More than meets the eye: Anticipating the release of the Transformers movie – Part 9

Children of the 80’s rejoiced when they heard that Transformers was going to be made into a live-action movie. However, there was some concern with the announcement of director, Michael Bay, who has directed such films as Pearl Harbor, Armageddon, and The Rock. Personally, I think that Bay is the perfect choice to direct a movie about giant fighting robots, since he seems to specialize in intense, interesting and lengthy action sequences, which the Transformers movie should consist of. Eventually, the negative feedback against the film was halted with the release of an amazing theatrical trailer, which mysteriously unveiled Optimus Prime and showed some spectacular shots of Michael Bay-esque action. Finally, as the new July 2nd release date comes closer, only positive news seems to emerge as new clips and TV spots emerge almost daily. Barring any unforeseen mishap, Transformers should be the most original summer blockbuster of the year.

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Anime reviews: Soul Eater

“Soul Eater” is a recently developed Japanese anime series that is directed by Takuya Igarasahi and developed by Bones. It was licensed by Media Fantasy and Dentsu while being aired on the TV Tokyo network. The first episode of Soul Eater aired on Monday, April 7 of 2008. This is adapted from the ongoing manga that has been authored by Atsushi Okubo.

It’s a supernatural action themed anime with plenty of comedy involved. After watching the first episode of the anime, I was pretty satisfied. Personally, I thought Soul Eater was pretty funny.

The setting takes place in possible some alternate world with a Halloween feel of things. Soul Eater revolves around the world of witches and shinigami. Shinigami in Japan means the personification of death. The name had come from Europe during the Meiji Era. In short, a shinigami means either a soul reaper or a grim reaper.

The Soul Eater series is set in the Shinigami technical school for weapon meisters. Meisters are students training to be shinigami in the future. Its main story focuses on three groups of weapon meisters and their human weapon counterparts. In short, a meister has at least one or two humans at his/her side that can transform into a weapon.

Their aim is make their human weapons into a “Death Scythe” which is fit for use by the shinigami. The Death Scythe is the signature weapon of the Grim Reaper; which in Western culture personifies the angel of death. In order to make their weapons into Death Scythes, the meisters must collect ninety-nine souls of evil humans and one witch. However, it does not matter if the witch is good or bad.

The main meisters are Maka Alban with her companion Soul Eater or “Soul” that transforms into a scythe, Black Star with his companion Tsubaki who can transform into a variety of ninja weapons, and Death The Kid with his companions Patty and Liz that can transform into a set of handguns. Though they can transform into weapons, the meisters’ companions do have personalities of their own.

In humorously focuses on them having to collect those required souls. Each of the meisters have their own stories.

Interestingly enough, Shinigami-sama or the “Grim Reaper” is present. He is the most powerful character in Soul Eater. Maka’s father is the Grim Reaper’s Death Scythe.

It would look as the series focuses on Maka and Soul as they have to start from square one again. They had obtained the souls of ninety-nine evil humans but had mistaken Blair for a witch. It turns out that Blair was a cat with magical powers that could take on human form. The mistake had forced Maka and Soul to start from square one all over again.

So far, Soul Eater is an interesting anime with a pretty funny storyline.

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The 10 Most Popular Movies Of All Time — A Cheat Sheet (Part 2)

Are you a movie dunce? Do you not know your Corleone from your Kurosawa? Would you recognise a lightsaber if it hit you in the face? Well, don’t panic. To help you catch up on your movie knowledge here’s the second instalment in your 2-part crash course in the top 10 movies of all time, as voted by the readers of the Internet Movie Database. Careful, though… here be spoilers.

5. Casablanca

Hiding out in Casablanca, Morocco during World War II, exiled American and former freedom fighter Rick Blaine passes the time running a popular nightspot. Blaine’s tedium is interrupted when Czech Resistance leader Victor Laszlo arrives with his beautiful wife Ilsa — Blaine’s ex-lover.

Blaine holds the key to Laszlo’s safe passage out of the country, and Ilsa offers herself to him in exchange for her husband’s safety. Blaine faces the choice of sacrificing Laszlo to win back Ilsa, but in the end decides to do the honorable thing…

Quote: If that plane leaves the ground and you’re not with him, you’ll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.

