tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88109488813781718722024-03-12T20:35:10.549-07:00The Fat Movie-Watchers ClubBe warned: Where there be Reviews, there be Spoilers!BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.comBlogger288125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-33093151669068727452016-01-23T18:46:00.001-08:002016-01-23T18:46:05.457-08:00Crimson Peak (2015)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_9Zf3lvccys/VqQ4FGtMPFI/AAAAAAAAAuc/vH3iv9tHcl0/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_9Zf3lvccys/VqQ4FGtMPFI/AAAAAAAAAuc/vH3iv9tHcl0/s200/images.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
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Hearing that this film is more visual style than substance would not have deterred me from the cinemas, but hearing that the storyline is predictable would have (and made me wait for it to come on TV), if not for Tom Hiddleston.</div>
<br />
Watching this film was a bit of a fan-girl experience, because Hiddles didn’t make an appearance in <i>Avengers: Age of Ultron</i>, which means that the last time I saw him in something ‘new’, was three years ago in <i>The Avengers</i>.<br />
<br />
Aside from this, the trailer was random enough that I couldn’t make head or tail, and it piqued my interest enough to want to know what happened without going to Wikipedia.<br />
<br />
I guess I could blame my level of expectation on Stephen King. Stephen King had said (six months prior, at previews) that this movie was (and I quote) “fucking terrifying”, and the last time he said something like this was for the 1980s film <i>The Evil Dead</i>.<br />
<br />
And everyone knew how <i>that</i> movie turned out, right? As I was telling people, Stephen King is still relevant, he's still putting out books every other year, so to me, there’s no reason I would doubt Stephen King's word on this.<br />
<br />
In promos surrounding the movie's opening, the director has been saying (or ‘clarifying’) that the film is a gothic romance with ghosts, rather than a horror movie with romance thrown in.<br />
<br />
So it’s not like, ‘<strike>buyer</strike>viewer beware’, or anything. But despite above ‘warning’ from Guillermo Del Toro, I went in prepared for a romance, but still kinda hoping to get scared shitless (due to Stephen King’s “fucking terrifying” stamp of approval).<br />
<br />
Alas, any shitting to be had came from gore rather than actual scares or plot twists. I even managed to guess what the Sharpes were up to even in Act 1. In that sense, I was a bit disappointed in the plot department - I guess I didn’t expect to see it coming so easily.<br />
<br />
I'm sure you know the story by now. Young girl becomes enamoured with tall, dark, mysterious stranger, and gets whisked away to his mansion in the middle of nowhere to be with him and his creepy sister. Other creepy things then ensue.<br />
<br />
There are some red herrings – Enola Sciotti (or E.S.), I believe, is one, seeing that E.S. could stand for Edith Sharpe or even Eunice Sharpe. Although I’m not sure whether it was meant for Edith to conveniently discover and ask Thomas what Milan is all about. I had the impression that Thomas had a wife originally and <i>her</i> name had begun with E, but in the end his other previous wives had names from letters that weren’t ‘E’.<br />
<br />
It’s a bit of a shame, because if you noticed, the central theme of the film was already revealed, mirrored in Edith’s manuscript, and when Thomas <strike>berates</strike>criticizes her about it, do note that there are quite many a spoiler in what he said. I thought that was very meta, very cool, and a great foreshadowing of things to come.<br />
<br />
And with this, I would’ve preferred the central theme to have been fleshed out more, to see more of what it was of Edith that won Thomas over. There wasn’t really enough of that, and the only scene in which we see something like this is in the one where Thomas goes, “You’re different from the rest”.<br />
It wouldn’t have been easy to strike a balance between both character and plot development, and the rather slow burn of seeing Edith trying to figure out what is going on could have been exchanged with more, well, romance.<br />
<br />
Yes, you read right. I am choosing romance over horror. The sap in me is winning this round.<br />
<br />
Visually, the movie is gorgeous, and I loved, loved the decrepit, crumbling mansion that is Allerdale Hall. The name ‘Crimson Peak’ comes from the red clay that seeps into the snow during winter. I was reminded a bit of <i>The Shining</i> when our heroine runs out into the snow and tries to defend herself. Luckily, there isn’t much running around – otherwise it’d be a direct <strike>copy</strike>homage of <i>The Shining</i>.<br />
Verdict: The movie is very suspenseful; at liberal points in the film I threw my hands up to my eyes (after what happened to Edith’s father), and the ghosts were ghastly enough to make me scrounge my face up and cringe. But I feel the violence and gore are gratuitous, and towards the end there is one unfortunately unintentionally comic scene (and I wasn’t the only one who thought so - my friend cracked up at it). It was the one thing that marred an otherwise intense affair, especially with Lucille all riled up and in crazy banshee mode. I think I would’ve liked the movie more if I hadn’t seen it coming so early in the film.<br />
<br />
Still, even Del Toro probably couldn’t bear to harm Hiddles’ cheekbones, eh?BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-66774783478077264522015-01-28T05:15:00.001-08:002015-01-28T05:15:58.902-08:00Warm Bodies (2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FpwTOInJFTQ/VMjg09A5taI/AAAAAAAAAtI/9mmm_ht5vN0/s1600/215px-Warm_Bodies_Theatrical_Poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FpwTOInJFTQ/VMjg09A5taI/AAAAAAAAAtI/9mmm_ht5vN0/s1600/215px-Warm_Bodies_Theatrical_Poster.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
My interest in the genre is more towards the zombies themselves, from a biological point of view, how they function. I mean, they don't rationalise, they don't plan, they may not feed even that often, but inexplicably, they survive.<br />
<br />
So this movie's told from a zombie's point of view, the premise being that the zombie falls in love with a living breathing girl, and against all (scientific) odds, finds his way back to the land of the living and regains his humanity.<br />
<br />
The movie starts off very good, but kinda falls flat in the third act. Our hero's path to the land of the living is an interesting exploration in reversing the effects of zombification, but it setting off a chain of events that leads to the redemption of EVERY zombie, well, that's a bit much for me to stomach.<br />
<br />
Adding Deadites (can't remember what they were called, but if you see the movie you'd know who they are) was unnecessary. The focus should be on the zombies alone without any other undead element or further derivation; this just detracts from the story. Plus, these violent creatures are supposed to be able to sense heartbeats and thus feed; how is it that the confrontation between them and the recently-hearted zombies<br />
<br />
Nicholas Hoult's portrayal as the zombie of change was good, although I thought his end scenes were done COMPLETELY human (and didn't have that awkwardness that it should). Mind, I know that his progress is way ahead of the rest; I just feel that it shouldn't be human. It should be just <i>slightly </i>less so.<br />
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7/10.BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-36069528030990412712015-01-28T05:14:00.001-08:002015-01-28T05:16:13.027-08:00Monsters University (2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lcx-oRxcSuY/VMjgiejaaBI/AAAAAAAAAtA/NsFy6VJhNcQ/s1600/220px-Monsters_University_poster_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lcx-oRxcSuY/VMjgiejaaBI/AAAAAAAAAtA/NsFy6VJhNcQ/s1600/220px-Monsters_University_poster_3.jpg" height="200" width="134" /></a></div>
I would've preferred a sequel than a prequel. I miss Boo.<br />
<br />
Even though the focus is more on Mike this time, the storyline ended up predictable (Mike and Sully start off disliking each other). I think the fun I got from the film is seeing that blobby monster with the four / six eyes (can’t remember his name or the number of his eyes) and revisiting the characters we got to know from <i>Monsters, Inc</i>.<br />
<br />
And they found a way to fit Steve Buscemi in this one, too!<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[Although, his origin didn't gel well with his eventual ruthlessness and villainy and homicidalness. I mean, he wanted to kill that poor girl.]</span><br />
<br />
6/10. Despite finding the film rather humdrum, anything Billy Crystal-related gives me a kick (his last outing--<i>Parental Guidance</i>--was just so-so) as he’s not around a lot at the moment.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">[Super-short one. Too meh.]</span>BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-76308143918882678022014-12-23T02:45:00.000-08:002014-12-23T02:45:28.440-08:00Dumb and Dumber To (2014)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0e9iIX3sREs/VJlHfDvXK2I/AAAAAAAAApo/IkGU_oBw7is/s1600/dumb-and-dumber-to-banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0e9iIX3sREs/VJlHfDvXK2I/AAAAAAAAApo/IkGU_oBw7is/s1600/dumb-and-dumber-to-banner.jpg" height="174" width="320" /></a></div>
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In my quest for nostalgia, this movie doesn’t disappoint. Unfortunately, it isn’t as funny as the first one (though on the crude scale, it’s a match).<br />
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It had a good start, though.<br />
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After a catatonic Lloyd reveals he was faking it for 20 years (the exact number of time between this movie and its first, <i>Dumb and Dumber</i>), Harry is need of a kidney and they both set out to find Harry's illegitimate daughter to see whether she is a donor match. Hilarity, devious plots and pranks ensue.<br />
<br />
The movie parallels the first one almost to a ‘T’, as if trying to see whether the same formula could work 20 years later. From the road trip to the large villainous sidekick getting inadvertently killed, down to Lloyd having a fantasy sequence (where he kicks ass and then imagines his love interest's tatas to be the front of a truck) and undercover police (not so obvious, eh), from the insidious plot underway to the <strike>Lauren Holly</strike>Laurie Holden, I can go on and on.<br />
<br />
Don't get me wrong; it's not that I didn't appreciate all the references and tie-backs to the first movie, it's just that it's <i>exactly the same movie</i>. The difference is that I could name so many funny things from the first movie, and not that many from this one; laugh-out-loud moments were far and rather few.<br />
<br />
My main quibble with the movie were some plot devices that, even when proven that they <i>weren't</i> in fact loopholes, still weren't satisfactory at all. Like, how can the conference people not know what the renowned Dr Pinchelow looked like? Couldn't Kathleen Turner write smaller on the postcard and go, "Dear Harry, I'm pregnant so I need the 40 bucks you owe me, love Fraida"? It's as if there was no other way to create comedy (or acts of stupidity, if you will) in the film and they had to rely on such sloppy writing.<br />
<br />
And with all the throwbacks, I thought there could be a connection between Laurie Holden toand Mary <strike>Samsonite</strike>Swanson, because the resemblance is uncanny. Alas, it was not to be. And (again) since we're on the topic of throwbacks, it's not the same without Harland Williams nor a Jeff Daniels' explosive diarrhea scene.<br />
<br />
On top of that, I actually feel sorry for Lloyd (easily the mean-spirited of the duo, based on the first film), when he gave up his kidney for Harry, only for him to reveal it to be a prank. <br />
