Terra Nova (US-Series): A Terrific Adventure to Terra Nova

Terra Nova
Synopsis:
The TV drama series stated with the the world in the year 2149, where Earth is on the verge of extinction due to air quality deterioration and over population. At the Hope Plaza in Chicago,  scientists discover a rift in space-time that allows the people to travel back in time to 85 million years to the prehistoric Earth where the people are able to restart life again without the tainted pollution. However, the selected people and their families are those with higher qualification who are able to contribute to the development there such as scientists, doctors, agricultural experts and others. Also the current law forbids a family to have more than 2 children. So, enter the Shannon family, father is Jim (Jason O' Mara) - a homicide cop, wife Elisabeth (Shelly Connn) - a surgeon specialist in skin and others, children- Josh, Maddy and Zoe. Due to the law enforced, Jim goes to prison when he attack an enforcement team who found them having the 3rd child - Zoe following a tip-off. After 2 years, Elisabeth went to the prison to inform Jim that she and 2 children has been recruited to go to Terra Nova and hatch a plan to enable Jim escape and bringing along Zoe to Terra Nova. The plan is executed successfully and the Shannon Family is able to start a new life in Terra Nova which is headed by Commander Nathaniel Taylor (Stephen Lang), a pioneer and leader of Terra Nova who is in-charge of security and other administration task. In the beginning life is almost like a paradise in Terra Nova, but the longer they are there, they discover that they are not the only people there. They have to deal with the Sixers, lead by Mira (Christine Adams), the different types of carnivorous dinosaurs and a whole new surroundings.
Review:
I have taken a short break from watching movies (rest assured, i am in-progress of watching Arena - Samuel L. Jackson, to write a review later) and move to some drama series for a change. I got a hold of the first 7 episodes of this much hyped drama series supposedly to be the most expensive TV drama and produced by Steven Spielberg. But i was a bit skeptical since Falling Skies, another US drama series also produced by Steven Spielberg was quite weak. But, after watching the first 2 episode- Genesis, i was quite blown away by the massive production of the drama that it almost feel like i was watching a movie. The cast and acting was good and believable. I especially like Stephen Lang presence whenever he is on-screen. It almost feels like Avatar again but i do not think that Damien Garvy acting as Boylan was good but luckily other crews overall acting was good and covers all shortcomings. The cinematography was also good with some great shot of the prehistorical world with an almost like Avatar type, overall editing was tight without any dilly-dally, some of the technology-wise is also an eye-opener and the music background score is also good. From episode 3 onwards to 7, each episode presents new adventure and although not as good as the first 2 episode, it was enough to glued to the television for the next hour. Overall, this is an above average TV series and i hope that it will have enough substance to keep on continue giving surprises.
Verdict:
4 star out of 5.

Change-Up (US) - Old Formula but Good Laugh

Change-Up
Synopsis:
The movie stated with 2 best friends: Dave (Jason Bateman) and Mitch (Ryan Reynolds). Dave is a successful lawyer with a high pay job married to a beautiful wife, Jamie (Leslie Mann), having 3 kids and lived in a suburban home. Mitch is a part-time actor cum unemployed, living single life with no real attachment and lived in an apartment. Dave envy the life what Mitch is currently living, where he gets to go out with different girls, no responsibility, having his own private time while Mitch would love to be in Dave's shoe where he has everything a successful guy would love to have. Then one drinking session night, Mitch and Dave suddenly switch body after peeing in a fountain while wishing together to change their lives. In the beginning, Mitch and Dave are unable to get used to each other life and proceed to be involve in some hilarious moments. To complicate matters, the fountain was relocated to another site yet to be known. But after a while, Dave now in Mitch body starts to enjoy life especially when he now has the opportunity to go after her sexy legal assistance, Sabrina (Olivia Wilde) while Mitch now in Dave body started to feel responsible towards the legal works and taking care of the children. When the fountain was found, Mitch and Dave were having second thoughts about switching back to their own selves but in the end, both found out about the value of their own lives and changes their lives forever.
Review:
This body changing formula has been used many times like Freaky Friday, 18 Again, The Hot Chick and the same formula is also applied to this movie, Change-Up with many hilarious moments. From my experience, this is perhaps the best body-changing movie perhaps due to its "R-Rated" where many scenes of nude scenes which is necessary in this movie, profanity languages which is abundant from start till end, and drug usage too. When all these combined together, we have a no-hold-barred funny comedy that work very well in this movie. I think all actors, actresses and babies played their part really well in this movie especially 2 hot leading guys in Ryan Reynold and Jason Bateman. I particularly like Jason Bateman more in this movie and his acting is much better compared to Ryan but i guess it is because of his role where he got to portray a young wild guy in an old man's body. The movie is never boring and the laugh started from the get go until the final credit. If you stayed a little longer during the end credit, there is some more scenes. Overall this is a satisfying adult comedy movie.         

