FROM MTV MOVIES: As even Michael Bay has admitted, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" had almost nowhere to go but up after the writers' strike-affected, audience-alienating previous installment.
And insofar as Bay and company had something to prove — and to improve — this time around, they've succeeded. While "Dark of the Moon" isn't currently the highest rated film in the franchise, according to the Rotten Tomatoes review aggregator, the general consensus among critics is that the new 3-D flick is best of the "Transformers" bunch.
That's not to suggest reviews have been universally positive; many have been as brutal to the film as the film's robots have been to certain American cities. Reviewers have taken issue with poor plotting, weak characters and brain-scrambling action set pieces. But then there are a slew of reviewers utterly onboard with what Bay has created, celebrating some of the finest 3-D visuals since "Avatar" and a story that is the most fully fleshed out of the series. For those opinions and others, take a deep dive into the "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" reviews.
The Story
"A sweet prologue (marred only by a phony-looking digital JFK) recounts the war for Cybertron and the real reason behind the U.S.-Soviet space race of the 1960s. Cut to the present where Sam Witwicky (LaBeouf) struggles to find his first post-college job, while the Autobots led by Optimus Prime and the U.S. military's NEST team led by Lt. Col. Lennox (Josh Duhamel) work in tandem to take out the remaining Decepticons around the world. However, the evil 'bots eventually get the upper hand and begin an invasion to conquer the Earth with Chicago as Ground Zero in this final war between the Autobots/humans and Decepticons. There's more going on, but for the sake of spoilers we'll keep it at that. Transformers: Dark of the Moon definitely has more of a plot than either of its predecessors. There are genuine stakes this time." — Jim Vejvoda, IGN
Episode Title: "Baelor"
So… that happened.
Episode Title: "You Win Or You Die"
Episode Title: "A Golden Crown"
'Game Of Thrones' Recap: Episode 10, 'Fire And Blood'
Posted 6/20/11 11:14 am EST by Terri Schwartz in Commentary, Reviews, TV
Story: Winter has finally arrived. Picking up immediately from where "Baelor" left off, "Fire and Blood" delivered everything that "Game of Thrones" excels at: political intrigue, a great leap forward on the battlefront, and even the first sincere fantasy outing of the series.
And then there were the dragons.
In the season finale, Dany makes some bold new steps as Khaleesi, Jon Snow takes a long, hard look at his role as a man of the Night's Watch, and Robb Stark becomes the King of the North. Oh, and Sansa and Catelyn actually show some spunk, and Arya is suddenly... a boy?
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Tags Game of Thrones