Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that over the weekend the newest installment to 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, was released. Of course, many of us robots here at BSR! flocked to the theaters to see it; despite the leaked work-print and despite the negative to mixed (at best) reviews. So, if you are still trying to decide whether or not to check this flick out, maybe some reviews from some of us ‘bots can help you make up your mind! Start us off HumanJunk!

HumanJunk: I thought it bastardized the character and was a ploy to sell plastic toys, slurpees and make levels for a video game (Level 12 – Punch Blob to get information in the boxing ring!). Wolverine’s childhood is told in a span of 2 minutes, and the proceeding 150 years of his life (his fighting in each major war) is skimmed over in a span of 60 seconds. If you’re telling an origin story, don’t you think that the first 150 years of someone’s life is relevant as to why they are the way they are? It’s time to write off the X-Men film franchise.

I’m not one to call myself a purist; the first two X-Men films weren’t exactly the comics – but they managed to capture the heart and soul of the characters and the cultural relevance that the books had.

Dr. Cyborg Robot M.D. attorney at law – Five: I thought this was more enjoyable than X3, which is the main thing I can say about it. “It was slightly better than X3” This is not a compliment. I thought this movie was a montage for different ways to use a claw. I was literally knocked on my ass when he didn’t finger a broad with his claw. If you stop to think about this movie for even a second it should ruin it for you, but if you legitimately know how to turn off your brain and enjoy a bad movie you might make it through this one alive. It is so dumb. It might be a good reason to eat popcorn and drink beer. It is somehow entertaining, but not any good. It’s a little disappointing that you have Hugh Jackman playing a really cool character, that he is good at playing and then come out with a bad movie. I really don’t think it merits much more discussion than this, it was an action movie that had a bad script, some okay actors, and no intelligent design whatsoever. My favorite line in the movie is when Zero the crakerjack shot says into a radio, “I just murdered two civillians, over.”

Mookatron: I found myself walking out of the theater thinking to myself “Well, it didn’t suck out loud.” Then in the time since that I’ve picked and punched holes through it with some fellow robots and have come to the following conclusion: It’s a brainless, summer popcorn flick with just a handful of notable moments. That alone would make it a movie that I’d recommend to friends and fellow nerd-bots, but there’s a problem. The first two X-Flicks set the bar so high, that it’s a shame to see this come out and have it only be mediocre. It could have been so much better. It SHOULD have been so much better. Oh well. “Star Trek” is next week, right? Oh, and I thought the digital-botox for Stewart and McKellan was bad in X3. Wow. I wasn’t sure if they animated Stewart in this one from scratch, or actually used the actor. All kinds of bad on that one. And Will I. Am??? The less said the better.

Proletaria-Tron: I checked this out alone because I could not find anyone willing to go see it with me. I’m glad I didn’t drag anyone else to it. I would have felt like I owed them a refund. Like Dr. Cyborg and HumanJunk said they completely bastardized the story line and left out a lot of very interesting things in that 150 years they glossed over. The entire weapon x story was re-arranged and made boring. The previews and commercials for this movie made it seem like another movie entirely, and Emma Frosts sister? WTF? DeadPool with his mouth sewn shut? I wish Marvel had been behind this like with Hulk and Iron Man, maybe then we could have got the movie we all wanted.

Arse-Bot: I tend to be a lot more forgiving with these types of movies than most of my fellow bots here, and with this film it was no different. Was it great? Definately not. It was however, a good mindless-action-popcorn movie; unfortunately this is not what it should have been. I agree with the general complaint that they blew through the first 150 years of “Jimmy’s” life in the opening credits, I felt like there could have been more said about this, but the part they did focus on was mildly interesting to me, but still left a lot unexplored and didn’t really paint Wolverine as the supposed “animal” that he can be; and this remains true throughout the entire running time of the movie. They leave the points they should have explored unexplored and focus on the most mindless parts with little substance.

The cast, aside from will.i.am, was good but horribly under-used. You hate to see good actors put into poorly written action movies. I was horrified at some of the lack-luster special effects throughout the entire movie so much so that I cringed at a few parts (Logan playing with his new claws in the bathroom mirror). And let me just say that I watched X2 a few days after I saw this movie and if you thought you could poke holes all throughout the plot of X-Men Origins, go watch X2 again… you’ll double the amount of plot complaints you already had.

