Death in Venice (1971)

Probably one of the best movie every made in movie history, Death in Venice directed by Luchino Visconti is a perfect movie. A beautiful music with a beautiful score by the famous classical artist Gustav Mahler, this movie is the perfect role model of what a movie should be. Loosely based off the famous novel written by Thomas Mann, the story follows a man who stays at a sandbar called Lido di Venezia where he becomes deeply obsessed with a young Polish boy named Tadzio, because of his beauty, who is coincidentally staying in the same hotel. In the end, Gustav witness Taizo getting beaten by an older boy on the beach, which is heightened with the beautiful Adagietto by Mahler, where Gustav suffers from a heart attack and dies. In the eyes of the general public, this movie is too complex and intellectually great which alienates them from this movie. However I incredibly loved this movie and had no comment once the movie ended because of its sheer beauty. This is a true form of art which should have more recognition. This can be compared to something like Michaelangelo or Da Vinci. Dirk Bogarde plays Gustav with all integrity and plays him with complete emotional substance. It's just to great too see his performance in the film. In my opinion, the movie is just pure beauty and is just absolutely perfect. I give it a perfect score of 100 out of 100.

GI Joe: Rise of Cobra (2009)

I must say, this movie should not even be made. This is the worst excuse of a movie. Probably one of the worst movies I have seen in a long time. I didn't find even one thing that was interesting about this movie. On August 7th, GI Joe: Rise of Cobra was released in America and opened with $54.7 million dollars on its opening weekend. The general storyline is about a man who is enlisted in a top secret team that is assembled by the government. They must fight against the CEO of the company named MARS and a evil villain named Cobra Commander. They have a fight in Paris but then go to the Arctic for one last final battle. Now, in this movie, there are so many things wrong with it. The first time I watched it, I fell asleep. Then a friend dragged me to see this horrible movie once more and I fell asleep once again. Then I finally saw the whole movie with a bag of chips and a bottle of coke and finished the movie with a headache. The acting in the movie are not inspiring at all with very predictable and uninspiring script. The special effects are nothing special and generally looks like a video game. HALO has better graphic effects than this movie. And the action sequences of this movie are good for the first 5 minutes but are generally way too long. A sword fight between a GI Joe member named Snake Eyes and a Cobra member named Storm Shadow is actually pretty impressive until it takes Snake Eyes at least 20 minutes to finally stab and defeat Storm Shadow. If were to remove all the action sequences in this movie, there wouldn't be enough to make a 3 minute trailer for the movie. The whole movie is just action and a horrible and predictable plot. The only good things about the movie are the gorgeous actresses, Sienna Miller and Rachel Nichols, and the Alpha-6 Accelerator Suit which the characters wear which enhance their power, speed, and jumping ability. Other than thad, the movie should have not been made into a movie. If you want to see a ridiculously stupid movie with just nonstop and tiring action, then go watch this film. If you want good plot, good acting, good screenplay, good timing of action and special effects, than this is not the movie for you. I met die hard GI Joe fans in the theory who didn't enjoy the movie at all. I give the movie a 20 out of 100 (I'm giving it a 20 just because of Sienna Miller and Rachel Nichols). I'm hearing news that there is a possible sequel in the works. They shouldn't waste their time making it.

Watchmen (2009)

Probably one of my personal favorite movie of 2009 and my favorite superhero movie of all time was the movie Watchmen. Zack Snyder, the director behind the visionary movie 300, recreates New York City in 1985 where superheroes are banned by the U.S. law passed by senate. Rorschach, a lone vigilante, investigates the death of a member of the Watchmen, the Comedian (played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan). He warns his other teammates about a masked-killer theory which then leads to a full investigation of the murder of the Comedian. Then this investigation leads Rorschach and the others to come across a plan to eliminate nuclear warfare by killing millions of people. Now, the critics had many mixed reviews on this movie but as a fan of the source material and a fan of superhero movies, I deeply enjoyed this movie. This movie gave actor Jackie Earle Haley a break for playing the vigilante Rorschach who is primarily the main character of the story. Now every time I see his face, I can't help but to think about the amazing role he played in this movie. Patrick Wilson played the troubled superhero Daniel Dreiberg (a.k.a. Nite Owl II) who I enjoyed because of his insecurity and awkwardness that was portrayed in the original graphic novel. Billy Crudup played the only being in the story with powers who acts as a nuclear deterrent: Dr. Manhattan. After a psychics accident, scientist Jon Osterman became Dr. Manhattan which is one of my favorite characters in the story because of his complicated personality and nature. Jeffery Dean Morgan played the cynical, sadistic badass superhero will no rules named Edward Blake (a.k.a. The Comedian). I think there is no other actor that could play this role as well as he did. Not only does he look very much like the character in the graphic novel, but he portrayed the complex but yet disgusting character of the Comedian perfectly. The beautiful Malin Akerman played Laurie Jupiter (a.k.a Silk Spectre II) who is the love interest of both Dr. Manhattan and Nite Owl II. Despite her gorgeous appearance, she doesn't deliver Silk Spectre character that I knew from the original graphic novel. Matthew Goode played the role of the world's smartest man: Ozymandias. Although most of the critics didn't praise his performance, I thought he did a decent job playing the character of Ozymandias. But not only the Watchmen, but the other minor characters in the plot both deliver their roles very well and look very much like the characters that were drawn by Dave Gibbons in the graphic novel. Speaking of the graphic novel, most of the scenes and lines in the film were directly drawn from the graphic novel and were translated into moving images and sound. The special effects in this movie were actually some of the best I've seen in the year 2009 along with Star Trek and Avatar. The full complexity of the storyline in the Watchmen graphic novel was slightly lost to fit in a less than 3 hour movie (the director's cut is a little over 3 hours) but it still contained most of the story's complexity to make the movie watchable and very enjoyable. The action sequences in the movie are not long but are very elaborate and are beautifully executed. In all, I give the movie a 85 as a movie and as a fan of the original source material. I know many people will disagree on that but I truly enjoyed the movie and I'm glad it stayed faithful to the graphic novel.

Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009)

In June 2009, the world faced the death of the greatest iconic people ever to have lived. His title was known as the King of Pop. Michael Jackson died from a cardiac arrest and united the world by the grief of the inspirational music icon that changed the lives of many people. Michael Jackson was the inspirations of such pop artists today such as Lady GaGa, Beyonce, Mariah Carey, Madonna, and Ludacris. And millions of people were waiting to see Michael Jackson perform in his last concert in the O2 of London: This Is It. Then on October 28th, the footage of Michael Jackson rehearsing for the highly anticipated concert was released in Michael Jackson's This Is It. In full honesty, I was expecting the movie to be not all that impressive or magical as his music videos or live concerts were but I was totally wrong. Even when Michael Jackson was not dancing with his 100% self but, even so, the magic and skill of Michael Jackson was indeed there. Dancing and singing to our favorites songs, it was an amazing and entertaining movie. Those who are a Michael Jackson fans must see this movie as a last tribute to the great King of Pop. Watching the movie makes me believe that he is actually alive and still dancing. Makes you want to cry by the end of the movie. Applause for Michael Jackson. I give it a 90 out of 100 both as a movie and as a Michael Jackson fan.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

One of the most iconic faces of horror cinema is back on the big screen. On April 30th, A Nightmare on Elm Street premiered nationwide with actor Jackie Earle Haley (who gained much more attention after portraying Rorschach in WATCHMEN) as the evil Freddy Krueger who kills you in your dreams. The movie is a remake but is also a re-imagining of the 1984 classic of the same name written and directed by Wes Craven. The storyline is about a group of teenagers who are stalked by Freddy Krueger in their nightmares and one-by-one they get killed off by this monster. They then soon discover that in their childhood, they were all abused and molested by Freddy Krueger in their preschool and that Freddy was burned alive by the enraged parents of Elm street. Now back for revenge, Freddy is killing each and every one of the Elm street children now in high school. When this movie premiered, it received generally negative reviews, however looking at it for what it is, I enjoyed it. You don't leave the theater with a sense of awe like the original but it is an enjoyable movie. Jackie Earle Haley plays a very different Freddy Krueger which is more serious in tone rather than the slightly comical killer that Robert Englund played in the original Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. And instead of being a child murder, Freddy Krueger is now more like a child molester or a pedophile. Another thing that was changed about Freddy Krueger in this film was his face. The face of Freddy Krueger looks more realistic and actually looks more liked a burned victim. However, Robert Englund made such a huge impression on me, in my point of view you just can't replace a cultural icon like that. I do admit that Jackie Earle Haley was much darker, more serious, and [in some cases] far more creepier/scarier than Robert Englund but the comical Freddy Krueger is also what made the series entertaining but also scary because of his witty remarks and comments. But moving on from the character of Freddy Krueger, I believe the teenagers [who are stalked by Freddy] in this movie did a descent job in this movie and showed the horror of being stalked by Freddy. Rooney Mara plays Nancy, which is loosely based off the character Nancy Thompson played by Heather Langenkamp in the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, who is a very lonely girl and was Freddy Krueger's favorite child at the preschool. Many of her friends played by Katie Cassidy, Kyle Gallner, Thomas Dekker, and Kellan Lutz are also systematically stalked and killed by Freddy. These actors, along with Rooney Mara, do not bring anything special to the movie but only serve as just ordinary and helpless victims of the murder. Overall, the acting was not inspiring, except the portrayal of Freddy Krueger by Jackie Earle Haley. However the special effects in the movie are great, especially when the real world transitions into the nightmares as well as the horribly burnt face of Freddy Krueger along with great cinematography. In general, I say go check this movie out for a good scare. As a movie I'll give it a 55 out of 100 but as a Freddy fan, I'll give it a 75 out of 100 because this is one of the better films in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Probably one of the most hyped movie of 2010, Iron Man 2 finally arrives in theaters in the U.S. on May 7th. In this direct sequel to the movie Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. reprises his role as Tony Stark/Iron Man and the directing chair once again goes to Jon Favreau. Much of the older cast also reprise their roles in the first film, however Terrance Howard resigned from the productions for this sequel due to some issues involving his salary which puts actor Don Cheadle for the role of Lt. Colonel James Rodes/War Machine. The movie starts right after Tony Stark reveals to the public that he is indeed Iron Man and is praised in the eyes of the American people. Meanwhile, a Russian physicist Ivan Vanko seeking revenge creates a duplicated miniature arch reactor which is identical to the one Tony Stark has on his chest to stay alive. Creating a suit with large whips zapping electricity, he meets Stark at a race in Monaco, France where they have a short lived but very epic battle with the victor being Tony Stark. Then Tony Stark's arch nemesis, Justin Hammer, uses Ivan Vanko to "make Iron Man look like an antique" and create an army of Iron Man duplicates. Meanwhile, Tony Stark has a crisis of his own when the toxicity of his blood increases pushing him closer and closer to his death. Then using a clue that his father, Howard Stark, left him, he creates a new element giving him more power when using the suit and will keep him alive. Then both Iron Man and War Machine (a modified version of Iron Man Mark II suit) have a last climatic battle and fight the machines that Ivan Vanko has created. Now, some of the critics did not like this sequel over its 2008 counterpart. However, I liked this one more than the original due to the heavy load of problems within Tony Stark's life as himself and his alter ego and also because of the amount of action in this movie is just greatly executed. Featuring the music of AC/DC and other rocks songs, I found that it matched very neatly with the imagery of this comic book character. And the actors were also all so fit for their roles. Once again, Robert Downey Jr. steals the show and is the "big gun" of the movie. Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts is great and I found her to be very elegant and beautiful. Don Cheadle was able to fit into the shoes of the character that Terrance Howard previously portrayed. Now for the villains: Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell. Mickey Rourke was, as usual, great in this movie with a Russian accent but I gotta say that Sam Rockwell just stole the show. As Justin Hammer, we was the on-the-edge, obnoxious, power hunger character which I found to be very well executed and was the comic relief of the film. He is as witty as Tony Stark and also as narcissistic as Tony Stark and it was just like looking into a mirror. And Jon Favreau was also featured in the film as Happy Hogan and was yet another comic relief character with all his great moments and proved that Jon Favreau can not only direct but act. Now, the action sequences are amazingly well done. They put a lot more time and money into the action sequences, especially the epic climatic battle between Iron Man/War Machine and the machines by Vanko and Hammer. And the subplot of the Avengers Initiative is also a subplot to the story with Nick Fury played by the great Samuel L. Jackson. And for those comic book fans who just can't get over the Avengers, you will see many good easter eggs including Captain America's shield and Thor's hammer. So overall, I say its a great movie. I give it a 85 out of 100.

