Caffeinated Clint
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Haven’t done one of these in a while, so thought I maybe I should – – CM.
I just got back from a sneak preview of Real Steel. The studio sent the film to our military base for a viewing of the film, I figured I would write a small review for you guys since I use your website for all my movie news. I am the guy who sent you the scoop about the avengers trailer being shown after Captain American, then the other sites stole the article and did not give your site any mention, I hope they do not steal this again.
The movie starts out with Charlie Kenton a former boxer played by Hugh Jackman driving to a County Fair somewhere in Texas to fight his Robot against a Bull. When he gets there he sees the bull is a lot bigger then he anticipated and talks with the manager Ricky played by Kevin Durand. Ricky tells him that he will raise the sakes and bets Charlie $20,000. Charlie accepts the bet and needless to say his Robot gets destroyed. Charlie tried to take off without paying Ricky, then two guys catch him and tell him his ex-girlfriend has died and he has an eleven year old son named Max that he has custody hearing he has to attend. Charlie goes to the hearing wanting to give full custod to the ex-girlfriends sister then he sees the sister has a rich husband. He talks to the husband and agrees to give full custody of the child for 100 grand but the husband says Charlie will have to watch the kid for the summer so they can go on vacation. He gets half the money up front and the other half when they return. Charlie gets the kid and uses the money to buy a famous Japanese robot named Noisy Boy who is voice operated. Charlie and Max go to a underground fight club for robots and Charlie demands the main event against the robot Midas. Again his new robot gets destroyed.
Charlie and max go to a robot junk yard to find some parts to build a new robot. Max slips slides into a giant pit and almost dies but a arm of a robot sticking out of the ground catches his jacket. Max digs up the arm and finds that there is a whole robot underneath named Atom. They take him back and fix fix him up and see that Atom has a shadow feature that allows him to mimic the movements of his operator, but the primary use of this robot is for sparing not fighting. Max convinces Charlie to get Atom a fight. Atom wins his first fight controlled by Max. Max takes some old parts from Noisy Boy and installs them into Atom so he is voice operated. Max asks Charlie to operate Atom and Charlie agrees on the condition Max uses the shadow feature to dance with the Atom before the fights to entertain the crowd. They win couple more fights until Charlie and Max get invited to fight in a match for the Robot boxing League. The league owner has heard about Atom and offers them 100 grand to buy their robot so she can use him to Spar with the world champion robot named Zeus. Max declines the offer and after Atom wins his first professional fight. After the match Max grabs the microphone from the announcer and challenges Zeus to box Atom causing the crowd to cheer in excitement. Charlie and Max go back to their truck and find Ricky and two other guys waiting to collect their money, the men beat up Charlie and Max and steal their money.
Charlie takes Max back to his Aunt and Uncle early and so Max does not get hurt anymore. Charlie went home and talked to his girlfriend Bailey who convinced him that he needs to fight. So Charlie goes back to get Max and go to fight Zeus for the Championship. The crowd is behind Atom but the first three round Atom takes a beating but continues to get back up and lands a few good shots on Zeus. Zeus lands a huge punch on heads head causing Charlies voice operated headset to stop working. Max switches Atom to shadow mode so Charlie can operate him manually. This is where the fight turns in Atoms favor. Atom is now lands huge shots and knocks down Zeus but he gets up just before the fight ends. Zeus wins the fight based on the scorecard but the crown deems Atom as the Winner. The movie ends with Charlie holding Max on his Shoulder in the ring with the crowd cheering.
Overall the movie was good. Hugh Jackman does a great job acting making you believe he could actually be a boxer. The actor who plays Max comes off a bit annoying in some scenes especially the one where he challenges Zeus. The robot fight scenes are well done and although they do not look as good as the Transformers movies, they are good enough not to take away from the movie. The biggest problem I had was the amount promotional advertising in the movie. Lets just says Dr. Pepper must have contributed quite a bit of money to have Max continuously drinking their product. The advertising is very prevalent throughout the final act with sponsers such as sprint, Citibank, bing, and Xbox 720 being advertised. (remember this movie is set in the future) I enjoyed this much more then Shawn Levy’s previous picture Night at the Museum 2. I enjoyed the original Night at the Museum but did not think it required a sequel. Which has me wondering where do they plan on going with the already annouced Real Steel 2? – ERIC
Thanks Eric!; yes a few of the team here have caught the film and I know a couple of them feel the same way you do about the film. I haven’t seen it myself, I was too busy cleaning the drool off my plasma (damn that “Showgirls : VIP Edition”!), but I’ll see it only because I’m a huge fan of Shawn Levy’s work – I mean, this was the guy that had us convinced Bonnie Hunt could look that good after having 12 tots pop out of her wee spot! Frickin’ magician!
