Movie Review - The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Director: Guy Ritchie

Running time: 1 hr 56 minutes

Genre: Thriller / Action

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is based on a television series aired back in 1964. The film centers on the origin of two characters; Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill), an American spy and Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer), a KGB agent.

Solo was sent to retrieve a woman, Gabby Teller (Alicia Vikander) from East Berlin to extract information on her uncle whereabouts. There, he encountered Illya, who shows great determination in stopping him. Finally, Solo managed to get back across West Berlin. However, the next day, he was given a new task... to team up with Illya in order to stop a group from creating their own nuclear weapon.

I have not watched the TV series before, and truth to say, I wasn't impressed by the film's name. If it's not for Henry Cavill (Superman) and Armie Hammer (Lone Ranger), I would truly not have watched this film.

And I was not disappointed. The film have good pacing and it was both serious and funny at times. Armie and Henry made a great team, with good chemistry. Illya is mostly the 'muscle' of the two, but occasionally shows great depth and intelligence, while Solo is portrayed as an arrogant and intelligent spy but with a heart for passion as well.

While the plot is pretty generic, it did have a middle twist that I did not see coming. And thankfully, there's not much screen time for the love scenes which I absolutely abhor. This film sets a good footing to what would be a good movie franchise. However, chances of sequels, in my opinion would be rather rare as both main actors have booked film slots for many years to come.

Observations: I totally loved Illya's "Kiss". The greatest skill of all!!!

Bottomline: For those looking for a fun filled, light hearted action film.

Bamboo Ranking: 4.0 / 5.0

Movie Review 44: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (pt1)

Title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (pt.1)

Director: David Yates

Running time: 2 hours 26 minutes

Genre: Fantasy

In the second last installment of the movie series, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and friends are trying to find the remaining Horcruxes and  destroying them if they are to have hope of defeating the great Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes)

I have been watching this movie series since it's first episode and even though I think the book 7 of the series quite enjoyable, I find the movie to be a dread.

There are, of course highlights during the 146 minutes of screen time... but the whole movie feels dragged out. I don't envy the director having to make a decision to whether film the seventh episode in 1 movie or 2... since if he filmed it in 1 movie, it will feel too rush and if he filmed it in 2, which is what he's doing, it will face the risk of feeling dragged out.

He could have introduced some exciting sub plots to the movie... something new and refreshing not available in the novel, but instead, he kept on adding unnecessary scenes. Several places that Harry Potter and friend traveled to are just a waste of time and the screens showing them walking alone, attempting to exhibit conflicting emotions are a bore.

And the storyline for this movie is extremely boring. It's all about emotions... very little action. The director should have lengthen the fight at the beginning of the movie... it was over before I was able to make out who's who.

I'll be expecting a much better movie for the second part. Unfortunately, this meant that one must watch the part 1 of the movie to make sense of the movie...

Observation: I still don't understand much on why Voldemort can't beat Harry when using other person's wand.I mean, a wand is afterall, a tool... sure, it will augment one's power, but surely Voldemort is much, much more powerful than Harry that he don't need to have the most powerful wand in order to just beat Harry!

Bottomline: If you're planning to watch the second part of the movie, you'll have to watch the first part, if not, you won't be able to make any sense out of it.

Bamboo Ranking: 2.5 / 5.0

Movie Review 43: Resident Evil: Afterlife

Title: Resident Evil: Afterlife

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson

Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes

Genre: Horror, Action

This is the fourth instalment of the Resident Evil movie series and it starts off where the third instalment ended. The world is infected by a super virus which turns all infected humans into undead. Alice (Milla Jovovich) is one of the survivors of this apocalypse. She desperately searched for Arcadia… a place where there’s safety and is free from infection. This movie is loosely based on the Resident Evil game series.

This is the first decent film that I have watched since I started movie going two months ago. I have not watched any of the first three movies before so I had no idea what happened in the beginning of the movie. Despite that, my familiarity with the Resident Evil universe through the game series quickly caught me up to date to the developments. This film is only loosely based on the Resident Evil game series as the main character in the game is Chris Redfield, Leon Kennedy and Jill Valentine while in this movie, Alice is the lead cast. Maybe Alice is a character in other version of the Resident Evil game series (e.g. Wii, PSP, GC, etc.)... I played only those on the PC and PS.

