Movie Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fever has struck again! Since the resurgence of the popular franchise and animated series from Nickelodeon, the turtles return to the big screen after 20 years with a reboot from director Jonathan Liebesman (Wrath of the Titans (2012)) starring Megan Fox, Will Arnett, and William Fichtner.
Years after the death of her father in a lab accident, aspiring TV news reporter April O'Neil (Megan Fox) is hot on the case of a recent crime wave by the infamous Foot Clan. One night she happens upon a robbery at the docks and witnesses a battle between a mysterious vigilante and the criminals. The clan, led by 'The Shredder' (Tohoru Masamune), and his second in command Karai (Minae Noji), plan to drive the vigilantes out in a subway hostage situation. April stumbles on to their plan and sees not one, but four vigilantes take down the Foot and rescue the hostages! When she follows them to the rooftops she discovers, to her surprise, that the vigilantes are in fact Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! As April soon discovers their mysterious origin and meets their rat master, Splinter (voiced by Tony Shalhoub), she becomes involved in a plot by Shredder and the Foot to release a biological agent on New York City and the only cure is the green mutagen that flows within the blood of the turtles!

While the newest TMNT movie has little in common with the 1990 film aside from the central characters, the 2014 movie is much faster-paced, more action-packed with Michael Bay (one of the producers) style explosions, and overwhelming CGI special effects. Gone are the cute, cartoon-style turtles; the new turtles are bigger, stronger, and even disturbingly realistic. The new turtles also have much more personality than previous incarnations, with each one possessing their own personal accouterments that reflects their individuality. They range from random, found clothing, to various types of armor, decorations, even jewelry and gadgets. With the old turtles, the only way to distinguish them was either by their weapons of choice or their multicolored headbands (which were added in the 1987 animated series, whereas in the original comics, they all wore red). Their personalities however stay true to their origins (as featured in their famous and catchy original theme song) however on a much bigger scale. Leonardo (voiced by Johnny Knoxville) still remains the stalwart leader, whereas Michelangelo (voiced by Noel Fisher) is ever the goof-off, comic relief "party dude". Raphael's (voiced by Alan Ritchson) demeanor is just as rude ("but cool") and crass as ever, complete with a scarred face and chomping on a toothpick. Donatello's (("does machines") voiced by Jeremy Howard) 'nerdiness' is amplified with the addition of huge thick eyeglasses as well as various tech-gadgets  attached to his shell. Sensei Splinter plays a much more active role in this movie, no longer the kind and passive teacher, he becomes more of a harsh disciplinarian who can also kick-ass when he needs to. As for the choice of Megan Fox as the damsel-in-distress April O'Neil, (no longer a part of Michael Bay's Transformers franchise since the second film and their supposed feud) plays a less demure female lead, often portraying April as determined and often fool-hearty, willing to do anything for a story. Will Arnett plays her cameraman Vernon, who was also a supporting character in the original animated series. William Fichtner plays Eric Sacks, a billionaire scientist and socialite who worked with April's father.

Megan Fox as April O'Neil

Along with this new movie, this year also marks the 30th anniversary of the TMNT. Back in 1984, comic book creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird formed an independent comic book company called Mirage Studios and produced a self-published, black & white, comic book entitled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, little did they know that their small independent comic would spawn even more comic books, cartoons, toys, video games, movies, and countless other forms of merchandise into what would become an immensely successful, world-famous franchise! With the initial "Turtle-mania" sparked by the 1987 animated series, (which would last through the late 1980's and into the mid-90's) the franchise has seen it's ups and downs over the years with a recent resurgence with the second animated series in 2003. In 2007 the turtles were given a face-lift and a fully-CGI theatrical movie simply titled TMNT. While the fans reception was mixed, it would soon spark a new revamped CGI animated series on Nickelodeon in 2012.
For many fans of the TMNT, this movie can be seen two ways, while some long-time, hardcore fans may be furiously disappointed about the drastic changes made to the characters that they knew and loved growing up; for the newer, younger fans, this is an enjoyable adaptation of the TMNT franchise. The movie is fun and entertaining and that's what the TMNT are all about. While these characters have grown and changed during the years, the spirit and fun of the turtles has never changed. The turtles themselves have always remained simple and lovable in their own rights.
There is a surprisingly sparse amount of down-time in the new movie for which usually allows for emotional or character development in most films. While the focus is definitely on the action and special effects, the story itself is somewhat predictable and cliche, right down to the stereotypical super-villain desiring destruction right down to a "Today New York City, Tomorrow the world!" mentality. The story moves fairly quickly and rarely slows down, the humor is witty and maybe even a little juvenile, thanks mostly to Michelangelo's cut-ups (I think they even managed to throw in a fart joke somewhere!), as well as their innate love for pizza!

