Lone Survivor Review

Action kao kao movie 

Lone Survivor Review – Would you put your life on the line….for your country….for your belief….for what you think is right? Would you kill an innocent life….to protect your own life….to safeguard your friends life….to defend your principle? Nobody knows or is certain what they would 'korban' until they are faced with such situation at such critical moment.  When the time comes, one have to make the decision and live (if they make it out alive) or die regretting their choice. 

The Boys! 

Such circumstances are faced by Michael Murphy (Taylor Kitsch), Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg), Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch) and Matt ‘Axe’ Axelson (Ben Foster) [sorry, I forgot their ‘pangkats’] when their operation referred to as ‘Operation Red Wing’ to capture a Taliban leader goes haywire. At the beginning, all were smooth sailing except for the communication were blocked because of the rocky mountains of Afghanistan. In order to get better ‘reception’ the team moves up the hill and wait for their new set of instructions. Little did they expect, an old man and two boys shepherding their goats stumble upon the secret operation. The team is faced with dilemma of killing the 3 stumblers or letting them go. They choose the latter and before they could take refuge, the team gets surrounded by dozens of Talibans hell bent on killing the Americans. Kiri kanan depan belakang they get shot at, bombed till they run out of option except to jump down the ravine and get whacked this time by the batu besar gebadak! Belum sempat nak recover, bullets comes flying again hitting them on the leg, shoulder, lutut and whatnot! In a final effort to save at least one of the team members, Murphy makes it to the top of the mountain and contacts their command post alerting them of their situation. Chopper (or some sort) are scrambled to rescue the team but guess what? I ain’t gona tell you but I figure you can predict what happens by the title of this movie.    

The Director, Peter Berg. He needs a shave if you ask me. 

The cast members consisting of Kitsch, Wahlberg, Hirsch, Foster, Bana are all candy for the eyes. Even when they are bleeding their eyes out, they look so handsome. Lepas tu got few topless scenes. Yummmmy….but that aside….when the action begins memang sedih tengok their condition. You can literally hear their bones breaking when they hit the rocks. Once they ‘land’ can see the bones sticking out and blood oozing down their cheek. Ayo Amma….I wish I could nurse them back to health. (hewhewhew) The dudes played their role to perfection (in my view lar), looking after/out each other. Their brotherhood was well-captured by war movie Director, Peter Berg. As for them basterds Talibans….EEEEEEEEEE!!! Geram tengok them restlessly going after the four Navy Seals pretty much sealing-pun intended their fate. Not to stereotype all Arabs, the Lone Survivor from the situation did come across a ‘Haji’ who hates Taliban and help the Officer find his way to safety. 

Not all Arabs are Talibans lar! 

Overall it’s a full on action movie and stay away if you don’t like the sight of blood and the word fuck. Those two (blood & word fuck) are pretty much repeated or may I say over-used in this flick. Not to say it was not necessary since it was a movie about war. If you are the girly type you may not like the over macho-ism, go watch a chick flick instead even if your boyfriend suggest you to watch this. Unless you are like me lar. I can tahan this kinda of feature even though I did cringe here and there when my handsome man was put thru some agony. It’s sad to find out their age at the end credit, none of them were above the age of 35. May they rest in peace and remembered as heroes.    

Mandela : Long Walk to Freedom Review

The Man, Mr. Mandela 

Mandela : Long Walk to Freedom Review – I cried when I found out Princess Diana died in a car accident, I cried when I learned about Mother Theresa’s passing and I also shed tears when I heard Mr. Nelson Mandela had ‘left’ our Earth. These some of the people whom I’ve never met in person although I wish I had but somehow they had a deep influence in my life. These are the people who dared to be different and actually made a difference in our world. Mention the name Mandela and the image of South Africa comes to mind. I remember the time when our Malaysian passport had South Africa’s name as places we are banned from travelling. Back then I didn’t understand what the meaning of Apartheid was. It was just a word which became a clear picture after I watched this movie.

...from Courtroom....

...to the Congress... 

This film is an adaptation of Mandela’s ‘struggle to fight for his people’s right’. It portrays his journey from being a lawyer to later joining the African National Congress (ANC) for fair share of the country ruled by the ‘whites’. We get to witness ANC’s ‘effort’, be in peacefully or aggressively so that the ‘blacks’ will not be subjected to brutality by their ‘white masters’ thru-out the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s! We also get to see the ‘trial’ where Mandela and his comrades was sentence to life in prison which was later reduced to 27 years and his subsequent appointment at the age of 75 as the first black President. Another side of the movie also captured his wife own battle to bring the people together. It may have looked simple in the movie but sure was not an easy task to go against guns, booms and brutal beatings.

