2012

Rating: 6.9/10

Genre: Action

Overall value for money and time: 6.0/10

A hypothetical end-of-the-world apocalypse caused by the heating of our earth's core due to the sudden outburst of neutrinos from the sun. And all of this was supposed to happen in, 2012.

Let me cut to the chase here. The only reason for it's fairly "good" rating is because of the effects, it would be unfair to the director for putting so much effort into its CG and have his movie be termed as one of the biggest flop of 2009. That's why I would suggest, don't bother catching it. A huge, huge disappointment for me.

A two and a half hour long movie which covers serveral subplots of different characters trying to survive under the apocalypse. Value for money and time only unless it has a great storyline and believable seat gripping action scenes along the way... Bad cast, bad plot, bad development.

The acting of the different casts didn't seem believable to me, which could either be due to low budget, or just a bad choice of cast selection. There wasn't a single lead cast who shined in his/her role, the only person I could think of, *spoilers ahead*, is the captain of the ship. There wasn't any likability or connection to the characters in the movie, and with the added damage from unconvincing acting, it felt like a "second-rated movie".

The concept of what would cause the end of the world was believable, but the way the protoganists weaved through the chaos of the collapsing buildings and tearing earth was too far-fetched. Everything was too on the brink that it felt almost like an insult to your rationalism, though I understand the director just wants it to be more seat gripping. Everything backfired for the director, he added subplots to make it more involving and "realistic" but it turned out to be too draggy and resulted in the audience being less connected to the characters.

The characters were killed off too "conveniently" and "unengagingly" that you won't even feel your eyes turning sour. This movie feels like its in a world of its own, meant for audiences who belong in that same category and who are able to endure that amount of insult and mediocracy in a movie. If you don't belong in that category, then just give it a pass... it would be more apocalyptic for you to sit through this movie...

Food, Inc.

Rating: 6.8/10

Genre: Documentary

Overall value for money and time: 7.5/10

"You'll never look at dinner the same way again." I was under the wrong impression that this movie was about how we got our food, the behind-the-scenes footages of the cover-up whereby what we eat, is not what we actually think it is. Or perhaps an overload of graphic animal torture scenes that would have you convert to a vegetarian for the rest of your life. Not quite.

Though what we see in this film might be disturbing, it's not centered around the "Asian" context. I'm not saying that it doesn't affect us, but it doesn't spark that much of a "change" impact as opposed to it just being an "awareness" film. The direct lifts the veil on how the food industry has changed over the years, the growing power of food industries and the extend of the control they have over the american citizens and the US government.

Enter the lives of the victims of the dark operations run by the food industries as they try to "silence" and force their victims into poverty and desperation. It's more of a conspiracy film in the food industry and not so much of a food film. Still, it does have good cinematography which makes it more than your average documentary but its packaging, like the food it criticizes, may not be exactly what you expect it to be.

Amalfi

Rating: 7.0/10

Genre: Suspense

Overall value for money and time: 7.6/10

This movie has got to be one of the difficult posters to find online. It's not much of a surprise though, given its low publicity and it being a foreign film. It has the backing of a grandeur set and cinematography, but what I think what it lacks is the publicity and a poor call on its release date - would have turned out to be quite a hit if they included "From the director who brought you Suspect X" in its poster and if it was released on Christmas Eve.

Set in a city in Italy, Amalfi, a Japanese diplomat has just arrived at the Japanese Embassy and is new on the job. However, he's not your everyday diplomat, he later turned out to be an undercover elite (I have no idea where he's really from and where he actually works). Bottomline is, his mission is to ensure the safety of Japan's foreign minister who would be arriving in the city for a meeting in a few days time. However, his mission was compromised when he got himself involved in an unexpected kidnapping of a young girl. All of these was hypothetically supposed to happen on Christmas this year, 2009.

This is a fairly all-rounded movie; it has a suspense-filled plot, a good cast, wonderful cinematography (though it wasn't so much until the later part of the movie) and has a fairly seat-gripping story development. It felt slightly more superior than most suspense japanese thrillers I've caught and I was pleasantly surprised with the ending. It did also leave me, when the credits rolled, a new resolution to make it one of my sightseeing holiday spots in future.

