Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen

In a Nutshell: Robots pretty! The rest? Eh. Go in with low expectations, and you might be okay.

Quick Plot: What plot? An ancient robot seeks an equally ancient power source that is hidden on Earth, to the detriment of all planetary inhabitants.

In Detail: Um, that's really about it. Most of the story development of this film could fit in a haiku or two. As another very pithy reviewer put it: not much more than meets the CGI. (That reviewer's full remarks at http://bit.ly/JtvQ0 and it is too funny. DH fully agrees with him, more than he agrees with me.) Don't get me wrong, the CGI is awesome. If you have any inclination to see it, do see it on the big screen. Well, when you can actually see it. Why they spend all this money on the robots and then *not* pull the camera back so you can actually see what's going on is beyond me. I thought it was just blah. DH thought it was terrible, though I do think he's a little more emotionally invested in Transformers (in general, not necessarily Michael Bay's incarnation) than I am. We both agreed that it committed the cardinal sin of any major action blockbuster: it was boring. Not sure how that is even possible, but it was. And I'm not one who is a stickler for location accuracy, but I am pretty darned sure that there is not a desert with distant rocky mountains out the back door of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, not even the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Looked a whole lot more like Arizona (where it was filmed), which I am quite sure is nothing even remotely like Washington, DC. Just one glaring example of the many many things that were very wrong with the film.

Will I Buy It? I genuinely do not know. Pretty sure we're both leaning towards no. I don't particularly want to see it again, and I know DH doesn't either. We'll have to discuss it.

A Knight's Tale

In a Nutshell: Cute, fun, not deep, and Heath Ledger. A perfectly brainless movie, which is just what I wanted at the time.

Quick Plot: Only those of noble birth may be a knight, and only knights may compete in tournaments, but a young peasant squire decides to change the stars and compete anyway.

In Detail: I have had several people tell me over the years that they thought I would enjoy this movie, and I did. There wasn't much to it, which was to be expected. Historical accuracy is neither its forte nor its purpose. One of the most memorable features about the film was the anachronistic music, which I actually thought was pretty fun (knowing it was coming in advance). I did find the love story, in particular, especially lacking, though. No chemistry there at all, IMO, and certainly no depth (not that I wanted Romeo and Juliet, but something deeper than a puddle would have been nice). It was great fun to see a certain actor featuring prominently, even if the red hair was distracting (we know him as a blond). I won't ruin it by saying who, but it made us bust out laughing. A fine fluff film, worth seeing once if you like knights and/or Heath Ledger.

Will I Buy It? No. It was fun once, but I don't think we would watch it a lot. It was a little too light on plot for that. For light and fun period film with Heath Ledger, I prefer Casanova.

Night at the Museum

In a Nutshell: It was just there. Not good, not bad, just eh.

Quick Plot: In order to pay his rent and keep seeing his son, a man takes a job as night watchman at the Natural History Museum, which takes on a life of its own (quite literally) after dark.

In Detail: I don't really have a lot to say about this one. We're not big Ben Stiller fans to start with, though this was a straighter roll for him than average (probably because he had to keep it PG). The main reason we saw this one at all is because we are looking for a good movie to take Luke to his summer. Up didn't really pan out for him, and I'm afraid Ice Age 3 isn't going to be worth seeing (the second one certainly wasn't). Several people had suggested this one as a possibility (the sequel is currently showing), but we wanted to check it out first. There were a few objectionable things (the monkey peeing for absolutely no reason; I *hate* that kind of thing), but overall, I just found it blah. We barely smiled, we never laughed. It was sweet, but that's not enough for me. I can't find any reason not to recommend it, but I can't find any reason to recommend it either. ::shrug::

Will I Buy It? No.