Oz The Great and Powerful

Caught the movie with bf. For the most part, my suggestion to watch this movie was because of Mila Kunis. hahaha.

This is definitely a different "The Wizard of Oz" from our childhood story and movie. The original story was focused on Dorothy, Tinman, Scarecrow and Lion. However, for this movie, it's interesting in contrast in a few aspects:

1) Its initial screenplay was set in black-and-white, and its screen ratio was disturbingly small. It was as if it were some really old movie. Bf was bothered by the colour too. However, being the "smart" me, I already predicted that when Oscar entered Emerald City, the colours will return to the screen. XD

2) The main character is the Wizard, Oscar (commonly called Oz). The lion only appeared on screen for a brief encounter. The scarecrows also made a cameo as part of Oscar's attack plans.

The film has quite a few hilarious moments. Quite enjoyable, very magical and vibrant portrayal of Emerald City. However, I find some parts quite draggy and unnecessary.. Overall it's a film worth catching if you're curious (kudos to the CG), though I wouldn't say I'm very much impressed by any character.

Oscar (played by James Franco) annoys me till an extent. I've read that Robert Downey, Jr and Johnny Depp were approached before engaging Franco, I thought the character would probably have been better played by either.

I expected more of Mila Kuni's acting though. X)

Glinda (played by Michelle Williams) is just gorgeous :)





My rate: 7/10

Warm Bodies

Just caught this in the cinema with bf. I've heard this film received positive ratings and I've been curious how does this zombie-human (you know, something different from the vampire-human relationship) thing can work out. Cos honestly, when I watched its trailer, it did not even catch my interest.

So... it started out with some zombies story and they decided to go hunt for human flesh (or brains). During which, this zombie saw Julie for the first time and was attracted to her. He killed her boyfriend and ate his brains, where it gave the zombie memories of Julie's bf, and made it like her even more. The zombie "saved" Julie and brought her back with it.

When Julie realized he wasn't like the other zombies, she started to feel less tense around him. They started talking and Julie asked what was his name. He couldn't remember except that it started with an "R". Hence, Julie started calling him R.

R and Julie spent days together and R found that he started to become more human-like with Julie. Julie also later realizes she missed R. Their romance blossoms and they became an example of a one-of-a-kind  relationship.

This zombie-human romance is better than I expected. And although its action scenes are not very much, it's pretty up to my expectations already, since I was expecting a romance movie. There's humour every now and then and it's just so cute :D It makes R (played by Nicholas Hoult) and its actor so cute! And this whole relationship thing is just cute too.

Oh and before I forget, I keep seeing Kristen Stewart in Teresa Palmer (Julie). Maybe it's just me. The way they speak, the angles, some expressions...

The whole movie I've been wondering how is it like wearing that one red hoodie forever. Does it smell? XD

Now, after watching this movie, you may just want a zombie boyfriend ;) say bye to vampires!





My rate: 7/10

Dances with Wolves

This is an amazing movie. Apart from its (amazing) runtime duration of 3 hours, the storyline and filmography is great. This is almost like a mini drama.

I didn't know what to expect. Its title does not explain anything and the first few minutes of the movie meant nothing. It was only when John Dunbar (played by Kevin Costner) arrived at the plains then did the story unfold. 

The movie is about an American Lieutenant, Dunbar, arriving at his post at the western frontier. He was all alone until he encountered a Native American, the Sioux, at his post. He initiated interaction with them because he did not want to be viewed as a target, or as a threat. 

Slowly, he gained the Sioux's trust, learnt their ways and grew to become one of them...

This being a 1990 film, it was much better than I expected in terms of the film quality and filmography. I loved the scenic scenes, I loved the characters. The characters were really into their roles and those who played the Sioux spoke in the native language. I particularly like Kicking Bird (played by Graham Greene) and Wind In His Hair (played by Rodney A. Grant). 

This is definitely one of those movie-of-the-year.