One complain I have about the movie though is the 2 prominent blackout cut scenes which made it seem as if the reel had ended abruptly, either that or the reeler was sleeping on the job. Still, the film was a success and the success of it was hugely owing to the set, but don't get me wrong, everything else wasn't bad, just mediocre, and best still, there's special guest Sarah Brightman at the end!!

He's Just Not That Into You

Rating: 7.2/10

Genre: Romance

Overall value for money and time: 7.5/10

An intertwine of love stories, He's Just Not That Into You deals with both parties in relationships and their perceptions of love, more on the male psyche I feel. I'm not totally agreeable about the content, being a guy myself, but it does touch on some interesting and insightful opinions (I especially like those random interview scenes straight after a point is to be further discussed).

Watching a film with a star-studded cast despite the lack of an outstanding plot was good enough for me. A light-hearted film that will keep you hooked till the very end. There are four main stories in this film; a girl who falls for any guy who picks her up but is clueless about how they really feel about her; a girl who sells advertising but has only been "dating" with guys online; a couple who has been together for 7 years but broke up because the guy had no intention of marrying her; and finally the most complex story with the marriage of a newly wed couple being put to the test with lies and temptations.

I think this film deserves more than what the reviews have rated it. The stories are not as simple as they look, either that or I'm over imagining it. But here's my interpretation of the movie, *spoilers ahead*:

There are great insights into the evolution of online networking websites which act as portals for romance and the "double-edged" invention of the caller ID. The cast made a good point about how it was such a hassle to check all available online portals such as MySpace and emails waiting to hear from a reply from a guy you might potentially spend the rest of your life with, or not. There's a short interview about this girl complaining about the caller ID, about how the guy she was trying to get hold of could just ignore her call by seeing her number flash up on the caller ID.

Though put in a light-hearted manner, it had me thinking about how so many of us depended so much on online portals, not necessarily to find love, but to seemingly "connect" to the world. What was the longest period of time you can stand not checking your emails or even loging onto facebook or msn without feeling uneasy? 2 hours? a day? a week? a month? And I never viewed how caller ID could have a negative effect until now.

Imagine quarrelling with your love ones and when they try to call you back, you look at your phone, know that they are the ones calling, and not pick them up... Now imagine you're the one calling...

Moving away and into the stories proper, the one about the girl obsessing over any guy who picks her up, later gave hope to "fairy tale" endings. Though not common, they still do exist in the world we live in, finding Mr or Mrs Right in the most unpredictable of circumstances.

About the advertising girl, she finally met her Mr Right not via online but actually approaching a guy face to face, tellings us that face to face conversations are still the most sincere. For the one about the married couple, they broke up in the end, her wife being too vent on her husband lying to her over his affair. I mean, I don't see how her husband lying to her about finally quitting smoking tops him coming clean with her about his affair with another woman. It wasn't the later which broke them up but the former, mind you.

That was when I thought, it wasn't so much about the wrongs you commit after marriage, but the inability to keep your promises you made before them that matters. It is the trust in a marriage, and the sexual attraction, crudely put, the sex - as was addressed by the movie, which keeps it going. On another note, it also showed how we can be so fixated on a wrongdoing that we overlook the more important stuffs in life.

Last but not least, my personal favourite, the 7 year couple who broke up cos the guy had no intention of getting married. Right from the start, they appear to be the most miserable, at least the girl appears to be that way. The guy felt like he was just afraid of commitment and came up with an excuse that if two people are in love, it doesnt matter if they're married, all that matters is that the both of them are together.

Throughout the movie, the other stories took a turn for the worse, but the last story showed was consistent throughout. There wasn't another party, it was just them being miserable in each other's absence and how they were there for each other when it mattered. Then, the part about "all that matters is that the both of them are together" flowed back and made more sense.

