Red

Rating: 8.0/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Action

If you're looking for a movie to destress, packed with senseless action scenes and witty/wacky lines and doesn't use up too much brain, Red is the movie for you. A retired black-ops agent is forced to come out of retirement after a failed attempt at his life. Gathering his old team, and hunting down the organisation that wants him dead, he must face the greatest challenge of any outstanding agent... his greatest liability, his new found love.

Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren makes a superb team of old school agents and this movie turned out much better than I had imagined. I was expecting something similar to The Expendables, it was equally as good (action packed and corny humor), but slightly more light-hearted compared to the former. And the best part about this movie is that they still had space to accomodate a decent storyline.

Red is just hands down cool and the casts really made this movie more than an old-school-actor movie... indeed... they were all still armed, still dangerous and they definitely still got it. Rocks!!!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Ratings: 7.5/10

Film Class: B+

Genre: Fantasy

I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan, cos I haven't seen most of the middle few movies in this decade long sequel but comparing it to the first 2 I've seen as well as the more recent Half-Blood Prince, I think this movie ranks 2nd. I particularly love the Half-Blood Prince for the storyline, buildup, the genre as well as the independence of the movie. For the Deathly Hallows, not surprisingly, it falls short of being an independent movie because it's only part 1, but I honesty didn't expect the end to have such an unwelcoming cliff hanger.

Not much action in this film, a handful of scares and overall a pretty dark film. No more "broomstick" flying games in this movie (can't rem the name of the game), and the franchise has indeed sprouted a more matured theme with awkward romantic scenes filled with uncomfortable tension. If it's as what the book portrays, then it's forgivable I guess, but if not, it could be that the cast were not professionally equipped in that genre yet.

After graduation, and the revival of Voldemort, the hunt for Harry Potter begins. It is up to his friends and those who hold a noble cause to protect him whilst he searches the remaining Horcruxes (which holds bits of Voldemort's spirit) and destroys them. The magic world has been taken over the villians and time is ticking as the trio undegoes a series of challenges which both threatens their friendship and their survival.

The male protagonist is this sequel is just not as "invincible" as most other movies... instead Harry Potter is portrayed as someone who is extremely vulnerable and even his spellcasting skills is inferior compared to Hermione. He's so "lost" in this film which really makes him undesirable to watch. He's like Fredo in Lord of the Rings, but he's not even close to his "purity". Weasley was the usual funny guy who managed to lighten up tense moments and Hermione was as usual, the eye candy of the entire franchise who lighted up the screens, metaphorically speaking.

I did enjoy the movie experience, but was slightly disappointed by the lack of action scenes and even the ending action scene lacked "magic" power. Storyline was engaging, and the villians really stole the show. Let's just hope for Part 2, the heroes can steal back the limelight from them. 1 more year to go... darn it's a long long wait...

The American

Rating: 7.8/10

Film Class: C

Genre: Drama, Thriller

The American is a cream of the crop. It's been a while since I last used my favourite tagline... "a hidden gem". An American hitman hides out in Italy awaiting his next mission and gradually fills up the missing spaces in his life.

The budget for the film might be low, with low resolution and grainy cinematography, and though the storyline wasn't anything spectacular, this movie won my heart with the subtle and heart-felt portrayal of the main lead, George Clooney. George Clooney once again brings that "glow" to mediocre films with his realistic acting and his overall mannerism. This movie wouldn't be such a success without the apt choice of casting, and because of the grainy appearance of the film, it brought an unexpected realism to the experience.

In Bruges still tops my list of hitman movies, but The American comes a close second (in the same category of film class that is). A pity it's a R21 movie, because there wasn't anything explicit about the storyline (though neccesary nude scenes)... No explosive car chase scenes, nor any 30-second long hand fight duels, it's just a rough and raw, straight to the point hitman movie.