求英文影评,尼古拉斯凯奇的《预见未来》,还有变形金刚2,120字左右

求英文影评,尼古拉斯凯奇的《预见未来》,还有变形金刚2,120字左右

预见未来：
Given the number of attempts, surprisingly few really good movies have been made from the writings of sci-fi visionary Philip K. Dick (BLADE RUNNER, MINORITY REPORT, A SCANNER DARKLY). Most range from merely middling (IMPOSTOR, TOTAL RECALL) to downright awful — remember PAYCHECK? This lazy, incoherent adaptation of Dick's strange short story "The Golden Man," however, just might be the worst. It takes only the central character from the source material — a mutant human who can see several minutes into his own future — and throws away everything that made the story interesting.
Cris Johnson (Nicolas Cage), aka Las Vegas clairvoyant "Frank Cadillac," uses his intentionally tacky lounge act to make a living while disguising the fact that he really can see two minutes into his own future. But not everyone in the audience is buying the fake-mentalist act: FBI counterterrorism agent Callie Ferris (a woefully miscast Julianne Moore) knows real "patterns of advanced awareness" when she sees them, and she needs his help on a little job she's been working on: A 10-kiloton WMD has fallen into the hands of a pack of eurotrash terrorists who, for some undisclosed reason, have their hearts set on nuking L.A. Even though she knows Cris' clairvoyance only extends to a couple of minutes into the immediate future, Callie thinks Cris can use his severely limited skill to help her find the device and save eight million lives. He, however, refuses to be treated like a science project and goes on the lam with his new girlfriend, schoolteacher Liz Cooper (Jessica Biel), hotly pursued by both the FBI and the terrorists.
Three big problems plague this misbegotten mess. First, for much of the movie Cris is running from the good guys, who only want to prevent the rest of us from a nuclear holocaust. Secondly, Cage's age-defying look — the uncertain hairline, the dyed eyebrows, the teeth — has reached the point where he's become troubling to look at. Worst of all, director Lee Tamahori repeatedly stages a dramatic event — Cris getting shot in the chest or smashed by a speeding train — only to rewind the action and reveal that the mayhem was nothing more than just one of Cris' premonitions. The first time, it's a legitimate "Gotcha!" When it happens again, it's tremendously irritating. The third time Tamahori hauls this cheap shot out of his near-empty bag of tricks, you'll cease to believe in anything that happens on screen and most likely give up on the movie altogether.
2
To avert the frightening possibility of another terrorist outrage, read the press notes for sci-fi thriller Next. "It would be most valuable if we could see into the future."
Well, of course it would. Come to think of it, ray guns and superhuman strength might come in handy too, as would the power to leap tall buildings in a single bound. In their absence, Lee Tamahori's shamelessly preposterous film has to make do with Cris Johnson (Cage), a Las Vegas clairvoyant whose bargain-basement act masks a genuine extra-sensory ability to see what will happen to him two minutes ahead of time.
Under the pseudonym Frank Cadillac, Johnson is perfectly happy to exploit his gift to impress gullible tourists and cheat at cards. When his winning streak is noticed by the casino's eagle-eyed security, however, Cris is forced to flee - straight into the hands of Callie Ferris (Moore), an FBI agent on the trail of a shadowy cabal intent on exploding a nuclear bomb in downtown Los Angeles. Jack Bauer being otherwise engaged, this seedy showman is her best chance to avert a catastrophe. Cris, though, has other things on his mind, having fallen for a beautiful young teacher (Biel) he's been having premonitions about for months
3
Since the spectacle explosion of the 1980s blockbuster action movie, beginning with The Terminator and Die Hard, the genre has run the course of fresh and exciting to cliché and contrived. It seems that masked heroes sporting spandex have replaced muscling heroes with an endless supply of ammunition. These days, it’s a rare occasion to come across an action movie that doesn’t bore your brain and waste your time. Next does both. Perhaps it’s Cris Johnson's (Nicholas Cage) ability to see only two minutes into the future that explains why he doesn’t see the audience’s feelings of betrayal and disappointment coming.
Veiled by a sleazy Las Vegas club act, Johnson’s powers of future perception keep him one step ahead of the world. When he’s not on stage guessing people’s names and performing dime store magic tricks, he spends his days supplementing his income by gambling and waiting in a diner for the love of his life – the only vision he has seen more than two minutes ahead of time. For whatever reason, FBI agent Callie Farris (Julianne Moore) is convinced that Johnson is the real deal and tries to enlist his help in defusing a nuclear bomb threat by French terrorists. But all Johnson wants to do is get to know his lady love, who, eventually walks into the diner right when he knew she would.
Next’s pre-Terminator 2 computer-generated effects are endlessly distracting, but the film’s greatest flaw is that it introduces ideas of destiny and determinism and the role (if any) of freewill yet doesn’t explore them. By being able to look into the future, Johnson is able to choose the best possible personal outcome, but as he explains, “every time you look at the future, you change it.” In seeing the future, it’s a given that Johnson will act to preserve his own existence and whatever interests him, which seemingly eliminates freewill.
Taking the loss of freewill idea even further, when Johnson is caught by the FBI and forced to help, his individual rights are trampled on in favor of the many who could die in a nuclear explosion. It’s funny that the strength of our political system places the power in the individual and collective “we,” but we are quick to forfeit our rights in service of the “greater good”. It’s a slippery slope that could lead to a unified loss of all individual rights to preserve our own lives.
