Set in the present time, Agent Salt (Angelina Jolie) lives a life as a FBI (or CIA?) agent, when suddenly a Russian spy states that it is her who will kill the president (or vice president?) of the United States, because she (he claims) is a Russian spy. Yes, you noticed that I don’t remember every detail, and I could’ve gone to Wikipedia or IMDB to find out, but why?

Salt is one of those spy/action adventure movies that are pure entertainment, that one cannot demand too much information because it is not necessary. Yes, we can try to figure out all the double (even triple or quadruple) crossing between agents and what not, but why should we?

This movie gives us amazing chasing scenes (yes, with the extreme use of CG) that leave us wondering if all that could be true, could we be safe? Anyways, the movie starts somewhat slow and with a bit of history for our character, and then the whole odyssey starts.

Agent Salt runs, jumps, shoots, gets shot at, thinks, kills, avoids getting killed…and what are we to do? Sit down, get comfortable, and enjoy this great blockbuster.

However, towards the end of the movie, you end up realizing that the movie doesn’t have that much time to ‘finish things’, and so you are left with an ending that somewhat leaves us needing (and wanting) for a sequel.

Agent Salt is added in my that list of highly entertainment movies, along the lines (but not beside) Raiders, Pirates and Speed Racer…Salt gets 3.5 double-crossing Russian agents, out of 5…and a large popcorn bucket!

BATTLE FOR TERRA
| PG | 85 min | Starring Evan Rachel Wood, Brian Cox, James Garner, Chris Evans, Luke Wilson, Justin Long… | Directed by Aristomenis Tsirbas |

Why is Battle for Terra so different than many other films, including some Pixar films? Because it is highly realistic in what the film is about. Whereas in Wall-E we  had hope to fix Earth, in BfT (Battle for Terra) there is no more hope, there is no more home. The reason? After a ‘civil war’ (there is nothing civil about war) between colonized planets (one including Mars) and Earth, all three are destroyed, forcing humanity to find a new planet in the depths of the galaxy.

What are some things that make this movie realistic? Because it boasts one of the most realistic and believable living ships around since 2001:A Space Odyssey, and thankfully, taking cue from it.

What is BfT about? It’s a movie about humans invading an alien world, and how both the humans and Terrans deal with the clash of needs, the need for a home, the need of survival.

Why should YOU watch this movie? Because it’s a movie that moves at a really good pace, has a real good story, good plot twists, and because it is different from the rest of the animated films (most of them talking animals). This is a thought provoking movie…during the movie, you will find yourself not knowing which side to side with, which one to support…the humans because of their need for a home that will provide a way of living, or the Terrans with their right to own the planet?

How does the movie look and sound? The blu-ray boasts an excellent transfer, with a very reliable and dynamic soundtrack.

During the extras (I watched all of them, nothing more than 30 minutes overall, not including the commentary which I did not listen to), the director talks about the evolution of the project; his early project involved real life acting with CG elements, but it had to evolve to animation in order to get produced. Without a doubt, his first vision would’ve been much mature and more acceptable than the animation.

In the end, Battle for Terra succeeds at being a somewhat mature, interesting, engaging, but most of all thought provoking film…I give it, four flying whales, out of five…and a large popcorn bucket!! Queue It Up!!! Enjoy it!!!!!

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TERMINATOR SALVATION
| PG-13 (!) | 115 min | Starring Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin… | Directed by McG | 2009 |

From a fans’ standpoint, Terminator Salvation is a triumph because it was done. From a real fan from the franchise standpoint, we’re glad it’s back, but not really.

This time around the story is simple. Regardless of your belief in time travel (we could go on and on and on…), the war is on, the machines have the high ground while the resistance is the underdog. John Connor (Christian Bale) is not the leader (yet), because the ‘high rankers’ of the resistance don’t believe in the prophecy (uhm, we’re not in Matrix, you know). We have a new terminator/human called Marcus (Sam Worthington) that is trying to get into Skynet to know the truth of what happened to him (he was a dead row inmate who donated his body to Skynet…hence why he’s still alive). Thanks to him, Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) is alive…but he is taken into Skynet in a really nice scene (which reminds me of A.I. and War of the Worlds). So the resistance wants to ‘terminate’ (no pun intended) Skynet with this ‘thing’ they acquired that helps them defeat terminators, but they want to nuke it, and John wants to save Kyle Reese…

I’ll define this movie as The Matrix meets War of the Worlds meets Transformers meets A.I. meets Terminator, with a result that is far from good, in fact it is pretty horrendous. We have Christian Bale (yet again) in an iconic role STILL doing his throat cancer voice! and he still not providing a performance worth of John Connor. Kate Brewster (Bryce Dallas Howard), John’s wife, is underused to say the least, only in the movie to provide for another known (I said known, not well known) name.

The characters that shine are Marcus and Kyle Reese, specially because the performances the actors give are remarkably good, they interact remarkably good, and they just look great on screen. This could be basically Marcus’ story as to how he saved the resistance, or how he helped in the defeat of the resistance. Oh, and also to note is a ‘digital cameo’ from Arnold as THE Terminator fighting against Connor in Skynet.

The plot goes here and there, with no real surprises and big holes in making sense. The biggest example is the chase scene involving the resistance  and Marcus. After he is captured by the resistance, he escapes with the help of a soldier (female) and is chased outside the resistance’s main hideout…you would think that they would be careful not to make any ‘noise’, but no, John Connor decides to use all the explosives (which we assume are there to protect themselves from a final imminent attack from the machines) to try to kill him…and the machines don’t find out! specially since there were machines in the small lake where the helicopter crashes because of those explosions…

I had big expectations, but after looking at the Transformer big Terminator in the trailer and those bikes, well, I knew something was wrong…and it was. If you are a Terminator fan, you will enjoy this the first time, because it delves into a bit of all the mythology that Sarah Connor (who makes a cameo via tapes) always told us would happen, and gives us a bigger glimpse into what the war is like. But this movie doesn’t give us anything that we crave, actual encounters, Connor actually in control, character development…this movie fails miserably. Sorry, it’s true. Go on and buy The Terminator, T2 and T3 on blu-ray…

In the end, Terminator Salvation fails at being a respectable Terminator movie because it fails at delivering any sense of character, any real interesting plot, or anything for us to care for. This movie gets a two out of five…no popcorn! Just queue it up for later, a lot later…