The Avengers - Slugfest of Superheroes

The Avengers
Synopsis:
The movie started almost immediately with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) trying to unlocked the natural power of tesseract, an unknown energy source that previously in Thor, it was reveal. However, the energy opened up a portal for Loki (Tom Hiddleston), step-brother of Thorto step into earth and creates havoc by stealing the tesseract and possessed Haweye, Clink Barton (Jeremy Renner) and Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) to aid in building a bigger portal for an alien race, Chitauri to help in his invasion on earth and then provide the tesseract in return. Fury who saw the threat to earth finally initiated the Avengers Initiative. Balck Widow, Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johannson) is send to India to recruit Dr. Banner aka Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) , agent Phillip Coulson (Clark Gregg) is sent to recruit Tony Stark aka Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and finally Fury recruits Steve Rogers aka Captain America (Chris Evans). The mission is to retrieve back the tesseract from Loki. During their mission, they encountered Thor (Chris Hemsworth) who is there to retrieve the tesseract and Loki himself. The battle of egos soon began with each others and finally working as a team to fight against the Chitauri armies.  
Review:
This is one of the most anticipated superheroes movie of all time, especially since we are being teased with post-credits sequences from each of the Avengers - Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and Hulk. After all the hype surrounding it, finally we are able to watch all of the superheroes in action. So was it worth it? All i can say is there are many funny moments and due to the complexity of the storyline, i believe that the children will not be able to understand the movie without few more viewings. The movie started off with a bang from the word go and introduce us to plenty of explosions and special effects. Iron Man and Captain America blended really well together simply because both are considered as more normal than Thor and Hulk and it applies really well in the real world. But with the introduction of Thor, Loki and the Chitauri race, it almost becomes less realistic and more mystic ala Thor world. To me, it didn't blend that well and instead of making a serious movie like Iron Man 1 & 2, it almost becomes like Green Lantern type especially during the final battle against the Chitauri. However, with the performance of Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johannson and others, it manage to lift this movie. Although somehow Hollywood is still unable to make a more realistic Hulk, but he still manage to provide comical relief to the movie and his carnage is incredible- smash and smash. Overall, this movie still manage to give comic fans what they have been eagerly awaiting for - all superheroes in a slug-fest battle.  
Verdict:
I give this movie a 3.5 out of 5

The Hunger Games - A Promising Trilogy but Miss the Bullseye Mark

The Hunger Games
Synopsis:
The movie started with an explanation of how the Hunger Games comes about in a nation called Panem in North America. It consists of a wealthy Capitol and 12 districts who once rebel against the capitol due to the suppression of its 12 district. As a result of the rebellion, Capitol decided to punish these districts by having an annual event where 1 boy and 1 girl from each district will participate in a game of survival where only 1 will live. Before they are being thrown in a jungle with weapons and supplies, they are first paraded around Capitol, train on weapons, and showcase their skills to prospect sponsors who will provide them some additional supplies during the games. These boys and girls from each district are handled by a trainer Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) , a stylist Cinna (Lenny Kravitz) and a PR officer, Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) during the 2 weeks crash course. The movie panned on District 12, with Katniss Everdeen (Jeniffer Lawrence) who volunteered for the games after her younger sister, Primrose was selected through a ballot box. The boy selected is Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), whom once gives a loaf of bread to Katniss. During the games, many were killed especially by District 1 members whom are traditionally well-known for breeding champions for the Hunger Games. Katniss managed to avert danger due to her experience in the wildlife and also her arrow & bow skill. Katniss and Peeta managed to stay alive and win the games when the Capitol changes the rule to have 2 winners from same district to appease the viewers.
Review:
I did not read any of the novels by Suzanne Collins, thus it would be fair to review this as a normal movie rather than a movie adaptation. The movie atmosphere surrounding is dark and dirty, which signify the poor condition of district 12 and the music is also kept to the minimal to make the whole scene looks more real. The camera is also jerky and moving along with the stars to showcase some authentication of it. But in my personal opinion, i think it was a little overdoing it. All the fighting scenes are shot in a chaotic nature and due to the jerkiness, sometime we are unable to know who is doing what. This is quite a turn-off for me in this aspect. The first half of the movie is quite fun to watch, when we are shown how the Capitol prepare the children for the games and it builds on our anticipation right up to the games. But the 2nd half of the movie which showcase the games are quite a letdown. It didn't really show much violence and the killing was quite minimal and non-coherent. At times it builds on the suspension but before it climax, it is tuned off. In conclusion, there is no peak in this movie. In the beginning i was quite excited, but as the games go on and dragging, i couldn't really care less and wish the movie ended faster. Overall, it was an average movie for me despite all the hype surrounding how good this movie is. I expects Katniss to use her bow and arrow more, especially with all the posters showing her with the arrow but in the end, it was a little on the children category for me. If you wanted to watch a real "bow and arrow" superb movie, then it would be the korean movie, "War of Arrows", now that's real action. 

