Avengers Assemble!

I know cramming 6 superheroes and 1 supervillain into a two-hour movie may not pan out so well, with what little dialogue each character would have to accommodate explosive action scenes and one-liner clichés but I can't help getting excited at the latest trailer for the movie. At least I'm sure I'll be one of the many women in the cinema for this piece of muscular eye candy!

Captain America: The First Avenger (Review)

After all the hype, Captain America: The First Avenger is finally out and brings us one step closer to The Avengers next year. Pumped with an old-fashioned vibe, good actors, action-packed sequences and boasting U.S patriotism, this movie is pretty entertaining to watch. Seeing that this came from the makers of Iron Man and Thor, it seemed natural that the movie should be a hit (which is true, seeing how it's still leading at the box office.)

Perhaps a brief overview of the plot would be good? Well, the story revolves around the pale, short yet determined and compassionate Steve Rogers (played by the dashing Chris Evans), who's been trying to get enlisted in the U.S. army to fight the Nazis or more accurately, the Hydra - a top-secret division of the Nazis, led by Johann Schmidt/Red Skull (played by Hugo Weaving).

As luck would have had it, he got in and was selected to try the Super Soldier serum which would exaggerate his physical strength and agility. The procedure was a success which you can tell by how deliciously fit he looked after that. 

Now, I've never read the comics or seen the cartoons, so as far as storyline goes, I'm not sure if the movie got it right. The movie did border on corny at some scenes but was still tolerable. Lots of elements add to the story of how Steve Rogers becomes the famed Captain America and you'd see familiar faces/references to other characters along the way. One important character was Howard Stark - of Stark Industries who's the army's prime weapon-supplier and obviously, father to Tony Stark (Iron Man).

Movie making has come a long way with CGI but in the case of this movie, some scenes where Steve Rogers was supposed to look short and sickly-thin, seemed a bit off where his head looked bigger than the rest of him. I know its ground-breaking technology and all, but don't you think there's something off about him here?

* Spoiler Alert!

The movie's worth watching and from what I've heard, it's way better than the recent Transformers movie. One thing that's left debatable is the ending of the movie, where Captain America wakes up after being frozen in ice for 70 years and he looks just the same - the serum slows the aging process?

Plus, the timeline of the movie kind of conflicts with Thor as the infamous Cosmic Cube which was held in Odin's vault, suddenly ends up on Earth (as shown in the post-credit scene in Thor) and used throughout Captain America? Feels like there's a missing puzzle piece there.

Also, as all Marvel movies are famous for its post-credit scenes, (most of which were hints to the upcoming Avengers movie), Captain America is no exception. Except you don't have to wait till the credits roll. Right after the last scene of the movie, there would be a sneak peak (about 49 seconds I think) of The Avengers. So, just remember to stay awake right after the last scene :D

Photos: Rotten Tomatoes

Invasion of the Autobots @ One Utama

"Autobots - roll out!"

Last week, the Autobots staged an intervention in the New Wing of One Utama where the stars of the day were put on display for DSLR and car enthusiasts to go nuts.

* Click on the pics for a larger view!

Apparently a life-size scale of Optimus Prime

Highlight of the event: Chevrolet Camero - Transformers Edition

Bumblebee is one gleaming Autobot!

Good promo for the upcoming Transformers movie but I don't have high hopes for it. For one, the 2nd sequel was a total downer - mostly clashes of metal that you could hardly see who was fighting what and I can't even recall the storyline of the movie (that's how memorable it is!). 

I do like this particular teaser, however coz it depicts the actual moon landing. Hope the movie is way better than its previous disastrous sequel.

Classic Rides, Explosive Chase, Million-Dollar Heist & Bikini Babes

Yes, we made it on time. But I have to say watching a midnight show on a Friday is not such a good idea especially if you've had a tiring day. Come 11pm, caramel honey and I were already heading into sleepzone. Good thing the movie's testosterone-induced, action-packed scenes were good enough to keep us glued.

I have to admit that this one is way better than the previous movies in the Fast & Furious franchise. Fast Five focuses more on surviving as fugitives rather than mindless car racing from Point A to Point B. The appearance of old cast members with the exception of the Rock and a few babes, didn't do much to enhance the storyline (especially Paul Walker's abysmal acting skills) but Ludacris did bring some humor to it.

