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Showing posts with label movie review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movie review. Show all posts

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Movie Review: Elysium


In the year 2154, a small percentage of the world's elite is enjoying life in luxurious habitat in Space called Elysium. The rest of the population still resides in Earth which is now overpopulated and it's resources almost used up.


Max Da Costa a former car thief and now parolee is working in an assembly line for Armadyne Corporation. Armadyne provides the Elysian weaponry and Robots that police the earth's population. Max was forced to take a job from a smuggler named Spider after he accidentally got a lethal dosage of radiation while working in the Assembly line.

Spider helps the non-Elysian Citizens illegally enter Elysium. In his last attempt a group of immigrants were shot down after trying to reach Elysium without authorization. Secretary of Defense Delacourt has activated a sleeper agent on Earth to shoot down the shuttles. Delacourt was reprimanded by the Elysian President Patel. Delacourt fears losing her authority, so she made a deal with Armadyne Corp Ceo John Carlyle to overwrite the program that controls Elysium Robot and get her the Presidency.



Caryle then downloads the program and neurally stores it and prepares to deliver it to Elysium. Da Costa intercepted Carlyle shuttle and got the program. Delacourt then orders Kruger to track down Da Costa and retrieve the data that was stolen. During the firefight, Carlyle was killed along with Max's accomplice.


Max then escapes Kruger and seeks the help of his childhood friend Frey. Frey is also having her own set of problems. Her daughter  Matilda is suffering from Leukemia and needs to get to Elysium and use a device called Med-Bays that help all sort of human illness.

Kruger uses Frey and Matilda to lure Max out. Max then decided to surrender to get to Elysium but did not expect Frey and Matilda to be in Kruger's shuttle. Kruger and his colleague tried to secure the grenade that Max was holding. But unfortunately the grenade exploded causing the shuttle to crash. Eventually Frey, Matlda and Ma was caught. Delacourt orders the retrieval of the data from Max's head even though she is aware that the process would kill him. Kruger then kills Delacourt and plans to steal the information in Max's head.

Moments later Max was able to escape but Kruger was trying to catch him with the intention of using the data to rule Elysium for himself. Max managed to kill Kruger in the end and as able to reach Elysium's computer core and downloaded the file killing himself in the process. After the system rebooted, All Earth's population became Elysium citizens and those who were living in Elysium got their citizenship revoked. Frey used one of the Med Bay to cure Matilda. In the end a group of shuttles carrying multiple Med bays were deployed to Earth.

What can I say about the movie? It is pretty good in my opinion. Compared to district 9 it is not bad. It is quite memorable. The idea that in the future, the rich people would enjoy a comfortable life while the masses suffer is something that is not impossible from happening. In fact it is happening now. The concept though is not new. I have seen similar story line from other TV shows and movies. A particular show that comes to mind is Terra Nova. In that show, in the future the air has become unsafe to inhale. The rich people has the luxury to live in Domes that has clean air. Same concept here. But it is not bad. Matt Damon and Jodie Forster were both great and played their roles well. The graphics was great as well. I wouldn't mind watching the whole film again.

What are your thoughts on Elysium?

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Movie Review: Man of Steel


After years of harvesting of Krypton’s natural resources, Krypton is faced with its imminent destruction. The chief scientist Jor-el has warned the council about repercussions of harvesting the natural resources which caused the planet’s core to be unstable. General Zod has staged a coup to gain the leadership of the planet. Jor-el and his wife Lara has decided to send their son Kal-el to earth after infusing his cell with the genetic codex of the entire Kryptonian race. Zod killed Jor-el but was unable to stop the spacecraft that would bring Kal-el to earth. He and his followers were captured and were sent to the Phantom Zone as their punishment. After the destruction of Krypton, Zod was free. Since then they travelled to different colonies that were previously controlled by Krypton but found no survivor. They instead salvage what they could use include a world engine.

