3 Days to Kill review

Mr. Bodyguard is back on the big screen! 

3 Days to Kill review – Kevin Costner is back yo! I gotta admit he is not really my favourite actor (who can forget the disaster that was Waterworld!) but nobody should forget that he also won an Oscar for ‘Dances with Wolves’ (credit should be given when the credit is due right?). Kevin has so far appeared in 3 movies recently, as Clark Kent’s Dad in Man of Steel, as Harper in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit and this latest flick which is the better one of all 3 in my opinion.  Now let’s have a read why I liked him better in this flick.

I second the review. 

Ethan Renner (Kevin Costner) is a dedicated CIA agent. His job took too much of his time so he’s been neglecting his family consisting of wife, Christine Renner (Connie Nielsen) and daughter Zoey Renner (Hailee Steinfeld). During one of his mission, he finds out that he’s got cancer and decides to return to Paris and mend things while spend his remaining days with his family. Little did he know that he have to ‘finish’ one last mission before he can hang his badge forever. In comes Vivi (Amber Heard) with her multiple wings offering Ethan an experimental drug to overcome the cancer in exchange to catch a criminal called Wolf. With his family situation hanging by the thread coupled with his deteriorating health, will Ethan succeed in his final mission or lose everything he cares about?   

Swapping car rides Mr. McG style! 

After two ‘come back’ movies, Man of Steel and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, I’m glad the third outing was much better for Mr Costner. It was heart-warming to watch him trying to connect with his teenage daughter and make up for lost time. All while trying to catch a crook and stay alive long enough to complete his mission. Kevin portrayed enough passion as a father and loyal agent. Hailee was a perfect annoying adolescent who makes everything hard. From her hair emergency to getting harassed in the club to learning to ride a bike. The international woman of mystery in this movie, Amber Heard…damn that is one hot chick yo! She was ‘deadly’ in her own ways which made me envy of Johnny Depp for being her fiancé! The rest of the cast and story just fell nicely into places. Starting with the chase for the bad guy, getting in touch with the accountant, dealing with juvenile issue and bringing the family together. Mr. ‘Charlie’s Angel’ Director, McG simply shined with his new effort.

I 'heard' me! Amber is hot hot hot! 

I saw the movie listed but since I didn’t score any preview tickets, I opt to not watch it. Not until my friend suggested catching it since we have already watched every other movies in the list. Not a bad decision I might say. I went in with no expectation and came out after the movie satisfied. Some if not quite a number of the scenes in the movie ‘touched’ me in more ways I anticipated. Especially the bonding moments between Ethan and Zoey. If you are having trouble to connect with your busy Dad, clear both your schedule and watch this together. I wish I could catch with my Dad…sigh. 

300: Rise of An Empire Review

Seize it indeed! 

300: Rise of An Empire Review – Here we go…another confession by yours truly, besides horror movies; another genre I avoid is all these Greek mythology and anything that falls along that category. Heck, I watched Clash of The Titans just for Sam Worthington because he was still hot from his ‘Avatar’ form. I even stayed away from the first ‘300’ starring Gerald Butler despite people raving about the Spartans. It was only natural I also wanted to shun this new feature film. Dah ler screenplay by Zack ‘the-man-who-spoiled-Man of Steels-for-me Snyder. It made me resent this movie even before I watched it. Tengok-tengok, my friends won like a gazillion preview tickets and forced me to folo them….haiz…ok ok….fine!!! Jom gi tengok!

Nice neck! Can I slash them? ;) 

Where do I start? As I mentioned, Greek thing is not my thing, because me no likey History, me more into Geography. From my understanding, Greeks and Persians are like sworn enemies who are always at each other’s throat – like literally! If they don’t like you, abis dia slit your throat! ERK! Ganas kan? These stupid Persians kenot duduk diam and wants to concur all of Greece so they go from one district to another killing whoever that fight against them. Their King Darius finally gets defeated by this dude called…Thermometer (as referred to by my friend!)…eh kejap…it’s actually Themistocles’s (Sullivan Stapleton) deadly arrow.  Darius’s son, Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) witnesses his father’s death and vow to avenge him. His vengeance is fuelled by Artemisia (Eva Green), Greek by birth but sworn to destroy her homeland for betraying her. What follows next is an epic battle in the rough ocean trying to defend each other’s land.  Themistocles seeks help from all over Greece, even from Spartans to unite and defeat their common enemy. Will they succeed? *que topless man running around with shield and sword!

