Iron Man 3

The Trials of the Man, Not the Armor
by Reymundo Salao

The problem with many superhero movies is that they are too conscious of what they are; too conscious of being a superhero movie. And although it is oftentimes best if a superhero movie is faithful to the comics, it should also be noted that it would be far more greater if its priority is making a great movie, period.

More recently, the thing that has made superhero movies and sci-fi-fantasy movies fail is that they (the producers) seem to be too concerned about how they can make extra money out of a single movie; from the merchandising, to the toys, to the potential sequels, and spin-offs. The best example of this failure is the 2011 movie Green Lantern, which did all that. Iron Man 3 seems like the kind of movie that prioritizes the main movie and its storyline first, and put all the eye-candy, and all the fancy garbage on the background as just an additional flavoring.

Expendables 2

EXPENDABLES 2 IS PERFECTLY BALLISTICALLY FUN
by Reymundo Salao

A good sequel is one that takes notes from its previous mistakes and consciously and obviously improves on it. Expendables 2 does just that and more. This sequel is like a billion astro-fireworks far above the previous film. This movie makes the other one look extremely dull, tastelessly bland, and utterly joyless. EXPENDABLES 2 does it right this time and manages to be more than just a better movie. It’s Incredibly and Ballistically Fun!

The Bourne Legacy

LEGACY ABUSED
by Reymundo Salao

The Bourne Legacy is the continuation of the Jason Bourne series, set in the Bourne universe and continuity, and having all the similar characters. But this time, the character spotlight is not on Bourne but on several new characters. Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz) is a scientist who works with genetic enhancements for secret government assassins, Eric Byer (Edward Norton) is the head of an agency that is bent on cleaning up all the information mess that has leaked through the media and various other information leaks that have been caused by the aftermath of the Jason Bourne fiasco. And our main protagonist Aaron Cross/Kenneth Gibson (Jeremy Renner) is an agent/assassin who must find out why someone is trying to kill him and other operatives like him.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

We're Way Past Telling Jokes Now
by Reymundo Salao

Christopher Nolan has revolutionized superhero/comic book movies and elevated it from the status of merely just great movies, and into prestigiously high-end respectable cinema. The Dark Knight, which is the second movie (in what is now considered a trilogy), was considered a milestone in cinema history; with the idea that one of the greatest movies ever made is based on a comic book superhero. Now, the third becomes the conclusion to what is now one of the greatest trilogies in cinema.

The Amazing Spider-man

Not-So-Amazing
by Reymundo Salao

The Amazing Spider-man is designed to be a reboot of the Spider-man franchise, to erase off and disregard the previous one. This should have been probably be expected to be a better take on the Spider-man franchise. Unfortunately, it's barely good, just a tiny bit above satisfactory. No; it's not a bad movie... It was just not good enough.

The movie has a vast playing field for nitpickers picking on little negative details of the movie; such as the lack of real motivation on the villain's part, or something as insignificant as Peter's distracting hair looking like a birdnest helmet. But aside from nitpicks, the film has several serious flaws.

The CABIN in the WOODS

The Horror Movie to End all Horror Movies
by Reymundo Salao

Last Wednesday, we watched THE CABIN IN THE WOODS. The very next day; Thursday, we immediately went back to Robinson's cinema and watched it again, dragging friends along who were eager with curiosity. They went out as pleased as we were. Yes, this movie is THAT good; it's something that is almost THE perfect fun horror movie experience. So far this year, there was only one other movie that gave me a knee-jerk reaction of "hey let's watch this movie again" and that movie was THE AVENGERS...whic is actually interesting, because that movie was directed by Joss Whedon. And Joss Whedon is also the writer and the main producer of THE CABIN IN THE WOODS, produced under Whedon's production outfit: Mutant Enemy. This certainly is Joss Whedon's year. Its director is Drew Goddard who directed Cloverfield. With Goddard's groundbreaking treatment of suspense plus Joss Whedon's creativity, you can expect something that will indeed be a movie that will get you talking about it.
[read the full review after the jump]

PROMETHEUS

PROMETHEUS IS BOTH CURIOUSLY THOUGHT-PROVOKING AND IMMENSELY THRILLING
by Reymundo Salao

First let me tell you right off from this point that this review will contain few minor spoilers at the end part of this article, so it would make sense to tell you now my verdict for PROMETHEUS, which really was a great movie; two thumbs up, I recommend it for those who love smart intellectual sci-fi movies AND lovers of sci-fi horror at the same time. There have only been a very few horror/suspense movies out there that have that capacity to really make their audiences scream in thrill. This movie had made me scream and shout at the movie's intense horror moments; it's something that not many movies can do anymore. I recommend this movie as a great watch with a crowd of friends that can scream with you inside the theaters in the horror moments, but can also shut up during the intellectual dialogues.

Men in Black 3

Back in Awesome Black
by Reymundo Salao

You might think that the Men in Black franchise is overdue for a sequel. Actually, it was rather nice that they made people forget for a while that this franchise ever existed. The last one (the part 2) was bombarded by negative critics as a mere remake of the first movie. This new movie felt fresh because you have not seen these heroes for, actually, a decade.

Although there are so many similarities to the previous movies, and yes, in a pessimistic way of seeing it, one can say that this has so many things that have been repeated from the previous MIB films (such as the progression of the action sequences, gadget gimmicks), the very core of its main plot is refreshingly a different one from part 1 and 2; it's a time travel movie, and we get to see Agent K in his younger version, played by Josh Brolin.