Reviews

If you're going to see this movie, please be sure to watch Fellowship of the Ring (or reading the book works too). There is no reminiscence of the first, save for the opening scene that is shown in a different perspective than in Fellowship. The movie cuts right to the action, much like the books, because of the mere fact that its just 1 big, long, continuing story. All 3 of the movies/books could fit hand in hand without interuptions and would still flow smoothly if it was shown all in 1 sitting. The mere title of The Two Towers caused a considerable ammount of commotion, with a lot of people thinking that it had a sort of reference to 9/11. Those are the kind of people who didn't know that the books were written over 50 years ago, still sporting the same title. However, the title stuck and the controversy has quieted down to maybe the avid ranter still complaining about it. If, by chance, you are that person, there's a little thing we people call 'acceptance'. Figure it out.

Acting: 11/10 The acting is still straight on and well depicted. The introduction of an extremely large variety of characters in 1 movie was nicely done, and didn't put a restrain on the film. That pairing of actors with their roles was superb, aside from the character change of Faramir, however, I didn't mind it much and liked the changes. Once again, to any ranter reading this, the word acceptance pops up again. The original cast still holds true to their characters. Bernard Hill did a great performance in this movie as Theoden. I'm surprised he wasn't nominated. Only a few actresses could play Eowyn, and Mirando Otto is one of them, and struck the character right on. Opposite to Eowyn is Eomer, played by Karl Urban. Despite the lack of line's and appearance in the film in comparison to the others, he still played his part well. Faramir, played by David Wenham, had some of the most well spoken lines in the film, and portrayed his role well even though it was changed from the book, but it does make sense, considering he is one of the character's brother from Fellowship. Then we get to Gollum, the tormented creature driven mad by the Ring. Gollum alone crosses over to new boundaries in both acting and computer animation. I could write a whole paragraph on Gollum, but I won't. Andy Serkis deserved Best Actor.

Story: 10/10 The same story as Fellowship of the Ring, seeing as how its all a continuation, but now there's a twist. The Two Towers, which the title is named after meaning the Towers of Orthanc and Barad-dur, have officialy united in Saruman's and Sauron's assault to rule Middle-Earth. The war begins in Rohan, where Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas still pursue the Uruk-Hai who captured Merry and Pippin.

Music: 9/10 While the movie, in a retrospective view of Fellowship, is considerably darker, the music as well ties in with this darker theme, and tends to get darker as the story progresses. There are some moments which the darkness subsides for a while and a little bit of light shines through. When the sad feeling of despare overcomes the screen, the music ties in perfectly. When the battle begins, the music is there and sounds just right. However, it doesn't end with the emotional song Fellowship ended with. Now it ends on a sad, depressing note with Gollum's Song.

Visual Effects: 10/10 Once again, the MASSIVE program is put to full use in this. The masses upon masses of Uruk-Hai are all so real, its threatening. The Ents are amazing, however, the occasional twitchy movements of the Ents makes it seem that MASSIVE had a little glitch in it.

Final Score: 40/40

One Word Review: Amazing

How to make a Legend:

Take a great and/or timeless story Add a twist to it (in this case a ring that controls the fate of the world) Put some music theme(s) that plays throughout the movie/series every now and then Introduce great and memorable characters to the mix Kill off some loveable characters Make the situation seem hopeless Top it off with a great ending or an ending open for a sequel

This is Lord of the Rings, book and movie.

Acting: 10/10 The acting totaly blew me away for this movie. Even Liv Tyler (who has an inscrutable reputation for her acting) did a tremendous job as Arwen. Ian McKellan's performance stands out the most. Orlando Bloom honestly didn't have as many lines as the others, but did a great job as Legolas. PJ made a smart movie replacing Stuart Townsend with Viggo Mortensen. Viggo is the exact right age and has the exact right look that Aragorn should have. John Rhys-Davies played out Gimli much like he was in the book. Dominic Monaghan did a good job as Merry and acted out the lines like he really meant it. Pippin's character was portrayed closest to his character in the book thanks to Billy Boyd. Sean Astin playing Sam was right on and almost portrayed closest to his character in the book if only it showed more of his character changing and becoming more brave (later depicted more in The Two Towers and then even more in Return of the King).Elijah Wood is pretty much the only person who could get Frodo's character right and transform him both from a cheery, upbeat hobbit to a depressed and frightened hero while at the same time showing the ring's corruption on him (mostly shown in The Two Towers, but there is the odd hint here and there).Cate Blanchette and Christopher Lee were pretty much born for the rolls of Galadriel and Saruman. Elrond has a great character tone that could only be brought on by Hugo Weaving. Sadly though, Sean Bean's acting is short lived throughout the trilogy. ( For those who have seen the movie/read the books you know what i'm talking about and for those who haven't, see the movie/read the book to find out)