Yes it will! Burn baby Burnnnnnnnn!!!! 

The only person I recognise from this movie was Eva Green (she was a Bond Girl!) but then I noticed this sweetie pie, Rodrigo…macam kenal je…macam kenal je…tapi gamba apa ek? Lepas tu baru ingat…lerrrr…he played ‘Karl’ in ‘Love Actually’! Mak datuk hang! Hampir-hampir tak recognise lepas kena shave kao-kao from top to bottom (bahagian ‘tengah’ tu not so sure lar! Hehehe)! They made him look like a dominant gay man (no offence my gays friends) with his bling-bling’s covering his head! (Kalah pengantin perempuan in an Indian wedding tau!) Tsk tsk tsk…Y Rodrigo YYYYYYY??? Anyways, acting wise, most of the cast played they manly or woman acting manly role to almost perfection. Eva Green was simply brilliant as a women seeking revenge and commanding a ship full of broad mans in her super awesome cloths! Sullivan however was less convincing except during his ‘kata-kata semangat’ speech! All they did in this movie was bagi kata semangat, fight, fight, hack the enemy’s head, slash sana, tusuk sini. Stop to recover, count their loses pastu ucapan semangat again then…guess what? Kill or get killed lor. The beauty however or should I say the icky part was watching people head’s getting cut like fruit ninja game with blood gushing out from every corner of this movie! If you have low tolerance for blood, you better stay away wey. If not, silap haribulan, you will spew your food out your guts! Despite all the gore, I must admit I kinda enjoyed watching it. Maybe sebab I had a bad day at the office and already imagined. If I could kill my enemy, how would I do it! Well…watch this and you will never want to mess with me! Ngeh ngeh ngeh!!!

From this......

....to this.... *tsk tsk tsk...give this man his HAIR back pls

I’m thankful to my friends for compelling me to watch this movie. I seriously had a bad few days and somehow this flick manage to perk me up a little. Let’s just hope the scene in this movie will forever remain a fiction because I can’t imagine modern people going against each other in such manner! I don’t think even animals act such way! After watching this I’m tempted to look for the first 300 movie DVD while look forward to the next sequel, prequel or whatever quell you call them! Bring it on SPARTAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!   

Krezi Spartan Sewel friends of mine! :) 

Non-Stop Review

All aboarddddddddd!!! 

Non-Stop Review – Having just travelled to and from Sibu on the same day few days before the preview, I’m glad that thru-out my flying experience, I have never come across any ‘unwanted’ situations and hopefully never will (Touchwood!!!). I can’t imagine being in such situation but gotta admit I do sometimes worry about such circumstances. Let’s hope and pray that none of us will ever have to face such condition.

Marshal and the stewardess 

The 145 passengers on board flight from New York to London however are not so fortune. They are faced with life or death situation when the air marshal on-board, Bill Marks (Liam Neeson) starts getting text messages on secured network. At first glance it does not sound too severe but as the ‘conversation’ pursues, things get serious as the ‘intruder’ threatens to kill one passenger every 20 minutes unless 150 million dollars are transferred into an account. GULP!!! What would you do? Who would you trust? How do you deal with such situation? What if you yourself become one of the suspect? On top of dead bodies (for failing to comply with the demand), there is also a bomb threat! Mak datuk hang! Memang tersepit ler jawapnyer. Will Air Marshal Mark keep his cool to save the poor commuters or is he part of the bigger plot?

The passengers...eh I mean the cast. 