Anyhow, I think that Milla Jovovich, as a superhuman hard-ass chick I is pretty good… although losing her powers in the beginning should have resulted in her dead in the plane crash. As for the newcomer in the series, Chris Redfield (Wentworth Miller), I think he’s pretty good as Chris Redfiled, although his screen time is really limited... would have like to have him having a bigger impact in the story development. In this film, his involvement doesn’t really change the story much. But I still really like his soulful eyes as in Prison Break, so I might be biased :P. And then, there’s a third character, which I presume exists in the previous series as well... Claire Redfield (Ali Larter) Chris’s little sister. I think she is by far the weakest character in the film... not that she’s very bad... just relatively the weakest one. It is quite obvious she is forcing emotions on her face which resulted in a very unnatural look.

As for the actions, they are pretty awesome... although those who watched the film previous instalment might find it to be the same bland thing if it’s the same. There’s one weak point though. I think the director uses too much slow motion in his action scenes. Slow motion actions are awesome when employed correctly. However, in this film... these slow motion scenes seemed like even longer than the normal motion action scenes (I feel only, I didn’t time them, okay). I think it would have been better if he could cut down on these slow motion scenes. On another point, I love the hammer/axe wielding executioner... he really is similiar to the one portrayed in RE5 of the game. And due to that, I think that he overshadows Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts), who is the film’s main antagonist. The final fighting scene between Wesker and Alice/Chirs/Claire is a little bit anti-climatic... not much ooohs and ahhhs scenes.

Anyhow, I believe that after watching this film, it made me want to watch the first three instalment of the film as well. I hope that they do make a fifth instalment as the director said that he would include Leon Kennedy in the fifth film, which I hope has a bigger role to play than Chris in this film... it would be nice to put Leon and Chris together... although it might result in having too much characters in the film and it might cause underdeveloped characters.

Observation: How did Luther West (Boris Kodjoe), one of the survivors, survive being attack by a group of undead in the deep dark tunnel remains a real mystery.

Bottomline: A nicely depicted film which is based on a game... much, much better effort than the likes of Tekken and King of Fighters. This film shows that you do not need to strictly follow the game in order to be successful as it is sometimes impossible to cram all info from a game into a film.

Bamboo Ranking: 4.0 / 5.0

Movie Review 42: The King of Fighters

Title: The King of Fighters

Director: Gordon Chan

Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes

Genre: Action

It was a time I (don't know what year it is) where a secret fighting tournament is being held in a next dimension to determine the next King of Fighters. All was going well, and in came Rugal (Ray Park) who stole three (actually two) sacred artifacts and made himself the lord the the other dimension. He forced people to fight in the tournament and kill them mercilessly... and the only hope the world has lies with Kyo Kusanagi (Sean Faris) who has absolutely no idea what is happening.

Sigh... I was expecting a good movie after several months of not reviewing a movie. First let's talk about the plot. The plot has absolutely nothing to do with the King of Fighters game series. It's just a group of random people fighting for a stupid title... there is even no mention of a prize! And boy oh boy, the plot holes are so evident that I don't even need to try. First, how on Earth did Rugal managed to single handedly enter a supposedly highly secured building without even a scathe through the front doors? He did not even try to hide at all! And that was before he got his hands on the artifacts, that means, he's at most just a decent fighter. Next, there's Kyo who claimed not to know anything about the sword, and hey presto, after a heart to heart with his dead father, he got the sword! And the name Rugal was mentioned several times in front of Kyo, before he chirped in "Hey, Rugal is the one who killed my father!" There is just no flow in the story... and the whole plot is ridiculously weak!

Next, it was the characters. Mai Shiranui (Maggie Q) is actually the lead cast in this movie... I never knew that. Anyway, her fighting scenes are okay, I supposed, but Rugal's and Kyo's and Iori (Will Yun Lee) are absolutely boring. Sean Faris is quite good in "Never Back Down" and it's sad to see him being relegated to a sword wielding maniac... and I still don't know whether he is supposedly being able to fight or not in the movie. First, he got his ass kicked by Mai and then he went sparring with Rugal and managed to hold his line for a long while. And the worst character of all is Rugal. Ray Park's portrayal of an evil overlord is just pathetic. Honestly, I found this Rugal to be a joker... and not the Batman Joker type joker.

This is by far the worst movie I have ever reviewed in 2010, and it is sad, because the cast is quite nice and the setting is good too... and I can't believe there is a fighting movie that's worse than Tekken! Fans or no fans, they won't like it at all.