Story: 9/10 The only reason this didn't get 10/10 is because, to put it blandly, the idea of a ring controlling the fate of mankind does sound farfetched. However Tolkien (pronounced Tol-KEEN) put such a vivid story behind it that to this day its amazingly fresh. The story itself fits in with the problems of our time such as the recent war and even everyday life. Friends, Courage, Sacrafice, Rising up against the odds. Mind you, Tolkien was in both World Wars so its bound to have that sort of theme in it.

Music: 11/10 What many composer's fail to incorporate into their movies, Howard Shore does in this. Every place pretty much has its own theme and Howard Shore sticks to this idea throughout the entire Trilogy. The Uruk-Hai, Mordor, The Shire. All has its own theme. The choir really adds to the experience. Especially in the 2 very emotional death scenes through the movie. The score on its own is beautiful and touching. If the score makes you cry, then the movie will make you bawl your eyes out. Enough said.

Visual Effects: 10/10 From Special Effects to camera tricks, PJ applied the newest tricks to make the Trilogy seem as real as possible. Hobbits are short, wizards are tall. All thanks to camera tricks and camera angles. Amazingly, the movie keeps its realism even from the lack of gore and blood. It's even more amazing when they do it in The Two Towers (still managing to only get a 14A rating). MASSIVE helped acomplish all the large battle scenes (The Prologue, Moria, so on)

Overall: 40/40

One Word Review: Soincrediblyamazingitsalreadyalegend

Good Enough?

The whole movie is a demonstration of what war is like, to say the least. Many movies show this, and depict it very well such as in Black Hawk Down. A lot of war movies have been released in the past few years, and this one ranks in as one of them. The acting was great, although Bruce Willis is becoming a big aged to be playing real major action roles, but its still a great movie. The ending is very triumphant and the rest of the movie is very moving and emotional. It wasn't too gory but it wasn't too censored either. Highly recomended.

Mortal Kombat had a great start, but sorta slowed down over the years, especially with the linear fighting and combo's and the 3D-battles. The Bloody Roar games started on Playstation and Bloody Roar 3 going to PS2, then Bloody Roar: Primal Fury going to GameCube exclusively. Not even PS2 can compare with these graphics. From the reactions down to the last strand of hair, this game has the best graphics to date. The fighting isn't linear and the combos can have a large range, unlike having to perform a certain button combination to get a combo when you could just make up your own. The only down-sides to this great game is the lack of blood in it, and when there is blood it looks like sparks as if its from an old Tekken game, and the dubbing could have been better. Other than that its all you would want in a fighting game. Extra's to unlock. Secret Leve's and area's to be discovered. New charcaters, with their own endings. And great voice acting. If you have a GameCube. BUY THIS GAME!

The great thing about Shanghai Knights is that it doesn't follow the bomb-drop pattern that many sequels do. Every character in this movie that was in Shanghai Noon has the same actor. Even the same horse plays Fido! Sadly, the princess is absent from the film, as well as Chon's native wife. But it still stays true to the original in terms of character traits. Chon is still a bit stuck up and Roy is still reckless and witty. The plot revolves around a precious gem stolen by a high-class Britain who kills a certain someone in the beginning of the movie. A bonus of the movie is Chon's sister that, in a way, makes the movie fresh in terms of action scenes. The character jokes I found particulatly funny, which ties into the name jokes like in Shanghai Noon (Chon Wang being sounding like John Wayne and Roy's real name being Whyat Erp). The final action scene was extremely well done and as in all Jackie Chan movies, the bloopers in the end provide a good comical ending to the movie.

Perfect Score, Perfect Cinematography, Perfect EVERYTHING. From Wargs to Wraiths. Gollum was spectacular. I thought he was real! Treebeard and the Ents were amazing. Helm's Deep... no word can describe how amazing it is. No one else could portray the actors the way everyone already has. There is still so much more to learn now, like Gollum's backstory, and what will happen to Arwen. Even though i already read the books, its still amazing to see it in movie form.

