The Proposal

Rating: 7.7/10

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Overall value for money and time: 7.8/10

Disliked by her entire office, Margaret Tate forces her assistant to marry her to avoid being deported from the country and out of the company. One of the top romantic comedies for couples, where you wouldn't have to use much thinking on the predictable plot, while all you have to do is to sit down, relax, and enjoy the movie.

A decent heart warming movie that will harness more "aws" than "sobs". I personally didn't feel much for the ending, I thought it could have been better, in a more romantic way (it felt like the "bad" guy won at the end). This movie packs more tears of laughter than tears of sweetness, and seeing Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds together didn't quite work for me. It was mismatched in a good way as was the intended idea for the movie.

Five Minutes of Heaven

Rating: 8.0/10

Genre: Drama
Overall value for money and time: 7.8/10

A former terrorist member who killed an innocent teenager has to face his younger brother years later when the media arrange a recouncilation meeting between the both of them. Once teenagers, both grown men must face the ultimate "showdown" of redemption and forgiveness. The first part of the movie which enacted the murder was supposedly based on true accounts while the 2nd half of it was "fiction".

Comparable to In Bruges, where it predominantly shows that it's not so much as the quantity but the quality of the acting which stretches the lead of a good movie. Both Liam Neeson and James Nesbitt gave one of their best performances in this movie. Though bumpy at times in the flow of the storyline, the camera techniques used were refreshingly novel. It harbors probably few of the most memorable scenes in movie making history.

Where I once learnt about the various camera techniques such as jump shots etc, this movie introduces scenes one would rarely or never see in other films. There was a good 360 degrees spanning shot of Liam Neeson as he was being "interviewed", a full length no cut scene and the final zoom up really brought out the essence of this veteran actor. He's already in my list of favourite actors and this movie just made him champ. Also, there were "cheeky" scenes where the director would build up the suspense and drop you to your feet once more as he does an "instant replay". Finally, one of the ending scenes where both actors fall off a window ledge and the inching of the camera before it drops vertically down was truly classic.

A suspense building drama about the men they once were, and the men they now are. An unforgettable movie experience!!

G.I. Joe.: The Rise of Cobra

Rating: 7.6/10
Genre: Action

Overall value for money and time: 7.7/10

A movie that's certainly not everyone's cup of tea. But yea, I liked it!! For all you action fans out there, this movie is a must watch for its state of the art graphics and non-stop action sequences! I love the twist at the end, though it doesnt make total sense but it did give an additional boost to the ratings. While you might be disappointed with the plot, you definitely won't be with the CG, - it's comparable to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

An elite special forces team known as the G.I Joes must stop an equally formidable terrorist team from stealing the newest warfare weapon - the nanomites. The nanomites have the ability to "eat" anything in its path and will only stop when manually deactivated.

Having a good memory acts as a double-edged sword for this movie, because after catching the trailer a couple of times, the plot becomes pretty predictable. Still, it packs a good twist at the end as well as a good handful of laughs along the way. With characters such as Baroness (Sienna Miller), Storm Shadow and Snake eyes, it makes the movie way way cool. Non of the cast really stood out above the rest, which made this movie well balanced.

Some of the leads' backgrounds were uncovered along the way which allowed us to feel for them, as well as making the storyline easy to follow. The "love" development between Ripcord and Shana (2 other leads) was too cliche and out of place though. Still, when most action movies fail, this won't.

Up

Rating: 8.2/10

Genre: Adventure
Overall value for money and time: 8.0/10

Carl Fredricksen has been longing to be an explorer his entire life, and promised his wife to fulfill their lifelong dream by building a house on a cliff in Paradise Falls, South America. However, when his wife passed away, so did his dream. It was only till he was forced to go into a retirement home that he took off with his house tied to thousands of balloons. Unknowingly, Russell, a wilderness explorer was at his front porch when he did so. Together, they embark on an adventure of a lifetime!

Caught this animation in 3D, though it wasn't that unique of an experience since the movie didn't ultilize much of the effect, the movie itself was a mini adventure of its own. This animation is different from the rest, in that its theme is slightly veered into a more "adult" theme, haboring some deep content - such as learning to let go and flipping past the "pages". The comedic elements were weak compared to other Pixar films, but the plot was slightly superior.

I just love the main soundtrack, as well as the development of the characters at the start. However, it become a little corny when the talking dogs came out. Luckily, the leads were so cute that they made up for the absurdity and just got me hooked right from the beginning!! Touching and extremely adorable, I highly recommend this movie to anyone who's in for a good adventure!! Warning: super KAAAAWWWAAAAAIIIII NE!!!!!!

Public Enemies

Rating: 7.0/10
Genre: Crime

Overall value for money and time: 7.1/10

Highly anticipated, yet a highly disappointing movie. With a star studded cast like Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, what could go wrong? You have to watch it to find it out yourself.

Based on a crime wave in 1930s, an elite crime fighter, Christian Bale leads a team to bring down the most notorious crime lord at that time, John Dillinger, played by Johnny Depp. We see the downfall of Johnny Depp, from "hero" to "zero" and the rise and obsession of Christian Bale as he hunts Dillinger down.

It felt similar to American gangster, but the tension was far inferior to the former. Both actors excelled in the film, but the plot was too dialogued driven with little motivation to sit through them. It ended pretty abruptly, leaving you with an anti climaxal feeling and at the end of the movie, left me thinking to myself... wow... it's either too abstract, or too crappy. After putting much thought into it, I'm still clueless about the ending scene. Until someone enlightens me, I'll stick to my opinion that the ending was what killed the movie. Somewhat reminded me of Jean Luc-Godard's Breathless, which I caught during my film fiction class...

Still watchable though, this 2.5hr film may or may not work for you. The camera work is "raw" and the plot is just enough to keep you at the back of your seats, until the rolling of the ending credits that is.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Rating: 7.2/10

Genre: Fantasy
Overall value for money and time: 7.2/10

The movie strings together a handful of seemingly separate story lines: Harry Potter and Professor Dumbledore learns more about Voldemort's dark past; Harry Potter finds an old wizardry spell book that once belonged to the "Half Blood Prince"; Hermione and Ron finds their true love, so does Harry; and a new Professor Horace is in town.

Thankfully, I'm not a fan of Harry Potter. Therefore, this movie made a pretty decent stand-alone film. Though the story lines didn't link up well at the end, at least it was refreshing to witness how much Harry Potter has changed over the years. Caught the first 2 installments of it, the Sorceress's Stone and Chambers of secrets, and what was once bright and lively, is now gloomy and haunting.

Furthermore, with the advancements of CG, the characters in the movie felt more "plastic" like compared with the 1st 2 installments. The focus was no longer on Harry and friends, but more on Harry himself. I liked how they dropped hints throughout the movie to followup to the final installment: The Deathly Hollows.

Probably the most irking complain I have about the movie is the "fantastic" acting on the part of Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister. Her acting was so bad there were times throughout the movie I just wanted to strangle her - she's more fit to act in a horror flick. But all in all, it's a decent movie, with decent storylines, and decent acting. Just.... decent, nothing more, nothing less.