My rate: 9/10

District 13: Ultimatum (Banlieue 13: Ultimatum / B13-U)

Despite its promising parkour scenes, the second movie is little more draggy. There is an attempt at putting more effort into creating a "bigger issue" plot and adding more mystery elements, but it's a little too draggy and too much talking. I'd still prefer a more-action D13.

The most comical part was Damien driving the car up a ramp and into the building, through the building and when he broke out of the building via the window, the car landed on another car and it crawled down the bottom car. LOL.

The plot could still be better though... At the end it's just like mehhhh... Nothing much.. Ending was quite disappointing. The first movie was more "fresh".

And I still think David Belle and Cyril Raffaelli are awesome fighters and stunt men :)




My rate: 7/10

District 13 (Banlieue 13 / B13)

Nice action movie! I love the kind of action, the fast fast kind. And I just know what it's called: parkour.

The two main characters are stunt men for other movies and this is one where they can finally be themselves to star in a movie :) Which is great because they are awesome and they deserve the recognition! Most of the stunts are done without wires or CG. And David Belle (Leito in the film) is actually the founder of parkour?! Wow...

Twist in the story at the end, interesting point of view about the bomb :)





My rate: 8/10

The A-Team

This movie is awesome!! The characters, the plot, the action! :)

I wouldn't want to go into the plot and details but this sure is one hell of a movie.

Starring Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper. I like Murdock in the show, he's cute XD





My rate: 8/10

Tears of the Sun

As the title suggests, this war film is more of an emotional movie than action.

It's set in in Africa. The US Navy SEAL team had a mission to retrieve Dr. Kendricks before the rebel soldiers reached the church she was nursing the sick and injured patients. Dr. Kendricks refused to leave the place without her people. The team then brought along some of those who are able to walk to trek through the forests to where the military chopper would be taking them. But the Lieutenant never intended to bring the refugees up the chopper.

Trouble began when Lieutenant AK and his team sent some of the refugees away on their supposed flight and are now left stranded in the forest because he was denied additional aid.

Many scenes are of which people are killed and tortured by the rebels, showing us how cruel war is. The real "fight" between the US SEAL team and the rebels occurred only during the last 20 minutes or so.

Thumbs up for starring Bruce Willis and Monica Bellucci. There was suspense at the start, but unfortunately there wasn't the "danger" after the suspense. The confrontation with the rebels was quite sudden without much suspense. The film could be better though.





My rate: 6/10

Shoot 'Em Up

Wasn't the type of action I expected but still a good one. I find it quite sadistic, probably the reason why it's under the "black comedy" genre?

Smith is absolutely good and accurate with guns. One day he saw a gun-man stalking a pregnant lady. He couldn't do nothing about it hence he followed them. Before he knew it, a group of men were attempting to kill the lady and while shooting at those men, he delivered the baby. Wow. But it wasn't the lady those men wanted, it was the baby.

Smith brought the baby to this hooker, Donna, who was capable of breast feeding the baby with her own. Donna refuses to help Smith, until the bad guy Hertz threatened Donna to revealing Smith and the baby's whereabouts. Smith appeared and helped Donna escape. Donna then takes care of the baby while Smith continues killing whoever that's on their heels.

Lots of lots of killing and blood. But it's not much of gore. Just pretty sadistic. I enjoyed the movie though, cos Smith is just that good. haha. The plots just... like that.... I just enjoyed how Smith shoots people. XD




My rate 6/10

Sanctum

Sanctum shows us how one can be desperate enough to sacrifice others or sacrifice for others. A group of people go cave-diving and exploring until disaster stroke. One by one, the team member dies, and only Josh survived and managed to find his way out of the caves.

The starting part is quite boring and lots of complacency and lousy acting. But when it comes to where the real thing then starts, it gets better.

Maybe it's not meant to be too gore-y, that's why it's sort of gore-y but not. I didn't like looking at those people who drowned though. Kinda scares me a little. And I'm afraid of deep waters, so this movie kind of brought out a little of that phobia.

