The Social Network

Ratings: 7.5/10

Film Class: B-

Genre: Drama

"You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies"... A truly apt tagline for a movie all about the creators of Facebook, the contraversies which arose and which led to the groundbreaking success of the social network.

It's not a blockbuster movie for sure... it lacks action, suspense, cinematography and "grandeur". No awesomeness in this film, just a whole ton of intellectually witty dialogue with a handful of occasional humor. The cast delivered an outstanding performance and the screen was filled with many eye-candies (with the exception of Mark Zuckerberg). What I liked about the movie was its seemingly realistic portrayal of the harshness of entrepreneurship. I'm sure many great ideas have been stolen and claimed as their own but I still believe it takes that one person to really make it happen. Without Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook wouldn't be what it is today... and each and everyone in his life played a major role to his epic contribution to the cyber world.

I loved the ending, and the irony behind the last scene. The movie left several open-ended questions which I thought enhanced the "depth" of the storyline. How much of it is true, I wouldn't know, but one thing I'm sure of is that Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook with his 2 bare hands.

Life as We Know It

Rating: 7.4/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Romantic Comedy

A sheer delight for young couples and a nightmare for those thinking of settling down soon. The comedy in this movie was a real treat, despite the every once in a while "lost" in translation due to their quick American accent and the lack of subtitles. I was straining my ears here and there hoping not to miss out on anything.

Two individuals with very different personalities are forcefully brought together by a twist of fate when their best friends leave their only daughter in their care. Even though I had a rough idea of the plot, and kinda expected the inevitable departure of the baby's parents (already exposed in the trailer), when it actually came down to that moment, it was applaudingly touching. It reminded me of the Pixar animation Up, because there are only a handful of movies which I can think of that were able to bring out the sadness and empathy that early in the movie. This movie defied that challenge and I believe a huge portion of that success goes to the incredibly convincing performance by the leads.

Both of them felt like they were in total control of their roles and were able to fully bring out the detestable and likeable traits of their characters. Though it was funnier than it was romantic, the last confrontation scene between the two contained a couple of really touching lines. The baby girl was extremely adorable and I appreciate how much of a challenge it is to make a movie involving babies, and in other cases, animals as well due to their uncontrollability. The title didn't quite link with the movie and though the ending was cliche, the last camera shot was one to sing praises of. Definitely made my evening, hope it made yours.

Babies

Rating: 6.7/10

Film Class: C

Genre: Documentary

An almost silent documentary on 4 babies of different origins; African, Japanese, Mongolian and American. The film takes you on a journey with them through their first year in life. Filming was highly commendable, there were some really memorable moments which I could only assume that the film team was able to put on screen owing to their long hard hours of filming.

The irritating part of this documentary is how quickly and how often they switch screen times among the 4 babies... even before I could begin to sink into the moment, the moment has already moved on without me. And the "boring" part of this documentary is about how silent it was. Not recommended to catch it after a long day at work, but preferably when you're all psyched up about life or about being a parent.

The best bits of the documentary? *spoilers ahead* The African baby in total. I could watch him all day, and even if 80% of the screentime was dedicated to him, one would never be bored. Possibly because of the culture, and the environment that he lives in which makes it so interesting. Of course, I won't demerit the Mongolian baby in this aspect as she too lived in a "different world" with domesticated cattle. It would almost seem that the documentary was trying to drive across one important point... that the speed of development is dependent on the degree of civilisation. It seemed as though the African baby developed faster than all the rest because of the harshness of the enviroment he was brought up in.

As for the Japanese baby and the American baby, nothing too interesting about them... since possibly the "life of babies" that I know is simply being reiterated to me as I too am living in a developing yet somewhat developed city. Still there were a couple of astounding moments such as the Japanese baby being brought to a zoo by his mum and the American baby spitting out her banana and swallowing it back in again. It might sound disgusting, but the idea behind it is truly a classic one. We have lost the ability to "understand" what we are putting into our mouth and we just take it for granted. Anything that tastes nice, we pop them into our mouth... anything that tastes awful we spit them out and will never give them a 2nd look.

Despite the slow pacing and the almost hypnotising soundtrack of the movie, it was an eye-opening experience for me. Ranks alongside the other award-winning documentaries such as the Cove and Food Inc.