Verdict:

I give this a 3.5 star out of 5 for being a higher than average comedy movie.

Honey 2 (US) - A Weak Sequeal with Yawn Factor

Honey 2
Synopsis:
The movie started with 17-year-old Maria Ramirez (Katerina Graham) inside a juvenile home due to her previous conviction with thief. After completing her sentence, she return to her hometown under the care of Honey Daniels' mum, Connie (Lonette McKee). Connie persuade Maria to become cleaner at Honey's Dance Rehab Center and soon she realize her passion for dance never diminished. Maria soon joins up with Brandon (Randy Wayne), one of the Rehab volunteer and leader of a dance class called HD. Maria also meet up with her ex-boyfriend Luis (Christopher 'War' Martinez), the charismatic leader of 718 dance crew champion , who previously lured Maria to steal, hence sentence to a juvenile center. In order to prove herself, she competes in a television dance competitor "Dance or Die" with HD group and teaches them new routine and choreograph. Soon, HD began to win in their preliminary and play-off until the final battle where they met 718, with HD winning though their unique and slick dance.
Review:
I wasn't really hoping much for another dance movie especially after seeing many horrendous dance flick in the past except Step Up 1, 2 and Honey (1) starring Jessica Alba. But since this is a follow-up to Honey (1), why not give it a chance and we might be able to find some buried treasure inside it. The first 5~10 minutes was promising with good music vibe and not too bad dance choreograph. However, as with many dance flick, the weak dialogue, repetitive & old storyline "poor then win" formula, weak acting, this movie has it all. In fact, the only revelation between this movie and its original is the fact that they use the same building that Honey has used in the previous movie and also her mum too. It does looks like the producer of this movie is just filming for the sake of having a sequel and milking the money from poor viewers. And as my previous dance flick review stated, normally the only thing watchable is the dancing and its soundtrack. Perhaps its just me but i do not fancy soft RnB to be background music of a dance routine as in this movie. A dance routine needs to have heavy RnB music in the likes of 50 Cents, Missy Elliot, Ludacris, and etc. to get the adrenaline pumping while rooting for the dance like Step Up 2. These are not found in this movie, so a minus point there. Now, the dance choreographer is also weak in this movie. There was no oomph factor during the final battle and i felt the final battle from 718 is the weakest of the lot with no imaginative dance move and the dressing was also horrible. HD final dance was quite okay but the costume design brought heavily from Step Up 3 and it was a bit like copycat to me.    
Verdict:
 I give this a poor 1 star out of 5. Weak dance routine again.

Conan the Barbarian (US) - Brainless Non-Stop Action

Conan the Barbarian
Synopsis: 
The movie started of with a narration about a powerful mask, Mask of Acheron created by a group of sorcerers and made from the skulls of dead kings. The mask is suppose to give power to the wearer after sacrificed their pure blood daughters to the dark gods. However the wearer was defeated by the barbarian clans lead by Corin (Ron Perlman) and the mask was broken into several pieces and kept by different clans across the continental. Then, the movie panned to Corin and his young son, Conan who's mother was killed during some clashes. A new warlord, Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang) decided to conquered the world using the mask, had band together a massive army to search for the missing pieces. Together with her sorcery daughter, Marique, they discover the last missing pieces is with Corin. Thus, they attacked the village and in the process, Corin was killed but Conan was spared but vows to revenge his father's death. After many years, the now grown-up Conan (Jason Momoa) finally found a break when he saw one of Khalar Zym lieutenants and decided to interrogate him. This lead to Conan going on an adventure where he defeat Khalar Zym's lieutenants one by one and finally edging closer to Khalar Zym himself where the final battle between Conan and Khalar Zym takes place.
Review:
I finally decide to watch this Conan the Barbarian after hesitate for a long time simply because Conan portray by Arnold Schwarzenegger was the best, with enough mystical and barbarian outlook. I wasn't so sure about this movie but was quite happy that Jason Momoa portraying Conan simply because i cannot find any other actor with physical build and such savagery looks other than Momoa. Momoa was excellent in "Games of Thrones" tv series where he portray Khal Drogo, an almost Conan like character. So what would go wrong, right? After watch this movie, i wasn't quite sure if Momoa was indeed the perfect choice or perhaps, the director is unable to bring Momoa character out to portray Conan. In this movie, Momoa looks like he wasn't taking himself seriously and would always crack one or two line of jokes, and had a quirky smile afterwards. Conan isn't suppose to be that. Conan is suppose to be that savage, barbarian hulk looking and without emotion, without pity and certainly without humor like what has been portray by Schwarzenegger. If Momoa's silent but deadly Khal Drogo character was to incorporate to be Conan, then we would have a winner movie but instead we have a Ronan Dex from Stargate Atlantis as Conan. Aside from that, i found the movie quite entertaining and having non-stop action, brainless and lacking good story and script but non-the-less quite an entertaining action movie. It wasn't as bad as some of the review i saw, as it was passable and the visual effects was also not bad at all. The movie flows quite quickly with action after action, with Conan finding and defeating Khalar Zym's lieutenant like in a video game. Alas, when comes to the big boss, it was quite a disappointment. If you can minus out the main character's nonsensical action and brainless bash movie, then this update Conan the Barbarian would be a good popcorn choice.

