IP Man 2

Just Cant Wait!!!

Transformer : Revenge of the Fallen @ Movie Review

It’s so loud and funny, that it was pure entertainment for the full 2.5 hours.

Yeah..yeah...i know i'm abit outdated to watch this now.

Terminator Salvation @ Movie Review

The whole show was quite flat from the beginning to the end. It felt like a straight forward journey to the end without much twist or elements for surprises. No, Marcus Wright wasn’t a twist. It was more like a necessity. Just a necessity to even have the story. Perhaps I expected too much for the character Marcus Wright to be that of a wild card.

And the whole show kind of stuck to the formula of having to protect someone important. While I couldn’t say it shouldn’t be that way, after all this was what the series built on, but it just felt mundane. Towards the end, it was just a parade of cliches and hero gungho-ness.

However, having seatde in a THX cinema did make the whole movie process a lil extra kick.

Star Trek @ Movie Review

Must say this was one of the many shows that I was looking forward to. It didn’t exactly disappoint, but it didn’t deliver either. To be frank, I was no fan of Star Trek to begin with. In fact, my command of the language was so bad that I’ve no idea what was on TV back then when I was a kid. Never could understand why would someone watch something that was almost action-less, all dialogs.

The reboot came as a good time I guess. I got reintroduced to these beloved characters and the world. It was in fact very fun to watch. All the sci-fi, almost practical, fed into my dull brain there and then. The stark contrast of the species, Human and Vulcan, in truth, brought me to understand the love for the series. Human after all, are interesting. It was entertaining.

The acting was great as well. James T. Kirk the unblievable human and Spock the all too logical Vulcan, brought many smiles and moments to the show.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans @ Movie Review

This prequel tried to showcase the beginning of the feud between the Vampires and Werewolves. It should have made a very interesting story, but it definitely wasn’t the case.

First, all of us who had watch Underworld and Underworld Evolution would have already know the ending for this prequel. Lucian (Michael Sheen) lived, and so did Viktor (Bill Nighy). Else, where would the first two installments come from? This would actually means there aren’t much to look forward to the ending. And so I placed my hope on the process to it.

And that led to this second point, the whole story revolved around a much more constraint location. Given that it was medieval age and mobility ain’t high, but it just seemed so much more undeveloped overall. It was all around a castle-prison and almost nothing else. Heck, it seemed the humans already acknowledge the existent of the Bats and Wolves. But how did all these end up being legend to the mass population come 21st century? And can’t they just throw in a Van Helsing type of character just to spice things up?

While the points above showcased most of my doubts and thus making the show almost unwatchable, it became more apparent when almost 70% of the story had been told verbally, and the other 30% visually from the past two installments! It was definitely boring, as if watching a recap.

Pink Panther 2 @ Movie Review

Following his success in recovering the Pink Panther Diamond, Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Steve Martin)was hailed as the world greatest detective. But due to some jealousy and politics, he was sent to traffic duties.

However, at the same time, a theif nicknamed “The Tornado” started stealing valuable treasures worldwide. Hence, a Dream Team was formed, with Clouseau in it. Then we follow through the investigation process, with a little bit of sidelined story of romance, that followed the trend in the first where comedy took over more than seriousness.

Must say, it was a very laughable affair. The jokes, while stupid, did really put loud laughs, wide smiles and many grins on the crowd in the theater. But of course, if anyone were to expect seriousness would gladly be disappointed. While the comedies were abundant, it perhaps fallen short of some of the mystery from the first.

Things seemed so much more straight away. There wasn’t a huge twist at the very end. In fact, unfortunately, it made Clouseau almost a genius to have (kind of) planned for it.

Go for it and have a good laugh.

Fung Wan @ Movie Review

I’ve never read the original comic, the only thing I knew of the series would be of the first movie. It seemed this animated version continued right after Feng, and Yun, defeated Xiong Ba.

Feng was possessed by the Fire Kilin and Yun almost sacrificed himself to save Feng. Then the two brother-in-disciples were separated. The plot thickened when a demon sword was raised and seek the Fire Kilin blood.

Story line definitely was very interesting, but must say the animation fall short. To be frank, most of the scenes were very well painted and dialogs were good. However, the action sequences, perhaps was a case of trying too hard.

Some of the fight sequences were not exactly really fluid. That especially when the characters started throwing big qi powers. However, some were utmost successful and feasting to the eyes.

All’s Well End’s Well 2009 @ Movie Review

What else to do during the CNY holidays?

