Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

The voice work for the transformers is as top notch as ever with Peter Cullen taking to the character with his usual skill as well as Hugo Weaving who is just great as Megatron. Despite my problems with the movie, the massive carnage is quite impressive along with the design of the Transformers themselves who help keep the film afloat at its lowest. Despite not being the worst movie of 2007, there’s no denying that “Transformers” was a clunky mess that had zero direction and almost little appeal beyond the target demographics: 1. People looking for robot smashing and 2. Megan Fox. Both of which were vastly over sold elements with little pay off, come the climax.

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Star Wars Clone Wars (Season 1, Volume 1): A Galaxy Divided (DVD)

Sure its film counterpart got a lot of bad reviews at the movie theaters, but guess what kids. “The Clone Wars” does not suck. In fact as a series is a damn good dramatic science fiction opera that works its way through arcs instead of providing self contained stories, which kids shows usually consist of. “A Galaxy Divided” consists of four episodes of “The Clone Wars” and starts off strong. “Ambush” is a fine beginner to an already strong premise and probably the best of the foursome as Master Yoda takes to aggressive negotiations that bring him and three clone soldiers to the mercy of an endless army of robot drones and the empire’s worst warrior: Asaj Ventress.

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Cinema Crazed's Worst 10 of 2008

10. Space Chimps
You know, movie geeks make a lot of noise about films in theaters that are great and barely ever receive the attention crap like “Meet Dave” does, but every so often when a new movie scarcely gathers any kind of promotion at all, there’s a reason for it. A damn good reason. And “Space Chimps” is that prime example that some studios may hold films back because they’re just terrible and barely watchable. Cheap animation and a virtually non-existent plot pretty much destroy any semblance of potential this one-note premise has from the starting gates, as “Space Chimps” only clocks in at a lean eighty minutes and feels endless with its horrible voice acting, lame gags, and a twist in the second half that is not only surprising but clumsy in its delivery as if the writers just didn’t know where to go creatively after the chimps were actually in space. I always enter in to an animated film with a healthy sense of optimism (I even gave “Doogal” a chance!) but in a summer that brought us “Wall-E,” talking chimps and NASA propaganda simply doesn’t cut it for me.

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The Greatest Fan Film of All Time (2008)

gffoatJacob Drake is probably one of my favorite independent animators, because while the character models tend to be crude at times, there’s a certain dynamic charm they obtain to where the art slowly evolves in to outstanding models of figures and men that only add to the silliness and inherent great sense of humor engrained in the movie that is “The Greatest Fan Film of All Time.” For a sequel and a fan film the folks now working outside the defunct Bullcrank studios, “The Greatest Fan Film” makes good in its word of being a funny but epic finisher for a small group of independent filmmakers now seeking their own niche in entertainment.

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The Dark Knight (2008) (Deluxe Edition DVD)

TDK-DEThere have been almost two editions of “The Dark Knight” on both DVD and Blu-Ray. I’m happy to admit that they’re all warranted releases. Not only does Warner give us one of the best comic book movies ever made along turning Batman in a tragic tale of becoming a hero in situations he’s just not sure he handle. Take for instance the explosions in the hospital. What I love about the joker here is not that he has a distinct love for violence and doesn’t come with a sub-plot where we’re supposed to sympathize for his life story unlike the “Spider-Man” movies where villains couldn’t just be villains.

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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Two-Disc Special Edition) (2008)

So I keep coming back to that same question over and over: Was “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” really all that bad, or were more Lucas retractors just exaggerating because they grew up and Spielberg’s story didn’t? And I keep coming back to that same answer: No. “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” really isn’t a bad movie; in fact it’s one of the better Indiana Jones entries I’ve seen that’s been grossly skewered by fans as the “Phantom Menace” of the Indiana Jones franchise, when really, it’s not bad. It’s actually quite good.

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Feast II: Sloppy Seconds (2008)

As a product coming out of the gates of the Weinstein throes where they took a painfully mediocre television series and turned it in to a form of producing an honest to goodness horror film, “Feast” kicked my ass from here to Thailand as a truly great horror comedy with some bone breaking action, creepy horror, and genuine comedy that induced laughter whenever it damn well pleased. “Feast II” takes the same turns as the original did but this time with Gulager able to take his own twist and storytelling abilities and include his own usual suspects i.e. his wife and father who prominently featured in the first half of the sequel known as “Sloppy Seconds.”

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