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.

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.

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.