Do you remember another movie by Jodie Foster few years back titled, Flight Plan? It was also ‘shot’ on-board at a plane and Jodie played her part awesomely as a worried mother looking for her missing child en-route from Berlin to New York! (What the heck with flight to New York and hijack situation ni wey? Huhuhu). In this flick, Liam Neeson stands out as a washed out X-NYPD officer battling his alcohol addiction but when push comes to shove he is willing to put his life on the line for the safety of people under his care. Funny to see an Air Marshall who has a fear of flying yet bend on catching the ‘bad guy’. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast, Julianne Moore (Jen Summers), Michelle Dockery (Nancy), Lupita Nyong’o (Gwen) and many other amazing supporting casts were reduced to be just supporting acts. They should have perhaps given more meaty roles to play then it would not look like a one-man-show. Some of the scenes are slightly un-logic but does it put you on edge of your seat. Just make sure you don’t watch this movie before boarding a flight or while flying!

Liam goes Lego!!! 

The world is never the same after 9/11 especially flying. I still get the jitters whenever I have to pass by the security in the airport to going on board a plane up until the it arrives at the destination. Thank God that doesn’t prevent me from flying, I mean if it’s meant to be I don’t make it out alive what can I do ey? Semua orang kena mati gak one day kan? I just prefer it to be in a less scary and dramatic way. God bless all those who have perished on ill-fated voyage and here’s to hoping nobody have to die just to satisfy few idiots mission to blew innocent people to pieces. Till then safe flight nuts! 

P/s- Thanks Churp2 for the preview tickets! 

Saving Mr. Banks Review

A Yank and Brit collabo yo! 

Saving Mr. Banks Review – Who does not love a Disney movie ey? I still sing along to Aladdin, smile ear to ear when the Beast changed into Prince and shed tears when Mufasa died. Sadly in my opinion Disney is sorta losing its magic a little or perhaps I’m growing old and losing the child in me instead. Either way I loved Mary Poppins and was looking forward to witness how Movie Deal of That Century was made between Mrs. P.L. Travers and Mr. Walt Disney.

Trust me Pamela! 

This is not your typical Disney movie as it’s not a fairy tale but a chronicle of what happened behind the scene in order to bring Mary Poppins ‘alive’ into the silver screen. Author of the book, P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) is heavy hearted into ‘giving’ the rights of her beloved children book to be made into a movie by Mr Disney (Tom Hanks). To Mrs. Travers, Mary Poppins (not just Mary but Mary Poppins mind you!) meant the world as she was her escape from her difficult childhood living in Australia while dealing with her alcoholic father, Travers Goff (Colin Farrell). The movie goes back and forth from Travers early years to her current ‘sour puss’ persona. Travers had to be such way because she had to grow up earlier than her peers. Her only escape is her writing and memories of her late father. Will Mr Disney succeed in using his charm to melt the ‘ice queen’ into trusting him to keep his promise to his daughters into trying to bring their beloved ‘Nanny’ to the big screen? Unless you have been living under a rock or perhaps born in the late 90’s, you know that Mary Poppins did indeed capture our imagination with her wit and her famous “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious-ness’. What is interesting to observe is the process of adhering the author’s tough demands and how Mr Disney and his team strived to fulfil such requests.  

Thank God I made it there!!! Yeeeehaaaa

Mini Disney!!! 

Tom Hanks & Emma Thompson….ahhhh…..my favourite American and British talents finally combining force in a feel good movie. I can die happily now. Add Colin Farrell and Paul Giamatti (Ralph), Voila! Disney magic is at its best again.  Side-kicks in the form Jason Schwartzman (Richard Sherman), B.J. Novak (Robert Sherman), Bradley Whitford (Don DaGradi) and child talent Annie Rose Buckley (as Ginty), Saving Mr Bank had just the right ingredient into making the making of Mary Poppins as good as Mary Poppins again. The music, the feel good factor, the atmosphere, I feel like flying a kite! Heck, I might just start to drink tea with a spoonful of sugar if not for the fear of getting diabetic! Great job by the director into capturing the magic that is Disney!!! 

Talented brothers 

Want some tea? 