On Earth, Kal-el was found in Smallville Kansas by Jonathan and Martha Kent who raised him as their own and named him Clark. He discovered his abilities as he grew older. Jonathan warned Clark not to use his abilities in fear of humans discovering his true nature. Even in his death, Jonathan refused to be saved in order to keep his secret.  Years after, Clark was wandering and has taken several identities to keep his secret. He learned of a discovery in the Artic of an Alien Spacecraft and joined the team that is investigating it.
The ship allowed him to communicate of a preserved image of his father Jor-el. He explain that the reason for his abilities. Also in the Artic, Lois Lane was part of team investigating the spacecraft. After seeing Clark sneaking in to space craft, she followed him. She was injured and Clark was forced to use his heat vision to cauterize the wound to prevent her from bleeding out.

The Spacecraft has sent a distress signal which Zod use to locate Clark. He demand that the Humans handover Clark or face the consequence. Clark agreed to have the Military surrender Clark. After learning of Zod’s planning repopulating the planet and changing the planet’s atmosphere using the world engine Clark refused and decided to oppose his fellow Kryptonians.



Clark was able to destroy the World engine but was unable to prevent the damage that it caused to Metropolis. Clark was able to defeat Faora and Nam-Ek and was able to send them to the Phantom Zone again with the help of Lois Lane. Only Zod was left and able to adapt to Earth’s atmosphere and learn how to use his abilities the way Clark can. They engaged in a fierce battle that caused more destruction. In the final moments of the battle, Zod was about to kill a group of civilians using his heat vision. Left with no choice, Clark snapped Zod’s neck and killed him.



The military is still trying to find out more about Clark. A sent a drone crashing and told General Swanwick that he is willing to help but it would be on his own terms. Clark then took a job with the daily planet as a reporter as part of his cover.

Like most people, I found that the movie is lacking. It was a good movie but it was not great. The characters were underdeveloped. The fact that Lois Lane learned of Clark’s identity took away a lot of mystery. And it was too easy for Lois to put the puzzle together. Clark’s cover in the end doesn’t really mask his identity. Unlike the previous movie, Superman returns, they provided an Alibi by showing that Clark was clumsy.
Also I found it odd that Superman killed Zod in the end of the movie. Generally Superman does not kill. There are versions of superman in Comics that he does but generally he doesn’t. In TV series version, Smallville, Clark has gone to great lengths to prevent from killing. I think that part of Superman is what keeps him apart from other superheroes. We all know that he is flawed and at times has fallen prey to his dark side but killing is something that most viewers and fans would not approve. The battle scene was good but I think it was too excessive. It seems that he did not mind all the destruction and the people getting hurt.
What I enjoyed about the movie was the first part in Krypton. It is something that Movie makers really dwell upon. We all know that the sun is the source of his abilities but the idea that his cells absorbs them, the gravity is lesser in earth than Krypton and the atmosphere is more nourishing is somewhat refreshing.

There are references to Wayne Enterprise and Lex Corp in the movie. Is this a set up to future superman films? News has already emerged about the possible sequel which would involve Batman. I would guess that Lex Luthor, Superman’s greatest nemesis, would soon be part of the sequels. What are your thoughts?

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Movie Review: The Dark Knight rises




8 years after the death of Harvey Dent, crime was nearly eradicated in Gotham City . Commissioner Jim Gordon has been guilt driven with lies that he made turning Harvey Dent (Two Face) a Hero in the eyes of the people in Gotham . Batman was turned from a hero to a fugitive and hasn’t seen in the last eight years.
Bane a member of the League of Shadows threatens that peace and has been enlisting the help of John Dagett, a rival of Bruce Wayne, take over the control of Wayne Enterprises. Using Wayne ’s fingerprint, a series of investments has caused Bruce Wayne to go bankrupt. Left with no choice Bruce has to hand over his green energy project to Miranda Tate. In the midst of all of this a Patrol Officer named John Blake seems to be connecting the dots. He first visited Bruce Wayne and told him of his theory about him being the Batman. Later we was promoted to detective and discovered some of Bane’s plans.
Unfortunately Bane was aware of the project and made plans to turn it to nuclear weapon. Eventually Bruce donned the batman suit once again and faced Bane. After eight years of hiding, the Batman was no match for Bane. It was later revealed that Bane knows about Batman’s real identity and plans to steal the arsenal in Wayne Enterprise applied science division.
Beaten by Bane, Bruce was badly beaten and was thrown to a prison which seems impossible to escape. Stories were told by the prisoners that only one person was able to escape. The stories were a child was able to escape the prison after somebody risked his life to let the child escape. The child was born in the prison by Warlord’s daughter. The warlord daughter fell in love with a Mercenary and his daughter was imprisoned in his place. She was raped and killed inside the prison.