My favorite scene is in the beginning *spoiler alert* when the car they steal/attempt to drive away in - goes over a cliff and plunge into the river below. We could hear the groans from guys in the cinema, probably wishing the car should have survived. LOL!

I like the 2010 Lexus LFA (as displayed above) amongst the many rides featured in Fast Five. There's also a scene with police cars (which is the ONLY race shown in the movie).

Caramel honey thought there should have been more cars and races but I told him, perhaps people are sick of seeing races in the last 4 movies that this would be a pleasant change compared to NOS-infused cars with garish neon-lights racing back and forth but cars are not the only eye candy you get to feast on in the movie.

Plenty of bikini action and biker chic scenes to stir up a rush of adrenaline. What can a movie from the Fast & Furious franchise be without hot babes in bikinis or mini-skirts?

For what it's worth, I thought the movie was entertaining - and this is a compliment especially since it's the 5th sequel. Plus, you get to see the Rock in his element with Vin Diesel (it was quite funny to watch, honestly!) and just so you know, there is a scene after the credits roll up which of course signifies - FF6!

Not Fast Enough to Catch Fast Five

I'll be watching Fast and Furious 5 tonight.

The reason why I'm even stating this BEFORE watching the movie was because caramel honey and I initially wanted to watch it last week. We even paid for our tickets and just when we were about to leave - it started pouring. Really bad to the extent two exits from Tropicana were closed and the only other way to get to Tropicana City Mall was through the One U/Curve road (which of course just seemed suicide).

Still we tried and ended up getting stuck in the jam for more than 1/2 hour. If we had still gone for the movie, it would be just nice to catch the ending!

So, this time I'm hoping all goes well and no freakin' storm comes just before 11pm. I'm not keeping my hopes up for this one (coz let's face it - FIVE sequels is bad enough and Paul Walker's acting skills hasn't improved) but I've heard some good reviews about the movie so I'll just have to wait and see. 

The Unknown Should Remain Unfound

If you had missed this in the cinema or planned to get the DVD - forget it! The Unknown remains as a piece of C-grade fiction that would probably work better  - not being published into a book for starters.

WARNING: Spoiler Alert!

The storyline is so out-of-this-world that it would simply leave you in bewilderment. The first half of the movie revolves around Liam Neeson trying to find out why is there someone else impersonating him and has intimate memories of his life with his wife. Naturally, he couldn't do it without some help (played by Diane Kruger) and the both of them get more and more entagled into the mystery.

The mystery unraveled - Liam Neeson and his 'wife' are actually professionally-trained assasins, hired to kill a botanist who has discovered a way to grow crops that would resolve famine in most parts of the world. *shakes head in disbelief*

The one character who looked remotely interesting was this retired East German officer/spy. He had been enlisted by Liam Neeson to help him prove who he is. Unfortunately, he died by from cyanide poisoning.

So that is it. End of story. The bottomline is: I would skip this by a mile if I were you!

Who Wants A Bloody Mary?

Check out what's coming (or rather, swaggering) into cinemas here on May 20th, 2011

Rapunzel - A Tangled Tale

Imagine a courageous girl with miles of golden hair, who's been locked up in a tower all her life and her biggest weapon...is a frying pan. Throw in a thief that's on the run plus, a dedicated horse that was probably a hound in his previous life and what do you get?

Tangled as its called here, is a fairy tale based on Brothers Grimm's Rapunzel and being a Disney remake, this movie is thoroughly entertaining. I especially love the chemistry between the feisty Rapunzel (voiced by Mandy Moore) and smoldering-hot Flynn Rider (voiced by Zachary Levi). A brief synopsis of the movie:

An elderly woman named Grothel (even her name sounds utterly villainous), finds a flower that can has magical healing abilities when sung to it. So all these years (or centuries), Grothel has been using the flower to keep herself young. Now, in a nearby kingdon, a queen is near death while giving birth to her first child and palace guards go out scouting and searching for this rumoured healing flower. To Grothel's dismay, they find the flower and bring it back for the queen. As expected, the queen delivers her daughter safely but Grothel is not to be discouraged. She sneaks into the palace and tries to cut off the baby's hair but the magic disappears and the hair turns brown.