Watched a fairly good comedy affair, not award winning, and could have been better.

The classic Chinese traditional rules that if the junior marries before the senior, certain traditions have to be followed. In the show, it was brought one step further in that both the junior’s, Bo (Ronald Cheng) soon-to-be-fiance encountered mishap. Great mishap.

So a Love Doctor, Dr. Dick Cho (Louis Koo) (the total opposite of Will Smith’s Hitch) was called in to pick up the elder sister, Sandra (Sandra Ng).

It was set to be a great comedy when more factors showed up in the form of pretty girlfriend, Mun and of course Mun’s ugly friend, stingy fatherly figure and senile parents. Though it was good comedic entertainment, it wasn’t great. The twist that I was expecting fall short. It was a little bit disappointing.

Must say that the performances from most of the actors were good. And some of the gigs that made fun of other modern literature, (Death Note L, over flooding of iPod) were quite memorable.

Street Kings @ Movie Review

Boy, and I thought only Hong Kong makes the best Police & Triad genre movie!

The story was about the corrupt police force in LAPD. Tom Ludlow (Keanue Reeves),a police office from a unit where they did circumvent the rules - including falsifying evidences - just to make sure that the bad guys had it!

Must say it’s definitely practical, but ethical? I can’t say.

Anyway, the show started well with a great situation in showing how far Tom would go. But of course, that wasn’t the main story. The main story however was when Tom’s ex-partner, Terrence Washington (Terry Crews) was brutally murdered with him on the scene.

Feeling guilty, depressed and desperate, Tom began his investigation with the help from Paul “Disco” Diskant (Chris Evans). Down the rabbit hole, and the twist became more bewildering and I must say almost too brutal. Ending was great as well - “What happened to just fucking the bad people?”.

Must say I was impressed by this show. I did not expect it to be so reflective and engaging; albeit confusing at time. The fact that I did only manage to watch it recently, and not on the big screen, made me a little bit regretful.

Cape no.7 @ Movie Review

There were quite a hype regarding this show, including the best Taiwanese movie since. I, however, kept an open mind before letting it starts. In fact, I was prepared for a hard crash. Further, a colleague of mine who had watch it, told me that it’s very heavy on Hokkien - one of the dialect which I am not affluent with. To my surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

First, it didn’t really felt like a Taiwanese production. Pacing, framing, and even the dialog were really class of its own. In fact, I dreaded the whole show to slog on like all the Taiwanese soap-operas do. In fact, it has a story to tell. Maybe trying a wee bit too hard to link the 7 undelivered letters to that of Aga’s and Tomoko’s unlikely romance. It’s a really hard parallelism to draw except for the characters’ nationalities.

The numerous characters in the show fit nicely to represent many values that we should all come to appreciate. Family, love, neighbourly spirit, team work and dream all played out nicely them. Heck, to see the head-strong Uncle Mao (Johnny C.J. Lin) on stage playing his yukin, I couldn’t help but draw parallelism to the many not achieved aspirations in life. Perhaps, one day, everyone will end up that way.

The musics are all very nice. I didn’t expect such a strong delivery from beginning to end. The opening song itself brought up a good rock rhytm to the rest of the show. In fact, I am looking forward to grab a copy of the OST.

Movie Review : Kung Fu Dunk

So I went out yesterday to watch Kung Fu Dunk, a movie starting Jay Chou.

Chou plays an orphaned boy (Shi Kie) who grew up in a martial arts school, and as such is well versed in kung fu. One day he was displaying his exceptional shooting ability by throwing cans into a trash bin, and was picked by Wang Li (Zhang Zi Wei), a poor man who made his living in the streets to be a basketball player.

I read somewhere this movie was supposedly inspired by the best selling manga series Slam Dunk, written by Takehiko Inoue, but in no way does the film resemble the series. There were passing nods to Slam Dunk here and there, but mostly the film went its own way. In fact, I can count on one hand the number of references to its so-called source material.

To my understanding, this is supposed to be the theme movie for the 2008 China Olympics (correct me if I’m wrong). But as a movie, it totally don't have what it takes. Still lack alot of criterias.

The storyboard screwed up, sending the story into the realms of fantasy bordering on the lines of ridiculousness. Fight scenes without any point other than making Jay Chou look cool flood the opening of the movie.

Shi Kei, Ting Wei’s and Xiao Lan’s basketball skills are totally out of this world. Some scenes seemed forced, and didn’t pan out well. Many scenes are over dramatized, going really overboard. Halfway through the movie it gave up the ghost of a basketball story (not that it really had it much in the first place) and went straight into an all out slugfest between Shi Kei’s kungfu masters and the rival team. The ending…heck, everything about it was cheesy.

