Wayne Rooney & John Terry to Star in a Movie

With England out of the 2010 World Cup, their footballers (also regarded as superstars now) have been roped in by the movie industry to star in a new movie. It's based on a true story and most of us may know the storyline as well.I'm sure you would agree on the movie title which fits the actual storyline too. Enjoy it!
Tags: Wayne Rooney, John Terry, Fabio Capello, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Robert Green, Out Of Africa

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

The movies entitled Underworld (box office revenue of US$95,708,457) and its sequel, Underworld: Revolution (box office revenue of US$111,340,801), were marvellous and full of suspense. With the success of the first two movies, the prequel has to be produced.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans will be shown worldwide generally on 23 January 2009. This movie will depict the war between the Vampires / Werewolves / Humans. Will this movie be the last of the Underworld series?

Nuffnang has somehow managed to arrange for a premiere movie screening on 20 January 2009 at Cineleisure Damansara. Thanks to Buena Vista Columbia Tristar Malaysia and Sony Pictures, Nuffnangers would be able to watch the movie free provided that a blog posting such as this was notified.

The Rise of the Lycans starts Jan 09 and will be one of the major movie attractions during the coming Chinese New Year holidays.

Tags: Underworld, Underworld Rise of the Lycans, Death Dealers, Vampires, Lycans, Werewolves, Buena Vista Columbia Tristar Malaysia, Sony Pictures, Cineleisure Damansara

Amazing Plots in Indian Movies

Once, an Englishman Newton came to India and watched a few Indian movies that had his head spinning. He was convinced that all his logic and laws in physics were just a huge pile of junk and apologized for everything he had done.

Here are a few scenes:-
1) In one of the fights, Rajanikanth is shot in the head. To everybody's surprise, the bullet passes through his ears taking away the tumor along with it and he is cured! Long Live Rajanikanth!

2) In another movie, Rajanikanth is confronted with 3 gangsters. Rajanikanth has a gun but unfortunately only one bullet and a knife.

Guess, what he does?

He throws the knife at the middle gangster & shoots the bullet towards the knife. The knife cuts the bullet into 2 pieces, which kills both the gangsters on each side of the middle gangster & the knife kills the middle one.

3) Rajanikanth is chased by a gangster. Rajanikanth has a revolver but no bullets in it. Guess, what he does. Nah? not even in your remotest imaginations.

He waits for the gangster to shoot. As soon as the gangster shoots, Rajanikanth opens the bullet compartment of his revolver and catches the bullet. Then, he closes the bullet compartment and fires his gun.

Bang... the gangster dies...

Happened to see another movie for one last time, and thought that at least one movie would follow the theory of physics. The whole movie goes fine and the patrons are happy that all in the world hasn't changed. Oops, not so fast!

The 'climax' finally arrives.

Rajanikanth gets to know that the villain is on the other side of a very high wall. So high that Rajanikanth can't jump even if he tries like one of those superman techniques that our heroes normally use. Rajanikanth has to desperately kill the villain because it's the climax.

(Patrons are smiling since it is virtually impossible?)

Rajanikanth suddenly pulls two guns from his pockets. He throws one gun in the air and when the gun has reached above the height of the wall, he uses the second gun and shoots at the trigger of the first gun in the air. The first gun fires off and hits the villain and the villain is dead.

THE END
Tags: Rajanikanth, Indian Movies, Hero, Villain

The Kite Runner

Entered a competition and won myself four cinema tickets to watch an interesting movie called The Kite Runner which relates to two young boys who were good friends, separated due to the war in Afghanistan.
Screening for my cinema tickets would be on 11 April 2008 at One Utama's Golden Screen Cinemas.

Tags: The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini, Afghanistan, One Utama, Golden Screen Cinemas

Local Film Productions

Local films have been produced by a Malaysian director, James Lee, with his first film being called "Before We Fall In Love Again". It's currently being shown at GSC International Screens.

This film has participated at the World Premiere Pusan International Film Festival 2006 and Tokyo International Film Festival 2006.

James Lee's films being blogged here were produced by Da Huang Pictures.






Another film by James Lee is also being shown at the same time, entitled "Things We Do When We Fall In Love".

Both films depicts about love, unfaithfulness and faithlessness.

Tags: James Lee, Before We Fall In Love Again, Things We Do When We Fall In Love, Film, Movie, GSC, Golden Screen Cinema, Da Huang Pictures

Spiderman 3 - movie review

Spiderman 3 - starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst & Thomas Haden Church. Have blog about the Spiderman 3's trailer way back in July 2006. Watched this movie last Wednesday at Imax Theatre located 10th Floor, Berjaya Times Square. Extremely giant screen (a movie screen towering 5-storeys high, surrounded by 12,000 watts of digital surround sound) and it cost RM15 per person (around US$4.40). Intended to watch it on Tuesday but was fully sold out on first day of screening. Bought the ticket for the following day i.e. Wednesday.

