ReBoot is making a comeback!

Good news for ReBoot fans, one of the first computer animated TV series. Rainmaker Animation, who bought Mainframe Entertainment, have announced a movie trilogy featuring our digital heroes. This should be interesting! With today's 3D technology, it should look great, but will it be as fun? We'll see. Here a link to a PDF version of the press release.

Movie review: Taxi 4

Taxi 4 is a French movie, written by Luc Besson (better known for The Fifth Element) and of course is a sequel to the three Taxi movies before it. There was an American remake done, also called Taxi, but it wasn't as good as the original French one (as is usually the case, except for True Lies, which was a really good remake of La Totale!).

The franchise is starting to show some fatigue, but I still liked it, with enough new ideas to keep it interesting. There's less car chases and crashes and that may be a mistake, because that's what really shined in the first one. Not everyone will like this movie, but I had a good time.

Movie review: The Simpsons Movie

I've been watching The Simpsons for many years now and I was looking forward to their big screen debut. I was not disappointed! It's very funny. It's like a big episode (bigger size and duration), but I didn't mind paying money to see it, because, well, it's a movie!

And I'm sure there will be more. First, it is very strongly hinted near the end of the movie. The real end, that is, the one after the end-credits start scrolling. There's plenty of little bits during the credits, so if you're the type that leaves as soon as the credits starts, you will not see the whole movie. D'oh! Second, it's making a ton of money.

The short version of the story is: Homer makes a big mistake, the whole family gets in trouble, Homer takes it upon himself to fix his mistake and against all odds, he succeeds! I hope I didn't spoil it for you... ;-)

To be seen by all Simpsons fans!

Movie review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Imax)

I finally saw the newest Harry Potter this evening. As planned, it was the Imax version, with part of it at the end in 3D.

I did like it, but not as much I had hopped. The visuals are great and it's a good story. I did not read the book, but I still feel like they had to cut some of it to make it only two hours long, which is normal, but I wonder what I'm missing. The 3D part also wasn't that impressive in some scenes, but very nice in others. It's still getting darker, as expected, with the gang growing up and having to deal with increasingly more evil characters.

There's also a lighter side to the movie, with happier situations and some humour. So in general, I did enjoy the movie and I'm looking forward to the next one!

Fun week-end, Potter on Monday

I had a great day on Saturday, spending most of it doing photography outside in Montreal, on Île Ste-Hélène and Île Notre-Dame. I'm still sorting through the hundreds of pictures I took and will soon select some to post to Flickr.

Tomorrow, I hope to go see the new Harry Potter after work. One limitation I have is that I want to see the Imax version, which include a 3D element to it at the end of the movie. Problem is, only one theatre show this version in Montreal, which limits the options. This is why I will try on a Monday evening, when there usually are less people.

Other movies now playing I plan on seeing are "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry", "Ma Tante Aline" (a French Canadian movie) and maybe "Transformers" for a second time! Upcoming movies I'm looking forward to are "The Simpsons Movie", "Taxi 4" (French movie), "The Bourne Ultimatum", "Rush Hour 3", "Stardust" and "War", to name just a few of the summer flicks.

A new Harry Potter on the big screen

The newest Harry Potter just came out and I will certainly go see it. I never read one of the books, but I do enjoy the movie versions. I should see it this Friday evening or during the week-end, so another review is coming soon on this blog.

Reactions to the movie seems pretty positive so far, so that's always a good sign. If you have seen it, I'd like to know what you think, without any spoilers, of course!

Happy viewing to all.

IMDB link

Movie review: Transformers

I saw Transformers a few hours ago and it was awesome! Better than I expected, as a matter of fact. I did expect good special effects and action, but I got more with a good story and surprisingly, lots of funny scenes. I didn't think I would be laughing this much, with several out loud laughs. And I wasn't the only one laughing, so it's not just me. It's not a comedy, to be sure, but for an action film, the humour is more than the usual one-liners.

I'm not too familiar with the back-story of the Transformers, since I didn't read or watch them when they were 'just cartoons'. There is a nice intro at the beginning of the movie, so I knew enough for this particular story. On the other hand, I may have missed a few references, but it would not have affected my enjoyment of the movie if this was the case. Actually, not knowing what it should have been, if they diverged from the origins of the characters, may be a good thing. I just don't know.

One reference I was not expecting is to the Kill Bill movies. It may just be a coincidence, but I doubt it very much. What I know is that we laughed when we saw and heard it. I won't say anything more, not to spoil it for you guys.

