Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Welcome everyone to another edition of Phil Goes to the Movies, and today I am reviewing a movie belonging to a franchise I hold dear. It is very nostalgic to me, as I grew up watching Ninja Turtles every day after school and Saturday mornings. Now there were a ton of rumors how the movie was going to be done, and I finally was able to see the finished product. Now was it everything the heroes on the half shell should have been, or was I begging to go back to the original 1990 movie? Lets find out as we dive into this review:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-  Ok, for months after hearing all the rumors like the turtles being aliens, and other ways the writers were planning on changing the movie was driving me nuts. Please, don't destroy my childhood anymore... already destroyed Transformers for me. I have to say the new CGI turtles looked pretty decent, but a tad "hulked" out. I mean, they were freaking like 6'8" or 7' tall. To be honest, its hard to believe something that big and bulky could be an agile ninja moving with great stealth.

The plot, well, once it was revealed it truly sounded like something a Saturday morning cartoon villain would try. I mean, releasing a deadly virus to make the people of New York city deathly sick. Then they would use the exacted mutated blood from the turtles to create the antidote to make a fortune. The turtles have to stop Shedder and the foot clan from succeeding in their plans.

Ok, here are somethings that bothered me about the movie:

1) The movie felt rushed as all holy hell. It was like the writers were like, "Hey, you, the audience, you should already know who the turtles are, so lets race through the story." This made the origin story feel weak and really forced.

2) Every chance they got they needed to make a reference to how hot Megan Fox is...we get it, she's hot. I mean, her performance was decent, but nothing memorable. Honestly, any hot piece of ass with some decent acting ability could have filled her spot.

I did like the action sequences they were really top notch, and they really redeemed the movie for me. Plus, the relationships between the four turtles really showing how they were siblings interacting together. How they really loved and cared for one another, and of course all the one liners they had for one another. I liked when they were alone they acted immature, and less like big tough guys. Perfect example, is when they were in the elevator attacking the foot's home base. They began doing a song by clanking their weapons and making noises with their mouths. Classic!

Final Verdict- 6.5/10, It was a decent film for nostalgic reasons, but it had its flaws, nothing severe. If you are a fan of TMNT then check out this movie otherwise I would skip it.

This appears to be the end of summer block buster season, and it was a blast watching and reviewing all the movies. I mean, there will be some movies in the next couple of months, but the block busters won't be here until the holidays. I'm leaving for a month to see Europe, so I won't be here to review the remaining movies of the summer. This is Phil Goes to the Movies, so you don't have to!

How to Train Your Dragon 2

Hey, everyone and welcome to another edition of Phil Goes to the Movies, and today I am here to review the animated genre of movies. Probably a tad late on this one, since its been out for about 3 weeks already, but I figured I would still give my 2 cents. Nowadays, animated movies are becoming more and more for all ages with their hidden adult jokes, which seem to fly over all the youngsters heads, and the adults get to enjoy the movie on a different level. Well, lets get on with the review shall we:

 How to Train Your Dragon 2-  The first movie was incredible, with loveable characters, and a pretty straight forward, solid plot line. It became an instant favorite of mine, and if it is on TV, I always make sure I watch it. Now the second movie has come out continuing the story, a few years later, with the viking village continuing their lives with their new dragons. All the same voice actors return getting the movie onto the right start.

The plot is the chief of the village, played by Gerard Butler, wants to name his son, Hiccup played by Jay Baruchel, the future chief. Hiccup has other plans for himself, as he wants to discover the world with his dragon, Toothless, and continue creating new inventions to better the villager's lives. This of course causing friction between Hiccup and his father. One day, Hiccup learns there are new enemies capturing dragons for their own personal gain. These men are working for the villain, Drago played by Djimon Hounsou, and he plans on building a dragon army to rule to the world. During a brief scuffle with the villains Hiccup is rescued by a mysterious stranger whom lives amongst the dragons. Enter the new character of the movie, Hiccup's mother, which is revealed in the trailer, so no I didn't spoil anything.

