DARN THAT ZAC EFRON!

Darn that Zac Efron! Why was he born so late?

I've seen all 3 High School Musical movies, courtesy of my kids, and I really appreciated Zac Efron. I've also seen him in Hairspray and I thought he really got talent. But it wasn't until I saw his movie "17 Again" that I started to see him in a diferent light. He's one hot, hunky dude! And he's definitely grown up! I can feel my heart fluttering when he walked in slo-mo in that "makeover-to-17" scene. Damn that kid, why did he have to be so darn yummy? And to make matters worse, he was having scenes with this "older" woman that was his movie wife! I could hear myself sigh and groan wistfully. Vanesssa hudgens is one lucky girl! What I would give to be in her shoes for just one day, haha!

Moviewise, the plot is nothing new, another one of those "transformation" movies where the hero finds ways to redeem himself or herself or find a way to redo things in the past...pretty much ho-hum. But casting Zac Efron? That was the saving grace, haha! I find the movie refreshingly funny, and I certainly enjoyed it better than "The Hangover".

Oh, dear, does this mean I'll be collecting Zac Efron movies? Hmmm...we'll see...

MY TRANSFORMERS2: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN EXPERIENCE

Okay, after months of anticipation, I finally got to watch the much-talked about sequel. Of course, I resisted the urge to see it on the very first day when the theaters were jampacked. That would have been an exasperating experience with all those jostling bodies, bobbing heads, and noisy commentaries during the movie. My kids and I watched it on the second to the last day of its first week. Even then, there was still a considerable number of moviegoers, proving the movie's global box-office sell.

What do I think? Hmm...when my fifth-grade son asked me "wasn't Bumblebee's voicebox fixed at the end of the first movie?" I couldn't answer him. Then we got lost in the action-packed movie scenes, and I just stopped thinking. We went home with our heads still reeling from the action. We were on a high, what a ride. Great, amazing movie, exactly the kind of movie that will make you forget your problems and worries.

Later, when I was considerably subdued, I started thinking. Then I found myself asking some questions. Days after the movie opened, I deliberately avoided reading reviews of the movie because I didn't want to be influenced. Now I found out that it didn't fare too well with the critics. Okay, fine, for its entertainment value, I give it a 10. I think that's the only thing that matters to the producers. But I couldn't help but agree with some of the critics. I found an article exactly mirroring my sentiments and questions.

1. In "Transformers," there was this giant battle in the middle of downtown Los Angeles -- excuse me, Mission City -- that was witnessed by thousands of people at the very least. But somehow the government was able to cover up the whole thing, and now the existence of alien robots is just an internet rumor? How did they do it? Pay off everyone who was there and quickly fix millions of dollars in damage? Also, didn't Keller (Jon Voight) go on TV and tell everyone we were being attacked by "a technological civilization far superior to our own"? How did they spin that?

2. There are two pieces of the Allspark cube left: the military has one under lock and key, and Sam discovers another. The Decepticons steal one and bring Megatron back to life. But when Sam (Shia LaBeouf) wants to bring back Optimus, he has to find the Matrix of Leadership on the other side of the globe. Why not use the other piece? Mikaela (Megan Fox) has it in her backpack the whole time. It brought his kitchen appliances to life, why can't it do the same for Optimus?

To read more of these questions, and the gaping holes in the plot, click the link:

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/smg-transformers-10-questions.html

But what do we care, right? We had a blast, it was FUN, that's all that matters.