Role Models

Yesterday we went to see 'Role Models' at GSC in MidValley.

Two energy drink spokesmen, Wheeler and Danny (Seann William Scott and Paul Rudd) get in trouble with the law after Danny has a break-up with his girlfriend. They are given the choice of jail or community service with troubled kids, and choose the latter. Danny is given a boy Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse of Superbad) who wears a cape and is into role-playing games. Wheeler is given a foul mouthed terror of a boy (Bobb'e J. Thompson).

It's a feelgood chucklesome affair, not as laugh out loud as some, but not too shabby with the funnies either. The version I was watching had (almost) all the swearing (and anything else immorrally awesome) edited out, which would have made it less funny for me, because, and let's be honest, swearing and titties are great, great things. Malaysian authorities! Let me decide!

I'm going to give 'Role Models' a 6.5/10, possibly higher if it had the good stuff left in.

Ip Man

Yesterday we went to see the excellent Ip Man, the story of the Wing Chun KungFu Grandmaster who trained, (among many others) Bruce Lee.

It's thoroughly enjoyable, with lots of great (and brutal!) fighting and especially earlier on, humour.

7½/10

Outlander: Vikings vs. Aliens :)

Last weekend we went to see Outlander which was a vikings vs aliens geekerific splendourfest.

Most of the film takes place in olden time viking laden earth, but there are several interesting detours into the 'backstory', which takes place in a hi-tech, space-age alien environment. I want to say 'paradoxically', but it just actually isn't. That's a pity because it's a really cool word.

Probably quite obviously, this was my choice, and I really enjoyed it.

Outlander scores 7/10.

.. And even more movies!

'Wanted'.. forgettable title, unforgettable movie!

well.. ok.. maybe 'unforgettable' may be a bit over the top, but 'Wanted' is what action movies should be. It's a no-holds barred, rollercoaster of a flick, completely, utterly unbelievable, but thoroughly enjoyable just the same.
I'm not usually a fan of action movies (I still watch them though) because they're often big dumb affairs that attempt to wow over the viewers with more and bigger explosions rather than even attempting to have a storyline. This is a bit different, and while not perfect, it leaves most other action flicks in the dust.
I read another review somewhere that captures the idea nicely: it's like the movie studio actually trusted the director to do his job, and no-one put their hand on his shoulder at any point to say 'maybe we should leave that bit out, it seems a bit distastful'.

Go see it, let me know what you think, I think you'll be surprised :)

'Wanted' gets 8/10 from me.

here's the trailer:

More movies!

Yesterday we went to see The Bank Job.

Following in the vein of 'Lock Stock & two Smoking Barrels' this gritty, well filmed crime drama is based on a true-life bank robbery in London in 1971, in which the valuables were never recovered and a 'D' notice was issued preventing media from reporting the story, alledgedly to protect a member of the British royal family.

The storytelling here is the ultimate highlight of this film, it's not flashy or over the top in any way, but you leave the cinema feeling full and satisfied. I wish there were more movies like this.

8/10

Last week we went to see 'Get Smart', and it was surprisingly funnier (& much better in general) than I expected :)

I thought it would probably be a bit of a rehash of the tv show, but it was actually quite warm, human & well acted. Nice one!

7.5/10

Iron Man Rocks!

I was expecting a lot from this movie, it's been my must-see movie since I first saw the trailer but I had started to prepare myself for disappointment.

I began saying things like 'the first movie in a super-hero franchise is always a bit slow as they have so much backstory to cover', because I was worried that I was expecting more than one movie could deliver.

I went to see Iron Man on Thursday night, and I tells ya, all my worry was unnecessary, because this movie is great.

Now I'm a bit of a tech-geek as I'm sure you've probably already gathered by now, so for me, the workshop scenes with Tony Stark testing and refining the different versions of the suit were a very worthwhile addition. Maybe not so much for everyone, but I liked it. Felt that it added depth to the storyline. I really don't like those whizz-bang movie scripts that gloss over everything and don't give the geeks in the audience a bit of substance to chew on ;).

Here, we get to see some of the nuts & bolts (obviously literally in this case), we get to see things fail, which for me adds realism (as much as can be expected in a super-hero movie), as you see that it's a suit that he actually builds and needs to test, not just something that he puts on that works perfectly first time.

The workshop is also the main location of the other surprise of this film.
It's funny. From the bickering between Tony Stark and Jarvis, his AI 'butler', to the visual gags of the initial suit testing, Robert Downey Jr, as usual, presents himself as an actor with a fantastic sense of comedic timing.

