Dawn of the Dreadfuls
Jane Austen and Steve Hockensmith
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At the opening of the international bestseller "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", Elizabeth Bennet...
Dark Places: The Haunted House in Film
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Horror films revel in taking viewers into shadowy places where evil resides, whether it is a house,...
Stick Cricket - HD
Games and Sports
App
Hit out or get out in the world’s most popular cricket game, Stick Cricket®! Easy to play yet...
Stick Cricket
Games and Sports
App
Hit out or get out in the world’s most popular cricket game, Stick Cricket®! Easy to play yet...
Fawkes
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Thomas Fawkes is turning to stone, and the only cure to the Stone Plague is to join his father’s...
young-adult fantasy magic
The Cold Moon (Lincoln Rhyme #7)
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Lincoln Rhyme returns in The Cold Moon, a roller coaster of a thriller that pits Lincoln and Amelia...
Movie Metropolis (309 KP) rated Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) in Movies
Jun 11, 2019
Here, Bay returns to helm the latest addition: Dark of the Moon, it’s a good film nonetheless but it’s sci-fi themes, more so than in either of the previous offerings fail to provide enough impact to make it the best in the series.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon picks up three years after the last film and a lot has changed. Sam Witwicky again played by the fantastic Shia LeBeouf is now living in Washington, envious of his new girlfriend Carly Spencer and her fabulous lifestyle. Carly, played by newcomer Rosie Huntington-Whitely is about as wooden as a character can get; Whitely’s performance is very laboured and her on screen scenes suffer as a result; she’s a disappointment in a film that doesn’t really require it’s characters to do much; so that shows how bad she actually is.
Megan Fox is actually missed this time around, but it’s not too much of a problem because Rosie’s character is given exactly the same clothes, the same pout and practically the same lines.
Michael Bay has also lined up the legendary John Malkovich as Sam’s troubled new boss, his screen time is worth a watch but he feels wasted considering his lines amount to about 10 minutes of screen time. Patrick Dempsey also stars as good guy gone back; Dylan Gould.
The special effects coupled with the fantastic 3D make Transformers 3 a spectacle to watch, the bots are seamlessly integrated into the picture alongside their human counterparts and deliver once again, these films really are the pinnacle now for special effects.
Bay has managed to fashion a half coherent story out of the toy franchise which many critics were sceptical of, but it works really well. The film focuses on the space race of the 60’s and the reasons why the US wanted to beat everyone to the moon. In short, the Decepticons are looking for something that crash-landed on the moon; if they find it, then Cybertron will be reborn, using Earth as a template; oh no!
The last hour is just carnage, carnage, carnage as the entire city of Chicago is plunged into a post-apocalyptic world where the Decepticons rule and the Autobots are, alongside humans as slaves. Here, Bay really showcases his prowess for stunning cinematography and first class special effects, one scene in particular, involving a glass skyscraper is particularly awe-inspiring.
Speaking of the robots themselves, all the favourites return with their fantastic voice acting. Peter Cullen delivers Optimus Prime in his usual, gruff manner and a welcome addition is Star Trek’s Leonard Nimoy as veteran Autobot leader Sentinel Prime. Hugo Weaving also returns as a rough looking Megatron.
The problem that blights Transformers 3 is that there’s too much going on. I found myself lost in parts of the story because the film is constantly rushing to get to the next plot line. It’s frustrating that a film franchise criticised for its lack of story is penalised for having too much of one this time around, but this is the case here. As such, some of the best characters don’t get screen time. Josh Duhamel is only in the film for 5 minutes at a time, whilst Sam’s parents only get brief appearances which is a tragic shame as they are, all in all, the best human characters in the franchise.
Overall, Transformers has become one of my favourite film franchises of all time; it delivers on its promise and doesn’t pretend it’s going to be something else. Yes, they’re far too long (this one is just short of 3 hours), they’re exceptionally loud and mind-numbingly obnoxious but that’s what you should want from an action film. Transformers 3 delivers, and it delivers it like a smack in the face; but it falls down in a couple of areas where the others didn’t.
Michael Bay is a very talented film director who gives the best out of everything, but in response to his critics from the last movie, he has developed too much of the story and as such, it feels disjointed and ultimately a little disappointing.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2011/07/07/transformers-dark-of-the-moon-2011/
Caustic by Primitive Man
Album Watch
Denver’s PRIMITIVE MAN’s music matches its name: a savage, sparse mix of death metal,...
metal
Andy K (10821 KP) rated The Equalizer 2 (2018) in Movies
Mar 10, 2019
Meanwhile, he befriends a young man who lives near him and tries to give him advice and steer him along the right course in life avoiding the temptation to fall in with the wrong crowd.
After the true nature of the crimes is discovered and the perpetrators reveal themselves, McCall falls into his old ways of doing whatever it takes and using whatever means necessary to attempt to prevail.
Although I thought the idea to strike closer to home for McCall was an interesting one, and took him out of his comfort zone, the screenplay was not good enough and I saw the twist coming almost immediately. These characters didn't seem to be very smart and made the film more cumbersome and not nearly as fun.
The climax scene was kind of cool I guess, but seemed very forced and something the writer thought would be cooler than what it was.
Kind of disappointed.
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Game Of Thrones - Season 5 in TV
Jul 3, 2019
Season 5 has some extremely important moments - Danaerys meeting Tyrion and Varys for example - this meeting of characters made the Essos portion of Game of Thrones 100% more interesting for me, and I actually found myself completely involved in the Harpy storyline that runs throughout season 5. In King's Landing, the narrative focuses mainly on the High Sparrow, and his rise to power through religion, so much so, that not even the King has much sway over him.
This inevitably leads to one of the most infamous GoT scenes of all time - Cersei's walk of shame - truly hard to watch - even though she is a hateful character - much like Joffreys story in season 4, the writers manage to evoke sympathy for someone you've been lead to dislike.
And then of course - there's Hardhome - my personal favourite episode of GoT. A sense of dread lingers over the majority of the episode as Jon Snow journeys beyond The Wall, and we're set up for yet another brief tease of the White Walkers - but what we get instead is an insane 20 minutes of absolute Carnage, as the full force of the Night King is realised for the first time - it's an incredible episode within another decent season, which will have you hooked constantly.