Guest Review - Zootopia

Zootopia, the latest animation from Disney has broken its own opening record with rave reviews from both professional movie critics as well as the audience, young and old. I've just came back from the theatre and I am 100% agreeable with what my friend, Ben, has to say about the movie.    

It's an animation with tons of animals, behaving exactly like human beings revolving around the themes of stereotyping, dreams, betrayal and forgiveness.

In any case, let's see how bad is it, in the words of my friend, Ben : 

Zootopia is a awesome cartoon for the kids and the adults. While the kids are bedazzled by the colorful talking animals, adults get a treat on a movie about racial discrimination, gender discrimination, stereotyping and chasing after one's dream.

Zootopia is set in a make-believe world where human doesn't exist, while animals are anthropomorphic. Young Judy Hoops was a rookie cop, who not only a female in an all-male environment, she was also the first bunny which was presumed to be unsuitable for the job. Striving to prove herself, she had 48 hours to solve a case of missing animal and had to team up with rabbit's natural enemy, a sly fox named Nick Wilde.

I must say I am wow-ed by this movie, definitely one of the best cartoon in the recent years. Hard to tackle topics were presented by never preachy. There were many adults jokes in it (rabbits are good at multiplying to the sarcastic remarks that the police chef is good at motivational posters) and even the widely publicized sloths’ scene suit the adults better as we would understand the animal’s characteristics better than kids.

One central theme ran throughout the movie was the issue of tags or labels. Even Judy’s parents believed that as a bunny, she was more suitable as a farmer than a police officer. Fox Nick wasn’t spared in this animal utopia when his status as fox was forever regarded as a cunning and sly person.

The voice acting was top notch with the CGI effects smooth. The plot flowed efficiently never overly draggy even when there were plenty of serious sub plots such as drug abuse and child bully involved.

4.5 out of 5 stars. Must-Watch

Have you watched the movie? What is your review?

Cheers!

Guest Review - Jupiter Ascending

It looks like no amount of postponement and special effect can save a movie, even from the supposedly promising directors (the ones brought us the classic Matrix Trilogy). Yeah, I am talking about Jupiter Ascending, it opened last week in US with a disappointing box office standing (at number 3 with mere $19 million). 

Personally, I have not watched the movie and to be frank when I saw the first trailer last year, it seems to be quite promising, especially from special effect perspective. Having said that, I think we've seen so much of equally beautiful and awesome stuff already and hence special effect alone doesn't cut it anymore. 

In any case, let's see how bad is it, in the words of my friend, Ben : 

Jupiter Ascending should be called Jupiter Crashed or What's so important about Jupiter? or the way to make a lazy person work hard is to let that person go through royalty.

The film was originally slated for release for June 20, 2014. But the studio delayed the film's release and pushed it back almost an entire year (9 months to be exact) to give the production more time in the post-production process. Everytime when a studio delayed the release, you know there is trouble. After watching it, I can understand why; confused plot, mediocre acting and almost no characters' development, they really need to beef up on the CGI so that audiences will not demand a refund.

Let's start with the good points. Visually there are no fault here, big budgets were spent to make the scenes vibrant and lush. The duo Wachowski siblings always has a way with concept and this time was no exception. The concept of Earth is a farm for harvest was interesting but sadly the execution was badly done.

They tried very hard to make an otherwise run-the-mill type of Chosen One plot interesting by throwing a lot of subplot and jargon terms. Unfortunately many of them were blandly delivered and often led to no resolution. Towards the end, I have no idea why Jupiter is that important, they could have close the case by harvesting the planet immediately.

Characters were painstakingly one dimensional with Eddie Redmayne (he really shined in Theory of Everything) giving one of the worst villain performances in movie history. Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum shared little screen chemistry, with Mila being the atypical damsel in distress role whose decisions in the movie made me rolled my eyes.

Jupiter Ascending is a visual feat no doubt, but I think they learned from Transformer school of movie directing, many a times the actions were so confusing and blurred that I have no idea what's going on.

