Hmmm.....seems like I watched too few movies in February and March but there were too few good movies available in Ipoh's TGV and GSC. Ipoh screen really sucks, bigtime. I wanted so much to watch Pursue Of Happiness and Dreamgirls. Sheesh.....
Total of 16 movies(including DVDs) I'd watch for the first quarter of 2007, the best movie so far is....
..
...
....
.....
none other than
BLOOD DIAMOND (won hands down.....by milesss)
March
- Pan's Labyrinth (DVD) : This movie was banned by Malaysia Cencorship Board. I had to watched this movie...first because it was on #50 on IMDB top 250, second because it was a foreign movie and third because Yokie was watching it on DVD while chatting MSN with me and keep saying how gory it was. From the summary, this was a fantasy+gore+drama genre, which really caught my attention. But it was not as gore as I thought it was, although there's a few bloody scene, for instant the scene with the rabbit hunter's face was smashed with a bottle and then the Kapitan's mouth slitted open....and became Kapitan aka The Joker. The creatures from Ofelia's fantasy were not that horrible also...even for the Pale Man. But it's the ambiguity of the story that hit the spot into the top 250 ranked movies, whether the labyrinth and all the fantasy was the young girl's imagination to escape from the bitter taste of war or was it real? The movie has a sad ending too, which makes you think hard, what really happen here? And let your bewildered imagination conclude the ending. Usually such movie will make you keep on thinking about this movie, even long after you'd left the cinema or switch off your DVD player. And of course this is nothing like Narnia and much better I would say.
Rating : 3.5 out of 5
- The Departed (DVD) : Review for this movie will be short. The director Scorsese might be more famouse than Alex Mak (who first came out with Infernal Affairs) and TD got some big shot actors in it but it was nothing compare to IA. And I did not understand why the gwai-lous was so hyped about this mafia/gangster movie. They already had The Godfather, Goodfellas, Scarface, Donnie Brasco and so many similar titles down the list. And yet, a remake of an Asian movie won Oscar awards? Last year was gay movie, this was another gangster movie....I guess the director should come out with another dinosaur chasing kids movie or ship sinking tragedy movie if they want to hit the easy jackpot with The Academy Board.
Rating : 2.0 out of 5 (2.0 also because I give face to Mr. Scorsese only)
- 300 (16/Mar/07) : A very beautiful ancient war picture, based on Frank Miller's graphic novel. Every scene was composed and shot in such artfully beautiful. I believe there's much more blood than shown in the big screen and I'm suprise that the Malaysia Cencorship Board missed the almost naked oracle. -_-
Anyway, this was a beautiful movie and nothing more than just beautiful...erm, maybe gory too and that's it. And I felt like watching a PC-game....spartan, persian...
And ooo....not forgeting Faramir....oh Faramir.
Rating : 3.5 out of 5 - Gridiron Gang (DVD) : Very inspiring true story about a courageous counsellor of a juvenile camp that teams up a group of underage convicts into a football heroes. The actual story was already so inspiring beautiful and this movie make it even more beautiful. The Rock proves to be not only a wrestler but also a promising actor.
Rating : 5.0 out of 5 (Any movie that make me cry, I will instantly give it a 5!)
- The Haunted School (15/Mar/07) : This is what I mean with cheap HK production. There's nothing more I want to comment on this and I don't know why we went to watch this....I guess it's because the cinema was lack of good movie. I regretted that I did not choose Mukhsin over this, totally...>_< Rating : Does not deserve any rating at all.
- Protégé (04/Mar/07) : The first Hong Kong movie I'd watch this year and I catched it at Parade's GSC (despite the poor maintenance, the popcorn were tastier than TGV). After Infernal Affairs, this was the best HK movie I'd ever watch. It's odd that both movies has Andy Lau and he was real good being the baddy. Which brought much contrast to sissy Daniel who happens to be an undercover cops (why it always has to be an undercover cop??? Is there really so much handsome undercover cop around?). I used to like Daniel Wu a lot (mainly because of his pretty boy look) but this acting skills hasn't improve at all after so many years. And as he aged, he doesn't fit into the pretty boy category anymore, much towards sissy man. -_- If you don't believe me, you guys should go watch The Banquet, where he played the sissy version of Asian Prince Hamlet and you couldn't agree more. But overall, this is a very deep movie, way much too deep compare to the other cheap HK production. Although this was a fictitious movie about drug trafficking but the concept behind the script was indeed very true and it happens to the everyday life. It was really sad to see how drug can ruin one's life.
Rating : 4 out of 5
February
- Ghostrider (17/Feb/07) : I watched this in a group of 30 ppl, all were Kin Fai's friends. It was a cinema gathering on CNY eve. Most ppl were disappointed with this but I did enjoy watching the CG and the comedy in this movie. What can you expect from a comic-based hero/anti-hero movie? This is like 100X better than Superman Returns,what (which I felt asleep halfway through). And I did not went into the cinema with any great expectation, that was why I found this movie pretty enjoyable. And Nicholas Cage was still maturely cute, what. haha. Hmm....I remember that I read somewhere that Mr. Cage is an avid comic book collector.