Observation: Why did Terry stole someone's cap only to throw it away again in his next encounter?

Bottomline: Casts with high potential, but marred by disastrous script, direction and senseless plot!

Bamboo Ranking: 2.0 / 5.0

Movie Review 41: Shrek Forever After

Title: Shrek Forever After

Director: Mike Mitchell

Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes

Genre: Animation, Comedy

Shrek (Mike Myers) is back again and this time, more unhappy than ever. He longed for the days where he was feared as an ogre and not just some tourist attraction. In came Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohrn) who offered Shrek to experience the feeling of a true ogre for one day. Unknown to Shrek, the contract he signed was not what he seems as he found himself alone and without his friends. Shrek has only one day to set everything right or he will disappear forever!

A lot of people actually did not know that this is the fourth installment of the series. Frankly, even I thought that this is the third installment. Despite the not so rememberable third installment of the series, I assure you that this fourth and most probably the final chapter of Shrek series is one that you will remember.

However, this movie is not as joyful as the previous ones. It tends to have a darker mood and theme and the laughs are less frequent, although if and when they appear, you'll still have a good old laugh. The storyline is simple enough to understand and the acts (voiceovers) are still superb... although I still find myself to have a preference to Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas)... his "form" in this movie is just really belly shaking.

There's not much to tell as this is already the fourth in the series and still with the similiar casts as previous ones... you'll find Gingerbreadman, Three Blind Mice, Pinnochio, Big Bad Wolf and many other fairytale characters... all twisted for fun and to your liking. Ryan Seacrest have a minor role in this movie as well!

Observation: A tiny loophole in the storyline... if Shrek was not there to save Fiona, the fairy godmother's son is supposed to save her!

Bottomline: Recommended

Bamboo Ranking: 4.0 / 5.0

Movie Review 40: Jeon Woo Chi: The Taoist Wizard

Title: Jeon Woochi: The Taoist Wizard (known as "The Tao Fighter: Woochi" in Malaysia) (Korean)

Director: Choi Dong-Hun

Running time: 1 hour 53 minutes

Genre: Fantasy, Action

Woochi (Kang Dong-won) is a Tao wizard from the Chosun dynasty. However, he likes to play tricks on people who he thinks is corrupt and is in need of a good punishment. He accidentally came across a sacred relic that is searched by the demons of the underworld. Through deceit, the demons managed to get Woochi trapped into a scroll but not before Woochi snatched the sacred relic from the demon. Five centuries later, the world is embroiled with demons again and the only hope that the world has is Woochi.

It is my belief that Koreans make really good fantasy movies. Sure they make good love stories too, but whenever one director decided to make a movie that does not have love as the main theme, it amazes the world (yes, yes, I'm exaggerating!)

Anyhow, this movie is great. The fighting scenes, special effects are all top notch and is used in such a way that one doesn't feel over the top. Their wire works are excellent too, their "flying skills" are actually more graceful and natural than the Chinese ones.

The lead actor, Kang Dong-won is able to carry off his mischievous character convincingly. His antics are hilarious and I've seldom seen a male actor fighting in such a graceful way. The flapping of his robes, turning of the hand, stepping on the ground are all perfectly done that it really resemble the ways of the Koreans in the olden days.

The storyline is great, with a great twist in the middle (not a twist anymore if you've read my summary :P) and there're no boring, squishy love scenes! One little negative experience that I have is I have trouble in keeping up with the subtitles. The actors and actresses speak in great speed and the subtitles kept on changing every few seconds. I would have been better if the subtitles are actually in two lines instead of one. As such, I have to choose to either appreciate the movie without understanding what they are talking about or reading the subtitles but missing out the acting.

Anyhow, for those who do not mind reading subtitles and enjoy Korean styled action movies, this is the one you should go to! Unfortunately, it doesn't receive the acceptance it's supposed to have. There were only three other people in the cinema while I watched this!

Observation: I don't understand how Woochi claimed he cannot perform magic when he does not have his magical symbols but doesn't need use them when he perform his magic when he has them in his pouch.

Bottomline: Knowing Korean language would boost the experience with this great movie!

