Sinister - Twisted, Brilliant Sinister Story

Review:
The movie began in a very dark, bizarre way - showing a family of 4 being hanged from a tree behind their house. Somehow, it sets a serious sinister tone to the movie and boy was i in for a ride. The movie is quite well paced and the weirdness/scary/twisted started quite soon without dragging. It is about a writer, Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) who wanted to write a new book based on a murder in the house they they just moved in. Ellison deliberately bought the house in order to investigate further into the mystery of the murder and the disappearance of their youngest daughter. He stumble upon a box of old project and Super 8 films up in the attic and began to play the movies. The film depicted the murder of the family, as well as other families too and this make Ellison worked out and strangely after watching the film one by one, he began to experience some strange incidents at night. The story seems simple yet it isn't so straight forward and we as audience need to see the Super 8 film to get us thinking on what will happen next and what will happen to the movie character. Thus, it is truly engaging that we the viewers are eagerly anticipating what is going to happen every time Ellison pops another Super 8 tapes and view it. The whole movie is based solely on the individual performance of Ethan Hawke whom did brilliantly as Ellison Oswalt, a has-been famous writer who is trying to gain fame again but slowly drive to insanity and off the edge due to strange event and the brutality of the murder viewed from the film. Overall, this movie is an above average movie which i consider as similar par with Insidious with excellent music and the Super 8 projected sound, you will not hear it the same way again.

Verdict:

I give this a 4.5 star out of 5. Good storyline and best performance by Ethan Hawke. Scary -- not so much,
twisted -- yea, will you remember this film after it ended -- definitely yes

Taken 2 - Fast Pace Action without Emotional Touch

Review:
"Taken 2" is an anticipated sequel to the 2008 surprise hit movie "Taken" that propel Liam Neeson to become an action superstar ala Jason Bourne did to Matt Damon. I watch "Taken" on DVD even before there was any review whatsoever and lets just say, I was blown-away by the action, plot, emotion portray by Brian Mills (brilliantly played by Liam Neeson) as a concern father looking for his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace) who was kidnapped and sold in human flesh trade by a syndicate. In Taken 2, Brian Mills reunites with her daughter, Kim and ex-wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen) and they were on a holiday trip in Istanbul after Mills last assignment. However, the syndicate that Mills exterminated in the first movie, vows revenge and in the form of Murad Hoxha  (Rade Serbedzija) whom Mills killed his son too. So, in this sequel, Mills and Lenore get kidnapped instead but Mills escape and started to exterminate each of the group en-route in saving Lenore. So the question is, did Taken 2 live up to the billing to its successful Taken 1 movie? yes and no. Taken 2 has great pace in its action sequence and kept the audience glued to their seats as the sequence is so fast paced that you might miss the action if you went the the loo. Director Oliver Megaton really excel in keeping the past interesting. But Taken 2 has taken on a more action-plot storyline rather than a mixture of emotion - action plot that makes "Taken 1" so successful. This will be a forgettable movie in few months unlike "Taken 1"
Verdict:
I give this a 3.5 star out of 5

The Expendables 2: No Brains Required Action Movie

Review:
After watching the 1st movie, i came to a conclusion that this movie franchise is based on action stars coming together in the same movie - forget the unoriginal plot, forget the poor acting, forget the cheesy dialogue and forget any logic behind it. In fact, just forget everything and leave you brain at home and enjoy the masculine, adrenaline action superstars (current, upcoming and has-been stars) shooting bad guys and blow up things. So, is the sequel any different from the first? Hmmm .... let me think?? Nope, it is the same silly plot, poor acting, cheesy dialogue all over again. But i guess the success of this movie as well as the first is its action star power. Expendables 2 is able to attract more superstars than the first - with inclusion of Van Damme, Scott Adkins, Liam Helmsworth, and Chuck Norris apart from having meatier role for Schwarzenegger and Willis. Of course most of them just appear in cameo due to screen time limitation but i guess it is enough to satisfy action fans. Somehow i felt that the first movie is much better than this sequel although the action sequence for the 2nd is better. Overall, it is just a popcorn fare movie and are usually forgettable after the movie ends. It was however fun to watch so many superstars in a single movie.

Verdict:

Just a 2 out of 5 star