Category: Movie Review

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Movie Review: The Heartbreak Kid (2007)

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My Rating: 3Stars

This evening I saw the movie “The Heartbreak Kid” at Time Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

Ben Stiller always plays a character in his movies: “Meet the Parents“, “Meet the Fockers“, “Along Came Polly” and alike. Where his character is the underdog, started out a good nature hero and then forced into situations that makes him appears to be the bad guy, as a result the heroin misunderstands him. This movie was no exception.

So if you are a fan of Ben Stiller, you will not be disappointed. If you’re looking for something different and original, you will need to look elsewhere.

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
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Movie Review: The Kingdom (2007)

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My Rating: 2Stars

This evening I saw the movie “The Kingdom” at JP Theater, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

Jamie Foxx was his usual self, playing the good guy he had in the past, with just a mediocre performance. The other members of the cast, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman did not help either.

The story of the movie is quite straight forward with a simple lesson in the end. Although, this movie is on my “Must See” list, after seeing it myself, it can now be moved to my “Can Miss” list.

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
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Movie Review: Beowulf (2007 – 3D Version)

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My Rating: 3Stars

This evening I saw the movie “Beowulf” at Ocean Terminal Theater, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong.

I was not certain that this was an animated movie until I arrived at the theater. I chose to watch the 3D version of the movie, at an almost 100% premium, which I later found out to be worth it.

They had used the same technology as in the movie, “The Polar Express“, where the actors’ movements were tracked and reanimated by the computer on screen. Hence, the liveliness of the animated characters were very believable.

Due to the digital nature of the movie I saw, the clarity was incredible. Thus far the best quality movie I’ve seen.

The story was nothing really special, typical hero against all odds fights evil, which he eventually wins but found to have given too much for the victory. A lesson was taught with the story I hope most movie goers will recognize and learn.

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
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Movie Review: Shoot’em Up

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My Rating: 1Stars

This evening I saw the movie “Shoot ‘Em Up” at JP Theater, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

If you like blatant blood and gore you will like this movie. It reminds me of the typical movies Chow Yun Fat makes in the old days (in Hong Kong).

The story for the movie is typical and the dialogs is bad. They try to give it the Pulp Fiction style but failed miserably.

So, if you don’t have anything else better to do… I still suggest you not to waste your time with this movie.

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
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Movie Review: Lions for Lambs

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My Rating: 1Stars

This evening I saw the movie “Lions for Lambs” at Time Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

If you consider the movie’s attempt to show multiple (three) points of view of a subject at the same time, it is brilliantly executed, but unfortunately the topic is the war in Iraq and the point of views are simply three different views of US propaganda on the subject.

There are so much dialog in the movie, even English speaking audience will definitely find this movie boring, let alone non-English speaking audience after translation.

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
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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
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Movie Review: The Nanny Diaries

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My Rating: 3Stars

This evening I saw the movie “The Nanny Diaries” at JP Theatre, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

A present little movie. I really did not like Scarlett Johansson in “Lost in Translation” or “The Island“. I wanted to watch “The Prestige“, but had yet gotten around to it so I could not say if Johansson was any good in it.

Many believed she’s sexy, but I do not share those opinions. In this movie she played a young university graduate who was a bit misguided as to what she wanted as her career, and stumbled into a profession that she had not have any pervious experiences, nor what her mother had hope for her. It proved that sometimes it paid to be in the right place at the right time.

Of course, there was a love interest for Johansson’s character, “Annie”, and of course he was the Abercrombie & Fitch type, played by Chris Evans.

Overall this was a fun entertaining movie that worth going to if you could not think of anything else better to do.

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
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Movie Review: The Brave One (2007)

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My Rating: 4Stars

This evening I saw the movie “The Brave One (2007)” at UA Cinema, Time Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

What can I say, but yet another great performance by Jodie Foster. I had always like Foster’s movies. For some reason she always plays a strong independent female character in her movies.

In this movie, when it first began, Foster’s character was made up to not look like the way Foster normally looked. Giving the character a chance to show the audiences how her appearances and character changed as the movie progressed.

Foster’s character made me think twice about walking into a dark alley. In normal times dark alleys of any city are usually places one should avoid; especially alone. Here it proved that there’s still no reason to go into a dark alley with more than one of you. The best option was still to find another way to your destination.

Simply it was a movie about getting even and revenge, and the consequences of these actions and how such actions will change one.

Although, the plot was quite straight forward and did not have any of the twists and turns I normally liked in a movie. I still gave it a 4 Penguin rating for Foster’s performance.

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
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Movie Review: War (2007)

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My Rating: 3Stars

This evening I saw the movie “War (2007) (aka “Rogue Assassin”)” at Cinepex, Market Square, Markham, Ontario, Canada

Having been away from North American cinemas for some time. I wanted to watch a movie while I was in Toronto. Unfortunately, due to the amount of time I had, I was not able to find a movie that I want to watch at one of the better cinemas.

I had always like Jet Li movies, when combined with Jason Statham and John Lone I was expecting a great movie with many amazing fight scenes. This was where a mistake, since it placed my expectation for the movie quite high. In foresight it was too high.

I think this is the first movie in which Statham had a lot of dialogue. For some reason I find that every time Statham spoke in the movie I had a real difficulty hearing what he was saying.

Fortunately the fight scenes were great as typical Jet Li movies, this may be because its martial art directions were by Corey Yuen, the fight choreographer of most of Jet Li’s previous movies.

The car driven by Li’s character was very nice. It is a Spyker C8 Spyder. It it was not for the twisted plot and the cars in the movie I would have given it a even lower Penguin rating.

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
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Movie Review: The Bourne Ultimatum

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My Rating: 4Stars

This evening I saw the movie “The Bourne Ultimatum” at UA Cinema, Time Square, Causeway Bay.

This is now the sixth movie in the row that I was very happy to give my 4 Penguins or above rating. Hopefully sign of even better movies to come. Although, the Summer blockbusters are almost ending.

I was a bit skeptical entering the movie, whether this 3rd edition of the franchise can live up to the typical Bourne action and plot twists. I was presently surprised.

One thing I will advise, like all the James Bond movies, you “DO NOT WANT TO BE LATE” for the one. The action begins 2 minutes into the movie and did not stop.

At times there was the typical “flash back” which prevented me from giving this movie the “5 Penguins” rating. Although, I do understand the needs to do so, to offer a sense of closure to the Bourne trilogy. Aside from that it has the car chases and action sequences to keep the audiences at the edge of their seats.

Matt Damon, was obviously older in this movie to the point of overweight, which made some of the actions a bit unbelievable.

They did try to develop a hidden back story between the character Jason Bourne and Nicky Parsons (played by Julia Stiles), but did not carry it to fruition. Is this an attempt to give themselves an option to have a 4th version of the franchise? No one will know until that happens.

If you like action, spy, espionage movie, this is definitely not one to miss.

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