Bamboo Ranking: 4.0 / 5.0

Movie Review 39: 14 Blades

Title: 14 Blades

Director: Daniel Lee

Running time: 1 hour 54 minutes

Genre: Action

Even though this movie came out during CNY, it can't really be considered as a CNY movie since it has nothing to do with CNY and it is a pretty dark movie which is a total opposite to the spirit of CNY. Anyhow, after reading numerous movie reviews on the four main movies that came during CNY, I decided 14 Blades as it is the only one that has the least number of unfavourable review.

The movie was set in the Ming Dynasty and the story revolves around the Royal Guards of the emperor, which sort of act like the secret police/assassins. The leader of the Royal Guards, named Green Dragon (Donnie Yen) was ordered to kill an official and retrieve an important box. During the assassination attempt, Green Dragon found out what was in the box and with that knowledge, he had to rethink his loyalties and was soon the target for the rest of the Royal Guards and a super powerful woman assassin, Tuo Tuo (Kate Tsui).

I did not regret my decision in watching 14 Blades as my first CNY movie. While it is quite disconcerting to see the lip movements not matching the voice (some actors spoke Mandarin only and had their voice dubbed), it turned out to be quite a good movie.

Of course, with Donnie Yen, there'll be lots of action sequences. Though Tuo Tuo's martial arts are really, really very fake (the person who make the CG should go for more training :P), I enjoyed Kate Tsui and Donnie Yen's showoff. Also, Wu Jun, acting as the Judge of Sands is quite convincing as a robber with principles. This is the second time I watched him on the silver screen and I think it is much better than the "Butterfly Lovers" movie, though I think he tried too hard on being a badass and it made him to be a little stiff in some scenes.

However, this movie could have been much, much better. First off, the dialogues did not flow smoothly. Sometimes the characters would say something unrelated all of a sudden and it is really noticeable. And then there's this leading actress, Zhao Wei as Qiao Hua. I can see no reason at all why she would fall head over heels in love with Green Dragon... it just doesn't make any sense at all... it's like she love Green Dragon only because he can fight very well... and that is really shallow.

Anyhow, though this is not a movie suitable for children, I believe it to be entertaining enough to be watched in cinema.

Observation: This movie shows how stupid people are in the olden days as it portrays the power of the imperial seal which would enable anyone, including one with an army obviously trying to conquer the country to pass through as long as the enemy have the imperial seal :P

Bottomline: Acceptable quality for a movie that came out during CNY.

Bamboo Ranking: 3.7 / 4.0

Movie Review 38: Sherlock Holmes

Title: Sherlock Holmes

Director: Guy Ritchie

Running time: 2 hours 11 minutes

Genre: Mystery

Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) and Watson (Jude Law) managed to save a woman from being sacrificed in a dark magic ritual performed by Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong). Lord Blackwood was subsequently hanged to death. However, Lord Blackwood seemed to have risen from the grave and possess magical powers beyond imagination and three more people were killed. Holmes and Watson must solve the mysteries behind  these murders before Lord Blackwood come looking for them!

This is a rather different adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. While the Sherlock in this movie retain the crime solving abilities as in novels, this film adaptation of Sherlock is more eccentric... crazy even... and I think they managed to pull if off nicely. I had quite an amusing time watching this movie as it breaks my expectation of a mundane theory based crime solving activity. Instead, it is laden with action sequences that will drive you to the edge of your seats (okay, that's exaggerating a little :P)

Anyhow, the theory based fighting scenes which were then transformed into split second action is most innovative and it occurs twice only in the whole movie, which I think is the correct move... while entertaining, if this type of scenes were shown more would be boring.

The jokes were also something noteworthy to mention. Although I could see the joke coming miles away, both actors, (Robert and Jude) managed to present it in a convincing manner. None of the jokes seemed forced. I do, though have some problems understanding some of their conversations... some details were lost in the Malay language translation of the subtitles and the actors were talking too fast as certain points that I had trouble catching up.

I really think that this movie is worth one's money and it is a movie that is good enough for one to spend year end holidays on.

Observation: Watson's recoveries after the explosion were really unbelievable :P

Bottomline: Good movie to end the year 2009

Bamboo Ranking: 4.0 / 5.0

Movie Review 37: Avatar

Title: Avatar

Director: James Cameron

Running time: 2 hours 41 minutes

Genre: Sci-Fi, Action

Humans found a rare and precious metal called Unobtainium in a distant planet called Pandora, 4.3 light years from Earth. Unfortunately, a large deposit of this metal is at the bottom of a Na'vi colony, one of the residents of the Pandora. In order to gain their trust and to communicate with the Na'vi, scientists develop Avatars, genetically builts human-Na'vi hybrids. The humans would then link their minds with the Avatars and will take full control of their new body. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) are the few chosen to interact with the Na'vis. However, their time for peaceful reconciliation is running out as the army led by Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) is bent on using extreme force to 'pursuade' the Na'vi to find somewhere else to live.