Verdict 2 1/2 out of 5 stars. Watch if you like mindless action movie (not one which try to pretend to be smart), if you are looking out for The Matrix or even Cloud Atlas type of Sc-Fi movie, you maybe better off scrapping the toilet bowl.

Have you watched the movie? What is your review?

Cheers!

Guest Review - Whiplash

Sorry for the long absence from posting. I am back and I am bringing back my friend, Ben, to provide his latest guest review - Whiplash. It is not a 3D or IMAX movie but it is deemed a MUST WATCH movie of the year (in his own word).

Whiplash is a powerful drama written and directed by Damien Chazelle with strong casts like Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons and Mellisa Benoist. Without further ado, check out my friend, Ben's equally strong review below ;

What can I say? This is a MUST WATCH movie.

To start of, I know nothing of the movie, didn't even see the trailer. What I knew it is a movie about drummer, which is evident in the movie poster that I walked pass. This is one of the movie that I will place as low priority viewing.

How wrong I am and how glad I was to catch this masterpiece. The movie is about an aspiring drummer and his relationship with the acid-tongued sadist professor of the prestigious music academy. The starting scene wonderfully described the coming love-hate tension between the pair.

The story was top notch, with turn and twists that defied what normal movies will head. Many a time, I thought of how the story would continue and the movie proved otherwise, in an unexpected but realistic way. I was siting at the edge on a movie that's not even supposed to be a thriller, and this movie succeeded in making every turn memorable. In addition, the spitfire dialogues were witty and sharp, with the constant swearing and the F words earned this movie an R ratings. This is a pity as I think this is a movie that teenagers, who are at the start of their career and life, should watch.

The chemistry between actors Miles Teller (in some way gave me hopes for the coming Fantastic Four reboot as Teller will be the new Reed Richards) and J.K. Simmons was astonishing, full of tension and yet strangely fulfilling. Both characters were flawed and yet something we all can relate to.

Ultimately this movie ask how much we would sacrifice for our dream? How much is too much? Where is the line between abuse and inspiring to excel oneself? Is it true on what Fletcher said: There are no two words in the English language more harmful than good job?

Another part that I like the movie is that it challenged you to think of the motives of Fletcher, was he just a selfish asshole who will do anything to get his goal (to win in the competition) or was his reason as noble as he claimed?

4 1/2 out of 5 stars

p/s I find actor Miles Teller looked uncanny like the late Elvis Presley.

Cheers!   

Guest Review - The Hunger Games Mockingjay (Part 1)

My trustworthy movie reviewer friend, Ben is back to review the latest blockbuster - The Hunger Games Mockingjay (Part 1). Even though the box office in US is not as impressive as its predecessor but it is enough to be the highest opening of the year.

 

I think this is the longest movie review that he has written and can tell that he likes J Law a lot (really a lot!). Without further ado, let's check out what is his review below :

 

NOTE : MINOR SPOILER ALERT! PROCEED WITH CARE... 

2 words – Jennifer Lawrence. The single person that elevated the entire Hunger Game movie quadrilogy, throughout MockingJay, I am thinking how lucky the studio was to sign her up for the first movie. She has the rare attributes of extremely well-liked by the audiences and coupled with her capable ability in acting. She brought out the Katniss Everdeen character from the series and made it into one that the audiences can relate to, which is very important for the first part of the finale. 

Guest Review - Babadook

Here come another guest review from my friend, Ben. Even though it is not a 3D or IMAX movie but I think readers of my blog would not mind (you will know why I said so after reading through his review). The movie in question is an horror genre, Babadook.

Directed  by Jennifer Kent and starring Essie Davis, Daniel Henshall and Tiffany Lyndall-Knight, following is the short synopsis (source : imdb.com) :

 

A single mother, plagued by the violent death of her husband, battles with her son's fear of a monster lurking in the house, but soon discovers a sinister presence all around her.                            

 

Now! Check out how my friend, Ben view about the movie :

The Babadook is perhaps the most effective child birth control method ever devised. If any of your friends has an intention to have children, bring them to see this movie and I can assure you their next destination is to buy condom.