Here goes - Peter Parker still his usual self, falliing head over heels for his girl, Mary Jane. His nemesis or his good old friend, still blames him for killing his dad. He took over his dad's Goblin equipments and hunted Peter down. During a chase, he was knocked out cold and forgotten about his anger towards Peter and old friendship began again.

Meanwhile M.J. lost her job as a theatre show's main singer and somehow lost interest in Peter as he was not around when she needed someone to care for her. As for Peter, a creepy crawling from outer space somehow got stucked with his spidey outfit and turned Peter into a power crazy superhero. His whole suit turned into black colour.

Meantime, a man running away from the law was caught in a scientific research and got contaminated. His body was able to ................... (go watch the movie to find out) and in his mindset to cure his daughter's sickness, he took advantage of his situation and grabbed monies. Spiderman has to appear to stop his notorious acts.

A newbie photographer who wanted a staff job in Peter's office was somehow thrown out of his work as his dirty scheme in capturing a spidey photo was found to be a fake. Who exposed him? It was Peter in his black suit. This guy found it to be so humiliating and a vengeance for Peter developed. Remember about that creepy crawly thingy...... Peter managed to discard it from his body and of all places, it dropped onto the newbie photographer. With the new found strength and anger against Peter, he became Spiderman's foe too.

In the end, it's almost like the Sodom & Gomorrah cities cited in the Bible. All out confrontation and you may not like the ending. An unexpected reaction from Goblin as well.

It seems that the latest Spiderman 3 has broken many records in worldwide screenings. A US$250 million production, it has recouped its initial capital outlay and has sold US$375 million worth of tickets worldwide (US$125 million - North America & US$227 million in other 107 markets).
Tags: Movie, Cinema, Review, Spiderman 3, Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Goblin, Sandman, Venom

Flight of the Phoenix / Night at the Museum - movie review

Flight of the Phoenix – starring Dennis Quaid, Giovanni Ribisi & Jacob Vargas. An operation plant was shut down in Mongolia and Dennis was sent to pick up the crews from the site via his airplane. Midway, the plane’s engine/system gave way to the bad weather and their airplane plummeted down to the desert area. Stucked there without any communication tools and with mental torture setting in, one by one got killed. Want to know how?

One of the stucked up guy, in the last moment, provided them with a genius way of getting out from there alive. How? To re-build the airplane according to a small scale model airplane design seen in a book. In the midst of re-building, an unidentified group of travellers (with weapons) camped near their plane and the employees banded together to confront them. One obstacle after another, their plane was up and to start the plane, it required firepower. Only few rounds from the flare gun left …….. but the plane was only meant for a 2 seater passenger. How are they going to ride away?

Quite entertaining with suspense at times. You could have guessed the ending with some people dying along the way. If you have plenty of time, this is one show you can watch, otherwise forget about it and I found it absurd in the way they got out of the desert with that plane in the end. Not realistic.
Night at the Museum – starring Ben Stiller, Carla Gugino, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney & Bill Cobbs. Before reading the whole review, I’m giving a thumbs up for the movie for the creativity and originality of it. About this guy who can’t stay in a job long enough and due to that his family kept moving house till his teenage daughter couldn't stand her dad and blasted him one day. With that incident, he was determined to get a stable job and stay at it. Was interviewed for a job as a night security guard at a nearby natural museum.

Was all alone and the graphics designers did a good job in getting various historical animals & humans to move as if it was real throughout the museum. A SHOCKED Ben found out that at midnight, all historic animals and humans figures could move. Ben has to settle a dispute between the western cowboys and Caesar's roman armies, teach the pre-historic humans about fire, learn to play 'fecth' with the T-Rex dinosaur and his adviser in his difficult hard night times was the former US President, Theodore Roosevelt.

Towards the end, Ben was able to bring all animals and humans to work together to catch a band of thieves that wanted certain magical stuff from the museum. Hilarious, unique and very entertaining.
Tags: Movie, Cinema, Review, Flight of the Phoenix, Night at the Museum, Dennis Quaid, Ben Stiller

Blood Diamond - movie review

Blood Diamond - starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Connelly, Arnold Vosloo & Michael Sheen. When I read how this movie has stirred some controversies and protest from African nations it got me to get this movie. The movie doesn't tell you about the diamond industry in the African continent but a similar tale that could happen in any of those African nations. Why the name Blood Diamond - it's where human blood are sacrificed in order to get your hands on those diamonds which have been extracted illegally with brutal slavery as well.

