Movie Review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

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My Rating: 4Stars

This afternoon I saw the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button at UA Cinema, Time Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

The plot of the movie is fairly typical but with a special twist. It is about a man, Benjamin Button (played by Brad Pitt), who was born with an old man’s body and died as a baby.

The special effects and makeup were quite amazing. Although one would not expect special effects to play an important role for a movie like this. It enabled the team to transform Pitt, a 46 years old in real life, into a young teenager. The other side of the transformation was to make Pitt into a convincing 70 years old, which was the creativity of makeup artist, Greg Cannom.

Cannom’s artisan included the transformation of Pitt’s body into an old man’s, along with sagging chest and flabby stomach. This efforts earned him an Oscar nomination, “Achievement in Makeup”.

For some reasons this movie reminded me of Tim Burton‘s Big Fish (2003). I guess it was the cinematography and the fantasy nature of the plot. There is a questionable yet believable feel for the events that transpire throughout the movie.

Pitt delivered his usual great performance, convincing the audience he was indeed the age the character was going through. Enough so that it earned him an Oscar nomination for “Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role”. One of his supporting actresses, Taraji P. Henson also had a great performance, earning an Oscar nomination herself for “Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role”. In total the movie racked up 13 nominations at the 81st Oscars to be held on February 22nd.

This is definitely a movie for fans of Pitt, but anyone into fantasy and stories of Eric Roth should not miss either.

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: What Just Happened

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My Rating: 1Stars

This evening I saw the movie What Just Happened at JP Theater, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Not one of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

In a short several weeks I went from a 5 penguins rating movie to one that I am reluctant to give 1 penguin. I really should have known given it is a movie from Magnolia Pictures. I just thought, given it was staring Robert De Niro and with big stars like: Bruce WillisSean Penn and Stanley Tucci it cannot be that bad. Was I wrong!!

What can I say about this movie? It is boring, the plot is simple and does not capture the audience. The acting overall are weak. Bruce Willis plays an overweight, unreasonable, snob of himself. De Niro is an over the hill hollywood producer whose twice divorced that is grabbing onto his career by the thread.

Not only is this the worst movie this year. I can say it is a runner up to the worst movie I’ve ever seen.

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: Body of Lies

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My Rating: 4Stars

This evening I saw the movie Body of Lies at UA Cinema, Time Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

I went into this movie thinking it was going to be a movie along the same line as Spy Game with Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. I came out presently surprised by the execution of what could have been a typical story that had been told over and over again. As always I will not review the plot or any spoilers but describing the plot of the story.

I saw a lot of symbolism in the movie, retelling the Middle East story with a slight anti-West slant. Russell Crowe purposely gain 50 pounds for this movie, so that his character, Ed Hoffman, was more believable as a paper mover. I felt Crowe’s character symbolizes United States and its politics; you can read more about my views on these politics in my recent post, American PrincipalsLeonardo DiCaprio played the lead character, Roger Ferris, whom I feel symbolizes the hidden voices of the West who question the policies of their respective governments. While Mark Strong plays the head of the Jordanian General Intelligence Department, which I feel symbolizes the other side of Middle East, the side who are not openly against the West, in particularly United States.

If you go to see this movie, you will have to be prepare for a lot of dialogue and less than the usual actions from a “spy spoof”. With an opened mind you may get to see a different side of the current events in the Middle East.

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: Mamma Mia!

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My Rating: 4Stars

This evening I saw the movie Mamma Mia! at AMC Theater, Pacific Place, Admiralty, Hong Kong.

I had not had much expectation for this movie. I didn’t even had it in my Must See Movies list. But I was presently surprised.

I believe much of my enjoyment was the direct results of the actors in the movie. They sure went all out and included some of the biggest in the industry: , and even Tom Hanks pitched in as one of the Executive Producer for the movie.

Reportedly the female lead, Amanda Seyfried had never heard any of ABBA’s songs prior to staring in the movie.

I went to the record store prior to going onto the theater to see if I recognize any of the songs. Since I was of that age (grew up in the 80’s), I did recognize most of the songs, but I did not find any of the songs that good. My opinions changed during and after the movie, where I found most of the songs to be catchy and enjoyable.

