Iron Man 2 - A Review

After much anticipation, I FINALLY GOT TO WATCH THIS MOVIE!!!

The last time I actually watched a movie in the cineplex was... half a year ago... So, this one was really really exciting for me!


And the movie didn't disappoint me!

The movie picked up right after where the first one ended, after Tony Stark made the announcement that he is Iron Man. So, the world applauded his effort while the politicians were after his "privatised world peace" business. Then somewhere in Russia there was a man named Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) creating some high tech weapon equally powerful as Tony Stark's and he seeked revenge from Stark. Then, the rest of the story was pretty cliche; Stark made Pepper CEO of the company, Vanko attacked Stark; Stark went out of control; Military tried to control Stark; Stark's competitor Justin Hammer hired Vanko; Vanko attacked again; Stark gained some sense; Stark saved the world; Stark kissed Pepper; They all lived happily ever after.


But, I have to applaud Scarlett Johansson as the super spy, Natasha Romanoff aka Natalie Rushman here. She is uber HOT and very very efficient in her work, undercover and not undercover. I credit that to the latex suits but really, she has got nice flaming red hair to go with her killer eyes. (Yea, I have a thing for red- haired girls)

Seriously, she is smokin' HOT!

Pepper Potts, unfortunately, simply fades into the background even when she is strutting around giving instructions.


There was also a change of casts where Don Cheadle plays Rhodey. I gotta say I like the previous Rhodey better cause this Rhodey is way too serious and very not fun to watch. Iron Man 1 was two funny dude joking around while one makes hell out of everything while the other secretly keep an eye on the other. Iron Man 2 is like watching Tony Stark do stupid things and Rhodey so fail to discipline him.

Rhodey with his big ass gun

Tony Stark chilling around not fighting evil

However, this movie is still packed with punches and loaded with so much action it blows off the audiences' mind. Except the fact that when we have finally settle into the fight scenes and cheering on for more explosions, Iron Man and Mr Sidekick decided to try to blow each other off and kill the villain. The climax is so anti- climax. And the ending was like the director shouting to the audience "Alright, I've blown enough stuff up, so let's get cheesy." I was sitting on my seat, satisfied with the actions, but still thinking "What? That's the end?"


The soundtracks were nothing short of fantastic, and the cinematography is superb. CGIs are pretty believable too. I mean, we all know that Iron Man suit was CGI-ed onto Robert Downey Jr. But it was believable. And that tentacle lightning whip thing was pretty impressive.

Ratings : 8/10. Not as good as I want it to be but definitely as good as expected. Oh, I forgot to mention that Samuel L. Jackson made a cameo appearance here!

Daybreakers - A Review

This is one hell of an elaborated movie about vampires!

In the year 2019, the world was plague with disease where everyone on Earth turned to vampirism. The problem is now that the human blood they were farming were dying out and soon they will not have enough food. And vamps without food turns into ugly primitive bat-like creatures which are absolutely disgusting. So Chief Hematologist Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke) tried to find a blood substitute. That is until he met a group of human fugitives and some ex-vampire nicknamed Elvis (Willem Dafoe) who showed him how to cure vampires by turning them back to human. Of course some corporate guy who farms human blood can't allow that to happen. Thus, the humans were exterminated but in the end the bad guys died a dreadful death and the good guys got away.


I really like the concept and the details of this movie. The whole daylight driving and night school stuff. Little details that tells the audience that the epidemic was going on for some time and that people were used to all this. I also like the idea that these vampires carry on life as usual, with blood drink stalls, subway, blood research lab and all. The whole concept and the idea of a world occupied by vampires is just so cool! And many other ideas such as human blood farming, ex vampire blood cures and all, surprises me in many ways.

Cinematography was normal but very realistic. The CGIs were pretty realistic too. Its doesn't even look fake. I totally believe the stuff, the freakish eyes, the ugly looking bat- like creatures, the gore... However, the soundtrack was a little mundane and nothing out of ordinary from the plot nor the acting. Even Willem Dafoe and Ethan Hawke seemed mundane.


However, this movie did raise a few questions... Should this phenomena really to happen, will the world choose vampirism? If the world is populated with vampires, is human farming moral since that is like their former selves? When the vampires got starved, who should be making the decisions about burning them? And how do human and vampires co-exist? Very thought provoking indeed.