Overall, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a fun and entertaining movie! Fans both young and old can enjoy watching it. I felt my own inner 10-year old crack a smile as they cried "Cowabunga!" and fought off a ridiculously, huge Shredder, who possessed enough blades to fill a dozen Swiss-Army knives! I haven't had this much fun at the movies in a long time. Of all the recent remakes of all my favorite childhood toys such as G.I. Joe and Transformers, I think for once, Hollywood got it right and finally gave the fans what they wanted: "TURTLE POWER!" Enjoy your pizza!
LINKS: Official Movie Website, Mirage Group, Nickelodeon, Turtlepedia

Movie Review - Transformers: Age of Extinction

Just when you thought the Transformers franchise had come to an end with Dark of the Moon (2011), the master of slow-motion explosions, director Michael Bay, returns with Transformers: Age of Extinction! Longer, darker and with even bigger Transformers than ever seen before, Age of Extinction is the fourth in the franchise of Transformers movies which began in 2007. With the trilogy ended, so did the involvement of actor Shia LeBeouf, who starred as Sam Witwicky in the first three Transformers movies. Age of Extinction takes place several years after the events of Dark of the Moon, dubbed the "Battle of Chicago", where the Transformers have now become public knowledge and are now feared and hunted down by the government. Particularly one Black Ops team known as KSI, led by CIA Agent Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer), is in charge of destroying both Autobots and Decepticons, having allied themselves with a group of ruthless Transformer bounty-hunters led by Lockdown (voiced by Mark Ryan). Along with the government's involvement, a wealthy techno-industrialist Joshua Joyce's (Stanley Tucci) company is developing their own Transformers reverse-engineered from the captured remnants of the Transformers to build Stinger and Galvatron (voiced by Frank Welker)! Meanwhile, in rural Texas, Cade Yaeger (Mark Wahlberg), an unemployed salvager and robotics inventor has found what is left of Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen) after a battle which left him nonfunctional. As Cade tries to repair Optimus, the government becomes aware of Optimus' location and send the Black Ops team to destroy him. Now Cade, his daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz), and her boyfriend Jack (Shane Dyson) are on the run with Optimus to try and find what is left of the Autobots and stop Lockdown!