I remember how happy I was the moment I stepped into Disneyland, California back in 2007! It’s been almost 10 years but I can still recall the ‘magical’ feeling that seeped into me. Losing my camera and getting it back again. What more when I went close to Christmas time. Wonderful decorations everywhere. Friendly faces, familiar noises, fake snow…it was all too much for me till I literally wept from being too happy! It was total awesomeness which I will never forget and will revisit over and over and over whenever I feel down. I felt the connection between myself and Mrs. PL Travers because I like to associate things with feelings, which is not good but I can’t help it. Perhaps it’s just the way we are. There’s something about Disneyland and Disney movies which I’m grateful of the existence for us busy adults to throw away our worries and enjoy relive our childhood even just for few hours. Viva La Disney!   

Must.go.back.to.Disneyland.soon

Mr. Disney at Disneyland

Mani at Disneyland circa 2007! *selfie epic fail :P

P/s - Thanks Ivan for the ticket swap!

P/s 2 - Clink the link below to re-live my LA cum Disney adventure
LA/Disneyland

The Monuments Man Review

No ordinary man!!! 

The Monuments Man Review – I’m not really a big fan of art and George Clooney so I was not excited as I would always be when I scored the preview tickets. Tambah pulak I also won preview tickets to catch another movie, Saving Mr. Banks starring Tom Hanks whom I liked more compared to Clooney on the same day. ERK! Dilemma betul….mana satu aku nak tengok ni? The art God must have had another plan for me to catch this awesome movie because I managed swap tickets with my movie craze friend so I got to watch both movies (Monuments & Banks) back to back! Yeay!!! Thanks Ivan! 

For the love of Art

Moving on about the review…have you ever wondered how did the amazing art work by legendary artists such as Picasso, Rembrandt and so on survived the World War to be viewed these days? That’s what this movie is about; it is based on true story on how some selfless man sacrificed their own life in order to salvage those precious remnants for childrens of the future. Frank Stokes (George Clooney) gathers his man from all walks of life to journey across Europe during the war to stop Hitler from keeping all the prized possession to himself and also destroying it to ashes. He recruits museum curator, architect, art historian in the form of Richard Campbell (Bill Murray), Walter Garfield (John Goodman), Jean Claude Clermont (Jean Dujardin), Donald Jeffries (Hugh Bonneville), Preston Savitz (Bob Balaban) and James Granger (Matt Damon) to retrieve and return the work of art to the rightful owner.s Each of these man travel to different parts of Germany, Poland and France among others to ‘rescue’ 1,000 years’ worth of history. Helping them along the way were Sam Epstein (Dimitri Leonidas) and Claire Simone (Cate Blanchett). With the Nazi losing the war and Hitler issuing the ‘Decree something’ (sorry I forgot what it is actually called) to destroy everything if he loses the war or die, the Monuments Man have to race against time before the priceless memoir gone forever. Will they succeed?

How to survive stepping on land mine lesson 101!

Mr. French! 

With the cast of such amazing talents and Mr. Clooney himself spearheading the direction, this movie had all the right ingredient to get anyone eating out of the storyline. Each of the remarkable actors performed brilliantly to their ability. Clooney as charming as ever, Damon being funny trying to speak French, Blanchett with her trust issues, Dujardin with her French allure and the rest of the gang were simply exceptional. The camerawork was wonderful capturing the ruins caused by the war and swiftly switch into bright colourful view once the focus of the movie changes into an art piece or statue. For a person who is not into artsy things, I was intrigued into finding out more about the valuable creation of such marvellous drawings and figurine. Heck, I felt like jumping on the next plane to visit The Louvre and ogle at them relics. Bravo George for a well craft job.      

Only Rose among the duri! Blanchett at her best!

Despite the sombre reality about the war and innocent lives being lost for the greed of few people, one can’t help but feel happy/good whenever the man ‘salvage’ a drawing or a sculpture. There is also a grim reminder on how evil human can get by killing other humans just to get their hands on material things such ‘gold fillings’ from the Jews teeth. The war took the lives of thousands or millions of people and hopefully will never be repeated ever again. Sadly there are still ongoing wars taking place during these modern times. Humans are gifted with so many wonders by the Power there is so it’s really up to us to either safeguard or annihilate our history and legacy. Once it’s gone…it’s gone forever. 