Jeff Bridges does a good job as the sleazy, overbearing, double-crossing business partner, and Gwyneth Paltrow does nicely as Pepper Potts, Tony's secretary, though the role doesn't really leave her much room to shine.

Iron man is the best super-hero movie I have seen, is showing now, so go see it if you think there is even the slightest chance you'll like it.

I'll rate Iron Man 9/10

oh.. And stay after the credits ;)

.. The sun sets too soon on another weekend ..

.. but it was a good weekend anyway.

I've been trying to get a bit more exercise in my week, so I've been hitting the bikes in my apartment block gym for about half an hour or so a few days a week.

I'm finding the secret is to keep yourself distracted, so my iPod is armed with plenty of choice uptempo rock numbers, sometimes I take a magazine in for added distraction. If I don't do this, I find that there is no way I can sit pedaling for very long.

I guess that's why a lot of gyms provide tv's to watch while you work out eh. Tv is known as the 'opiate of the masses', may as well put its numbing affect to good use.

I'm feeling good. Burn off some stress on the bike, then into the pool for a few laps.

I've got to do something to fight off this delicious Malaysia cuisine. ;)






Last night we went to see 'Vantage Point' at GSC Times Square. Liked the movie very much, it was minimalistic, but really well done, telling the same story from 8 different view-points, each view-point giving us a little bit more information on what is going on.

It went close at first to being a little repetitive, but I think jumped away just in time.

I'll give 'Vantage Point' 8/10.

Here's the trailer:



We actually saw it Premiere class which was quite worth the 6 ringgit extra per seat, just to escape the regular chatter and mobile phones that seem to interrupt every movie we see in standard class.

I don't know why so many people don't take notice of the 'please switch your phone to silent mode' adverts that accompany each movie, but it's sure distracting.

There wasn't any phone signal in the Premiere class cinema, I'm not sure if that's by design or an accident. Perhaps the whole cinema is encased in a Faraday's cage?

.. Or perhaps that's just me being a geek.

Anyways, have a good week everyone.
Remember, the weekend is only five days away!

a Cloverfield review

I went to see one of my most anticipated movies last weekend, Cloverfield, JJ Abrams take on the monster film genre.

This film is quite complex (dare I say postmodern? I do!) in the way that it deals with storytelling. The camera is the true storyteller here, no voiceovers from Kevin Costner explaining the finer details and wrapping everything up nicely at the end.

This film throws us in the deep end, we have no introduction to warm us up, we, like the characters are soon going to be, are set to make sense of it all and find our way with wits alone. Except we have popcorn, and they do not.

Early on, while still in the party at the apartment, we are participants in a conversation between Rob and Hud (on the ever-present handycam) where Rob expresses great disappointment that Hud is recording over whatever tape was left in Rob's camera.

First impression is that this is a throwaway scene, but it's actually integral to the full story, as the previous footage on the tape interjects in a couple of key scenes throughout the movie to just rattle us that little bit more. The fact that these people had lives and hopes before this catastrophe drums home the realism that, although this is a monster movie, horrific situations could happen to anyone at a moment's notice.

What I think this movie portrays successfully is the way different types of people react, and how really, the true test of us all is not how we react when everything is going well, but when it all comes crushing down.

This film has enough frills & spills to keep anyone remotely interested in the genre glued to their seats.

The one fault of Cloverfield is also one of it's blessings: the camera work is very jumpy, and if you get motion sickness easy I will go as far as saying that you will hate this film. In fact the only detractors of Cloverfield I have spoken to are those who did find that the camera work made them ill.

I did not get ill, and I loved it.

Oh, I think one person said they didn't think it was realistic, I disagree, but marking down a sci-fi film because it is not realistic is like marking down a romantic comedy for being mushy. Scifi does not exist to be realistic, it exists to make us imagine new imaginings.

I give Cloverfield a 8.5/10.

.. pssst, and don't forget to stay for the secret snippet after the credits ;)

Went to GSC at Times Square yesterday to see 'Sweeney Todd', the new Tim Burton / Johnny Depp movie.

While I enjoyed it, and even though I did know it was a musical, I wasn't prepared for how much of a musical it was. Honestly, I think about 90% of the dialog is sung!

The only other thing that detracted from this for me was the fact that the do-gooder Malaysian powers that be find it necessary to edit the film to remove the more unsavoury elements.

Normally this wouldn't be so noticeable, but Sweeney is singing as he's slicing throats, and there are second long chunks of the songs just cut out.

I found that more disturbing that any throat cutting :).

The directing is really good, and the sets are your typical Burtonesque dank London town, perhaps a bit less gothic than much of his other work.

Don't see it if you hate musicals, I'll give it 7.5 /10.