Real Joker Pictures online!

I promised official pictures of the Joker from the upcoming film The Dark Knight, and here they are! These are not press releases, but spy pictures from the set.

For these and more, head on over to IESB.net.

Movie Reviews: Transformers and Evan Almighty

Transformers

rated PG-13 for intense action violence, brief sexual humor, and language

Directed by Michael Bay

Overall rating: 3 out of 4 stars

Filmmaking: 31/2 out of 4 stars

Moral rating: 2 out of 4 stars

The latest blood pumping adrenaline flick to hit screens this summer is Michael Bay's mega million blockbuster Transformers. Based on the popular Hasbro toys and the tv show from several years ago, Transformers promised.....and delivered.

The story revolves around the struggle over a powerful cube called the All Spark that the Decepticons (that would be the bad guys) are trying to get, so that they can conquer the universe. Fortunately for mankind, the awesome Autonomous Robots ("You can call us Autobots" one bot quips in the film) are here to protect us and get their hands on the All Spark first. Intertwined into this are the stories of Sam, a teenager whose first car happens to be the ultra cool Autobot "Bumblebee" and some soldiers who have faced a Decepticon in combat and are trying to get back home to their families. Featuring solid performances by relatively new actors like Shia Lebeouf and Megan Fox, enhanced by veterans like Josh Duhamel and Jon Voight, Transformers never loses the audience.

Action and effects wise, this features perhaps the best visual effects ever seen on screen. The robots were convincing and more importantly, cool; and the fight sequences were jaw dropping. At times the action got a bit frenetic, but as it was supposed to come from Sam's point of view, it worked. However, the fighting was intense, and I would not reccomend taking anyone under 13.

Moral content is the greatest stumbling block of this movie. Language was coarse, featuring several s words, a cut off mf, and many other minor words. Sexual content was surprisingly high, featuring several jokes and uncomfortably frank discussions on the subject. Also, the lead female character wore very revealing clothing throughout the entire film, both midriff and cleavage baring.

Overall, I really enjoyed Transformers. It was very realistic, but far enough removed to allow audiences to enjoy the movie. The effects are certainly the best so far this year, but it makes me sad to see a sharp rise in the amount of offensive content in movies targeted to kids

Evan Almighty

rated PG for some rude humor

Directed by Tom Shadyac

Overall Rating: 3 out of 4 stars

Moviemaking: 21/2 out of 4 stars

Moral Rating: 4 out of 4 stars

Evan Almighty is a surprisingly refreshing film about Anchorman-turned-congressman Evan Baxter (Steve Carrel), who is instructed by God (Morgan Freeman) to build an ark. The expected panic ensues, people make fun of Evan, his appearance goes crazy (His assistant played by the lovely Wanda Sykes exclaims upon viewing his hair "You look like a Bee Gee!"), and his family leaves him.

Through these problems however, Evan realizes that he needs to obey God, even at the risk of losing everything he has.....which he does. God has other things in store for Noah, errr Evan, and talks to his wife (played by Lauren Graham of Gilmore Girls fame), and teaches her a lesson about faith.

All that the Baxter family wants is to grow closer, but God makes it clear....If they pray for their family to grow closer, is He going to just give them warm fuzzies? Or is He going to give them the opportunity to act as a family by staying together. I am sure you can guess what happened next.

The story is basically a modern retelling of Noah's Ark, with a funny cast, and good morals. As the Baxters did in this ultra clean comedy, so will your family grow closer from watching Evan Almighty.