[Movie Review] Super Love These Pizza Loving Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Hi Huneybees,

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello are comic book characters created back in 1984 by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. I've always loved the turtles not just because they are adorable, the way they speak was the youngsters lingo then, it was also because we were born of the same year. So I practically grew up with them, reading their comics, watching their cartoons religiously every day.

The “TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES” film is a modern-day iteration of the popular franchise. The Turtles must work with fearless reporter April O’Neil (Megan Fox) and her wise-cracking cameraman Vern Fenwick (Will Arnett) to save New York City and unravel Shredder’s diabolical plan.

Based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman, written by Josh Appelbaum & André Nemec and Evan Daugherty, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is produced by Michael Bay (director and executive producer of the blockbuster Transformers franchise), Andrew Form, Brad Fuller, Galen Walker, Scott Mednick and Ian Bryce, and directed by Jonathan Liebesman (“WRATH OF THE TITANS”).

This movie is an upgraded version from the 1990 live-action movie, I simply love the opening sequence, giving us light of how the turtles came about and definitely keeping to its original comic style. It was a little Kill-Bill inspired and I was already sitting on the edge of my seat, excited to catch the movie already.
The turtles' character design was intricate, with each one bearing different characteristics. They are not just colour bandana wearing turtles, each of them embodies a soul, a character like us, accessorizing according to their likes. I simply love Michaelangelo's getup. His surfer attitude was amped up with coral stone necklace and shades. 

And the fun part is spotting the Chinese character representing each turtle. Hint: Raphael is 愤 meaning anger.

The storyline was great, 3D animation was amazing and it was a fun movie to catch after a stressful day of work, but for TMNT fans, you might be frustrated like me; the villain character Shredder in particular. Oh! Michael Bay must be too obsessed with his Megan Fox and automobiles. 

It was like watching TMNT VS Transformers with his over used lens flares and with a good old 8 minutes car chase as Megan Fox, Will Arnett and the four Turtles career down a long snowy hill in a swerving 18-wheeler, pursued by arch-nemesis Shredder and his posse. 

Megan Fox is definitely not my dream choice to play April O'Neil, she's too tough, too much a vase to look at, she seemed to be having the same expression throughout the movie and she kinda lacked the young, fight-for-her-job kinda personality. It was like watching an over botox-ed 30 year old playing the role of an 18 year old and for once, cut those locks girl!

But my biggest disappointment had to be Shredder. He did not look a thing like the original character and it was detoured too much into Transformers. There was no humanity in that character, not a hint of human flesh and the turtles seemed to be fighting a hawk-like robot. Shredder does not throw swords, he shreds with spike like weapons at the end of his hands! This fan art of Shredder seems to be a better choice....

Overall, I give the movie 3.5 stars out of 5.

It would be a great movie to bring the kids and have some family time.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES is now playing in cinemas, have fun watching!

Don’t forget to stay tuned to my blog / like my blog’s Facebook page / follow me @huney_84 on Twitter & Instagram  for the latest updates!

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[Movie Review] Transformers: Age Of Extinction

Hi Huneybees,

AUTOBOTS TRANSFORM!

It's been 4 years after the Battle of Chicago and since then, an elite CIA unit named Cemetery Wind, headed by paranoid agent Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer) has been formed and been tasked with hunting down the remaining Decepticons. However, he secretly hunts down both Autobots and Decepticons with the help of a Transformer bounty hunter named Lockdown. 

Everyone has been staying away from Transformers and the story began as Optimus Prime is found and rebooted by a failed inventor named Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg). He rounds up the remaining Autobots and is off to stop Lockdown while also stopping a business tycoon Joshua Joyce from creating his own Transformers with a material called Transformium. And as the material is melted down from Megatron, the newly created Galvatron took on its own intelligence and started another battle.

Michael Bay seems to have lost his flow in this movie. The plot is all over the place, with the Dinobots appearing out of nowhere (and for such a short period!) and then suddenly in the 4th movie, there's talk of the creators of Transformers when for the past three movies stated that they were just created by the Allspark.