Letters to Juliet

Rating: 7.2/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Romantic Drama

I love it! Not the lead actress, nor the cliche ending but the overall feel it gave me. It was more than a light-hearted girl flick movie, it was heart-warming and at times even touching. Story was a little exaggerated in reality (due to the fairytale-like bits) but in the context of a fictional on-screen film, it carried a hope-giving message to anyone out there who still wonders about the "what ifs" regarding our first love.

An american journalist wannabe goes on a honeymoon trip with her chef boyfriend to Italy. However, instead of spending quality alone time together, he takes her to visit places which would help in the opening of his new restaurant. That resulted in each doing their separate things and was when she came across Verona's courtyard where many heart-broken girls would write letters to "Juliet", and the letters would be answered by her secretaries. Volunteering to help out, she chances upon a 50 year old love message and decided to help bring the two lovers together despite all odds.

Great acting performances delivered by the cast and the scenic cinematography was totally awesome. Almost felt like a hybrid of a travelogue and a movie, all in all, a good watch!!

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Ratings: 6.0/10

Film Class: C

Genre: Crime, Thriller

The budget and quality of the much anticipated Stieg Larsson's trilogy seemed to be declining with each sequel. I had wanted to give up on following the last of its installment since they simply took too much time (2.5hrs of screentime), but managed to convince myself that it might follow the same trend as Lord of the Rings. Wrong, I was.

This time, apart from the metaphorical meaning of the title, kicking the hornet's nest, there's simply no link to the story whatever. Lisbeth, the girl with the dragon tattoo, the wiped-out disturbed hacker girl is back again... this time recuperating in the hospital, taking off from where it stopped in its prequel, The Girl Who Played with Fire. Charged with several murder charges, it's up to Mikael, her beau reporter to get her out of the ordeal.

*spoilers ahead* The robotic villian is back in this sequel but plays a minor role in the entire movie. Though there were several spillover characters from the previous series, they didn't enjoy much screentime, yet will potentially be able to confuse anyone who skipped the previous installments. To sum it up, it's not a movie you wanna start off with if you haven't caught the previous 2, heck, it's not even a good movie to spend your time on. Even after watching all 3 parts of it, I'm still quite lost in the storyline, and it's not even interesting enough to spur my curiosity to research about it.

Only refreshing part of the movie? It's swedish.

Buried

Ratings: 6.8/10

Film Class: D

Genre: Suspense Thriller

Possibly one of the lowest budget films I've ever seen - 2nd to blaire witch project. I think 90% of the film's budget probably went to the lead actor, Ryan Reynolds. Because... there's just no one else featured on screen!! *spoilers ahead* I had initially expected the story to "surface and get out of the box" but no... the entire movie was shot in a single setting.

Paul Conroy is a US citizen working as a truck driver based in Iraq. His convoy was attacked, was knocked out and woke up to find himself buried underground in a coffin with just a zippo lighter, a canister and a cell phone. Using everything he has, how is he going to survive the ordeal?

*major spoilers ahead* I was utterly disappointed with the ending. When the credits rolled, it left me in a gloomy mood... a truly depressing movie indeed. There were many loopholes in the movie; the lack of fighting spirit on the lead's part, the calls he made out using his cellphone, his lack of ability (or the director) to come up with "better" solutions, the contents of the canister is still extremely puzzling to me, the excessive use of the zippo lighter even though oxygen is low and many others. This movie lacked the "elegance" of what constitutes a good low budget film, a smooth and ingenious plot. Instead, this movie threw at its audience the incapability of the US government (almost felt as it was mocking the system and a wake up call to them by showing how incompetent they are) and the only salvaging part of the movie was the ironically disappointing ending.

The ending was disappointing to my expectations but it did justice to the movie overall. Wasn't such an unpredictable twist but at least the subtle hint of deceit was there. I'll advise you not to read on if you still haven't caught the movie because I shall attempt to explain it from my point of view. Many would think that the ending was just an "aww.. too bad, it wasn't Paul they found but someone else...", but I believe there was more to that. It also showed how the person (Dan Brenner) which Paul called deceived him into believing there was still hope even though any hopes of rescue was bleak.

