The Amazing Spider-man 2: Rise of Electro Review

Need free jolt? 

The Amazing Spider-man 2: Rise of Electro Review – Confession…I didn’t like the Spiderman reboot. I thought it sucked. I thought it should not have been re-booted. I was not exactly excited when the sequel came out, but then the trailer looked cool. Still I was not convinced to enter any preview screening contest. I was gonna skip the screening till I got hold of two preview tickets…hmm…ok lah…since dah dapat….why not just layan kan?

Damn you Andrew!!!

Just like any other superhero movies, Spiderman (Andrew Garfield) is busy protecting his beloved New York City while juggling his studies. He manages to graduate same batch with love of his life Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). All is in a day life of this red and blue spandex hero until a lonely Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) accidently gets killed by genetically engineered eels. His death is covered up by Oscorp which is trying to restore investors’ confidence after the passing of Norman Osborn (Chris Cooper). In comes Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) to take over his father’s place. The Board of Directors however plays Harry and ditches him from the corporation. Harry discovers some ugly truth about his father’s company and combines force with the revived Electro! Harry seeks Spidey’s assistance and end up pissed at Spiderman for not helping him. Together the two new villains go all out wreak havoc in Spidey’s city. Can Spiderman protect his loved ones or lose more of his loved ones?     

Apa lu tengok? 

Andrew Garfield….hmm…not really my type of hero….especially after the first Spiderman movie but I gotta admit he improved leaps and bounds on the sequel. He did do his doe eyed face every now and then but it just didn’t annoy me as much as it did the last time. Thank God for Emma Stone because her big eyes were just a joy to look at! Lucky Andrew for dating her in real life! Some guys have all the luck I tell ya! Jamie is another fella am not too fond off and with a talent he has, I think he was under-used in this movie. So was most of the other cast, they just come and go when they are needed. The best part however was the special effects. Awesome improvement from the first movie. There were also some humour here and there. Great music covers the weak storyline, but then it’s not an Oscar nominated movie so this was just enough.

Aiks....tengok lagi???

I came out from the cinema satisfied and looking forward to the third instalment since a major twist happens at the end. New relationship…new friendship...new villain…jeng jeng jeng…bring it on I say. Hopefully somewhere along the same mood of this sequel please. My confidence is restored so let’s keep the Spidey spirit up! 

P/s - Thanks Sze for the tickets! 

A Case of You Review

Watcha looking at? 

A Case of You Review –This might be my shortest review ever because there’s nothing so special about it flick. I chose to attend this preview over The Other Women preview which fell on the same day. Yeah, I know! Bite me!

Tengok lagi? o.O 

Anyways, it’s just a simple love story. Sam (Justin Long) is a writer trying to write his own book instead of the usual adaptation from movie to book job he’s been doing. He falls for a quirky barista Birdie (Evan Rachel Wood) and begins to Facebook stalk her. Sam tries to impress her by learning to cook French, learn to dance, listen to boring music among other things. Birdie takes notice of him and they start to date. Sam gets cold feet when Birdie really falls for him. He later confesses that he was trying to woo her by not being himself. Will Birdie accept Sam for who he is?

Slow-mo rom flick

Justin has come a long way from being the dorky fella into guy-next-door. Heck, he even dated Drew Barrymore at some point, so that should mean he is good right? He was pretty much his dorky self in the movie which gel well with the smoking hot Evan Rachel Wood. This chick is still yummy! Can’t believe she used to date Marilyn Manson in real life at one point. This dorky and quirky chemistry made this movie as fun watch despite lack of a proper storyline. Watch out for Sam Rockwell, Peter Dinklage, Sienna Miller, Vince Vaugh and barely recognisable Brendan Fraser as part of the case as well!

Come to think of it, there is a slight message to this movie. Don’t try to be someone you are not for someone you really like. Just be yourself and if all goes well…it will…go well too! No use trying to be someone you not for no reason. In the end, if it’s meant to be. You will be together no matter what. Trust me, am speaking from experience.  

P/s – Thank you Miss Sunshine Kelly for the preview tickets.

Brick Mansions Review

Parkour Paul style! 