Trivia: The line ‘Here’s lookin’ at you, kid’ was voted the 5th most well known movie line in history by the American Film Institute.

4. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The third and final instalment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Return of the King offers an epic finale to Frodo’s quest (thousands of extras took part in the filming to add to the drama). Finally arriving at Mt. Doom, Frodo is overcome by exhaustion and the stress of bearing the Ring. Helped by Sam, Frodo manages to make his way into the volcano.

At the last moment he finds himself unable to throw the Ring into the magma, choosing instead to wear it. Gollum, surviving Frodo’s earlier attempt on his life, attacks Frodo and bites off his finger, removing the ring. Losing his grip, Gollum falls into the pit along with the Ring, breaking its hold over Frodo and killing Sauron.

With Sauron’s death his army is destroyed, just in time to save the army of Men, poised to fight to the death at the gates of Mordor.

Quote: Come on, Mr. Frodo. I can’t carry it for you… but I can carry you.

Trivia: The Return of the King used over seven times the number of special effects shots used in an average movie.

3. The Godfather: Part II

Split between two timelines, the second instalment of The Godfather trilogy follows Don Vito Corleone through his adolescence in Sicily and New York during the early 20th Century, and later his rise to power as a Mafia Don. It also returns to a point a few years after the conclusion of the first movie, with Michael Corleone running the family interests following his father’s death.

After learning that his brother Fredo has betrayed the family, Michael must order his execution.

Quote: I know it was you Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart!

Trivia: Robert de Niro won an Oscar for his portrayal of a young Vito Corleone. De Niro and Marlon Brando are the only actors to win Oscars for the portrayal of the same character.

2. The Shawshank Redemption

Based on a novella by Steven King, The Shawshank Redemption tells the story of Andy Dufresne, a successful banker wrongly convicted for the murder of his wife and her lover. Given two life sentences, Dufresne is sent to the maximum security Shawshank Prison where he befriends Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding, a lifer who helps him adjust to prison life.

Over the next twenty years their friendship grows while Andy has a positive effect on the inmates, helping to establish a prison library and education system. Unfortunately, the mean-spirited and criminal warden beats down Andy’s spirit until he finally escapes through a tunnel that took him two decades to dig.

In a final act of revenge Andy exposes the warden’s crimes, driving him to suicide to avoid being sent to prison. Red is later released on parole, and tracks down Andy to a beach in Mexico.

Quote: Get busy living, or get busy dying.

Trivia: The mugshots of Morgan Freeman as a young man are actually pictures of his real life son, Alfonso.

1. The Godfather

Adapted from Mario Puzo’s seminal Mafia novel, the first instalment of The Godfather trilogy sees Don Vito Corleone, head of the Corleone crime family, struggle with the realities of a changing world. When he refuses to work with drug dealer Virgil Sollozzo in a scheme to push heroin in New York, he falls foul of Sollozzo’s backers the Tattaglia family.

When Vito is wounded in an attempted assassination his son Michael — previously determined to have nothing to do with the family business — volunteers to kill Sollozzo. Following the execution Michael is sent to Sicily to hide out until it is safe to return.

After Michael’s brother Sonny is executed by the rival Barzini family, Michael safely returns and takes his place as the head of the family in time to see Vito Corleone die of a heart attack. In revenge for the attacks on his family Michael arranges for the murder of the heads of the other families, to take place during the baptism ceremony of his nephew.

Following the baptism Michael orders the execution of the father of the baptised child — and his own brother in-law — Carlo Rizzi, in retribution for Carlo’s role in setting up Sonny’s death. The movie ends with the widow, Michael’s sister Connie, suspecting that Michael was involved in Carlo’s death.

Quote: I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.

Trivia: Sofia Coppola, the director’s daughter, played the baby baptised at the end of the movie. She returned to play the role of Michael’s daughter Mary in The Godfather: Part III).

So there you have it. If you’ve been paying attention you should now have just enough knowledge of the top ten movies of all time to bluff your way through a conversation with a movie buff. These bare bones won’t take you far, though, so I suggest you set aside some time, get a big bucket of popcorn, sit back and enjoy the best of Hollywood. You won’t be disappointed.