Along with Autobot favorite Bumblebee, there a few new additions to the Transformers roster including original G1 favorite Hound (voiced by John Goodman), the samurai-bot Drift (voiced by Ken Watanabe) and Crosshairs (voiced by John DiMaggio) not to mention this movies biggest surprise is the inclusion of the Dinobots, (fan-favorites from the cartoon/toys) including Grimlock! Despite all the violence, explosions, exotic locations (Hong Kong) and all-out Autobot-action, this movie seemed to be a much more satisfying successor to the last few Transformers movies, especially the disappointing sequel Revenge of the Fallen (2009). Aside from the obvious improvements, this movie however has a very ominous and darker tone than the other movies some of the humor that pervades the movies is lessened somewhat in favor of a much grittier feel as the Transformers, particularly the Autobots were regarded as heros in the others, now they are fugitives! Even Optimus Prime, whose character has always been the honorable, stalwart protector has been defeated both physically and in spirit that he has become an angry killer, bent on revenge for his fallen comrades. The dark/violent atmosphere is present in the more-violent battles, and the surprising repetition of lines like "I'm going to kill you!" and "Die!" from Optimus himself! While it is understandable how Optimus must feel after the literal genocide of his Autobot allies, it is to some extreme how his character has changed drastically. As for fan-service the inclusion of the Dinobots (which I myself have been looking forward to seeing ever since the trailer: Optimus riding Grimlock! Awesome!) is very satisfying as well as the inclusion of celebrity voices like John Goodman and Ken Watanabe in the cast. The biggest surprise was the return of famous voice actor Frank Welker to the Transformers cast who was the voice of Megatron in the cartoons (in the last three movies Megatron was voiced by actor Hugo Weaving) now as Galvatron, ironically played by Leonard Nimoy in the 1986 animated movie, who voiced in Sentinel Prime in Dark of the Moon. While I am pleased to no longer have to see Shia's hyperactive screaming on screen I was not too excited to have Marky Mark be the new human star of the Transformers franchise for his former failures in movies like Planet of the Apes (2001), The Happening and Ted, he has more popular screen credits than Shia anyway. Overall Age of Extinction is an impressive, action-packed, special-effects nightmare, thrill ride! As a fan of the Transformers since my childhood in the 80's I can see these movies not as the over-budgeted, CGI-crazy blockbusters that they are and relish in the pure fun and excitement that my inner child and adult self can enjoy and have fun watching them.I still smile every time I see a Transformer transform, and I cheer quietly to myself when I see Optimus defeat a Decepticon. While the success of these films may vary from movie to movie and Michael Bay enjoys the mixed criticisms of his film franchise, I will still keep wanting to come back to see them. (unless he tries to kill off Optimus again!)

LINKS: TransformersMovie.com, Hasbro, BotCon

Movie Review: G.I. JOE: Retaliation

In 2009, Paramount released G.I. JOE: The Rise of Cobra following the popularity of the 80's Hasbro toy based movies like Transformers (2007). Directed by Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, Van Helsing), the first G.I. Joe live-action movie was not very successful (barely making $150 million) and was panned by critics for its camp and cheesiness, although it remains simply a fun action movie, it was not taken very seriously. Whether it was a combination of directing, writing or casting (especially Marlon Wayans as Ripcord?!), The Rise of Cobra did not "wow" fans as it had hoped. Despite it's shortcomings, it left several open plot-points to be addressed in the sequel, which many doubted would even be made. With the release of G.I. JOE: Retaliation (2013), almost the entire cast has been replaced except for a few vital characters and fan-favorites. At the end of The Rise of Cobra, both Cobra Commander (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Destro (Christopher Eccleston) (both actors whom do NOT return for the sequel) were captured and imprisoned as their plan to launch nanomite missiles at major cities was thwarted by G.I. JOE, however Zartan (Arnold Vosloo) had successfully taken the place of The President of the U.S.A. (Jonathan Pryce)!

