Transformers: The Movie was good.  It had action, suspense, drama, etc. It was everything you asked for in a movie.  So when Michael Bay had the task of piecing together a sequel of sorts, I started feeling his pain.

As most of you know, sequels generally never measure up to the first movie. The only time this really happens is when there's a saga of sorts, such as the Harry Potter movies.  So would Transformers live up to its massive hype engine? In my opinion, it did.

After the first movie, the autobots (good guys) have settled on Earth and are eliminating the last of the Decepticons (bad guys). The movie opens up with this pretty awesome sequence of robot on robot action. The Decepticons are basically hiding out from the Autobots, so it's pretty cool.

Afterwards, it's pretty much what you've seen in the previews. Sam Witwicky is going to college, leaving Bumblebee behind, dealing with a stressful long distance relationship, and trying to live life like a normal human being. Then, right before he leaves, he picks up a stray piece of the All-Spark. This transfers ancient symbols into his head, and before he knows it, he's in the middle of an ancient robot war.

That's as far as I'll go with the spoilers in case you're wondering.  The special effects definitely took it to another level on this one.  If you didn't see Transformers: The Movie, you'll be kind of disappointed if you see this one before the first one. The special effects look like the team slaved over every detail to make sure it looked real.  I was pleasantly surprised by a multitude of things, but I won't get into that, as it may be a spoiler.

But every thump, every bump, everything just seemed to fit seamlessly into the movie.  The military effects...WOW!  That's all I can say!  Anywho, the characters were great. The characters made the movie feel real, as I sat in my seat wondering how I'd act if this was real (waits to see if his laptop evolves). The movie was just...insane basically. I felt the emotions that all the characters felt and that's a good thing.

There is a lot of PG-13 language in this movie, particularly the "b-word." Also, this movie take a darker turn than the last one.  When you have two of the oldest enemies of the Autobots coming to destroy the human race and Autobots, it gets kind of dark. But the movie has plenty of funny moments.  You have to be careful are you'll miss it. I know I missed some moments and can't wait for the DVD so I can watch again to see what I missed.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a great summer movie. It has action, romance, drama, suspense, etc. The movie is good, and it makes waiting a whole two years for it worth it. If I had to rate it on a grading scale, I'd give it an A. Not an A+ because the movie did drag at times, but the drag time does not outweigh the positives.

After seeing the previews for months and months, I finally got a chance to go see Up.  Up is a Walt Disney movie, so that generally means a quality movie, even if you don't buy it.  I figured everyone would be trying to see this movie so I reserved my tickets online.  Surprisingly, very few people were there for the 7:00 showing.

So, I quickly get into the movie.  They show a preview for Ice Age:  Dawn of the Dinosaurs, another movie I'm eager to see.  Their previews have been hilarious!  Another preview that interested me was Planet 51.  I think it'll be interesting to see a movie where we are the aliens instead of the actual--um--aliens.  Anywho, I think you get the point.

Another preview showed The Princess and the Frog.  I'm not sure if I'm going to the theatre to see that one.  It looks like it could be good, but I don't know.  It's like Disney decided to rewrite a classic, so I'm not completely sure about it.  I may or may not decide to see it.  If I don't, I'll just Netflix it.

Now, to the movie.  Up, as you've seen in the previews, is about adventure.  An old man and a little boy discover a completely new world.  If you haven't seen the previews, don't worry.  That's as far as I'm going as far as "spoilers."  The movie has one of the best Disney orchestras in a long time.  The music was just great, and I'm curious about a soundtrack for this movie.

And get this, there were NO songs sung throughout this movie.  That's a very new approach, as Disney is known for having songs in their movies so they can make extra money with the movie.  But this one had no songs sung, unless they snuck one in and I didn't catch it.

The movie flows through its storyline pretty smoothly.  There are several subplots, and they all are answered at the end.  The movie showcases many different themes.  The main theme is sacrifice, which you will find out as you watch the movie.

The animation crew did a pretty good job.  The sound/music was on point.  And the characters' voices are hilariously funny at times.  The movie is a great watch, and a must-see if you have children that like adventure.  It'll make you laugh, it'll make you cry, but most importantly, it'll make you have a good time.  Go see Up playing at a theater near you!

If anyone has seen Terminator and Terminator 2, you know that the Terminator movies are great movies.  The move flows seamlessly, and they are great action movies.  With Terminator Salvation getting ready to drop, I thought I'd be seeing a great movie.  Well, they put a lot of effort into this movie, but it falls flat.

This movie is pretty much the same concept of the other terminators, except this time John Conner is grown and the year is 2018.  Don't worry; I'm not about to spoil the movie.  But the Terminator race has grown considerably and are trying to wipe out the human race.

However, John Conner is a part of the Resistance that is trying to stop the Terminator race from prevailing.  The Resistance are armed and ready to take out the whole race.

Now, this sounds like a recipe for a great movie.  Granted, it should have been.  But what I got was a 2-hour disappointment, making me wish I'd found the bootleg man.  I'm a big fan of the Terminator series, but this was the biggest letdown for me.

For the first time this year during an action movie, I checked my text messages on my phone, replied, and was still bored.  Don't get me wrong, the movie is good in it's own right, but it was lacking something very significant.  The sad thing is I can't put my finger on what it was.

The special effects were off the chain.  Minor spoiler here, but the beginning sequence of when the helicopter was caught in an explosion, I felt like I was literally spiraling out of control.  It was crazy to feel that way as I know I'm sitting in a seat, but I feel the room spinning.  Great camera work and special effect work.

But the movie just didn't click for me.  It's too long (around two hours) and it just didn't flow well at times.  The sad part is that there weren't many scenes that they could delete.  I'm not really sure what the movie could've done to improve, but the movie just didn't do it for me.

Final words of thought:  if you are a true fan of this series, go see the movie.  Maybe you'll like it better than I did.  If you're not a true fan, just NetFlix it or rent it later.