Reviews

*POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD*

I'd heard a lot of bad things about the remake and I didn't want to pass judgment until I'd actually seen the film.

What a total waste of 2.5 hours. This film is just plain BAD. It destroys the legendary status of the original by making one of the worst films in the history of cinema.

Key lines from the original spoken by Heston, are now bastardized and spoken by apes. All the humans can now speak, making half the plot redundant. This was just poor from start to finish.

The acting was so wooden, it was like watching a bad Australian soap-opera. Avoid this like the plague and stick to the genius of the original.

Not even Charlton Heston's brief cameo can save this turkey.

**POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD**

I grew up in the 80s and Transformers were the best toy ever. To build on the Transformers empire, after various waves of toys, cartoon series and comics, came this movie.

Some people have their gripes with this film, but at the end of the day it's aimed at Transformers fans, not for someone outside that world. Characters don't need to be introduced, as anyone worth their salt will know who they are. And it doesn't matter if said characters are killed off within 5 minutes of their first appearance either.

Kudos to the awesome idea of having a Transformer who is a planet, who is seemingly indestructible. His name is Unicron. It's still jaw-dropping to see him transform even today.

The only thing that can stop Unicron is a power called The Matrix. Obviously it all comes to a head between the two.

The soundtrack is pure 80s cheese, but who cares. It goes very well with the film and is still memorable even today.

Thank god this film was issued onto DVD.

**POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD**

OK, so the Smokey & The Bandit trilogy must be the most under-rated trilogy of all time. People who think these movies are terrible are idiots. What were you expecting in a film that stars Burt Reynold's ego and a fast car?!

Reynolds is a living legend. At least in car chase movies. This second outing for The Bandit is probably the weakest of the three, but it's still a good laugh (read: switch of brain and ignore every good film plot you've witnessed).

Gleason provides so much comedy with his interactions with The Bandit and his son, Junior.

Plot? Transporting a crate across America. That's about it. Some emotional BS thrown in for whatever reason, but the part of this film that owns you all is when Justice calls for help from his brothers. You then witness the greatest 100 Smokeys vs 25-or-so 18 wheelers scene in the history of cinema.

Odd that when I saw this again yesterday for the first time in years, the TV channel allowed words like son-bitch to be said, but edited out other, less offensive (for a Sunday afternoon) phrases.

The Bandit is going to smoke some Smokies!

**POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD**

This film leaves film-goers divided into the "uh, I fell asleep with cousin Cletus and Billy-Bobb" and "that was one of the greatest movies of all time" categories.

The Dawn of Man. Somewhere on Earth apes struggle in a harsh and unforgiving environment. Kill. Eat. Mutate. Survive. The weakest are forgotten, the strong remain. Basic animal instincts keep them in check. Cue the Black Monolith. The apes have no idea of it's purpose, nor of who put it there or why. It's alien to the world they live in and treat it with caution.

Then one of the most symbolic moments in movie history. The primordial image of an ape smashing a skull with a bone, then throwing the bone into the sky. Cut to black and space-ship floating through the heavens.

Something has been discovered on the Moon, but all the ivory tower egg-heads want to close rank and not discuss it in the outside world. Cue a brief cameo from Leonard "Rigsby" Rossiter.

Onto the Moon itself, where a second Black Monolith has been discovered. It's been deliberately buried into the lunar surface. As the humans approach, a piercing noise destroys the hearing of the team digging up the strange structure.

Cut to a mission to Jupiter where the Black Monolith was emitting some kind of signal and a computer that's going crazy. This is such a key part to the movie. The interactions with Dave and HAL are fantastic.

After switching off HAL after he's gone computer senile, Dave heads into The Infinite. The aliens who placed the Black Monolith on Earth all those aeons ago, have summoned Mankind to them.

One of the greatest films ever made. A soundtrack to die for and the cinematography is out of this world (excuse the lame pun).

* (POSSIBLE) SPOILERS AHEAD*

One man who has already lived his life, and has nothing really to keep him on this earth. The bet isn't important. The journey is. It's a time to reflect on all the times that life has screwed him over.

The police are powerless to stop him and he carries on regardless, knowing that it will end, but on his terms.

This film contains no real character development at all, and several people are introduced a quickly forgotten about (the snake catcher, the hitchhikers, etc).

It's all about the car, the open road and the music. Put your foot down and go.