Grown Ups

Ratings: 6.2/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Comedy

Star-studded cast of how 5 high school basketball teammates meet up after they are all grown ups to relive their passion and to fix the issues in their lives. Jokes weren't too funny, little too adult, too sleezy personally but overall, was a light-hearted film which didn't require too much attention on.

Each individual cast complemented one another very well and had their own characteristics. There isn't much to talk about this movie, so to sum it up, love the cast, wasn't too much of a plot, didn't really like the movie, but time spent watching it, wasn't wasted, nor was it that worth it.

Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler

Ratings: 7.1/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Drama Thriller

Nope, Kaiji isn't the ultimate gambler in this movie. He's your average Joe, quite the loser who dreams of a better life out there. When coerced and doped into entering a gambling contest, he went into a huge debt and had to live his remaining days sloughing and working underground to build an empire with many others... a diabolical plan orchestrated by an organization to build a kingdom, whereby there is only one ultimate ruler and the rest would merely be his slaves.

This movie didn't turn out as I had expected, I thought Kaiji was an ingenious gambler who went on board a ship and took down the corporation with his wits. However, all he had, were great determination and a sharp mind when forced into the corner. The character didn't bring justice to the movie title, either that, or that movie title was greatly misleading.

The film touched on the human spirit and even what it means to be truly human. Aside from the exaggeration of the acting and the possibility of such a scenario, I thought the underlying meaning behind the movie was an inspiring one. And of course, if you're not aware of it yet, it's the next movie after Death Note that featured not only "Light" from Death Note, but "L" as well. See if you can "find" him in this movie.

Liar Game: The Final Stage

Ratings: 6.8/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Drama Thriller

Caught this movie after watching all the season episodes. Although the series were somewhat predictable because I've followed the manga so far, it's still slightly better than the movie. The series' more or less similar to the manga, except for the final episode, which gave it a closure. As for the final stage, it felt like an extended version, refreshing, yet not as awifying (I know, this word doesn't exist).

Followed the main characters from the liar game once more, Nao Kanzaki and Akiyama as they are "forced" to enter the final stage of the liar game. The liar game is a game forcing everyday people to participate in it, whereby they have to cheat or lie their way to get "money" from their opponents. They themselves are given a million yen each round (4 rounds in total - based on the series) and they have to try to seize their opponents millions. If they fail to do so, and are deceived or too dimwitted to keep their own, they will owe the corporation a million yen in debt. In other words, it's a vicious cycle... but thankfully, that vicious cycle ended in the drama series.

For the final stage, the director has brought back a couple of familiar faces from the past "battles" and introduced many new ones, to play a game of the Garden of Eden. It's a game whereby the participants are given a chance to win millions of yen by casting "apple" votes. There are 3 different kinds of apples, golden, sliver and the normal red ones. The game works similar to a "majority vote", and the majority will get to win a million yen for every round... However, if either of them were to cast sliver or gold apples, there will always be a loser. But if all were to cast red apples, they would each get a million. The tough part lies in another ideal opportunity for an individual, whereby if he/she were to cast the only gold or sliver apple, and the others red, he will get billions out of it, and everyone else will lose $$.

Sounds complicated? It's easier to just watch the movie because if there's one thing commendable about the entire series or movie, it makes understanding of the games so much easier than just reading it. The game isn't that ingenious, the twists weren't well developed or well played and the introduction of another "X" individual just backfired at the end because it doesn't make sense (*spoilers ahead* How did the corporation plant "X" when "X" was just another individual and not working for the corporation?)

Apart from these major flaws, the entire movie was pretty smooth and worked out quite fine. Too much of it reminded me of The Gamer and Saw, which diminished the entire ingenuity of the plot. Worth a go.

Black Swan

Ratings: 8.2/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Thriller

Creepy, disturbing and thought-provokingly eerie. Darren Aronofsky has once again delivered a raw and unsettling artistic film to his audience. A ballet dancer (Natalie Portman) managed to clinch the lead role in the classic ballet piece "Swan Lake", where she is to play both the innocent and pure white swan as well as the evil twin sister, the black swan. The story tells of a woman who became a swan and the only way to break the curse was to have a man fall in love with her. However, her evil twin sister managed to win his heart instead and out of desperation, the white swan jumps off a cliff to her death.

Natalie Portman's lead role is threatened by her inability to bring out the "dark" side of her character and her artistic director is contemplating of using a new dancer, Lily (Mila Kunis) as her dark alternate. There are only 4 main leads in this movie, Natalie Portman, her mother, Mila Kunis and the artistic director, of which everyone plays a seemingly important role.