True love....

The cast…hmm…Idris Elba as Mandela…I was not convinced because my favourite ‘Mandela’ is Morgan Freeman, he did a home-run on ‘Invictus’ so I’m biased towards Mr. Freeman. Not to undermine Idris effort, he still did a decent job playing world’s most famous Blackman (sounds racist, I’m sorry). Just that I would have preferred if Morgan was again picked to helm this ‘Walk’. I was however impressed with Naomie Harris (who played Winnie Madikizela-Mandela); she simply stole my attention whenever she came into screen with her strong character. It was nice to see the spotlight on Mrs. Mandela every once in a while. Well picked cast with some original footage thrown in to show what went on during the time of unrest really makes you value your freedom. The music, the scenery, the feeling truly captured the essence of Africa.

Mandela....eh I mean Morgan! Hehehe 

I watched Diana and was not-so-happy-with-the-end-result. Thank God this film didn’t disappoint me. Some of the scenes were truly heart-wrenching. How people of their own country are made to suffer for the pleasure of a few. Sounds kinda familiar doesn’t it? because there is no denying that this situation still exists at some if not most parts of the World still. From the outside it might look like nothing but if one were to dig deeper, one have no idea what one might find. I’m glad that I was born during Mandela’s time to witness his service to his community until his last breath. I just wish I could make a difference big or small before my time comes. I sincerely thank Madiba for all his contribution and hope he is resting in peace.

Jack Ryan : Shadow Recruit Review

Jack Ryan...not Sparrow is back y'll! 

Jack Ryan : Shadow Recruit Review – The last time I ‘saw’ Jack Ryan was in the early 2000 played by Ben Affleck and his mentor Morgan Freeman. This time however the torch has been passed on to Chris ‘Captain Kirk’ Pine and Kevin ‘The Bodyguard’ Costner. Tagging along for the ride is Keira ‘Elizabeth Swan’ Knightly and Kenneth ‘Gilderoy Lockhart’ Branagh taking on double role as the Director as well. With such ‘strong’ cast, I was expecting a revival of Jack Ryan franchise buttttttt…..sad to say it fell a little short for my liking. Here’s why….

Will he make it? 

As we all know, Jack Ryan (Chris Pine) is no James Bond but he does his best to protect United State of America from any threat, domestic or foreign (usually the Russian…meh). He signs up for a mission in Afghanistan (another stereo type) and his crew on the chopper gets blown into pieces before they could land. Jack somehow survives the tragedy but with serious injuries to his back and falls for the girl, Kathy (Kiera Knightly) whom helps him to get back on his feet again. Watching him closely is CIA big shot, Harper (Kevin Costner) and secretly or should I say ‘shadow-ly’ hires Jack to monitor ‘data or some shite like that’ in order to make sure their ‘business partner’, Viktor Cherevin (Kenneth Branagh) does not ‘screw them up’. Jack notices some anomaly and makes a trip Russia for ‘auditing purposes’. Upon arrival, Jack’s life gets into danger so he tries to stay alive while bring down the ‘terrorist’. Will he make it? Can he save this beloved country? Will there be another sequel? Yawn…. 

Nice to meet you boy! 

Don’t get me wrong, I like looking at Chris Pine, I mean look at that body. I’m willing to get into trouble just so he would rescue me but his acting chops so far failed to capture my attention as much as his face or abs. I still remember him from Princess Diaries 2 and let’s leave it at that. I’m sorry Chris…you are good but just don’t tickle my fancy (Cewah….macam lah mamat tu minat kat aku kan? Kekeke) Kevin, Kevin, Kevin…the man who was ‘Robin Hood’ and I shall leave you with that imagine of him in his green tights because he too didn’t make any impression in this flick. Kiera…please go back to your English accent and stop messing about with American ones. Kenneth…sigh…dude…you should have let your memory remained lost (in reference to Harry Potter) instead of trying to direct this movie and having that God awful Russian accent.

Go back to being English Kenneth! 