But entertainment wise, it’s pretty good. Looking past stuff like directing, execution, acting, story, and all other things, its good. It serves a purpose that every movie should perform, that is, to entertain the viewer.

On that aspect, it did an outstanding job. It had me laughing all the way. Seeing the characters pull off impossible dunks and shots and nifty ball-handling was fun. This is one movie where you won’t get bored, where you will feel reasonably happy parting with your money for.

Alvin & The Chipmunks

The sound of their voices is enough to ring a bell. That squeaky, distinctive high-pitched tone is unmistakable. Yup, the Chipmunks are in town and they're here with a bang!

I have to admit that I went into the cinema fearing the worst. You know how Hollywood is when it comes to reviving classics (Garfield anyone?). I grew up watching Alvin and the Chipmunks, the same way I did with Transformers, SilverHawk, Thundercats, Ewok and so on. It's one of those shows that had been re-done a number of times (they debuted in 1958) and disappeared around the early 90s.

One thing's for sure; you can't help but LOVE those chipmunks. They're incredibly cute despite being so life-like. They all have their personalities INTACT, and I believe this was important in order to make the movie work. There's Alvin, being the troublemaker as usual, Simon the smart one and Theodore the adorable one. They are real "characters" here and not just simply plonked-in CGi. And yeah, you won't even mention the word CGi because they blend in so well with the entire movie.

Deservingly the stars of the show, they steal every scene that they're in. Sadly I can't say the same about Jason Lee, who plays their "father-like" care-taker Dave Seville in the movie. Sure, he's funny at times, but boy does he try too hard, seemingly forced most of the time. He does get better towards the end though. David Cross plays an evil music producer Ian (acting's a lil wooden too, but not as bad as Lee), who wishes to exploit the chipmunks to make lots and lots of dough. He's not some overly evil lunatic like most movies, and since it's children's fare, he does fine for his role.

It has a pretty typical feel-good storyline with slight twists here and there, but what makes the Chipmunks movie shine is that it doesn't try to be what it's not. It's entertaining, it's funny, it's cute, it's definitely suitable children to enjoy in time for Christmas. So many times throughout the movie I heard them scream "sooo cuteeee!!! comel gilaaaa!!! awwww!!! eeeee so cuteeeee!!!" at the sight of the chipmunks, which I admit, were sickeningly cute. Especially Theodore with his eating and sleeping habits (check out his "I had a nightmare" scene).

They're mischievous, they're naughty but I'm sure almost every parent can relate to handling children the way Dave has to with the chipmunks. Oh, and how could I miss the most important part? The SINGING! I tell you you'll love the singing... brings back tons of memories as they belt out their original hits, it'll definitely create a new wave of fans as the trailer suggests.

From their classic "Chipmunk Song" (Christmas Don't Be Late) to their timeless "Witch Doctor"... they're just so lovable! Check it out when they belt out modern hits like "Dontcha" and even dress up like P.Diddy (some of them sung at the unlikeliest places). I do hope they come out with a new album because I bet the children will want them. They may as well market chipmunk dolls too while they're at it.

I'll leave the rest as surprises. If you don't mind the slightly numb acting (maybe it's just me) of the live-action people, you'll enjoy this movie. Unless you've got a phobia of rodents, my advice is watch it, you can't go wrong with talking, singing chipmunks~

Little Manhattan

Maybe not everything is supposed to last forever. Certain things are like sky writing, like a really beautiful thing that lasts for a couple moments and then - you know? -- Leslie to Gabe (Little Manhattan)

Everybody has a first love.

The first time you knew the difference between having a crush and loving someone. When you can't sleep at night thinking of her. When her mere presence gave you butterlies in your stomach. Wait a minute, that sounds just like having a crush. Ahh when you're young, there was a thin line that separated crush from love.

Little Manhattan is about "falling in love" when you're in your pre-teens. When you go through the rough and tumble of love that in due time as you get older, you realise is just normal in life.

Indeed, what joy it was to be young and pure, untainted by the world's pains and life's stumbles. Today, older but not necessarily wiser, I am having a difficulty finding ladies attractive, much more start falling in love after countless false starts.

And sometimes, my mind wanders to that first love. How could she be doing now? Is she married? Separated? Children? Does she still blush a beet red on the most trivial of things? So many things have happened, so many changes in all these years, but I still do remember her.