Verdict:  

I give this a 3 out of 5.

The Grey - A So-So Action Survival Movie

The Grey
Synopsis:
A simple story about Ottway (Liam Neeson) who is a hunter, preventing wolves from attacking oil-diggers in the Antarctic. On the way back home, he and other oil-diggers boarded a plane and crashes in a cold-icy mountain. The movie didn't show a full-blown airplane or how the airplane suddenly caught fire and crashes. Then, it shows that only Ottway and few survivors escape death in the fatal crash and with his experience as a hunter, he began leading the bunch to survival especially against a pack of vicious wolves who are picking on their group one-by-one. He began to bond some friendship along the way and showcase of how they deal with death on the course of their escape. However, when one-by-one, the survivors are killed due to the wolves, accident and illness, and remain Ottway, he started to began questioning his faith. In the end, we learn that Ottway wishes to commit suicide in the beginning before the crashes due to his wife's passing due to illness. However, he slowly regain back his composure to finally choose to fight his own battle of survival by going against the alpha wolves in the end of the movie. 
Review:
There was quite a hype on this movie a few months back especially when it went up top in the charts for a brief moment. So, i was kinda quite excited especially seeing Liam Neeson giving a powerful performance in Taken and other action-packed movies lately. The movie was at first hard to follow simply because there is no mentioning of what is character, Ottway is doing and mumbling about. Then, we were shown bits and pieces of Ottway and his wife embracing before the crashes but wasn't given a clue what it was. The story started to picked up during the plan trip and after the plane crash. The plane crash incident as stated above, was not shown in a complete manner but bits and pieces. However, the scenes was quite intense and surreal surrounding during the crash was very real. After that, i would say that the whole thing started to go downhill although there are a lot of actions going on like the wolves attack, the bonding, the journey and etc. However, i didn't feel very convince with the performance of it especially Liam Neeson. He still shows his coolness in talking and etc. much like when he is in Taken but i felt that it wasn't natural and especially not in the cold icy condition. I felt that he needs to show more in-depth emotion, his struggling especially in cold weather but i don't sense any of the bunch feeling cold, exhausted and etc. Heck! there wasn't even a trembling hand and no one looks hungry too even after days there. It wasn't as believable as i would hope for. Now lest move on to the wolves attack in the movie which was suppose to be the highlights of the movie. The attack was fast, vicious and difficult to be seen too especially the first attack. It was dark, strong wind and snowy and it was too fast that even though i didn't blink an eye, i still couldn't really see what was going on. The other attacks are also nothing to shout about although there are 1~2 scenes that are quite real. The finale of Ottway against the alpha wolf are not shown and ended abruptly and leave the audience guessing on who won the battle although after the credits, it shows the aftermath but i felt cheated. I was longing for a battle between man and wolves but i had to rely on my imagination to complete the movie, so it was a disappointment for me.   

Verdict:

I give this a 3 out of 5. Just an average movie.   

Beneath The Darkness (US) - A Wasted & Rubbish Movie

Beneath the Darkness
Synopsis:
The movie plot is very simple, revolving Ely (Dennis Quaid), a mortician who kills a guy named Jack, by burying him alive early in the movie. After 2 years pass, a bunch of teenagers : Travis, Abby, Brian and Danny decided to break into Ely house because they suspect that Ely's dead wife, Rosemary is still walking around the house. After a night of spying where they saw a shadow of Ely and his wife dancing near the window, they were convinced that a ghost is inside the house and decided to check out the house the next night. After mistakenly thought that Ely has went off, the group breaks into his house and found Ely wife already a corpse. However, Ely managed to catch all of them in the act and kills Brian and making it looks like they are trespassing and trip on the stairways. Travis who witness this brutal murder, decided to gather more proof of Ely's dead wife by trespassing Ely's house again with Abby but was unfortunately caught again by Ely. Abby was hidden inside a casket beneath his garden while Travis managed to escape yet again. However, after Ely contacted the authority about Travis being a burglar, suddenly Travis becomes a wanted person. Travis then went back to Ely house again and again was captured by Ely and bundled inside his van together with Abby and Rosemary. Ely drove them to the cemetery where he intended to buried them alive. He told Travis that the reason he killed Jack is because he was cheating with his wife whom he has also killed. After some confusion where Travis and Abby managed to screw Ely head by pretending to be Rosemary, Ely was buried inside the casket instead. The movie ended with the police retrieved Ely and he was locked up inside the mental institute.
Review:
As i have written the synopsis, the movie plot is so silly and the acting is also very bad. It started quite okay but then, the story stray on becoming illogical moves by the so-called teenagers. Some of the illogical aspect and highlights of the film:
One: 3 People went inside the house, Ely ask all to leave but the last one was sudden grab by Ely. Instead of helping his friend which would be so easy, they bolted
Two: Ely hid his wife corpse in the attic and the police went on to mentioned that they search the whole house and couldn't find anything. Duh!
Third: After getting caught once, then twice... it almost seems like either the teenagers don't have any sense of doing a snooping job or Ely is so extremely good in catching or the movie has so much coincidence   
I could go on and on about all these things but i feel that it is unnecessary and Dennis Quaid as a psychopathy just couldn't cut it.  