Naturally, the only thing left to do is to kidnap the poor child. Fast forward 18 years later, the child renamed Rapunzel is cleaning and singing in the tower with only one window, and has no memory of her biological parents. Grothel who's raised her all these years, appears below and calls out,

"Rapunzel, let down your hair"

and from the window, down comes this long, lustrous, golden mane used by Grothel to enter the tower. Not too far away, a far-too-good-for-himself thief, Flynn Rider, is on the run from the palace guards after stealing the missing princess's tiara. He stumbles upon the tower and sneaks in to hide from the guards (and the horse). The rest, I would leave it to you to find out :D.

The movie is packed with humor especially with the quirky chameleon, Pascal and the ever-loyal palace guard stallion, Maximus. Compared to Disney's previous animated release The Princess and the Frog, Tangled fares so much better in terms of storyline, animation, music and voice cast.

My favourite part is when, Rapunzel finally makes it out of the tower and is gleefully swinging from tree to tree for one moment and the next moment berating herself for disobeying her mother's orders to never leave the tower. It actually reminds me of my sneaking out days when I was a teenager. (No, I was never locked in a tower but I had an early curfew. 'Nuff said)

So, if you're still pondering about watching this, I say go ahead. Apparently, Tangled is the most expensve animated film made, with a budget of $260 million so you can be sure it won't disappoint.

It's Exciting, Frustrating, Liberating, Mysterious..It's Complicated!

The amount of times I've heard people using the silly phrase 'it's complicated' *shakes head*, I was beginning to think that they're simply too embarassed to admit they're single. But after watching the movie "It's Complicated", I can now kind of relate to the phrase. Yes, I know the movie came out last year but it was only released in the cinemas here this year!

If you haven't watched it already, I highly recommend you to see this. It's a romantic comedy starring Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. With these three, you can imagine the amount of humor involved. Meryl Streep plays Jane who was married to Jake, played by Alec Baldwin. After 10 years, the divorced couple starts to go down the "what-if" road and get into an full-fledged affair. Steve Martin plays Adam, the architect in charge of remodeling Jane's home and potential love interest.

Personally, I think the movie is a nice change to average romantic comedies these days. It's refreshing to see an older cast be mixed up in love webs instead of the usual 20-something power couples. If you've got nothing to do on a Friday or Saturday night, It's Complicated would be a good movie to snuggle into your couch with.

Clash of the Titans (Review)

Warning: Spoiler Alert!

I watched Clash of the Titans over the weekend and sadly, it was a disappoinment. The action scenes were mediocre and some of the scenes were moving too fast to actually see what was going on. At some point, especially during the Scorpion scene, it was like a blur of swords, spears and sand.

The Olympian gods were TOO sparkly in their metal armors, that it seemed so unnatural. And although there were other Gods present, their names were not mentioned nor did they have much dialogue.

As for Medusa, I thought the character would be played by an actress but sadly it was full CGI and the effect wasn't even that good. Like something out of a PS2 game. Even Uma Thurman's Medusa character from Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, was better.

The movie was supposed to be a remake of the 1981 Clash of the Titans but the storyline had spun so far off course that it was just too confusing (especially to Greek mythology enthusiasts). There are characters that were never the in the 80's version, such as Hades and Io.

The only parts I liked about the movie was the Kraken (obviously), Pegasus and the way Hades materialized - in a cloud of black smoke. Speaking of which, I thought Ralph Fiennes played the Lord of the Underworld well. He could pull off the demeanor of a God cast to the depths of Hell which shouldn't really be a suprise. He did do well in Red Dragon after all.

However, too many one-liners like "Someday, someone's gonna say enough" and "Ease the storm" (which was from an almost-love scene) only contributes to the movie being clichéd. In my opinion, the movie lacks substance. I think the trailer was a whole lot better than the movie itself.

P.S - The trailer music is The Bird and The Worm by The Used.
 
All images from Rotten Tomatoes.