All in all, if I am being perfectly honest, I don’t know what else to say about this movie. As a comic nerd, I was apauled at many parts of this movie, and as someone looking to be entertained for a few hours, I thought some of it was pretty cool. I don’t think anyone should not go check this movie out, as there are enough “Oh, it’s cool to see Wolverine do that on screen” parts to at least keep you mildly entertained and let you form your own opinion. But see a matinee and save yourself $4…

Conclusion: Sounds like most of us robots here at BSR! agree on a lot of the negative aspects about this movie and feel like there should have been a lot more focus on character and story than just a  (to quote the good doctor) “…a montage for different ways to use a claw.” We give the movie a D+, maybe a C- if we are being generous? (yes, that’s a question) But of course, don’t let us have the final word!

Tell us what you thought about X-Men Origins: Wolverine in the comments section below! What did you like? What did you hate?

And be sure to check back later as Arse-Bot takes a few minutes out of his day to geek-out and bitch about the use of his beloved Wade Wilson/Deadpool in this movie!

It’s a big day for movie trailers! Myspace.com has posted the domestic trailer for G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra and you can check it out in HD here!

This robot in particular things it looks like it’s going to be a good summer popcorn movie… whcih probably means there’s a lot of fanboys really pissed off right now.

G.I. Joe opens August 8, 2009

If you haven’t read Scott Pilgrim, you need to start. Seriously it kicks ass. Go right now and buy it. Or go tomorrow when you attend Free Comic Book day at your local comic shop.

Now after you’ve read it or before, you need to go check out the Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World movie site because Director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) has some video blogs about the film that are awesome, and will be continually posting them. Its all making me even more excited for the film.

And while you’re at it check out Edgars photo blog.

Yahoo! Movies has posted the new trailer for the anticipated sequel to Transformers, Tranformers: Revenge of the Fallen. You can check out the trailer in HD at the Yahoo! link above.

USA Today has provided the world with the first look at RDJ in Iron Man 2! Check out the small story accompanying the photo below.

Tony Stark is out of the superhero closet, and it’s no picnic.

The sequel to last summer’s blockbuster, which began shooting three weeks ago and opens May 7, 2010, takes place six months after Stark revealed his identity as Iron Man, says director Jon Favreau. And the development is playing out with unexpected results. “How many superheroes are open about their true identities?” he asks. “We wanted to play with that idea. But it obviously has consequences — in his relationships, on the team. There are a lot of areas we can explore.”

He hopes to have all other Iron Man 2 details locked down — even though he’s sending dispatches via Twitter from the set. “It’s never easy with summer movies, but we’re trying to keep as much a surprise as possible,” he says.

That means no new dirt on replacing Terrence Howard with Don Cheadle, or how the crime-fighting team S.H.I.E.L.D. will ultimately come together. Or how he’ll work in new characters. Among those signed on for this go-round are Mickey Rourke as Whiplash, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer.

Favreau says that tackling the franchise a second time is easier because he knows the landscape. Something else would help, too: “I really enjoyed when we were a dark horse and no one knew much about us. … I hope we can find that place again.”

-courtesy USA Today

Being the avid TMNT fan that I am, I can’t believe I missed all this! First, to catch you up:

April 22, 2009

Legendary Pictures former chief marketing officer Scott Mednick is producing the project alongside Galen Walker, who produced the 2007 animated TMNT movie. The project will be a reboot focusing on the origins of the turtles, and is currently slated for 2011.

One of the original creators, Peter Laird, said the movie will remain true to the spirit of the original comic books. “The original comics created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman are some of the best source material one could hope for,” said Mednick, who also executive produced the upcoming Where the Wild Things Are. While we at one time reported that this might be a CGI hybrid movie, Variety says that they’ll use “face replacement technology,” which will allow the turtles to be much more expressive. It sounds like they definitely won’t be dusting off the old rubber suits, which is a bit unfortunate for fans like myself.

Now, flash forward to yesterday, April 28, 2009

“I can say that at this point there are a lot of positive feelings about a Batman Begins-style ‘reboot,’ which would, of necessity, include a retelling of the Turtles’ origin story,” Laird told MTV. I get giddy just imagining a gritty PG-13 Batman-like TMNT movie, but that probably won’t happen, because I’m sure studios will focus on its connection to kids. Even though Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s comic did debut in 1984 and has a lot of older fans. Laird continues, “Having said that, I would also be into an all-new story, if it was decided that that was a more desirable direction. Either way is fine with me, to be honest!”