The movie overall had the same chemistry with the characters, and I enjoyed them greatly. The visuals were bright and basic eye candy! The story line was a little weak, and seemed to start to fall flat when the mother was introduced. I mean, really she has been gone for 20 years, and she couldn't return to her family in that time. It was revealed there was an alpha dragon, so I'm pretty sure they could've survived fine without her. Plus, Hiccup and his father were so easily forgiving to her for pretty much choosing her love for dragons over her family. That's whole another can of worms, I will stay away from, because I could on an on about how ridiculous that plot appeared.


Final Verdict- 7/10, It was a good movie, but I felt the first one was much better. The visuals alone are worth seeing in theaters.


Thats it for now, loyal readers! More summer movies to conqueror as we are half way through this summer blockbuster season.... This is Phil Goes to the Movies, so you don't have to!

Transformers: Age of Extinction

Hello, boys and girls and welcome to another edition of Phil Goes to the Movies. Today, I am reviewing another Michael Bay movie, which is taken from my childhood, a simpler time, and lets see if he smashed my favorite toys into the ground. Did my inner child scream for more, or did it just scream? Lets find out:

Transformers: Age of Extinction- So, this is the fourth installment of the Transformer franchise, and the fourth time Michael Bay is the director. What hasn't been said about these movies in the past that can't be said now? The plot takes place immediately following the big attack on Chicago, and the American government  has declared war on all Transformers, Autobot and Decepticon alike. Leading this crusade against the robots is played by Kelsey Grammer, who in my opinion played a really diabolical villain. I don't care what many people say, I really like Kelsey Grammer, and think he does a great job in whatever role he plays. Plus, hes teaming up with a Transformer, who was sent to collect Optimus Prime and others, so he can bring them back to the "creators."

Then we are shown the new humans the story will revolve around now. Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) and his daughter Tessa Yeager (Nicola Peltz), and probably the most forced comic relief, side kick, Lucas Flannery (TJ Miller).... i loved when he died, because I couldn't take another second of him! I know its a spoiler, but trust me he brings nothing to the film other than annoyance.

The action was like a sexual orgy for the eyes, with big robots and explosions, exactly like all the other previous films. The only things that ruined the film for me were:

1) No matter what happened to the main human characters they never received any injuries. For example, Bumblebee is doing like 60 mph, and transforms into his robot form, and he ejects Tessa out of him. She tumbles around, violently, along the black top coming to a stop, and shes completely unharmed, gets up and starts running. No road rash, not even a fucking scratch, but shes sweaty and basically glows on camera. There are more events in the movie like this... apparently when you hang with the transformers you become super human!

2) Constantly throwing Dinobots in our faces on the previews, the big cardboard cut outs, and everything advertised for this movie was pushing the big bad Dinobots. They are in the last 25 minutes of the movie, and Optimus simply releases them from the ship, a quick fight and boom they are helping. I felt cheated on waiting for so long to see the Dinobots on the silver screen.

Final Verdict- 7.5/10, its a decent movie, a guilty pleasure like the others, and they even set it up for a 5th installment. Its worth seeing on the big screen, but if you're not really a fan, then just wait for DVD or Netflix.


More movies on their way, even another movie from my childhood involving Michael Bay. Oh, well please don't suck! This is Phil Goes to the Movies, so you don't have to!

Godzilla

Hey everyone welcome back to Phil Goes to the Movies, and today I am reviewing a nostalgic genre. The good old monster fights, destroying cities, and people running in a panic state. Oh, I loved those! Especially, "Godzilla" movies, and the cheesy special effects...oh, good times! Back in 1998, I went to see the Matthew Broderick version, and well it was a god damn disaster! This time I am hoping they got it right, lets find out as we dive into this review:



Godzilla- Well, went into this movie with high hopes... ok, first off I wanted to see Godzilla, not a movie about a soldier, played by Kick Ass himself, Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Following this guy around mostly, with his little love story...sigh!

The little kid inside me was like, "Time for monsters, yet?"