In short, there are two clans of Transformers, the bad guys, the Decepticons and the good guys, the Autobots. And the fact that they battle on our planet is not a coincidence, as something brought them here...

One thing I did expect was great special effects and we got that big time. The visuals are spectacular and believable. One of the FX house that worked on this movie is ILM, which is not surprising.

There's a few short scenes during the beginning of the credits, but nothing at the end, which did surprise me, as I thought they would hint at a sequel with a short visual clue, but that was not the case. The end of the movie do make a sequel possible, so that is very likely to happen, IMHO.

Go see it already!

Movie review: Ratatouille

Can Pixar produce a bad movie? It doesn't look like it! They certainly have another success with this one. As expected, the animation is really good, the story is funny and the whole movie very enjoyable.

This one takes us to Paris, famous for it's good food and rude manners. Our hero, Remy, is a rat with great cooking abilities but have a big handicap to be a chef. He's a rat. Rats and restaurant kitchens do not mix well. In comes Linguini, a boy with no particular talents and gets hired as the garbage boy. Long story short, Remy and Linguini gets together to become an excellent chef. See the trailer for a visual explanation!

I really liked Ratatouille. It's really funny, looks great and even has a few surprises. If you like other Pixar movies, you will love this one. There is also a short animation presented before the movie, about alien abductions, which is very funny as well.

Movie review: Nitro

Unless you live in the Quebec province, in Canada, you probably have not heard of this movie. That's because it's French Canadian. There are not too many action movies made in Quebec, but that's one of them!

Max, a man with a street racing past, is confronted with the risk of losing his wife if a heart is not found in time for transplantation. When time is about to run out, he takes matters in his own hand to find one himself. To do so, he turns back to his old life, where breaking the law is just a part of life. Street racing to get money, underground links to find a heart, he his willing to do anything to save the life of the one he loves.

I expected more action in this movie, but there was a good portion of the film dedicated to it, with the balance being more of a love story. The actors are quite good and the story is also very good and takes place in Montreal, with a few recognizable elements, such as the Olympic Stadium. If all you want is action, you may be disappointed in Nitro, but if you can appreciate a good story, this one's for you! I don't know if they will dub it for other markets, but it is available with English sub-titles...

Movie review: Evan Almighty

In case you are not keeping tracks, this is the sequel to Jim Carrey's Bruce Almighty, in which Steve Carell (the US version of TV's The Office) had a part, which is addressed at the start of this movie. Evan Baxter, the news reader, gets elected as a senator, with one of his tag line is to "change the world". Well, here, he gets a chance to do it in a big way.

As can be seen in the trailer, he gets to be the next Noah and is asked by God (played once again by Morgan Freeman) to build an ark. Unlike Bruce, he does not get Divine Powers. But this does interferes with his new job at the senate and causes many funny situations for us. I think Bruce Almighty was funnier, but Carell does a good job in this movie. It felt a bit too much "religious" for my taste, but I was expecting it going in, so I was able to see past it.

John Goodman (TV's Roseanne, Monsters Inc., The Big Lebowski) plays a more powerful congressman who tries to get Baxter to vote in favour of one of his bills and which turns out to be looking out more at his wallet than the people's good. Do I see a morale to this story coming?

Overall, I found it funny, with a few out loud laughs. You have to like Carell's type of humour to really enjoy this movie. The trailer is a really good representation of this movie, so watch it if you need to make up your mind.

Movie review: Live Free or Die Hard

John McClane is back! Played by Bruce Willis, the unluckiest cop on Earth is once again stuck on a mission he didn't chose but for which no one else is available, so he take care of things like any anti-hero would.

You'd think that after all he has done he would have been recognized and rewarded, but he's still didn't make it past detective. Here, he is asked to escort a computer hacker, Matt Farrell, to be delivered to the FBI, after he is made a suspect in a big hacking crime. There are other suspects, which get killed one after the other, which is not known to McClane when he gets to Farrell's home. But just moments after he enters his place, things get crazy, with shoot-outs and explosions, the first of many during the movie.

I really liked this movie, full of action, humour and some decent hacking. Computer hacking in movies are often way off reality, but here it's fairly believable. One thing I did not know (i tried not to get too much info ahead of time), is that Kevin Smith (AKA Silent Bob in Dogma, Clerks, Mall Rats, etc) is playing another hacker in this movie. So of course, there is one or two Star Wars references... ;-)

The actions and stunts, on the other hand, are next to impossible in some cases. But that's OK for this type of film and dare I say, expected. We see a few examples in the trailer, so if you're not sure that you want to see this movie yet, check it out to have a good idea of what to expect.