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How trends seem to recycle themselves

Are the emo kids of today really all that different from the heavily-made up glam metal guys of the 80’s? Think about it, skin-tight clothes, eyeliner on both genders, an emphasis on sex (any kind is good, right?). The one, undebatable feature which unites them is the fact that metal-heads of then and now share a unanimous hate for these ‘posers’.

It’s funny how the music my parents listened to at my age is now cool again. So cool, in fact, that I have come across peers who have said such heinous things as “I found this awesome, really obscure old school band called Led Zeppelin!”. It wasn’t that long ago that a major CD retailer was stocking ‘vintage’ band tees – Kiss, Motley Crue and Pantera, which resulted in a whole bunch of fifteen year old kids unable to name a single song by the band on their shirt, but looking painfully cool.

Transformers is another example of this. The publicity created by the recently released film has lead to the appearance of a whole host of original Transformers memorabilia appearing on Ebay. This bodes well for all of us who used to run home from school in order to sit in front of the TV and watch the animated series – we now have easy access to Autobot and Decepticon decals for our cars. I daresay we deserve it, after enduring years of nerd-beatings.

There were even some clothes that my mother wore in the 70s which she kept in order to pass on to me. Don’t even get me started on her record collection. It pains me terribly that I can’t burn vinyl to CD so that I can listen to it in my car.

The reality is that as long as we are all human, similar things will always appeal to us. Pop music, fashion – it’s all pretty similar, and I believe runs in cycles in order to try and fool us into thinking that we’re original.

So I suppose we all know what to do now: Don’t throw anything away, it’ll be trendy again in 20 years.

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Before PlayStation: The toys I grew up with – Part 11

Princess Molly was beautiful- her long, blond curls were always drawn back in the latest fashion, and her bright blue eyes, though they sported every color eye shadow in the rainbow, outshone any fancy dress she ever wore. She was welcomed at every party, and she made the best of company in every crowd: the preschool girls, the dance girls, my parents. Molly was my favorite of all the toys I owned.

All of my friends loved coming over- from the box full of old dance costumes, boas and costume jewelry to my mother’s giant bouncy exercise balls to my beaded necklace kits, every girl that passed through my basement brought in a doll and entered into a majestic kingdom where they and their dolls became princesses, wearing tiaras and crowns we made from construction paper, markers, and jewels all while sporting my ballet tutus. We (and our dolls, of course) would address my brother’s action figures not like toys but servants, and we’d push their little legs over to raise their little swords, pushing and fighting off the green balls we deemed evil dragons.

Castle forts made of pillows and blankets were strewn across the couches and we would pretend we were forced into hiding, making beautiful beaded necklaces (which, if they were pretty enough, we kept for ourselves) for the Witch Ladies, the other girls who volunteered to “kidnap” us. Part of our servitude required making delicious Play-Doh sandwiches, made only from the best orange, green and yellow balls and, if we were lucky, accompanied by McDonald’s Play-Doh Fries. Our dolls and the Witch Ladies would devour our meals, often at my plastic table over cups of imaginary tea.

As I grew older and Tamagotchis got cooler, this magical world slowly unraveled and Molly spent more and more time on my rocking chair. But just because technology became a more integrated part of my childhood didn’t mean I had stopped imagining- when the batteries ran out or our Furbies wouldn’t stop asking for food or we were just bored, my friends and I would throw those toys aside and always revert back to our castle forts. After all, a computer game may let your child dress a character up in gowns, go on adventures through forbidden forests and dance with Prince Charming, but it simply can’t compete with wearing a (plastic) tiara and Cinderella shoes, transforming her into a real princess.

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Before PlayStation: The toys I grew up with – Part 3

I’m a child of the 80’s. This naturally means I had some of the best toys ever! It was an era when technology was just starting to get into toys and games, but not to the point where everything required batteries or an AC adapter.

We played with a lot of the “classic” toys: Lite Brite, Legos, Slinkies, Play-Dough. My brothers and I built an entire lego empire of knights, castles, pirates, and mansions. I refer to these toys as classics because my son still plays with these today and enjoys them despite a world full of video games, online games, and everything else featuring his favorite licensed tv characters.

The 80’s were when toy fads started. The demand around Christmas was so great, it forced our parents to wait in line at the store on Black Friday for Cabbage Patch Dolls and Pound Puppies. Except back then, you couldn’t buy one and then charge 4 times the price on e-bay the next day.