<br />
So, <i>Dumb and Dumber To</i>: watch, or don't watch?<br />
<br />
If you like/love the first film and also throwbacks, do watch. If not, well, then don't. 5/10.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[Despite the long list of similarities, I left out two of the best throwbacks in the film, one of which is in the post-credits scene. It's worth the wait if you're a fan.]</span>BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-23872846487011404672014-12-21T04:27:00.001-08:002014-12-21T04:27:14.193-08:00The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2KramgzJFw0/VJa7OO-XZVI/AAAAAAAAApY/fWv2opPKYio/s1600/Hobbit_BOTFA_Intl_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2KramgzJFw0/VJa7OO-XZVI/AAAAAAAAApY/fWv2opPKYio/s1600/Hobbit_BOTFA_Intl_poster.jpg" height="320" width="216" /></a></div>
<b style="color: #ea9999;">*spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers ON TIME!*</b><br />
<br />
<i>TBotFA</i> is the last movie in <i>The Hobbit</i> trilogy, which I hear is two movies too long. It picks up immediately after the events in <i>Desolation of Smaug</i>, with Smaug <strike>desolating</strike>laying waste to Laketown. What surprised me was Smaug’s defeat 15-20 minutes into the film; I thought they would drag this on for at least a bit more.<br />
<br />
Thorin succumbs to ‘dragon sickness’ after evicting the dragon (meaning he becomes obsessed with gold and wants to hoard all of it – like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htm_HMmrLz4" target="_blank">Stephen Colbert</a>, perhaps?) and holes himself and the rest of the dwarf company under the Lonely Mountain. The humans from the now-razed Laketown camp outside the Mountain in search of shelter, and to claim some of the gold within as part of recompense for aiding the dwarves and to also rebuild their town (I don’t recall much aiding, by the way, but since Bard said it and he looks to be of upright character, I will go along with it). Legolas and Tauriel have gone a-trackin’, and find out that the Orcs (from the first two films) are mobilizing and planning to attack the Mountain in a bid to reclaim the land behind it (which is Angmar. Cue goosebumps).<br />
<br />
The Elves have also come to the Mountain, to claim the white gems that Thranduil has always wanted, and join forces with the humans in an effort to get Thorin and Co., to budge. Thorin’s reinforcements (led by his boar-riding cousin, <strike> Billy Connolly</strike>Dain) arrive, and are about to fight with the Elf-Human contingent when the Orcs <strike>finally</strike> arrive.<br />
<br />
The last hour or so is true to its title, with everyone duking it out with the Orcs, even though I count only <i>four</i> armies (Dwarf, Elf, Human and Orc), unless you include Goblin mercenaries, which were only on-screen for like, five minutes. Probably the book is clearer on this.<br />
<br />
Really, really cool scenes in the movie are:<br />
<br />
<br />
<li>The way Bard takes down Smaug. Super-epic.</li>
<br />
<li>Elrond and Saruman fighting the pre-<i>Lord of the Rings</i> Ringwraiths (I think), and the Ringwraiths (I think) are bamf-ing about. Also, the return of Sauron, from mere silhouetted Necromancer to the flaming eye we all know and are familiar with. One more ‘also’: Angmar. Freaking Angmar.</li>
<br />
<li>The part when the dwarves lay down their pikes against the Orcs just when they are about to attack, and the Elves coming in at the last minute by jumping over the dwarves and combating the Orcs. I don’t know how else to describe this scene, but be assured it looks far cooler than my description.</li>
<br />
<li>I would include the Ringworms but they didn’t get much screen-time. I mean, what is the point of mentioning Ringworms if they’re going to be in it for five seconds.</li>
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<li>Legolas stepping on /climbing falling stones like a staircase. Cool as this looks, I still prefer his turn in <i>Return of the King</i>. You know which scene I mean.</li>
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<li>“The Eagles are coming!” The Eagles are always last-minutely cool. Also, that guy who rode the Eagles and transformed into a giant bear and fought the Orcs. I thought he was random, but Wikipedia reminded me that he was in the second movie.</li>
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<li>Thorin Sheathing The Sword, when fighting Azog the Defiler. If I don’t get that Robert Jordan film series, this will most definitely do it, for me.</li>
<br />
<br />
<br />
As with all Hollywood decisions, splitting a slim volume into three super-long movies (by using appendices) is motivated by financial reasons, however I have noticed the series’ effectiveness in getting us invested with its (main) characters. It works in getting you to care what happens to them, how they have grown, etc. And having not read the book (and not spoiled myself silly with Wikipedia beforehand), I was wowed and awed and suitably saddened by its turn of events (when I guessed wrongly who would die and who wouldn’t).<br />
<br />
This movie ends full circle into the original trilogy, with old Bilbo getting a visit from Gandalf. It doesn’t exactly have that the same kind of finality that <i>Return of the King</i> had, even as the end-credits song drums its farewell into you. I did stay for the end-credits, because with so many people in this film, it’s a lovely gesture and a very, very nice feeling to finally get to know who played whom.<br />
<br />
7/10.BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-5161181195012620202014-09-04T06:36:00.000-07:002014-09-04T06:36:13.722-07:00Godzilla (2014)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AJE7zZpFLyw/VAhpz6YO3eI/AAAAAAAAApA/pV8bP-shiUo/s1600/godzilla_2014_poster_51784.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AJE7zZpFLyw/VAhpz6YO3eI/AAAAAAAAApA/pV8bP-shiUo/s1600/godzilla_2014_poster_51784.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #ea9999;">*Spoiler warning still needed?*</span><br />
<br />
<i>Godzilla</i> was surprising on so many levels:<br />
<br />
1) Juliette Binoche <br />
<br />
2) Her being in the movie for 10 minutes<br />
<br />
3) Bryan Cranston’s very un-<i>Malcolm in the Middle</i> performance (we don’t get <i>Breaking Bad</i> here)<br />
<br />
4) Him being in the movie for 20-25 minutes (I wanted to see more of him being serious!), and<br />
<br />
5) Godzilla is the freaking good guy!?<br />
<br />
Spoilers aside, I was expecting an hour-and-a-half of a dinosaur stomping on a city and puny humans trying to stop it. Yannoe, stereotypical monster movie fare (or as I like to say, an <i>Ultraman</i> movie sans Ultraman).<br />
<br />
What I didn’t expect to see was TWO OTHER monsters, and that Godzilla would be the one to take them DOWN!<br />
<br />
All this came to me in the scene where Ken Watanabe says that Godzilla was listening in onto the MUTOs’ (I can’t remember what it stood for, but fun fact: this guy from <i>Adventure Time</i>, Adam, has that as a surname) radar pingings / communication / whatever.<br />
<br />
Coolest. Realisation-setting-in-halfway-through-the-film. Ever.<br />
<br />
I watched this movie with the giddiness of someone discovering everything for the first time, having not seen the <i>Godzilla</i> film from the 90s (but having this vague impression that it was like <i>Jurassic Park</i>). I also slightly overexcited myself by mistaking the first MUTO to be Mothra, just because it took flight. I also got a kick out of seeing Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen together as husband and wife in this film. They’re gonna play brother and sister in the second <i>Avengers</i> movie! Ooooo! <br />
<br />
But I’m getting sidetracked. <br />
<br />
The great Godzilla reveal was grand, coming out of the water, causing a tsunami, and to see his chunky legs stomp past buildings in Hawaii. There’s a bit of a slow burn until we get to see him in his full glory, but I didn’t notice it much as I was still reeling over the number of monsters in the film and Godzilla being the good guy.<br />
<br />
The movie tries to balance a nature vs nurture message (the MUTOs only wanted to breed), but no one really gives a cow when three monsters are duking it out and causing the same level of destruction as Superman and Zod did. <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[Reminder to self: Settle <i>Man of Steel</i> review.] </span><br />
<br />
And with a far cooler Fatality take-down! I mean, pry open mouth, breath nuclear down throat, anyone?!<br />
<br />
Short review is rather short. I enjoyed this movie a lot. 8/10.BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-33716731580596599072014-08-28T08:16:00.000-07:002014-08-28T08:16:25.829-07:00Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9IzGvZBnc9c/U_9HjvpTpXI/AAAAAAAAAow/ccDTijcGDQI/s1600/captain-america-the-winter-soldier-poster-cast-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9IzGvZBnc9c/U_9HjvpTpXI/AAAAAAAAAow/ccDTijcGDQI/s320/captain-america-the-winter-soldier-poster-cast-2.jpg" /></a>I wasn’t all that into the first movie, because there were a whole slew of origin movies at the time, and even though Steve Rogers was actually decent (and not cocky, brash and/or arrogant), it was still an introductory film to yet another comic book character.<br />
<br />
So it was completely without much anticipation that I went to see <i>Winter Soldier</i>.<br />
<br />
And I was taken aback at how not-boring it was.<br />
<br />
Exploring how Steve settles into the modern world after his awakening and the subsequent battle of New York, shit immediately happens when the Winter Soldier (an assassin long thought to be Soviet myth) surfaces and turns out to be Steve’s best friend (thought to have died in <i>Captain 1</i>).<br />
<br />
Throw in Hydra, which was thought (lots of thinking in this movie) to have gone done with the death of the Red Skull (also in the first movie), and with this, we have an (implicit) explanation why <i>Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.</i> have been so freaking humdrum: because Hydra tends to be synonymous with Captain America, and they didn’t want to spoil the storyline for <i>Cap’n 2</i>.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[It actually makes sense that <i>Agents</i> exist to combat Hydra.]</span><br />
<br />
Then you have Nick Fury faking his own death, a few people from past Marvel outings getting outed as Hydra molls (Jasper! Senator Garry Shandling from <i>Iron Man 2</i>!), and though it’s a lot to cram in and digest in a two-hour movie, it didn’t get draggy nor did I find it overcrowded.<br />
<br />
I was also glad that Scarlett Johansson wasn't also there to perpetuate the film stereotype of male and female leads falling in love with each other and no one else. Thankfully, there’s not a trace of a blossoming romance between the Black Widow and Captain America.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[Because she needs to have one with Hawkeye!]</span><br />
<br />
After the frankly-mild <i>Iron Man 3</i> and the slightly better <i>Thor 2</i> (setting up to gonna-be-good <i>Thor 3</i>), <i>Captain 2</i> is a vast improvement over its first movie and, compared to its fellow Phase 2 movies, a much better entry to the MCU. Though the first one had heart, this one had also twists and turns worthy of an espionage film (you can’t have Robert Redford in a movie like this without giving him a meaty role like the bad guy. Poor Powers Boothe).<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[Fun fact: Redford and ScarJo were in the horse whisperer a long, long time ago.] </span><br />
<br />