Its a Bond film. How can you go wrong? Sure the SFX aren't all what they could be at times, but its still Bond none the less. Great references to te original films. (I.E: Thunderball) and good Bond scenes. Sure the Bad Guys are original, but they get a lot more menacing throughout. (Like in this one Gustov Graves wears a hi-tech suit that sends around the same ammount of electricity through someone as the fences in Jurassic Park) And Bond sitll gettin his way out of everythin, 1way or another. Halle Berry was a very good Bond girl, and Icarus is the perfect Technology Weapon like Goldeneye was in, well, Goldeneye. Earns its way well into the 007 Series

The Curse of Monkey Island. Released excactly 6 years after the success of Monkey Island 2. You would think with Monkey Island 2's wierd ending that it would finish Monkey Island once and for all. But, it all turned out to be a trick to lure Guybrush into captivity. But enough about that, the whole jist of this is that Monkey Island has returned, and the voices are just phenominal. If LucasArts were to make a movie/cartoon of Monkey Island, this would probably be what it would look like, and sound like. It's plot is real good, and everything about it is just awesome. If you haven't heard about the Monkey Island series, buy the Monkey Island Archives or The Monkey Island Booty Pack and play through all the games starting with The Secret of Monkey Island, then Monkey Island 2, and The Curse of Monkey Island. Monkey Island 4 was real good, but this one tops them all.

So, after it's opeining sequence, we see Guybrush (once again) telling the tale of how he defeated LeChuck. The Story is starting to get old. So, soon he's off in search for a new one. The fabulous treasure of Big Whoop. Soon he find's LeChuck is back and is after him after literally "GIVING" a piece that could bring LeChuck back. Over all it's a great game with characters you can relate to.

Though it is basically a love story, it still has all the essentials of a Star Wars movie, as well as Anakin slowly turning to the Dark Side and many other things. It is another Star Wars masterpiece, with great visual effects and acting. Though it did halve Jar-Jar in it, it is only brief but important, believe-it-or-not. The clones look like excactly like what a proto type of a Stormtrooper would. As well as the introduction to Boba Fett. The sabre-battles are excelent and the drama is top notch. Hope the 3rd one tops all the others.

A game rarely comes along that spawns many a fan and "successful" sequels. Monkey Island is at the top rank (When it comes to Computer games, that is). What you might think of as a rough, violent pirate game, totally turns away from it from the moment you enter the bar. (You'll see if you play). Laugh a minute and unpredictable, Monkey Island gets 11/10.

My first GameCube game. I put it in, played, and was soon dazzled by the graphics. This new masterpeice can be funny, jumpy, and suspensful all at the same time. Nintendo could have just as easily made this a big gore fest, scary for the little kids, and the basic formula of putting Luigi and a cast of Mario characters into a Resident Evil game. But that's what amazes me is that they didn't and they had to pre-check it so it wasn't frightening. It's like making pufferfish to eat. You know what parts to keep in but you put just a little bit of the poison to tingle the taste buds. (Yes, they do that in Japan by skilled chefs). The only thing I found scary was that a first gen GameCube game can look so good. I only had a beef about it being too short and the extra Hidden Mansion too easy.

Ok a word of advice to all of you. THIS IS NOT A HORROR MOVIE. There is no guts or graphic scenes of people being killed, never mind mutants and deformations of the sort. It is classified as a "SUSPENSE" movie, which in my dictionary means something that is not LIKELY to happen but could and is meant to have some scary moments now and then, but keeps you on your seat and may give you nightmares. But, it is my favorite ghost movie because they took time on it and you could piece together everything that leads to the shocking end. (Maybe not shocking to some, but it sure surprised me). But anyway, it's a great movie with great acting and story telling.

10/10

CGI just keeps getting better and better. From Toy Story, to Shrek, to A Bugs Life, to Antz, to Monster's Inc., to Ice Age, CGI gets better every time. The plot on this one is simple, but keeps going. The Scrat (Squirell-Rat) comes along every now and then, alway's clutching onto his beloved acorn, and alway's losing it, each time he gets hurt, physical or mental. A great bundle of fun and enjoyable for all.

Great game! Kept me going for a looooooooong time. I can't wait until they make it into a GBA version! This is Mario's best adventure, namingly because it is: A) An RPG B) You can play as new characters (I.E: Bowser, Mallow, ect.) and C) Great Story and Humour. Good length and mystery. 11/10

Awsome Awsome GREAT Game. Too great for words. The best part is the story line and the way it moves along smoothly, giving suspense, mystery, comedy, and action all at once. All those so-called gamers that HAVEN'T played it and say it's stupid have no right to call themselves game players. Not violent and graphic, yet not supporting child like graphics, it keeps the flow. I don't know why this didn't become so popular. It was a major hit in Japan. Probably because they are more open minded and don't judge things before they see or get to know them like we have a tendancy to do. (No offense to all who are reading)

