The King's Speech

Ratings: 8.0/10
Film Class: B
Genre: Drama

I was pleasantly surprised with the way the movie turned out. I hadn't read the sypnosis, nor was I ever a fan of movies of such times... but this movie proved to be educationally beautiful. Based solely on the title, this movie is definitely about the King's speech, more specifically, King George the VI's speech. I shan't disclose what the movie is about, because I'm positively sure you'll welcome the surprise like I did.

The opening sequence stunned me... for it featured Colin Firth (the male protagonist) walking up to do a speech on the King's behalf. I was thinking to myself, wow... that's fast... how was the story supposed to proceed from there? After that scene, though predictable, it still brought out not just the performances of the fantastic cast, but also the struggles of the highly unheard-of King of our time... I only heard of Hitler, Stalin and Winston Churchill... but King George the VI? Welcome to a moving history lesson on Britain during World War II.

Cinematography was brillant, cast and script were aptly outstanding and story development was engaging. Despite it being a dialogue driven movie, there's a very high chance it won't put to sleep a typically exhausted working adult. Might not work for the kids though.

The Fighter

Ratings: 7.5/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Drama

Melancholy drama about the early years of boxing champ Micky Ward and how his life was greatly influenced by his family and his girlfriend back then. The movie revolves around his internal and external struggles to pursue his dream and patch up his broken life.

Kudos to Christian Bale to perhaps one of his best performances in his acting career. Christian Bale stars as Dicky Eldund, Micky Ward's (Mark Wahlberg) brother who is both a degenerated boxing legend and loving brother. Mark Wahlberg did a decent job in building his body up and delivering a decent performance while Amy Adams was the true black horse. Her most memorable performance was her role as the fairytale-like princess in Enchanted. She took on a more serious role as a nun in Doubt and she has once again showed to the world how versatile an actress she is.

Both Christian Bale and Amy Adams stole the limelight, but the main focus was still kept on Mark Wahlberg, which I thought was what made this movie as exceptional as it was. However, I'm generally not fond of boxing movies (Rocky Balboa didn't make it for me) nor melancholy dramas. I prefer thought-provoking movies and not so much about movies of redemption. Therefore, my ratings for this movie are entirely subjective.

A great movie but somehow, it wasn't able to pull me in. But of all the boxing movies I've watched, this ranks as one of the top 2, on par with Million Dollar Baby. Ending wasn't exaggerated, the realism was kept but the heightened climax was compromised and after sitting through a close-to-2-hr-long movie, I only wanted it to end with an unforgettable punch, but it didn't. Forgettable movie, with unforgettable performances.

Megamind

Ratings: 7.7/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Animation

The rivalry between superhero Metro Man and supervillian Megamind reaches an abrupt end when Megamind finally defeats Metro Man... only to find his life meaningless during his conquest of Metro city. Therefore, he must use his ultra intelligent brain to create new meaning in his life.

The movie turned out better than expected... because I've already obstinately decided that no animation featuring the supervillian as the protagonist could match Despicable Me. Well, this movie didn't, but it did deliver many genuine laughs with its witty scripts and it definitely made my day. The storyline isn't that unpredictable, but the jokes were of a different genre compared to your typical animations. I would term this movie more of an "adult" animation cos of the matured-like witty humor (no, not those kinda uncensored xxx jokes but more of those which adults would appreciate more... somewhat similar to Spongebob SquarePants movie).

This animation has earned its spot into my top ten list of animations of all time. Do yourself a favor and catch it if you missed it intentionally like I did because despite its similarities, no two movies are identical.

127 Hours

Ratings: 7.0/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Drama

Overated. I realise if a movie is inspired by true events and it features a real person who endured great hardships to be where he is today, most reviewers would normally give it a high rating. Reason being very simple, if you don't, you're either someone heartless, or someone who has bad taste and "can't appreciate" such movies. Well, I don't really care how people would see my review but honestly speaking, 127 hours wasn't fantastic.

Aron Ralston, a carefree mountaineer and canyoneer who has always explored places by himself lands up in a life and death situation whereby his hand was trapped by a huge boulder and all he had was 2 days worth of food and water. If you do the maths, that's 48 hours, but as the movie title suggests, 127 hours. So you can expect that's not the end of the story.

Whether he lives or dies, guess you'll have to watch it for yourself. Just a few words of spoiler for you, the storyline is predictable. It's the process which makes the movie interesting to watch. And of course, the one scene you can expect to linger in your mind is the one already seen in the trailer... where the girl drops into an azure pool of water. One of the most beautiful movie scenes I've seen. The last scene might be unforgettable for some as well, but not for me.

The camera work was unique and intimate, in most cases we get to view stuff from either the first person's point of view or from unexpected places. But I didn't really know what to feel throughout the movie. Danny Boyle's movies always have such "feel-good" music that I suffered from .... some dissonance (a psychology term used to describe what you feel inside and what you express are two extreme opposites). I know I should feel sad for the main lead because of his predicament but the music didn't allow me to do so... and most of the time I was wondering why I didn't even feel sad for the lead... Tsk*

I thought that was why this movie failed for me. I had high expectations of it. But the director should have compromise his style for a different genre type of movie... His style worked tremendously well for SlumDog Millionnaire but in my honest opinion, not for this movie. His premonition about his future wife and his kid appeared too confusing when they first appeared because his future wife looked too similar to the girl he met along the way. Didn't quite understand his premonition initially (could be done on purpose, the way the real Aron Ralston experienced it). But I thought it would have been clearer if both female supporting leads didn't look that identical...