Clint,
Liked your “Footloose” review buddy, but will the guy Kenny Wormald go onto anything else?- STEPHEN
Stephen,
Nah, he’ll probably end up on a milk carton like the guy that played Ren McCormack in the original. In all seriousness, I think he will – he’s a good actor but more so, has a great look. Just quietly, he’s one of the names being tossed about as a possible Johnny Castle for the “Dirty Dancing” remake.
Yo,
what are the picks of the new TV shows of the Fall? – CHRISSY
Long time no e-speak Chrissy,
I haven’t seen them all yet but of those that I’ve seen I really liked “Persons of Interest”, “Up All Night”, and “Revenge”. And though they’ll probably outstay their welcome by the time Christmas rolls around, “Secret Circle”, “New Girl”, “2 Broke Girls” and “Terra Nova” have their moments. I really disliked “The Playboy Club”, “Ringer” and “Whitney”. Still have to watch “Hart of Dixie”, “Prime Suspect” (which I’m really looking forward to) and “Charlie’s Angels” – the latter of which I don’t think I’ll be bothering with.
I’m so jealous, you got to meet Taylor Lautner! What was he like!? Is he hot!? – JAMIE
Because of my health, and my pale as ‘Powder’ complexion at the moment, Ashleigh is doing the on-camera interviews at the moment (I’m there too, behind the camera and boom, producing as some might call it) and she thought he was a terrific chap. She said she actually felt sorry for the guy because you could tell there’s some sadness underneath stemming from the pressure that’s fallen upon his shoulders to climb higher and higher. I just had to bite my tongue and not tell him how I felt about “Abduction”.
Do you like film soundtracks dude? Any favourite composers? Who should I listen to? – BEN
Ben,
I’m a huge fan of Tangerine Dream, who of course did “Midnight Express”, “Risky Business” etc, Angelo Badalamenti (who does all of David Lynch’s flicks and more recently, “Drive”), Georgio Moroder, who did “Top Gun” and “Electric Dreams” among others; and as a huge “Superman” and “Star Wars” fan, I can’t deny my love of Johnny Williams.
Actually, here’s a taste of some of these peoples workies :
Have you seen that Aussie movie The Cup about the Jockey? – LISA
Yep. No comment until embargo lifts. Now trot off.
Any word on that “Lethal Weapon” reboot movie? – CHRIS
There’s a chance it might not end up a “Lethal Weapon” remake – thank god. Apparently the script has gone the route of “Prometheus” in that it’s taking the form of it’s own stand-alone, original story. Don’t blame me if the two lead actors are a frizzy-haired mad-man and sweaty black man though.
I presume you’ve seen the remake of “The Thing”? Should I be scared, man? – POULTRY249
Poultry,
Yes. Only thing I’m allowed to tell you is – it’s a prequel and Mary Elizabeth Winstead has killer storks.
You guys are all “Star Wars” freaks, tell me where some of those deleted scenes and extras can be found on the internet? – MERLIN
Merlin,
For calling us ‘freaks’, I considered pointing you in the direction of a grandmas-with-toys website that comes complete with viral infection and twenty-five pop-ups.. but instead, since I feel generous, I’ll include a couple below. But you have heard that George Lucas needs cash right now, yeah? So please pick up a copy of the Blu-ray set.
Guessing you’ll know the film as soon as I mention it – it had Gregory Hines in it, and it was a thriller. But a Russian dancer was in it. What is it called? I need to find this movie – LANE
Lane,
“White Nights”. 1985. Hines and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Some remember it best for it’s dance sequences, others remember it better for it’s Lionel Ritchie theme song.
