Looking Forward for 2009 Movies

This movie surprised me. I was actually very entertained by it despite the fact that about 90% of this movie was all action. The reason why it is still good is that it actually has a pretty good plot being developed at the same time. I expected G.I. Joe to be another bag of trash homage kind of movie that brings back another franchise on the big screen just so it can be murdered. So yes...pleasant surprise!

The beauty of choosing G.I. Joe is that there's not much to go off of. It started as a toy franchise and then had a small TV show that not a whole lot of people remember that well. But either way, they had room to basically develop everything how they wanted to, and what they chose to do was have tons and tons of well-choreographed action the entire movie. Hey, sounds like G.I. Joe to me!

The actors all do a good job. I thought this movie would be a joke because of the comedians in here, but Wayans does a great job even though he adds a level of stupidity to the movie. Channing Tatum is once again a fine lead actor, even though I'm getting tired of seeing his face. The movie does well at giving flashbacks of the characters' early lives, so basically even though this isn't a film focused on character development, they do a very, very good job of it.

Some of the action starts to get ridiculous, but I can tell you that with a $175 million production budget, this movie is VERY EXCITING. It's basically a thrill ride of colors, special effects, explosions, guns blazing, all connected by a decent story. What more can you ask for? They also lead into a very plausible sequel and they don't ruin any of the characters that we've all grown to love as kids.
You'll be surprised. Check it out!!!

7.4 out of 10

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First off, I liked Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween and I had some high expectations for the second one. I went to see it last night, and I was let down big time. I think maybe my expectations were set too high, which made this movie impossible to be good. But don't get me wrong. Zombie, undoubtedly, has the ability to brilliantly direct movies, but the "kill for mommy" concept was pretty bad. We get in to Michael's head a lot more, kind of explaining why he's doing what he's doing. I didn't really like that, there was a bit too much of a back story for this serial killer.

I got where Zombie was coming from with the whole "bringing the family together" by killing Laurie. The kills were brutal, but most of them were too similar, I didn't mind the oodles of blood with each kill. But Michael, in majority, is just stabbing the shit out of everyone, it was a bit repetitive and not very creative. With the exception of the guy from the "Red Rabbit" strip club that had his head smashed in and then hung by lights in the club. And boy, could he walk fast this time around. I liked that, other than him just slowly walking towards his victims. Tyler Mane most definitely brought some sick intensity, being more ruthless and inhuman just by man-handling and dismantling everything in his way.

I was also kind of let down by the lack of music. The classic piano "da na, da na" tune that comes on when he has a victim in his sight. Of course I didn't expect Zombie to use it every single time, but he rarely used any of the classic piano tunes at all. I know it is a Rob Zombie film, not a John Carpenter, but I think the music could have added a lot more to the movie. And plus when you think Halloween, you think of the infamous iconic tune.

Now, let's get in to the characters. I don't think I have ever seen one human scream, or cry as much as Laurie (Scout Taylor-Compton) did. It actually got quite annoying after a while. We see her continuously just blunder throughout the entire movie. We have Doctor Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) who, in the first movie, seemed like he was truly there to help and put an end to Michael. In the second one, we see a greedy, materialistic Loomis who cashes in on fame by writing a book about his encounters with Michael and everyone else's. Even exposing to everyone Laurie's real identity as Michael's sister "Angel". Loomis was just an asshole this time around, a total character 180 flip. Oh! And I thought for sure they would bring Daeg Faerch to play young Michael. Chase Vanek took the role of the demented 10 year old Michael Myers this time around. The acting on his behalf wasn't the best, but then again being compared to Daeg it's hard to fill those shoes.

I had two big turn offs about this film. The first one is the town of Haddonfield. In the first one it was rural, a conventional town. And in the second one, it's like they're secluded and hiding in the woods somewhere, cut off from everything. I liked how Zombie basically counted down the days until Halloween, but then when it was Halloween it didn't even look like it. We see some kids going around trick-or-treating, but that is the extent of it. My second turn off was that everyone looks like they haven't seen the inside of a shower in the past year. Yes, their lives are a mess from the whole ordeal a year ago but I think it was too drastic of a change to the setting. I get that Michael turned that town upside down, but Zombie didn't have to make everyone so dirty and well gross.

Rob Zombie is a great Horror director. He definitely took Halloween and instead of creating an exact carbon copy of the original, he made it in to a Rob Zombie film. In closing, if you liked the first one then in some little way you may like this one. It's just a completely different movie, and had no semblance to the first one. It had its strong points, and in my opinion, many weak points. You'll either love it or hate it, I don't think there is a "grey" area to this movie.

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I don't understand why everyone is so critical about this movie. Every critic acts like this movie is supposed to be gone with the wind. It is a mindless action movie that delivers on all fronts. The fight scenes are amazing, and the comedy is amazing. The story was cool, and the fact that there is more robots and less humans was really cool. If you like action movies, see this movie, you will not be disappointed.

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