Leonardo acted as a scrupulous diamond dealer from South Africa that went into Sierra Leone. He happened to hear about rare diamonds found at a certain riverbed and got hold of a local guy who was forced by illegal miners to mine at that area. A lady reported bumped into their illegal venture and love blossomed too between her and Leonardo.

In the midst of a civil war commotion, they risked their lives to mine and cover the story respectively. The local guy did it to save his family by getting them out from the country. Leonardo did it due to his hunger for a bigger stone. The reported was there due to her passion for her work. A remarkable story and though each movie may exaggerate certain part of the story, it's still a prevalent situation in Democratic Republic of Congo where illegal mining of diamonds fund conflicts in DR Congo. It's where 1,000 people die everyday fueled by diamond smuggling.

In the early days of 1990s, different factions in countries like Angola, Liberia, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo (also known as Congo Brazzaville) were funded by diamonds being sold to the world even though the mining process of brutal slavery. In a way, the world was funding the civil wars in those countries listed as above.

You can play a part too to help the situation in Africa as in before buying diamonds consumers should ask retailers for their policies on conflict diamonds and for certification that their diamonds were mined and sold legitimately.

Reading: The lure of Sierra Leone diamonds - BBC News (you'll learn more about how it affects the livelihood of the people in Sierra Leone)

Reading: Conflict Diamonds and the DR Congo - World Vision

Tags: Movies, Cinema, Review, Blood Diamond, Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Connelly

Benchwarmers / Imagining Argentina - movie review

Benchwarmers - starring Rob Schneider & David Spade. A group of guys who are considered nerds in the neighbourhood teamed up to play baseball against a group of school-age kids' team. When this kids' team coach knew it, he threw a challenge in which Rob responded that his team of 3 guys will over run the kids' team. Win they did. Rob knows how to play baseball and it was him who wins the game single handedly. His 2 other friends were enjoying it as well. The 3 of them could recall that they have been lousy in sports and never got the chance of playing for a team.

A millionaire guy who was often being looked down during his younger days felt for them too and promised to set up a competition with few other well-organised kids' teams. With proper gear this time, the team of 3 was so happy. This is actually a comedy movie and I really did laugh out real loud while watching the movie. But towards the final of their baseball game, the 3 guys eventually gave up their places in their team and invited some kids to play in the final instead. These are the kids that you could see good in their studies but very poor in games type.

Imagining Argentina - starring Antonio Banderas & Emma Thompson. This movie was made based on the hard handed tactics used by the Argentina government during the oppresive times in the 1970s under Peron era. People disappeared without trace or were killed to wipe out any opposition. Both Antonio and Emma are husband & wife in this good movie. Nothing much of an action but they did play their role very well indeed. Emma, a daring journalist, wrote something about the government and was taken away by the intelligence force.

Antonio, in his search for his wife, discovered he could read people's mind especially those whose family members that have disappeared as well. His action caught the attention of the authorities who took his only daugther away and locked up with the mother in a secluded place. Thereafter, the tension and anxiety that Antonio has to go through got even worse when his theatre was closed down by the authorities and his business partner was taken away too because of Antonio's nosey character. A well recommended movie which depicts the life of people during that oppresive era.
Tags: Movie, Review, Cinema, Benchwarmers, Imagining Argentina, Rob Schneider, Antonio Banderas, Emma Thompson

Razzie Awards

You may be wondering what's a Razzie Awards after being put through a number of postings on awards. You will like this too as it's an award given to the Worst Films ever produced. They have an annual event too like the Critics' Choice Awards, Golden Globe Awards and Academy Awards (a.k.a Oscars) . This award will be the 27th Annual Golden Raspberry (Razzie) Award to be held on 24 Feb 2007, one day before the Academy Awards.

Nominations have been given for the worst films produced in 2006. Earlier postings were for those movies/films that you shouldn't miss out. Well, this will be a guide to ensure that you don't waste your time on such movies. But some people will still watch it to see how bad it is. The nomination listing is out just one day before the nomination list for the Academy Awards. In this award, instead of having the best of this and that, it will show you the worst of this and that.

Below are some of the worst films/movies being nominated:-

Basically, It Stinks, Too - 7 Nominations
Worst Picture, Actress, Supporting Actor, Director, Sequel, Screenplay and Screen Couple

Little Man - 7 Nominations
Worst Picture, Actor (2) Remake/Rip-Off, Director, Screenplay and Screen Couple

Bloodrayne - 6 Nominations
Worst Picture, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Director and Screenplay

Wicker Man - 5 Nominations
Worst Picture, Actor, Screenplay, Remake and Screen Couple

Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause - 5 Nominations
Worst Excuse for Family Entertainment, Worst Actor, Supporting Actor, Sequel and Screen Couple

Lady In The Water - 4 Nominations
Worst Picture, Supporting Actor, Director and Screenplay

Deck The Halls - 3 Nominations
Worst Excuse for Family Entertainment, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress

The Shaggy Dog - 3 Nominations
Worst Excuse for Family Entertainment, Worst Remake and Worst Actor
Tags: Movie, Review, Awards, Razzie Awards, Golden Raspberry Awards, Worst Film, Nominees, Basically, It Stinks, Too, Little Man, Bloodrayne, Wicker Man, Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, Lady In The Water, Deck The Halls, The Shaggy Dog, Academy Awards, Oscars

Critics' Choice Awards

In order to have a better guide on which movies to see or buy, the following movies have been declared winners in their respective categories in the recent Critics' Choice Awards:-

Winners 2006 Best Picture: The Departed

Best Actor: Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland

Best Actress: Helen Mirren - The Queen

Best Supporting Actor: Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls

Best Acting Ensemble: Little Miss Sunshine

Best Director: Martin Scorsese - The Departed

Best Writer: Michael Arndt - Little Miss Sunshine

Best Animated Feature: Cars

Best Young Actor: Paul Dano - Little Miss Sunshine

Best Young Actress: Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine

Best Comedy Movie: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Best Family Film (live action): Charlotte's Web

Best Picture Made for Television: Elizabeth I

Best Documentary Feature: An Inconvenient Truth

Best Foreign Language Film: Letters From Iwo Jima

Best Song: "Listen", Beyonce - Dreamgirls

Best Soundtrack: Dreamgirls

Best Composer: Phillip Glass - The Illusionist

If you want to have more movie selections, see the full listing of nominees for the respective categories. Winners from this award are normally favourites for the Golden Globe Awards which is scheduled to be held on the nite of 15 Jan at the Beverly Hilton.

As for me, I have watched The Departed, Cars & Borat (click these names to read my reviews).

Tags: Movies, Critics Choice Awards, Broadcast Film Critics Association, Winners, Nominees, The Departed, Golden Globe Awards, Beverly Hilton

Constant Gardener / Dukes of Hazzard - movie review

Constant Gardener - starring Ralph Fiennes & Rachel Weisz. A lady who cares for the being of the Kenyan people was concerned about the medical care that the poors were receiving at their villages. Together with a local doctor, she ventured into finding the type of medicines being prescribed. At the same time, she fell in love with the British High Commission's top official and got married later. The marriage was shaky in a way that she placed her work above the marriage. She felt that the poor people's (in terms of thousands) were more important. Unfortunately, she was killed in a road accident. The doctor who was travelling together was not to be found and was the main suspect.

Her husband, all this while who had just listened about or saw what she was working on, went through her documentation and found certain disturbing situations. Later, his house was raided especially on his wife's belongings. Such desperate action by whoever prompted him to dive into his wife's passion for the people. In his love for her, he wanted to find out what his wife couldn't accomplish.

His investigation led him to a medication that has not been properly certified but brought over to Kenya to be tested on the poor villagers. The poor villagers were being used as guinea pigs for the untested medicines. In compiling evidence from various people, he travelled widely around Kenya and was followed by certain authorities to keep at bay. Upon finding out most of it, he soon realised that he almost stopped his wife from doing what she doing. A very good movie which relates to corrupted corporate giants with government authorities trying to earn their money at the expense of people in Kenya. Movie was able to play out the meaning of it and you could for the poor villages which could actually be happening.

Dukes of Hazzard - starring Johnny Knoxville, Seann William Scott, Jessica Simpson & Burt Reynolds. The movie started off with a narrator mentioning that a placed would be good unless "you have the Dukes around"...... hahaha at that point of time, a car flew up a ramp and landed roughly. Both Dukes, cousins to each other, have been in this town since young and Johnny (not me but the main cast of this movie) was a car racer. Has been winning his annual race successively for few years. Somehow, a famous national racer, previously from this town too, came back to the town to participate in the race too.

While in preparation for the race, a sneaky businessman came about to obtain various pieces of lands belonging to the locals, not on willing-seller-willing-buyer basis but by crooked ways in finding loopholes to confiscate those lands. The Dukes found out that there were some natural resources underground of those lands.

The Dukes, including the beautiful Jessica Simpson playing their relatives, combined their efforts to inform the town folks about the businessman's crooked ways. Before the Dukes could do much, they were jailed. Upon finding a way out of jail, Johnny rushed to the racing circuit to participate in the annual race too. A comedy show but nothing much to shout about. The story line is very shallow.

Tags: Movie, Review, Cinema, Constant Gardener, Dukes of Hazzard, Rachel Weisz, Johnny Knoxville, Jessica Simpson, Burt Reynolds, Willie Nelson

Hostage / The Banquet - movie review

Hostage - starring Bruce Willis & Kevin Pollak. Bruce, a trained police negotiator in deadlock situation where it involves hostage. In one of his assignments, two young children were killed as he couldn't obtain the crazy man's trust. As a result of this, he quit the force. As his wounds have heal, he re-joined as a county sheriff in an outskirt area much to the dismay of his only daugther.