Now in command of G.I. JOE, Duke (Channing Tatum), leads his team on a mission in North Korea only to be ambushed afterwards by agents of Cobra. The only survivors are Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), Flint (D.J. Cotrona) and Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki). With the G.I. JOE team presumed dead, The President/Zartan condemns the G.I. JOE team allowing Cobra to take over and begin their plan to launch satellite weapons called Project Zeus into orbit which will target every major city in the world! While Snake-Eyes (Ray Park) is away to train new recruit Jinx (Elodie Yung), Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee) and Firefly (Ray Stevenson) break Cobra Commander (now played by Luke Bracey) out of his heavily guarded and sophisticated, underground prison, leaving Destro literally "out of the band". While the Joes find a way to reveal The President for who he really is, they enlist the help of retired General Joe Colton (Bruce Willis) to stop Cobra from taking over!
Jon M. Chu, director of such teen-oriented/music/dance movies such as Step Up 3D (2010) and Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (2011) seemed an unlikely choice to direct a special-effects driven action movie, but after seeing it, I was thoroughly impressed. Gone are the hokey, low-budget looks of The Rise of Cobra as well as the Sci-Fi-like costumes and weapons, in favor of a more Modern Warfare style with the G.I. JOEs wearing basic military camouflage instead of the black-tight, armor of the first movie (with the exception of Snake-Eyes).
As for the plot, every element in the movie is very much like the original G.I. JOE cartoons we all know and love, right down to the ultimate weapon of mass destruction and Cobra's desire to rule the world. As for the characters, really, the only ones who return from the first movie to make a significant impact in the movie is Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow, whose life-long feud hearkens back to the original comic books and their origins in the first movie. As for the other main JOEs like Duke, played by Channing Tatum, who has a very "brief" appearance in the movie, Roadblock, played by former wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, is the most prominently featured character in the movie and could almost hold the whole film by himself. As for Snake-Eyes' (played by the versatile stunt-actor Ray Park, who also played Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode I) part, while exciting (and with ninjas!), seems more like a side-story compared to the rest of the plot. The famous couple of Flint and Lady Jaye is featured, although Flint is somewhat bland, forgettable and is in no way like his character, he doesn't even wear his signature green beret! Lady Jaye however makes for an interesting character and is given an emotional backstory, unlike Scarlett (Rachel Nichols), who came across as very cold and stiff in the first movie. The addition of Joe Colton, played by Bruce Willis is somewhat ancillary as his function is to fill the void left by General Hawk (Dennis Quaid, who also does not return) from the last movie. Like most aging action-stars, Willis does make a few "old" jokes like in The Expendables 2, but it is not as overdone.
The villains in Retaliation are much more like their cartoon/toy counterparts. Although we see nothing of Destro, who was a major part of the first movie, he is rumored to come back in the third movie. In the new movie, Cobra Commander appears in a few scenes complete with uniform and his trademark silver face-mask, along with his new, deep, Darth Vader-esque voice, he is a very imposing figure. The Cobra symbol, which was almost non-existent in the first movie, is boldly displayed in the movie, although sadly they refrain from using their famous "COBRA!" battle-cry. Firefly, played by Ray Stevenson (Punisher: War Zone (2008), makes for an interesting villain as the fan-favorite Cobra saboteur, who even uses tiny, robotic, fireflies! As Cobra takes over the government, proudly raising their flags over the capitol, you can't help but consider the subject of The White House being taken over by terrorists which is starting to become a popular trend with upcoming films like Olympus Has Fallen starring Gerard Butler and White House Down (coincidentally also starring Channing Tatum) which seems to suggest a possible political agenda.
Originally, G.I. JOE: Retaliation was set to be released back in June 2012, but due to the recent popularity of 3D movies, it was pushed back to March 2013 so that it could be converted to 3D. The 3D effect, however provides very little improvement as suspected. February and March have always been a "dead time" for movie box offices, with movies like Oz the Great and Powerful pushing for $200 million, Summer blockbusters like The Avengers, which made over $600 million over the Summer. The G.I. JOE movie franchise has surprisingly improved in quality but has yet to surpass the opening weekend numbers of the first movie of $50 million, only bringing in $40.5 million so far.
Despite the huge fan-following and heavy Internet promotion with YouTube and Cobra Special Forces.com, G.I. JOE: Retaliation, I fear, will be just another mediocre action movie franchise. Most of its appeal relies mostly on the nostalgia factor and for those like me, who were kids during the 1980's. Now as adults, we can enjoy the Transformers and G.I. JOE movies without taking it too seriously, yet for those of us who still love and cherish those childhood memories, we can take these movies as homages to those toys and characters we spent countless hours playing with in our own little imaginations. While the first movie almost seemed like a parody of G.I. JOE, this new movie seems to try and take those characters and put them respectfully in a more of real-world setting and the film presents us with more believable characters and scenarios. If you were a JOE fan like me, than you just might feel the need to stand up in the theater and shout "YO JOE!"



