Underdog Movie Trailer

Movie Review: Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Having beat down the Deceptacons twice already, Prime and his crew are helping us out as military liaisons while Sam gets a job in the real world.  But before anyone can get too comfortable, information about a covert mission on the moon reveals a sinister secret that will put the entire planet at risk.

When it comes to the Transformers I happen to be one of those people who grew up loving the original cartoon series and toys.  Despite the fact that most films based upon these types of cartoons are coming out a generation late, I was still flushed with youthful exuberance and childlike glee when I first found out Transformers would finally become a movie.  When I heard Michael Bay would be directing, I felt even more at ease because although some critics like to throw pot shots at Bay, there’s no denying that he’s brought us some of the best action films of the past decade.  When it comes to action, intensity, adrenaline pumping scores, comic relief and yes, explosions, who better than Bay to make it all happen consistently well.

The first Transformers film was exactly that; a breakout film to test the waters and because of that I can overlook some of the easier nitpicking that came with it.  The second film suffered from too many issues to ignore, and not just from a fan’s perspective (devastator turning into a dog with testicles), but from an editing, plot and overall script perspective as well.  In light of this, many people lost faith in the idea of another sequel.  The trailer for DARK OF THE MOON peaked my interest with the cover-up mission within a mission with Neil Armstrong and the Cold War moon landing.  That right there was an ingenious hook that worked well within the film.  I liked what they did with the story, the ship landing on the moon was especially cool because it mimics the original cartoon’s beginning only here the ship crashes on the moon with one Autobot rather than on Earth with all of them.  Yes, I would have preferred something like this in the first film but it’s better late than never.

The casting choices and character arcs also impressed me this time around.  The roster for this film kept getting bigger and bigger (sort of how THE DARK KNIGHT RISES is going) which sometimes can be disastrous but here worked out rather well.  First, congrats to Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, she was the underdog here due to the ridiculous Megan Fox debacle and as far as I’m concerned, she did just fine.  Fox’s beauty comes off snobbish whether she intends for it to or not and Huntington felt more like an adorable, sweet girl next door, a perfect match for Sam’s off the wall character.  And speaking of The Beef, Shia rocked out as Sam, bringing the action and all sorts of laughs.  Now the rest of the human cast all got fit in but John Malkovich and Ken Jeong were the surprising diamonds in the rough who really added to the experience.

'Moneyball' Trailer: An Unusual Underdog Sports Story « Teak Film

Is based on Michael M. Lewis’ 2003 non-fiction book, “Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game”. It focuses on Beane’s successful attempt to put together a strong team – while being constricted by a relatively small budget – by selecting players based on more objective criteria (ex. on-base and slugging percentages) rather than traditionally valued qualities such as batting average or number of stolen bases.

In addition to Pitt, the film’s cast also includes Jonah Hill as Peter Brand (a pseudonym for Beane’s real-life assistant, Paul DePodesta) and Oscar-winner Phillip Seymour Hoffman as A’s manager Art Howe. Moneyball might suffer from is simply the technical nature of the subject matter. The task of explaining all the necessary sports statistics and jargon – while also telling a captivating story about a man defying the odds and leading his team to success – is not exactly an easy one. Hence why having guys like Zallian and Sorkin handling the screenplay is such a good idea.