Prince of Persia.

I'll go ahead and say it...PoP is not a bad movie at all. Was it some mind blowing masterpiece? No. But for being a cheesy action movie based on a cheesy action video game, it succeeds.

The story, like most video game movies, was pretty bad. It follows the story of Dastan, an adopted prince. During the movie's first big fight, he comes across a dagger that allowed him to turn back time. The catch? every time the dagger is used, the gods get pissed off and want to destroy the world. He then meets a princess who turns out to be the dagger's sacred guardian...and they set off to hide the dagger so it can't be used for evil.

The best part about this movie were the visuals and action. The effects used for when the dagger is used were great. It was this mixture of a sand storm like effect and dissolving skin. The action sequences were very acrobatic in nature, much like the game. It was all very well choreographed.

The acting, for the most part, was competent although nothing spectacular. Jake Gyllenhaal was pretty good. He had this roguish charm that I loved. The love interest, Gemma Arterton, of the film did as good a job as anyone could of. My big complaint was the utter lack of any chemistry between the two. Unfortunately, Ben Kingsley was awful as the villain. The fact that he was a villain was not hid very well. Evil grin, black clothing=not very subtle.

The music was pretty good. Harry Gregson Williams did a mix of desert music(Not sure what else to call it...) minor guitar riffs for the Hassansins, and fast paced violins.

I think I can safely recommend this movie to most people. It is the best video game adaptation out there, although the bar wasn't very high in the first place.

Iron Man 2

I went into this movie with average expectations. Not because I thought it would be a bad movie, but because I didn't think it could live up to the original. In the end, it didn't. It was still a great movie though, with some improvements. My main complaint of the movie was the plausibility of some of the events. There's genius inventor and then there's a fucking miracle worker. My other complaint is that it felt more like an Avengers prequel than it did an Iron Man sequel.

The story was the weakest part of the movie. It just didn't flow together very well like the original. Some of the scenes felt forced. Minus one scene, I never sensed an alcohol problem with Stark. I was hoping it would be explored more and they could do the story arc where War Machine takes over.

The acting was great for the most part. Robert Downey Jr. was born to play Tony Stark/Iron Man and continues to show this. The movie has a long list of supporting cast so I can't really go through them all, but the villains, Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell, were great. Gwyneth Paltrow was great, once again, as Pepper Pots. The director himself even has a bigger role than he did in the original. The other person worth mentioning is Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow. She was the perfect femme fatale .

The action has vastly improved since the original. There are more action sequences overall, and they were shot much better. The climatic battle was a little disappointing considering the huge buildup throughout the movie. The sequel also had a few aerial battles which were very impressive and well shot.

The music was very good this time around. I actually felt intimidated by the villains theme, thanks to some amazing guitar work by Tom Morello. It had a very heavy guitar riff to it along with some great choir work.

Overall it wasn't as good as Iron Man, but it was still a very fun movie and I highly recommend it. oh, and stay through the credits.