If you're bored and want to watch something, you can prolly watch this. But if you're out for some excitement/gore/thriller/etc. you wouldn't be too impressed. It has a bit of everything but not enough of any.



My rate: 5/10

Transporter 3

Yea, "Transporter"'s a great movie. But we need some creativity here. Apart from Frank's signature rules.

That scene with the large cargo trucks totally remind me of that scene in the first of its series. Also, in transporter 2, one scene of car-chasing alongside one another is similar to "The Transporter" too. There may be other stuff I find similar within the series but I can't remember them now.

But i gotta say I loved this movie's action scenes the most. Some parts are ridiculous but it's exciting ;)

I'm not really a car person. For instance, I can't appreciate those cars featured in the "Fast and Furious" series although I love that series. But the cars Frank drives in this series makes me go WOW. I like them! Right from the first BMW, till the second Audi A8 and Lamborghini Murcielago. He drove the same Audi in this movie and it's simply beauty.

Can't wait to catch the television series!




My rate: 8/10

Transporter 2

Transporter 2 is more promising than the first. Plot's definitely better. Jason Statham is still as charming :P

This time, the transporter's not being a transporter. Instead, he become sort of a chauffeur for a rich family. He sent the kid, Jack, home from school every day for a month. And it all went wrong when Jack went for a jab but the wrong "doctors" were there. Being the hero he was, he promised Jack he wouldn't let anyone hurt him.

Jack was kidnapped. But it didn't turned out to be this simple. Jack was supposed to be injected with an airborne virus, targeted to kill his famous and rich father.

Frank saves the day, of course.

Although this is a much larger scale and exciting movie than the first, some parts of it were too good to be true. Some parts were also not "accounted for". For instance, the part where two officers found out that someone else was accessing the police database, Inspector Tarconi got away but we don't know how. Also, when Frank crashed his Lamborghini when chasing Gianni's plane, it wasn't shown how he got up the plane. And that plane crash into the sea, is it even possible they survived? And how the hell was the water in there only till the neck when the plane went head-in into the water.

I love the last 10 seconds of the movie though ;)



My rate: 7/10

The Transporter

I love the male lead, Jason Statham, he's so charismatic!

I like the action, the car, the male lead. But the plot of the story wasn't too impressive. It's about saving a container of 400 people. Initially the movie was quite promising with the suspense, thrill and all, but when the end turned out to be just like this, it sounded as though the scriptwriter couldn't continue any further and decided to end it in the simplest way. 

The best part of the show has got to be Jason Statham and the action. 

My rate: 6/10

Source Code

Woahhh, another mind boggling one. This is pretty cool because it may just be used in real life. But it's absolutely cruel to the "victim".

Stevens was on this mission, that he didn't even know he was on initially, to locate a bomber after a bombing of a train near Chicago happened. Some advanced new technology, Source Code, was used to let Stevens enter the last 8 minutes of the memory of a man who died in the train. From there, he was to carry out his mission. He only had 8 minutes and will cease to exist in that timeline after that. He will be brought back to "reality" which his brain was actually on life support. Stevens himself was, too, already dead whilst some parts of his brain could still function. 

The ending made me go "wow" because it is even possible that happened? That an event that took place in another dimension can actually alter the past and hence the future? I cannot understand how that is possible. I mean, I know this is a sci-fi film and it's totally fictional but I try to make sense of how that is even possible. And I can't seem to find a way to make it seem like it's actually realistic, even if it's in the movie. Oh well, one bad habit of mine; thinking too much into things. But! I like the movie :D

It's one of those movies that can make me sit down and watch through the whole thing (usually I get very easily distracted at every little thing). The run time is pretty short though, just slightly past 60 minutes. But it's a good thing, because if it gets too long, it's going to get boring after awhile. 

