Pacific Rim

Only for the Robots and Monsters
by Reymundo Salao

PACIFIC RIM is a robot-versus-monsters movie directed by visionary film director Guillermo Del Toro who is well-known for immortal fantasy and horror films such as Cronos, Pan's Labyrinth, as well as Blade 2 and the Hellboy movies.  It stars Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, and Burn Gorman.

Anticipated and forseen to be one of the gigantic movies this year, PACIFIC RIM hopes to attract the fans of big destructive monster flicks like Godzilla, and fans of flashy robot movies like the Transformers movies, as well as fans of mecha-sci-fi, and mecha anime, from the classic mecha anime of the 1970's Voltes V and Daimos, to the recent Gundam generations. [full review after the jump]

World War Z

Simple but Kinetic
by Reymundo Salao

In World War Z, the world has been plagued with a deadly and rabidly contagious virus and has put the world in an apocalyptic zombie state. While the remnants of the government and the military are picking up the pieces of civilization and trying to ensure their own survival, Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) has been chosen to be sent across the globe to find a cure for this zombie virus. World War Z, directed by Marc Forster, is based on the popular novel of the same name by Max Brooks. [full review after the jump]

Man of Steel

Superman's Epic Restart
by Reymundo Salao

The last Superman movie "Superman Returns" was, in so many ways, a failure. The problem was that it followed the formula of the old Christopher Reeve Superman movies; a formula that is already severely outdated.

When Christopher Nolan, director Zack Snyder, and writer David Goyer were assigned to work on a new Superman movie, they focused on rehashing the entire Superman franchise, identified the flaws, avoided the corniness of the previous movies, and never ignored the source material. [the rest of the article after the jump]

Fast and Furious 6

Big Dumb Fun, As Usual
by Reymundo Salao

FURIOUS 6 seems to be the original title of the movie. As if its producers were too afraid to be teased that it was a corny transition from the title of the previous movie FAST FIVE.

Fast Five had put the Fast and Furious franchise out into the ranks of mainstream Hollywood blockbuster. And it was indeed a tough act to follow. The series had built up all these characters which, by the last one, we already grew to love. Furious 6's great potential is that it maintains the positive energy out of its main characters. We love their screen presence and how they interact with each other.[read the rest of the article after the jump]

Star Trek Into Darkness

...INTO MAINSTREAM
[A Spoiler Review]
by Reymundo Salao

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS is the follow-up to the 2009 reboot/restart (and at the same time brilliantly serving as a sequel to the original series), making it the second movie of this generation's Star Trek. Because the 2009 movie was such a magnificent piece of work, it just makes sense that there are certain expectations that should, in one way or another, be satisfied. With that being said, Star Trek Into Darkness delivers with just enough satisfaction to please the mainstream audience. It was fun, explosive, and spectacular. Personally, I (and a whole lot of people who have watched it) really found it enjoyable. But I cannot deny that it is a very flawed movie.

This is a spoiler-heavy review; I will be revealing several plot elements for this movie. If you do not want to be spoiled, read this article only you have already seen the movie.[read the rest of the article after the jump]

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.