After waiting more than 10 years for Jack Ryan to hit the big screen, I was let down by the storyline, the cast, everything lar…it was just missing something which I can’t pin point myself. There were some chasing, action scenes but it’s nothing you can’t find in some many other movies out there. Seemed like Jack needs to find his mojo if he were to gain my trust to ‘see him again’.

First preview from Churp Churp! 

P/s - Thank you Churp Churp for the first preview of 2014 with more to come I hope! 

      

Make Me Shudder Review (Thai movie)

So...amacam? Ada berani? 

Make Me Shudder  Review (Thai movie) – Hmm…what do a movie MANIac does when she wants to watch movie but one look at the listing…semua dah tengok?! No choice but to watch a Thai horror movie since dah gian sangat masuk cinema. As I mentioned before I’m not a fan of horror movie but anything Thai I’m willing to risk it. I think I’m a spiritual Thai citizen kot. It is my first movie for 2014 and my first movie date with a friend I’ve known for so many years. Actually she forced me into watching it, ingatkan member berani, rupa-rupanyer she is just a scared chickeeeeeeeeeeeeeen like me! Pfttttttttttt…… Mende lar aku melalut ni? Ok ok back to job on hand. The review…let’s get on with it.

'Nice' hairdo' dude! 

The story is about a bunch of naughty school boys who like to scare themselves silly by sharing ghost stories among themselves and finally step up a notch by venturing into an abandon building known for its ghostly presence. All eight (8) of them meet their match when the ghost that they thought was a ‘dongeng’ actually turns up and scare the crap out of them. To make matter worst, they even stumble upon other ‘spirits’ occupying the haunted place. After loads of creepy, chilling and funny events later, they learn their ‘lesson’-pun intended! Just remember don’t ever disrespect your Teacher and don’t ‘challenge’ something if you are not ready to face the consequences. 

Garang giler Cikgu ni siot! :P

The cast was funny to look at with their numerous facial expressions. Sometime, you feel sorry for them, sometime…rasa nak jerit… ‘Padan muka! Amek ko! Gatal sangat buntut kenapa budak oi?!’ Most of them are ‘chikadees’ looks like they are fresh out of acting school. It’s good though because the industry can groom them early on. The ‘veterans’ supplied equal talent if not more. I don’t dare to spell their name…kalau nak tau sangat sila ‘search sendiri’ ok. The storyline was stupid and did get a bit boring after some point but if you enjoy silly horror movies like me once in a while, you might just contribute a laugh or two here and there. Heck, some audience even screamed during the ‘mak datuk terkejut katak aku’ scenes. 

All together now....Terimaaaaaaaaaaaa kasiiiiiih Cikgu!!! :)

If you have nothing else to do and free for a laugh, check this flick out. It’s a no brainer. Watch it with a friend who are as crazy as you and enjoy hearing the rest of the cinema goers shrieking once in a while and try not to ‘terjerit’ yourself. It does not come close to any of the awesome Thai movies but if I sat thru the crappy 47 Ronin, I sure as hell would sit during ‘Make Me Shudder at least once!

P/s- Friendly warning, don’t take kids who are going to attend school to watch this or else the poor bugger may not go to school again. 

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Review

Whats is inside 'your suitcase' my friend? 

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Review – I remember the first time I boarded the plane for my first ever trip outside the country to Thailand. It was a dream come true. Watching the clouds from a closer view. Since then, by God’s blessing I’ve expand my dream and managed turn my travel fantasy into reality. Heck, I still can’t believe I made to Los Angles! Twice!!! By winning contest nevertheless!!! Next up, New York and all other places that has the word New in it. New Zealand. New Dehli…any other ‘New’ am missing? Feel free to let me know ok. Reason I’m starting with my own traveling story is because Walter have all this dreams of traveling but never quite made it into reality. What a big mistake dude! Big big hugeeeeeeeeeee mistake. But then we can’t blame him could we? Most people have big dream but they always push it aside for so many reasons.

Nope...I don't feel you....nothing...nada...nyente....

Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) is a hardworking employee of soon-to-go-online-version of magazine called ‘Life’. He ‘live’ his adventures by ‘zoning out’ every now and then. He has a crush on his officemate Cheryl Melhoff (Kristen Wiig) so he imagines ‘doing things’ with/for her. (Get your mind of the gutter, as no hamsap things are involved) He loathe his new Boss, Ted (Adam Scott) so he imagines making fun of his beard. Whatever Walter is not ‘happy’ about, he will ‘make it happen’ thru his ‘zone out’ moments. Nyeh. However, when the quintessential ‘negative’ of the magazine’s final cover goes missing, Mitty is forced to leave the comfort of his working place and travel from Greenland to Iceland to track down Sean, (Sean Penn) the photographer and recover the said negative. As he travels from one place to another, Mitty ‘lives’ and ‘do’ things he never imagined he would. Will he succeed in getting what he wants? 