This is a good movie... unfortunately, since it is directed by The James Cameron, people have higher expectations on him, which made this into a mediocre movie. If this were directed by some unknown director, people would have given him the director of the year title. The movie is basically well-rounded, good storyline (although cliched), good characters, good 3D technology and good creativity.

However, if one were to dig deeper, this is actually a movie about self searching. It is about a human who find his true self in another form. Thus, it is supposed to be an emotional movie. In this area, this movie failed. There were multiple scenes where I expected myself to burst into tears because it has the perfect setting and perfect timing... however, the director (or the writers :P) failed to hit the right spots. For a movie supposedly filled with emotions, there were only two scenes that almost hit the right mark. I'm not sure if it's because of the main characters being animated subjects or because I was too busy reading the subtitles (yes, the Na'vi speak in another language, although they do speak English sometimes). And I must say I was surprised I didn't find any English subtitles when the Na'vi was speaking in their local language... instead it was translated into Malay subtitles... but it was quite accurate as far as I can tell.

The acting were superb... though I would say that it's more due to the superb crafting by the animator. Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), one of the Na'vi was really good in showing feral emotions of a local barbarian :P. Her screaming, screeching, hissing were all beautifully done that made you for the moment believed that this is a real character.

The graphics were of course very well done... although beautifully crafted graphics are quite a norm nowadays, but I must commend on the creativity of the graphics designer... the alien world is a sight to behold. I especially love the night time luminescence. If there were such a place on Earth, it would be the most popular tourist spot on Earth. The creatures of Pandora, although is obviously based on the creatures on Earth, is also beautifully done with some nice upgrades done on them. However, at times, it was obvious the sceneries were overlaid with actual forests and it makes a stark difference. The animated scenes were lush and colorful while the background, which is actual scene, is plain and unappetizing. They should have just created everything in the animator :P.

One of the thing that I don't understand is about the lenopteryx (Toruk). This creature is supposedly the most powerful (symbolically and physically) flying creature in Pandora. However, when flying next to a ikran, it is not that much bigger in size. I mean, two or three ikran would have easily overpowered this creature. There were quite a number of plot holes too which I shall not reveal here... you won't really notice them unless you have a keen eye like mine :P. However, I also like the concept of the mass neural network... basically, Pandora is a super big server and every life forms on it (plants and animals) have an USB port. The Na'vi can connect with this network by using their own personal USB :P

(spoilers start)

This is also one of the few rare movies that humans lost to aliens. And I really hate that. I have no qualms of humans losing to humans, but humans losing to aliens? And I really hate the main character for that since he is the turning point for human's loss... all for an alien girl... yuck! :P. And I have thought that the Na'vis would consummate their love by joining their neurons, instead it is still the good old human intercourse :P. And they could have improved the emotional moment by extending the scene on when Mother Nature herself took part in fighting off the invaders... the scene was so short, that it was over by the time the emotions started to build.

(spoilers end)

I think that this movie is worth your time to watch though I have figured out the storyline like 10 minutes into the movie, it is still has great entertaining value. It isn't as good as Titanic though... I know not all love Titanic, but it is arguably one of the most successful movie in the history of movie making. What makes Titanic successful are due to three things:- the forbidden love, three hour movie and Leornado DiCarprio. Avatar has forbidden love and it is also a three hour movie but it doesn't really have a character that teenage girls can moon over. And also, it is difficult for one to feel anything when the Avatar's forbidden love is about two aliens instead of two humans... and three hour movie nowadays is not really as rare as it was a decade ago. This movie would be successful, but unlike Titanic, if someone were to bring this movie up 10 years later, only the rare few would remember this movie.

Observation:If you watch the movie you'll notice an insect that will turn round and round (not just the wings but the whole body too!) when flying... while it looks beautiful, it is just impractical that the insect flies like that... how can it determine it's location when the whole world is spinning around?