Rating : 2.5 out of 5
- The Unseeable (10/Feb/07) : Thailand seems to lost touch with making a fairly good spooky horror movie. This is kinda slow and no spook factor at all. It's about a pregnant lady who's husband went missing, seek solace by living with her friend that worked in a huge mansion. And the rest is all about the haunted house.....which doesn't look so haunted. What I like most was the ending of this movie, the Sixth Sense-like ending. Personally, I prefer Korean horror movie anytime.
Rating : 1 out of 5
JANUARY
- Death Note 2 (30/Jan/07) : Sequel to Death Note(which I watched with a awfully subtitled DVD). It's a brilliant movie, more about brains vs brain rather than just a freaky horror flick. It's fun to see how L and Light trying to out-smart each other. Talking about L(Ken'ichi Matsuyama), I am drooling all over with this cool lanky character and I am super glad that the ending of this movie is very different from the original manga. I already knew that in the manga, L lost to Light and hence is why I'm refusing to read the manga although it's much more detail and longer. However, the movie is as beautiful as it is. This is a success not every movie adapted from comic/manga/book can achieve.
Rating : 3 out of 5
- The Holiday (26/Jan/07) : Yet another feel good Christmas festive movie. But why are we watching Christmas movie in January? (-__-) However, this was a very funny and romantic movie. And I really adore Black-Winslet couple in this movie. They should have more intimate scene together. They exploited the sex scene of the pretty boy and girl in this movie too much(Law-Diaz couple) but I still think the Black-Winslet couple is the more attractive pair.
Rating : 3 out of 5
- Blood Diamond (19/Jan/07) : I don't know why other ppl under-rate this movie. This type of movie was on par with all the Oscar/Golden Globe/whatever award winning movies. I tried to recommend this to my colleagues but they already had this mindset that this is a boring war picture. But can't blame them, I don't expect much from this movie, especially with Leonardo. But I was wrong. This was the best movie I'd watch so far in TGV for 2006/2007. TGV should screen more movie like this. And Leonardo was not the Jack Dawson boy anymore. He grew fat and beard to look old and more sexy.
Rating : 5 out of 5
- Sinking of Japan (12/Jan/07) : They never get tire of making a movie out from the same concept. And the audience never get tire of watching it (maybe some do). The concept, the backdrop, the people scattered everywhere and screaming scene and the ending...it was like a rerun of Armageddon, Deep Impact, The Days After Tomorrow and even Wars of The World. Talking about the ending, with disaster movie we can always expect(not just expect or guess...it's for sure!!) a touching heroic ending. But with Sinking of Japan, the suppose to be sad and heroic ending seems kinda cheesy. And they tried to add romance into the movie, to make it more tragic...which end up looking like double cheese burger. And then I really beh tahan the aneroxic actor, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi which looked like an aneroxic zombie throughout the movie.
Rating : 1.0 out of 5
- The Return (11/Jan/07) : Hollywood should never ever produce another horror flick. And Sarah Michelle Gellar should guest star as a patient in one or two episode of Nip/Tuck due to her bad nose job. But honestly despite the cheesy scares, the plot was good. But if this was make with a Korean or Japanese production, it should score better. Not bad I would say.
Rating : 2.5 out of 5
- The Guardian (07/Jan/07) : OMG OMG OMG, Kevin Costner. And this movie has nothing more to offer. Ashton Kucher tried real hard this time to salvage his acting career but he won't sink as long as he tag along as Moore's boy. Anyhow, this is a great tribute movie to the unsung heroes of the U.S. Coast Guard. And oh, movie endings nowadays are so predictable....or did I watch too many movies?
Rating : 2.5 out of 5
- Night in the Museum (04/Jan/07) : This was a feel good Disney-like family movie, with moral values, comedies and good ending. Nothing can go wrong with movie like that. We just chill and relax and had a good laugh. But the bonus of this movie was Owen Wilson's uncredited Shanghai Noon reprise act.
Rating : 2.5 out of 5
- Eragon (01/Jan/07) : No one can watch this movie without comparison to the Lord of The Ring trilogy and at the end of this movie everyone will expect Eragorn to follow suit in either making a sequel or even a trilogy. It's not fair if we compare because it's no where near to the standard of the LOTR trilogy. But stand alone this movie was kinda entertaining, major credit and only attraction from the dragon, Saphira. Other than that, there's nothing I like about this movie. The main cast of the movie, Eragon himself failed to deliver the hero out from the character. Edward Speleers tried so hard with the bambi-stare but even so, fail to ooze it out like Elijah Wood did in Frodo. Ooo..okok, no comparison with LOTR. But suprisingly, Eragon was a very first debut movie for Edward Speleers. Seems like director Stefen Fangmeier wanted to try new blood. But ironically, Eragon was also a debut directorial movie for Fangmeier. So, can't complain too much, so much first time for everyone. And also big applause for the dragon and the rest of the CG of this movie. But fans of the book will be very very....not just disappointed but even disgusted with this movie.
Rating : 1.0 out of 5
I will keep this list updated from time to time. It will be a fun to read by the end of this year and suprise myself how much movies I'd watch in a year. ^_^
Posts