Out of the countless romantic movies made, there are always those they doesn't appeal to the public, which disappoints. That's the rule. But every once in a while, there are those which might not appeal to others, but is in itself, a gem of its own. That's the exception. And this movie, is the exception.

This is it

Rating: 6.0/10

Genre: Documentary

Overall value for money and time: 6.5/10

Go behind the scenes of Michael Jacskson's expected "This is it" series of sold-out shows in London before his daeth. Before I start, I want to declare that one the reasons why this film didn't appeal to me could be because I wasn't that huge of a MJ fan to start with, as it is not my intended purpose to offend any MJ fans in my review.

This is it, one of the best documentaries of the year. Nope. This is it, a film which will break you down into tears of amazement and grief for the passing of a legend. Nope. This is it, a film which shows the other side of MJ you have never seen before. Nope. This is it, a film about what happens backstage of MJ's (and probably his previous) shows and the hardwork put into it. Yes. Yes. Yes.

There's a lot of reviews saying that this film will expose the "the side of MJ we have never seen before". But after sitting through it, I didn't see it. I didn't see him taking off his "mask", I didn't see his personality unravelling, I didn't get to understand MJ better. What I did learn from this film is that he has an exceptional fan base who is dying to dance with him on stage, and yes, his dancers are one of the finest. Also, featured inside is probably one of the best female electrical guitarist I have ever seen; I get to see the hard work involved in rehearsing and in putting the show together with pyrotechniques and other special effects like an intended 3D hologram; MJ's does not shine in vocals but does so in his stage presence; and that MJ is highly devoted to his music, his performance and those he works with.

The way everyone speaks to him seems too formally polite in the film. In a positive light, either they respect him to their fullest, viewed upon like a royalty, or negatively speaking, they are just pretending to be so, cos he's the one in charge and no one dares to offend him. In my personal opinion, I view it almost hypocritical, for there is a clear definition between being casually polite and overly, formally polite. Of course, I cannot make this comment without backing it up.

The dancers are without a doubt, filled with respect for him (proof from the start of the film). His band, and backup singers, could be either. His director and co-producer of the shows, dubious. No one seems to have a "genuine" conversation with him in the film, it sounded all very "show-focused". There wasn't a single interview with him in the film, and there wasn't a "lighter" side of him which featured him mingling with his dancers, director or band members. All it showed was him was him telling his dancers how the dance moves should be like, making comments about the different songs and how he wants them done. I cannot fathom why that is prevalent in a backstage footage, doesnt backstage footages show the "lighter" side of performers?

Probably the only time he did "connect" with the rest was after performing his songs and the words he spoke soon after, about thanking all of them. But it appeared like he was just speaking to them "all" at a go and not a single one of them at any given point of time.

What I saw in the film, I can safely say that that side of MJ has already been shown through his past interviews and performances. But I did bring home something after the film. I got to re-expose myself to the deeper meaning of his songs, his mannerisms and the amount of respect he receives from those around him.

The Last House on the Left

Rating: 6.8/10

Genre: Thriller

Overall value for money and time: 6.5/10

A remake from the 1972 Wes Craven movie, two teenage girls were kidnapped and brought into the woods by a gang of escaped convicts. Leaving 1 killed and the other raped and supposedly killed off as well, they sought refuge at a nearby house that very same day due to bad weather. Unknowing to them, it belonged to the parents whose daughter was raped...

With a tagline "If bad people hurt someone you love, how far would you go to hurt them back?", one can expect the villians to suffer a terrible and deserving payback... or not. I thought this movie lacked a good number of "enhancers"; enhancers being parts of the movie which should have potentially increased the ratings of it.

First off, the villians themselves, were portrayed fairly vicious at the start, but seemed to simmer down a little throughout the movie. I'm not sure what the cause of it was, prolly due to bad acting, or maybe just that the script was weak, but I didn't feel extremely repulsive towards them. They kinda felt "pitiful" inside... The only scene that really made me scringed for justice was the "torture" scene of the 2 teenage girls.