Meantime, three young chaps broke into a millionaire accountant's mansion within Bruce's county. A silent alarm linked to a security office was activated and when a policewoman went to check on the situation, she was shot to dead. From there onwards, it was like the whole police force was stationed outside the mansion. It was a simple robbery turned awry. It was too late to escape. Meanwhile, a group of unknown people was very concerned with the on-going situation. Bruce's wife/daugther were kidnapped to force Bruce to enter the mansion to obtain certain information kept by the accountant.

In trying to obtain the info, ensuring his family and the hostages' safety and getting the 3 young guys to surrender, Bruce had the help of the young kid in the mansion via a mobile. Through good planning, he was able to enter the mansion. At the same time, the FBI has also arrived, with the same link to the mystery kidnappers of Bruce's family. After ensuring the hostages' safety, Bruce together with the accountant went straight to handover the information requested. Quite intense towards the 2nd half of the movie and you have to wait till the before you know whether Bruce could save his family members or not.

The Banquet - starring Zhang Ziyi, You Ge, Zhou Xun, Daniel Wu, Ma Jingwu. With the Crown Prince away in the forest, learning about music, literature and art, the Emperor's brother killed took advantage of the situation by killing the Emperor. He gained the throne by virtue that the Crown Prince has left the kingdom. At the same time, the former Empress has to marry the new Emperor to safe her own life. Even though she married him, she was plotting for his death one day. The wicked new Emperor sent his best guards to kill off the Crown Prince once and for all but failed to do so.

The Crown Prince returned eventually but the new Emperor cannot kill him in front of the public. The Chief Minister's daugther has fell in love with the Crown Prince in which they have grown up together. The Chief Minister and his son were also plotting their own plan to take over the dynasty.

The movie is quite slow and it was said to be adapted to Hamlet's style. But great orchestra music accompanied the movie's tempo. The Crown Prince tried to expose the wicked new Emperor's scheme that killed his father. Worried about being exposed, the new Emperor, his uncle, sent him to another country for training (with bad motives). The Crown Prince's life was spared and came back to the palace to unknowingly. The Empress somehow managed to coerce the Chief Minister to take over the dynasty. Somehow, the whole plot failed and led to total chaos where many people died just for the sake of the Emperor's title..................want to know who will be the Emperor at the end? .......................... watch the movie and tell me your answer.
Tags: Movie, Review, Cinema, Hostage, The Banquet, Bruce Willis, Kevin Pollak, Zhang Ziyi, Daniel Wu, Negotiator, Emperor, Empress, Chief Minister

John Tucker Must Die / Dragon Tiger Gate - movie review

John Tucker Must Die - starring Jesse Metcalfe, Sophia Bush, Brittany Snow, Ashanti & Arielle Kebbel. There is this high school guy who is also the famous captain of the basketball team. Thereby, getting a girlfriend in his case is not a problem at all. Who doesn’t want to be seen with the most famous guy in school. He was smart with his words, able to dupe 3 girls at one go. The 3 girls are from 3 different ethnic groups. As these 3 groups do not speak to each other most of the time, his time with the 3 girls was safe from any gossips.

In came a girl who witnessed a fight among the 3 girlfriends who found out later that the same guy, John Tucker, was dating the 3 girls. The new girl was caught in the fight and all 4 were sent to detention class. During the detention class, the idea of getting even on John was mooted. Hence, a plan was set up to make him feel embarrassed in front of many people. Each time the plan the succeeded but it turned out as a blessing in disguise for him where it got him ever more popular.

Eventually, the 3 girlfriends turned to the new girl, asking her to hook him up and get him to date her. Ideas after ideas were mooted to make John become more interested in the new girl which they did succeed. She couldn’t overcome her own conscience in getting back on John on behalf of the 3 girls and she let it out. Good entertainment, the story line was there and it’s just the normal high school stuff where there are boy-girl relationships.

Dragon Tiger Gate - starring Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue, Dong Jie & Li Xiao-ran. About a clan association (Dragon Tiger Gate) in which martial arts were taught to generate discipline amongst the young kids especially those without proper home care. From a young age, 2 brothers were separated due to parents’ marital problems. While having dinner 1 night at a restaurant, Tiger intervened to help a family who was being bullied by an illegal moneylender (loan shark) who was collecting unpaid loans. From, a fight broke out between Tiger and the illegal moneylender’s big boss (who sent dozens of his followers to fight of course). An emblem was also taken away that was dropped by the big boss.