Brick Mansions Review – Oh my dear Paul….I remember crying when I saw the newsfeed about his untimely passing. I recalled falling in love with the blue eyed boy in Pleasantville. Even though he played a bad boy character, his charisma melted my heart. Then came the whole Fast & Furious franchise and he elevated into a whole new level of swoon worthy charm. Little did I imagine I would be watching his final movie trying to hold my tears back.

The cop, the bad boy & the crook? 

Damien (Paul Walker) is an undercover cop bent on busting as many crooks as possible and finally lands himself at the dangerous ghetto, Brick Mansion to recover a stolen bomb. Damien gets help from his ‘eyes’ of city, Lino (David Belle) who is after Tremaine (RZA), a ‘businessman’ cum ‘politician’ cum ‘chef’ cum criminal cum drug dealer in order to stop the drugs from spoiling the city any longer. Little did these three (3) guys knew there is a bigger ‘boom’-pun intended waiting for Brick Mansions. While they are chasing each other’s tail, the Mayor and his ‘contributors’ hatch a plan of their own to ‘cleanse’ and rebuild the ‘wasteland’. Will Damien, Lino and Tremaine figure out what’s going on or become the black sheep for the benefit of rich people?

Bust a move & I will burst your head! 

Talk about eye candy feast! If you think Paul blue eyes was awwwww, wait till you hold your breath while watching David parkour’ing his way away from both the cops and the thugs! This French cutie goes topless most of the times and the curve on his body is like yummy yum yum! His scruffy face is dirty most of the time but he is still sooooooo good looking! Coupled with his ‘girlfriend, Lola (Catalina Denis) it’s like a dream come true. Heck even RZA was witty with his lines. Storyline is pretty petty but who cares, it flows just good enough to spend your time and money in the cinema. The music was awesome and best part was the camera angles! It captured the complicated moves brilliantly that you might just find yourself trying to avoid an obstacle or two!

Don't play-play wey! 

Yummm......

Backflip yo! Ko boleh? 

Fast and Furious may have pushed Paul into stardom but it was nice to see him in an indie flick with no blockbuster budget. His cop-next-door acting joined bro-mance with David was just as good as he was with Vin Diesel.  The world didn’t just lose a good looking guy but an overall good actor as well. Let’s remember his contribution to the film industry and honour his life. You have done your job well Paul. Now ride and fast in your next journey. 

Eye candy!!! 

P/s - Thank you Churp Churp for the tickets! 

Transcendence Review

Human???

Transcendence Review – Hmm…talk about a perfect wrong timing…when I saw the question below posted on Churp Churp’s site for this movie’s preview ticket, I was stumped on how to answer…even thought of not joining it because I was still grounded from going out at night after my Amma’s sudden passing. The question read as follows: -

“Would you prefer to live forever through Artificial Intelligence and why?”

My reply...Having just lost my Mother...I have mixed feeling about this question. One side saying yes so I can be with my loved ones for as long as I could while the other says no because when it's time for you to go...you gotta go. 

Little did I know, I scored preview pass and made my way to catch Johnny Depp after getting permission for a time off.  

Too smart for own good? 

The story runs along current debate of Artificial intelligence (AI). Scientists world over are try their best to find cure for cancer, Alzheimer and other life threatening dieses. Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp) along with his wife, Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and Max Waters (Paul Bettany) are a trio pioneers trying their best to rid World of such problems. They even manage to create a supercomputer that sorta can think for itself. While attending a forum, Will was attacked by group of anti-AI believers and finally succumbs to his injuries. His wife and Max however manage to ‘upload’ Will’s ‘brain’ into another computer generated by them. Will ‘request’ to be connected to the internet so he can have unlimited access to all information and begins his work to find treatment while also ‘get his body back’ so he could be with Evelyn. His quest however begins to sway from natural form of life into synthetic being without any emotions which might spell the ultimate end of biological existences. Max turns his back on Will and co-operate with the anti-AI group to stop Will from causing more chaos. Will Will-pun intended manage to be the new God or fail?

Facechat??? Snapchat??? 