Secondly, the parents themselves, were not even that vengeful when it came to giving payback to the villians... Actually, they didn't seem to intend it at all, but were forced into those circumstances. If so, why the tagline? On one hand, it felt realistic since her parents are no murderers themselves, but the lack of ability of them handling a 1 on 1 situation was too "feeblish" for me. There wasn't a villian which they had single-handedly wiped out...

Thirdly, *spoilers ahead*, the alliance of the leader's son at the end when he passed the gun over to the parents were totally far-fetched. It's true he left "hints" to the parents on the coffee table (the necklace of their daughter) but why should they ever trust him in the first place? Inching over to take a loaded gun from him while the rest were sleeping in bed was just too risky a scenario... What if the son only pretended to be good? In a real life situation, I don't believe "trust" will be so readily prominent...

All in all, this movie was too mildly "balanced". Both the villians and "heroes" were neither in their extremities and that somehow lowered the intensity of the film. It's the same for the genre of the movie, it falls on the fence between slasher and thriller, and since I've survived a Saw marathon and have caught worst films such as Hostel and The Devil's Rejects in terms of goriness, this movie felt ok for me.

It would have been much better if they had brought the repulsiveness of the The Devil's Rejects and have them taste the payback of the protagonist from Taken. In this case, it's also "balanced" but it's to both extremities...

Since it's such a mediocre movie, I would sit on the fence and confidently say, it's a movie you can give a go or pass but wouldn't regret it either way.

SAW re- VI sited

Rating: 8.2/10

Genre: Slasher

Overall value for money and time: 8.5/10

Checking my previous post in Dec 2007, "Saw Quadrilogy", I realised I didn't review Saw V. Thinking back, I knew what the reason was, it was the least commendable of all its predecessors, causing me to lose interest in future sequels. Upon it's addition, it would only have further decreased its overall ratings. Furthermore, the overall rating was hugely contributed by Saw and Saw II.

I wasn't looking forward to the Saw sequels for I had the idea that the directors were just in it for the money... the storyline was going down, and the making of yet another sequel seemed doomed for disappointment.

Knowing how all the Saw sequels played around with the "timeframe" and predates previous installments, I relished the opportunity to catch a Saw movie marathon by New Paper with my girlfriend and boy I must say, Saw VI rekindles a new found fire.

Just a couple of trivia before I start reviewing this movie which I discovered during the 12 hardcore and gruelling hours we had to sit through during the "godfather" of slasher movies. The director was different for the 1st installment, same for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th, was a different one for 5 as well as 6. The writers were the same for the 1, 2 and 3 but were different for 4, 5 and 6. This trivial point is important in understanding why the plot of Saw experienced its ups and downs...

Saw had an entirely different "feel" compared to the rest, it felt more of an independent film which might or might not promise a sequel. Saw V broke the trend of "awesome" twists with its predictable and anticlimaxal ending. Saw VI had a different approach from the rest in that it no longer dealt with FBI agents, but moved on to a whole new refreshing occupation - insurance agents. Saw II, III, VI all dealt with FBI agents which went a little downhill with the lingering storylines.

Starting from Saw II onwards, the director dropped little hints during the different sequels to pre-emp the audience for followups in the future sequels. Saw II to V basically used the same agents throughout the sequels and Saw V was the one which added new characters to the Saw saga. Saw IV had a flash of the torture coffin used to imprison the protagonist in Saw V and the contents of the box left by Jigsaw for his wife in Saw V was finally revealed in Saw VI, though it wasn't an epic find.

In summary, Saw 1 had it all, the story, the suspense, the acceptable gore, the twist, the ingenuity. Saw 2 kept it's twist, gore and incorporated additional characters. Saw 3 tied loose ends, had too much twists in the end which made it too confusing, hence dropping in ingenuity, but increasing its gore meter. Saw 4 added a whole new level of confusion, at the same time increasing in gore and killing off redundant characters. Saw 5 dropped in almost all aspects: story, suspense, twist, ingenuity but uped once again in gore.

