Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Genre: Action/ Adventure
Language: English

Director: Michael Bay (The Horsemen)

Cast: Shia LaBeouf (Eagle Eye), Megan Fox (Transformers), Josh Duhamel (Transformers)

Run Time: 149 minutes

Official site: http://www.transformersmovie.com/

Plot:

Decepticon forces return to Earth on a mission to take Sam Witwicky prisoner, after the young hero learns the truth about the ancient origins of the Transformers. Joining the mission to protect humankind is Optimus Prime, who forms an alliance with international armies for a second epic battle.

Watched the movie on 25 June night @ GV Max with Sylvia and Vanessa.

Another childhood cartoon comes to life. This sequel definitely rocks me off my seat like the 1st episode with spectacular visual effects. The fight scenes were extravagant and fast-paced.

As usual, our heroes Optimus Prime and Bumblebee returned to save the day. There were also many new Autobots and Decepticons introduced in this sequel. The ones that caught my attention were definitely Jetfire and the Twins - Mudflap & Skids.

Jetfire was a Seeker and former Decepticon who transformed into a SR-71 Blackbird. However, his wounds and age had made him choose to become an Autobot, He creaked, could not transform well, and said to be running out of energon. Also, he walked with a cane, which doubled as a battle axe. A wise old teacher who helped the folks to translate the script.

The Twins on the other hand, were Autobot infiltrators transformed respectively into a red Chevrolet Trax and green Chevrolet Beat. Mudflap was very hyperactive, while Skids believed himself to be the smarter of the two and tried to come across as mature, but nevertheless appears unable to keep quiet.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the movie very much despite many said this sequel was not as good as the first one. And I very recommend it should be watch in cinema with big screen and good sound system to enjoy the best effect.

ah-deng says: 4½ / 5 The 3rd episode is coming out in 2012. Looking forward for more surprises.

The Taking of Pelham 123

Genre: Thriller

Language: English

Director: Tony Scott (Déjà Vu)

Cast: Denzel Washington (American Gangster), John Travolta (Hairspray), John Turturro (You Don't Mess with the Zohan)

Run Time: 105 minutes

Plot:

In The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Denzel Washington stars as New York City subway dispatcher Walter Garber, whose ordinary day is thrown into chaos by an audacious crime: the hijacking of a subway train. John Travolta stars as Ryder, the criminal mastermind who, as leader of a highly-armed gang of four, threatens to execute the train’s passengers unless a large ransom is paid within one hour. As the tension mounts beneath his feet, Garber employs his vast knowledge of the subway system in a battle to outwit Ryder and save the hostages.

Watched the movie on 20 June night @ GV Vivo with Sylvia.

Armed men hijack a New York City subway train, holding the passengers hostage in return for a ransom, and turning an ordinary day's work for dispatcher into a face-off with the mastermind behind the crime. From aeroplanes to ships (Pirates) to trains and subway, criminals can get more and more creative. So what's next?

Between the 2 lead roles, I preferred John's Ryder. He is very aggressive, demanding yet there was trace of kindness somewhere. He always has the wicked and mean essentials to his character. On the other hand, Denzel's role as Garber did not really impressed me. The only part worth discussing may be his dilemma to admit his bribe taking case. The toggling of the two men's argument brought the film to the climax.

This remake incorporated new technology such as Wireless network, Web Cam & live feed which 30 years back, people may not have even heard of what a Laptop is. And the boo-boo done by the NYPD brought some laughter out from the tied timeline.

However, the main objective of Ryder's scheme was to create mayhem in the stock market by creating havoc. The movie did not really explain enough of his whole motive. Although the hijackers planned a good hijack exercise, their escape plan could have been better.

ah-deng says: 3½ / 5 One day if I receive a call, saying one of our shop is being hijacked, I will... Choy!

I Love You, Man

Genre: Comedy

Language: English

Director: John Hamburg (Along Came Polly)

Cast: Paul Rudd (Role Models), Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist)

Runtime: 105 minutes

Official site: http://www.iloveyouman.com/

Plot:

Peter Klaven, a real estate agent with a blossoming career and an imminent marriage to Zooey. Basically, he's lucky in all things except male bonding. The narrative arc centers on his quest for platonic man-love--as opposed to, say, finding the girl of his dreams--and follows the boilerplate dictates of a standard rom-com with a subversive wink. In this case, boy meets boy, boys bond over their common love of Rush and Andre the Giant, boys break up and make up.

