Movie Review: Super 8

 Super 8 500x150
Super 8 500×150

My Rating:

 Buy from iTunes Store

This evening I saw the movie Super 8 at AMC Cinemas, Pacific Place, Admiralty, Hong Kong. One of the movies from my Must See Movies list, and the following is my movie review.

Wow… this movie got right into it at the start. We only have to wait about 15 minutes to receive a spectacular train crash, then kept a steady pace throughout. It has the spirit and style of E.T. and Close Encounter of the Third Kind all over it. Even though Steven Spielberg only receives the “producer’ credits we can see much of his influences in the movie.

On the other hand the director, writer and producer, J.J. Abrams is famous for his hands in the hit TV series: Alias, Lost and Fringe. Abrams also has some motion picture to his credits including some of the biggest box office winners: Mission: Impossible III and Star Trek, but it also includes some of the busts like Cloverfield. The latter is what cause me to be weary about purchasing the tickets, but I believe Spielberg will not associate himself with anything bad which reassures me.

Like Spielberg’s E.T. that launched the careers of Drew Barrymore and Henry Thomas, this movie also introduces two new child actors: Joel Courtney and Riley Griffiths, of whom did a much better job than the so call veterans in the movie: Ron Eldard and Kyle Chandler.

We should watch Courtney’s development to see if he develops into the star that Barrymore did minus the drug addictions or follows the paths of Thomas. Courtney portrays a kid who recently lost his mother and has a great passion for makeup and model making. He practices his passion by helping his kindergarten friend, played by Griffiths, with a no budget movie. One night while filming bought them close encounter with a major government cover up.

This is definitely a must see for 2011 and for fans of children adventures and E.T. aficionados.

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: Sherlock Holmes (2009)

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My Rating: 3Stars

This evening thanks to NeonPunch.com I saw the movie premier Sherlock Holmes at JP Theater, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. One of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

If you are a fan of Arthur Conan Doyle‘s Sherlock Holmes novels then you will have been looking forward to this version of the movie for some time. For this movie they casted Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law as Holmes sidekick, Dr. John Watson. The villain this time is Lord Blackwood played by Mark Strong, and the romantic distraction is Irene Adler played by My Name Is Tanino‘s Rachel McAdams.

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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

Movie Review: Angels & Demons

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My Rating: 4Stars

This afternoon I saw the movie Angels & Demons at Grand Ocean Theater, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

This is a movie from the Dr. Langdon franchise, the first being the 2006 movie, The Da Vinci Code. There were very little references to the previous movie accept for the use of the same lead character, Dr. Robert Langdon, played by the Oscar winning Tom Hanks, and several references to Langdon’s activities against the Catholic church. As a result no requirements to watch the first movie for viewers to be able to enjoy this one. Like the first movie, this was also directed by the award winning director, Ron Howard. These factors may be the reasons behind why the movie was sold out at almost every cinemas in Hong Kong on Thursday (release day in Hong Kong), Friday and Saturday.
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Movie Review: Eagle Eye

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My Rating: 4Stars

This evening I saw the movie Eagle Eye at AMC Theater, Pacific Place, Admiralty, Hong Kong.

Another highly anticipated movie from my Must See Movies list.

Another great movie with exciting special effects and spectacular stunts. The kind you expects from Die Hard franchise and more recently in Wanted. These recent movies has really raise the bar for all action movies to come.

The casting was almost perfect except for Michael Chiklis, which I just cannot rid him of his character, “Detective Vic Mackey” from The Shield. It is most likely the choice of the director, D.J. Caruso, who chose Chiklis for the Defense Secretary role.

The plot of this movie is not totally original, with The Terminator and WarGames both using the same theme. To avoid ruin the movie for my readers I will not review too much of the plot, which is reviewed half way into the movie.

Overall the dialogue is fairly weak particularly Chiklis’ character. The only memorable one was from Billy Bob Thornton where he turns to his team and say, “I hope you are all staring at me because I am the major suspect, if I don’t get some significant leads I will demote everyone of you to jobs that require direct contact of feces.”

If you enjoy action movies and a technology buff, this is definitely a movie not to 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

Movie Review: The Happening (2008)

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My Rating: 1Stars

This evening I saw the movie “The Happening” at AMC Theater, Pacific Place, Hong Kong.

This is not happening! If I notice it was written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan I would not have place it on my Must See Movies list and definitely not have gone to see it.

The movie is trying to tell a story about us being too hard on nature and nature fighting back or in this case give us signs that it has enough.

There had been great movies directed by M. Night Shyamalan like The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, but there had recently been not so great movies like 2002’s Signs and 2004’s The Village. For the latter you can see my review of it in my blog.

For some reasons I had been picking low budget movies from iTunes movie rental also: Funny Games, Civic Duty.

It is not that low budget movies are always bad, but low budget movies with a silly topic/story makes a boring movie. This is the reason why I would not recommend this movie to anyone.

Hopefully with this movie it is time for Shyamalan to come up with another great movie like The Sixth Sense.

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: 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

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