In the process of getting back the emblem in later days, Tiger found out that a guy by the name Dragon who works for the big boss is his long lost brother as Dragon dropped a half-broken jade which matched Tiger’s other half. When Dragon’s big boss was killed by an internal betrayal, Dragon took revenge but was badly injured. The main leader of the big bosses in Hong Kong ensured that Dragon didn’t die as he wants to kill Dragon with his own hands. He barged into Dragon Tiger Gate and killed the elder of the clan and injured Tiger and another guy badly.

Both were brought to a temple where they were healed and taught new martial art movements that could overcome the devilish bad leader. Dragon meantime recovered too.The martial art flicks in this movie were excellent as Donnie Yen was the Action Director. His kung fu movements could be compared to Jet Li’s standard. All in all, a story about the good that will triumph over the evil. Lots of good skilful fighting scenes throughout the movie. Adapted from one of those Chinese kung fu comic books that are found in Hong Kong or even in Malaysia itself. The music played during fighting scenes did bring the tempo up a lot. The music director has done a tremendous job here. A must see for martial arts fan and even if you are not. It's website link (click name of movie above) was done excellently. Anyway, it's a Cantonese version and I became a translator for my malay colleagues too.
Tags: Movie, Review, Cinema, John Tucker Must Die, Dragon Tiger Gate, Jesse Metcalfe, Sophia Bush, Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse

Exiled / I Not Stupid Too - movie review

Exiled - starring Nick Cheung, Roy Cheung, Josie Ho, Lam Suet, Francis Ng, Cheung Siu Fai, Simon Yam, Anthony Wong & Richie Ren. With this set of cast members, I wouldn't have let this movie out of my grasp especially with Johnnie To as the director. 5 members of a gang up, after overcoming their differences, to undertake one last crime assignment together.

They were supposed to be hired killers to finish off a particular guy. So happened, another gang, led by Simon Yam, turned up and turned the tables of 5 of them. One was badly hurt and they were hunted down. Sadly, this injured gang member passed away and left behind his wife/child.

While trying to escape, they bumped into a security van transporting gold bars where they helped the head security to ward off a planned hijack. In the end, together with the head security, they took off together with equal shares in it with tens of millions each. Apparently, Simon Yam's has taken their dead member's wife/child as hostage. With loyalty in their hearts, they went to bail the wife/child out with their share of gold bars. Simon Yam was totally wiped off the face of this earth in a gun battle with the remaining 4 gang members unable to escape the death trap too.

Not much of a story to follow but it just point to loyalty/friendship towards a dead gang member and due to too much killings, this movie was banned in Malaysia. A Cantonese version.

I Not Stupid Too 2 - starring Xiang Yun, Richard Low, Selena Tan, Jack Neo. A solid good Singapore production which is maturing day to day. If you want a solid laugh with good/original jokes/humour, this is the movie but it's in Mandarin.

About how students in a secondary/high school behaves. The movie showed the respective students' home life and how it affected their behaviours in school. How 2 brothers who neglected by their busy business-minded dad and their dragon-like mom who scolded without giving them a chance to explain. It also showed the life of another student, who has a dad who would beat him even for a small mistake.

It went to the length of highlighting a teacher's weakness in conducting his class which eventually led him to be ridiculed by the public. Though quite emotionally, the in-betweens have tremendous good laughs.
Tags: Movie, Review, Cinema, Exiled, I Not Stupid Too, Nick Cheung, Francis Ng, Xiang Yun, Jack Neo

Soul Plane / United 93 - movie review

Soul Plane - starring Tom Arnold, Kevin Hart & Calvin 'Snoop Dogg' Broadus. Kevin lost his dog (flew out of cargo section) & injured himself in the airplane toilet. Due to this, he received a US$100M compensation and he told the reporters outside the court that he will have his own airline with the money. Indeed he did. His new airline's maiden flight will be from Los Angeles to New York. His plane is in purple colour and all its wheels has sport rims.

His cousin somehow got Snoop Dogg as a pilot where they found out that he has flying experience via the flight simulator game only. The upper deck on the airplane was a disco area where there is a live DJ and live band. The first class section has new seating arrangements where everyone can move comfortably.

His cousin almost made a mess in the plane by converting certain section of the plane into a casino area then change it to a dance floor with pole dancers. It's a goood comedy movie where you'll see different people with different needs especially with the only white family in the plane. There was a toilet attendant in a spacious toilet too. The captain, Snoop Dogg passed out as he took too much dosage of drugs and the co-pilot passed out cold when he fell at the jacuzzi area. In the end, the new owner landed the plane and created history for a new way of travelling.

United 93 - starring Daniel Sauli, Lewis Alsamari & JJ Johnson. This movie was adapted partly based on the airplane that crashed prior to hitting any targets on 9/11. It showed various passengers checking in including the terrorists (right from their hotel rooms). The terrorists managed to reserve all first class seatings. After taking off, they waited for the right moment before seizing the control of the plane when a stewardess opened the pilots' door.

