Category: Movie Review

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Movie Review: Brothers Bloom

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My Rating: 4Stars

This evening I saw the movie Brothers Bloom at AMC Theater, Pacific Place, Admiralty, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

It has been a while since a movie offered a surprising plot. I was glad to say that this one did and that was the reason for one of the penguins above.

Adrien Brody gave a very good performance as “Bloom”, but I see the same character he played in his famous role as “Wladyslaw Szpilman” in the movie The Pianist. On the other hand Mark Ruffalo gave a typical B-movie role as he always did in the past, even though, Ruffalo was suppose to be a co-star in the movie. Rachel Weisz, the other lead in this movie had a pretty good performance, unlike the other movies she appeared in like, The Mummy Returns.

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Movie Review: G.I. Joe – The Rise of Cobra

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My Rating: 3Stars

This evening I saw the movie G.I. Joe – The Rise of Cobra at UA Cinema, Times Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

I had fairly high expectations going into the movie and I was not really disappoint. Like many of the movies of this kind: Fantastic Four, Fast & Furious and Transformers, one should go in expecting amazing stunts and special effects. If you were hoping for intriguing plot you would be disappointed, plus great acting would only be a bonus. G.I. Joe was no different.

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Movie Review: Up

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My Rating: 5Stars

This evening I saw the movie Up at AMC Theater, Pacific Place, Admiralty, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

Pixar again impressed me with another original movie. Great plot mixed with the signature Pixar humor, which no one else in the animation industry can mimic. Sony Pictures, Disney Pictures and Dreamworks all tried and failed drastically.

This was the fifth movie from Pixar’s own, Pete Docter. His story telling is very good. The voice actors were outstanding, particularly the 9 year old Jordan Nagai. This was Nagai’s first acting gig, although he did not use his face to act, he did a great job with his voice. Nagai is definitely someone to watch in the future. Of course, we could not forget the very talented animators who portrayed the characteristics of each of the voice actors behind the animated characters they were playing.

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Movie Review: Overheard《竊聽風雲》

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My Rating: 3Stars

This evening I saw the movie premier of Overheard《竊聽風雲》 at Grand Cinema, Elements, West Kowloon, Hong Kong. Not one of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

It stars 劉青雲 (Lau Ching-wan), 古天樂 (Louis Koo), 吳彥祖 (Daniel Wu) and 王敏德 (Michael F. Wong), with the former being one of my favorite actors, which I’ve watched almost every one of his movies.

The plot of the movie is smiple. It is about a unit of the CIB unit of the Hong Kong Police being assigned to keep surveillance on a company that the government is investigating. The movie did not spend enough time building the characters and background. There were moments of mission-impossible-esq scenes to create suspense but did not really carry through the movie. The several twists in the plot were too predictable and did not give the audience the feeling of originality.

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Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Half – Blood Prince

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My Rating: 4Stars

This evening I saw the movie Harry Potter and the Half – Blood Prince at Grand Cinema, Elements, West Kowloon, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

This is the sixth movie in the series, after Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in 2001, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in 2002, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in 2004, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2005 and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in 2007.

I tried reading the book several times but for whatever reason I could not get past chapter 3 and started had to start from the beginning at least 4 times because I cannot remember where in the story I stopped at. Not sure whether this was due to the book’s inability to capture my attention until the end. But having said that, if you are a Harry Potter fans this is again a must see.

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Movie Review: Murderer《殺人犯》

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My Rating: 1Stars

This evening I saw the movie Murderer at AMC Theater, Pacific Place, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list. After seeing the movie in person I had to remove it from my Must See Movies list.

Yes, it was that bad. If it was not for Aaron Kwok the movie would have easily become one of Hong Kong’s many B-movies. Fans of Kwok will be angry with me, but I felt that every scene Kwok was in he was trying to imitate Jack Nicholson and Johnny Depp. I guess in a way it was necessary due to the mental state of the character, Inspector Ling, he was playing. In comparison the supporting actors in the movie was worst, especially Josie Ho

I believe the director, Hsien-yang Chou, has much to do with the down fall of this movie and not to mention the writing duo Chi-long To and Roy Chow Hin Yeung. They are all new to the movie industry expect for To. Not only is the dialogue and directions are bad, the special effects are also very unbelievable.

Unless you’re a fan of Kwok I suggest you give this a miss.

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
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Movie Review: Transformers – Revenge of the Fallen

My Rating: 3Stars

This evening I saw the movie Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen at Grand Cinema, Elements, West Kowloon, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

Before I went to see this movie I avoided all the trailers on TV and at the cinemas, because there were more than the usual number of trailers I did not want to see all the actions from the movie. Luck I did as I was told from others who had watched the trailers, they were the key scenes from each of the action sequences.

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Movie Review: Duplicity

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My Rating: 2Stars

This evening I saw the movie Duplicity at UA Cinema, Time Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

I always enjoy movies with Julia Roberts and this one was no exception, but she was the only one any good. I never liked Clive Owen and his movies and I think this would have been a better movie if the cast were different. George Clooney and Brad Pitt would have been much better choices as Roberts’ partner in the movie.

It is a movie about corporate espionage between two rival corporation. Where Roberts and Owen are playing both sides for their self gain.

When the movie begins; actually during the first 15 minutes of the movie, you may be lost looking for the plot to begin. This is not surprising as you are dropped in the middle of a story about two spies. It is not until two thirds into the movie that you get the whole plot and back story. I guess this was the writers’ way of keeping suspense for a very weak plot.

If it was not for Roberts I would have given this 1 penguin like I did with most other Owen’s movies.

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
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Movie Review: Star Trek (2009)

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My Rating: 5Stars

Last night I saw the movie Star Trek at UA Cinema, Time Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

It has been 7 years since the last Star Trek movie release in the theater. The last was Star Trek: Nemesis in 2002 with the newest crew of the Enterprise led by captain Jean-Luc Picard.

The latest movie of the Star Trek franchise is a prequel to the crew from the original Star Trek TV series: James T. Kirk, Spock, Bones, Uhura, Montgomery Scott and Sulu first aired 44 years ago. The movie set started before captain James T. Kirk was born quickly skip through his childhood and to the moment he enlist into Star Fleet.

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Movie Review: Terminator Salvation

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My Rating: 4Stars

This afternoon I saw the movie Terminator Salvation at UA Cinema, Time Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

It has been six years since the last movie in the Terminator franchise, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) and 25 years since the first movie, The Terminator (1984). Each of the movies in the franchise had mentions of John Connor; this time played by Christian Bale. This movie gave us, the audience, a refreshing in-depth look at the story of John Connor and the life on Earth (the year 2018) during the machine up rising for the first time.

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