Category: Movie Review

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Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean – The World’s End

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My Rating: 4Stars

This evening I saw the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean: The World’s End” at UA Cinema, Time Square, Causeway Bay.

The last of the Pirates of the Caribbean series. It is definitely a good one, much better than the second one, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest“. Before I went to see this latest episode I decided to rewatch “Dead Man’s Chest”, but I fell asleep while doing so. I do admit that I did not have too high of an expectation for “The World’s End” before I went to see it.

Again “Johnny Depp” was at his usual best. The character he seems to unable to come out of since “The Curse of the Black Pearl“.

This episode has the usual CGI that we come to expect in Pirates of the Caribbean.

All in all this was an entertaining movie and deserves the 4 penguins that I had given it.

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: Fracture

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My Rating: 4Stars

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

Another movie staring Anthony Hopkins. He plays a character similar to his “Dr. Hannibal Lecter” character from the Hannibal series. An intelligent, devious and meticulous character.

The similarity of this movie with the Hannibal series is not a coincident. As the screenplay is again written by Thomas Harris, the author of “Hannibal Rising“, “Red Dragon“, “Hannibal” and “The Silence of the Lambs“.

The surprise for my in this movie; aside from the plot, is the performance of “Ryan Gosling“. He fits the character, “Willy Beachum”, perfectly. Who is a young up and coming prosecutor for the city of Los Angeles.

I cannot say any more about the movie or I will ruin it for you. If you like a crime mystery you will definitely like 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: Spider-man 3

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My Rating: 3Stars

This evening I saw the movie “Spider-man 3” at JP Theater, Causeway Bay.

I was disappointed. I guess it has to do with “Tobey Maguire“, he is someone easily hated. Given he plays the hero, Spider-man, of the movie that is not a good thing. Plus, I never thought “Kirsten Dunst” to be cast correctly as the heroine. I saw them when they were much younger in the first Spider-man, unlike the actors in movie “Harry Potter”, these two did not improve over time.

The supporting actors in the movie were much better, and their humorous scenes saved the movie for me. Many of the kids in the audience were not captured by the actions in the movie or the lack of action. The movie was way too long, at many spots it feels like it was dragging on too long.

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: Miss Potter

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My Rating: 4Stars

This evening I saw the movie “Miss Potter” at UA Cinema, Time Square, Causeway Bay.

This is a movie about the English writer, Beatrix Potter who created the popular and famous “Peter the Rabit” story book character and many others. The Oscar winning, Renee Zellweger played Beatrix Potter, and the Golden Globe nominee Ewan McGregor played Potter’s junior publisher, Norman Warne. They were quite good.

Each and every time I see a Zellweger movie I am surprised and impressed with the wide range of characters she is able to portray and made believable on the big screen. My first was

Like her other movies, and this one in particular is very suitable for the whole family.

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: A Lot Like Love

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My Rating: 4Stars

This evening I saw the movie “A Lot Like Love” on HBO Asia.

Normally I do not do reviews of movies on HBO, that’s because I normally would had already seen them in theaters and subsequently did a review of it.

In this case, the movie was never shown in Hong Kong theaters when it was first released in the US April 22, 2005.

This is a romantic comedy starting Ashton Kutcher (of “That ’70s Show” TV series which I hated, and more recently “The Guardian“) and Amanda Peet.

May be it si Kutcher’s 70s Show image that I always have in mind, I cannot see him in a series role, through out the movie I was expecting him to do something stupid just for a laugh. I must say I was presently surprise that he brought the right amount of humore to the movie.

So if you have not seen it or do not have HBO, definitely get it from iTunes Store or your neighbourhood HMV.

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: Shooter

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My Rating: 3Stars

This evening I saw the movie “Shooter” at JP Theater, Causeway Bay.

It has the style of “The Bourne Identity” franchise staring Matt Damon.

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Even the poster used in Hong Kong theaters had the Bourne Identity feel.

The Bourne Identity resemblance was not the reason I gave it 3 penguins. The acting was amateurish, the story was weak. There were many areas that were not believable.

Danny Glover of Lethal Weapon fame had some sort of lisp every time he spoke. Aside from him many of the actors’ dialogs were hard to understand. Making me want to seek the Chinese subtitles for clarification. Unfortunately, I cannot read Chinese well enough, so I missed most of the dialogs in the movie, causing me to guess what was going on based on the action.

If it was not for the mediocre entertainment value I would have given it 2 penguins.

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: Mr. Bean’s Holiday

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My Rating: 3Stars

This afternoon I saw the movie “Mr. Bean’s Holiday” at Broadway Theater, Cyberport.

This is the typical Rowan Atkinson style movie as in his TV shows and all previous movies that Atkinson had made.

Although, in this movie Atkinson’s character does not “really” have any dialogs in the entire movie. Unlike his TV shows the screenwriters from this movie created a believable reason for Atkinson’s character not to speak.

Overall this is an entertaining movie but it only deserve the 3 penguins 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 Pursuit of Happiness

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My Rating: 4Stars

This afternoon I saw the movie “The Pursuit of Happiness” at UA Time Square, Causeway Bay.

This is the first serious movie that I see Will Smith in. I had always enjoyed Will Smith movies like:

There are a few bombs like:

I am very impress with Smith’s performance. He had a very believable performance of the life of Chris Gardner. Again proofing Smith is a Hollywood super star with a diverse acting talents.

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: 300

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My Rating: 4Stars

This evening I saw the movie “300” at Golden Harvest Gateway, Tsim Sa Tsui.

Many in the United States claim that this movie has a lot of American propaganda. Having heard that comment before I saw the movie, made me appreciate why they would say that. Although, if I did not I would not have drawn that same conclusion.

This movie was littered with CGI, and after watching the behind the scene special on Discovery Channel I was amaze how seamless they were. CGI is advancing so fast that it will get harder and harder to distinguish on the big screen what is real and what is animated.

This movie brought me to realize that a new warlord would appear every few decades. So are these critics in the US correct to call the US; in particular George Bush, Jr. “the warlord” of our time? I will not dare to comment any further on the subject. May be next time when I have more time.

Anyway, without being too concern with the political inference of the movie, this is a fairly enjoyable movie and deserves my 4 penguins rating. If I had a HD TV I might even consider buying a Blu-ray or HD DVD of 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: Hannibal Rising

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My Rating: 3Stars

This evening I saw the movie Hannibal Rising at JP Theater, Causeway Bay.

The only other movie about the character “Hannibal Lecter” that I watched, was the first, “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991), of the series. Therefore, I cannot comment on the other movies “Red Dragon” (2002) or “Hannibal” (2001), but I do like Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal much better. Hopkins plays a much later stage of the Hannibal Lecter character compared to the one in this movie. As a result, the psychosis of the character is much more developed, and Hopkins was able to make the character believable.

In contrast, this movie is the prequel to the whole Hannibal Lecter story, starting at the age of a child and tries to set the background for why Hannibal is the way he is. The actor they chose to play the adult Hannibal was, the French actor, Gaspard Ulliel, since it was a French production. But the biggest disappointment was the actress they chose to play Hannibal’s Japanese aunt, the award winning Li Gong. Not only, for the fact that she is from mainland China, she also does not look anything like a Japanese.

Gaspard Ulliel does have some good acting in the movie, and played a somewhat convincing psycho serial killer out for revenge. If you’re expecting another blockbuster based on the previous movies about Hannibal, 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