Movie replies, "Shut up! Watch the soldier! Monsters are coming!"

I only got to see glimpses of the monster until the final fight, which was the last 20 minutes of the movie, and by then I felt like it wasn't enough!

Bryan Cranston was shown to be this big character for the movie as he appears alot in the trailer. He has a few scenes, but again its mostly about the soldier... I felt like they were pushing Bryan Cranston in your face, and all the scenes from the fights in the last 20 minutes of the film to get you come see the movie! I guess they were trying to appeal to the "Pacific Rim" crowd, another shit movie, don't get me started on that one!


Final Verdict- 6/10, Honestly, wait until HBO or Netflix releases this, and save yourself your money! The characters were well acted, but i felt it needed something more... it was lacking! The final fight was amazing between the monsters, but it took too long for the movie to get there!


This is it for now, I kept this review short because there really wasn't much to say about this film. Next week "Maleficent" is coming out along with "A Million Ways to Die in the West", and I'll be there to review them. So this is Phil Goes to the Movies, so you don't have to!

Thor 2: The Dark World

Well, its time for the holiday season, most importantly is great new movies come out around this time. Now, its been awhile since i was able to do a movie review, and that is due to school this semester. I was able to go to the movies, and i made time for my favorite movie genre, super hero films. I saw, "Thor 2: The Dark World", now did it live up to the first movie, or was it better than the original? Welcome back to another edition of Phil Goes to the Movies, and lets dive right into this godly sequel.


Thor 2: The Dark World- This movie like many of the Marvel franchise has taken place right after the attack on New York City, in the "The Avengers" movie. I personally, enjoy this because it really makes everything more connected, and it creates this living breathing, unified world. It has the same cast from the first Thor movie, and from "The Avengers" something i always believed is extremely important in any sequel.

So, Thor returns to Asgard, with his brother, Loki, so he can receive his sentence and punishment from Odin, himself. Anthony Hopkins, an amazing actor, this guy could literally turn shit into gold, no matter the role. He returns to play the part, the king of Asgard, Odin, and he banishes Loki to the dungeons for crimes against Midgard. Theres that subplot, then of course enter the main villains, the Dark Elves, whom desire what every other comic villain desires, complete domination over everything and everyone. I have to say these guys looked kinda creepy, and were pretty well received for the heartless villains. Unfortunately, they were pretty one dimensional, and they really didn't have any wow factor to them. The main villain, and leader, Malakith was a typical head mastermind- cold, ruthless, and ready to kill anything that stood in his way. Been there and done that! He really didn't have anything else to him, that would make me say, "Oh, man that guy was a bad ass villain."

Now, he had to obtain this ancient and mystical power called the Aether, which he could harness it to bring darkness to the nine realms of the Marvel universe, and our hero needs to stop him before its too late. The main plot takes a place on the back burner so we can focus on the character Jane Foster, played by Natalie Portman. Honestly, did we really need this freaking character? She, of course, finds the Aether, and it bonds itself to her, which is the power of plot ladies and gentlemen, and no one can defeat the power of plot.

Ok, after this ironic, misfortune, things happen blah blah blah, and of course the Aether is killing Jane, because her body and life force cannot cope under the strain of this incredible power. Thor has to stop the Dark Elves at the same time save the woman he loves.

Now, the things i loved about the movie, hands down the fight scenes were awesome, and very well done with the special effects. The gernades the Dark Elves used, were pretty insane, because when they exploded they cause a temporary black hole effect, and the person or whatever would be crushed. I really loved the relationship between Loki and Thor, the two actors had great chemistry, and they really seemed to have that bond between two brothers busting each others' balls.

Things i didn't like, were how they built up this Aether has being this ultimate destructive force, and it was easily defeated by human technology. Because, Jane and her crew of cronies were there and had the perfect answer ironically.... power of plot, sigh!

Honestly, the movie was better than the original, in my opinion, but it still was a decent super hero movie. Would i go see it again? No, but if it was on cable or net flix i would watch it.

