Movie Review: Super 8

 Super 8 500x150
Super 8 500×150

My Rating:

 Buy from iTunes Store

This evening I saw the movie Super 8 at AMC Cinemas, Pacific Place, Admiralty, Hong Kong. One of the movies from my Must See Movies list, and the following is my movie review.

Wow… this movie got right into it at the start. We only have to wait about 15 minutes to receive a spectacular train crash, then kept a steady pace throughout. It has the spirit and style of E.T. and Close Encounter of the Third Kind all over it. Even though Steven Spielberg only receives the “producer’ credits we can see much of his influences in the movie.

On the other hand the director, writer and producer, J.J. Abrams is famous for his hands in the hit TV series: Alias, Lost and Fringe. Abrams also has some motion picture to his credits including some of the biggest box office winners: Mission: Impossible III and Star Trek, but it also includes some of the busts like Cloverfield. The latter is what cause me to be weary about purchasing the tickets, but I believe Spielberg will not associate himself with anything bad which reassures me.

Like Spielberg’s E.T. that launched the careers of Drew Barrymore and Henry Thomas, this movie also introduces two new child actors: Joel Courtney and Riley Griffiths, of whom did a much better job than the so call veterans in the movie: Ron Eldard and Kyle Chandler.

We should watch Courtney’s development to see if he develops into the star that Barrymore did minus the drug addictions or follows the paths of Thomas. Courtney portrays a kid who recently lost his mother and has a great passion for makeup and model making. He practices his passion by helping his kindergarten friend, played by Griffiths, with a no budget movie. One night while filming bought them close encounter with a major government cover up.

This is definitely a must see for 2011 and for fans of children adventures and E.T. aficionados.

Rating Legend:

 Must watch before you die
Must watch before you die
 Wait for the Blu-ray
Wait for the Blu-ray
 Buy from iTunes Store
Buy from iTunes Store
 Rent it on iTunes
Rent it on iTunes
 Waste your time elsewhere
Waste your time elsewhere

Movie Review: Black Swan (2010)

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My Rating: 4Stars

This evening I saw the movie Black Swan at AMC Cinemas, Admiralty, Hong Kong. One of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

It is a movie about a ballerina, Nina Sayers (played by Natalie Portman). Nina lives with her mother, Erica (played by Barbara Hershey), who gave up her own ballet career at age 28 when she had Nina. As a result Erica places all her efforts in encouraging Nina to achieve the highest accolade in ballet. To support her mother’s wishes Nina lives and breaths ballet day and night without any extra curricular activities. Due to this sheltering and up bringing by her mother, Nina becomes a perfectionist in all things relating to ballet.

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Movie Review: Jennifer’s Body

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My Rating: 2Stars

This afternoon I saw the movie Jennifer’s Body at UA Cinema, Times Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

This is a comedy thriller staring the Transformers famed Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried from Mamma Mia!. It is about a young girl living in a small town that has an unlikely best friend, with very little in common, who ends up being possessed by satan, and starts to kill boys in a high school. As you can tell from the description it is a very Buffy-the-Vampire-Killer like plot.

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Movie Review: Mirrors

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My Rating: 3Stars

This evening I saw the movie Mirrors at AMC Theater, Pacific Place, Admiralty, Hong Kong.

This is not a typical genre (Thriller) of movies I normally watch, I didn’t even put it on My Must See Movies list.

Kiefer Sutherland was surprisingly appropriate for his role. Before I went to the movie and knowing a little about the plot, I was surprised to hear that Sutherland was cast as the male lead. The last motion picture Sutherland starred in was The Sentinel and he was not so great in it.

Through out the movie I saw him as the “Jack Bauer” character from 24, which fits perfectly with the character of this movie; A stressed emotional ex-cop suffering from the brink of nervous break down with a broken family and everyone thinks he is unreliable.

There were the typical thriller scenes to classify itself as a Thriller movie, but also enough mystery moments and twists in the plot to keep Sutherland’s character, Ben Carson, occupy. Of course, one cannot have a thriller movie without scenes where the main character gets himself into situation, which a normal person would never be brave enough to put himself in. This is part of the traditional excitment of thrillers.

Since I don’t normally watch thriller movies, I cannot rate the movie on the degree of scariness. I can only rate the movie based on the suspense and degree of twists in the plot. The plot is quite shallow the movie was not too deep. Although, its ending justified the extra penguin to give this movie the three penguin rating.

Rating Legend:
5Stars Not to be missed
4Stars Wait for the DVD
3Stars Buy from iTunes Store
2Stars Rent it on iTunes
1Stars Waste your time elsewhere

Movie Review: The Happening (2008)

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My Rating: 1Stars

This evening I saw the movie “The Happening” at AMC Theater, Pacific Place, Hong Kong.

This is not happening! If I notice it was written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan I would not have place it on my Must See Movies list and definitely not have gone to see it.

The movie is trying to tell a story about us being too hard on nature and nature fighting back or in this case give us signs that it has enough.

There had been great movies directed by M. Night Shyamalan like The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, but there had recently been not so great movies like 2002’s Signs and 2004’s The Village. For the latter you can see my review of it in my blog.

For some reasons I had been picking low budget movies from iTunes movie rental also: Funny Games, Civic Duty.

It is not that low budget movies are always bad, but low budget movies with a silly topic/story makes a boring movie. This is the reason why I would not recommend this movie to anyone.

Hopefully with this movie it is time for Shyamalan to come up with another great movie like The Sixth Sense.

Rating Legend:
5Stars Not to be missed
4Stars Wait for the DVD
3Stars Buy from iTunes Store
2Stars Rent it on iTunes
1Stars Waste your time elsewhere

Movie Review: Resident Evil – Extinction

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My Rating: 4Stars

This evening I saw the movie “ Resident Evil – Extinction ” at UA Cinema, Windsor House, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

Again this is another 3rd-movie in a series. May be because of that I did not have much expectation for the movie. Nor did I see the 2nd movie in the series.

Even so, I did enjoy this movie. I may have enjoy it even more if I had some plot background from the 2nd movie. They did try to compensate by providing just enough background for non-fans of the series and for anyone who may have forgotten how the 2nd movie left the story.

The special effects in the movie were quite good and borderline believable, except may be for some of the abilities of the main character (“Alice” played by the beautiful “Milla Jovovich“).

In most movie series, “3” is always the magic number in which the playwrights and directors finishes the movie; the most famous exception being the “Star Wars” sequels. This is because after 3 movies of the same theme, the audiences are usually tired of the plot and will not return for a 4th or more sequel. The playwrights here did leave themselves a way to have a 4th sequel if necessary. I guess it will most likely depends on the worldwide box office performance of this latest sequel.

For fans of the Resident Evil franchise, the typical brutal zombies kills are littered throughout the movie. Ensuring the fans are satisfied. It is definitely not a movie that I would allow young children to watch. Although, some of the video games they play now a days have even more realistic and gruesome scenes.

There is also the expected plot of good against evil and good prevailing against all odds.

As long as you go into this movie with the expectations of realistic vivid kill scenes and general entertainment, you will enjoy this movie. But do not attempt to seek too deep of a plot. Otherwise you will be disappointed.

Rating Legend:
5Stars Not to be missed
4Stars Wait for the DVD
3Stars Buy from iTunes Store
2Stars Rent it if you can
1Stars Waste your time elsewhere