From then on, it was chaotic as 4 guys pushed their way through and killed off the 2 pilots instantly. One of the terrorists flew the plane and another 2 gathered the rest of the passengers way back into the end of the plane. One of them had a bomb tied to his body. You could passengers making calls via the in-flight phone or via their mobile phones (who cares whether it will disrupt the plane's electrical systems now). Tears, fear, confusion & numbness came about. At the same time, the movie moved on to showing 3 other planes hitting the World Trade Center and also the Pentagon. The intelligence on the ground was trying to put the pieces together. It was total mayhem at many control towers.

Eventually, the control towers received notice that flight United 93 was also hijacked. With death knocking at their doors, the male passsengers agreed to combine their strength and overcame 2 of the terrorists. Another terrorist stood just outside the cockpit and managed to delay the passengers from going into the cockpit. By the time that a few of the passengers got into the cockpit, the airplane was directed downwards by the terrorist pilot. Too late. Intense movie and you really feel for those passengers in there. Though it may not reflect the true scenario but at least the movie did anger the public on the showing of this movie in USA.

If not mistaken, both of the movies were not shown in Malaysia. Censored too?
Tags: Movie, Review, Cinema, Soul Plane, United 93, Tom Arnold, Snoop Dogg, Daniel Sauli, Airplane

Borat / Red Eye - movie review

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan - starring Sacha Baron Cohen, Kenneth Davitian, Luenell, Pamela Anderson & Pat Haggerty. It's about this Kazakhstan famous TV presentor who is about to venture to USA to film a documentary about life in USA. A great big send off was given in his honour. His programme was to interview people in the New York City but while staying in his hotel room, he noticed a fabulous lady in bikini suit and he fell in love with her immediately. That TV series was Baywatch and it was Pamela Anderson that he loved.

He changed his programme to embark on a trip across USA from east to west (Los Angeles) to search for his loved one. The movie depicted his experience and life as he communicated and travelled along the main route to the west. Lots of sick jokes but some of the jokes were too much and it's meant to demean certain type of people on this earth. It's just a move but some people are very sensitive.

It's a real comedy, good laugh and in the end, he found out that his the lady of his life was not a pure lady after all. As pornography materials were easily found, he saw a sex scene with her in it. From then on, he lost his motivation. He lost a lot of money in his quest to look for Pamela Anderson. Eventually, he still wanted to meet her and found her having a autograph session for the release of a book. He frightened Pamela out of her life by chasing after her throughout the big supermarket. Borat did managed to catch a plane back according to his original schedule and found that life in his hometown back in Kazakhstan is still the best place with all his close friends.
This movie is banned in Malaysia, I supposed.

Red Eye - starring Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy & Brian Cox. Meeting up with people in the airport, with common interest and same flight schedule will generate lots of chit chats due to curiosity on each other's travel. As Rachel was boarding an airplane back to her workplace/place of stay, she met with this guy who so happened to be sitting besides her in the airplane. She later found that the man was following her and warned not to raise the alarm as her dad's life is in danger if she disobey his advise. She was instructed to change the room made available for the Deputy Secretary for the Homeland Secuirty to a higher floor penthouse.

This person is to be a target of a group of killers who were out fishing nearby. Only way for her to commute to the hotel to change the room is via the on-flight phone system. She tried to delay the call by faking it & hoping to pass info on the toilet's mirror but to no avail. It was a real tense situation in the movie. Upon landing the plane, she made a quick exit by stabbing her flight torturer with a pen on his throat area. She ran out to the airport lounge area and managed to steal a car and drove as quick as possible back to her house. Along the way, she made frantic call to her assistant to get the occupants out of the penthouse. Meantime, after noticing that the penthouse was occupied by security personnels in the penthouse, a guided missile was launched from the fishing boat straight to the seaside hotel blasting the whole penthouse away. All were safe in the nick of time.

Upon arriving her home, she noticed that a BMW outside her house was not occupied. She noticed a man about to intrude her house and she rammed her against that poor guy against her front door. Killed on the spot and her flight torturer made his way to her house in time too. Playing hide & seek and merry-go-round all the time for quite some time. This is the part where is everyone was quiet and worried for her too...............ending??? It's a good movie....watch it!
Tags: Movie, Review, Cinema, Borat, Red Eye, Sacha Baron Cohen, Pamela Anderson, Rachel McAdams, Comedy, Thriller

Godsend / Man On Fire - movie review

Godsend - starring Greg Kinnear, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Robert De Niro & Cameron Bright. While shopping with his mom one day, the little boy was killed in an unfortunate road accident. A stem cell research doctor approach the boy's parents at the funeral to obtain their permission to 'create' a similar boy through scientific technology. Reluctantly and hesitantly they agreed as the love for their son was too much to bear.