Bottomline: It's worth a watch

Bamboo Ranking: 4.0 / 5.0

Movie Review 36: The Storm Warriors

Title: The Storm Warriors (風雲II)

Director: Danny Pang, Oxide Pang

Running time: 1 hour 52 minutes

Genre: Action, Fantasy, Martial Arts

Ten years after the last installment movie called Storm Riders, the sequel, Storm Warriors emerged on the silver screen with its original main casts. This time, a new super powerful enemy came, called Lord Godless (Simon Yam) and his son Heartless (Nicholas Tse). They both managed to capture several powerful martial artists including Striding Cloud (Aaron Kwok) and Nameless (Kenny Ho). Whispering Wind (Ekin Cheng) came to rescue them and they managed to escape under the cover of the rest of martial artists who sacrificed themselves. In order to combat the invincible Lord Godless, Wind started to follow the path of evil while Cloud learn martial arts from Nameless.

Okay, I must say this out loud...this movie sucks! Even with the superb casts eg. Simon Yam, this movie sucks big time... and the Pangs (directors) had the nerve to say that the movie is very good. I should have watched the Princess and the Frog!

Sure, the graphics are okay, but it lack the sense of power. I would not say that the graphics are even beautiful... they are just above average. Even when Nameless, Wind and Cloud use their most powerful technique... gathering power and such, I just can't get the sense of power from their techniques, it looks just like swirling smoke and wind to me.

Next, is the acting skills... oh my God... they are just terrible... the conversations doesn't have a flow and the soundtrack is boring. And the romantic scenes are best is they do away with it. I don't feel anything at all when the gals died... not to mention that I have seen that scene coming several thousand miles away. Basically, the gals are really insignificant in the movie.

It's all just so cliche... I've figured out who is the final boss 20 minutes in the movie... no, it isn't Lord Godless, who is rather pathetic for a person who claimed to be invincible. I've never read the comic on this one, so maybe the director is trying to stick to the comic as much as possible. The directors also tried to mimic the effect of a comic book in fighting scenes and I think they failed miserably. Instead of awesomeness, I just can't help but laugh at the childish and amateurish executed scenes.

Generally, I love martial art movies especially those that shows ancient China... but this one, I'm sorryloh... it's really a crappy movie for one with such a big budget. And the ending... OMG what the heck is that? Let me ask you, if your best friend killed your girlfriend would you still sacrifice yourself to save him? I might still accept the 'saving' part, but sacrifice oneself to save the bastard who killed my gf? That just doesn't make any sense! :P... I know, I know, it's normal for this kind of stupid sacrifice in comic books... but the problem is, in the movie, it didn't give me enough reason to believe that the sacrifice is worth it while in comic books, I usually cried in these kind of flashbacks.

Observation: I still can't figure out why the weak point of Lord Godless is in the arm... I thought it was the fist/palm.

Bottomline: Find a better use of 2 hours.

Bamboo Ranking: 1.5 / 5.0

Movie Reiew 35: 2012

Title: 2012

Director: Ronald Emmerich

Running time: 2 hours 38 minutes

Genre: Sci-fi

What would you do if the world is going to end in two days? Such is one of the themes explored in the movie... some would accept their fate, some would try to survive while some would die without knowing why. The reason behind the end of the world depicted in 2012 is too advanced for me to understand... it has something to do with shifting of Earth crust... in conclusion, the earth is restructuring it's surfaces... some land will rise, some will crack and some will just simply sink into the bottom of the ocean.

This movie focuses on the struggle of several characters... the intelligent geologist Adrian Helmsly (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who is amongst the first to discover the shifting of Earth crust (apart from the Mayans and previous generations scientists) and later is the one who managed to increase the survivor numbers by several times more than previously arranged. Then, we have Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), a divorcee, who do accidentally stumbled on the top-secret and will do anything to save his ex-wife, children and ex-wife's bf. These are the two group/individuals with the extra screen time... while others have a relatively short (living) time :P.

I think that this movie is quite nice. I don't like all those "end of the world" movies. Of course, the theme of this movie is nothing new... in the 90s, the end of the world is usually caused by aliens and demons, then meteors and nowadays, they blame on Mother Nature. And as with most other "end of world" movies (except alien types), the movie focuses on several groups of people who in some way connects with each other even though they don't know each other. I have always thought of this type of style as boring since there is too little character development and everything would feel so rushed.