And as for other wild ideas, Laird throws some more crumbs out for fans. “I would not be unhappy to somehow see the tale of Baxter Stockman and the robotic ‘mousers’ folded into this movie, as well as some elements possibly setting up the TCRI connection for a possible sixth (or seventh) movie. But I think I’m getting a little ahead of myself there.” For those of you also confused by that “sixth or seventh” reference, I think he is eluding to the eventual progression of the series. As in, we’ve had four movies at this point (including the animated TMNT movie of 2007), so this new one would be the fifth Turtles movie.

If you’re a longtime fan of the comics, then all of this should definitely be getting you very excited. I know I’m just getting pumped to see so much talk of the Turtles back in the mainstream news again. And as for the full body suits, Laird reiterates that they won’t screw this up again. “The basic idea, as I understand it, is to do an all live action shoot, with actors and stuntmen in full Turtle suits,” then later use CGI to add facial expressions. The reference he uses is Davey Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean. “This technology has been proven to be incredibly effective if done correctly.” I’ve heard enoguh, bring on the Turtles!

(courtesy firstshowing.net)

I for one like the CGI version from a few years back, and while I am glad to see that they are making another live-action movie, I hope they just stick with it this time. Let’s find a good medium and stay with it, I don’t want them flip-flopping every few years on what the best medium to do a Turtles movie is!

But hey! Good news overall I think! Looking forward to what they come up with!

Review courtesy Tyson Huber, DVD Examiner @ examiner.com.

Jean-Claude Van Damme. The man is not completely lacking success in the movie department, but since the early 90’s he has gradually declined into straight-to-DVD B Action Movie “stardom” (at best). It has been 15 years since what is considered to be his last successful movie (Timecop, 1994) and it’s safe to say Van Damme has been through the ringer since then; he went from a budding action star to, at one point, being homeless in LA for a time. No one may have seen it coming, and maybe he had to hit bottom before it happened, but it appears it was only a matter of time before Van Damme actually made a legitmitely good movie.

JCVD is an anomaly in that it’s a crime-drama and Van Damme’s personal memoir about his life all in one. Jean-Claude Van Damme plays Jean-Claude Van Damme, a “character” based on himself who, while trying to start a new life in Brussels, gets caught up in a post office robbery and hostage situation, and the worst part is that the police think he is actually the culprit. He quickly realizes that this is not one of his action movies, it’s real life, and while he really is a trained black-belt, there is a big difference between the two.

Throughout the course of the film we experience some of Van Damme’s hardships via flash-backs; his custody battle for his daughter, trying to get picked up to a studio film in LA, and facing the reality that he is an aging B movie action star. It feels like an intimate portrait into his life and for possibly the first time in any movie he’s ever made, we actually care about this “character” he is portraying.

The crime-drama portion of the movie is gritty and realistic enough to avoid ever crossing the line into mimicking one of the action films he’s most famous for. There is a good mix of tension and comedy to keep the film moving at a steady pace and Van Damme is not afraid to poke fun of himself; at one point losing a role in a movie to Steven Seagal only because Seagal agreed to “cut off his pony tail for the first time” for the movie. There’s a point towards the end of the film, while still being held hostage in the post office, when the film actually breaks away from itself; it’s at this point that JCVD delivers it’s most powerful moments.

The set falls away, you can see lighting fixtures and equipment just above the set in the background and Jean-Claude just talks to the camera, breaking the movie’s fourth wall, delivering a powerful monologue, “I asked for it, really believed in it. When you’re thirteen you believe in your dream. Well, it came true for me. But I still ask myself what have I done on this Earth? Nothing! I have done nothing!” For almost 6 1/2 minutes Van Damme talks about his life, his multiple marriages and their demise, his estranged children, the debt, the substance abuse, and his career. As Van Damme tears up he catches you off guard and gives you no choice but to see this action star in a new light before lowering him back into his own movie.