Despite the moody and dark feel this film embodies its audience with, I'm actually quite fond of it. Though I don't fully understand this abstract film, all I can say is that it's really one of the better artistic films I've caught so far. Highly recommended, not for the faint hearted since it's creepy and gruesome at times (has a hint of horror and gore) but overall it should suit the likes of the majority. And once again, like all other arty farty movies out there, I shall attempt to explain my interpretation of the movie. So for those of you who still haven't caught, I wouldn'y suggest reading on... *Major spoilers ahead*

To cut the story short, I think the movie is highly commendable because it brings forth a concept I have yet to come across. Somewhere in the midst of the movie, I felt that Mila Kunis (Lily) was probably the alternate ego of Natalie Portman (Nina). That's something I'm sure most avid movie-goers would have thought of. And there's the real "twist".

Most thought-provoking movies touched on concepts of schizophrenia, but this movie worked in reverse order. Nina started out as a normal, idealistic ballet dancer who like all others yearned for the opportunity to play a lead role in a performance. Then she gradually falls prey to the dark side within herself, as provoked by her artistic director, Thomas Leroy. He was the trigger who brought out the sensual and dark side of the innocent Nina. It wasn't till her last line that I think I managed to grasp the underlying meaning the movie... Her last words were "I felt it, perfect. I was perfect."

Nina had always wanted to be "perfect", and at the very end when she realised there was no real threat but herself, she came to understand what perfect was because she became two different persons... the white swan and the black swan. In other words, though technically wrong but in layman's terms it might be appropriate, Nina became schizophrenic. Every human has a good and dark side of themselves. Nina was no exception. However, she was able to surpress the dark side until there were too many "triggers" around her. This lead to her "unleashing" the dark side, but with undesirable consequences but she literally let her dark side "out". So much so that she started to hallucinate the very existence of "her". This is the reason why I mentioned this movie worked in reverse order.

We see someone normal, then at the end of the movie, she became schizo... Lily was never a threat to her and she was a real person... whilst Thomas Leroy is indeed a pervert but ironically also did an excellent job in bringing the "dark" side of a person out. The main puzzle of the entire movie is Nina's mother. There were many awkwardly creepy scenes in the movie which till now sends question marks hovering around my head. I believe her mother was the cranky and overly possessive one, which made Nina look as if she had a problem with herself. But then again, the possibility of the scratches behind her back are highly caused by herself, which in other words means that Nina is somewhat unstable in the first place.

To put everything into perspective, Nina was the 2nd most normal character in the movie, Lily being the first. She could have some compulsive disorder about scratching herself but everything was kept in check. Then as Nina got the lead role, she was overwhelmed by obsession to keep her lead role in the swan lake, thus seemingly saw the "dark" side of Lily. To make matters worst, Thomas Leroy further brought the dark side of Nina out and her mother agitated the process. The scratches on her back worsened without her realisation possibly because she started to lose herself. Then everything that happened to her, as she "saw" it, black fur coming out from her scratches, Winona Ryder (the former lead for the swan lake, whom Nina is replacing) stabbing herself with a pair of scissors, and how Nina manifested into a black swan were all a hallucination and symbolises the process of how Nina losing herself and when she finally turned into a black swan, was where she "drove the dark side of her out into another entity", ie. she transformed into 2 personas.

Well, that's my interpretation of the movie to my understanding. For those of you who beg to differ, this review is not to prove theories because I'm sure after much debate, no one will really know the answer apart from the director himself. All I'm hoping is that this review clears some doubts and at least provides an explanation for those lost watching this movie.

Tron: Legacy

Ratings: 8.4/10

Film Class: A

Genre: Sci-Fi

Terrific! Revolutionary! Outstanding! No Joke!! 4 simple words to describe Tron: Legacy (maybe 5). Never knew there was a prequel until I started browsing through imdb about it. Watching the trailer for the earlier film really tickled me, tough to fathom how revolutionary it was back then... but today, at this very present moment, Tron: Legacy really brings the genre of Sci-Fi three notches higher.

What appealed to me were the neon lights and how it was so prominently prevalent throughout the entire movie. The movie delivered more than what was featured in the trailer (which isn't always the case for critically acclaimed movies), the only complain I have of that movie is that it's a little technical... or a little too abstract for the layman to understand. The concept of the Grid, and the "imperfect perfection" still confuses me till now.

There's quite a deep storyline behind the movie, which won extra popcorn points in my heart because it wasn't just your mediocre gimmicky movie with exceptional CG... almost tipping over to the artistic scale.