I used to like Johnny a lot but then started to lose my interest after he went overboard on Pirates franchise. It was nice to see him acting as a human…well…at least during some part of this movie. He really is a talented actor and hopefully will play more ‘normal’ character instead of being the weird one all the times. Rebecca Hall is fast becoming my favourite not-your-typical-leading-lady-but-does-a-decent-job chick. She played the Mrs-who-just-lost-her-husband-and-will-work-her-brains-off-to-get-him-back part pretty well. I could feel her loss but maybe it’s because am coping with my own grief. Paul Bettany also helped to bring life to his character torn between loyalty towards his friend or look after the good of mankind. Too bad other talents were underutilised including Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy and Kate Mara. They should have been given a little bit more screen time. The special effects were done Christopher Nolan style, some good, few over the top. The flow of the story was also had Nolan written all over it. It could have been better fell short for some reason.

Body is gone but what your conscious? 

Back to the question…about immortality or ‘leave’ when your number is up. Recently I’ve been hit with back to back of shocking passing that made me question when will my time come? There were few occasion I wanted to end my existent but what good would that do? We just gotta live our  life, the good, bad, happy, sad, miserable or whatever kinda emotions our situation might throw at us because alive or dead, there is a reason why we were put on this Earth.

P/s – Thank you Churp Churp for the tickets and even better surprise of picking my answer to score the awesome wind-breaker! It was a good movie break I needed after a short hiatus.

Thank you Churp Churp!!! 

P/s- Just as I was writing this review, I could stop my tears from flowing as the heaven added another Angel by taking YB Karpal Singh in a car accident. May the Tiger of Jelutong roar and defend those in need high above just as he did during his short time of Earth.  Rest in Peace Sir. 

Thank you YB

The Grand Budapest Hotel review

...need a place to check in? 

The Grand Budapest Hotel review – The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Darjeeling Limited are some of the movies helmed by Wes Anderson, the Director of The Grand Budapest Hotel. I have not watched any of it so I’m finally popped my Wes Anderson cherry with this flick. Reviews from his previous abovementioned films always pictured him as an eccentric director with a quirky sense of …well….direction. Was my ‘first time’ worth a watch? Let’s check into The Grand Budapest Hotel shall we? 

....5 stars? hmm.....

The show starts narrative style with an old Author (Tom Wilkinson) telling story about Zero Moustafa (Tony Revolori/F Murray Abraham) on how he inherited The Grand Budapest Hotel. He was the hotel’s lobby boy mentored by Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes) and they end up being good friends. Zero is well aware of Gustave being the hotel guest older, rich and blonde women’s special companion. Ehem. One of them, Madame D (Tilda Swinton) kicks the bucket suddenly and according to her Last Will and Testament leaves Gustav her most prized possession. A painting referred to as ‘Boy with Apple’. This action triggers series of unfortunate events for Gustav as Madame D’s disgruntled son, Dmitri (Adrien Brody) hires a private detective cum assassin Jopling (Willem Dafoe) to get back the painting from Gustav by all means necessary. Gustav is accused of killing Madame D and gets thrown into jail. He escapes with help of Zero and his baker girlfriend Agatha (Saoirse Ronan). Together they embark on their journey to prove Gustav innocence. Will they succeed?  

....#player nuff said 

One look at the poster and I went ‘Woahhhhhhhhh’. So many talented people in one movie. Kalah The Avengers wey! Will they be given enough line/time to shine? Main focus is of cause on Ralph Fiennes with his nose intact after battling with Harry Potter sans….errr…nose. His acting flair was top notch delivering line after line. While his side kick, Tony Revolori was equally gifted as well. Their chemistry was like a perfect combination of chemicals and comical. The rest of long list of actors was a joy to watch with each of them contributing different type of emotion to the movie. The best part of the movie for me was the background music! I wish I could watch the band perform. Each tune matched well with the scene. There was slight animatic style of filming which sets this movie apart from the rest out there.

....guess the actors.....

The peculiar storytelling way coupled with strange and out of the box direction will either tickle your fancy or make you cringe. I had mixed emotions. The fancy part was spotting which actor playing which part while the cringing was…well…I rather not dwell on it. Let’s just say it served little surprising scenes here and there. There was also blink-and-you-will-miss-it-scene which is total a NO NO in Malaysian cinema. Maybe since I watched the preview, that scene was not snipped. I just hope it won’t get blown-pun intended out of proposition. Weekend watching is recommended instead of after work view. The slow pace might turn you off from appreciating this unconventional picture. Check into The Grand Budapest Hotel and who knows you might just start checking other Wes Anderson offbeat trail.   

P/s - Thank you Churp Churp for the #Churprimere tickets!