Jokes aside, The Babadook is an effective horror/ thriller. The extremely modest budget of A$2.5 millions brought across one of the best films on whether was the horror real or just an imagination. 

Guest Review - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

My friend, Ben is at it again! I mean the movie review. This time round, he is reviewing about the much talked about latest reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Seeing is believing but hope your can get some hint from hint. Check out his review below :

SPOILER ALERT!!

If you live long enough, you will see your childhood memories being reboot back. Sometimes, like GI Joe and Garfield, it would be barely acceptable, while most of the times, like Transformer 4 and The Smurf, you would wish they leave those loving memories alone.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or TMNT as it was more commonly known as, was one such example. Those born in my era would instantly know which turtle bearing the name of an Renaissance artist wielded which type of Ninja weapon. And probably thanks to TMNT, we could name 4 Renaissance painters.

I have heard bad reviews on TMNT, hence watched with little expectation, that helped as the overall experiences weren't that bad as I would have imagine. TMNT 2014 is your atypical summer action movie, over used on CGI on a nonsensical plot. (Shredder looked exactly like a Transformer reject, saving cost perhaps)

Being a Michael Bay production, his trademarks were unmistakable. Everything is about explosion and effects, and little on plot and character development. On top of that, his style of fuck logic way of storytelling was all over the place.

How did shredder turn up on the top of building when moments ago he was fighting Raphael? 'coz fuck the logic.

Why would Sacks decide to deploy the weapon without even testing the mutagen he just collected? 'coz fuck the logic.

Splinter learned Ninjatsu through a book? 'coz fuck pretty much everything else

Another of Bay's trademark is his blatant product placement, guess which pizza store did the turtles have the pizza?

Throughout the movie, I was distracted by the female henchmen of the foot clans, she looked uncanny like our homegrown talented diva, Sun Ho, and I was hoping she would do a China wine twerk in the movie. 

I wished they had stick to the original backstory of Splinter being a actual sinsei and his freud with Shredder, here the backstory was completely different and it made no sense for Splinter knowing Shredder's plan and how the duo seemed to have an axe to grind when they finally met in the sewer.

In addition, how hard can that be to make the turtles and Splinter likable? Coming from the recent "Guardians of the Galaxy" which successfully made a walking tree and talking raccoon lovable, the turtles looked like lobos. worst certain shot the 4 turtles looked like giant penis heads surrounding April O'Neil, which was played by Megan Fox, a actress that's known by her curvatures than the actual acting.

Overall, go and see with little expectation. TMNT 2014 wasn't as bad the last TMNT movie but certainly not the better of, plus it was mercifully short, clocking in less than 2 hours screen time. 2 out of 5

Cheers!

Guest Reivew - Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes

Haven't I told you my friend, Ben, is back with a vengeance (with his movie review, click here to see his last review on Transformers - Age Of Extinction)? In fact, it is much more than that, it is FAST AND FURIOUS. Within a span of 2 days, he has reviewed 2 latest blockbuster movies and in this latest review, you better don't missed it ;-)

 

The movie in question is the much anticipated sequel to the 2011's sleeper-hit, Rise Of the Planet Of The Apes. Personally I've not watched the movie but after seeing my friend's review, I think I better watch it earlier than later ;-)

 

Now, check out Ben's review on Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes below :  

 

Many has compared this to the Dark Knight rises, not only due to the moody atmosphere both films emitted, it was also because of the rarest of sequels be better than the original.

 

"Dawn" was so much better than the original, from the characters' development to the flow of the plot. Set 10 years after the 1st film, humanity was almost wipe off to extinction due to the virus unleashed in the first movie, whereas evolved ape Caesar had led his people to build a colony in the deep forest of San Francisco. Peace however was short-lived as the humans began to cross path with the apes.