But that's also not all... It was Dan's job to do so. As hard as it may have felt for the lead himself, I'm sure the person on the other side of the call wanted to help Paul as much as he could and he probably felt guilty for lying to him. It wasn't just from Paul's point of view, as the ending described it otherwise from the tone of Dan's voice. Contrary to most reviews, I think this movie didn't feature Ryan Reynold's at one of his best performances. I didn't feel that emotionally attached to him. Could be the fault of the scripting, but all in all, wasn't that great a movie.

An unnecessarily long opening credits (perhaps to prolong the screentime), a lack of plot ingenuity, perhaps too many black out scenes and too depressing a movie for me. It is indeed suspenseful, but nothing too nightmarish, terrifying nor claustrophobic.

Robin Hood

Ratings: 7.2/10

Film Class: B+

Genre: Action Drama

Enter the life of Robin Longstride before he became the famous Robin Hood. This movie brought the fictional character to life, because the setting and era was exceptionally realistic. I'm not sure where the director Ridley Scott dug up Robin Hood's history from, but it sure was an eye opener for me. Even though the movie didn't quite turn out as I had expected; there wasn't an exaggerated display of archery skills, it was still fairly action packed.

This movie glorifies the prince of thieves by showing how honorable and capable he was as a great leader. In simpler words, this movie is all about him. I found his "merry men" equally as admirable and there were some reminiscence of Troy in this movie... like the King being so incapable and detestable. The storyline behind the entire movie was filled with deceit and how England turned against itself because of one traitor amongst them. That's where Robin Hood, the hero comes in to save the day...

Initially, I wasn't aware that the director of the movie was Ridley Scott, hence the level of impressiveness I had for the CG and the grandeur of the film. The horses and the calefares in the movie were in abundance, and the settings were realistically breath-taking. However, what this movie lacked was the inability to keep its audience engaged and there were just too many elements covered in a single 2.5hr movie, many of its subplots were touch and go. Isn't a bad movie, objectively, it's quite a blockbuster... but subjectively, it failed to sweep me off my feet.

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame

Ratings: 7.5/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Action Suspense

Set in 690 AD, an exiled detective is resummoned by Empress Wu to investigate a series of mysterious cases involving spontaneous human combustion. Detective Dee teams up with Officer Shangguan and Commander Bei to uncover the truth behind the murders.

This movie felt like a chinese version of Sherlock Holmes fused with a chinese martial arts film. Storyline was easy to follow and though it wasn't as suspenseful as Sherlock Holmes, the action scenes compensated for it. I was impressed with the CG as well as the engaging plot which didn't fail to keep the excitement up throughout. Love the "supernatural" aspect of it which made this film distinctive in its own right. I have to commend, whether it was intentional or not, the director for making a subtle effort in concealing the twist in the movie.

Despite the ridiculously-looking eyebrow makeups for the lead ladies (Empress Wu and Officer Shangguan), the casting wardrobes were impressively elaborate. For the entire 2 hours of screentime, the film was able to take me on a journey back to the dynasty era with a hint of mystery in it. One of its kind, been a while since a mandarin movie was able to deliver such a spectacle of delight and awe.

Outrage

Rating: 7.2/10

Film Class: C

Genre: Mafia, Drama

A film about the bloodbath among the Yakuza gangster groups in Japan. I got to learn more about them, about their "culture" and about how influential they are in Japan. The take-home message from this movie is that the Yakuza gangs are ruthless, unreasonable, and have a s***load of time on their hands.

Treat this movie like a documovie (hybrid of movies and documentaries) and you'll be in for a good time. But if you expect something like Eastern Promies, you'll be gravely disappointing. Senseless violence, irrational consequences and an utter lack of "story". But it's quite an oxymoron, because it's what makes this film unique in its own sense. I believe it was the intentional message of the director, as what he was trying to bring across to the audience was to understand the way the Yakuzas work.