Do, do watch. This was the movie that made me sit up and acknowledge that Marvel can <i>not </i>do any wrong. 8/10.BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-26839968669331441302014-08-17T05:30:00.000-07:002014-08-17T05:31:22.586-07:00The Expendables 3 (2014)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KBl4OD4yvZU/U_CYeb449tI/AAAAAAAAAog/jRfrsL3BNHk/s1600/uploads_2e119173-1999-48ed-a42d-e298919c8e9e-ex3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KBl4OD4yvZU/U_CYeb449tI/AAAAAAAAAog/jRfrsL3BNHk/s1600/uploads_2e119173-1999-48ed-a42d-e298919c8e9e-ex3.jpg" height="175" width="200" /></a></div>I have absolutely no idea how to review this movie. <br />
<br />
If I attempt this like an actual reviewer, there might be quite a bit for me to critique. But I don’t feel like doing that because I found this film a lot of fun, and though it’s not quite as fun as the second movie, I’m not disappointed either.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[Not like <i>Spider-man 3</i>.]</span><br />
<br />
So, I’m just gonna go through this in listicle format (list + article = listicle. Yes, it’s an <i>actual </i>new word, and no, it hasn’t anything to do with ‘testicle’), with what I liked and what I didn’t quite like (in no particular order and with spoilers):<br />
<br />
<b>Liked:</b><br />
<br />
<li>Evident in this movie and the previous one, everyone looked like they were having a ton of fun hanging out together, shooting and blowing things up aside, which makes the audience enjoy the ride as well. It’s like the action movie version of <i>Grown-Ups</i>, all friends getting together, and that fact itself makes the whole endeavour far less pointless.</li><br />
<li>Wesley Snipes – Damn, I missed this guy. He doesn’t look a day older than he did in the <i>Blade</i> films (and that was a long while ago!), and I loved the part where the team asks him what he was doing time in prison for, and he says, “Tax evasion.” Ha! It was so much fun watching him.</li><br />
<li>Antonio Banderas – Him channelling a benevolent and even more chatty version of <i>Assassins</i>’ Miguel Bane. Despite him being the comic relief that never shuts up, the scene where he tells Sly what happened to his last team is one of the best in the film. It was a lot of fun watching him too, though he looks very emaciated; I hope he's alright.</li><br />
<li>Harrison Ford is actually a supporting character! I thought he was only cameo-ing, but he had far more screen-time than Bruce Willis ever would. That’s probably Sly one-upping his former(?) friend.</li><br />
<li>Kelsey Grammer is also a supporting character and not a cameo! Good on him! Maybe the next one he'll get to hold a gun.</li><br />
<li>“GET TO DA CHOPPA!” One of the reasons why I love the <i>Expendables</i> films is because of all the throwbacks to the actors’ respective past movies, although there’s far less references in this one than in Movie 2. There’re also sly nods to Willis’ falling out with Sly (Ford saying, “he’s out of the picture,” when referring to Willis’ character, Church), and my personal favourite, tax evasion.</li><br />
<li>Young vs old – By introducing the young team and still retaining the old, team make-ups in future movies (if any) would be on rotational basis, I believe. I think with what went down with Willis, it’s Sly’s way of saying that everyone (but him) is <strike>expendable</strike>interchangeable. You might think that overcrowding the movie would affect the pace, but I found it fine to split the first half with the youngsters, have them get caught, and then having the oldies break them out and then fight and blow up stuff together. The movie itself is roughly two hours long.</li><br />
<li>Villain-wise, Mel Gibson is more menacing and threatening as an antagonist compared to JCVD and Eric Roberts (from past outings). He still looks good, despite that whole anti-Semitic rant and subsequent under-the-radar that happened some years back. The final fight between him and Sly was just okay, but you have to consider the fact that Gibson isn't an actor known for brawn.</li><br />
<li>Absolutely no romantical notions whatsoever. I don't like romance to distract from my action movie. Just because you have a woman in the show doesn't mean she has to flirt or fall in love or want babies with any of the guys around her.</li><br />
<br />
<b>Not liked:</b><br />
<br />
<li>Jet Li is out of the Expendables!! I mean, he may still be in future films, but he’s in Arnie’s team so I expect cameos. He didn’t even do any kung-fu this time around. I wonder whether <i>he</i> wanted out, or the other way around. I'm guessing the former; after all, he’s only there for the China market. I think Banderas is his replacement; he got third billing.</li><br />
<li>Not enough Dolph Lundgren!!</li><br />
<li>Terry Crews – I don’t get why he has to get shot (and in the ass too, it looked like). It just makes it look like there’s only quota enough for one black guy in the team (i.e., Snipes).</li><br />
<li>No Chuck Norris!! I enjoyed seeing Chuck Norris tell a Chuck Norris joke.</li><br />
<li>Ronda Rousey – Girl’s got moves, but unfortunately she’s not really good with her face. She looks like pouting, belligerent child whenever the scene calls for her to stare/glare people down.</li><br />
<li>Still not enough Lundgren!!</li><br />
<br />
With the above, my take on <i>The Expendables 3</i> is DO WATCH, if you loved the 80s and action stars that you haven't seen in a very long while. Of course, you <i>can</i> consider the first two outings as having seen them recently, but if you are me, the throwback movies themselves don't count.<br />
<br />
8/10.BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-77333852251896646752014-08-07T07:03:00.000-07:002014-08-07T07:04:38.569-07:00Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I’ve been excited about this movie ever since I saw the hilarious first trailer. Unlike Iron Man, Captain America and Co., (whom I knew of either vaguely or from newspapers or <i>Marvel Zombies</i>), I've never heard of the Guardians of the Galaxy, but because of said trailer and the usual Marvel-film hype, I went in with some level of expectation. First time ever.<br />
<br />
And I wasn’t disappointed. Although, I can’t say expectations exceeded, either.<br />
<br />
In brief, <i>Guardians </i>revolves around five escaped convicts who band together to claim a huge bounty on an item that one of them had stolen at the start of the film; an item, which the main villain of the film needed for trade with a larger big-bad in order for the latter to commit genocide. Through the course of the film, our convicts elude the main villain and other parties who also want the item, and become unlikely heroes as they try to prevent a planet from being massacred and defeat the bad guy.<br />
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Un-blanding the paragraph (which wasn't at all easy to write in the first place) would mean writing out almost the entire plot, and that’s my main quibble of the film: there’s not exactly a coherent storyline to speak of. It’s very all over the place (character gets item everyone wants amidst geo-political warfare and probable genocide and there’s a guy who collects things), but the movie is just so much fun that you don’t notice how messy it is.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[Unfortunately for me, I'm left with “something I can’t quite put my finger on”-itis.] </span><br />
<br />
Rooting its emotional core with Peter Quill (“you may know me by… Star-Lord”), pivotal scenes come with classic songs from the 1970s and 80s (including the awesome “Hooked on a Feeling”, which is also in the trailer), heard through his Sony Walkman and “Awesome Mix Vol. 1”-tape with all his mother’s favourite songs. Peter left Earth as a young child at his mother’s death, and listening to the mix-tape is his way of remembering his mother and reminding him of his home planet.<br />
<br />
After those poignant first scenes on Earth (its 8-10 minutes to me is almost at par with the opening of <i>Up</i>), the movie establishes its comedic tone by having Chris Pratt (who plays Star-Lord) strut and dance his way through alien ruins. Pratt fits the standard cocky, sarcastic hero mould that we’ve acquainted and re-acquainted ourselves with in each superhero movie, but he’s so freaking adorable (like a teddy bear! a giant ginger teddy bear!) that I didn’t even realise this (cocky sarcasm) until time of writing. <br />
<br />
As fitting as Pratt is as the lead, he has his movie almost stolen from him by two characters who are completely CG’ed: Rocket (Raccoon) and Groot. The pair (voiced by Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel respectively) showed more humanity, emotion and compassion (this especially from alien wood) than all other characters put together. I’m surprised that Diesel got billing ahead of Cooper, who got in far more dialogue than expected, compared with “I am Groot”.<br />
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After the wasted opportunity <i>Green Lantern </i>was, I was sceptical of another movie set in space, because how much time spent in space really depends on the production budget. I’m glad that in <i>Guardians</i>, we barely spend any time on Earth (only in the beginning), though we do spend almost a cumulative half-hour on the mostly-human-looking Xandar. Luckily, this doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the film.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">[People behind <i>Green Lantern </i>sequel or reboot, please take note. Two hours of Oa would be comparably better than one hour of Earth.]</span><br />
<br />
<i>Guardians </i>introduces an ensemble instead of just a solo act, so backstories for everyone but Peter are told via exposition. This I somehow noticed, which annoyed me for the rest of the film that I noticed. Thankfully, in all of that exposition is witty dialogue, and its very able actors and trip down nostalgia lane make the movie work.<br />
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The Marvel Cinematic Universe movies tend not to deviate into the unknown (even <i>Thor</i> doesn’t really talk about other Realms), so it's great to see this film delve deeper into more obscure material, and, to quote another sci-fi saga, “it boldly goes where no (MCU movie) has gone before.” Unfortunately, I didn't quite find this movie fresh or original (as I hoped it would be), but it <i>is</i> a solidly entertaining new entry. Considering how the past few were tried-and-tested box office material (<i>Iron Man</i> threequel, <i>Thor </i>and <i>Captain America </i>sequels), Marvel Studios still has that magic touch, and I'm looking forward to seeing what<i>Ant-Man</i> and <i>Doctor Strange </i>movies bring.<br />
<br />
This movie's end-credits doesn't tie in to <i>The </i><i>Avengers 2</i>, but the find scene <i>does</i> tease a unexpected possible re-boot for a character long-dormant.<br />
<br />
I was so, so psyched with that last scene.<br />
<br />
8/10. Do, do watch this movie, and just laugh at everything.BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-22291925031356998082014-01-04T06:27:00.002-08:002014-01-04T06:27:53.075-08:0047 Ronin (2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UnbngJjCTyc/UsgZzK44gxI/AAAAAAAAAmU/R7jfeuQKPlg/s1600/PH0lcEC8DlSb33_1_m.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UnbngJjCTyc/UsgZzK44gxI/AAAAAAAAAmU/R7jfeuQKPlg/s320/PH0lcEC8DlSb33_1_m.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #f4cccc;">*spoilers! But if you already know the original story, then there's no point to the warning, then.*</span><br />
<br />
This film is based on the true Japanese story of 47 samurai left leaderless after their lord was forced to commit ritual suicide (seppuku - but according to our local subtitler it's sepupuku, which is Malay for 'my cousin') for assaulting a court official. The ronin (the term for samurais without masters) then enact revenge on the official (apparently he was a massive douche) to restore their lord's honour, and in turn, were obliged to commit seppuku themselves as they had been forbidden by the emperor to retaliate in the first place.<br />