 

Saying anything more will do injustice to this film, I always thought it be that one party that threw the first punch but was pleasantly surprised by the plot. There were of coz the usual plot of convenience (how the family found Caesar in the vast forest) and inconsistencies such as how the primates managed to handle automatic rifles that well (even I had to spend 2 years in NS to be slightly efficient), but those were minor hiccups.

 

I am marvelled by the technology improvement as close to 70% of the movie was CGI, and yet the computer generated characters grew on you. Towards the end, the last speech Caesar said to Malcolm was both a tragic and yet brutally honest, it reminded me of the Israel Palestine conflicts and how both sides can never reach a settlement.

 

Since I watched Transformer 4 recently and both talked about extinction, I will boldly say Dawn is way better than Transformer 4, even in the area of technology. Where Transformer 4 used computer wizardry to perform cheap thrill, Dawn harnessed it to give its character a life of its own.

 

Strongly recommended, 4 1/2 out of 5 stars

 

Cheers!

Guest Reivew - Transformers : Age Of Extinction

Finally, World Cup 2014 is over, I can concentrate on the movies now ;-) Oh, in case you don't know, Germany is the winner of World Cup 2014.

 

Now, let's get back to "business", after a long gap, my friend, Ben is back for a "vengeance". He has sent me his latest review on the much-hyped sequel - Transformers : Age Of Extinction. I know, it is kind of late but "late is better than never" right? Note : His last guest review is on 300 Rise Of An Empire.

 

Without further ado, check out his review below: 

 

Watching a Michael Bay’s film is like watching hard core porn. The badly scripted, poorly developed, mediocre acted and illogical sense all worked towards one thing – the action. To Michael Bay’s credit, he did action very well, the effects and shots were nicely choreographed, that allowed him to helm 4 live-action sequels of this popular 80s cartoon that’s designed to sell toys.

 

Plot wise, instead of the stuttering Shia Labeouf, we have hunky Mark Wahlberg playing a supposedly nerd inventor, but looked more like an underwear model. He found already dead Optimus Prime, and you know what? Fuck it! No one cares about plot in Transformer movies, we only wanted big robots frolicking one another and cum with big explosion.

 

You have to see this movie with all logic and common sense throw out of the window, simply enjoyed the cinematic roller-coaster, because that’s exactly what this film is about: all action and no sense. None of the characters had any motivations, and it was one action scene moving to another.

 

However there were 2 cringe worthy part in this movie. One was when the boyfriend took out the lamented portion of the Texas state weird Romeo and Juliet law. Come on, no one will find this remotely funny, and any father would definitely ban this pervert from coming close to his daughter. Another part was what used to be righteous Autobot started behaving like Decepticon, they were constantly fighting among themselves (one even had his sword on the throat of his teammates) while Optimus was determined to kill the human responsible for Autobot’s plight. WTF?

 

If you are fan of the 80s Dinobots, you would be “pleased” to know that those not-so-intelligent but fiercely loyal brutes were nothing but cameos pony rides in this movie. And if Optimus could fly (even to space) one would have think he could have use this ability in many of the situations, but hey, it was never about making sense.

 

Other than giant robots, Michael is also well known for his dirty old man perversion and racial stereotype. The first was evident at the shorter by the minute hot pants and the anti-statutory rape, while the latter was showcased as all Chinese knows Kung Fu, even the random man in the lift.

Much as I hated to say it, watch this in IMAX, as Transformers: Age of Extinction is the first feature film to shoot with a brand new, digital IMAX 3D camera, instead of doing post-production 3D conversion. Being a long 165 minutes long film, the effects were well worth the IMAX ticket pricing.

 

Cheers!

300 Rise Of An Empire : Early Guest Review

My trustworthy guest reviewer - Ben is in it again! This time round, he is reviewing the Spartan-ful sequel, 300 - Rise Of An Empire.  

Without further ado, check out his review below:

“Should 300 have a sequel?” that’s the question that came to my mind before watching “300: Rise of an Empire”. The reason is 300 was a ground-breaking movie in the usage of CGI and lighting effects. The deployment of the sl-mo action sequences became the benchmark and copied by many movies subsequently.

