Prince of Persia

            To kick off spring break I went over one of my old friend’s house and watched movies. One of the movies we watched was “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.” I remember I wanted to see this when it first came out but never got around to it. I actually really like this movie because it kind of surprised me in a few parts. The movie is about an adopted prince of Persia trying to prove his innocents in the murder of his father the king of Persia. The adopted prince Dastan (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) comes to find out his uncle is the one behind the kings’ murder as an attempt to still his throne. The whole movie is centered around this dagger that has the power to reverse time which the uncle wants to use to stop his brother from becoming king. Along with the daggers guardian Tamina, (played by Gemma Arterton) Dastan must avoid being captured for the death of his father as well as the assassins his uncle sent after him because of what he knows. One of my favorite scenes is the fight between the two knife throwers over the dagger. (Knife Thrower video below) The only drawback was the fact I saw the ending coming. When Tamina fell to her death I figured Dastan would reverse time to save her life.

*I give “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” a 7.5 out of 10*

Terminator Salvation

I have never seen any of the “Terminator” movies until this week when I watched “Terminator Salvation.” This movie is the fourth installment in the Terminator franchise. Personally I have never been interested in any of the “Terminator” movies but decided to give it a try anyway. “Terminator Salvation” is your basic man vs. machine kind of movie. The machines have taken over the planet under the control of a system known as Skynet which want to eradicate the human race. As you can probably guess this idea did not go over well with mankind so they battle against the machines or Terminators to save their lives. In my opinion the whole robots taking over the world idea is a little cliché. Even though I did not think I would enjoy this movie it turned out to be actually pretty good. One of the main characters Marcus Wright (played by Sam Worthington) is a human/terminator hybrid who was created to lure the rebel leader John Connor (played by Christian Bale) to Skynet headquarters to be killed. In the end Marcus sides with the humans and they fight together to bring down Skynet headquarters. While I did find this movie interesting I still have no interest in any of the Terminator installments. “Terminator Salvation” was good but it did not make me feel as if I should try and watch the other Terminator movies.

*I give “Terminator Salvation” a 5.5 out of 10*

Batman

It has occurred to me that I have talked about the movie “The Dark Knight” but not “Batman Begins.” Like I stated in my introduction “The Dark Knight” is my favorite movie, which is the sequel to “Batman Begins.” In this movie Batman (played by Christian Bale) goes up against Dr. Johnathan Crane a.k.a The Scarecrow (played by Cillian Murphy). After defeating him Batman learns that his former teacher Ra's al Ghul (palyed by Ken Watanabe), who taught him everything is really still alive and behind The Scarecrow. He learns his plan is to release a hallucinogen, a substance that causes hallucinations, into the air to destroy Gotham City. The movie is a little bit more complicated than that but that about sums it up. I have a thing for Batman movies so I had high expectation for this one. I liked the way they had a plot twist with Batman’s old master being the real villain. In my opinion the beat movies will always be the ones that surprise you in the end. “Batman Begins” was a great movie and “The Dark Knight” was a phenomenal movie, which makes me a little nervous about the next Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises,” being a total flop. The movie does not come out till next year and I hope it can live up to its predecessors.

*I give “Batman Begins” a 9 out of 10*    

Push

Key Words-

Watchers-have the ability to foresee the future to varying degrees. As knowledge of the future invariably causes that future to change.

Movers-are powerful telekinetics who are trained to identify the specific atomic frequency of a given material and alter the gravitational field around it, usually causing the nearby air to appear warped. This allows them to move both animate and inanimate objects.

Pushers-have the ability to implant memories, thoughts and emotions into the minds of other people in order to manipulate them. The skill level of the Pusher determines how many people the Pusher is able to control at one time, and how vivid the implanted memories are.

Wipers-are skilled at either temporarily or permanently erasing memory, an invaluable asset in espionage. Experience will dictate the accuracy of their wipes, though there is always the danger that they will eliminate a desired memory.