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What could've been a film similar to <i>300</i> minus the fantastical elephants and Persian ninjas and, well, grounded in realism, is instead turned into a film with fantastical monks, sorcery and no ninjas. And with every Hollywood movie revolving around Asians or Asian culture, affirmative action is in place and you have the obligatory white guy in the film.<br />
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Surprisingly, given the (misleading) trailer and Keanu Reeves's top billing, he's technically only a minor character in the film, even though the focus <i>is </i>on him with all those unnecessary close-ups and he's there to counter the baddie's witchcraft subplot. That said, Keanu's presence unfortunately pulls focus from Oishi, the <i>real </i>main character of the film, played by Hiroyuki Sanada. He's the one driving the avenging, gathering all other ronin, and <i>he</i> was the one who busted Keanu out of <strike>Singapore</strike>the Dutch settlements. Without him, Keanu would still be cage-fighting mutants for the rest of his days. Oishi is also the one who chases down and has the final fight with villain Lord Kira (rightfully so) and this, to the movie's credit, is not shared with Keanu even after he gains acceptance from the ronin.<br />
<br />
With these liberties with the plot (romance is minor, which is good), I was quite pleased with the direction that the film took, even though the plot also seems to have forgotten that it was sorcery that led Lord Asano to his (wrongful) death in the first place (Kira has a witch in employ), and that the ronin are in fact justified in seeking revenge against Lord Kira. It's rather refreshing to watch a movie where the sole white guy doesn't get <i>any </i>special treatment <i>at all</i>, from being utterly mistreated and bullied in the beginning, till the end where there's no reprieve for him from seppuku.<br />
<br />
Don't get me wrong. I don't dislike Keanu; it's just that I'm rather sick of movies getting the white-guy treatment (or, nowadays, it's the yellow-guy treatment but that's already a <a href="http://rantings-galore.blogspot.com/2013/10/iron-man-3-2013.html" target="_blank">rant</a> in my other blog) in order to pull audience numbers. I don't get why Hollywood thinks that films with Caucasians sell more than films with people of other races (*cough* <i>The Last Airbender </i>*cough*). I don't get why they can't just have <i>47 Ronin</i> without Keanu (again, I don't dislike Keanu); I mean, they already have a practically-full Japanese cast; why not just make the whole thing in Japanese and market it as a foreign movie instead.<br />
<br />
That said, I'm glad that the movie doesn't alternate/break into Japanese at all, which would be wrong (like in <i>The Wolverine</i>, where in one scene two Japanese people were speaking to each other <i>in English</i>.)<br />
<br />
7/10. Maybe it's Christmas, but I'm not really hating this movie as much as everyone is. 'Tis the season, I guess.BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-25470864769875987972013-11-08T19:30:00.002-08:002013-11-08T19:30:52.111-08:00Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons (2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I re-watched this movie on the flight to Frankfurt, so I was able to refresh myself and fine-tune my opinions.<br />
<br />
On my initial watch when it was released (March, I think), I felt that the love story was contrived. After all, the monk hadn't shown much interest in the bounty-hunter chick, and until the point she died I thought that he may <i>only</i> have the slightest bit of feelings for her, and I wasn't exactly sure whether he said he loved her because he really felt that way about her, or that she was dying and he didn't want to make her feel worse.<br />
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Well, in the airplane version, they kissed.<br />
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That's right, folks, the monk kissed the dead bounty-hunter chick. That wasn't in the Malaysian release, because here, censors censor everything, unless it's blue peen; then the practice is different. They censor it the first few times, <i>then </i>forget to censor it for the rest of the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409459/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" target="_blank">movie</a>.<br />
<br />
Digressing, now I'm <i>sure </i>that he loved her, but still feel that the build-up wasn't enough. It did help, though, that I got to watch the original Mandarin release this time (we only had the Cantonese dub in Malaysia).<br />
<br />
Anyway, the love story was the only thing that didn't gel well with me; I enjoyed the rest of the movie.<br />
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For the uninitiated, <i>Journey to the West</i> is a Chinese novel revolving around Xuanzhang (a Buddhist monk), who is instructed by the Goddess Guanyin to travel to India to obtain sutras. Interesting times abound with evil demons and other spirits, as Xuanzhang's flesh is believed to grant immortality to its eater. Since India is quite a ways from China, as protection, he is given four disciples of demon/spirit origin (in atonement for their sins). The most famous disciple is the Monkey King, whose mischief and bestial nature is controlled by the gold circlet/headband on his head, which Xuanzhang can tighten by chanting mantras. Anyway, since this post is meant to be a movie review, you can read up the Wikipedia summary <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_West" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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This movie is a prequel of sorts. It starts by portraying our monk as a demon-rehabilitator (I know that's not a word but you get what it means) that reads from a book called the 300 Nursery Rhymes, asking them to repent and be good. Throughout the film he encounters briefly the demons that will be his disciples and companions to the West (sadly, the Dragon of a white horse did not get love in this one), and romance (the one I was talking about earlier) where the girl did all the chasing.<br />
<br />
Since Stephen Chow (the film's director/writer/producer) was the Monkey King himself in TWO movies (<i>A Chinese Odyssey: Parts 1 and 2</i> from the 90's), I was very interested to see where he would go with this, since it's been a <i>very</i> long while since we heard from him (<i>CJ7</i> doesn't count). The man himself didn't make an appearance in the movie, but his trademark humour<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">–</span>slapstick, ridiculously impossible situations (that words simply can't do justice) and various wordplay dialogue ("important" to "impotent")<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">–</span>was everywhere. It sounds just as funny in Mandarin as it did in Cantonese (since I don't really understand both), but I get now why we got the Cantonese version: the movie borrows some lines from <i>A Chinese Odyssey</i>, which is fully in Cantonese. Even the song used for the dance in the moonlight is from <i>A Chinese Odyssey</i> (albeit it's in Mandarin now).<br />
<br />
Silly humour and ineffective romance aside, I do applaud the plot development. Being a prequel, it shows Xuanzhang's journey (see what I did there?) in finding himself, and how Sandy (water demon in this one) and Pigsy (the pig demon with the inn) are captured and eventually made disciples to Xuanzhang. Also saving the best (or most footage) for last, Xuanzhang seeks Monkey's help in defeating Pigsy, and is eventually tricked by Monkey into destroying the lotus flower acting as his prison seal (it's complicated), which culminates into a showdown between Monkey and some demon hunters before being subdued by Buddha.<br />
<br />
In the process, Xuanzhang attains enlightenment with the death of the bounty-hunter chick (played by Shu Qi, who has come far from her annoying <i>Storm Riders</i> days), and discovers that true love (contrary to his belief) would not pose any hindrance to his monkly duties.<br />
<br />
Oh, and in this installment, Xuanzhang becomes bald (like how a monk would be) because an enraged Monkey pulls all his hair out when Xuanzhang refuses to stop praying to Buddha. Xuanzhang actually has a thick set of hair (so thick it's a wig) through most of the film.<br />
<br />
8.5/10. Do watch this movie, if you get the chance. You can appreciate the wordplay better if you understand Mandarin/Cantonese, but the English subtitles were up to par (like those for <i>Kung Fu Hustle</i>). You don't miss much either way.BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-45121355130230494152013-11-08T19:16:00.001-08:002013-11-08T19:16:27.897-08:00R.I.P.D. (2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'd initially planned to do a 'spoiler beware' smart ass-type thing involving food, but since this review is super late (but not too dead ha!) on arrival, it would be quite redundant at this point.<br />
<br />
Anyway, the minute I saw Kevin Bacon, I knew Ryan Reynolds would be betrayed by someone (in this case, his partner) and that betrayal would lead to his death.<br />
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What I <i>didn't</i> see coming, was that Kevin Bacon was already a Deadite in the first place.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[I can't recall the term used, if any.]</span><br />
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R.I.P.D. is a watchdog department for the undead, policing the human world to keep ghosts and ghouls in check. Upon dying, Reynolds joins Jeff Bridges as his partner, and to ensure that the living don't see dead policemen walking around, they're given avatars, the form that everyone else sees them in. For Reynolds, it's an old Chinese guy (James Hong ftw!); for Bridges, it's this totally hot leggy blonde chick.<br />
<br />
It's not before long our intrepid officers discover that the undead are in the process of assembling this totem that would reverse the flow of spirit traffic into the afterlife (which literally would lead to hell on Earth, if reversal happened at the point all evil people are passing on).<br />
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And of course, who should be the ringleader of the gang but Bacon.<br />
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This movie is like <i>Men In Black</i>, except you substitute aliens with ghouls and reverse the roles: the rookie this time is the straight man and the one with all the mouth is the old-timer. Seems to me these days, Reynolds tends to play the straight man to whatever foil that's thrown at him in movies (Bridges, Lantern ring, Sandra Bullock), which I find strange because Reynolds was the witty, sarcastic, hilarious foil to Richard Ruccolo's straight man in <i>Two Guys And A Girl</i> <strike>and the poor, forgotten pizza place</strike>.<br />
<br />
Looks like he matured himself into movies... geddit? Har dee har har.<br />
<br />
The only things that saved this movie from utter blandness are Bridges laying the Southern on thick as a US Marshall from the actual old West (he's so over-doing it that it's not over-acting, it's stealing the show), Bacon being the bad guy as usual (and looking like he was having a ton of fun at it) and how the general public perceives our two leads (one brilliant scene was Bridges hefting up a chest of gold on his shoulder, other hand on hips, and it flashes over to the leggy blonde in that same pose!). Personally, I feel that there should've been more 'old Chinese guy', because seeing Hong running down the street waving a banana (a gun, in reality) is simply priceless.<br />
<br />
Ah, James Hong. I don't think I'll ever, ever tire of watching him. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">[Balls of Fury!]</span><br />
<br />