We played with colorforms, which were vinyl shapes and figures that stuck to laminated cardboard. Paper dolls were another favorite of mine. Barbies, Transformers, Ghostbusters, and Ninja Turtles were also popular toys. We played a lot of card games: Uno, Rummy, Pokeno, Go Fish. Favorite board games included Checkers, Chinese Checkers, Clue, Monopoly, and Mall Madness.

Some of the best times though didn’t include toys at all. Every summer Sunday afternoon was a wiffle ball game with strict rules at my grandmother’s house. With 17 cousins there were always enough players! We enjoyed swinging on our tree swings and building hide-outs in the woods; we also played well known games like hide-n-seek and tag.

It seems toys of the 80’s required more thought and more imagination that toys today. I wouldn’t trade any of the toys or memories I had growing up for a Playstation. Though I will admit, I was pretty excited the first time I played Super Mario Brothers on Nintendo!

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The greatest comeback story

I like to say that revenge is a dish best served cold, especially to those loved ones we ones trusted and now despise. We have all been in that situation, girl meets boy, girl falls in love with boy, boy leaves girl, girl is horrified, then girl seeks to gain some sort of satisfaction through the ancient art of revenge. But the most interesting part about the idea of revenge is it never gets old, woman of all ages do it in some form or another. I for example, like my mother have been doing it my entire life.

I remember so fondly the first boy who truly broke my heart. We met outside of a movie theatre, our eyes met and I was instantly hooked. Probably more smitten than he was, as 14 year old girls often come on stronger than 14 year old guys . As the weeks went on my attraction grew for his fellow, we went to movies together went shopping together, he even bought me a present for Valentines Day consisting of chocolates, flowers and a beautiful necklace.

Well one day I was chatting with my friend about how great this guy was and I mentioned his name in passing. She mentioned that she had met a guy with the same name online and he had also bought her nice gifts. She pulled out a picture of him and my heart skipped a beat she had in her wallet a picture of my boyfriend. We were both flustered with rage as we thought of a brilliant little plan to make him pay.

She had plans with him after school that day but to his surprise he would run into me first, and I would talk to him re sighting casually the sweet little nothings that he had whispered in my friends’ ear the night before. When I ran’ into him at the pool hall and started stating his pick up lines back to him he looked absolutely shocked. Then I left, explaining that I had to go and I was only at the pool hall because my older sister had arranged to meet me there so I could get a ride home. His original date never showed up, and neither of us answered his phone calls again. We presumed he was smart enough to put two and two together and figure out that we had found out and wanted nothing to do with him, but if not the sheer look resembling a kid caught in the cookie jar was priceless.

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Michael Bay: Destroying our childhoods? – Part 2

I love movies. I especially love movies with a lot of action, a lot of explosions, and in your face gunfire. Michael Bay brings that to every single one of his movies. In fact, he is one of my favorite directors of all time. So when I think of him destroying our childhoods, I examine the idea very closely.

I, personally, was never a fan of the original Transformers toys or animation series, although I have nothing against it. I realize there are a lot of people out there that had a love affair with the shows and I respect their right to that. I don’t, however, think Michael Bay destroyed our childhoods by taking the series and making it into a killer action flick.

The goal was to reinvent the series and bring new ideas to the table. The goal wasn’t to take something many people loved and destroy it as a franchise. Sure, there are going to be people that aren’t satisfied with the film, as with all film adaptations of animations and comic book series’. But they did their best to stay true to the original stories while adding where they felt it lacked entertainment value, or just simply improving on the original ideas.

I was anything but dissatisfied with the Transformers movie. And I am eager to see the next installment in the series. No one is trying to destroy your childhoods or take away the things you cherish most. As a filmmaker Michael Bay brings his version, his vision, and his ideas to the big screen. Bay holds a deep respect for the original creators and the big time fans of the Transformers series. He in no way wishes to take away from their passion for such an intelligently crafted series.

If you feel that Michael Bay has ruined your childhood or done damage to the Transformers name, then you should take another look at yourself, and realize what he has done for the series. Transformers has become one of the highest grossing films of all time, due solely to Bay’s ability to tactfully bring the idea to the big screen. Adapting to youth culture and the era we live in, Michael Bay changed it to fit the times. There was never any intention to insult your favored version of the story. You are welcome to that.