Forced to watch Gotham ’s destruction via a TV inside the prison, Bruce waited to healed and attempted several times to escape. Bane was able to turn the fusion core to a nuclear weapon, trapped all the police inside the tunnels and was able to blow up all the bridges that serve as exit and entrance to Gotham City . To ensure that all the citizen of Gotham does not make an  attempt to leave, he threatened to blow the nuclear bomb if anybody does
Eventually Bruce was able to leave the prison to get back to Gotham a day before the Bomb is set to explode. He enlist the help of Selina Kyle, the thief who stole his fingerprint and sold it to John Daggett to make it look that Bruce authorized the risky investment. In return for her help, Bruce promise to provide a means for Selina to start a new life. Entrusting her with one of his vehicles, he told him to blow up a part of a tunnel for the people of Gotham to escape. She informed him that she will leave immediately but Bruce seems to have faith in her.
The Batman was able to free the police and later a standoff in front of City Hall between Gotham ’s finest and Bane’s men began. The Batman joined the melee started attacking Bane. Batman was able to get the upper hand and subdued Bane. Later Batman found were Miranda was being held hostage while still asking for the location of the trigger for the bomb. It was revealed that Miranda was Thalia Al Ghul. After she escaped he found his father Ra’s Al Ghul who is also revealed as the mercenary. Bane was the protector of Thalia who was badly beaten.  She stabbed Batman and left him in the mercy of Bane. Miranda then tried to pull the trigger but she was surprised that the bomb did not go off. She explained that she was fulfilling his father’s wishes by destroying Gotham . Miranda left to secure the bomb. Right before Bane was about to kill Batman, Selina blew Bane with cannons attached to the motorcycle.


They were able to stop the moving truck which was transporting the bomb. Batman then decided to sacrifice himself to take the bomb to a safety distance. But before leaving, Batman hinted to Commissioner Gordon that he was Bruce Wayne.


A funeral service was attended by Gordon, Alfred, Lucuis Fox and John Blake. Later all of Bruce Wayne’s assets were divided. Some of were donated to charity while some went to Alfred. Blake got some equipment that led him to the location of the Bat Cave . Before the movie ended Alfred saw Bruce with Selina in a Café while he was on a Holiday .
This is a very good conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy. Although they have up the ante on the Mayhem department, I think the Joker would have been a better villain to end the trilogy. But then again if the villain for this movie would be Joker then that would mean that Heath Ledger has been already been dead and a different actor might not have portrayed the Joker the way Ledger did.
This might also mark the end of Christian Bale’s donning the suit as the end of the movie suggest the John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) would take over the Cape crusader’s responsibility to keep Gotham Safe. Gordon-Levitt is currently in talks in role of being Batman in the upcoming Justice League movie.
What I like about the movie is that it connected the events on the Batman begins. It all came back to League of shadows. Bruce’s past came to haunt him and knowing Batman’s real identity has caused him a lot of difficulties. Although there was not much of the Batman in this movie compared to other movies and there were not a lot of his gadgets, when they did show his gadget, viewers were still awed with how great the effects were. The Bat was great a lot more sophisticated with the Bat wing in old Batman franchise.
Another thing that I like about the movie is that it showed that Bruce has aged and was not as fast as used to be. It made the transition of giving up the cape easier to accept. When Batman was unable to beat Bane the first time and still had difficulties in finally beating him on their second encounter, shows that Batman is human. In other Batman films, he seems invincible and was never beaten up if I remember it correctly.
Bane is smarter here and has not Muscle head stereotype.  I am comparing it to the previous Batman franchise where Bane was a mindless pawn. I would have thought that he was the mastermind behind everything.
When Bruce Wayne passed the cape to John Blake aka Robin, it opens the door for other new Batman movies. If Christopher Nolan would still direct other Batman films and I will still keep watching them.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Movie Review: Breaking dawn Part 2

I have seen the first Twilight movie and New moon and decided to skip watching Eclipse and Breaking dawn part 1. I have read all the books and by comparison, they made an awful adaption of a mediocre book series. Twilight is like a fairy tale of vampire and werewolves. In the end Bella live happily ever after. Before I get to that I'll start with the movie.