Whatsoever, life goes on.

Damnit, this is what happened when you can't sleep and throw in a DVD and watch it all alone through the night. LoL!!

Movie Review : Battle Royale

It's not really supposed to be horror, more like violence throughout, but no other choice so whatever and I finally finished watching this movie.

I'll try not to write too much. Actually, there's nothing much to write about cos it's just frenzy killings all over, with lots of bloodshed and I really mean A LOT!

The story is basically about these bunch of student, one class selected to undergo this Battle Royale Act ( it's a law made for lousy/or BAD students who skipped classes or just fooling around)

Rules are very simple for this law. They're dumped into this isolated island and then with 3 days limit, they're provided with various weapons, now, if you are lucky, u'll get a machine gun or say...knife or axe...but if not, then u get stuffs like metal lids, or just a binocular...and they have to kill each other off until one stands alive in the end. but if 3 days arrived, and more than one survives, all of them will be blown to death, they have this colar they wear on the neck...so it's simple.

The casts:

1. Shuya----> Apparently he's the main character BUT I dont really liked him. It's blunt and straight but true. I think if they actually made him a small actor or something, it'd have been so much better! Seriously, he doesn't exactly have much to do here, there's no real feelings that he had to generate, he's just mostly trying to protect this friend of his, and fear (i guess anybody could've easily done his part afterall) this is defnitely one of the letdowns in this movie.

2. Noriko----> She is the friend he's trying to protect. This actress is mediocore, nothing spectacular, apparently it seems like the protagonists in this movie doesn't have much stuffs to act, except running away, looking scared or terrified all over till the end. And it's just weird when they dont get hurt much at all...

3. Kawada---> He's half protangonist, half bad guy. He's good. Especially flashing back and just different emotions flowing in his character. He helped those two up there, but in the end he died anyway...and one wonders why...after what he did. Sigh...

4. Mitsuko----> Among all the girls, this is the one that stood out. I prefer her over the lead actress. Although she's bad here, and violent, but this movie's all about survival, and killing is like a normal thing for them when witnessing deaths over 3 days involving about 40 students. She's killed quite a few, there's one scene she could've easily taken Noriko's life, but because of Kitano's presence, she got terrified and ran away instead.

5. Kitano-----> I kinda hated him from the first scene he appeared. I hate his moody look, sober and treated everything as a game and he's responsible for the first two deaths even. He's the teacher and in charge of this sick game. It's obvious that somehow, he treated Noriko well. He wanted her to survive. and he helped her in some ways or other, watch it and you'll see.

The Pros

1. This is a great directed movie filled with violence all over the place involving 9th graders students. Killing each other off like it felt nothing. This definitely brings out the fear and strength of these kids under these kinds of circumstances.

2. Murder scenes are believable, if not pretty fine and the blood seemed real. this is because in lots of movies I've watched, they can't even mix Blood well. They look fake most of the time, but this passed incredibly. Although it might feel kinda unrealistic towards the end cos u've seen lots of blood and it somehow looked rather dull at one point.

3. Acting-----> These bunch of kids are great, except for the lead male. Anybody could've taken his role and maybe could've done a whole lot better than him. I dont even understand why they took him back for the sequel even. Then again, the sequel isn't as great and classic as this one. The dying scenes are umm....awesome?

4. The ending makes u wonder a lot. After visiting some sites, I got almost every twist now i suppose. And it'll open ur mind to the beauty of this movie, well crafted and I like it's sarcacism. Classical music in this movie? It cant get any better than that.

The Cons

Only one. I would have wished they changed the lead male and exchanged him with the other casts like maybe the guy who made the bomb or something.

I'm sure you all would ask, Is it worth watching?

The answer is Yes! and I shall recommend it to anyone. No doubt it's a bit violent, but it makes u think a LOT. Just like a lot of japanese movies, it makes u think after the ending.

Movie Review : Girl Interrupted

Recently I watched this movie after seeing Alien Resurrection, starring Winona Ryder, and it urges me to watch this movie again, as it brings good memories.

Anyway, based on a true story, and a novel written by Susanna Kaysen. These are some taglines that appears on the cover.

* "Based on a true story."
* "The crazy thing is, you're not crazy."
* "Sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy."

The lead role was played by none other than Winona Ryder herself, then we have Angelina Jolie, who played a sociopath, Lisa Rowe.

