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planmud
Reviews
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)
3 Is The Lucky Number
This is the best Transformers yet. I really enjoyed the first, was okay with the second, blown away by the third. The cast seems to have really enjoyed working together and every scene comes out great. I was impressed with the casting. Leonard Nimoy follows his Star Trek role with another great performance. Frances McDormand is funny, tough and cool headed and she owns every scene she is in. Shia LeBeouf plays the frustrated, under estimated hero perfectly. I was disappointed in his Indiana Jones performance. He has redeemed himself. John Turturro in a welcome return, gets to play it over the top, without overdoing it.
Giving the Transformers even more humanistic traits and appearances made the characters/personalities really come across. This is hampered by having them speak with distinct international accents. Are we to believe that alien robotic life forms would build a robotic planet as one race but develop different accents and dialects? It just doesn't fit for me, but I can live with it.
The fight scenes were a so overdone in the second, you couldn't follow the action. That is not the case this time around.
The story line is great. Mixing history with fiction, was a terrific idea and the melding of archival footage with new actors was very well done reminiscent of Forest Gump). The movie is about 2 1/2 hours long, but you will never know it. It is non stop action and fun the whole time. I suggest you see it in 3D.
Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil (2011)
A missed opportunity.
Most animated sequels have come on strong over the past 15 years. Considering the small launch the first movie had and the following it earned, this was a real disappointment. The opening feels like they were given a time limit and crammed as many jokes and action as they could into it. The movie doesn't flow like the original, with a storybook feel and side flashes to build the plot. This is a jumbled mash of sarcasm, too much action (and not good action) and wasted opportunities. Note to the producers of this film: Throwing in all your supporting characters from the first film as street extras doesn't help. And, while we are on that subject, during the big climax, no purple hotrod getting smashed? There was a missed opportunity.