I have to admit that there were funny moments in the movie. I think there are three. The first is when Jacob was being dragged by Bella and thrown out of the house after the later learned that Jacob imprinted on her daughter. Second was when Jacob was telling Charlie that he can turn to a wolf.And the third is Aro's reaction after seeing Alice's vision of his death.



They did a great job in the final battle scene between the Volturi and Bella and his friends. Although I find it very unusual that there were a lot of beheading and there was not a lot blood dripping from the heads. Why is that? It would have been great if Carlisle and Jasper really meet their end. It would have given it better ending. But off course in the book nobody was hurt except for what's her name? The vampire informant? Now I remember it's Irina

Dakota Fanning's underacted in this film. Well blame it on the character. The only thing that she said in the film was pain. We all know how talented of an actress she is. Try watching the movie "I am Sam" and you'll know what I am talking about. She can act better than Kristen Stewart. Michael Sheen who played Aro was supposed to be intimidating but I find him comical. I guess that is how the director wanted to portray him. He is more intimidating as Lucian in the Underworld movies. So I blame it all to the directors for not bringing out the talents of this two fine stars.

Anyway back to Twilight being a fairy tale of vampire and werewolves. First nobody dies, at least none of the main characters. In the end Bella was able to keep his family intact, she could walk during day, doesn't have the thirst like normally new born do. She is strong because she is a new born and far physically stronger than the old vampires. And she has a protective shield. What else can you ask for? And despite the threat of being killed and decapitated by the Volturi, they were able to leave unharmed.

I thought after doing five twilight movies they would have learned from their previous mistakes. The pacing of the movie is horrible. It is way to fast leaving important details of the stories out and they successfully manage to put unimportant scenes in. A good example is the arm wrestling match between Bella and Emmett.

Overall this film is better than the previous installments but it is still not a movie that I would watch over and over again. They could have spent a little more attention to the special effects. The scene when Edward and Bella was running through the woods, It is pretty obvious that it was shoot infront of a green screen. Good thing it is over. Now I am trying to decide whether to get a copy of the two movies in the series that I didn't watch. Hmmm. Is it worth it? You know there are movies that people have told you that suck but you feel that you still need to watch it just for the sake of watching it. This is one of those movies.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Movie Review: MIB 3


Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones reprise their role as agent J and agent K respectively for the third movie in the MIB film series.  Josh Brolin plays the younger version of agent K. Rip Torn does not reprise his Role as Zed and has been replaced by Emma Thompson as agent O.
 



Agent J has to travel back in time to hunt down Boris the Animal, a surviving member of Boglodite race, and prevent him from killing agent K and changing the future. Agent J meets a younger agent K and but everything does not run smoothly. J has to enlist the help of agent K without telling him the complete truth to prevent complications and changing the future.


 
In the future the Boglodite was unable to enter earth due to the defense system called the Arcnet. Since Boris killed K back in 1969 the Arcnet system was not installed and Earth was vulnerable from a Boglodite invasion.
 
Back in 1969, they agents meet Griffin in one of Andy Warhol’s event. In this movie Andy Warhol is an agent for the MIB as well. In the event Boris appears and tried to kill Griffin . In the commotion, Griffin escaped and so does Boris.
 
Eventually then found Griffin again and he gave them the Arcnet. The Arcnet will be automatically activated when it leaves earth’s atmosphere. Since they don’t have the technology at the time, the only way to activate the Arcnet is to put it on top of the Apollo Rocket before it launches for the moon.
 

The younger and older Boris worked together to prevent the two agents from deploying the Arcnet. Agent J had to deal with the older Boris. He memorized the attack patterns of Boris and time traveled minutes earlier to prevent the attacks from hitting him. Eventually Boris fell from the scaffolding and was incinerated when the rocket has blast off. Agent K sprayed liquid nitrogen on the younger Boris and shot it leaving it to shatter. Agent K then placed the Arcnet on the top of the rocket and escaped immediately.
 