To be fair, though, I never thought of this movie as an <i>MiB</i> semi-clone until I read reviews in the papers saying such. And despite the general consensus that it sucked, I quite enjoyed it. 7/10.BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-49794660596447023622013-11-08T04:43:00.003-08:002013-11-08T04:43:43.761-08:00Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Saw this on TV the other day.<br />
<br />
This movie opted for more gritty and serious look, which worked with the darker tone that I guess everyone was clamouring for when the first one came out. Unfortunately, instead of coming up with an original storyline, what we get is <i>Drive Angry</i>, which incidentally also stars Nicolas Cage. Let's review the similarities:<br />
<br />
Ghost Rider | Inmate from Hell tries to save child | granddaughter from the Devil himself | Devil worshippers, with Blackout | William Fichtner hot on his trail. Both heroes are triumphant in the end, although in <i>Drive Angry</i>, Nic Cage had to go back to Hell.<br />
<br />
Recycled material aside, <i>Ghost Rider 2</i> seems to have retconned his abilities (in the last one he could activate his Penance Stare at will, whereas in this one he can't control it) and, well, erased the first movie from continuity. It's also less campy and colourful than the first outing, with the action more raw and frenetic, but with the lack of lighting (the Rider only comes out at night or when there's darkness), I wasn't exactly able to discern much of the action.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[The scene where the construction equipment turn fiery skeletal should be quite cool.]</span><br />
<br />
Change in tone aside (which I'm perfectly fine with), Cage still finds a way to laugh maniacally at some point in the movie (I get it now that it's his schtick). Besides that, I have no complaints with everyone else.<br />
<br />
It's a shame, though, that the story is very 'meh', as this movie explores Johnny's (the Ghost Rider's alter ego) struggles with being the Rider, how the Rider entity came to be, and in the end, Johnny comes to terms with himself as kind of an archangel for good and tames the Rider (in a pretty cool closing scene, his motorcycle now gives off electric blue flames instead of regular fire). 6/10.BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-56004871531936090762013-11-01T20:24:00.002-07:002013-11-01T20:24:48.194-07:00Thor: The Dark World (2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's not summer yet, but <i>Thor 2</i> is already out, for those of you (and me) who think that one year between Marvel movies is too long. Since this post is actually on time (watched it yesterday!), I kinda feel obliged to give a brief synopsis of the film and to capitalize <span style="color: #ea9999;"><b>SPOILER WARNING</b></span>:<br />
<br />
Set shortly post-<i>Avengers</i> (timeline from <i>Thor</i> is two years), Jane stumbles upon and accidentally absorbs the <strike>MacGuffin</strike>Aether, an energy that can convert matter into dark matter. It is also something required by the Dark Elves, who want to devoid the entire universe of light (both literally and figuratively), and the process can only be completed during the Convergence of all nine Realms (which, of course, happens to be now). Thor, who has been on peace campaigns in other Realms, whisks Jane back to Asgard to find a way to rid her of the Aether.<br />
<br />
After the Elves attack Asgard (resulting in a poignantly beautiful funeral sequence focused in sending off a character that was only in the first movie for roughly five minutes), Odin locks down Asgard, leading Thor to again whisk Jane away for a cure but this time with the help of Loki, who makes good on his, “there are secret ways into Asgard that even you, with your all-seeing eye, do not even know of, etc.,” line from the first movie.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[I can’t believe I actually remembered that line.]</span><br />
<br />
Even so, the Elves still manage to retrieve the Aether (after an interesting turn of events where Loki is thought to have betrayed Thor in a brutally cool scene), and Loki is stabbed after trying to save Thor. Thor and Jane are stranded, but as the Convergence approaches, the boundaries between the Realms blur <strike>conveniently</strike> and they make their way back to Earth to prevent the Elves from succeeding in their quest. Long story short (“too late!”), they do succeed with very cool wormhole teleportation and CGI, and Thor returns to Asgard to tell his father about Loki’s sacrifice and that he cannot ascend the throne (not because of Jane, but because he can better serve as protector and peacekeeper to the Nine Realms).<br />
<br />
The movie's end heavily hints at what we can expect to see in <i>Thor 3</i>, and it's something I'm very, very much looking forward to. A more spoiler-rampant post can be found <a href="http://rantings-galore.blogspot.com/2013/11/thor-dark-world-2013.html">here</a> (in my other blog).<br />
<br />
And for credits scenes linking to other Marvel movies, fret not, for Phase II-related material comes midway through (like <i>The Avengers</i>). If you do stay for the entire length of the end-credits, you will not be disappointed at any lack thereof, but that scene is more shwarma-like than anything.<br />
<br />
Chris Hemsworth can do no wrong in my book (no, not even <i>Snow White And The Huntsman</i>), and he’s able to project the kind of maturity and wisdom that would be expected from Thor in this Phase of time. There’s less of that good-natured <strike>big baby</strike> adorableness, though, since much of the action happens on his home turf. And as expected, Tom Hiddleston (as Loki) steals every scene he’s in. Adding to my burgeoning interest in the character (you can never go wrong with the God of Mischief), the film explores another facet to Loki by including quite a bit of scenes with his adoptive mother, Frigga (played by Rene Russo). Apparently, there were supposed to be scenes of Hiddleston and Russo in Thor (Frigga’s favourite is Loki, it seems!, but they weren’t included in the final cut, so I’m really glad we got to see this in <i>Thor 2</i>.<br />
<br />
Previously, what we’ve seen between Thor and Loki is rage and disgruntlement (more on Loki’s side), but in this movie Loki seems to have resigned himself to taunting/teasing Thor when they’re together, and this leads to very funny exchanges between Hemsworth and Hiddleston. It is also these scenes (humourous or otherwise) where both Hemsworth and Hiddleston shine, as there's always that parry-and-thrust relationship between them. <br />
<br />
The other players deliver solid performances (Natalie Portman is not ditzy like she was in the first movie, thank goodness), but Anthony Hopkins seems a bit bored this time around (maybe due to lack of Branagh). Kat Dennings and Stellan Skarsgaard (including newbie Jonathan Howard) provide ample comic relief without overdoing it too much, though Dennings's character is walking very close to over-exposure.<br />
<br />
Visually, the movie is gorgeous, and again, a few minutes of seeing Asgard and I think to myself that I should’ve seen this in 3D (although, post-conversion movies tend to be no different than regular-D). Thankfully, in Asgard and some of the Nine Realms (and not Earth/Midgard; at least the scenes on Earth without Thor weren’t too long) are where much of the action is, so it would be more worth the 3D ticket price than the first film. More space is good. <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[<i>Green Lantern</i>, if you get a sequel, please take note.]</span><br />
<br />
Apart from the funeral send-off, props also go to the scene where Heimdall (played by Idris Elba) takes out a cloaked Dark-Elf ship, only to have the mother ship rise up behind him and launching a few more smaller ships towards Asgard. <br />
<br />
Plot-wise, it's run-of-the-mill, but overall, <i>Thor: The Dark World</i> is a fantastic next step in Phase II, and I'm quite surprised to see it released in November (not that I'm complaining). Can't wait to see what comes next for our Norse Gods-cum-aliens. 8/10.BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-38742660623509034432013-07-29T07:09:00.002-07:002013-07-29T07:09:48.930-07:00The Wolverine (2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Far, far, far better than <i>X-Men Origins: Wolverine</i>. <i>Origins</i> was so atrocious I wasn't even looking forward to this one.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #f4cccc;">*spoilers. Also, not overdue for once wooo!*</span></b><br />
<br />
<i>The Wolverine</i> is set after the events in <i>X-Men: The Last Stand</i>, where Logan becomes a hobo loner tormented by his guilt for killing Jean. He is summoned to Japan by a dying literally-old friend, where he gets embroiled in Japanese intrigue and betrayal. His friend turns out to be a traitorous and ungrateful bugger (Logan saved him during WW2) that wants his healing factor whether or not Logan's agreeable to it, and, in one scene, sears off Logan's adamantium tri-claws on both sides (and not at the same time!) and starts extracting the marrow straight from the bone-claws.<br />
<br />
Yes, that happened. But let me assure you that that's the only graphic (and butt-cringing) scene in the entire movie, as the rest of other violence is quite PG.<br />
<br />
Personally, I dig that the movie actually took it as far as it did. In a sense it's just one more nail in the coffin for him to start appreciating life and to stop moping around.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[I don't know why I'm annoyed with Wolverine in general. Technically, the moping only happened in this movie, but he's been the main focus in the past four movies, so the overexposure probably just blurred things for me.]</span><br />
<br />
My main praise for the movie comes from Logan's self-discovery. In the beginning, Logan briefly considers his friend's request to make to make him mortal, but rejects the request in part because he believes immortality isn't good for anyone. The villains then manage to suppress his regenerative ability, so he's pretty much vulnerable two-thirds of the time, and with this, it sinks in to him that regenerative qualities aren't so bad after all. He finds purpose in protecting his friend's granddaughter, Mariko, who is supposedly a target for the Yakuza (leading to the awesome fight sequence during his friend's 'funeral').<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[I'll spare you the details on the intrigue, but it's pretty good, really.]</span><br />
<br />
Unfortunately, this is also where my quibble with the movie comes, as this realisation of his is helped along its way by a contrived Madame Butterfly-like romance. You know, white soldier guy, young Japanese girl? It's made worse by the fact that Logan is still pining for Jean. This subplot is completely unnecessary, as the vibe I'm getting between the two is more paternal than anything, and I can't understand why Hollywood can't just let things between two people of different genders be platonic. <i>Snow White and the Huntsman</i>, though lousy, is the only instance I can only think of where two people don't end up falling in love with each other (except for the stupid scene where the Huntsman kisses Snow on the lips. I mean, he could've just kissed her on the forehead, right?).<br />
<br />
Silly romance aside, and apart from a few loopholes (seriously, if his healing factor was switched off, he should be bleeding from his knuckles and feeling it every single time he snikt-ed), the movie does a fantastic job in the story and character-development departments. It's what <i>Origins </i>should have been like, if it didn't focus on mutant-cameoing and Deadpool and more mutant-cameoing.<br />
<br />
Acting-wise I've no complaints. Hugh Jackman <i>is</i> the Wolverine, although if anyone still has any doubt, they can go refresh their memories with the previous four he's been in. He's ably supported by his Japanese cast, and thankfully (except for one scene), all the Japanese speak to each other in Japanese and not in English. Special mention goes to Will Yun Lee, whom I haven't seen in forever and kept thinking, "is he, isn't he?", because I didn't know he could speak Japanese.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[But he could!!]</span><br />