Unfortunately, these are topics that the movie barely mentions. It’s more concerned with fancy future fast-forwarding effects and twisting what happens next. The problem is that when the major dramatic twist happens, there is no thematic substance to hold onto and you suddenly realize that you’ve just wasted 2 hours and $10+ on a gimmick. Had the move delved into some sort of subtext and offered something in the way of thematic substance, then the deal-breaker twist wouldn’t be so empty. Instead, Next is a great example of an action movie light show – quick, meaningless and not worth remembering.
4What if you could see two minutes into the future? Would you use your powers for good or would you make a killing in Vegas? You probably would avoid a few embarrassing moments, but how much can a couple of extra minutes really get you? If you believe Next, the new movie starring Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore and the increasingly-hot Jessica Biel, a power like that would mostly just be a pain in the ass. Cage plays Cris Johnson, a Las Vegas showroom magician who didn't do a very good job of keeping his superpower secret and underwent examinations as a child to figure out just what was wrong with the weird kid. Cris actually does live in Vegas, making a small living with his power, although not drawing too much attention to it. It's only when the world needs him, when a terrorist group threatens to detonate a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles, that Cris goes from gambling with his cash to gambling with the fate of humanity. But is the latest in a long line of Nicolas Cage movies that didn't screen for critics what's really "next" or will it be closer to "last" when you list your favorite movies of 2007?
It will probably be somewhere in the middle. The first startling thing about Next is that there's absolutely no explainable reason that it's been kept from critics. Sure, this trip to Vegas with Cage isn't quite like when he won an Oscar for trying to leave the city of sin, but it's also far more enjoyable than most of the action movies that actually have screened for critics. Yes, it's completely and totally ridiculous, but there's a spirit and an energy in Next, very much propelled by the cast and the action chops of Lee Tamahori (Die Another Day), that's missing from most movies. By the end of Next, which features a twist that is so ridiculous that you almost have to be impressed that it even got filmed, you'll likely have suspended disbelief and gone along for the ride. You should be warned that the ending will definitely leave some moviegoers feeling cheated, but in an era of predictable movies, it's kind of impressive to see something so completely shocking in the final reel.
变形金刚2
so far in the year 2009, only one film truly kept me at the end of my seat and that was Star Trek. Terminator Salavtion was a close second (which you people aka worstpreviews staff ripped apart for some ridiculous reason) but now here comes the film I personally thought would be THE blockbuster of 2009 and thought you guys would love. I read your review and thought what a great to say absolutely nothing about it. You rip Michael Bay apart for making a film to smash robots nto one another. Listen you guys used to be a healthy alternative to the horrible critics who only like artsy films such as Slumdog Millionaire and rip apart good movies such as Transformers. So worstpreviews, way to drop the ball on a great movie.
Onto my review: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, hits all the right notes. To the amazing CG and perfect fight scenes, to the just right amount of dialogue and comedic relief, Bay creates a masterpiece that rivals the original. The highlight was definately the fight scene in the woods with Optimus owning the Decepticons. Only low point was Sam's roommate who was a little annoying. So users of Worstpreviews, listen to me when I say that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, is nothing shy of EPIC. And again a big FAIL to the staff, how about you take a movie for what it is and not try to make every movie be like what YOU want.
2
It’s no secret that I LOVE Transformers. I grew up playing with the toys as a kid. Aside from the Star Wars prequels I’ve never looked forward to a movie as much as I did for the first Transformers a couple of years ago… and I LOVED the first movie (weaknesses and all). So it’s no surprise that Transfomers 2 (aka Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) has been my #1 most anticipated movie of the year.
The other night I had a chance to go and see it in IMAX here in Los Angeles and I can tell you this right up front. This movie is bigger than the last one, has more action than the last one, has better effects than the last one but over all is not as good as the last one. As one friend of mine wrote to me “It’s more spectacular than the first one… but not as good”.
My dear heavens I never would have thought that the effects in Transformers could be outdone… but Transformers 2 did it. The Autobots and Decepticons look far more real and awe inspiring than they did in the first one. They become especially impressive when you see them interacting with real world actors and sets. It’s so hard to believe that these gigantic warriors aren’t real. Exactly what Transformers fans wanted.
The action. Holy sweet nuts cakes the action! This movie just goes and goes and goes. The movie OPENS with a HUGE scale action sequence that just makes your jaw hit the floor in amazement. “This is what they’re STARTING the movie with?!?!” went through my head a couple of times in the first 60 seconds. So many more action sequences and battles than the first one. Exactly what Transformers fans wanted.
There is A LOT more screen time for the Autobots and Decepticons than in the first film (something that a bigger budget allowed for I guess). We even get to see a much longer Megatron/Starscream squabble which is something painfully missing from the first movie. Exactly what Transformers fans wanted.
There is a much deeper history revealed about the Transformers in this flick that I thought added some much needed richness to the whole mythology of the Cybertonian race. We learn more about “The Primes” (a certain leadership sect within the Transformers of which Optimus is obviously a direct descendant of). We learn more about Energon (no, we don’t get to see “Energon Cubes” unfortunately) and the history of the Transformers on earth as well as the grander plans (evil ones… dun dun duuuunnnhhhh) the decepticons have for Earth. Exactly what Transformers fans wanted.
Yes, it seems Transformers 2 takes all the good things about the first movie and builds on them. Exactly what Transformers fans wanted. BUT… they unfortunately also built on all the first movie’s weaknesses and put them on steroids, which leads us too…