Final Verdict- 7/10, it had some great comical moments, some great actors, action sequences were fantastic, but the villain was boring and the Jane character ruined it for me.... is she really needed for god sakes?


See, you guys next time when i review the newer movie coming out this holiday season, this is Phil Goes to the Movies, so you don't have too!

The Wolverine

Welcome to another edition of Phil Goes to the Movies, today, I get to review my favorite movie genres, comic book movies. The big super hero fad cash in, which is going on, and boy are they making ridiculous money doing it... so no way will this ever end any time soon. Now, one of my favorite comic books was the X-Men, and for 10 years now they still haven't really made an X-Men movie that good... I mean "X-Men: First Class" was pretty good, but still there were things that annoyed me about the movie.... then again, those things were just fan boy things, the movie itself was fine. Well, lets tackle the newest installment of the X-Men movies... 10 years later did Hugh Jackman disappoint?


The Wolverine- The movie starts out with Logan in exile, in the middle of no where, living like a mountain man. He's still haunted by dreams and visions of Jean Grey, so this movie definitely takes place some time after X-Men: The Last Stand. Now, as a fan of X-Men, i absolutely hated X-Men 3, and just pretend it was never created. Hell, i had to google the title of X-men 3, because thats how much i have erased it from my memory.

Now, Logan has made a vow to the late Jean Grey, he would never kill again. He gets into a bar fight, and before he breaks his vow, a mysterious woman comes to rescue him in a sense. I like this character, shes looks like a cross between being a vicious killer and your best friend's kid sister that grew up. I don't know what it was about this character, but she was a blast to watch kick a ton of ass.

Now, the obvious thing i loved about this movie is Hugh Jackman, this guy jsut owns the character as Logan/Wolverine. Its been 10 years, and he is as charismatic as he was in first the X-men movie. I dunno, he just seems to nail down the rage factor, and really gives the character life. I mean, his performance really reflects from the actual pages from the comic... Hugh is the wolverine, just like Kevin Conroy is the Batman, and Mark Hamill is the Joker. It would be hard to see someone else playing these roles.

The plot of the movie, it was fast paced and well done.Unfortunately, in these movies the villains are very important, and the villain was a female named Viper. Nothing was special about this character, I mean she did some cool snake like things, like peeling her skin to recover from injuries. She had some crazy poisons, but overall she was really blah and forgettable. The only i can remember about her was the actress playing the part was really hot. Other than that, whoopie-freaking-doo! Then, of course enter the Silver Samurai, another boring villain, and they completely changed him around from what he is in the comics. Unfortunately, if i dive any more into the villains the plot, i will give away the twists, so take it from me... it was pretty was weak and predictable. I did think it was funny how quickly Wolverine forgot his vow to Jean, and began slices mother fuckers up real quick. Then what was the point of the vow then? Waste of time that lil plot point was....stupid.

There were some great action sequences, my favorite had to be hands down the bullet train, and everyone fighting on top of it. The one thing this movie needed and some people might agree or disagree, but it needs to be rated R, not PG-13. To truly get to see Wolverine slice and dice, we need the ability to see some true violence and gore.... thats just me!

Final Verdict- 6/10, it was a good movie, but there are better super hero movies out there. To me this movie lacked a true villain.

There were many other things that happened in this movie, which aggravated me, but they didn't persuade me in my decision of rating the movie. The flaws just disappointed me as an X-Men fan. Scroll down past my sign off and see the things that bothered me. The summer movie season is nearly finished, and there some more i need to review. This is Phil Goes to the Movies, so you don't have too!


Spoilers



I hated the Silver Samurai was a body suit keeping the sick old man alive. This villain is a bad ass his mutant powers, and ability to cut through anything. Instead we get a weak ass plot device!

Now, mutant powers can be taken, stolen, or moved from one person or another. Plus, they didn't even explain how the hell thats possible. Because the powers are in the person's genes, and by taking his healing powers, kills him? WTF

I cant stand that Adamantium can destroy itself, which now Wolverine's claws were cut off, and they grew back as the bone claws. Wonderful!