And yes, this movie does feel rushed but not in a bad way. It started off slow, and then it's just one obstacle over another. The "apocalypse" scenes were quite nicely done... although I think that they are a little over the top... the almost-like atomic explosion of volcano is so surreal... beautiful but deadly... but hey, I've never seen a super major earthquake/volcano eruption before, so who am I to complain? But I just love what they have done to Hawaii... it's a perfect beauty. Though I must say that they miss out some details like... people. Sure, some people would pop up here and then during the earthquake... but I a lot of the buildings were void with people when one of the actor drove his car through buildings to escape the earthquake.

The 'ark' thingy is also a nice touch... it's much better and more plausible than 'spaceships'. However, I think the biggest weakness of this movie is the lack of inspiring emotions. Sure, there are great speeches and great emotional scenes, but I just can't feel it... I've never cried once during the movie... and those who know me know that I cry easily during emotional scenes or speeches. For example, when a son told his father that the end of the world is coming and that his father is going to die far, far away from his son, I just can't feel those "happy that his son will live, and don't you worry about me since I had a good long life" kind of feeling.

And the romantic scenes are just unromantic... I was rolling my eyes heavenward when the ex-wife was screaming/praying/hoping that her ex-husband (soon to be husband again) will resurface from the water... it was like, ugh... :P

Anyway, I still think that this is an enjoyable movie although the casts' acting skills really need some polishing... but the writers did a hell of a good job.

Observation: The communication system in India and US must be very good... people are using phones left and right even though the whole world is being torn apart by natural disasters. :P

Bottomline: If it's any indication, the cinema for this movie was fully booked throughout the day that I had to travel to a cinema 1 hour away from my house and had to watch a late night movie even though I had to work the very next day. I seriously never heard of this movie before this.

Bamboo Ranking: 4.0 / 5.0

Movie Review 34: Inglourious Basterds

Title: Inglourious Basterds

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Running time: 2 hours 32 minutes

Genre: Thriller, Action, Drama

Most of the time, I would not have watch a movie with such titles and the Nazi era thingy is really not my cup of tea. However, it was either watching a Michael Jackson movie, a Chinese poker game movie or this, so I chose the lesser of three evils :P.

What made me chose this movie is mainly the director, Quentin Tarantino and the name of Brad Pitt... and just to show how unpopular this movie is in Malaysia... for the first time, I had the cinema all by myself! Okay, initially, there were a couple but less then halfway through the movie, the left the cinema.

The story revolves in Nazi occupied France during the World War II. It started off with how a young Jewish refugee, Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent) witnessed the murder of her family by Colonel Hans Landa (Chirstoph Waltz). She escaped and several years later, an opportunity presents itself to her (Fredrick Zoller by Daniel Bruhl) which she starts plotting her vengeance. There were also another group of people who called themselves "the Basterds" led by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) who were plotting the assassination of the Nazis as well.

This movie might not go down well for a lot of people. First of all, it's gruesome... ever watched Kill Bill? Yup, it's on the level of gruesome though through the effort made by censors, it is less so. Anyway, for me, I think that this is a brilliant movie... in a twisted sort of way.

It doesn't revolve around the normal good vs bad kind of plot. You would be feeling bad when you see the 'bad guys' die in this movie... well, for some of them anyway. The director is able to express the reality of the war era in a very convincing manner. He constantly reminds us that there is such a thing called 'unreasonable' incidents. What I meant was there are a lot of scenes in which things happen for no reason at all. Bad things happen to the good and bad guys and good things happen to both too. I know this kind of thing happen in other movie as well, but it was presented in such a way that would really shake you to the core. It touches the core of humanity... and most people who watch it might not like to be reminded of their own true self throughout the movie. If this movie were to be shown during my college studying year, it would have made a fascinating discussion.

The storyline, although is simple, the director introduced a lot of plot twists inside to keep it going for two and half hours. There are not much of action since this is more of a brain over brawn kind of movie.

However, this movie is mostly using German as its main language... so, if you're not a subtitle reading kind of person, you might be put off by it. Also, it is a slow movie... again, if you're an action fan, it's not your movie. And since this movie touches on Jews and Nazis, it is important to have an open mind as well... though I would say that this advice is more applicable for Germans, French and Jews.

For me, I do not regret watching this movie... it's a soul touching movie... not your normal crying bucketful of love movie... I meant it is a movie that makes you think and reassess one self. And oh, by the way, this movie is fiction... you should not use this as a history lesson :P.