Don't just look, come 'join' me! 

Ben Stiller is one of my favourite actors and I will put on his movie if I need a laugh or two. This flick unfortunately failed to give me the same feeling. I would rather watch ‘Night At The Museum’ or ‘Duplex’ over and over again instead of this one. Don’t get me wrong, it is a good watch but I just didn’t feel the connection. I think Walter was being a puss for not pushing his limits instead he just kept dreaming of doing things. Even his chemistry with Kristen didn’t have enough spark as he did with his other co-stars before this. The rest of the cast…hmmm…hmmm…know what I mean? The saving grace for me was the wonderful background of Greenland and Iceland. The green valley, the volcano eruption cloud, the ocean. Other than that there was nothing. There were loads of inspiring statement being thrown which would have worked well if I was ‘like’ Walter Mitty but I’m not. I try to live my life as adventures as possible (bukan poyo tapi memang saya macam tu naturally) and thank God my Mom brought me up to be an independent person to explore the World as much as possible. I wish my friend would watch this because she has so many dreams to doing so many things but she still stuck with the same excuse year after year.  

Somebody called for 'Jaws Express?'

Overall, if you are looking for a motivation, encouragement and ‘semangat’ to change your life for the new year. This movie would serve as a good platform on how to stop dreaming and start living. If you are already an avid explorer and bitten by the travel bug, it’s time to turn up the notch and discover more on what the World have to offer. As the saying goes, the world is your oyster….well…unless you are allergic to shell food! Hehehe….travel and explore my friends….

P/s – Spoiler alert – The cover of the last ‘Life’, think about this…Sean have already sent the ‘negatives’ to Walter right? But how did Sean snapped the picture of Walter sitting at the fountain trying to analyse other negatives in order to get a clue for the ‘lost negative’? You get what I mean? Or did I miss something? Go figure! 

Captain Philips Review

All aboard!!! 

Captain Philips Review – Another ‘Based on true event’ movie…starring Tom Hanks…hmm…why not? You never what kinda lesson you could learn from past events so you won’t make the same mistake. Plus the trailer looked good and it has also been getting rave reviews. With Tom on the helm, you can’t go wrong right? Plus, it’s been a while since I saw him on the big screen. So here we go…

How to survive from pirate? 

The story is about Captain Richard Philips (Tom Hanks) manning a cargo ship “Maersk Alabama” carrying food supplies among other things across pirate infested ‘Horn of Africa’. Just when the crew are going thru their ‘emergency’ drill, they notice two (2) small boats on their tail and manage to fend-off the pirates. This good luck however does not last long when the pirates return for the second time and manage to board the ship. Captain Philips managed to gather his crew and hide them in the engine room to prevent the pirates from kidnapping them. The four (4) armed Somali pirates demand for millions of dollars in exchange for the safety of the vessel and start to look for the crew members. Captain Philips strikes a deal with the lead pirate Muse (Barkhad Abdi) by giving him thirty thousand dollars and convinces the rouge bandits to leave the ship. Just when things seemed to calm down, the Captain lands himself in ‘deep waters’. A large operation involving US Marine and SEALS ensues in order to rescue the good Captain. Will they succeed? Jeng jeng jeng… 

The Real Captain Richard Philips 

Say what you want about the man. Tom Hanks never seize to amaze me with his talents. Throw him in an island (Cast Away), he make friends with a ‘ball’. Put him in jail (not as a prisoner) (The Green Mile), he make friends with the inmates. There’s nothing this two time Oscars winner can’t do! I only hope for more goodies from this living legend and who knows perhaps he will get another nod for the coming award season. Tom! You rock!!! As for one of the ‘bandit’ – Muse (played by skeleton looking Barkhad Abdi)…dude…you are most definitely going places as well yo! I dare to say that he is this year’s one of the best talent discovered. Now…please go eat something with the money you earned acting in this movie. As for the rest of the cast…too many to mention but they truly made me feel like I was part of the movie. Just watching from safety on the seat hoping and praying ‘everything will be OK…Irish!’ 