He was then congratulated by Colonel James Darell Edwards Jr., head of security of the Space Launch and has given them access when Griffin showed him a glimpse of the future. Then the younger Boris reappeared and killed the Colonel with his spikes. Later a younger agent J appeared. It is revealed that K neuralyzes him to prevent him from getting the trauma.
 
Agent J goes back to the future and meets K in the diner and showed him his father’s watch and thanks him.
 
This is way better than the MIB 2 in my opinion. The story was well written and somehow connected some of the dots on why agent K is agent K. It has been 14 years since I watched the first film and I am glad they made this one. It gives as more of a back story about agent K.
 
There are talks of MIB 4 that would include Will Smith’s son Jaden. It would be interesting to see what the writers would cook up for this installment. When it comes out, I will definitely watch it!

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Movie review: Underworld Awakening


This is the fourth instalment of the Underworld Saga about the two feuding species: The Vampires and the Lycans. This marks the return of Kate Bekinsale who plays Selene, a vampire death dealer, who hunts down the Lycans.


After learning that Vampires and Werewolf were living among the human population, a mass cleansing has commenced to get rid of the new species. Selene was about to meet Michael in docks when they were cornered by the human trying to captured Michael. Selene was eventually captured.


12 years later, Selene was in a lab awakened by someone who she thought was Michael. Her captors let her escaped believing that Selene would lead them to subject 1. Selene finally found subject 1 and later found out that she was a Lycan-vampire hybrid just like Michael. The hybrid’s name is Eve. They share a connection and allowed Selene to see what Eve is seeing. It is then revealed that they had a connection because Selene is her mother.

Just as Selene was searching for Eve, she met David one of the last surviving vampires. David belongs to last existing coven as far as the story goes. David and Selene was about to take Eve to safety when they were attacked by Lycans who were believed to be extinct. Capturing Eve seems to be of great importance for them to come out of hiding for more that a decade.



They were able to get to safety but Eve was bitten by a Lycan and it was revealed then that she is a hybrid. When they reached the Coven, one of the vampire elders and father of David, Thomas, refused to give them refuge. Thomas believes that the best way for them to survive is to hide and wait for them to grow in numbers.

Selene and Thomas agreed that they would leave as soon as Eve is strong enough. They Lycans however found the coven and attacked them killing a lot of vampires including David. Selene also encountered a Lycan hybrid larger that any Lycan that she has encountered and is almost immune to Silver.

Thomas handed Eve over with exchange for their lives. He blames Selene for the deaths including his Son’s. Selene then cut her palm and squeezed David’s heart and he was resurrected again.
Selene then headed over back to the city to retrieve David. But before that she solicited help from Detective Sebastian. Sebastian did not believe that all Lycans were dead since his partner discovered evidence that the 200 suspected Lycans during the purge tested negative. This evidence was sent to him two days after his partner allegedly committed suicide.



They went back to Lab to retrieve Eve. They soon found out that the Lab was guarded by Lycans. The head of the research Dr. Jacob Lane was a Lycan as well. He plans to harvest Eve’s DNA to learn more about the Hybrid and create serum that would make them immune to silver. During the testing, they discovered that the serum has side-effects that cause the Lycans to grow bigger, stronger and heal faster. He used his son, Quint Lane as was one of his test subjects giving him multiple injections and the new Lycan Abilities. He was the Lycan that Selene encountered in the Coven. During Selene’s raid on the Lab, she found Michael still cryogenically frozen. Selene shot one of the canisters and started the defreezing process. Selene could stay since she still has to save Eve. She then caught up with Dr. Jacob trying to evacuate Eve to a different location for the harvesting procedure. With the help of Detective Sebastian and David they were able to kill the Lanes and save Eve. They then went back in to get Michael but he was already gone. Eve learned that he has a connection with Michael and she has visions of what Michael was seeing.


 The writers did a great job in connecting the story with the ending of Underworld Evolution. That is what enjoy watching the Underworld series. I am very much satisfied after watching this movie. The next movie is set to be released next year. I can't to see how this story is unfold. 

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Thursday, September 30, 2010

Movie review: The Last Airbender

I was pretty excited when I first saw the trailer of this film. I had to finish watching the whole animated series in less than a week so that I could enjoy the movie more. I would give an A to the computer graphics, costumes and the location where they filmed the movies. They did a great job in recreating the northern water tribe. But that is the only thing that is good about the film.