Inglourious Basterds - A Review

If you're a fan Quentin Tarantino's work (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill), you would enjoy Inglourious Basterds. It's a classic blend of violence, drama and dark humor set during the World War II. The story centers on a group of Americans who call themselves "The Basterds", led by Lieutenant Aldo Raine (played by Brad Pitt). Their goal is to kill and slaughter every Nazi in sight, with the aim of getting close enough to assisinate Hitler. There are also other characters in the story contributing to The Basterds' plan.

The one thing I enjoyed about the movie was the role of Nazi Colonel Hans Landa - a role that was played brilliantly in my opinion. He comes off as this really charming, suave Nazi officer but underneath all that charade, is a real sinister character who'd like nothing more than to vaporize all Jews in sight. After all, he's not known as the "Jew Hunter" for nothing.

The one person the movie could have gone on without, was Brad Pitt. He was not really impressive as Lieut. Aldo Raine. In fact, he could been making another Ocean's 12 by how washed out his character was. Perhaps the material given for his character was not much but I still felt another actor could have played his role better.

Overall, the movie was worth watching. Sure, it's rather slow towards the middle but the pace picks up towards the end. If you're into World War II movies, you wouldn't want to miss this. Plus, the scenes are quite graphic especially the slaying of the Nazi officers but I guess that's part of Tarantino's trademark.

Whoever said movies are a waste of time?

1. If you stole a huge, pink diamond ring, don’t linger around the scene and be smug that you won’t be caught. Something trivial like your rental car number plate might just give you away. (The Pink Panther 2)
   
   
2. Don’t assume that no one will ever find out your car can transform into a super-advanced robot. The government knows EVERYTHING – except for maybe the Secretary of Defense. (Transformers)
   
   
3. When a mutant with werewolf abilities is after you, don’t just leave your loved one at home and go off to work. Otherwise, you would have to go through the excruciating process of inserting steel into your bones just to take revenge. (X-Men Origins: Wolverine)
   
   
4. Nothing good ever comes out of falling in love with a vampire, especially if you’re human with an intoxicating scent. However, you do get piggyback rides up very tall trees. (Twilight)
   


5. If you’re on house arrest, find something constructive to do. Don’t spy on neighbours with your binoculars. You’re bound to see someone dragging more than a trash bag at night. (Disturbia)
   


6. Don’t use yourself as a test subject for anything involving gamma rays. Unless you like running from an army of shooters and tanks or you love the colour green. (The Incredible Hulk)
   


7. Don’t cheat on your spouse! The woman you’re having an affair with, may very well turn into a deranged psychopath when she realizes that she wants you all to herself. (Fatal Attraction)
   


8. If the lights are out and you’re not sure what’s behind the bedroom door, don’t open it! Especially after the phone company has just told you that the prank calls came from INSIDE the house. (When A Stranger Calls)
   


9. If you can see dead people all around you, don’t be scared. Just confide in a psychiatrist who’s also by the way - dead. (The Sixth Sense)
   


10. If you’re writing an article on “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”, don’t pick a drop-dead gorgeous guy as your target. Chances are he would find you endearing and you’d fall for him anyway. (How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days)
    


11. Don’t play suspicious-looking board games that have been lying in the store room for centuries. There may be a reason why the game was not played in a long time – probably because it involves battling space creatures and keeping the house in orbit. (Zathura)
    
    

I Got Bitten By 'Twilight'

I finally tapped into the Twilight mania by watching it on DVD last night. Of course, my interest in the movie was further fueled by my colleague and friends that were madly in loved with Robert Pattinson (a.k.a. Edward Cullen). My sister alone watched the movie not once, not twice but FOUR times in the cinema!

I have to admit that when Robert Pattinson first came in the movie, I had a hard time trying to figure out what on earth did the rest of the female population see in this pale-faced, black-lined eyes and blood-red lipped guy. I thought that the makeup on his face was a tad bit overboard coz his neck was not as pasty as his face and when he opened his eyes wide, he beared a striking resemblance to Michael Jackson in Thriller.


Short synopsis of Twilight: Bella Swan (Kirsten Stewart) moves in to live with her dad in the little town of Forks, Washington. She bumps into Edward Cullen when they become lab partners in Biology and later when he saves her from being crushed by an out-of-control vehicle.

