Movie Review: The Other Woman (2009)

 Love and Other Impossible Pursuits
Love and Other Impossible Pursuits

My Rating:

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This evening I saw the movie The Other Woman (aka Love and Other Impossible Pursuits) at UA Cinemas, Times Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. One of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

This movies stars the Academy Awards Best Actress, Natalie Portman. It was filmed in 2009 and general released early 2011, I wonder if this has anything to do with Portman’s Best Actress win in 2011.

Portman’s character is very similar to the role she played in Black Swan that won her the Best Actress title in 2011. The actor who stood out in the movie was the young Charlie Tahan, brother of Daisy Tahan, who played a very believable boy stuck in the middle of a bad divorce and remarriage of his father, played by the TV actor, Scott Cohen.

The plot of the movie is simple and Portman’s character is the “other woman” who caused the break up of her boss’ marriage. Ironically that was the same reason her mother divorced her father. Portman also struggle with the guilt of her 2 weeks old baby dying in her arms.

I was more mesmerized by Tahan’s character and his struggle to cope with the changes in his life more than Portman’s character.

For Portman’s fan this may be a must see but for me I think Tahan is an up and coming actor we can expect much from. Hopefully he does not fall into the traditional child actor predicament like Gary Coleman or Dana Plato, but shines like Drew Barrymore.

This is a good movie to go to if you don’t have anything else to choose from at the box office.

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: Old Dogs (2009)

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My Rating: 4Stars

This evening I saw the movie Old Dogs at JP Theater, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. One of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

With Seth Green in this movie I had expected it to be a slapstick comedy. Even with John Travolta, who has done great movies: Wild Hogs, Ladder 49, Swordfish, et., in the past I was a bit skeptical. Fortunately, these are not the only two main actors in the movie, there’s also the Oscar winning Robin Williams, whom I believe have yet to appear is a bad movie; well may be RV was an exception to that rule. At almost 60, Williams is still able to carry the movie on his own with Travolta playing more as a sidekick and supporting actor.

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Movie Review: Law Abiding Citizen

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My Rating: 4Stars

This afternoon I saw the movie Law Abiding Citizen at AMC Theater, Admiralty, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

Most surprising part of this movie is the role of Gerard Butler who is most known for Beowulf and 300. In this movie Butler began as a victim who had his family murdered in front of him and then getting even after the justice system failed to convict the ones responsible. So far this does not sound too unusual but the way Butler’s character got even and the character’s background made the movie interesting for me, giving it a feel of MacGyver.

If you like The Bourne Identity movie franchise you will like this movie.

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: 2012

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My Rating: 2Stars

This afternoon I saw the movie 2012 at AMC Theater, Admiralty, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

Normally I make a point not to get into details of the plot of the movie, but I will make an exception for this movie. The movie is about the destruction of the Earth due to solar flares causing the core of the Earth to over heat and making the crust unstable.

Like many recent movies from Hollywood, this movie also attempts to teach the audiences a lesson. This time the lesson is about the fragile planet Earth and how everything are interrelated. Unfortunately, this will be the only good thing to take away from this movie.

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Movie Review: The Time Traveler’s Wife

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My Rating: 3Stars

This evening I saw the movie The Time Traveler’s Wife at UA Cinema, Times Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

The movie’s plot is different from what the title implies and not unlike the 2001 Kate & Leopold with Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman, or the 2006 The Lake House with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. All three movies use the concept of moving between times to deliver a love story that cannot happen.

In this latest movie, Eric Bana (Henry DeTamble) of Hulk fame, delivered a very good performance playing the time traveller who has no control of which time he jumps to or when.

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Movie Review: Surrogates

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My Rating: 4Stars

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

Like the many other Bruce Willis movies in the past Surrogates also had a chase scene.

The plot is a fairly typical, but the story had a future element to make it fresh, but not so much so that present day audiences cannot relate to. The movie updated the audiences the background of the story’s past 14 years in the first 5 minutes of the movie. This became the premise for the pace of movie. As it is one of the shorter big Hollywood productions at just 89 minutes.

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Movie Review: The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)

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My Rating: 3Stars

This afternoon I saw the movie The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 at AMC Theater, Pacific Place, Admiralty, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

Denzel Washington gave a great performance. This time he played a more humble character compared to the roles in has past movies like: Deja Vu, The Bone Collector, Crimson Tide, etc. On the other hand John Travolta played the bad guy character we come to love and expect, as he had done so well in Face Off and Broken Arrow. I always use the measurements of whether the actor made me hate the antagonist character to judge whether the performance was good.

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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: Knowing

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My Rating: 4Stars

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

After watching the poor performance of Dwayne Johnson in Race to Witch Mountain last week, I was glad to watch a seasoned actor, Nicolas Cage, delivering a great performance. Although Cage’s performance is only great when compared to Johnson, here Cage was playing his “Ben Gates” character from National Treasure.

The thing that earned this movie an extra penguin in my rating was the story and the twists in the plot. It did not have as complicated of a plot as National Treasure, but contains enough suspense for the audience to want more. Without breaking my rule of no spoilers, there is really not much more I can say about the movie.

I can leave you with the following detail, as with I Am Legend the ending of this movie is a bit unexpected.

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

影評:《收錯愛情風》He’s Just Not That Into You

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My Rating: 4Stars

今晚睇完套戲《收錯愛情風》,有一個好強烈的體會,也是感覺,更加強化了自己和好朋友的一套的理論…當你的男人真的愛你,想同你共渡此生的時候,不用你開口,他就會娶你;當他仍然不想放棄這個森林時,無論你怎樣要求,怎樣歇盡所能地要求-結婚,他寧願放棄,也不會妥協。這並不代表他不愛你,只是時間上彼此的需求有差距,不配合。一個很多人覺得是人生自然的階段,說來自然,但是,對一些拍拖多年的情侶來講,卻並不是那麼來得得心應手,從心所欲!我相信沒有一個正常未婚女人不期待婚姻…

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