My rate: 8/10

Spellbound / My Girlfriend Can See Ghosts (오싹한 연애)

This movie scared the hell out of me alright. I can't take horror movies. I was so afraid that I was screaming and covering my eyes and all that retarded shit. But I survived this movie because it was worth!

It's a comedy-romance-horror film. Apart from the horror, this movie is good. For people who like horror, I guess you'd be pleased with the horror scenes. But for people like me.... well, close your eyes =\

I've watched a Korean horror movie that's actually a sad story. This one is also something along those lines. There's always a way to capture your hearts.

Nothing much I want to comment on the plot and details (except the horror part, which I just did). Watch and you will know ;)





My rate: 6/10

Chloe

woah, mind-blowing. Casting Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Amanda Seyfried and Max Thieriot.

Catherine suspects her husband, David, is having an extramarital affair. She hires a call girl, Chloe, to seduce her husband to test if he really would have cheated on her.

Chloe gives Catherine details on the stuff she and her husband did. Catherine was so overwhelmed by everything that one night she made a decision to look Chloe up. She slept with Chloe that night.

Little did she know that Chloe was in fact in love with her. And the stories about her sleeping with Catherine's husband were cooked up. Catherine was unable to get rid of Chloe after that one night stand even after using money to send her away.

And..... after watching till the end, I think the last scene suggests that Catherine was unable to forget about Chloe.




My rate: 8/10

First Love / A Little Thing Called Love (สิ่งเล็กเล็ก ที่เรียกว่า...รัก)

WHY IS MARIO MAURER SO HANDSOME! LOLOL. :D

I wanted to give this movie a miss because I scrolled through the movie and it didn't look like anything interesting. There was this bunch of "ugly" girls and the movie quality wasn't that awesome. But I decided to just watch and see how it goes. AND I was glad I made the right decision :)

We all love school romance, don't we? ;) Nam's first love was a senior, Shone. (If I were her, I'd have a crush on him too :P) She tried all ways and means to let Shone like her, even changing her appearance. But he never showed any interest in her throughout her 3 years in school.

Instead, Shone's best friend, Top fell in love with Nam and decided to ask her out. Although Nam did not agree to being his gf, she did not disagree either. When Nam realized she couldn't stay with Top any longer, she "broke up" with him.

And here comes the twist! Top tells Shone to not go after Nam no matter what because he was too heartbroken to see his best friend getting together with the one he loved. Shone agreed. But! *spoiler* Shone has actually liked Nam since long ago. The revelation at the end made me cry. :')

We all have that one time when we do stupid things to try to make the person we like notice us. Or that mini heart attack when you see him. Or that cringe when you see other girls with him.

I was totally into the movie. I could feel myself being Nam. hahaha.

Definitely a romance-comedy movie worth watching :)




My rate: 7/10



So I did some little research on Mario Maurer. He's of a Thai, Chinese and German descent, but can only speak Thai and conversational English. I bet that explains how he's so good looking! He looks like he's capable of being a total dork XD He has acted in many thai movies but unfortunately, I'm not too much of a thai person. Maybe I'll catch some of his movies one day. :)

Enough of words, I shall let the picture do that work!

My PS Partner (나의 P.S. 파트너)

Initially I thought this movie was about a penpals, since the title writes "PS" partner.. I don't know why! Maybe cos people put P.S at the end of letters. After watching the movie then I realized that "PS" actually meant "phone sex". LOL.

So.. how the two main characters met was through a very awkward conversation - Phone Sex, as the title suggests. And it was a total mistake because the Yoon Jung called the wrong number and didn't know until the end, when she finished "pleasuring" Hyun Seung.

It's an interesting movie because it's just funny seeing how things turn out. And also cos the male lead, Ji Sung, is handsome and the female lead, Kim Ah Joong, is not bad looking.

Nothing extraordinary about this movie. The racy song was epic though. XD The song Hyun Seung made for Yoon Jung. The clip I watched did not have subs for the song but I could understand Korean enough. X)




My rate: 6/10