Godzilla (1954 - 2004): Final Wars

2004 marked the 50th Anniversary of the long lasting Godzilla franchise and Toho Studios created possibly one of the best Godzilla films in the series. The movie, Godzilla: Final Wars, was directed by Ryuhei Kitamura and produced by Shogo Tomiyama [who has produced all of the films in the Millennium series after the unfortunate death of Tomoyuki Tanaka] and starred many actors from the classic Godzilla films along with Masahiro Matsuoka [a member of the Japanese band Tokio]. The story revolves around the Self Defense Force (SDF) which has an army of mutant people who have special physical abilities that make them excellent soldiers. Their war against the monsters was over and they trapped Godzilla in an iceberg long before. But then there is a sudden burst of monster attacks around the world which is suddenly interrupted by an alien race known as the Xillians (who first appearance in 1965's Great Monster War a.k.a Invasion of the Astro Monster) who claim to be peaceful but are actually manipulating the monsters and releasing them around the world to destroy civilization. Then the SDF team realize theres only one weapon that can stop the monsters: Godzilla. So the SDF team take the Gotengo (a ship first seen in the 1963 Toho movie Undersea Warship, released in the U.S. as Atragon) to Antarctica and resurrect Godzilla from its slumber. They lead Godzilla to each of the monsters which Godzilla quickly is able to defeat one by one and is lead finally to Tokyo with a final showdown with a new monster named Monster X and a really updated and badass Gigan. Gigan is then distracted by Mothra who later intervenes as Gigan is later destroyed by Mothra. While the monsters are fighting, the SDF team inside the Gotengo ship battle the Xillians in their Mothership. The Xillians are finally defeated as Godzilla takes on Monster X who then transforms into a four-legged three-headed behemoth known as Keizer Ghidorah. Godzilla then manages to defeat Keizer Ghidorah and walks back into the ocean and turns to the camera and gives on last roar as the title GODZILLA appears as the movie ends. The reviews that been split from positive to a mixed review amongst fans and critics. I thought that this movie was stylish, action-packed, and well executed. Many people complained about the many Matrix-styled action sequences but I actually enjoyed it. The story was like watching all 28 Godzilla films all in one movie which was excellent and they also added references from other Toho movies like the Gotengo ship and the giant asteroid named Gorath. In all, this was a great ending to the franchise, however it seems like the series ins't over yet. Toho stated that the character of Godzilla will retire and will have a possible 2014 release for its next movie. We shall wait and see what the Big G's next move is. 'Till then, we just have to wait.