Ratings : 6.5/10. If you are looking for action, look elsewhere...

Percy Jackson and The Olympians : The Lighting Thief

Gosh... Why did I spent 2 hours of my life watching this movie?

Actually it's 2 hours well- spent! Cause I get to watch several movies combined into one heavily Americanised movie.

At first, I feel like I was watching some kickass trailer when Poseidon and Zeus announced war on each other. Then I felt like I was watching High School Musical, simply because that dude who played Percy Jackson looked awfully like Zac Efron. He even copied Zac Efron's hair!

Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson

Zac Efron from High School Musical

Then it was like watching Harry Potter where dear Percy was scurried away by Grover and a wheelchair-bounded professor, just like Dumbledore protecting Harry Potter. Then it was Spiderman, where Percy discovered that he was a demi-god. His father was Poseidon. Great power comes with great responsibilities huh? Then Harry Potter again, where dear Percy's mum died for him to protect him from evil. Then it was X-Men, where Percy went to the school for gifted demi-gods like himself. He hooked up with Athena's daughter Annabeth and emulated the Potter trio in America. I love how Alexandra Daddario futilely tried to be Hermione Granger, but girl, Emma Watson is hot, you're not. Then it was American modern version of Lord of The Rings, where the Jackson trio embarked on a quest to defeat Medusa (Uma Thurman), a multi-headed creature whose name escapes me, the Lotus soul stealer and Hades to save his kidnapped mother. Then Percy miraculously found the bolt within the shield and returned the bolt to Zeus, saving Earth from major disasters.


First of all, there all so many plot holes in the story that no star-casts can hold it anymore. Percy immediately hook up with Annabeth in Camp Demi-God after his mother died? There were conveniently THREE pearls in the United States for three person? And these so called demi-gods absolutely failed maths... And why on Earth did Grover "Samwise Gamgee" Percy's sidekick be so absolutely loyal to him and "volunteered" to stay in hell? And seriously, casting director fail too! Medusa is suppose to be the ugliest woman on Earth that anyone who sees her immediately turn into stone. Uma Thurman who is so uber hot can't play Medusa. She is like one hot babe with snake like hair and electrifying beautiful eyes.


However, I did like the comical twist of Steve Coogan as Hades. He was like the stupidest Hades ever!


Cinematograpy and editing wise, I don't really like it. The flow of the scenes were random and not continuous. Soundtrack is very cliche too. Nothing spectacular to applaud about the CGIs either. It is all seen-that-done-that-felt-that. Acting sucks big time. Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson and Alexandra Daddario as Annabeth really did nothing except to look pretty and smile for the camera. Pierce Brosnan should retire from acting after James Bond cause Mama Mia was a pain to watch and Percy Jackson was even more painful to watch.


Ratings : 4/10. Pure entertainment. The only creativity here is how the hell did the scriptwriters put so many famous pieces together and still manage to screw up, even with a star cast?

Kick Ass - A Review

Where is my head?

Kick Ass just BLEW MY HEAD OFF!!


At first, I thought this was a kiddy show about superheroes, like the motion picture version of The Incredibles; When a friend told me it was brutal and nothing like kiddy show, I thought it was some lame movie picking on nerdy kids; When I actually watched the movie, WHAT THE HELL?


This movie is about Dave (Aaron Johnson) who was a typical geek that dreamed of becoming a superhero. Thus, he bought some suit fron eBay and named himself Kick Ass. Lame name, I think. Cause every time he did some "heroic" act, he ended up getting his ass kicked and Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz) have to save his ass. The real superheroes here are vigilantes Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage) whose superhero name is kinda... er... wrong... and Hit Girl who is SUPER SUPER SUPER COOL! They were after mob boss Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong) and his ambitious son Chris.


The plot was relatively simple. Nothing too out of ordinary. Except the character Hit Girl. I have to applaud Chloe Moretz' superb performance here. She is the only 11-year-old girl who can legally curse like a truck driver and still look darn cool! And all those stunts! Either she is really good at actions or there is a really good small- sized stunt girl. She totally stole the show with her attitude and the action scenes! Hello, that's the little girl from 500 Days of Summer!

Aaron Johnson, sad to say, appears to be bland and boring except the fact that he has nice eyes and nice body. And in my humble opinion, Nicholas Cage still suck.