Last but not least, Saw 6 brought honor back to the Saw saga. It had a good amount of twist at the end, killed off redundant characters, had story, had suspense and increased it's gore meter by 2 fold. Goriest Saw sequel up to date has got to be Saw VI. Yet, it had additional elements in it, a refreshing group of victims, refreshing torture challenges which played with moral dilemma and most importantly, the "cool" factor.

Initially, I thought the successors of Jigsaw would never surpass him, in the absence of Jigsaw, the Saw sequels wouldn't be that appealing to the audiences. But Saw VI brought the Saw saga to a whole new level... Jigsaw will soon be the past... the present is now... Hoffman...

PS: I have included the poster for Saw V for completion sake. A couple more interesting trivias, there is a original Saw short movie on youtube.com - Saw 0.5 and one of the writers Leigh Whannell also co-stars as Adam in Saw and Saw III.

Tim Burton Productions

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Rating: 7.6/10
Genre: Animation
Overall value for money and time: 8.0/10

Revisited this 1993 production which was a pivotal movie in Tim Burton's career. Now I see why it was so outstanding. The pumpkin king, Jack Skellington grew tired off his boring Halloween Town and chanced upon Christmas Town while wondering in the woods. There, he found what was lacking inside of him, joy and purpose. Thus, he gathered all his towns' monsters in hope of taking over Christmas.

This animation created a new genre of animations, "puppet-like" animations. The director was able to bring out the novelty of such a concept and revolutionized them by creating his very own characters and score for the movie. It wasn't just an animation, it was a dark, musical animation with a good storyline and imagination. Though its a classic masterpiece, it's not my cup of tea. Comparing it to his most recent animation production, "9", the later had more depth in the plot but the former does exceed "9" in terms of entertainment value.

Especially loved the classic scene with the couple advancing towards each other on a slanted cliff with a big yellow moon in the backdrop. Enter a light hearted, darkly comic, imaginative world of what makes Halloween, and what makes Christmas, truly Christmas.

Corpse Bride

Rating: 6.8/10

Genre: Animation

Overall value for money and time: 6.5/10

A groom-to-be fails to make his vows due to nervousness and "accidentally" asks a corpse bride to be his wife while practising in the graveyard. Unable to break his promise, he must find ways to get back to his "living" wife.

The musical aspect of Tim Burton's productions are kept, as well as the creativity of the characters. Though it does have an original plot, this animation somehow lost its appeal to me. What was outstanding about this movie is the score itself, the piano piece to be exact but the story progression felt a little haphazard. Using a similar ending review from the Nightmare Before Christmas:

Though this movie lacked the additional spice of romance in it, prepare yourself to enter a light hearted, darkly comic, imaginative world between the living and the dead.

Coraline

1. Rating: 7.5/10
2. Genre: Animation
3. Overall value for money and time: 7.7/10

With the sub-heading, "From the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas", it gave me the impression that this movie was another Tim Burton productions. However, it was directed by Henry Selick, and checking imdb.com, I realised that Tim Burton only produced Nightmare Before Christmas but not direct it.

Initially, I was surprised that Coraline didn't have the musical element in it, but later realised why it was so. Still, it was a great movie which opens your eyes once again to a highly imaginative world. It holds some essence of Alice in Wonderland and looking at Tim Burton's next movie production "Alice in Wonderland", I can only spectulate the friction arising between the 2 directors.

A bored girl by the name of Coraline finds the "perfect" world on the other side of a door which she found in her new house, with magic in the air and loving parents, she gradually falls prey to the ruler of the other world who wants to claim Coraline as her own.

This animation has it's own unique qualities, it's not as dark as the rest, and though it's "unfair" to compare it to the previously mentioned animations since this movie was not produced by Tim Burton, it being a "puppet-like" animation falls perfectly in its category. Throughout the movie, there were a good number of scenes which made it feel very fairytale like, enhanced by the score and cinematography.

Alas, the plot felt too rushed and everything ended too conveniently. Apart from that, it's another light-hearted, darkly comic, imaginative world on what lies on the other side of the door, on the other side of our world.