Verdict:

I give this a 1 star out of 5. Poor ... just poor.

50/50 - Emotionally Charge Movie - - Just Miss the Big Punch!

50/50
Synopsis:
This is a movie about Adam Lerner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a 27-year old working in a radio station, having a live-in girlfriend, Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard) and best friend, Kyle (Seth Rogen). When Adam learns that he has a rare cancer in his spine after a routine check-up on his backache, he was left to deal with illness and the people surrounding him. He decided to inform Rachel and Kyle on this issue and the needs to go for chemotherapy everyday.  Also, Adam finally decided to inform his mother, Diane (Anjelica Huston) and his dad who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease after few days due to his mother's over-the-to protection nature. During the chemotherapy, Adam makes friends with Alan (Philip Baker Hall) and Mitch (Matt Frewer) who provided some advices and show the meaning of life in the aspect of a cancer patient. Adam also visited a therapist, Katherine McKay (Anna Kendrick) who began to slowly fall for one another after Rachel cheated on him. His friend, Kyle also tries to cheer up Adam by picking up women, having a night stand, heavily drinking and smoking pots. Adam however began to have emotional breakdown especially after Mitch passes away and feels that his life is coming to an end. However, with the help of his friend, Kyle who was reading books on how to help a person with cancer, and his mom who is attending a group therapy for parents with child having cancer to his therapist, Katherine, he began to feel strong especially when the doctor inform him that he needs to have an emergency operation due to his illness is non-responsive to the chemotherapy. Finally, Adam undergone surgery and successfully having his tumor removed, and dated Katherine. 
Review:
After missing many weeks of good movies due to personal things,  its good to watch a feel-good movie to help regain my composure. I picked up this movie, titled 50/50 during the weekend which tells of a man diagnosed with a cancer and having a 50/50 chance of survival rate. I felt that i could used a good cry every once in awhile. The movie paced was good and the actors are brilliant in their performance without going over the top. Good credits and acting-chops to Joseph Gordon-Levitt who makes us likes this guy, Adam, a normal average guy who discover he has cancer. He is able to handle his facial expression and emotional perfectly and it is complimented with the ever funny, Seth Rogen. Both of them have great chemistry that you can almost feel the friendship bond between them and especially in the final emotional scene where you see Kyle wishes Adam good luck inside his car, it is truly captivating. Anjelica Huston is funny with her overtone voice as Adam's mom and whenever she is on-screen, there will be a good one liner punch that tickles your bone and makes the film light-hearted. Anna Kendrick is extremely adorable as Katherine but she doesn't shine much in this movie, but instead acting as a clumsy and inexperience therapist a little too over the edge, to my preference. Overall, the tone and the story is heart-felt and i would prefer it to give me a little extra poke to my emotional feelings so that i can cry my heart out but instead, i wipe away tears with a single tissue. That was good enough.
Verdict:
I give this film a 4 out of 5. Excellent performance.

Man On A Ledge (US) - Quite Entertaining Heist Movie

Man On A Ledge
Synopsis:

The movie start up with a man named as Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) who checks into a hotel room in Roosevelt Hotel with a window view. After checking in, Nick orders a champagne and a breakfast. After finishing it, he carefully cleans all the fingerprints in the room and proceed to climb onto the ledge of his hotel room. When the people in the street saw him, they presume that he is going to commit suicide and subsequently call the authorities. An officer in the scene, Jack Daugherty (Edward Burns) decided calm Nick from jumping but Nick demanded that Jack finds Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks) to be his negotiator else he jump. We found out that Lydia is a police officer in-charge with suicidal negotiation but had an incident gone wrong and feeling self-guilt and depressed. During also this time, we are shown the events before his coming over to the ledge. Nick was a police officer who is found guilty of abscond a $40mil diamond from a property businessman, David Englander (a very thin Ed Harris) but he always maintain his innocence that it was a set-up and Englander is the person behind the thief so that he can claim insurances due to his failing business. Nick escapes from prison when he was granted special visit to the cemetery to visit his late father. The movie panned back to the current time frame where Nick's younger brother, Joey (Jamie Bell) and his girlfriend, Angie (Genesis Rodriquez) sneaks to the next building that Nick is supposing to jump to break into a vault keeping the $40Mil diamond of Englander. Then, we are shown a tense scenario where Nick is trying to divert the attention of the cops while also using the crowd to camouflage the heist by Joey and Angie. When Joey and Angie finally succeed in getting the diamond, they are caught by Englander. During this time, police got to know that Nick is a convicted prisoner and hell-bent in capturing him. When Englander knew of his identity, he dispatch his corrupted officers, his old partner Mike Ackerman (Anthony Mackie) and Dante Marcus (Titus Welliver) to kill Nick. Feeling remorse, Ackerman tries to protect Nick but was shot by Marcus who is subsequently killed by Lydia. Upon seeing Englander trying to escape with his diamond, he managed to jump on him and shows the crowd that he is innocent by showing the diamond. Finally, Nick is drop of all charges and reunites with his brother and girlfriend together with his supposedly deceased father and Lydia.  
Review:
I didn't know the storyline when i decided to catch his movie before it hits the theater nor the movie trailer. In the end, it turn out to be a very good, entertaining and non-stop excitement movie. I didn't expect this movie to be that good especially when the movie title is so lame but it really hit me hard. The movie is never dull and we are forced to think if Nick is going to jump or not going to jump. His character has not much things to do apart from being on the ledge for most of the movie but somehow, the director is able to pump up the intensity with the diamond heist. The storyline isn't all that great and there are some loopholes everywhere in the movie but it didn't stop the movie from being a fun roller-coast movie. Definitely worth the ticket money to watch 2 good movies back-to-back  (the other being Chronicles)   

Verdict:

I give this a 4 star out of 5

Chronicle (US) - A Realistic Super Power Movie

Chronicle
Synopsis:
The movie is captured in a video-cam format and most of it is captured by one, Andrew (Dane DeHaan) who is an introvert, living with his sick mother and a drunken abusive father. Through the lens, we are able to see that Andrew is often being bullied in schools and hangs out with his cousin, Matt (Alex Russell). One night while filming a party event and getting punched at, a popular guy in school, Steve (Michael B. Jordan) requested Andrew to film a hole in a ground that he and Matt discovered. He continue to film them crawling inside the hole and until they found a green-glowing crystal like object which emits a high pitch sound until the camera blanks out. Then the camera panned to how the 3 of them have this telekinesis power where they are able to move an object just by thinking about it. They decided to harness the power and play pranks in the school, supermarket and etc until Andrew took things a little far by unintentionally pushes a bully truck off the river, thus endangering others. Matt decided to create rules whereby they are not to harm any humans with their powers which all agreed. For the next few months, they were able to fly up in the sky using their new found power. Andrew also became popular with the school mates after a magic show performance using his power to win friends over and some female fans. When one of the female fan decided to have some intimacy with Andrew, he vomits at the girl due to excessive drinking and was laugh at. Andrew then began to isolate himself and began feeling upset with everyone, and when Steve tries to calm him down, he was stuck by lighting generated by Andrew. Andrew also finds himself broke when needed to buy medicine for his sick mom, decided to rob a bunch of drug dealers in his neighborhood and also a petrol station, where he was accidentally burned and admitted to the hospital. Under the policy custody, Andrew father decided to visit him and place the blame on Andrew over his mom's death but Andrew woke up and an explosion erupted in the room with Andrew throwing his dad over the hospital but was saved by Matt. Andrew and Matt decided to battle each other and finally Andrew was killed.
Review:
Although there are some uninteresting dialogue and unnecessary scenes especially between Matt and Casey, but overall the pace is quite nice and entertaining when Matt, Andrew and Steve began to show their power. The cam-type shooting was quite nicely done but there are still some jerkiness especially in the beginning and the ending where the slug-fest was film using many different cameras. The acting of all the 3 unknown actors are quite good, up to the point that i thought they are some veteran actors. Andrew who looks a bit like Leonardo DiCaprio is good in showing his shyness, introvert and abused son while Matt who looks like a younger version of Ashton Kutcher is a handsome lad with some good humor while Steve is the most likeable person. With much screen time dedicated to Andrew, Steve and Matt had to utilize whatever time they have and they did quite good. The ending where the slug fest between Andrew and Steve is something to behold. The camera shot was extremely realistic and good, that i was hoping for more longer battles but judging that this is not a superhero movie, it did serve its purpose excellently. 

Verdict:

I give this movie a 4 out of 5 star for the video-cam format genre with fresh ideas and great CGI shot.