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Reviews
TMNT (2007)
Best Turtle Movie Yet ... but could have been better as a series reboot.
Ninja Turtles is a franchise that's been in the works for decades. TMNT happily uses all of its previous series as source material, including characters and references to events that you might not have expected. But unfortunately, it relies too heavily on the past movies as its main source material, as opposed to the far superior original cartoon, new cartoon, or even its mature-oriented original graphics novels.
Hour and a half long ... and probably should have been longer. They pack SO MUCH ACTION into that hour and a half that you walk away really just having trouble REMEMBERING the entertaining parts of the movie.
It's definitely more polished that its predecessors, but what it comes down to is being a simply more action packed, visually appealing sequel to nearly ancient movies. It would have been FAR more successful as a franchise reboot, or even introducing some characters from the original cartoon as enemies ala Batman movies, rather than inventing far-fetched, impersonal new foes.
The kids will basically eat up the 13 absurdly and often times ridiculously designed monsters that are rampaging across the city, but in reality that's what the movie boils down to. LOTS of bizarre creatures running around, a wimpified FOOT Clan trying to pick up the pieces after the death of The Shredder, and some pretty heavy dysfunctional family elements for the Turtles, which takes up an unusually large amount of the movie if you consider how much those dysfunctional elements are basically just tip-toed around.
In fact you really feel like you're watching a graphics extravaganza of annoying sounds, and not so much movie. Seems like the movie is designed more so for kids to be jumping around the aisles to, as they were in my theater, rather than actually being WATCHED. I held much against the creators of this movie for that reason, until suddenly the entire atmosphere changed as the family feud between Leonardo and Raphael, which the entire movie tried to tip-toe around, finally hit the fan in a truly epic fist fight in the rain on rooftops between the two brothers. Even the children were in their seats ... as the absurdly annoying music had come to an end, and the camera flips back and forth between rain drenched turtles as they angrily exchange insults, which culminates into a fist fight and eventually a battle with potentially lethal weapons. That one scene packs more emotion into itself than the entire fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin ever could have hoped for.
But yeah ... overall good movie. More action packed then 300 even was. But it doesn't take its source material seriously enough, unlike recent super hero movies. Which in the end is its one downfall.
Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes (2006)
Although better than Pumpkinhead 2: Bloodwings, Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes fails to fully deliver a satisfying and fresh adaptation of the story.
As a fan of the original movie, I've always been attracted to the story and effects associated with Pumpkinhead. However, this movie fails to fulfill every craving a Pumpkinhead fan might have.
The most notable flaw of the movie is its acting. As the original movie depicted a folk-world lost from civilization, this movie's depiction of the southern environment that the story resides in could be considered parody by comparison. The southern accents are so labored and over exaggerated that you may not stand to watch the movie past its opening scenes. Not to mention that certain key actor's presentations are so dull and boring that you may wonder exactly how they got their roles in the first place. The lines are delivered as flat memorization ... no ... rather like they're being read from cue cards instead.
The shining gem of this movie is Lance Hendrikson's small role. His sheer presence on the screen not only mesmerizes but may make you forget you're actually watching a low-grade Sci-Fi Films movie, if only for a split second. It's a shame Hendrikson does not play a larger part in the film than he does, for if the story revolved around him, the presence of so many acting follies could have been forgiven.
The story does take quite a few surprising turns and introduces more than you might have expected, but in the end you may look back and wonder exactly what the logic was behind certain scenes. Although not uncommon, the director should have known his movie was going to be put under the scrutiny of fans, and its utter stupidity in some cases is ultimately its downfall.
And although the writers do show that they're definitely fans of the original movie, they seem to ignore the artistic genius behind Pumpkinhead's presence, portraying him as a quick, ruthless, and indiscriminate killer of anything he comes across, which is in stark contrast to the slow, lumbering, and horrifying sense of dread the original movie gave to the character.
All in all, the movie is still better than the original sequel 10 fold, but will nonetheless disappoint most fans of a groundbreaking cult film.