LINKS: G.I. JOE Movie Official Site, Cobra Special Forces, G.I. JOE YouTube Channel,
Hasbro, YoJoe.com

Top 10 Best G.I. Joe Episodes

I was a child of the 1980's, and while there were many popular cartoons and action figure properties like Transformers, He-Man and Thundercats, there was one that I was particularly obsessed with and that was G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. By the time I was seven years old I had just about every G.I. Joe action figure and vehicle (I even had the aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Flagg!), not to mention an avid collector of the Marvel comic books! With the release of the popular Hasbro action figures and the Marvel comic book, Sunbow and Marvel Productions developed a 95-episode series (1983-1986), to follow the success of the toy line. When the show premiered in 1983, it began with the 5-episode mini-series in which Cobra developed the M.A.S.S. device to steal a satellite. With the second mini-series in 1984: "The Revenge of Cobra", Cobra creates the Weather Dominator and wreaks havoc on the world. With the success of the two mini-series, they began production with the first season of G.I. Joe with 55 episodes. They began the second season in 1985 with the 5-part "Arise, Serpentor, Arise!" which introduced the Cobra Emperor: Serpentor. As the series was coming to a close, in 1987 they produced G.I. Joe: The Movie which was a direct to video release which was syndicated later on TV hosted by non-other than Sgt. Slaughter himself! While DIC Entertainment tried to bring the cartoon back in 1989, it lasted only 2 short seasons until 1991. In celebration of the March 28th release of the film G.I. Joe Retaliation next week and as this year also marks the 30th Anniversary of the premiere of the animated series, CHERNOBOG'S BLOG proudly presents: Top 10 Best G.I. Joe Episodes, "Yo Joe!"

#10  "Cold Slither" (Ep.#151) - Destro and Cobra Commander gets Zartan and the Dreadnoks to form a rock n' roll band called "Cold Slither" to perform music with subliminal messages in an attempt to take control of the minds of the masses. But G.I. Joe puts a stop to Cobra's plan by forming their own band called "The Average Joe Band" to counteract Cobra's message!
#9 "Lights! Camera! Cobra!" (Ep.#119) - Cobra infiltrates a Hollywood studio where they are filming "The G.I. Joe Story"!
#8 "Memories of Mara" (Ep.#145) - G.I. Joe finds a nuclear submarine called the Nerka, and rescue a crew being held captive by Cobra. Also Shipwreck falls in love with Mara, a woman with blue skin who has been genetically modified by Cobra to be the first of many "aquatic commandos".
#7 "Cobra's Creatures" (Ep.#111) - Cobra uses a special weapon called "Hi-Freq", a mind control device to take over the minds of all animals in the world, including Mutt's dog Junkyard!
#6 "The Traitor" (Ep.#s 146-147) - G.I. Joe designs a new armor treatment that's impenetrable to laser fire and missiles. Dusty is accused of being a traitor and selling secrets to Cobra!
#5 "Nightmare Assault" (EP.#224) - Doctor Mindbender invents a machine that turns the Joes' dreams into nightmares, but Lowlight is the only person who can help them overcome their fears.
#4 "The Viper is Coming" (Ep.#129) - Barbecue keeps getting phone calls from a man who calls himself "The Viper", which sends the Joes on a wild goose chase to find this mysterious man.
#3 "Sink the Montana!" (Ep.#208) - At the decommissioning ceremony for a battleship the U.S.S. Montana. Cobra recruits retiring Admiral Lattimer, former Captain of the Montana and betrays the Joes!
#2 "There's No Place Like Springfield" (Ep.#s154-155) - Shipwreck passes out trying to escape after a Cobra assault and wakes up six years later in a place called Springfield, with Mara as his wife and a daughter named Alfea but soon discovers they are synthoid copies made by Cobra!
#1 "Worlds Without End" (Ep#s 136-137) - Cobra steals a matter transformer which sends the Joes into an alternate reality where Cobra rules the world!

 

LINKS: GIJoeMovie.com, Hasbro/G.I. Joe Toys, YoJoe.com,