The film itself wraps up pretty quickly from there with a satisfying and creative ending to the hostage situation, comparing JCVD to previous films he’s done. The flash-forward and the resulting impacts Jean Claude faces from being implicated in the robbery/hostage situation is slightly baffling, but is quickly forgotten in the touching final scene. The biggest fault in the movie is the soundtrack, save for the final track in the film. It tends to be cheesy at times and almost mimic that of a low-budget 80’s crime drama to the point that it becomes distracting on a few instances and taking away from the mood.

The special features on the DVD might leave some with something to be desired as they are simply two deleted scenes and the trailer, but one might argue that it might have been redundant to have any sort of commentary on a movie already based so closely on Van Damme himself. There really isn’t much more that could be said about the movie on a commentary tack, nor in any behind-the-scenes featurettes.

Jcvd is out now on DVD and is definitely worth checking out.

Hitfix.com has posted a pretty good interview with Christopher Mintz-Plasse on the set of Kick Ass by Motion/Captured.

Keep in mind… this was more of a casual chat than a formal interview, but I thought it revealed Chris as a guy who seems serious about a career.  After re-reading this, it doesn’t surprise me to learn that Jodie Foster is one of his role models in the business.  He paid attention to everything going on during filming, and I’d bet there’s a pretty good shot we see Chris behind the camera at some point in the future.  We’re all over the place in this conversation, but at this point, Chris had been in London for a while, so he was hungry for news from home.

Check out the full interview here!

I was excited to see the other day that I had received a copy of The Day The Earth Stood still on Blu-ray. The reason I was so excited was because it’s a well packaged set. It’s a three disc version containing the movie with all the features, a digital copy, and finally the best special feature there is: the original film.

I’d considered going to see this movie in the theatre, but I wasn’t hearing too many rave reviews so I decided I would wait to watch it on Blu-ray. Therefore this is the first time I watched this movie, it was also the first time I got around to watching the original film as well.

I decided to watch the original film first because it seemed like a prudent thing to do. I liked it. It’s a bit cheesy, but when you look at it as a film made in 1951, it’s not to hard to look past the bad costumes and poor special effects. It had a good message, it started out fast, and it was simply just a really cool sci-fi film. Watching the original actor playing Klaatu, I was forced to admit that Keanu Reeves might actually work in this part, and that it was definitely in his range.

I watched the new one after that, and I was still excited at that point, mostly because of the robot on the cover. Also Jennifer Connelly is extremely hot and a good actress. (In my opinion.)

The first bad sign was that it took the new film twenty minutes to get to the place the original started, which was a little disappointing. I guess it’s a little harder to shock an audience with a space ship coming to Earth than it used to be. So I said, “On with the show!”

I thought that the robot Gort looked great. I enjoyed watching him dissipate things with an eye laser before, and I wasn’t disappointed with the new CG peace keeping machine doing it either. And though I wasn’t disappointed when he turned into a swarm of indestructible goat-like bugs, I was a little disappointed when he never reverted back to good ol’ Gort. I also thought it was a weak how little they used an actor of John Cleese’s calibre. They did give him some lines that eventually saved Earth, but he wasn’t in it very much, and he was under used in the single scene he was in. And Keanu Reeves is the type of actor that I walk into the theatre and expect to boo.

The new movie was almost nothing like the original. I sort of understood some of their changes, including changing the entire purpose of the aliens visit and the message they were sending. It was admittedly a more contemporary message that fit the times we are living in. It is also about 90% higher octane than the original film, sometimes this is exactly the type of movie I like watching, doubly-so because of Jennifer Connelly.

So I will end this by saying, it wasn’t a great movie, or even that good, and it didn’t need to be remade. It wasn’t the worst Hollywood movie I have seen, and it wasn’t even the worst this year. It has a better message than most the movies coming out now a days.

I am also of the belief that the world is sorely in need of more sci-fi films with killer robots, and so for that I commend this movie and recommend that you purchase this Blu-ray triple disc version that came out last week.

Finally I think that everyone will agree that “The Day The Earth Stood Still” is an amazing title!

To buy the Blu-ray, click here.

At a recent Fox press conferance filmmaker Robert Rodriguez announced he is going to be rebooting the Predator franchise, tactfully calling the remake Predators. Fans can most likely expect the film to be shot exclusivly on green screen in 3-D and ruin the concept of a classic sci-fi action movie by bastardizing the original.