Today I watched the movie “Push.” Basically it is about people with different psychic abilities. The main character Nick Gant (played by Chris Evans) is known as a mover. He teams up with Cassie Holmes (played by Dakota Fanning), who is a watcher, to take down an organization called Division. Division is a top secret organization within different governments that uses these psychics for their own personal gain. The Division in the move is from America and they are after a drug they developed that enhances abilities. The whole movie is about Nick and Cassie along with a few others trying to stop the leader of Division Henry Carver, (played by Djimon Hounsou) who is a pusher, from getting the drug as well as avenging the death of Nick’s father. One of the best things about this movie to me was how the ending unfolded. Since watchers visions of the future depends on choices we make in life, they had had a wiper erase their memories so no one knew exactly what they were doing. Before they had their memories wiped Nick gave them all a red envelope with instructions on what their part was in the whole master plan. Even though this part is hard to explain in words, it was my favorite. I love movies with these elaborate endings that I can try to guess what is going to happen before it happens. They all had to accomplish task without knowing exactly why they were doing it. Most of the movie is straight forward until the end when they put this plan in to action. Even though I did like how they did the ending the rest of the movie was a little dull.

*I give “Push” a 6.5 out of 10*

I just finish watching “Ninja Assassin” and it was impressive. I like the whole story of the assassin gone rouge but I felt as if the storyline was missing something but I’m not sure what exactly. I thought the movie was awesome overall and was actually surprised at the end when Mika (played by Naomie Harris) was stabbed at the end. When I realized she was still alive it was when Raizo (played by Rain) was carrying her out and I thought about the old man in the beginning who was also stabbed by an assassin before. The one thing that I just could not get over was the amount of fake blood used in the fight scenes. The used a combination of fake blood an animated blood using CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery). For example it seemed like every time someone was cut no matter where or how big the cut at least 20 gallons of blood ran out. At the end when Raizo defeats his old master it’s like a fountain of blood that shoots out of his body like it was the most natural thing.

*I give “Ninja Assassin” a 7 out of 10*

I have included the movie trailer but since it does not show any of the over bloody fight scenes I mentioned I also included a video of one. The one I picked uses a lot of blood but I am pretty sure other scenes have used more.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9Iy3Dg3OK4

Iron Man and Iron Man 2

This week since I have seen both “Iron Man” and “Iron Man 2,” I will be talking about them both in this post. “Iron Man” was a good movie. Since I am a big fan of superhero movies myself I tend to have high expectations for them. One of my favorite scenes in the movie was when he fought and escaped the terrorist who kidnapped him in the prototype Iron Man armor. Even though I did like the movie I felt as if it could have been better. When I think of superheroes I think of action and “Iron Man” had action just not as much as I expected. The main action scenes in the movie were when he fought in the prototype armor and at the end when fighting Obadaih Stane (played by Jeff Bridges).

I would say “Iron Man2” meet my expectation more. Even though again it really only has two main fight scenes like the first movie it somehow was more entertaining. The two main fight scenes in this movie was the fight against Ivan Vanko/Whiplash and at the end when Iron man and Rhodey/War Machine fight the Iron Man Robots as well as Vanko. Overall I felt both movies were good but I personally like “Iron Man 2” better.

*I give “Iron Man” a 7 out of 10*
*I give “Iron Man 2” a 8.5 out of 10*

Iron Man and Iron Man 2 Trailers.

"Clash of the Titans" was Epic!

 

            I love movies based on Greek mythology like “The Odyssey.” Movies with a monster that needs to be slain by some person with just a sword and a lot of determination are my favorite kind of movies. With that said it was no coincidence that I liked “Clash of the Titans.” This movie was a remake of a 1981 film with the same name. “Clash of the Titans” is the story of a son of Zeus (king of the gods) named Perseus who goes on a quest to save the city of Argos and the Princess Andromeda from the Kraken. Perseus must defeat not only the Kraken but Medusa (can turn people into stone with one look) as well as Hades (lord of the underworld). Throughout the movie Perseus tries to deny his godly lineage, but is forced to face the fact that he is different as he faces each obstacle in his path. There were many good scenes in the movie like when Perseus and other warriors must face these giant scorpion creatures. Another scene I enjoyed was the fight with Madusa. She slowly picked off all of Perseus comrades by turning them to stone until Perseus was the only one left. It is a movie I would definitely watch again and would recommend to everyone. Below I included the movie trailer because I could not pick one scene but the trailer has a part of all my favorites.

*I give “Clash of the Titan a 9 out of 10*