Like in Music and Lyrics and all musicals, the actors in this movie sang their own songs. Not that any of them were any good, but you will hardly notice as the lyrics become part of the dialogues.

Pierce Brosnan was surprisingly, at least to me, good. He wad kind of out of character. Not playing the typical Remington Steele, Thomas Crown or James Bond character.

The multiple Oscars awards actress, Meryl Streep was no exception. She was her typical but much much older self.

Overall this is a very enjoyable movie with a present mood throughout the movie, if you want to feel all happy coming out of a movie, then this is definitely the one to go see.

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: Vantage Point

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My Rating: 4Stars

This evening I saw the movie “Vantage Point” at Broadway Theater, Cyberport, Hong Kong.

It was a movie with a very different approach. The director attempted to show several different points of view by replaying 30 minutes of the story over and over; 8 times in all. Each time he reviews a bit more of the whole story, while stopping at appropriate spot each time to cause the audience to want to see more each time the scene stops.

Unfortunately, for audiences who did not appreciate this original approach found it annoying and were vocal about it in the theatre.The TV series “24” had an original way of telling a story as close to real life as possible. I admire this director, Pete Travis, for doing the same with a brilliant execution. Especially when he had not done too many movies in the past.

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

Movie Review: Premonition

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My Rating: 4Stars

This evening I saw the movie “Premonition” at UA Windsor Palace, Windsor House, Causeway Bay.

Another movie from one of my favorite actress, Sandra Bullock. She did not disappoint me with this latest movie. She plays a character that no one believe, like “The Net” and “Murder by Numbers“, and the seriousness as in “The Lake House“.

I cannot tell you any more about this movie, otherwise I will give away most of the story.

All I can say is that it reminds me of the movie “Groundhog Day” with Bill Murray and the ending is a bit like the ending in “The Terminator“.

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

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

Movie Review: The Da Vinci Code

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My Rating: 4Stars

This evening I went to see the movie The Da Vinci Code at JP Theater, Causeway Bay.

Another great performance by Tom Hanks. I had always liked movies staring Tom Hanks. That was one of the reason that this movie was on my Must See Movies list.

I had not read the book of the same name by Dan Brown., but after seeing the movie I can understand why the book was so popular.

This movie had a lot of deep concepts and one must really pay attention to keep up with what’s going on in the plot. This is especially true; as I was told, when one is reading the Chinese subtitles, as the translation is a bit complicated.

The only reason I gave this movie a penguin short of a perfect score, is the complexity of the terminologies used in the movie to keep the audiences’ attention and interest.

For those who do not mind reading the book before seeing the movie, I would recommend doing so. Especially, at the moment when most theaters in Hong Kong require two days advance booking if you want to purchase a seat that is not two rows from the screen.

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: Ocean’s 12

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My Rating: 4Stars

This evening I went to see the movie “Ocean’s 12” at Broadway Cinema, Olympian Plaza. Another one from my Must See Movies list.

Again I did not go into this sequel having too much expectations like any other sequel. I was expecting the similar twist-and-turn of “Ocean’s 11“, and to my present surprise, the twists and turns of the story are even more elaborative than one would expect for a sequel.

The characters Danny Ocean (played by George Clooney) and Rusty Ryan (played by Brad Pitt) again had the nicest clothes of all characters.

I really don’t know why Julia Roberts complained about the credit order on the posters. She only played a minor role in this sequel compared to Catherine Zeta-Jones.

From the looks of thing, the writers left room for yet another sequel in case the box office justify so.

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: Shall We Dance?

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My Rating: 4Stars

This afternoon I went to see the movie “Shall We Dance” at Golden Harvest Theater, Ocean Terminal. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

What can I say? I have not seen a bad movie with Richard Gere, and this one is no exception. Every movie that he is in, the director would always guarantee to include a “drop-dead-woman-killer” shot. Like Sean Connery, the older they get the more the women drop at their feet.

This is a nice movie about a save innocent subject matter that makes you feel good afterwards.

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