Photo credits: MTV

“They love to hate, and I don’t care; let them hate,” Bay said to MTV .

Photo Credits: tformers.com

Yeah, we can definitely see that to keep the movie going and sponsors pouring in is the main objective as well. There were too much product placement in the movie that it turned out to be a lengthy car commercial, more than being a movie. 

Together with the low angle shots where actors/robots are filmed upwards from ankle height to give them more of an iconic stature and the American flag constantly shown blowing in the breeze amid the turmoil (Viva la US) and slo-mo shot that showing near death stunts, involving a flying car making contact with a man's head is starting to become a signature of Bay's work, which can also mean kinda predictable...

Not to mention for those well traveled, you would notice that they messed up the bits of Hong Kong with China, like villagers living in the mountains and subway tracks above ground? And the most amusing part was how Asians were portrayed as kungfu masters! 
Li Bingbing stars as Su Yueming, owner of the Chinese factory used by KSI to build their artificial Transformers and when she and Joshua Joyce were on pursuit, she managed to fight them off with the excuse that she was trained with the police, but what about that guy in the elevator?
He just happened to be a passenger in the elevator and when he saw Li Bingbing under attack, he jumped right out and started fly kicking those bad guys. Hmmmm, if only I can do that! 

Well, the upside to watching the movie is most probably coz of Mark Wahlberg. (YES! Goodbye Shia Labeouf) They should have casted him for the Transformers movie right from the beginning, I mean check out those arms right? Wahlberg's star presence ensures that you can't help but root for this underdog character during his various death-defying scrapes.

And of course, not forgetting the Bay Bimbo where bodily curves are crucial with the tan body. First it was Megan Fox and now Nicola Peltz as Tessa Yeager, Cade's daughter. Blonde, plumped up lips with legs that never end together seemed to be the sterotype female casts in his movies.

Well, as disappointing as it is I would give the movie 1 out of 5 stars. =(

“Transformers: Age of Extinction” is now showing in cinemas islandwide.

Don’t forget to stay tuned to my blog / like my blog’s Facebook page / follow me @huney_84 on Twitter & Instagram  for the latest updates!

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I Am Number Four

Hi Huneybees,

Have you been hearing people talking about "I Am Number Four" on the streets? Nope, it is not a competition as to who finished a competition first. It's the title of a new movie and I am so excited! Why? Coz, it's produced by MICHAEL BAY! Who you ask? Well, the guy behind the 2 "Transformers" movie!

Moreover, who can let the cutie actor Alex Pettyfer slip by? The seductive pair of eyes and wonderful chiseled chin.... *MAJOR MELTING*
And also being a 'Gleek' myself, I'll definitely give Dianna Agron (Quinn) my support~

You can catch the trailer here.

And a little synopsis:

Three are dead. He is Number Four. D.J. Caruso (“Eagle Eye,” “Disturbia”) helms an action-packed thriller about an extraordinary young man, John Smith (Alex Pettyfer), who is a fugitive on the run from ruthless enemies sent to destroy him. Changing his identity, moving from town to town with his guardian Henri (Timothy Olyphant), John is always the new kid with no ties to his past. In the small Ohio town he now calls home, John encounters unexpected, life-changing events—his first love (Dianna Agron), powerful new abilities and a connection to the others who share his incredible destiny.

The movie only starts on 24th Feb, so what to do now?
Join the official Disney Studios Singapore Facebook  & Twitter page, to play the “Where is Number Four?” contest here.

Here's screenshot of the 'game' (Spoiler alert: Answers are shown, skip here if you wana play it on your own).


The mission is to find Number 4. You will need to answer 7 simple questions (clues) and they could be found in their trailer or the Wiki page. Stand to win premiums when you get the answers right!

You will get a golden stud on the Singapore Map with every correct answer. And at the end of it all, you will get this final image.

Can you figure out what the studs spell?

Tough eh?

Fill in your details and stand to win the premiums!

Catch "I Am Number Four Movie" starting from 24^th February 2011 and join the official Disney Studios Singapore Facebook & Twitter page!

Muahz,

Christina aka Huney

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