*major spoilers ahead* At the end of it, it felt like the entire movie was going around in circles, with no purpose... almost as if one would have wasted 109 mins of their time. But on closer scrutiny, it was more educational than squirmish or senseless. The Yakuza's main boss is in charge of looking over the different yakuza groups. All of the groups run independently, but are governored by the main boss (kinda like a royal family). The different groups have to answer to the main boss, and yet he plotted a blood feud between the clans. As to his exact purpose of doing so, I can only assume he's just so high up on the hierarchy that he just wants to see what would come out of the little dispute, at the same time to prove that his foresight was right.

What started from a molehill blasted into a mountain, before you knew it, everyone was killing off each other's clan members despite the clans being "sworn brothers". It just really showed me how there's no such thing as "blood/sworn" brothers in the gangster business... There's backstabbing everywhere and everyone else is plotting ways to move up in the hierarchy. I was lost during the first 30 mins of the movie, with all the different clan names and character names... but was gradually able to piece together the "big picture".

The Yakuzas are so influential even the police are working for them. They have so many connections there's just no way you can run, or hide from them. The seemingly most useless character in the movie reigned supreme at the end. So bottomline is, always understand the system, cos' by doing so, even if you're a seemingly worthless dog, there's always a door of opportunity for you to seize complete control. And if you wanna survive in Japan, don't be a Yakuza, be a corrupted policeman instead.... Warped take-home messages but the main idea of this movie I hope, is simply for squirmish education.

You don't have to be too affected with the gore because most of the time, they are cut away scenes, without visual but with sound. And yes, it's definitely more of a guy movie becaue I doubt any females will speak fondly of it.

The Other Guys

Rating: 8.0/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Action Comedy

Two New York detectives who are complete opposites pair up to uncover a conspiracy after the city's top cops went out of action. Period.

Simple plot, made confusing by the "conspiracy" and weak twists in the movie. At the end of the movie, even though I didn't quite understand the development, the one thing which really blew me away was the synergy between Will Farrell and Mark Wahlberg. I'm not a fan of Will Farrell, in fact I used to believe all his movies were flop until this film. Mark Wahlberg, on the other hand, is a star which I really like and its so refreshing to see the lamest side of him in this movie.

The humor was simply explosive!! I kept laughing throughout and not only were there tears of laughter, there was also cheek and stomach cramps from the mixture of lame and witty humor. Fitting for most audience, those bored, those having a bad day, those who wants a good time, those chilling out with friends, even good for couples and those who can't tolerate spoofs but loves a movie which doesn't require too much thinking. It has been a while since a movie of such explosive humor has been out, so don't miss it!! Oh oh, and did I mention that Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson were equally as corny as well?

The Karate Kid

Rating: 7.6/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Action

A Detriot mother and son moves to Beijing because of Mrs Parker's job. Young Dre Parker finds it hard to fit in in a country that doesn't speak his native language and to make matters worse, is bullied by the local students. With the help of his apartment's technician, Jackie Chan, he was able to fend off the bullies... while under the guidance of Jackie Chan trains himself up for a coming Kung Fu tournament to settle the "feud" caused.

Being a 2 hour movie, it adequately covered the important aspects of a good movie such as character development and a decent story plot. I was kept engaged throughout the movie, and the movie didn't feel draggy or lengthy... on the contrary it kept me wanting more. Though the only downside of the movie was the nearly abrupt ending due to the lack of character follow ups, everything else about the movie was a huge thumbs up. This movie exceeded my expectations, as I was ignorantly affected by the general public's ratings.

Good mix of light-hearted humor, bits of romance, a good load of action, a fair deal of emphasis on family ties and friendship, couple of scenic cinematography and most importantly, it touches on the true nature of Kung Fu. Even though it was set in Beijing, unlike most Hollywood movies which veered out of its "home", this movie didn't feel like a cheap production. Though I'm not a huge fan of movies with features adolescence casting, this is an exception.

Possibly one of Jackie Chan's strongest performances in a Hollywood movie, and this movie definitely marks the rise of the young stars, Jaden Smith, Han Wen Wen (his crush) and Wang Zhengwei (the leader of the bullies). My last opinion of it is that this movie shouldn't even bank on the Karate Kid franchise, since its not really the fighting styles of Karate which are featured inside but more of Kung Fu. So don't expect any Karate, (only 1 scene about it, only 10 secs about its mention) expect scaled down Kung Fu (only appropriate since the casts are all still so young!)!!