Precious preview tickets! 

P/s - Thanks again Churp Churp for the preview tickets! I'm so glad I didn't miss this preview and see you guys at the next one soon!

#CNYChurpOut with Tiger Radler!

#Churpout CNY style! 

I can’t recall when I actually joined Churp Churp's community but I’ve been having a blast participating their awesome activities. I hardly buy tickets for movies these days thanks to their #Churprimere and when I found out that Churp Churp is having their first #Churpout of the year! I jumped in joy! Who would not want to Experience Double Refreshment at #CNYChurpOut with Tiger Radler ey? All I had to do was just complete a simple slogan which went like this…I  want to join #CNYChurpOut with @TigerBeerMY because it's my horse year so I wanna share my horse-porous luck tossing loh sang with the @churp2 gang! Huat ah! Ong mali mali! :)

U no come u no fun lor 

After few days…Voila! I got my invite! I RSVP-ed without blinking! From my previous experience, I know how awesome are Churp’s events are and was looking forward to loh sang with them fantastic Churpies! Dress code for the event was CNY of course so I went looking for red kaler baju. Since my ang pow collection was quite good, I used the extra cash to buy my red blouse. I ajak my school friend to be my plus one but few days before the event she went radio silent on me. EEEEEEEEEEEE geramnye aku!!! At first I thought of skipping the event but then why should I? I want to have fun. I deserve to have fun. I know it will be fun. I called up my other friend whom I know will have fun as much as I would, Patricia. Despite the last minute call, Pat agreed to come. Yeayyyyyyyyyy!!! Thanks Pat!!! 

The place to be! 

I took a cab to the venue while Pat drove there. I didn’t have time to inform the Churpies about my plus one swap but like a champ they let Pat in! Sorry for the trouble and thanks for understanding guys. Pat arrived just few minutes before me and she was looking smoking hot in the Cheong Sam! Phewwwwwwwwwwwwit Pat! *wink wink 

The welcoming committee! :)

We registered our name and was handed our lucky draw card after which we got our picture snapped, did some Calligraphy drawing and made our way inside the Tavern, Guinness Anchor Berhad. 

My partner in crime for the night - Patricia aka Pat!!! 

Fail artist! :P

Since there were Instagram contest going on, we started to snap loads of pictures. Pat got hold of the new drink in town Tiger Radler. I don’t drink beer so she had more on my behalf. 

Gulp! Gulp! Gulp! 

More Churpers begin to arrive and the host for the night, Kevin Chong of Traxx FM got the ball rolling by announcing what is in store for the night. The music and environment was happening giler with free flow of Tiger Radler. Pat and I posted few insta pictures and got excited when we saw it flashing on the screen. As reward for our effort, we got to pick ang pow from the lucky dip basket which had RM50 in one the red packets. I managed to get RM5 while Pat walked away with RM2. Ok lah…janji dapat kan? 

Yummy yum yum!!! 

While waiting for more guest to arrive the middle table was filled with colourful loh sang to be tossed later. Kevin came on again to get everybody to approach the table and get the event going. Toss! Toss! Toss! Huah Ah! Huat Ah! Ong Ah! Ong Ah! It was my third loh sang of the year while Pat finally got to participate in her first ever loh sang tossing occasion. 

Ready for loh loh loh sang sang sang!!! 

Smile everybadiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Plastic plates and chop stick was provided for us to eat the tasty loh sang while making our way outside to enjoy the Lion Dance.  Yeay!!! My first Lion Dance for the year. I stood depan-depan so I can get the best view. They performed and I almost joined them! Hehehe! Tong chiang! Tong chiang! Tong tong chiang! I recall edwhen I was younger, my sister and I would use our blanket to perform our own version of the Lion Dance and annoy our Amma! Nowadays, baru dua minit sakit pinggang redy. Adoi. :P 

Lion lai lorrrrrrrrrrr!!! 