Watched the movie on 19 June night @ Cathay Cineleisure with Vanessa.

This is definitely, totally a male-chick movie. A man who has no male BFF, very in need to find one to be his best man. So gay and cheesy.

Somehow, I don't believe there is any man out there who needs to be hooked up to another man. Especially in Singapore, men serve military service, and the bonding existed and held them together where even their spouses couldn't understand the relationship unless they underwent the same stage. During the time of growing up, there bound to be a stage whereby true friends found each other.

Therefore, the word friendless is rather harsh. Maybe, a real confiding friend isn't easy to come by. But in like this movie, when Peter finally got to know Sydney, they practically bring each other into their life. Sydney recommended him good food while Peter shared his hobby. It is still their daily activities that bond the friends.

ah-deng says: 3 / 5 Real true friends are hard to come by in regardless of gender. Mine are definitely worth having.

Nobody To Watch Over Me

Genre: Drama

Language: Japanese

Director: Ryoichi Kimizuka

Cast: Koichi Sato (The Climbers High), Mirai Shida (Kabei: Our Mother), Ryuhei Matsuda (Nightmare Detective)

Runtime: 118 minutes

Plot:

A 15-year-old middle school girl is picked up at school by the police when her elder 18-year-old brother is arrested on suspicion of randomly murdering two grade school girls. She is put under the protection of a dedicated yet conflicted police detective who has orders to shield the girl from the inevitable public outrage that is to follow. Through these two protagonists’ eyes, we get a glimpse into the vulnerability, the isolation and even the resilience of the individual when up against a volatile and often intolerant world.

Watched the movie on 13 June midnight @ The Picturehouse with Sylvia.

It is a perspective that the victim(s) and their families should be taken care of when tragedy happened. However, this movie brought out a strong message that the families of the suspect should be protected as well. As the culture differs among countries, the news-thirsty media finds all means of way to dig any kind of news in order to excel one other. And that leads to the more suicide cases for those stressful and pressured family member, especially in the Japanese society.

In this movie, the main story was a police detective protecting the younger sister of the suspect from the media over-exposure reporting of the incident. And the story leaded to another mishandling case by that police detective. I feel that this script could have expanded even further with so many characters involved. It may be better if it was made into a drama.

The teenager sister impressed the audiences with her matured acting skills. Given someone at this age and to go through such ordeal, it is unimaginable for a young actress like her to portray the role. Also the developed Internet network we have, worsen the situation.

ah-deng says - 4 / 5 Even if you are not the murderer, you will still be haunt forever since you are family, even if you changed your name.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Language: English

Director: Mark Waters (The Spiderwick Chronicles)

Cast: Matthew McConaughey (Tropic Thunder), Jennifer Garner (Juno), Michael Douglas (You, Me and Dupre) , Emma Stone (The House Bunny)

Runtime: 101 minutes

Official Site: http://www.ghostsofgirlfriendspastmovie.com/

Plot:

When notorious womanizer Connor Mead attends his brother Paul's wedding, he is forced to re-evaluate his behavior as he comes face-to-face with the ghosts of girlfriends past, present, and future, along with his deceased uncle. The experience changes his attitude and allows him to reconnect with his first and only love, Jenny.

Watched the movie on 12 June evening @ Cathay Cineleisure with Sylvia.

I always enjoy watching Matthew McConaughey's "Rom-Com" (Romantic Comedy). He has never failed to charm me over with his bad-boy seductive toxic from his previous works such as "How to lose a guy in 10 days", "Failure to launch" and this latest one.

One of the memorable part of this movie is the soundtracks played throughout, especially those when Connor was brought back to the past. They brought memories back to me, as those song were very popular when I was young. The different song that represents a different period, probably the songs may not be the best seller, but definitely the greatest hits.

Another attraction of this movie, the long-time-no-see Michael Douglas. Although his scenes were not much, he added substances to the movie. I must say all the dialogues were well-written and brilliantly delivered by all the casts. Overall, a well-proportion movie.

ah-deng says: 3½ / 5 The bed seems too big and lame as a time-machine transportation. Any better and creative ideas out there?

