TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION

Paramount Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 165 Minutes



Click below to watch the movie trailer of Transformers: Age of Extinction.


In Paramount Pictures Transformers: Age of Extinction, Mark Wahlberg finds a broken down semi-truck - which turns out to be the Transformer Autobot Optimus Prime/Peter Cullen.

In this sequel to Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the film takes place four years after the invasion of Chicago. Using new characters, struggling inventor/mechanic and single father Mark Wahlberg is trying to make money for himself and send his daughter Nicola Peltz to college with his inventions, when Wahlberg tries to restore a broken down semi-truck that he had bought with his partner T.J. Miller's money. Wahlberg soon discovers that the truck is Autobot Optimus Prime/Cullen - and that secret CIA government agents Titus Welliver and Kelsey Grammer are searching for them, along with bounty hunter Transformer Lockdown/Mark Ryan.

Directed by Michael Bay and Executive Produced by Steven Spielberg, story-wise, I think this is the best of the Transformers movies. While Optimus/Cullen feels betrayed by the humans, due to Grammer's machinations of getting rid of all Transformers after what had happened to Chicago, this movie is really about the love of father Wahlberg and his daughter Peltz. But like all of Director Michael Bay's films, the movie is twenty minutes too long as far as the action at the end is concerned. As it it, Bay says this is the longest film in the series. I just wanted to get on with the story instead of watching all of this fighting and destruction. I was feeling sleepy because there was no story to keep me interested. As usual I got confused as to which Transformer was which during the final battle scenes as they all look alike. As a result - as much as I wanted to care who was who, I did not care. I cared more for Wahlberg was firing an alien gun. It is curious in that there seemed to be more collateral damage and bystander refugees in the international China scenes than in the American scenes.

While Autobots from previous movies have been destroyed, the movie does introduce new Transformers - including Hound/John Goodman, Drift/Ken Watanabe, and Crosshairs/John DiMaggio. There was also a logical reason for the new Transformers that are introduced that transform into cars and other things, not including Stanley Tucci's man made Transformers, which Optimus/Cullen brought about which goes all the way back to the Creators. This logical reason, and that Optimus/Cullen was leading them, made the introduction of the new Transformers really special for me.

The 3-D was awesome throughout the entire movie. Usually the 3-D in movies is bad as it is just a conversion, but I noticed the 3-D throughout the entire movie - most notably when dust motes are flying around. Even in ordinary scenes, you could see the depth of the scene as Bay shot 60 percent of the movie in IMAX 3-D. The 3-D actually made me flinch a couple of times as things flew out at me.

Hasbro and Paramount Pictures have stated that here are talks of a fifth and sixth installment in the Transformers series. As of the 2014 July fourth weekend, Transformers: Age of Extinction has earned $201.3M overseas. This makes the movie the highest-grossing weekend for a film.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Transformers: Age of Extinction.



Rated PG-13 for violence and language. Running time: 165 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

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Ted

Universal

Rated R

Running time: 106 Minutes



Click below to watch the Ted trailer.



In Universal Pictures Ted, Mark Wahlberg's relationship with Mina Kulis is threateaned by his childhood relationship - with his Teddy Bear Ted, Seth MacFarlane.

This is the feature-length directorial debut of MacFarlane, who also wrote and produced Ted as well as the movie being the first live-action project for MacFarlane. MacFarlane does the voice-over for the grown-up Ted. After lonely child Bretton Manley wishes for his teddy bear to be a real-life friend, Teddy Zane Cowans becomes a real-life bear and soon becomes a celebrity. The movie then focuses on the present day, where Wahlberg and Ted/MacFarlane are now grown up - but very immature adults, even if they do have jobs. How Mila Kunis spent four years with Wahlberg and Ted/MacFarlane is a mystery to me. I could have accepted Kunis being with Wahlberg for four months instead, as in the movie Kunis finally has had enough of Wahlberg's and Ted/MacFarlane's relationship and immaturity.

While Ted is supposed to be a raunchy comedy, I found the movie uneven as half the time the movie seemed like a serious relationship drama. A chick flick. The movie is basically a dramatic version of the movie Paul, when I would have preferred Paul meets Superbad. I think part of the problem is that half of the characters were serious characters instead of off-the-wall characters which would have made the movie much funnier, much like the off-the-wall characters that were in the movie Horrible Bosses. There was a scene that was a takeoff of a scene in Airplane!, which I think would have made the movie much funnier if the entire movie was made like that - especially with the idea of a walking, talking, living teddy bear running around. Having Ted being a raunchy teddy bear was not enough, especially since in the film Ted is now a has-been 1980's celebrity and is an accepted member of society instead of some mythical character suddenly come to life. The movie opens with basically a 1950's feel with Wahlberg's childhood home, but then grows up into a raunchy film.