The script was abysmal. Shyamalan failed to put the important parts of the animated series into the film. The movie was to fast phase and overall it was a boring film. Those who didn’t watch the animated series might enjoy the movie but most of the people who watched it would find the movie a total wreck.  There are parts of the original animated series which were funny especially due to Sokka’s Jokes. Aang is supposed to be funny. But in the film Aang and Sokka was way too serious. I just don’t know how they would manage to bring in Tuff (the blind earth bender) in the second movie since she is very sarcastic and she is one of the funniest characters in the series.

There was no real emotional attachment to the film. There were really no “wow” moments. I have to admit that the graphics during the fight scene were great but the fight scene itself was boring. Appa is a big part of the animated series and there is supposed to be a strong attachment between him and Aang. But in the movie, it seems that Appa was just another creature that is only use for transportation. I don’t know why Avatar Roku is not in the film. He plays a big part in the first season of the animated series.

They did a poor job with the casting. Avatar is an Asian influence animated series due to martial arts. Some fans of the original series were enraged when the role of the people from the fire nations did not fell to Asian actors and actresses. I have to agree. Since the movie is an adaptation, they should have tried to make it as similar to the original series as possible. And I don’t know why they could pronounced Aang’s name right.

Overall the movie was a big disappointment. This is not a movie that I would enjoy watching over and over again. I am not certain if I will watch the second movie if there would decide to make a movie about the second book of the animated series.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Movie Review: Zombieland


This is a post-apocalyptic movie where majority of the world's population has turned into a zombie. Unlike traditional zombies, the walking dead in this film are not walking slowly but they are running which is a new perspective on the whole zombie concept. The story begins with Colombus, a student of University of Texas who travels to Columbus to find his parents. Columbus follows a strict set of rules which is the reason why he avoided becoming a meal in Zombieland. Colombus is a phobic but what he fears most are not zombies but clowns. 

During his travel he meets Tallahassee. A loner just like Columbus and is traveling to Florida. Tallahassee has mad skills in killing zombies and has a relentless hate against the undead. He is a Kryptonite though. His has been searching for a Twinkie during his travels. The two decided to travel together and ended up meeting Wichita and Little rock in a supermarket where Tallahassee hopes to find a Twinkie. The Sisters who has been doing cons even before everyone turned to zombies stole Tallahassee's ride and all their guns and ammunition. Tallahassee was pissed and vowed to catch the sisters. But luck was on their side. They found a hummer and a ton of guns in back seat. They finally found the stolen vehicle but ended up being outsmarted by the sisters again. Reluctantly, the four decided to travel together after a stand-off occurred in the vehicle. Wichita and Little rock wants to travel to an amusement park which is rumored to be a zombie-free zone but Columbus convinced them of taking a detour to Bill Murray's residence in Hollywood. Columbus ended up shooting Bill Murray who was acting like a zombie. They decided to stay for the night  and due to trust issues, the sisters decided to ditch Columbus and Tallahassee and go to the amusement park without them. 

Believing that the amusement park is zombie-free, they turned on the power of the park which has attracted zombies nearby. Overwhelmed with the number of zombies that has entered the park, the sisters decided to take refuge in one of the rides. Meanwhile Columbus, who was in love with Wichita, decided to go to the amusement. Tallahassee decided to help Columbus before going to Mexico. Tallahassee used his talent for killing to zombies and managed to kill majority of the zombies in the amusement park. 

Columbus was about to save the sisters but had to confront his biggest fear. A clown turned zombie was on his way. Gaining confidence from Tallahassee's line "Nut up of shut up", Columbus broke one of his rules (Rule 17: Don't be a hero) and saved Wichita and Little rock. Wichita eventually told Columbus her real name which is Krysta. 

Columbus searched for Tallahassee and found him in a restaurant looking for a Twinkie. They heard noises in the closet and accidentally shot a fire into it. They later realize that it was only rats. They also discovered that the Twinkies were in the closet and was shot up rendering it not fit for eating. As they leave the restaurant, Wichita and Little rock was in the hummer and was about to screw them again. The hummer stopped and Little rock threw a Twinkie at Tallahassee which he consumed in a few seconds. The four decided to travel again to find a new home away from the zombies. 