After watching “300: Rise of an Empire” my conclusion is depending on how much you like “300” as “300: Rise of an Empire” is the EXACT REPLICA of “300”
- Clashes of 2 leaders
- The “good” guys were significantly out-numbered and yet managed to hold their vault
- Usage of battle tactics
- Father-n-son tag team into the war and you know one will die in the arms of the other
- A meeting between the 2 leaders in an erotic settings
- Plenty of hunky men in their underwear
- Naked boobs galore

With exactly the same action sequences filled with slo-mo movement and gore, it was easy to have a sense of deja-vu.

Guest Movie Review - The Lego Movie

It's movie review time! Once again, my trustworthy friend, Ben, penning his objective review on the latest animation/stop-motion movie, The Lego Movie. 

Personally I've not watched the movie but I've seen many rave review about this hilariously fun animation movie. According to the IMDB.com, it has a 9.0 (over 10) rating which is rare. 

Before reading the review, check out the short synopsis here :

An ordinary LEGO minifigure, mistakenly thought to be the extraordinary MasterBuilder, is recruited to join a quest to stop an evil LEGO tyrant from gluing the universe together.

Now, keep reading for Ben's review below:

Man Of Steel - Longest And Honest Guest Review That Might Offend Many Fans

Man Of Steel, the hottest movie at the moment, has been unofficially announced to be the biggest superman movie on its opening week ticket sales (in the USA, it is estimated to hit the box office with a better than expected result of $120 millions range). It is potentially the second biggest opening week of  2013, just behind the Iron Man 3 of $170+ millions. Even with it's mixed review from the movie critics, it is still expected to make a killing in the international box offices. By the way, Man Of Steel sequel is already a confirmed project!

That being said, just like any movie, there are always area that some viewers see it as poor, lacking or not up to par. Today, I am going to share one of the longest and most honest guest review by my friend, Ben. From the review, you can tell that he is a superman fan and he has written it with an heavy heart.

As per my blog title, I am sure many of you might not be agreeable with him (sorry Ben ;-)) and think that Man Of Steel is so amazing that it could possibly be the best superman movie to-date. So be it as I am sure both your view and Ben's review are valid ones as movie is one of the most subjective entertainment. 

Now, read on for the longest and most honest guest review from Ben...

My Movie Review [4.5/5] - The Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey

Well, where should I start? Maybe let's start with a few self-questioning:

Q1: Is The Hobbit Better than The Lord Of The Rings? 
A1: Not better but almost at the same level

Q2: Is The Hobbit an instant classic?
Q2: Come very close

Q3: Is The Hobbit Entertaining and worth the premium for 3D experience?
Q3: Of course, YES!

I just came back from the premiere (Singapore) of The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey [3D], the 2 hours and 40 minutes are well spent and I enjoyed the movie a lot especially with the super sharp and fine images (I can't ascertain whether the cinema that I've been to is showing the 48 fps [frame per second] format, which by the way is 2 times the normal screening) but the clarity and majestic view just blown me away.

I especially like the hobbit character of Bilbo, (by Martin Freeman), he evolved from a reluctant and least expected addition to a life and death quest to a hero at the end of the show. The Hobbit is about his journey and in this installment, he is surrounded by 13 joyous dwarfs who determined to claimed back their kingdom. 

Guest Review - Skyfall (IMAX)

It has been a while since the last guest review (on Taken 2), my trusted friend, Ben, is back! Today, he is reviewing the 23rd James Bond movie, Skyfall.

The well loved secret agent, 007 (by Daniel Craig for the third times) broke the franchise' own record being the best opening Bond Movie in US last weekend (US$88.4 mil). Internationally, so far it has gained US$429.6 millions from about 80 markets (excluding US) and it is a matter of time (in day) to surpass Casino Royale (US$431) to become the highest-grossing Bond movie ever overseas. 