I also have to applaud the cinematography here. The angles of the scenes were shot in such perfection that everything look real and fantastic. My favourite scene was when Hit Girl bust into the bad guy's building and totally pawn everyone along the corridor! The choreography involving Hit Girl is wonderful. And the script writers are very creative in terms of speech. No, I don't mean the excessive profanity, but the actual jokes in it. Some are kinda dumb but very hilarious nonetheless.


I tell you what is kick ass in this movie - The SOUNDTRACK! I absolutely love the opening theme and the ending theme, Stand Up by The Prodigy. The credits song, Make Me Wanna Die by Pretty Reckless is so so so so addictive! And the rest of the songs, some classic rock pieces, fit right into the scenes! Some songs are pretty ironic, like some kiddy funfair-like tune playing when Hit Girl literally slices someone's leg off.


Ratings : 8/10. Not a movie to watch with little kids. Really excessive profanity and gore. But bloody KICK ASS!

When Five Fell - A Review

This is a short film shared by Chien Young, and I love it.

This clip took on five different perspectives of a girl's love story. These five perspectives are of five common household items. Five things stood out to me in this short film.

1. The music

It fits into the clip nicely. The mood, the tone, the pitch... It is so relaxing and sentimental. And it brought the audience into the story so nicely. Of course, it played with our emotions... The sorrow, the abandonment, the loss... The sharp pause when the rain stopped - Brilliant! The use of violin and fast piano tempo to bring out the emotions in the climax is perfect! Well done, Jesse Chui!

2. The narration

This clip features five very distinct voices, David Choi, Bobby Choy, AJ Rafael, Paul Dateh, and Chris Dinh. The lines are beautiful... I listened to the lines while watching the clip and felt that the lines fit perfectly into each item. But when I listened to the lines while NOT watching the clip, and suddenly, the sorrow hit me. Those are lines utter by people who were betrayed, abandoned and forgotten. Someone watching a person he loves love someone else...

3. The cinematography

Brilliantly filmed. Brilliantly edited. The angles, the scenes, the settings... Its beautiful. Its breath taking. Its touching. I love the blur before the glasses, the angle between the mouth and the phone, the rain and the use of shadow to show "broken" umbrella and the perfect shadow of a kiss, the little details with the scarf, the broken cup... I love the transitions between acts where sceneries were used. And I absolutely love the whole concept where the audiences were kept blur about the guy but in the end, we see everything clearly. Kudos to Wesley Chan for the brilliant cinematography!

4. The five items

Glasses, phone, umbrella, scarf, cup - Things most girls have... And all these five items represent the five senses. The glasses - The gift of sight; Phone - Speech and communication; Umbrella - Touch "If you hold my hand, I'll be yours forever."; Scarf - Scent "To know her scent, it means that we were close, closer than anyone else."; Cup - Taste. Five items that represented everything in a relationship, five senses that we happily take for granted and neglected daily, five things that are so important to someone else but not us...

5. The concept

This story is about a girl meeting a guy and fell in love. To me, this kind of love is sweet and beautiful. But this clip showed me that this love can be sad and beautiful at the same time. Watching someone you love, not love you back as much as you love her, but love someone else... And the most creative part of the whole concept is that the story is not told through a third person perspective but told through five different views where these items are equally "involved" in the story but somewhat are "outsiders".

We delight in the promise of falling for love.

We crumble in the dread of falling from love.

Everyone falls. Everything falls.

Ratings : 10/10. I love everything about this clip. It is touching and beautiful. Although this story is about five items expressing themselves but anyone who has fallen in or out of love can relate to those words.

Thanks Young. This is beautiful.

Nearer My God To Thee

Music that moves people to tears...

I stumbled across this beautiful piece and I listened to it for many many times.

This is very respectful of Andre Rieu and the Johann Strauss Choir and Orchestra. Perfect piece that is so full of emotions and feelings, all expressed through the fiddle.

Beautiful isn't it?

Beautiful Mess

This beautiful number by Jason Mraz is simply... impressive...

I LOVE the lyrics! And the meaning behind those soulful voice and those powerful lyrics!

This song is really about pure, innocent, true love; A love that beats all the odds and all the flaws. It is about seeing someone perfectly imperfect.

I melt listening to this song...