I am not a big fan of zombie movies and when I saw the movie poster of Zombieland, I thought it was not worth watching in the cinema. So I just waited for someone to lend me a copy once the DVD is out. I actually forgot about it and didn't seem like a movie that I would enjoy. I was wrong. The trailer didn't give justice to movie. I really hated the trailer. So when my brother lent me his copy I just said what the hell. I don't really watch Woody Harrelson movies but this one of the I enjoyed watching. He really fits his character.  The movie isn't really scary at all. Actually I would classify it as a comedy rather than a horror movie. The movie didn't give me goosebumps but instead it made me laugh like hell. It is way funnier than the Shaun of the Dead. A movie that I would definitely recommend others to watch. If you love watching Quintin Tarantino's infatuation for gore, this movie has enough violence that you would enjoy. 

Monday, June 7, 2010

Movie review: Kick Ass

There are several reasons why people watch movies. There are movie adaptations based on a famous book, comics or a video game. There are movies your friends told you that are too good to miss out and there movies that seems so lame that you have just have to watch it. From the movie trailer and posters, kick ass seems lame but I was surprised that the movie isn’t that bad. When I saw the movie poster, it reminded me of a film starring Ben Stiller called Mystery Men.  Mystery Men is about a group of people who doesn’t have real superpowers but ends up saving the day anyway.

The story is about a Dave Lezewski, a high school student from New York who so into comic books wanted to become a superhero. He doesn’t have any real superpowers. He could not run faster than a normal teenager nor does he have any abilities that could real qualify him to be a superhero. All he has is eagerness to help others and a costume that he bought in the internet. 

His first attempt to save others did not go as smoothly as he expected. He was stabbed by two thugs who were trying to steal a car. After being stabbed, he wondered around the streets until he got hit by a car. He was badly injured and needed to be implanted with metals to replace all the broken bones. During the accident, his nerve ending got messed up leaving him with a high tolerance to pain. 

Before he was saved by the paramedics, he removed his costume leaving him naked on the streets. The students of his high school found out about the mysterious circumstances in which he was saved and a rumor started to spread that he was gay. This was totally not a bad news to Dave Lezewski because his long time crush, Katie Deauxma, asked him to be her gay best friend. He was reluctant at first but ended up agreeing to it since it is the only way to get close to her.

He didn’t quit after his first attempt, and got back to fighting crime as soon as he was well enough to fight crime again. He was able to save someone eventually and then he finally called himself kickass after someone who captured his heroics in video ask him who he was.  His exploits was captured in video and was posted in Youtube which made an overnight celebrity.
On one of his exploits, he met with two vigilantes who were dressed in superhero costumes that ended up saving him. One of the vigilantes is dressed up like batman and is named as Big daddy while the other one is dressed up like a school girl wearing a mask is named Hit girl. Hit girl’s real name is Mindy MacCready and Big daddy is her father.
According to the movie, Big daddy use to be a cop who was imprisoned because he went after the crime boss named Frank D’ Amico. While imprisoned, D’ Amico killed Mindy’s mom. After Big daddy got out of prison, he trained Mindy to become a lethal weapon. Big daddy played by none other than Nicolas Cage by the way. 

Since Big daddy and Hit girl has been disrupting the business of the Frank D’Amico (who taught kickass was responsible), D’ Amico decided to hunt down Kickass to make him pay. D’ Amico’s son gave his father an idea to capture Kickass. He then posted as a superhero called Red mist so that he could gain Kickass’ trust. He found out that Kickass was nothing but a harmless geek and found out that the real people behind the attacks were big daddy and Hit girl.
Red mist then found a way to capture Big daddy and Hit girl. But it didn’t go as he planned. After shooting Hit girl who fell from the window of a building, Big daddy was captured along with Kick ass. D’Amico plans to unmasked the two and execute them via the Internet. Hit Girl who was wearing a vest when she got shot, came to the rescue but was too late to save his father. She did made plans to storm D’amico’s residence. She finally took down the Frank D’Amico and left Red mist alive. 