Not just any Lion but this Lion got Ironman light on the head woah! ;) 

One of the albummmmmmmmmm *picture courtesy of Churp2

While still walaping the loh sang, dinner was ready and served…waaaaaa….best giler. Jom serang!!! We were too busy eating, drinking, laughing and having fun till forgot to snap the pictures of the food. 

Kevin kacau Pat time! *photo courtesy of Churp2 

Meantime, the next line of entertainment came on in the form of stand-up comedy performance by Phoon Chi Ho. He left us in stiches with his jokes with slight technical problem with the mike. 

Mr. Funnyman! *photo courtesy of Churp2

Later on it was time to give out prizes, crates of Tiger Radler Beer along with Churp Churp infamous blue bird! I got Pat to join the dancing competition and she was a happy girl winning her first ever Churpie. 

Go Pat gooooo!!! Woot! Woot! 

Dancing Queens and Kings Churpers! 

The contest part was really funny with people eyeing for the main prize. People laughing enjoying kao kao the hospitality and warmth of the event. Nick Yap came up for a small speech to flash back on past Churp Churp event and to update on future happenings. 

Thank you Tiger Radler & Churp Churpppp!!! 

I for sure will ‘stalk’ Churp Churp’s facebook, twitter, Instagram accounts and blog so I could join all their awesome #Churprimere, #Churpout and what not!

 

If you have yet to follow and like them, you have no idea what you are missing, so instead of wasting time stalking after your ex-boyfriend or girlfriend online, why not get yourself ‘connected’ with Churp Churp instead and who knows, you might just meet the special someone with the help of the ‘blue bird’! 

Huat ah gang!!! 

Here’s to more awesome events by my favourite online community social network site! 

My favorite blue bird!!! 

Endless Love Review

Young love....hmm....

Endless Love Review – There is a song by the same title sung by the late great Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey which is one of my favourite song, too bad I can’t say the same thing about this movie. To me it felt like a ‘tangkap muat’ movie of the year. As in Universal Studios had some extra cash lying around the studio so they gave it to the Director to use even if they don’t make any profit out of this flick. Perhaps I’m wrong because I’m getting old and maybe the ‘younger generation’ might like but then this is my review.

Thing you do when you are in love...

The story is about David Elliot (Alex Pettyfer) whose been wanting to kiss his high school crush Jade Butterfield (Gabriella Wilde) for the longest time but never act on it until they meet during Jade’s party. Things develop very fast between the two love birds which makes Jade’s father, Hugh (Bruce Greenwood) uncomfortable because he has high hopes for his daughter. Hugh goes to beyond extreme point to keep David and Jade apart hoping that it would just be a summer fling. David and Jade however are head over heels for each other and are willing to face any obstacle. The rest of the movie focus on the strong feelings they have for each other with some adultery conflict thrown in.  

Nope, she is not Sienna Miller :)

The saving grace for this movie for me was the chemistry between Alex and Gabriella. Both looked equally beautiful that will make you look forward how pretty their kids will be. They managed to ‘be in love’ with each other that made me wish I was in such relationship. Another thing I wished for was a cool mother Jade had, even with all the drama, her mother remained calm without becoming a drama mama. Meanwhile, the thing I wish I didn’t have was Jade’s dad, he himself had so many issues but pretend to be a good! Podah! The rest of the cast…as I mentioned before…semua tangkap muat je. 

Daddy with loads of issues! Bluerghhhh

Honestly if I didn’t get the invite for the preview screening, I don’t think I would have spent my time and money to watch this movie. The trailer itself was enough to cover the whole movie while the full length film just added few extra ‘steamy scenes’ which was conveniently snipped away by our censorship board which means you had to use your imagination to fill in the void. Unless you are deeply in love with someone special and want spend some time together inside the cinema for the upcoming Valentine’s Day, I suggest you give the picture a pass. You might as well use the time and money for something else or watch some other movie but that’s just my opinion.  

P/S - Thank you as usual for the preview tickets Churp Churp!!!