Time passes by and a baby boy was born and as he grew up, his facial similarity could be seen. Only weird thing is that the young boy seems to has nightmare day in day out (yeah even during day time). He sees weird things and eerie sounds. Bringing him back to the doctor, he was declared sound and fit. But things didn't go well the moment the boy passes the age of his 'previous'. He reacts violently and was revengefull towards people.

He almost killed his mother and his dad reprimanded the doctor for the botched job. In the end, they found out that the stem cell placed was a stem cell that belonged to the doctor's dead son. Complication arose and things went awry. Suspense thriller movie which could be classified as horror due to the director's brilliant ways of playing with the nightmares and sound integrated into the movie. It's more of a conspiracy cooked up by the doctor.

Man On Fire - starring Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning & Marc Anthony. A middle age couple has hired a tough guy to be their only young daugther's bodyguard. The bodyguard has to monitor her movements, ensuring her safety, bringing her to school and back home, following her to the piano classes & standing by her side in school sports.

Day by day, a feeling of closeness has developed between Denzel and Dakota. He became her swimming coach and managed to help her to win a particular swimming race. One day, while she was having her piano class, a group of known gangsters wanted to kidnap Dakota and Denzel has to be at his best to deny that opportunity. Unfortunately, he was hurt badly and the gangsters wanted him killed as he has killed a few of their guys. Moved out of hospital by a clean cop to ensure his safety, Denzel later teamed up with this cop and a brave lady reporter to expose the corrupted police force and find out who kidnapped the young girl.

One by one was hunted down to catch the big fish. News got around and his mission was getting more dangerous. Eventually, the hunting/investigation led him to one person that Denzel himself couldn't have expected. It was Dakota's own dad. Even finding out the answer, he has yet to find Dakota. Sacrificing his life, he made sure that the little girl was out of danger. A final hug of good bye between them was the most touching moment. He finished job and did his job well. He surrendered himself to the kidnappers to ensure her safety.

Marvellous story line and such incident could happen in the life of such gangster bosses.
Tags: Movie, Review, Cinema, Godsend, Man On Fire, Greg Kinnear, Robert De Niro, Denzel Washington, Marc Anthony

The Skeleton Key / Flightplan - movie review

The Skeleton Key - starring Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands, John Hurt & Peter Sarsgaard. A private hospital nurse, Kate Hudson, was disillusioned with the hospital's policy in caring for the patients. Thus, she quite to take up a private nurse post with an old couple living at south USA. The husband is deaf/dumb/wheelchair bound. The wife's old age is taking a toll in taking care of the husband. The nurse was handed a master key that could open any doors in the 3 storey mansion that will ease her movement.

While staying there, she went up to the attic against the advise of the old lady. She various old pictures of a couple of african housekeepers for the previous white owners. After pressuring the old lady on who they, it was found that both the housekeepers were killed, due to practising black magic, right in front of the house. The old lady believes that the housekeepers stay in the attic all these years.

The nurse's senses spurred her to check further and later obtained simple witchcraft methods to heal the old hubby and just the old hubby could warn her, the old lady found out and was furious with her doings. The movie is excellent with full suspense/thriller. Must watch the movie with loud surround sound to beef up the heart beats. It's not classified as a horror movie but good exercise for your blood circulation in a short span of time.

Flightplan (excellent website) - starring Jodie Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Sean Bean & Kate Beahan. Jodie together with her 6 yrs old daugther were devastated with the death of her husband while overseas. They brought the body back to USA via a tran-atlantic flight and tried to ease her daugther with a good rest at the back seats which were empty. Upon waking up later, she found her daugther has wandered off. She went around looking for her and got the stewardess to page for passengers' lookout too.

The captain of the plane later came to assist but Jodie's frantic search is to no avail. Later, the captain and his crew found that there was no young girl by that name that has boarded the plane and found that Jodie has taken some anxiety pills coupled with the need to handle the husband's death. Her emotions somehow affected all the passengers and was guarded & kept quiet by an air marshall.

A mother's love is always very strong and it pushes her beyond her limits just to find the daugther. She was an airplane designer and just knew where to squeeze through to escape the air marshall and cause pandemonium in the airplane when she cut off the cabin lightings. In the process of it, the air marshall has to act to before something bad happens. Her impulse led her to the daugther but it also cause a misunderstanding that made the plane landed on emergency basis where a bomb was said to be planted. Excellent movie due to Jodie's outstanding character. Another heart pounding and you'll be wondering what actually happened to her daugther, was it just an illusion painted by Jodie when she has her daugther with her in the plane. Well recommended.
Tags: Movie, Review, Cinema, The Skeleton Key, Flightplan, Kate Hudson, Jodie Foster