Bandit and their guns! 

I did however feel the film was a bit sluggish going into second hour and thank God I don’t get ‘sea sick’ because the Director decided to shot his movie with loads of the ocean angles. Brilliant acting did help with to cover that draggy part. So did the music helping to connect with the scenes. You can sometimes almost feel the waves bumping your butt! I can’t imagine myself getting stuck in such situation for so long. Confirm muntah! Bluek. Nevertheless, this movie is one of the better release among ‘ocean’ of stinky poo out there so if you plan on going on a cruise (Crap! Just remembered I’m going on board one come April) you might pick up a pointers here and there on how to survive in case your ship gets high-jacked! (Touchwood!!!) 

12 Years A Slave Review

Born in the 'wrong shade' of colour

12 Years A Slave Review – Any movie that says ‘Based on true story’ will tug my heart knowing that the story I’m about to watch is not just a ‘story’ but it’s something that happened in real life to a living person. How I wish this movie was just an imagination instead of true events that occurred years ago because no human, no one should live through such…I have no words to describe it but no living person should ever go through such experience in their life…ever…be it black, white, brown or whatever colour their skin is. Regrettably it did befall on many unfortunate souls back in the 1850’s and the uglier truth is…it’s still happening at this century behind closed doors.

Humanity is lost among coloured people 

The movie is a chronology of events that happened to Solomon Northup (Chiwetel ‘I have no idea how to pronounce his name’ Ejiofor) a black man who can read, write and play the violin living in New York with his wife, daughter and son. Solomon’s talent attracts two travelling illusionists with promise of more wealth which takes him to Washington. Sadly upon a night of drinking with his ‘new employers’, Solomon wakes up the next day as a man who have lost his freedom and ends being sold as a slave. Henceforth begins his journey as a ‘white man’s property’. He is forced to survive working at cotton field, sugar cane plantation, building ‘pondok’, running errands among other things. During his slavery, he witness his fellow black brothers getting tortured to death, worked to death, hanged to death. If you think that’s bad, a black woman’s fate is even worst where they have to work equally if not harder than their male courter part while also survive the brutal lust of their white master! By morning burn under the hot Sun while at night get raped under the dark Moon. Sometime, things get so bad; the thought of killing oneself seems like a better choice than having to live thru the hell on Earth full of racist humans. Heck, I’m not even sure if ‘these’ creatures should be called humans!

Gathered and sold as merchandise 

When I watched ‘The Butler’ earlier this year, I thought Forest Whittaker should be handed the Oscar but now I won’t surprise if Chiwetel Ejiofor beats him to it. His portrayal as Solomon/Platt was simply amazing. Even his eyes could tell you a story, the sorrow, the tiredness, the anger, the disappointment. He is one heck of a talented actor to keep an eye on. Then there was Michael Fassbender as Edwin Epps….Murugaaaaa….I felt like chopping him into pieces!!! Ntah apa masalah dia! Treat people like…let’s just say, if I was one of his slaves, dah lama dah hilang dari muka bumi ni! This only meant Fassbender served his purpose showing how cruel people can be. Move over Gabourey Sidibe (of Precious fame in case you forgot) because Lupita Nyong’o will make you cry (in fact she did make me cry…booooohoooo) having to witness her ‘curse’ being born as a black woman called Patsey. Other notable characters were Benedict Cumberbatch (Solomon’s first ‘master’), Paul Giamatti as Freeman. Nama Freeman tapi he is slave trader …bongok tak? and op kos Brad Pitt as handyman Bass (he also produced this movie). One heck of cast if you ask me, kudos to the casting director. 

Cast with the Director 

The movie goes slightly beyond 2 hours mark and if you think you can’t sit through watching innocent people getting tortured and enslaved just imagine ‘their fortune’ just being born in the wrong shade of colour. Just because their skin is darker their whole world becomes dark as well. All others see them is as their ‘property’ to abide their master’s instruction. Sad truth is, even though slavery is pretty much rare during our modern times, there is still poor people taken advantage of their situation. Human trafficking, child prostitution are just some of the ongoing battle we are still fighting to get rid of. Hopefully, one day, humans will ‘look’ beyond the appearance and treat each other with respect and value other person’s feelings. It’s not easy to but it’s not that hard to achieve either don’t you think? 

This movie had deep impact on me.