Trivia: Maggie Cheung is supposed to have a scene in the movie, but was deleted during the final cut :(... and no, the there is no typo in the title... the director purposely wrote it as such.

Bottomline: Not your everyday kind of movie... watch with an open mind.

Bamboo Ranking: 3.8 / 5.0

Movie Review 33: G-Force

Title: G-Force

Director: Hoyt Yeatman

Running time: 1 hour 28 minutes

Genre: Comedy

This story revolves around a group of specially trained animals who are facing the danger of being shut down by the FBI for cost cutting measures. In order to win his superiors over, Ben (Zach Galifinakis) ordered his special animals to infiltrate the residence of a home electronics maker, Leonard Saber which is suspected to be involved with terrorism. The infiltration team consists of 3 guinea pigs Darwin (Sam Rockwell), Juarez (Penelope Cruz), Blaster (Tracy Morgan) and a mole (Nicholas Cage). I never realize that this movie has such a huge cast before writing this review! Anyway, as expected, something went wrong and they were shut down and they attempted to find the truth behind everything... duh...

This comedy is actually quite nice. There were numerous of good laughs throughout the movie and at the same time, there's still adequate action-oriented scenes. Unfortunately (for me), this movie might actually be targeting younger audiences as there were so much mushy conversations throughout... they'll talk about friendship, families and honour... which had me squirming in my seat as I can't really stand such "message to children" in a movie.

So, if you are expecting a mature kind of comedy, this is not the place... the 3 mice and a mole is a pretty giveaway that it's a movie for children. Anyway, I still think that it is an okay movie to bring your children to and if you're into a not so deep movie just for some quick laughs. And I supposed this is a good reason to watch a movie in 3D too... though I think that 3D movies have become quite common of late.

Observation: When Juarez mentioned she played the simulator for 200,000 hours, it meant that it's at least 23 years old, which is impossible as a guinea pig has a known maximum lifespan of 8 years. (from IMDB)

Bottomline: Children only

Bamboo Ranking: 2.7 / 5.0

Movie Review 32: On His Majesty's Secret Service

Title: On His Majesty's Secret Service (大内密探灵灵狗)

Director: Wong Jing

Running time: 1 hour 38 minutes

Genre: Comedy

Normally, I would not be watching such a movie, but it was a long weekend and there were no interesting movies that I like to watch... I was weighing between District 9 and this movie and finally go for a comedic movie just to have some laughs. Surprisingly, there were still more than 10 people watching this movie in the cinema,,, I was really afraid of watching this movie all alone... some spooky films come to my mind as I ponder this :P.

This movie is about a plot to assassinate the Emperor and it is the job of the 12 Royal Guards to protect him as they fend of various attempts and plots to overthrow the Emperor. Heading the 12 Royal Guards is the Royal Dog (Louis Koo)( the rest of the Guardians are named according to the 12 Chinese animal zodiac) and he is the only one who doesn't know martial arts. However, his scientific discoveries is more than enough to garner him as one of the Royal Guardians.

As you all know, a movie by Wong Jing is mostly comedic, B-grade comedy, to be exact. I had to admit that it is a really funny movie but it is the same kind of gross and meaningless (mou lei tau) comedy as with his other movies. You would be saying a lot of 'duh' throughout the movie. I think it would have gotten more favourable reception if it came during Chinese New Year.

This movie has a lot of cast members and a lot of them are veterans in the film industry. However, it is obvious that a lot of the non so familiar faces are from China as they were speaking in Mandarin (dubbed in Cantonese) throughout the movie and you can see the difference in lips movement compared to the dubbed Cantonese.

At first I thought that it would be similar to Stephen Chow's '008', but apart from the concept, it is in not that similar... I mean, in '008' Stephen Chow actually managed to learn one martial arts move while Louis Koo is totally non-martial type throughout the movie.

Anyway, this movie while funny, is not really worth the RM10 ticket price. Try to catch it in Astro or TV during Chinese New Year to have a good laugh.

Observation: The martial arts skill of Faithful (Barbie Hsu) throughout the movie is non-consistent... at one time she was on par with the main villain of the movie and at another time she was defeated by the main villain's underling

Bottomline: Funny but not worth the ticket price

Bamboo Ranking: 2.5 / 5.0