Love and Other Drugs

Ratings: 7.5/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Romantic Drama

Love and other drugs is more than just your average romantic comedy with a considerable amount of nudity. The extra 0.5 ratings definitely goes to all the stripping Anne Hathaway had to undergo (prolly just my testosterone talking), but it also enabled us to better understand her character in the movie.

Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a casanova sales person working for Pfizer and a chance meeting had him falling in love with Maggie (Anne Hathaway), a carefree woman who suffers from early stage Parkinson's disease and who's a nymphomania. Although Maggie doesn't want their relationship to be serious, Jamie manages to break down that wall, only to build it up again when he started to fear what their future holds.

*spoilers ahead* This movie is actually more abstract than what it looks on the surface. Though I demerited the movie cos of the story development, the scripting was good, and backed with excellent acting on both the main leads, the characters in the movie were brought to life. Anne Hathaway stole the limelight not just for baring it all this film, but was also able to deliver the internal struggles a person suffering from Parkinson's was enduring. Her illness caused her to be what she is, having casual sex to ease that loneliness and her self-pity manifested uncontrollably. The part which featured different individuals plagued by the disease was highly endearing and tear wrenching.

One could literally "break" down this movie into 2 parts, the sex and character development during the first half, and character engagement during the second. Thought the main focus of the movie wasn't the romance or the drugs, but more on the internal struggles of an individual suffering from Parkinson's. That's why I demerited this movie. Felt that there were too many concepts that the director was trying to bring across, which made the flow a little too chunky and detached. But all in all, a movie definitely not to be missed. Quite the wholesome romantic drama movie one can expect.

Saw 3D (VII)

Ratings: 6.2/10

Film Class: C

Genre: Slasher Thriller

Saw 7, the final chapter to the long-standing "lord of the gore" franchise. Sadly, it's a disappointing closure for such a highly awaited series. Of course, it would be unreasonable for one to expect all 7 chapters of it to be fantastic, but the least the creators could do was to give it a memorable ending, which they failed to deliver. For the die-hard fans of the Saw franchise, be prepared to be disappointed.

For "plot" fans (like me), the storyline was extremely weak in this particularly movie, and there was practically no twist in the movie (it's too predictable). As for "gore" fans, well... you're in for another "life-changing" experience. The gore's still on par, if not better than the previous few episodes. The director prolly focused more on the gory part of it so expect lotsa blood splatters and flying organs.

Caught this movie in 2D, not sure if the 3D would be better in terms of effects but from what I had to sit through... it was more than enough for me. Got me squirmish at several scenes, which had me thinking if I'd grown more timid or was the gore level brought up by a couple of notches. Either way, another Saw marathon prolly wouldn't work for me this time. Don't see how watching the previous few episodes will make the final chapter any better.

You see, for those of you not familiar with the Saw franchise, there's always a twist at the end of each installment. And frankly, the twists have always been awe-striking. The gore adds that element of "elevated adrenaline" which may or may not enhance the movie experience, but the storyline never failed to sweep me off my feet... not until now. This time around, the ending felt too forced... which gave me the impression that the directors ended it off too hastily and without much thought. Didn't bring justice to its prequels...

Most of the sequels (Saw 2-6) managed to piece up the different bits and "loopholes" along the way, but this final chapter whilst did piece up 1 minor loophole, it just conveniently, and seemingly patched everything up. Weak cast this time round as well, and the only person I was cheering on was Hoffman (Jigsaw's successor). For the rest of the cast, I didn't even empathize them because 90% of them were all new characters. Just realised Jigsaw's wife can't really act... And for the main "subject" in this movie... utterly no closure. *spoilers ahead* So... what happened to him after that?

Not a bad movie, but considering someone who has avidly followed the Saw franchise from the very start, this is the weakest installment yet. Reminiscence of the game played in Saw 3... very similar actually, so it kinda lacks that originality ironically. I'm disappointed it had to end in this manner, but I guess better sooner than later. Jigsaw, I'm gonna miss you... and for all you folks out there, this time, it's really... Gamer Over.

17 Again

Rating: 7.3/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Comedy Drama

Mike O'Donnell (Zac Efron) was the basketball star of his high school but gave his future career all up just to marry his gf. That was when he was 17. Many years later into their marriage, they're on the brink of divorce and Mike wishes he could change his earlier years so that things won't turn out as bad as the current state he's in. He got his wish, wasn't teleported back but was transformed into his 17-year old self where he is given the opportunity to "pursue" what was truly missing in his life.

Zac Efron delivered an outstanding performance in this movie, and he proved to be more than just a pretty face, he indeed has the potential to become a great actor in future. Initially, I had thought this to be a chick flick kinda movie. I mean who wouldn't thought so of the way the film is publicized? Even the poster looks a little "high school musical-ish". But it proved to be more than that. There were humor, story, eye candies, and though it was fairly awkward to see 17 year old Mike O'Donnel flirting with his wife, as long as we're in the psyche of the plot, everything was bearable. Matthew Perry (from Friends) wasn't given much screen time, but I guess the movie wasn't so much about him, it was 80% dedicated to the fans of Zac Efron.

17 again is a light-hearted teenage flick which was able to put more than a smile on my face, it prepared me for one hard possibility of marriage and instead of thinking of the "what ifs", we should be thinking of the "what is to be."