Verdict:

I give this a 1.5 star out of 5, only because i found Rose McGowan's character as the sorcery, Marique to be quite a colorful character.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (US) - Predictable and Un-Scary

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
Synopsis:
The movie started off in olden days in a house called Blackwood Manor where famous painter, Lord Blackwood is seen killing her servant with a hammer and removes her teeth to be offered to creatures in an ash pit. It is indicated that Blackwood's son has been kidnapped by the creatures and in return, Lord Blackwood offers them teeth in return for the safe return of his son. However, the creatures demanded children's teeth instead and proceed to attack Blackwood and drag him down too. Then, the movie is panned to present day where Alex (Guy Pierce), Kim (Katie Holmes) and Kim's stepdaughter, Sally (Bailee Madison) who moves in to the Blackwood Manor temporary since Alex is an interior who helps to restore the Manor to be sold to the market. However, the creatures began to sense the presence of Sally and began making contact and befriended her. In the beginning, everything seems fine but the creatures began to create trouble by purposely tearing Kim's clothing, and then attacking her and Alex's servants. At first, Alex and Kim didn't believe her and thought that Sally is making stories because of missing her mom but after more and more incident seems to happen around Sally, Kim started to investigate and chance upon Blackwood's unpublished artwork that shows creatures attacking human child and changing them into creatures. When Kim and Alex decided to finally moves out, the creatures started their attack on all 3 of them and it was shown that one of the creature looks like Blackwood. Due to Kim's intervention in the final moments, Sally was saved from being dragged down but Kim instead is the one dragged down the ash hole like Blackwood. After some time later, Kim voice is heard inside the ash hole telling the other creatures to wait for other potential victims.
Review:
I decided to watch this film with high anticipation that this film is almost as scary as another of Film District production, "Insidious" and with Guillermo Del Toro at helm as writer and producer to boot with. But after watching this movie, i can say that this is not Insidious. It is not scary, the editing is also not so well done, and it can be said as practically boring and predictable movie. First of all, the creatures are shown almost immediately after 15 mins in the movie and they look more adorable, funny and a nuisance tooth fairy than scary creatures that they are suppose to be depicted in the movie. Of course the creatures get maniac in the end but somehow it doesn't shows the scariness of it. Once the creatures are shown, the whole movie goes down because of their looney character. It almost felt like the whole movie is a fantasy movie rather than a reality and present moment. The human character is secondary especially for Guy Pierce but Bailee Madison did a good job as a small girl with mature thinking and character. This is a forgettable movie in comparison with another of Film District movie, Insidious where there is genuine scare, jump, good editing and non-stop entertaining. Now that's what i called a scary movie and after watching that movie, i am indeed afraid of the dark.

Verdict:

A 1.5 star of out 5. 