Edward Cullen is a vampire.

So are the rest of his family for that matter. Not surprisingly, Edward and Bella fall truly, madly, deeply in love. The only thing that’s preventing her from being vampire food is that the Cullens are different of their kind. They feast on animal blood instead of human and they can appear in sunlight, photos and mirrors. But they can read minds, hypnotize people, move at incredible speed, have enormous strength and of course, immortal like all blood-sucking vampires.

The story pretty much appeals to the younger crowd – your typical teenage movie. The movie explores how Edward and Bella become close and how protective he gets over her. It was then I could see how seducing this character of Edward was with his gorgeous eyes and dazzling smile. It took me a while but yep, I fell for that hunk of a vampire :-)

Surprisingly, there is only 1 kissing scene with Edward and Bella. Even with that, the scene is excruciatingly slow and I went like “Oh my god! Would they just kiss already?!”.

Sadly, the ending of the movie is not particularly satisfying. We never really know if Bella becomes a vampire in the end. But since my fanatical sister bought the Twilight trilogy books that the movie is based on, she told me that there would be a continuation to the movie. Looks like I’ll be sinking my teeth into Edward Cullen before bed tonight ;-)

* Watch this if you enjoy reading L.J Smith’s Vampire Series

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Chocolate Truffles, Champagne & Catfights in Bride Wars

I recently won 2 in-season passes from Time Out KL to watch Bride Wars in the cinemas, which was great coz I've been wanting to see it after catching the preview. The movie is your average chick flick (after all, I am a girl) - 2 best friends have been planning their dream weddings at the Plaza since they were kids. Which come true after they both get engaged to their bfs.

However, the assistant to the wedding planner makes an error while booking their weddings at the Plaza and the brides-to-be end up with 2 weddings on the same day, at the same time.

There is only one way: One bride must switch their wedding venue in order for them to be maid of honor for each other. But naturally, like most brides out there, no one backs down. Hey, if it were me I would not stop at anything to have my dream wedding.

Expect hair dye sabotage, tanning salon mishap, upstaging a bacholarette party and crashing a wedding. Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway acted well on screen - the catfights were good but towards the end of the movie, it got a bit emo when the two patched things up. Also, I did think Kate looked very much older than Anne and that maybe Kate's hairstyle in the movie was aimed at making her look younger?

Eagle Eye

I know this came out waaay back, but I never got the chance to catch it in the cinemas. Due to this, I recently contributed RM8 to the piracy industry and obtained a good-quality DVD of Eagle Eye.

If you like I, Robot, Disturbia or just plain Shia Labeouf, you would enjoy watching Eagle Eye. Shia Labeouf and Michelle Monaghan played their roles quite well, in my opinion. I've always been a fan of Shia since Transformers and Disturbia and of Michelle in Mission Impossible 3.

Good point about the movie was that it was fast-paced action and would be good to watch it on a big-screen with a surround sound system (otherwise there's no point).

Bad points: Billy Bob Thornton's dialogue was pretty dull, like his presence did not have any emphasis in the movie and the storyline was QUITE predictable. Coming from watching movies which incorporate AI such as, Stealth, I, Robot, and Minority Report, it's hard not being able to predict the ending, which kinda threw the whole suprise element out of the window.

Then again, for a good thriller to keep you going when you're at home bored, Eagle Eye would do the trick.

Madagascar 2: Escape to God Forsaken Africa!

I finally had the chance to catch Madagascar 2 on cinema last weekend. Sadly, the movie was not what I expected. The humor seemed forced somehow and sounded more annoying than funny. And yes, the 'original' storyline just seemed all too familiar - they might as well name the lion Simba!

The only character(s) that tickled my sense of humor were the penguins. I'm glad that some things remained from the first movie.

The suprising part of all was that, the audience started clapping at some parts of the movie. And I'm like "What was so impressive about that???". If it was Lord of the Rings playing up there, I would have stood up and clapped but for a pansy of a lion dancing??? I was a big fan of the Madagascar 1 but this one just did not live up to my expectations.

(As I'm writing this the song's in my head: I like to move it, move it...)