Brief plot:

After attempting suicide by swallowing a bottle of aspirin, with vodka, Susanna voluntarily admitted herself to Claymoore Hospital, a mental institution. Of course in the 60's, having admitted to these institutions mean something's very wrong with you..I don't know how to put it, but I guess it's a big deal back then...u know.

And she was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, in other words:

* P - Paranoid ideas
* R - Relationship instability
* A - Angry outbursts, affective instability, abandonment fears
* I - Impulsive behaviour, identity disturbance
* S - Suicidal behaviour
* E - Emptiness

I hope that helps. And she made instant friends with a group of other mentally ill girls, including the group's leader, Lisa Rowe, diagnosed with sociopath. She apparently is the bold one and controls everybody. There are a series of interesting events throughout the movie, and of course one the peak near the end where Susanna confronts Lisa down at the basement is directed very well. It's so emotional!

My own opinions:

A lot of people are drawn to this movie especially by the character Lisa Rowe, played by Angelina Jolie, basically because she's the meanest, craziest, in control of everybody and full of sarcascism. Her character often becomes the more significant one rather than the lead role. And of course her Oscar for Best Supporting Role helps a lot in the promotion.

In my opinion, i can't choose between these two characters, because both of them are my favs. So...all in all, i think both actresses did an excellent job in portraying their own characters.

For example, in Susanna's case, she's not entirely crazy. She's just having doubts within herself, and often having relationship instability. She has a clear vision to become a writer, so that shows her sanity. I guess, her role is pretty difficult to play too because she has to be in between somehow, between craze and sane. The only slight disappoinment is why is she not nominated for this role?

In Lisa's case, she's definitely crazy, so she can do whatever crazy stuffs she wants to without feeling guilty o anything about it. Of course, Angelina did a good job too and i suppose her award is well-deserved in her case.

The movie:

Well written, witty, good scripts, funny and sarcastic moments are evident. It's rather raw too, and the whole setting and casts is very convincing. If you have a chance to see the trailer for this movie, you'd go..." what the hell" AFTER you've watched this movie. Because the trailer makes it look like a chick flick or something like this whole girls kind of movie.

But in reality, the movie is of drama genre. And it definitely has its crazy moments and depressing ones too and moments of truth kinda situations, you get to see these girls fighting their inner self just to be normal again.

So, I give this movie a rating of 4/5. It's definitely GOOD and worth watching. With two great actresses and other supporting casts like Whoopi Goldberg and Brittany Murphy, that's enough.

I havent had the chance to read the original novel, as they say it's quite different from the movie for example the part where Susanna and Lisa's escape which didn't happen in the novel. Either way, I shall be searching for this novel from time to time. It should be a good read.

Movie Review : Freedom Writers

Just finished this just now, and this is another one of those kind of movies about gang violence, interacial conflicts and troubled students and of course, there's always someone who tries to save the situationor at least give them hope for a change.

Set in Long Beach, Erin Gruwell ( Hilary Swank) a new teacher faced the students of Room 203, who had nothing better to do than to worry everytime they step out of the school and back into their world filled with hatred and fear.

Gang violence is obvious...however through Erin's own way, she managed to get around the students to actually learn or at least get their lives back on track. One of them is to let them write whatever's on their mind, their own stories in these journals. Thus, the title Freedom Writers. And this is based on a true story...there is a real Freedom Writers Foundation out there.

She took them for educational tours, she took up two part time jobs just to buy them new novels like The Diary of Anne Frank etc...because the school doesn't think that they would appreciate the books even if they let them have it. And day by day, as she gained trust from these students, she began to lose more time with her lonely husband at home, played by aka Dr.Sheperd ( in Grey's Anatomy), yeah...

Which in the end, they divorced. So the sacrifices of a teacher is portrayed pretty well in this movie.

I won't write more now, enough spoilers.

Worth watching?Well, yes, if you have the chance to do so, it does open up your mind about the world out there. And it makes you feel so...u know...grateful for your own. And i liked the idea of handing journals to students and make them write their minds out. It's a great way to know what are they thinking about deep down their hearts. What changes they want in their lives?

What do they want in their lives?

And stuffs...I always loved it when we get to just write what we have in our minds, whether they make sense or not, it's still a good way to channel your feelings out.

Somehow i don't see that coming from our educational system, sadly. But it's a great method. You get to know that person more through their writings. Well, most of the time anyway.

And lastly...i didn't see the fact that this is another tear-jerking movie when i read the synopsis. I just didn't see that coming but i nearly cry....from second half of it onwards. I have a soft spot for movies like these...xD

Any of you watched it?