Guest Review : The Expendables 2 (non-3D)

Granted, "The Expendables 2" has been in the cinema for a few weeks now, but it is never too late to share the movie review, especially when it's from a movie fan like my friend, Ben. 

In this sequel, Sylvester Stallone regrouped all the previous matured silver gangs and add-on a few new faces like Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme to create more punch (literally). Following it's earlier installment's success formula, there will be lots of hard fighting sequence, gun powers and one or two aeroplane to crash!

As usual, prior to the movie review, check out the movie trailer here:

Ben's Review on "The Expendables 2":

Watching The Expendables 2 is like a trip down nostalgia lane, decades ago, any one of the action stars commanded his own movie, now they had to gang up and do forgettable cameo on a mass orgy film, the ruthless of time....:P

Other than the incredible effect of Botox (look at Stallone in the beginning of the trailer, clear case of age-defying surgery) this film employed EVERY SINGLE action movies clichés you can find. From the moment one expressed his desire to quit to marry his gf, you know he would be killed, to the villain's lackeys could offload thousands of bullets, yet never managed to scratch the heroes while the heroes' could do one shot one kill. 

In short its EVERYTHING you like about 80s action movies :P

Jet Li was just a cameo in the movie, replaced by another annoying Chinese actress who acted more like cheap bar hooker than a specialist. Every single scene involving Chuck Norris would invoke hysterical laughter from the audiences, luckily he seemed to be enjoying this.

And that's the good part of this movie, no one take it seriously, old movies tags like "I'll be back" and Rambo were thrown in for the good fun. Now they just need to throw in Jackie Chan in Expendables 3 and the whole 80s action movie actors will be completed! 

Cheers!

Guest Review : The Amazing Spider-man

The Amazing Spiderman has taken the US box office by storm with the accumulated sale of US$140 mil (from Tuesdays [3th Jul] through the weekend). Similar phenomena happens in the international markets for this well-liked web-slinging super-hero blockbuster. The director, Marc Webb has confirmed recently that this will be the first of a Trilogy! Spiderman fans will be happy be that news.

Still need some clue/review before watching the movie? Check out the following well written Guest Review from my facebook friend, Ben: 

WARNING: Spoiler ahead!

"Perhaps the #1 question everyone asks when watching this will be “it is worth a reboot?” Considering Sam Raimi's version was just a decade ago plus the trilogy enjoyed certain success, made one wondered was it a good decision to reboot instead of continuing with Spider-Man 4. (why? Tobey Maguire getting too expensive?)

I have mixed feeling when watching this, overall it delivered a decent super-hero’s movie, not as bad as Green Lantern, neither had it reached the Dark Knight level. On the good part, touching on Peter Parker’s parents disappearance added in new depth of the back story, plus I loved the promise that Peter gave to Captain Stacy towards the end. The action sequences were better and Spidey utilizes much more of his webbing during fighting.

The rest, on the other hand, felt apart. Dr Curt Connors was never a strong enough advisory for Spidey. The CGI version of the lizard really paled compared to Sam Raimi’s Green Globins and Dr Octopus. Here’s the thing, it is never a good idea to use CGI to create the villain, the Dark Knight trilogy highlighted the importance of using actors for their villainous performance, from the Joker to the upcoming Bane. Adding to the non-too realistic CGI Lizard effect made it a letdown. In addition, the Lizard felt like a rehash of earlier villains from Green Globins’ split personality to Dr Oc genius scientist turned evil plot.

Pacing was another issue, certain parts felt rush (Spidey learning to use his powers, the creating of his costume) while others dragged too long (the love scenes) making one reviewer commented that it’s like watching Twilight with spider instead of vampire!

Another part I had issue was that Spidey’s cockiness was a stark differences to this movie Peter Parker’s brooding character; it’s as if Peter is the one with the split personality.

Lastly Oscop building had the worse security ever for a high tech office, anyone could walked in, claimed a badge and accessed top secret area."

If you have already watched the movie, do share with us your comment/review here too!

For more resources on the movie, check out my earlier post The Amazing Spider-man (Jul 2012).

Cheers!