<br />
Do stay for the mid-end credits scene, which nicely leads off into the upcoming <i>X-Men: Days of Future Past.</i> Now <i>that</i> is one movie that I really cannot wait to see!BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-26102978361771351002013-06-17T06:19:00.003-07:002013-06-17T06:21:05.299-07:00Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #f4cccc;">*This review is five months overdue. Spoilers ktnx*</span><br />
<br />
I actually enjoyed this film. I actually forgot to nitpick during the movie.<br />
<br />
Despite the accent inconsistencies (at least Gemma Arterton’s matched Jeremy Renner’s), the steampunk, the insulin (diabetes!) and all those little niggly details that would normally annoy the crap out of me, I had a great time at the movies that day.<br />
<br />
<i>H+G</i> opens with a short sequence summarising the original fairy tale, and moves quickly into the artsy woodcut opening credits, showing how Hansel and Gretel both develop a reputation for hunting witches and saving children. The main story revolves around the siblings hunting the High Witch and her coven, who are kidnapping children to sacrifice to the Blood Moon so that the witches can be immune to fire and etc., for eternity. Along the way, <i>the Americans</i> Hansel and Gretel inadvertently find out more about their origins (unintentional abandonment FTW!), and . In the end, it culminates in a massive bloodbath with machine guns(!!), and a bad-troll-turned-good not getting brain and organ damage despite falling off from a really, really high place.<br />
<br />
In the end, they (including that troll) and their fanboy (seriously) kick down another witch's door and have a shoot-out in slow-mo. It looked pretty stylish, actually.<br />
<br />
Yes, it's ridiculous, it's even more mindless on paper, but the good thing about this movie is that it doesn't take itself seriously. If it did, I think it'd be completely unbearable.<br />
<br />
Also, also... Visuals.<br />
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I'm a massive sucker for gorgeous art direction, even though nowadays it's all computer-generated, and this movie lays out the violence and gore like nobody's business. No wonder this wasn't released during summer. It's almost as brutal as <i>Dredd</i>, except I feel it caters a bit more to young adults, probably because of the MTV branding.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[Seriously. MTV Studios is behind <i>H+G</i>. I didn't even <i>know</i> they've branched out into film.]</span><br />
<br />
Despite being an action whore, I also get a kick from watching fairy-tale variations (<i>Oz</i> review also coming soon!! I have <i>many</i> coming-soons, actually :S), and I thought this movie's take on the Hansel and Gretel story was pretty brilliant, so with this and aforementioned awesome visuals, this movie doesn't get too low marks in my book.<br />
<br />
6/10. This review is a bit short, because even though I have a good impression of the movie, that's about <i>all</i> I have on this movie.BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-59217891555539577992013-02-15T04:18:00.002-08:002013-02-15T04:19:00.060-08:00Parental Guidance (2012)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I love Billy Crystal. And to a certain extent (because she overacts), I love Bette Midler.<br />
<br />
This movie... eh.<br />
<br />
It was my office's Movie Night, and it was either <i>this</i> or <i>Fire with Fire</i>. Once I saw the latter's crappy poster, I voted <i>Parental Guidance</i>.<br />
<br />
Despite my love for Crystal (and Tom Everett Scott!), plus the fact that it wasn't a movie I would watch in normal circumstances (even on TV), I found my heart surprisingly warmed in some places, especially towards the end.<br />
<br />
Having not seen a family comedy in a very long while, I guess I'm a little bit loss for words to review this film. In fact, how do you even review a movie like this? On poop/fart/vomit jokes? On how closely the camera pans into Marisa Tomei and/or Midler's so-obviously-false eyelashes?<br />
<br />
Though I have to admit, I cracked up when Crystal puked into the tubby kid's face after Crystal got hit in the nadgers.<br />
<br />
The movie is ably supported by its younger cast. And by 'ably', I did not find them annoying. I found it a bit odd that, for two parents with dark hair and two first children also with dark hair, the third child has bright red hair, but I digress. The little one is like a benign version of Chucky. I know that toilet humor is the lowest form of humor (not sure where it places next to sarcasm) but I laughed my head off at Crystal singing the poopy-come-out song.<br />
<br />
Sooo... there ends my review. Um... watch only if you love Billy Crystal and/or Bette Midler? I mean, it's not an entirely bad watch (beginning was a bit cringeworthy, though), but considering this is the first live-action film that Crystal's headlining in a VERY long while, I guess I expected something more. 5/10.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[My first movie for 2013 had a 2012 release. Oh well.]</span>BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-12389741936355679062012-12-24T04:40:00.001-08:002012-12-24T04:40:44.490-08:00Dredd (2012)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Late-posted because, though I didn't find it 'meh', the graphic violence did leave me a bit speechless.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[I'm such a sissy.]</span><br />
<br />
Preamble aside, this movie is a far departure from Sylvester Stallone-starrer <i>Judge Dredd </i>from 1995, which (if I remembered correctly) was more camp than anything, and raised the ire of fans worldwide because he removed his helmet.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[And possibly also, Rob Schneider.]</span><br />
<br />
Unlike other reboots, this movie doesn't waste time on origin-story or introductions, and we only see Karl Urban (in poor lighting) put on his helmet and be done with. The storyline itself is also pretty simplistic, but it sets the background for Dredd and his rookie (assigned to Dredd for final assessment), as they take down villains and rack up the body count on both sides.<br />
<br />
It is a wee bit gratuituous for my taste, but damn if it isn't lovely to behold. The movie does this through (the aptly-named) Slow-Mo, a drug which slows the user's perception of time to 1% of the brain's normal processing speed. One particular scene that stands out is a Slow-Mo user, seeing the carnage unfold around him as Dredd and Cassandra (his rookie, who is also psychic, by the way) kick down the door and riddle everyone else with bullets.<br />
<br />
I think the only thing that sticks in my mind after all this time is the glorious violence. The visuals are what makes the movie stand out, so do check it out if you don't mind gore too much.<br />
<br />
For me, my enjoyment was marred by the violence. I guess I'm just conditioned to summer-movie material, where there are no blood and guts, and a literal back-breaking scene that didn't look like backs had really been broken.<br />
<br />
7/10. No wonder this movie wasn't released in the summer.BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-55564855387904617382012-10-18T08:21:00.000-07:002012-10-19T19:56:02.284-07:00Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)I watched this movie in July. On opening weekend.<br />
<br />
I think I delayed on this because, though I enjoyed it, it was rather 'meh' and I couldn't really get my thoughts together (which was kinda close to none). Admittedly, it wasn't as 'meh' as <i>Avatar</i>, but even I could summon words to describe how 'meh' I felt about <i>Avatar</i> at the time.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[Nowadays, 'meh' makes me speechless.]</span><br />
<br />
This film is basically a biography of Abraham Lincoln, former US president, except it posits that important events in Lincoln's life were influenced by vampires.<br />
<br />
Which in turn, led to cool axe-swinging, but I digress.<br />
<br />
The main reason why I went to see this movie was because of Timur Bekmambetov, the guy who directed the awesome <i>Day Watch </i>(and the not-that-awesome <i>Wanted</i>), and you can see his chaotic style of action . And by 'chaotic', I don't mean it's messy or anything; it just brings about a sense of helter-skelter that's gorgeous to look at.<br />
<br />
Watch <i>Day Watch</i>, and you'll see what I mean.<br />
<br />
The pacing in the first half is relatively slow, even though it had the horse scene (which didn't do much for it), but I guess action buffs wouldn't be disappointed. The only action bit I enjoyed was the final scenes on top of the train, which had Lincoln fighting hordes of vampires back-to-back with his best friend, and only using an axe between the both of them.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[It was thrilling.]</span><br />
<br />
Despite the pacing, involving vampires did make everything a lot more interesting. Who would've thought the Civil War was about vampires holding the Confederate South? That the slave trade was thriving because vampires needed food? Who'da thunk?<br />
<br />
The ending was surprisingly poignant. Lincoln's vampire mentor offers him immortality, telling him that the both of them could go through history and kill vampires and make the world safer for it. Lincoln refuses the offer, saying that a man's actions instead make him immortal, and leaves for that fateful evening at the theatre.<br />
<br />
It shows us that even in historical fiction, you can't change history.<br />
<br />
For the ending, I give it a 7.BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-33216850785060346892012-08-20T07:07:00.001-07:002012-08-20T07:07:17.569-07:00Insidious (2011)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b style="color: #f4cccc;">*spoiler-laden*</b><br />
<br />
<i>Insidious</i> relies on classic, old-fashioned type of scares: bumps-in-the-night, greatly-suspicious-room-corners, corner-of-your-eye sightings, etc. What horror movie wouldn't be complete with cupboards bursting open and creepy children running out?<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[Also, the over-hyphenation of my first paragraph.]</span><br />
<br />
I've basically described the first half of <i>Insidious</i> in that paragraph.<br />
<br />
Which is a shame, because during the first hour or so, the movie was truly scary. Our definition of a horror movie nowadays is limited to torture and/or death porn, and it's awfully refreshing to watch a non-handheld camera / -"true story" movie with all the low-budget trappings. <i>This</i> from James Wan and Leigh Whannell, the guys that re-introduced torture porn to the world with the first <i>Saw</i> movie (which then led to the overbloated <i>Saw</i> franchise).<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[I gave up after # 4.]</span><br />
<br />
It even builds up as a psychological thriller at first, as you're given to wonder whether these things are actually happening, or whether the wife (played by Rose Byrne) is actually losing her mind and hallucinating a red-eyed black demon due to her son's comatose state.<br />
<br />
Mid-way, there's a very, very good scene with mother-in-law Barbara Hershey (I'm using all real names here), where she relates to Byrne and Patrick Wilson (who plays the husband) about a dream she had about their son. The story is shown in scenes flashing between her retelling and the dream itself, so that we could see what she saw. With the lack of lighting (only a small bedside lamp) and the comatose boy, you don't even notice the demon in the corner until it (slowly) raises a shadowy arm and points at the boy.<br />
<br />