Simply put, No, Michael Bay is not destroying our childhoods. He understands and respects how you feel along with the others involved in bringing the series to screen. Sure, he may have changed a few things. But what makes it so bad? How has his version negatively affected your childhood? It hasn’t. In fact, there is no way it could have. Those memories you have and the love you share for Transformers is still there, and Michael Bay nor anyone else can do anything to change that.

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Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 34

Movie: TRANSFORMERS

Release Date: July 2007

Rating: PG-13

Studio: DreamWorks

LOWDOWN

The action figures made popular by Hasbro made their live big-screen debut July 2007 under direction of Michael Bay. The plot’s simple. An alien species of robots come to earth looking for a cube that contains the life of the universe. One group of aliens, the Decepticons want to use the cube for evil while the Autobots want to use it for good; or destroy the cube before evil can use it. The Autobots enlist the help of young Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) who unknowingly possesses a map to the Cube given to him by his late grandfather. Ultimately the movie leads the Decepticons and the Autobots into a fight for power with humans as the bargaining chip.

DIG

I grew up with the TRANSFORMERS, so I have been anxiously awaiting this movie since I saw its first trailer in July 2006. The movie, taking place in the present, was well directed and loads of fun to sit through. I am not typically a Michael Bay fan but this movie made me one. The art that he put into directing such an epic is astounding. The special effects blew my mind. There was tons of it, it was well done and the fast-paced actions scenes weren’t very choppy either.

I was surprised with the acting. I’m not necessarily a Shia LaBeouf fan but he came across well in this movie. His love interest, played by Megan Fox, an amateur to the big screen, does a good job too.

It was cool to hear the voices for the Transformers in loud stereo. Michael Bay wanted to have the original TRANSFORMERS do their voices. Peter Cullen, the original Optimus Prime was cast into the movie, however the original Megatron, Frank Welker, was replaced by Hugo Weaving because his voice had aged so much since the TRANSFORMERS shows.

There is a moment that stuck out for me in the movie. It’s a scene where Optimus Prime is talking to Sam and says that he is going to have to fight Megatron. If it looks like he is about to lose the fight, Sam must insert the cube (of power) into Optimus Prime’s chest. This act, because of the power, will kill Optimus Prime but it will also destroy the evil that Megatron is hoping to be able to control. Crazy huh. Optimus Prime is willing to lay down his life for the sake of humankind.

SPARK

Would you ever lay down your life for a friend?

What do you think Jesus was thinking as he was being led to the cross knowing that he was going to lay down his life for all of humanity?

FINAL THOUGHTS

To be completely honest I can’t think of anything that was wrong with this movie. Those that grew up on TRANSFORMERS will love it. Those that have not will become addicted to it. It’s fun for the whole fam. What are you waiting for, go out and see it.

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Christmas movies: DreamWorks Animation vs. Pixar

Pixar have only release one film this year Ratatouille following the adventures of a rat called Remy, in Paris in search of Gourmet food. Was hugely popular with kids and is the highest earning film form pixar yet with $612,154,540 made at the box office. But they also have the old favorite of Toy Story which should also do quite well and Cars and Finding Nemo will probably still sell reasonably well

Dreamworks however have released a whole host of film this year including:

Bee Movie

Blades of Glory

Disturbia

Norbit

Shrek the Third

Sweeney Todd

The Heartbreak Kid

The Kite Runner

Things We Lost in the Fire

Transformers

And releases in 2006 include:

Dreamgirls

Flags of Our Fathers

Flushed Away

The Last Kiss

Over the Hedge

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

She’s the Man

Letters from Iwo Jima

Probably the most popular of these will be Shrek 3, Transformers The Movie, She’s The Man and Norbit. All appealing to the biggest group of gift receivers .. children (obviously). Transformers should prove very popular with Boys up to the age of around 20 because of the amazing technology used to create the amazing special effects.

Norbit is very funny, starring Eddie Murphy playing multiple parts this films got everything with comedy music and pimps in day glow purple suits ! bound to be popular with many.

Shrek the Third is also going to be hugely popular with kids and is one of the biggest animations of the year second only to The Simpson’s Movie.

So due to the huge range of choice i have to say Dreamworks is going to be far more successful than Pixar this Christmas.

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