State Of Play

Genre: Drama

Language: English

Director: Kevin MacDonald (The Last King of Scotland)

Cast: Rachel McAdams (The Family Stone), Jason Bateman (Hancock), Helen Mirren (Inkheart) Ben Affleck (He's Just Not That into You), Russell Crowe (Body of Lies)

Runtime: 127 Minutes

Official site: http://www.stateofplaymovie.net/

Plot:

Cal McCaffrey, an old-school-style journalist working for the Washington Globe. He begins to investigate the death of a young woman who was the research assistant and mistress of his friend Stephen Collins, an ambitious congressman whose career is likely ruined when his affair is revealed. Joined by young political blogger Della Frye, Cal races against time and deadlines to solve the murder, which may be only a small part of a much larger crime.

Watched the movie on 7 June afternoon @ Cathay Cineleisure with Sylvia.

Seen this movie trailer several months back and wasn't really expecting a lot from this movie. Thought Russell Crowe was a detective from the trailer. But not, he was a journalist, who covered homicides stories. Although I didn't really like his appearance - long hair and shabby outfit, he convinced me he was a real reporter, the brilliant dialog throughout the movie and his no-frills acting skills, a pro actor.

I like how the director handled the detail of telling the story to the audiences. Russell Crowe the veteran giving the newbie - Rachel McAdams, guidance to the bottom of the truth. On top of that, the bossy Dowager portrayed by Helen Mirren, added icing to the cake, loved these combination. True excellent performance.

Although the movie was more than 2 hours long, I do not feel draggy at all. There were thrills, tension and drama. I especially liked the ending part whereby the final truth was published and newspapers were printing in process together with the actors credits. I thought this part could have been at the beginning of the film but it was even better at the end of the movie.

ah-deng says: 4½ / 5 Behind politics, there are a lot of conspiracy. Behind every news report, is there truth?

Blood: The Last Vampire

Genre: Action

Language: English & Japanese

Director: Chris Nahon (Kiss of the Dragon)

Cast: Gianna Jun Ji-Hyun (If I Were Superman), Allison Miller (17 Again), Liam Cunningham (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor), JJ Field, Koyuki Kato (The Last Samurai)

Runtime: 92 minutes

Official site: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/bloodthelastvampire/

Plot:

BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE, based on the cult hit series. Demons have infested the earth. And only one warrior stands between the dark and the light: Saya, a half-human, half-vampire samurai who preys on those who feast on human blood. Joining forces with the shadowy society known as the Council, Saya is dispatched to an American military base, where an intense series of swordfights leads her to the deadliest vampire of all. And now after 400 years, Saya's final hunt is about to begin.

Watched the movie on 6 June afternoon @ Cathay AMK Hub with Sylvia.

Recently I have been interested with film or drama featured with the theme of Vampire. Honestly, I've never been of a fan of any ghost flick, vampire, Dracula, zombie, anything scary... as i do have weak heart. However, when one day I heard over the radio about True Blood while I was driving, I got interested and started to watch the newly improvise version of Vampire story. And to my pleasant surprise, Vampires has transformed from something I most feared to someone I really like to meet in real life if i even have a chance!

Back to the movies, there was tons of news about this film from pre-production till the premiere. The main reason is because it is Gianna's first Hollywood movie attempt thus there were lots of anticipation from the Asia media. And after watching her performance, the first idea I had was: "Wow, another Michelle Yeoh in the making!"

The main character - Saya, a high-school looked vampire, portrayed by Gianna who is already 28 years of age, carried the sailor-moon type uniform well. She even looked younger compared to co-star Allison Miller who is 4 younger in real life. Although most fight scenes used shots cut and joined to convince audiences that Gianna can fight, it wasn't quite bad the idea as using so much of the stuntmen.

There were traces of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The fighting scene in the forest - sword fight with falling autumn leaves. No much dialogs but Gianna's English Conversation was audible. Only her Japanese sounded stiff.

Bottom line is, Blood: The Last Vampire is a straight forward action film. Although certain scenes could have been made better, maybe better CG superimposed Mt Fuji, it's still entertaining in it's way, hopefully it gets better for its sequel if there is plan to have one.

ah-deng says: 3 / 5 One day if I find True Blood on sale at 7/11, I know Vampire is near me...