Immediately after Hershey ends her story and looks at Wilson, the demon popped up from right behind him to give us all a jolly bejesus-ridding. I still get goosebumps from that scene.<br />
<br />
After that, it got slightly disappointing. My gripe with the movie lies in the second act, where explanations happen.<br />
<br />
Astral projection. Really?<br />
<br />
I mean, within the context of the movie it does fit well with the sudden occurrences: the boy's spirit had wandered too far from his body, which is why malevolent spirits are looking to inhabit his currently-empty physical self. Possession takes time and energy; which is why the spirits haven't actually gotten down to the actual relocating yet, and are merely having some fun with Rose Byrne. But then you toss in Wilson's backstory (he had a similar episode to his son's when he was young, but blocked it out from memory), and then astral-projects himself in order to lead his son's soul back into his body...<br />
<br />
From hints and hauntings to actual confrontations with the spirits (plus some freaky-deaky encounters in the spirit world which, though interesting, were not fully explained), you have quite a departure from the tone set earlier in the movie.<br />
<br />
Mind you, even with the unexpected turn in storyline, the second half is not without scares: the turn-table scene where Leigh Whannell (yes, he's in this also) writes what psychic Lin Shaye relays to him is terrifying enough, and the subsequent scene where the spirits in question upend everything including our young boy's body (with glimpses of those spirits in trusty Polaroid photos). And the ending, of course.<br />
<br />
Because a Wan-Whannell movie would not be complete without the obligatory twist in the end. But the set-up for it doesn't make sense. When you are getting your son's soul out, you do not stop halfway and yell at the ghost that used to haunt you. You <i>get back</i> into your body first, <i>then</i> you start yelling.<br />
<br />
In case you're not spoiled yet... good.<br />
<br />
7/10. Still can't get over the second part. One thing's for sure though, you'll never look at ceiling corners the same way ever again.BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-3338437078979268322012-08-16T06:52:00.000-07:002012-08-20T07:08:17.114-07:00Double Feature: The Expendables (2010) and The Expendables 2 (2012)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>The Expendables</i> was a review I never got around to writing.<br />
<br />
Sure, I enjoyed it, but the more I postponed my completion of the review, the more the movie became a bit 'meh' for me, and I really couldn't pull all my points together for a proper review.<br />
<br />
Testosterone? Check. Action? Adequate enough. Looking back, my gripe about the movie was the slight emphasis on Jason Statham's character. Nothing against Statham, but leave a bit more screen-time for the others, eh?<br />
<br />
This didn't mean that the movie wasn't fun, but I would say that most of the fun came from the cast line-up. Up until then, I didn't even know how much I'd missed Dolph Lundgren, and thus, got a massive huge kick out of watching him and Jet Li duke it out on-screen.<br />
<br />
I was quite glad to see him not die at the end. 6/10.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[Review for <i>numero dos</i> starts now.]</span><br />
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<br />
The idea behind <i>The Expendables</i> is awesome in the sense that it can be considered as the mother of all action movies. Just as how <i>The Avengers</i> is the mother of all superhero movies (at least, until that <i>Justice League</i> movie materialises), <i>The Expendables</i> collects action stars old and (semi-) young, and weaves them a shared storyline for our viewing pleasure. <br />
<br />
And that list is not exhausted yet.<br />
<br />
It’s the nostalgia factor that gets to me. How often do you see Lundgren these days? Or, though he has a reason, Arnold Schwarzenegger? Jean-Claude Van Damme even? Or Chuck flippin’ Norris?<br />
<br />
Like taking a trip down memory lane.<br />
<br />
And no worries to be had here about egos. Half of the stars in the movie haven't really been in anything big in a long while.<br />
<br />
Did I say I totally miss Dolph Lundgren?<br />
<br />
The first movie didn't exactly explore its homage potential, apart from a few jabs at Schwarzenegger's stint as Govern<strike>at</strike>or of California. As Arnie's role (and others) have been expanded in this sequel, I'm very pleased to announced that there are homages and pop culture references a-plenty (especially for the more established action stars), and with that, it's basically a chance for all the old-timers to poke fun at themselves and each other.<br />
<br />
And it works. Granted, the cheese and cliched-dialogue factor is ultimately at an all-time high, but<br />
It so does. One of the best scenes in this movie involves Chuck Norris. Let’s just say that he’s capable of being an Expendable (note the singular) all by himself.<br />
<br />
This time around, Lundgren (yay!!), Terry Crews and Randy Couture, who round out the rest of the Expendables, are given more time to shine. Some of the funniest scenes in the movie involve the three.<br />
<br />
On that note... poor Liam Hemsworth.<br />
<br />
Action-wise, the second movie delivers far, far more than the first. From the first very-loaded-and-action-packed 15 minutes (only then we get the title card), till the final scenes where everyone in the movie poster (except for two) packs guns and knives and puts them to appropriate use, there's a ton of action to go around. I seem to notice more blood and more guts in this one, though it's been a long while since I last saw the first one. I mean, there <i>was </i>violence, but it's not as gratuitous as this one. Even punching begot copious amounts of blood-letting.<br />
<br />
Jet Li fans, you may be disappointed with this outing; he’s only in this movie for 15 minutes (guess which 15), after which he takes a parachute out. Even Lundgren glares at him for that.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[Surprisingly, Li still gets third billing, right after Statham.]</span><br />
<br />
It’s definitely much better than the first movie (though I think it’s well-established by now that seconds are mostly always better than firsts). Even with the inclusion of a girl proper this time around, it didn’t detract much my enjoyment of this movie.<br />
<br />
I think I’m an awful feminist. I prefer to have my movies 100% testosterone-fuelled, rather than have a token "strong, sexy, sassy, one-of-the-boys" female member of the team. I find it redundant and unnecessary to have eye-candy for the boys when guns, grenades and booze should cut it. Luckily, this movie doesn't create any love interest notions, although for a moment I thought we might actually go down that road.<br />
<br />
Thank goodness.<br />
<br />
JCVD is adequately slimey as the bad guy (ha ha) Vilain (pronounced vee-layn), but the final fight between the Italian Stallion and JCVD wasn’t that all hyped to be. Maybe it’s due to different fighting styles (JCVD is more martial arts than Stallone) or due to age, but there wasn’t as much fighting as I would’ve liked. <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[Fun fact: Stallone initially offered Gunnar (currently played by Lundgren) to JCVD, but JCVD declined. Totes in his face yo.]</span><br />
<br />
Suggestion for <i>The Expendables 3</i>: Bring in Ray Park, please! Then he can have a showdown with Jet Li (hopefully). Someone should also bring in Steven Seagal. I’m sure Stallone can fit him in somewhere. Apparently, the third movie is in the process of signing Nicolas Cage (NOT THE BEES!!!), and they’re looking to get Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford and <strike>Blade</strike>Wesley Snipes.<br />
<br />
8/10. I had so much fun with this movie, I can hardly wait for the third.BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-88303809190797808832012-07-27T18:15:00.001-07:002012-07-27T18:18:08.067-07:00The Dark Knight Rises (2012)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cinemablend.com/images/news/31034/New_Dark_Knight_Rises_Poster_Arrives_Online_1337636698.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.cinemablend.com/images/news/31034/New_Dark_Knight_Rises_Poster_Arrives_Online_1337636698.jpg" width="135" /></a></div>I read a number of reviews saying that <i>Rises</i> is not as good as the previous one, <i>The Dark Knight</i>, and I would respectfully disagree. <br />
<br />
<i>TDK</i> is about how darkness and evil can corrupt even the most upstanding of citizens, and in a way, it's about lacking faith in humanity. <br />
<br />
For me, it's right on par with <i>TDK</i>, though villain-wise, Bane is not nearly as unpredictable and time-bomby as the enigmatic Joker of <i>TDK</i>. I found Bane interesting enough, though, probably because I had been ruined by <i>Batman and Robin</i>, where Bane was depicted as a mindless minion that is all brawn. <br />
<br />
As a result of that horrible, horrible movie, I never thought Bane could be primary villain material. Played by Tom Hardy (a far cry from his skinny <i>Star Trek: Nemesis</i> days), Bane blew me away. He reminds me a little of Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell (from <i>Prison Break</i>), who seems redneck white trash enough but doesn't speak at all like one.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[And from then on, I've been taken by Robert Knepper.]</span><br />
<br />
Frankly, I'm still not over the fact that Bane is not an idiot. But I digress.<br />
<br />
This is a movie about a hero that falls and then rises again, which thematically, plays out in plot and music throughout the movie. That anthemic chant you hear in the trailer? It's in the opening scenes, and in most of Bane's. Surprisingly, this movie uses more elements from the comic books than the previous ones. It's still the gritty crime thriller that we all come to expect from Nolan's <i>Batman</i> movies, but the main difference in this is that it has far more action than its predecessors. <br />
<br />
You even get to see the infamous back-breaking scene midway, though it doesn't look as brutal and iconic as originally drawn. <br />
<br />
I loved how this movie brings the trilogy to full circle, in both storyline and sentiment. I won't say anymore than that, because I'm trying to practice writing spoiler-free reviews. <br />
<br />
If you pay attention (and you will need to, as with all Christopher Nolan movies), you should be able to spot the all-usual Nolan twist way before it happens. <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[And if you consider this as spoiling, obviously you've not seen a Chris Nolan movie.]</span><br />
<br />
Oddly, this movie also brings to mind the Frat Pack. You see so many Nolan alumni in this one, it feels like a B-movie sequel to one of his movies where only the supporting actors return, and you find out that that sequel is completely unrelated to the original. In case you feel a bit lost here, the original I'm referring to is <i>Inception</i>.<br />
<br />
So for me, I would say that <i>Rises</i> is right up there with <i>TDK</i>. No trilogy curse this time around. 9/10.BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-72053897103446298372012-07-10T05:21:00.000-07:002012-08-20T07:14:20.847-07:00The Amazing Spider-man (2012)<br />
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Reboots only happen when a movie franchise has run its course, both critically and financially (think George Clooney and Bat-nipples from the '90s). Admittedly, <i>Spider-man 3</i> did suck ass, but it's only been five years. Really?<br />
<br />
<span style="color: cyan;">*No spoilers. Unless you've seen Sam Raimi's <i>Spider-man.</i>*</span><br />
<br />
