedication of the movie to the Memory of Steve Jobs, an Inspiration to Us All. The film was written and directed by Pixar Animation Studio's Andrew Stanton, of which John Carter is Stanton's live-action debut. The animation studio Pixar was Co-Founded by Jobs, of which the studio Pixar was purchased by the Walt Disney Studios, so the dedication was quite appropriate.

Click below to watch another trailer of John Carter of Mars.



Click below to watch the fan-made trailer of John Carter of Mars.



Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 132 Minutes.

Pancho
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2

Warner Bros. Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 130 minutes

In Warner Bros. Pictures Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2, this last movie of the Harry Potter series continues where Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 left off - where everything comes to a head with evil Lord Voldemort, Ralph Fiennes, retrieving Professor Dumbledore's, Michael Gambon, wand and the battle for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry begins. The question now is - will Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe, live or die?

The beginning of the movie will be confusing for people who are not familiar with the book, or at least the movies, as Emma Watson is disguised as the evil Helena Bonham Carter when they try to sneak into the wizard bank Gringotts. Harry eventually realizes his ultimate destination is his second home, Hogwarts. In events that take place basically in one night, Voldemort and his Death Eaters and his bestial army attack Hogwarts demanding Harry Potter's surrender. Meanwhile, Harry and his friends Rupert Grint and Emma Watson are searching to destroy the last of the horcruxes in Hogwarts that are in actuality the last parts of Voldermort's soul in order for Voldermort to cheat death. The teachers and students of Hogwarts defend their school as Voldmort and his minions attack. As in the book, several major characters die, although you usually do not see their actual deaths. Their deaths were very sad to see as their bodies are laid out at the end, but that is the consequences of war. Harry's decision to confront Voldemort, whose life has been intertwined with his ever since Harry's birth, was emotionally draining as Harry realizes his destiny.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 130 minutes

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

 Pancho's Movie Reviews

THOR

Paramount Pictures

Marvel Studios

Rated PG-13

Running time: 115 minutes















Click below to watch the Thor trailer.



In Paramount Pictures Thor, the Norse Asgardian god Thor, Chris Hemsworth, is stripped of his power by Odin the All-Father, Anthony Hopkins, for being too arrogant and is banished to Earth/Midguard. After hitting Hemsworth with her car, Natalie Portman takes the strange Hemsworth home as she believes he is a key to her scientific weather research.

Based on Marvel Comics Thor, this film was much more interesting in the Asgard and other realms than while being on Earth. While Earth had all the jokes, with the main settings being in a desert and a small town, it was rather boring compared to the family dynamics between Odin, Thor, and his brother Loki, Tom Hiddleston. Not even S.H.I.E.L.D made up for a boring Earth as S.H.I.E.L.D was just portrayed as another secret government agency that takes over everything and nothing was really spectacular about it. The movie trailer made S.H.I.E.L.D seem much more sinister. Agent Clark Gregg mentioned that Thor made the S.H.I.E.L.D agents look like minimum wage mall cops which was easy to do as the agents did act like mall cops and not the elite special operations teams that they should have been. While back in Asgard, it was rather touching and sad to see a sweet young Loki turn into a bitter man jealous of his beloved brother Thor. This was a better telling of betrayal than Anakin Skywalker becoming Darth Vader. With director Kenneth Branagh's  Shakespearean roots, this definitely helped the story which is basically a retelling of Shakespeare's Henry V.

The frost giants were much more agile than what I imagined from the comic books, so the battles between them and the Asgardians were more intense than what I expected. And it is the invasion of the frost giants during his coronation that causes Thor to be arrogant in the first place as he wants to insure the safety of Asgard by invading the frost giants realm with the Warriors Three.

As Queen Frigga, Thor's mother, Rene Russo was an unexpected addition to the movie as I recall no publicity concerning her being a part of the film. Actually I did not recognize her until I read the end credits, although I knew that she had looked familiar when I saw her. There is also a bowman amongst the S.H.I.E.L.D agents Jeremy Renner who is uncredited as the character Hawkeye.

In the spirit of Asgard and the other realms, the credits were rather cosmic. There is also a scene after the end credits which goes more into Samuel L. Jackson and S.H.I.E.L.D which, when combined with all the references in the movie, lead to possible sequels like The Avengers.

The band Foo Fighters song "Walk" is also in the film because the filmmakers thought its lyrics were strangely appropriate for the film.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 115 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same langauge.