Spy Kids: All the Time in the World : Weaker Sequal but Great for Kids

Spy Kids 4D
Synopsis: 
The movie started with Marissa Wilson (Jessica Alba) who is a spy and pregnant, going after an evil villain, Tick Tock who has possessed an amulet that is able to freeze time. After successfully extracted the amulet and capture Tick Tock, Marissa decided to retired and takes the opportunity to become a housewife to Wilbur Wilson (Joel McHale), a failed TV reality actor for Spy Hunter, and his 2 stepchildren, Rebecca and Cecil.
However, an evil villain called Timekeeper emerges and using his gadget to fast-forward time from seconds to minutes to hours with the help of Tick Tock. The spy agency, OSS lead by Danger D'amo (Jeremy Piven) then summon Marissa to give back the amulet after finding that the Timekeeper wanted to use it for his devious plan. During Marissa absent, Timekeeper's followers located the amulet in Marissa's house and decided to break-in with their step-children unaware of the potential danger that is about to happen. However, Marissa has already rigged the house for any potential danger and an escape route was also built without their knowledge. Rebecca and Cecil managed to escape and transported to OSS where they learn the identity of their step-mother. Rebecca and Cecil then decided to go on an adventure together with Marissa and the other ex-Spy Kids to stop Timekeeper.
Review:

As with other Spy Kids franchise, this is quite a fun movie with many comedic actions non-stop. But when compared with other Spy Kids franchise, this is the weakest in the series of 4. I felt that the kids - Rebecca and Cecil are more of a brat kids who are into fun and games than super intelligent kids like Juni and Carmen in previous sequels which provides many quirky one liner jokes. However, that said, the movie is still an entertaining children action movie with plenty of colorful scenes to brighten the movie, non-stop action and some hilarious moments from Jessica Alba.

Verdict:

I give this a 2 star out of 5

Shark Night (US) - Meatless, Boneless & Tasteless

Shark Night

Synopsis:
The movie started with 7 University undergraduates, Sara (played by Sara Paxton) a popular girl, Nick (Dustin Milligan) a medical student, Beth (Katherine McPhee), couples - Malik (Sinqua Walls) & Maya (Alyssa Diaz), Blake (Chris Zylka) and Gordon (Joel David Moore) went on a holiday trip to Sara's vacation house in a secluded lake after their semester break. There, they encountered Sara's ex Dennis (Chris Carmack) and his partner, Red (Joshua Leonard) who nearly got into a fight with Malik and Maya but quick intervention by Sara. They also encountered Sheriff Sabin (Donal Logue) who is a family friend of Sara. While at the vacation house, Nick, Blake, Malik and Maya decided to go on a water skiing but things turn out horribly wrong when a shark attack Malik and bitten off his arm. When Sara, Nick and Maya when for help in Sara speedboat, the shark attack the boat, kills Maya and crashes the boat. While they were still in a daze, Dennis and Red came to their rescue and offer to contact nearby hospital while bringing along Beth and Gordon. However, during their journey, Dennis and Red decided to turn on both Beth and Gordon by revealing that they are the ones who throw the sharks into the lake and later throws Gordon to the water to be eaten by a shark while throw Beth to baby sharks to be eaten alive while shooting their camera. It is later reveal that Dennis and Red is part of a group that capture videos of victim eaten alive to be sold off to reality networks. While at the vacation home, Blake decided to take Malik on a beach scooter to the nearby hospital judging from Malik losing a lot of blood. However during their journey there, other sharks attack and kill off Malik and Blake. Sheriff Sabin came to the vacation home after saw a huge explosion involving Sara speedboat. While there, Sheriff Sabin attack both Sara and Nick and also reveal that Sabin is working together with Dennis and Red to film a snuff movie involving sharks. Nick manage to kill Sabin by pushing him into a water infested with Tiger Sharks and then proceed to save Sara by having Dennis kill off Red during a confusion and then let a shark attack Dennis.
Review: 
The premise setting is a normal slasher-monster kind of movie with teenagers partying at the outskirt with minimal people at the surrounding. It was predictable but i kinda like to watch these movie where we get to see the teenagers getting killed one by one in the most innovative way possible. But this movie sucks big time. Firstly, there are not much character development for each of the 7 teenagers even though we knew that they will become shark meal later in the movie. The movie started so-so and it was quite engaging in the 1st 15 minutes when a shark finds the 1st victim in Malik's arm. Then after, it totally gone downhill and there are no real suspense with the shark attack and even worse, the movie isn't really about sharks too. The sharks are consider secondary to the real villain of the movie, Sheriff Sabin, Dennis and Red. It was a total turn-off once it was reveal half-way through the movie that Dennis and Red is behind the shark attack. Well the best thing is that the movie ended really fast. I think the movie only lasted around 80~90 mins which was okay by me judging that they don't really have much script to work with for this movie. It was a disappointing entry by David R. Ellis. The 3D is horrible and there is not much 3D effect at all for this movie, so don't waste money.
The best shark movie is still " The Reef" for this year.

Verdict:

1 star out of 5.