Ok, it bears almost NO resemblance to the game, but that can be good. Like hearing bleeps and bloops for 90 minutes can be kinda nerve wracking. (O_o) That was one of the main reasons some hated it... I must say GET OVER IT! NO movie based on a game is EVER accurate. Then again, it would be kinda different having a short, plumb guy dressed in overalls and a tall, skinny guy dressed in green running around in dungeons and castles the whole time. I mean it would be a good idea for a cartoon movie, but live action? Uh uh. No way. It was good to improvise for a live action film. 8/10

I saw this movie opening day with by buddies, (Who AMAZINGLY still hold Pokemon to their hearts, despite one of their mom's persistant request on how bad it is for kids) anyway, I saw it just like the other 2 on the first day. (It's a little vow I have made.) This one is so far the best of them all. Good use of computer animation. Best story plot. Awsome music. Dubbing still amazes me. The short was good. Excelent Drama and Coreography. There are still 2 to go. (Yes it has been announced, Pokemon 4 and 5 are coming out) yet 4Kids Entertainment has broken away with Kids WB, (Good, bad, you decide) and the thing that makes me INFURIATED is that they're thinking of making the next 2 Pokemon movies directly to video. But non the less they are coming out. P.S: It's pronounced Po-kay-mon. NOT Pok-ee-man or whatever.

For those of you who remember the old Sonic games for Genesis, if you have played the Sonic and Knuckles game and added on Sonic 3, I enjoyed playing as Knuckles and playing different levels. It will bemissed by at least me.

Every morning I would wake up, rush to the TV and tune in to the Super Mario Bros. Super Show. Like I said, do I ever miss this one. I can't remember much of it but can remember a tad bit of it. Namingly, the "Do The Mario" song at the end of each cartoon and a bit of the title. One word. Classic.

Instant 10/10

This is one of Disney's BEST. Aimed at all audiences and now a bold step for The company. Sure people can bitch as MUCH as they want about "It being too violent" and "It just isn't Disney." But it IS Disney and it is one of it's best. If they are gonna complain about it being too scary they should have read the PG label on it. They have started to realise that they have to step BEYOND children movies and go into a bit more graphic content. (Not meaning blood and guts and stuff, but hey, every villain has to get what he deserves, even if it means killing them.) The cast was good and the animation was perfected. It was the best Atlantis story I have heard. If you liked this movie, try the Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis game. It is one of the best.

This is the ONLY movie that keeps me on the edge of my seat each time I see it. It has a great soundtrack, great cast, great story, great character development, great EVERYTHING! It is a LEGEND in movies. I don't know what to say, just that this is one of the greatest films of ALL time.

15/10! GREAT!

We all have heard the saying "I bet Mario could beat Link in a battle." and then it continues on into a huge controversy. At least Nintendo invented this game. Now you can see just who would win in a Baddy vs. Baddy competition. Not only just a simple battle but you can test them out in many a different mode, from Tiny Melee to an RPG like Stamina Battle (One of my favorites, namingly because you can kick the corpses around after you defeat them =P). The wide range of extra's instead of 4 secret characters and 1 level is now 12 secret characters and 10 secret levels, making gameplay more different and extensive. Music is perfect (Fountain of Dreams is amazing!) and sound is crisp and fresh. Now I know many are going to get angry at me because of my title, but hey, I don't like XBox at all except the exception of Halo (Which I have not tried but looks cool) but if you ask me, which I know you won't, I think the Microsoft people should stick to computers.

Ok. Here's the lowdown. On a vacation trip to some planet out in the vastness of space, Captain Olimar's ship is hit by a meteor and crash lands on a planet, sending 30 of his ship parts flying into random locations. His life support is only 30 day's and must find all his ships pieces in 30 day's. But he is not alone. He finds the Pikmin. Little creatures that work in teams and are commanded by him. It really infuriates me when people take 1 look at this game and say "This is so gay." or "This HAS to be the stupidest game." and don't even try it. Just as the old saying goes "You can't judge a book by it's cover" it goes the same with games. The people who have acctually played the game enjoy it. Control is simple and you soon even get a feeling for the little plant creatures that you pull out of the ground, thus making it heart sobbing when they accidentally drown or are killed in the heat of battle. This game is one that'll go down in history. There is a good chance more Pikmin games will be made, due to the fact that the creator of this game, Shigeru Miyamoto, has made sequels to all the games he has created. Just think. The next title might even be: "Return to Planet Pikmin" or something like that.