The 1980 film Flash Gordon was a great influence in the movie. The fact that the producers actually got Sam Jones from Flash Gordon to play himself in the movie was great. Although I prefered Jones as the kick-ass alien bounty hunter in Stargate SG-1 much more, rather than Jones portrayal as an aging actor trying to reclaim his glory as Flash Gordon in the movie. Cameos by singer Norah Jones, Tom Skerritt and archived footage of TV late-night host Johnny Carson integrated with Ted/Macfarlane was great. And an uncredited Ryan Reynolds made an impression with me. The opening and closing narration by Patrick Stewart had the right irreverance, which was first evident in the first couple of minutes of a politically incorrect statement. I just wish we got to see Wahlberg's parents Alex Borstein and Ralph Garman as characters when Manley grew up to be Wahlberg. Although I felt Manley was too old to be so excited about a stuffed bear, when Teddy became alive, I could accept Manley being excited about having a new friend.

For an R film, Giovanni Ribisi and his son Aedin Mincks were not creepily off-the-all enough for me to accept them being the movie's bad guys. They were just acceptable for a PG or PG-13 movie, but not enough for an R film. Actually having children actors in an R film, even if it is a comedy, is a little disturbing for me. Obviously, children could not see the movie - which cuts down on the box office on the family audiences that might have seen the movie. I just wonder if the child actors themselves saw the movie.

The computer graphics of Ted are very good due to MacFarlane being motion-captured. I just accepted Ted as a character, a living Teddy bear who even has sex. Ted/Macfarlane still can not run very convincingly, but the rest of the CGI and motion-capture appeared believable and was very detailed in his fur. It was cool to see the cosmic zoom from the Universal Pictures 100th Anniversary logo of Earth from space zooming down into Wahlberg's childhood neighborhood. I was surprised that various referances from several movie and TV studios were used in the movie. At first I thought that they all came from Universal as that would have been easy and cheap - until I recognized the theme from the Indiana Jones movies, and they were distributed by Paramount Studios and not Universal Pictures. Getting the rights to use all of these referances from the various studios and media would be difficult legally and expensive. For having Seth MacFarlane having the clout to get this personal project of his off the ground is incredible. For a small crowd in the theater, as the movie has been out for a few weeks already, there were quite a few laughs from the audience and I admit I laughed too - but I laughed very little as to me the movie was too much of a drama instead of a comedy.

Rated R for Language, Sexual Situations, and Drug Abuse. Running time: 106 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

The Other Guys

Columbia Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 107 min



Click below to watch The Other Guys movie trailer on YouTube.



In Columbia Pictures The Other Guys,  Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson are a couple of gung ho urban street cops. And then there are The Other Guys - Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, desk jockey precinct detectives. Ferrell and Wahlberg are stuck in the background who are forced to do the Jackson's and Johnson's paperwork. When Ferrell goes after a high profile multi-billionaire investment banker Steve Coogan for a building code violation, partners Ferrell and Wahlberg soon find themselves linked into New York City's biggest crime.

With the movie as a combination Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills Cop, Jackson and Johnson make a great combo as street cops - but make no mistake, as the trailers may be misleading, the movie is really about the other guys Ferrell and Wahlberg. In fact, several people walked out of the theater when they realized the movie was no longer about Jackson and Johnson early in the movie. Although I think a full movie with Jackson and Johnson really as cops would be a fun movie, and there are talks with making a prequel movie about Jackson and Johnson. Mismatched Ferrell and Wahlberg grew on me as they took on the investment banker investigation - with accountant Ferrell having the hot babes like Eva Mendes interested in Ferrell, and of disgraced Wahlberg's unfortunate meeting with major league MVP baseball player Derek Jeter. After watching Ferrell and Wahlberg in the movie, it makes me realize what a waste it is not to get civilians to sit at the desks to do the clerical and administration of police business so they can free up real cops to be out on the street. Also, while the police do a very important job, it is sad to realize the police are not being paid very much because police captain Michael Keaton has to get a second job with Bed Bath & BEYOND to put his bi-sexual son through college. During the end credits, there are financial graphics displayed, along with the results of fraud schemes in keeping with the money laundering plot of the movie. There is also an outtake of the restaurant scene after the credits.

Rated PG-13 for violence and sexual situations.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

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