From the looks of it, the movie is poised for a second installment. The movie is set to be released in 2012. The movie is based on a comics released by Marvel with same title. There are a lot of alterations from the original story. Frank D’Amico’s named is changed from John Genovese. In the movie, the character the Nicholas Cage played is named Damon MacCready. In the comics, his wife was not killed by the Genovese. He was an accountant who was bored with his life and took her daughter away from her mother to train her. He didn’t have any grudges with Genovese. He just thought that a hero needs a villain and Genovese is the biggest crime boss in New York. In the movie, Dave Lezewski confessed to Katie Deauxma that he was not gay and that he was kickass. She accepted it and became his girlfriend. In the comics, Katie has a boyfriend and after finding out that Dave was lying, he asked her boyfriend to beat up Dave. 

I found the movie funny at times and really went beyond my expectations. I didn’t expect it to be violent. Since it is a superhero movie, it was bound to have some fighting. But the way Hit girl killed D’Amico was way brutal for some viewers. There is one thing that I have noticed. Normally superheroes are reluctant to kill. But in the finally scene, Kick ass killed some of D’Amico’s thugs. He didn’t felt remorse since he was a goody goody. 

But as a whole it was not as bad as I have expected. I am curios though how the second movie would turn out.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Movie Review: Hangover

In my opinion, this is the best comedy movie of 2009. If you enjoyed watching the movie “Old School”, then you’ll definitely love this movie.  This movie is a perfect depiction of a Bachelor party gone wild. The phrase “What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas” is very much applicable.

Four friends went to Las Vegas to have a bachelor party two days before the wedding. The group was supposed to have a night of good clean fun and go back the next day to prepare for the wedding. Everything went to hell when they woke up the next morning without any recollection of the events that has transpired the night before. Oh yeah they are missing one important thing – Doug, the Groom.

They had to retrace their steps to find out what happened the night before and find the groom in time to make it to his own wedding. On their search for the groom, they found out that they are in possession of police car, a baby, a tiger (own by Mike Tyson) and an Asian man in trunk of the car of the Bride’s father. They also found out soon that they owe the Asian man, Chow, $80,000 and he is in possession of Doug (the groom). Later they found a way to come up with the money to pay off for Doug. However, Chow gave them the wrong man who has the same name as the groom. This particular Doug is the drug dealer that sold Alan (the bride’s brother) the drugs that he used to spike the drinks that they had on the roof. Alan was supposed to get ecstasy but instead was given roofies (commonly known as the rape drug) which explains why they have no memory of happened in the bachelor party. Eventually they figured out where they left Doug and made it just in time for the wedding.

The thing that I like about the story is that the events may unlikely happened but there is a small possibility that it could. The script was really great and is very amusing but the situations that they are in are way funnier. The acting and the cast were really great. I give it a 10 out of 10 rating. This is the funniest movie of 2009 in my opinion.


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Monday, March 29, 2010

Movie Review: Cirque du Freak The vampire's assistant

Darren Shan is a normal 16 year old boy. Everything changes when he met a vampire named Larten Crepsley while watching a visiting freak show. Due to a series of events, Darren was forced to become a vampire to save his best friend's life and end a 100 year old truce between vampire and vampenezee.

The story is quite different from the vampire stories that I have read or watched. Despite being a film about vampires the movie lacks a very important component of all vampire stories – Blood. I was a bit intrigued. I wouldn’t really say that I completely enjoyed watching it. But I had to admit that it was a bit interesting because it is different from the popular vampire story like true blood and twilight. I am really confused though, I really don’t know whether the film is a horror or a comedy movie.

I found the movie’s concept on how to make a vampire weird. We have been accustomed to the idea that a vampire has to bite a human and let the human feed on their blood to complete the transformation. But instead, all they had to do is make a paper cut like wound and mixed the blood of the vampire and human by putting their fingers together. The story does not revolve around the typical vampire story stereo type. In the story, vampires use their saliva to heal themselves and they do age but they age very slowly.

I haven’t read the book and I base my opinion from the movie.This is one of those movies that I don’t think I’ll watch twice.  I might watch the succeeding 2 movies in the trilogy (if there would be any) just to see what happens next.  I wonder if I’ll enjoy the movie more if I read the book first. I guess I’ll just have to get a copy of the book so that I could make a comparison. 

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