Considering that <i>The Amazing Spider-man</i> (<i>TAS</i>) goes back to the start of the story, the first half plays out like the first half of Sam Raimi's <i>Spider-man</i>. The only difference is that <i>TAS</i> is more faithful to the source material, with Peter making his own webbing devices (rather than being part of his mutated biology), Gwen Stacy being his first girlfriend (<i>not</i> Mary-Jane Watson) and the villain (the Lizard instead, and not arch-nemesis Green Goblin). Since we're still relatively fresh from Raimi's movies, the first part of <i>TAS</i> can be a bit draggy.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[The only thing missing from this movie is the iconic, “with great power comes great responsibility," line, but if you pay close attention, though, Uncle Ben kind of summarises the concept in one of the scenes.]</span><br />
<br />
Surprisingly, <i>TAS</i> wasn't the chatty emotional dullfest I expected it to be (apparently it is based on the <i>Ultimate Spider-man</i> series, which had less emphasis on villains). It had sufficient action in the second act to thrill me (at least, enough to satiate my blockbuster cravings), and it also spent quite a bit of time on character development, which luckily didn't really slow the movie down at all.<br />
<br />
Going in with no impression whatsoever of Andrew Garfield (haven't seen <i>The Social Network</i>), he completely bowled me over as Peter Parker. He's able to pull off being an awkward gangly teenager (despite being almost 30), and thankfully, isn't namby-pamby. Mainly, Garfield was adorable; think I may have a mini-crush now.<br />
<br />
Special mention also goes to Rhys Ifans, who plays Dr Curt Connors/the Lizard, doing a fine job of balancing ethically-conflicted and what he actually wants (which is growing his arm back). It's a bit of a waste that Dylan Baker (who played Connors in Raimi's films) didn't get the chance to go full-on baddie, even after two instalments of foreshadowing. If you're curious to see what's been missed, he guest-stars on <i>The Good Wife</i> once in a while, and he's deliciously slimy in that.<br />
<br />
Since this is the restart of the franchise, there is <i>plenty</i> of foreshadowing in this (there's a scene midway of the end credits), and several unresolved minor plotlines saved for the sequel. I'm hoping that they bring in Norman Osborne in the next one; he's plenty mentioned in <i>TAS</i>, but not seen.<br />
<br />
I can't decide whether this trumps Raimi's first Spidey flick or vice versa, because both are equally enjoyable and both are good movies in their own right. The clearest comparison I can give is that Raimi's first is true to the definition of 'summer blockbuster', whereas <i>TAS</i> seems to be slated for a February/March release, rather than in July. The journey to becoming Spider-man is felt more in <i>TAS</i>, and in way, the timeline is slower as Peter is still in high school at the end of <i>TAS</i> (whereas in Raimi, everyone graduates high school quarter-way through the film).<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[My only gripe with <i>TAS</i> is that I like Denis Leary too much.]</span><br />
<br />
Although I still don't see the point in rebooting the series in such a short time, <i>TAS</i> is a worthy entry into the movie series. Do watch this. 8/10BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-64312288623109029582012-07-10T05:17:00.001-07:002012-08-20T07:14:56.115-07:00Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This movie is sadly disappointing.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[And this review is sadly overdue.]</span><br />
<br />
<i>Snow White and the Huntsman</i> starts off serious, but halfway through seems to decide otherwise, and then goes back to its Disney fairytale roots, switching back and forth.<br />
<br />
This means pixies, and this huge stag (or was it an alpaca?) somehow 'acknowledging' that Snow White was meant to bring life and prosperity back to the land.<br />
<br />
This inconsistency really got to me (I thought I was going to see a dark fantasy version of <i>Snow White</i>), and since it was being touted in all the promos as a <i>Lord of the Rings</i> epic kinda thing, the only thing it has in common with <i>LOTR</i> is that they go to battle in the end. <br />
<br />
Despite the interesting notion of the Huntsman playing a more pivotal role in Snow White's destiny, this unfortunately was not elaborated any further than teaching her how to stab someone in the ribs. And also, unexpectedly being the one who kissed her back to life (rather than the 'prince' of the movie, William), but being not in love with Snow (she only reminded him of his dead wife), the kiss on the lips didn't really gel well with me as it didn't seem like something the Huntsman would do.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[At least kiss her on the forehead or something!]</span><br />
<br />
Charlize Theron may look gorgeous as the evil Queen Ravenna (her costumes are fantastic!), but she's basically intoning everything in the same low voice, and when she's not doing that, she's screaming. They'd also included a backstory and a creepy brother, which worked, surprisingly, as it made her more interesting. I honestly don't see why everyone's raving about her performance, though admittedly, she emotes insecurity really well, especially in her scenes with her brother.<br />
<br />
For Snow White herself, I tried to be as removed from bias as possible, but I couldn't help not seeing Bella Swan, instead of Kristen Stewart. The fact that the top part of Stewart's face still looks half-stoned didn't help, and the script didn't really make things better either (that battle speech after she woke was awkward). Apart from the Bella Swan stigma (i.e., blank-faced and slightly wide-eyed), I thought she was pretty okay.<br />
<br />
And besides, if you wanted to go through the fairytale route, at least make her cough up that damn apple piece when she wakes up.<br />
<br />
I have no complaints about Chris Hemsworth; he still has some goodwill leftover from being Thor.<br />
<br />
Also, the dwarves are, in a way, redundant. Not from a plot point-of-view, but from casting; I don't see why you would cast normal-sized people, and then CG them into little people. Yes, tiny Ian McShane and tiny Bob Hoskins is adorable (actually, Hoskins is adorable no matter the size), but if <i>Mirror, Mirror</i> can get real little people to play dwarves, so can you.<br />
<br />
5/10. The reason why I'm being rather harsh with this is because I was expecting dark, not <i>semi</i>-dark. If you're as disappointed as I am with this, do check out <i>Snow White: A Tale of Terror</i>, starring Sigourney Weaver as the Queen. Don't let the title mislead you; it's not too scary, but I find it's a pretty good retelling of the story.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[Better than the above, at any rate.]</span>BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8810948881378171872.post-20887571248140241732012-05-02T06:57:00.000-07:002012-08-20T07:15:28.340-07:00Marvel's The Avengers (2012)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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True believers, I bring glad tidings! :)<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: yellow;">*spoilers*</span></b><br />
<br />
I wasn't sure whether this movie would work, seeing that Robert Downey Jr's star is still cruising along the Ascension Drive, I was a bit afraid that <i>The Avengers </i>would revolve around him. Thankfully, the film keeps its eye on the word 'ensemble', and gives everyone their time to shine. Even Scarlett Johannson's Black Widow does her fair share as part of the team, and I'm really glad that she has purpose and is not just there to be eye candy, like in <i>Iron Man 2</i>.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[I always thought that making ScarJo a spy was just an excuse to get her in the movie. And into a black catsuit.]</span><br />
<br />
This brings us to character development. Marvel Studios has a very good track record with this, as we can see from <i>Iron Man</i>,<i> Thor</i>, etc., and <i>The Avengers</i> takes the time to flesh out the possible conflicts between all these characters, from their own movies, meeting/working/coming together for the first time.<br />
<br />
This is where the movie gets a bit draggy.<br />
<br />
In setting up the foundation and formation of the Avengers, there's roughly an hour and a half's worth of in-fighting and quibbling, so much so that in the second half, you don't disagree when the big bad of the piece, Tom Hiddleston's Loki tells Downey, Jr.'s Tony Stark that they (the heroes) are too busy fighting each other to combat an invading alien army.<br />
<br />
All these catfights (physical and verbal) were only alleviated by some action sequences in-between (either hero-on-hero, or hero-on-Loki), but barely. At one point, all the heroes were even put in a room to see how far and furious egos and mouths can fly. This entire bit was noticeably tedious the second time around (yes, I watched this movie twice!).<br />
<br />
Other than inner conflict, the pacing is superb, and the movie starts with Loki arriving to Earth and causing a lot of property damage in his wake. Since we already know the cast from the previous movies (with the exception of newbie Mark Ruffalo, but then again, who doesn't know that he's playing Bruce Banner/the Hulk), little time was spared on introductions to the major characters.<br />
<br />
Another highlight of the film is the screenplay. <i>Iron Man</i> has to be credited with some of the funniest dialogue and back-and-forths that even made us moviegoers forget that a comic book movie should have more action, and I'm glad this tradition (humour, not non-action) is carried onto <i>The Avengers. </i>There are just so many priceless quotable gems from this film that I could rave about, most of them from Robert Downey, Jr., because what would a movie be without good ol' RDJ sarcasm, eh?<br />
<br />
I also noticed that Thor and Loki's speech pattern is a lot more... formal (still no 'verily's or 'thou's, but close) than they were in <i>Thor</i>, but maybe that's just me; I haven't seen <i>Thor</i> in a year.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[For some reason, HBO doesn't seem to want to air it :S]</span><br />
<br />
One of the bright spots in the film is when they tone down the action (and the arguing!) and focus on regular one-on-one conversations/interactions between characters, may it be hero or villain. This is especially where the actors shine, and you can see how comfortable they all are in their roles, since most of them are playing the same character the second time around. Scenes to look out for are Stark/Banner, and Thor/Loki, when Thor first lands on Earth.<br />
<br />
The second act is where the Avengers get their act (pun totally intended!) together, and where the action is kicked up a notch. The humour is also knocked out of the park from here on out, with a very, very, <i>very </i>unexpected character being a major source of that humour. You'll know what I mean when you watch the movie. We also get to see Chris Evan's Captain America organising the team and plan of attack, which is a fantastic nod to the comics since in canon, Cap'n is the leader of the Avengers.<br />
<br />
CGI? Don't get me started. Huge explosions, huge set-pieces, it's all very grand and awesome. 'Nuff said.<br />
<br />
This is one of the rare films that actually lives up to the hype generated, and unless you've... not been in touch with the world lately (is it me, or is 'living under a rock' cliched?), the hype is MASSIVE! Four years' worth of excitement building up to this moment, and it surprisingly delivers.<br />
<br />
9/10. Three, fairly oft-used sentences, people: Best. Entertaining Movie. Ever.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[Yes, even with the in-fighting.]</span><br />
<br />
P.S. Don't watch the 3D version, it really isn't much to shout about.BigFatLittlePiggyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154059851901009061noreply@blogger.com0