The Lucky One

Ratings: 8.1/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Romantic

While many loved the movie The Notebook by Nicholas Spark (same author for The Lucky One), I actually prefer this film. 

It was sweet, romantic and had a "best case scenario" ending, everything I had hoped for to be in a romantic movie. Both leads were stunning, Zac Efron, needs no introduction, and Taylor Schilling was drop dead gorgeous. The chemistry was realistic and most of the credit of this movie's success surely goes to Zac Efron. 

Zac Efron is a marine who manages to escape death because he went to pick up a photo of a lady (Taylor Schilling) when he was on a mission in Iraq. Unknowing to him, the spot where he stood was bombed, and ever since that day, he believed that the lady was his guardian angel. [the synopsis is shown in the trailer]

After finally coming out of the army, he manages to find her, but was unable to tell her the truth behind their meeting. Taking up a job at her training centre for dogs, the both of them gradually develops feelings for each other, but obstacles such a possessive ex-husband and "the truth" keeps them at bay. 

Zac excelled in portraying a rather emotionless and uptight person, since he spent a good deal of his life at war, at the same time displaying jaw dropping magnanimosity and character. While it was weird to see a younger guy getting intimate with an older woman on screen (they looked rather mismatched in terms of age), they were both such eye candies it didn't really matter. And in a way, it made sense since it would be too "ideal" for him to pick up a picture of a nice looking younger girl. There are things in life not within our control, and when love comes into the picture, there's definitely no boundaries. Love just happens... 

I liked how "real" the movie felt, the cast, the story, the development and the soundtrack. I'm suddenly a Nicholas Spark fan now...

Snow White and the Huntsman

Ratings: 7.3/10

Film Class: A

Genre: Dark Fairytale

The "darkness" about this film is reminiscence of Alice in Wonderland (2010, the one by Tim Burton) and The Brothers Grimm. I watched Mirror Mirror way back, and these 2 movies came out around the same time. 

Mirror Mirror was light-hearted, but all in all quite crappy. I prefer this "version" of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, somehow there's more class to it. Snow White was more of a warrior, the seven dwarfs weren't so merrily perfect, and the Prince's charm wasn't that magical. 

The essence of the fairytale was all there, incorporated with dark elements and bits of twists here and there. Evil stepmother, more evil than in the books, black magic, darker than in the books, Prince Charming, even more charming with his spot on bullseye-shots, and the seven dwarfs, more of warriors than merry men. The only new addition, the variable is the Huntsman, initially recruited by the Evil Queen to hunt Snow White down, but eventually turned guardian for the Princess. 

I absolutely loved the cast in this film, be it good or bad, and though I'm not a fan of Kristen Stewart, she made a "pretty" "fair" kick-ass Snow White worth rooting for. Impressive graphics and costumes. The ending, though not fairytale romantic, was a good closure to this classic tale.

Brave

Ratings: 6.5/10

Film Class: A

Genre: Animated Action

Had a high expectation of a Pixar film, and like most legacies, there's bound to be a couple of hiccups. Brave ranks as one of the bottom Pixar films. I didn't like the strong Scottish accent and I thought the storyline didn't have much link to the movie title. There's really nothing "Brave" about the cast or their actions. 

Princess Merida is the only heir to her kingdom, and her parents want her to get married (to one of the sons from the other kingdoms). However, she wants freedom to make her own path in life, and made  a pact with a witch. And the impulsive Princess soon realises the mistake she had done and must undo it before the next sunrise... 

Merida's unkempt orange hair felt like her test tube experiment went wrong, blew up and couldn't be bothered to comb her hair after that. The way she so impulsively made a pact with a witch she had never met and how unrepentant she initially was really got on my nerves. 

Perhaps one of the main reasons of me not liking the movie is because I simply didn't like the lead actress. Even at the end, I still didn't feel like I wanna be cheering her on. 

The saving grace of the movie was the last scene, which was quite touching and forced my eyes to well up a bit... possibly of all the built up dissatisfied sentiments I had during my viewing. There was a "cuteness" factor as well, reminiscence of Goldilocks. 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the next Pixar film is going to do justice to it's "legacy", if not I'll just say "Goodbye Pixar, Heelllooo.... Dreamworks!"

The Darkest Hour

Ratings: 6.8./10

Film Class: B

Genre: Mystery Suspense

I enjoyed The Darkest Hour, probably because I watched it back to back after Iron Sky. Comparing the 2, it was like Heaven and Earth. The storyline of this movie was more "galactic" than the latter. 

The opening scene gathered my fleeting attention and kept me on the edge of my seat till the very end. Two pairs of BFFs come together in Moscow when an alien invasion unexpectedly "floats" to Earth. What makes the aliens so frightening is that they're invisible, and they vaporise humans in an instance. 

The group slowly expands, as they gather more survivors together, and they try to hang on to the hope of survival even though the aliens are hot on their pursuit... 

The plot, the concept of the aliens are original, and the suspense felt real (thanks to the cast, even though they're not critically acclaimed actors and actresses). What I really liked about it was the setting. While there are backgrounds which were clearly CG-ed (it's not a high budget movie), the Moscow setting felt authentic. 

The Achilles heel of the aliens was also quite ingenious, even though the mode of offence and the weaponry felt a little cheesy. It made the cast look ridiculous, yet effective. 

Perhaps the greatest flaw of this movie was how the different groups of survivors were able to reach an "Eureka" moment that quickly. *spoilers ahead* One other was the ending, the separation of the survivors created a big question mark. Still, the plot was unpredictable at times and the overall feel I got after everything was that this is a pretty interesting and decent alien invasion movie. Didn't catch this in 3D, but I'm not that curious to find out because I'm already very much contented on a 2D viewing. 

Iron Sky

Ratings: 4.0/10

Film Class: C+

Genre: Spoof Action Comedy

I kinda hated myself for sitting through this even though I knew I had it coming. Just because more than 10% of the film's funding comes from fans doesn't make Iron Sky any special, or different from many other flop movies. 

The plot was detrimental to my intellect. It was so insanely crappy I couldn't even force myself to laugh. The saving grace of it was the lead actress, an absolute eye candy... and the only thing which kept me going... 

The Nazis set up a moon base, and is compromised when the Americans discovered its existence. Actually, America sent 2 astronauts to the moon, only one survived but he was unable to notify the rest of America. Thankfully, with the help of his wits and a little "white truth", he was able to return back to Earth with the Nazi troops, headed by a villainous Captain in Command, Klaus Adler. Klaus Adler wanted to take over planet Earth, but things didn't turn out as planned, as a running Presidential candidate also has a devious plan in mind. 

Well, that's Iron Sky in a nutshell. 

It doesn't sound that bad does it? Let's just say it's similar to spoof movies like Scary Movie and Superhero Movie, which it is. The lines, the plot, the development, the humor, everything was so awful that I couldn't even believe anyone would bother making a movie like this.