Your Highness

Universal Pictures

Rated R

Running time: 102 minutes



In Universal Pictures Your Highness, Prince James Franco's bride-to-be, Lady Zooey Deschanel gets kidnapped from their castle home by the evil wizard Justin Theroux. Franco then goes on a quest with his knights to rescue Deschanel - along with his lazy brother Danny McBride.

A cross between The Three Musketeers as well as The Princess Bride and Xena: Warrior Princess, this film is much more of an action film than a comedy that the trailers make it out to be. You can feel the jealousy that loser brother Danny McBride has for his heroic brother James Franco, but never forget that they are brothers. McBride reminds me of Oliver Platt in The Three Musketeers. although not as sophisticated, while Franco reminds me of Cary Elwes in The Princess Bride. On the eve of the Royal Wedding, one can imagine the chaos Theroux created during Franco's wedding and why the brothers are now on a quest. The quest picks up when they encounter fellow warrior Natalie Portman, a hot woman who can kick serious ass, but who has her own quest to get Theroux. Treachery and villainy abound as evil Chosen One Theroux needs virgin Deschanel to fulfill the ancient astrological prophesy to give birth to a dragon which he can control for his evil deeds. While a lot of magic bolts were flung around, it is surprising that the bolts were not actually deadly but only threw everyone around. The Great Wize Wizard is the most perverted muppet-like character I have ever seen, even more so than the Minotaur. At least you can understand the Minotaur's beastiality in his home lair.

The 3-D-like opening credits were pretty cool, especially when watching a 2-D film. I can imagine how they would look like in a real 3-D movie.

Rated R for violence, language, and sexual situations. Running time: 102 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

 Pancho's Movie Reviews

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Walt Disney Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 116 minutes






























Click below to watch the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time trailer.



In Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, orphan Jake Gyllenhaal is adopted by the royal family. After presenting a captured robe to his king father Ronald Pickup, the king dies of poisoning and Gyllenhaal must flee, along with the captured princess Gemma Arterton, from his vengeful prince brothers Richard Coyle and Toby Kebbell. Along the way, Gyllenhaal discovers his captured dagger from princess Arterton can turn back time.

Based on the video game Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, the movie was surprisingly enjoyable to watch. I have not seen the game, but the action scenes were mostly well integrated into the movie and not obvious gaming scenes - making the scenes worthy of a Jerry Bruckheimer production, even if there are ostriches in the movie. Actually, I thought the ostrich race was fun. At the end of Gyllenhaal's quest, to return the dagger to it's proper place, is where you will see what are the obvious gaming obstacles. I did not know Ben Kingsley was in this movie, as most of what I knew of the movie came from the Disney Channel and I did not hear the Disney Channel mention Kingsley. The movie might have gotten more box office if Kingsley was promoted more.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 116 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

 Pancho's Movie Reviews

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Warner Bros. Pictures

Rated PG

Running time: 153 minutes



Warner Bros. Pictures Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is one of the best Harry Potter movies. From the first shot of Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, you can see how the actors, like Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, as well as the movies have grown up. Instead of a children's magical film with dramatic elements, as the first few films were, the Half-Blood Prince is an adult dramatic film with magical elements. As a result of which, I was more focused on the film than comparing it with the book by J.K. Rowling as I did with the other movies. This is also one of the few films where you do not have to know the books to understand what is happening. This is an acting and story driven film instead of a digitally enhanced driven film like Transformers 2.

While a student at Hogwart's, a school for wizardry, Harry Potter is entrusted by the school's headmaster Dumbledore to learn about a secret memory from the potions teacher Jim Broadbent who taught former student Tom Riddle, now the dark wizard Lord Voldermart. While there are some light-hearted moments with the students all falling in love with each other, the focus of the movie is on discovering the dark secret behind Tom Riddle/Voldermart. The film is rated PG, but there are a couple of intense scenes which I think is much closer to a PG-13 rating. The ending is a shocker - except for those who have read the book. I read the book, and the ending still made me teary-eyed. These child stars have grown up in their roles as actors and as a result their maturity has made the film very dramatic.

At the end of the movie, as I watched the end credits and listened to the music, there were groups of the audience still in their seats discussing the film. That is the result of how much the film has had an affect on the audience. The general consensus was that they enjoyed the film as much as I did.

Rated PG for violence. Running time: 153 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

 Pancho's Movie Reviews