The ending was a little far-fetched but forgiving since this movie in itself isn't that realistic in the first place. Casting wasn't perfect, and because of that, veteran actor Jeff Bridges stole the limelight. This movie has really opened a new light to movie productions and has indefinitely opened my eyes to the endless possibilies of what movies could potentially deliver to its audiences. Tron has truly left a legacy... and from the looks of it, a sequel looks promising.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Rating: 7.2/10

Film Class: B+

Genre: Fantasy

Personally, I'm not a fan of Narnia. The first two installations were so-so... and so was this. The overall feel is pretty kidish to me, not that I'm that matured but typically this kinda genre doesn't appeal to me. With no intention to offend anyone, I think Narnia and Harry Potter movies are quite similar in fashion, Just that Harry Potter is like the juvenile version of Lord of the Rings whilst Narnia is like the juvenile version of Clash of the Titans.

Lucy and Edmund are brought back to Narnia with their cousin Eustace to stop an evil from manifesting. They have to bring 7 swords to Aslan's sacred table before its too late. And the dawn treader is Prince Caspian's ship by which they embark their journey on.

I shan't divulge too much about the storyline, but was quite impressed by how adult the content of the movie was. Adult meaning abstract and not *ahem*. I didn't like the cast at all, I thought generally most of them didn't bring out their relevant roles but quite frankly, I was impressed by the new addition... the irriating and grumpy Eustace (whose name sounded like "useless" which generated several giggles every now and then). I thought he was the only one who acted surprisingly well, makes you hate him and love him at the same time.

I love the ending "pet" talk by Aslan to the children... and the ending scene was really "beautiful" in its own standing. With many subtle references, I can only urge audiences to really think about the skilfully crafted settings, words and character flaws in this movie. Isn't exceptional, but overall, good stuff. Of its 3 installations, this certainly ranks number 1 even though they were only snippets of the other 2 leads in the first 2 prequels.

The Haunted House Project

Rating: 6.8/10

Film Class: C

Genre: Horror

It has been a long while since I've blogged about a "true" horror movie (have been avoiding them) so here goes... Many have been led to a haunted house standing at the outskirts of Korea, be it out of curiosity, satisfaction or exploration, they were all drawn by the alluring temptation to document the spirits lingering at that place.

Perhaps the greatest goof about the movie is that it's not even a house in the first place.. but an old abandaned cookie factory and it's surrounding buildings... squatters and entertainment centre if I didn't remember it wrongly. We are taken on a documentary style journey to the haunted house together with a crew of 6 people, including a camera man, a director, the sound girl and 3 other paranormal seeking enthusiasts.

Their camera footage was supposed to be recovered years later and what we will be watching is their footage... similar to Blaire Witch Project and Haunted Changi, just that it's a movie made in Korea. Haven't caught the latter, but told myself to stay away from such styles of movies since they would evidently result in nauseousness... which it did. So for those who can't stomach shaky video-caming, you'll probably want to stay away from this.

The opening scene was quite engaging, where they actually showed footage from another group of "explorers". But confused the entire development a little since there wasn't any explanation about it. Then it moved on to the "interviews" which looked authentic. Truth be told, I went there hoping it was based on a true story... the development and the lead up almost convinced me of that only until during the middle of the movie where things really went out-of-hand. It became ridiculously horrifying which took away the realism of the entire movie. *spoilers ahead* For those of you who have caught it, I'm referring particularly to the scene where the girl was bending her back backwards and forward but yet the camera man was still so calm to be filming the entire scene and didn't offer a hand. From then on, every scary event which popped up just took away the realism bit by bit. The ending was the ultimate killer. Ri-Di-Cu-Lous.

I'm demeriting the movie because of that because if you want to make a realistic movie, I believe one should stay true to it throughout. It's almost like watching Earth and having the animals talk at the end of the movie. The other flaw about the movie was the music which played up before each terrifying encounter... well, if it's supposed to be "real", there shouldn't be music in the first place...

But it wasn't that bad a movie, the buildup was engaging and like all documentary-styled, first person camera shot movies, the mood was intense. I was gasping at every restricted peripheral shot I experienced. Casting delievered a good performance but they were "wiped" out too quickly towards the end... which kinda detached me from the characters after all that hard earned character buildup at the start.

Pretty decent movie, scare factor prolly rates 7.5/10 with a couple of unforgettably disturbing scenes. Good buildup at the start, but pace picked up too fast towards the end and the ending was rather crappy.