Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief Review

Directed by Chris Columbus, the person who directed the first two Harry Potter movie, most might want to make a cross-reference with the Harry Potter franchise... but for me, it look more like Chronicle of Narnia rather than Harry Potter... so if you're not into Chronicle of Narnia, then you can just skip this movie...

Anyway, the movie is based from a book, but I've never read the book, so I don't know whether the movie follow the book or not... but on it's own, I think the movie fair quite OK... I definitely think that this movie can do better... somehow I felt the length of 119 minutes doesn't really do much to the movie as most of the scene look kinda like being rushed and quickly over... and due to the fast pace of the movie, it somehow make the movie look less epic... might be better if it was longer or maybe made into two part so they can give a proper introduction or a more epic battle...

But overall, it's not that bad actually, I find it okay, definitely won't be my movie of the year... as for my rating, i give it a 7 out of 10...

Sherlock Holmes Review

I'm not really a big fan of mystery/detective movie, so you can say that I don't really watch any Sherlock Holmes movies/drama/book before, but I do know bit and pieces on how Sherlock Holmes supposed to look like or do (you know, something like saying "elementary my dear Watson"), so seeing how Robert Downey Jr potray Sherlock Holmes was kinda surprising... in a good way that is...

so it's either his character was interesting, or he did a brilliant acting... same can be said to his assistant, Dr Watson... both of them did a superb job... though not the same can be said about Mary (Kelly Reilly), it's either bad acting or over acting by her, at some scene, i can't help feeling like she is spoiling the scene/mood...

as for the storyline, just like most mystery/detective genre movie, it's all about solving the case(s) that is currently happening in the movie, and it is quite amazing how Sherlock Holmes can get the smallest detail within a scene to help him solve his case (or i'm just suck at being a detective)...

other than the solving part, the funny side was good too... it was a typical Robert Downey Jr (a.k.a Iron Man) kind of joke/comedy, but it was still funny none-the-less... same goes to the action scene, it was awesome...

so overall, even though i'm not a big fan of movie of this genre, but there are just something about this movie that kept me interested throughout the movie (even though i didn't really make any attempt of trying to solve it myself)... owh, there are a lot of talking going on in the middle of the movie, so some action fan might felt the movie to be a bit slow... as for me, i truly enjoy the movie, so i'm giving it an 8.5 out of 10...

The Princess and The Frog Review

Disney's highly anticipated 2-D movie is finally here... dubbed as being back to basic of being 2-D, so how does it fare? well, visually, it's quite astonishing as what you might expect from a Disney production... and no, i don't think going back to 2-D look outdated...

moving on from graphic, what about the storyline... well, after seeing a lot of action movies lately, the change of pace of the move was a little bit hard to take for me... for the first maybe 20 or 30 mins, the movie was moving really slow with a lot of singing at almost every scenes as possible... for a moment, it was like watching a musical movie... but things start to get interesting/exciting/fun once the heroine (Tania) met The Frog and thus begin their adventures together that lead from one thing to another and see some change of heart...

but overall, i don't think this is one of Disney's best animation... i personally feel there are a few past animations that are better than this one... but if you're a fan of Disney's animation, then this shouldn't bother you as i'm pretty sure you will end up enjoyed the whole movie... as for my rating, i give it a 7.5 out of 10... and if you're a Disney fan, i'm pretty sure you will rate it higher than i did... :)

Storm Warriors Review

For fans of the comic, finally, they can watch a movie that visually follow almost exactly with what they see in the comic, a fight where all their powers look stunning instead of looking cartoonish... they also adopt a "300" effect in the movie to good use...

but unfortunately, that's just about it... it's all just visual with a very lacking storyline in it... basically, the movie start with some fighting, then some training, then back to fighting and then more fighting, and more fighting and then you end with saying "WTH?"seriously... watching a fight between two guy for more than 30 mins (it might be close to an hour... i didn't actually count... eheh...), it might look good visually, but it count for nothing toward the storyline...

for the reader of the comic, they might know what is going on, but unfortunately for the non-reader, they might end up clueless on most part of the movie, as this movie isn't really a direct sequel from storm rider...

so overall, i can safely say that this movie is best being avoided for those who never read the comic... for those who read the comic, i think it would be best to watch it at weekday price and try avoiding late night show... as for my rating, in term of visual, i give it a 9 out of 10... story-wise, i give it a 1 out of 10...

Jump (Stephen Chow) movie review

What does the like of Save the Last Dance, Stomp the Yard, Step Up, Honey and many countless dance flick have in common? They are all basically have the same storyline/plot... and this movie isn't any different... you can say that this is just a chinese version of hollywood dance flicks... The film tells the story of a young girl from a small chinese village that get the chance to start a career as a professional dance in the big city... sound familiar eh?

anyway... though Stephen Chow is the producer of this movie, you hardly see any scene that has Stephen Chow signature/trait in it... even the comedy weren't really up to what you might expect from a Stephen Chow movie... so if you're expecting this to be like any Stephen Chow's previous movies, then you might end up being disappointed...

acting-wise, i didn't really think anyone standout actually... can't help feeling like they weren't doing they're 100% into the movie... i don't know... that's just how i personally feel... and since this is a dance flick, i'll touch into the choreography too... though i don't know much about dancing, but i feel the dance aren't really up to the flick produced by hollywood... some of the dance i felt were kinda old... and in the final scene, in a dance battle between Kitty Zhang's school vs a group from South Korea, the standard of the dance between the two countries are very noticeable... i guess, that is why South Korea have one of the best dancer group in Asia...

Overall, personally, this movie would be better being watched on DVD/CD rather than cinema... i rate this movie at 6.5 out of 10... if you expect this to be like any of Stephen Chow's previous movie, i think you might end up giving this movie a 5 out of 10... if you still insist of watching it at the cinema, then i suggest you to watch it at weekday... i don't think its worth watching at weekend price...

Ninja Assassin Review

From the producer of the Matrix Trilogy, I expected this to be nothing more than an eye-candy action movie... and it was just like i expected, it was all about action with some gory action too... yepz, i mentioned gory there, so this movie isn't really suitable for the kids...

what about the storyline you ask? personally, i think it sux... despite Rain being the leading man, I can't help feeling like Rain's purpose is just to do the actions while the 2nd leading person, Mika, did most of the talking... but well, that's just me...

acting-wise, i think everybody did just around average to just above average, nobody really standout actually... even for Rain, other than his action scene, I don't really think he was really tested, but at least he did improve his english and his 8 months workout on his body pay its dividend...

so if you're looking for action movie and don't care about storyline, then you will enjoy this movie... as for my rating for this movie, story-wise i give it a 4 out of 10, while action-wise i give it a 8 out of 10... so my advice, just sit back, relax, forget about the details and just simply enjoy the action...

2012 Review

it's been awhile since i last wrote a movie review, so it might be poorly done... eheh...

anyway... for this movie, coming from a director who directed The Independence Day (thumbs up) and The Day After Tomorrow (thumbs down), i kinda have a mix expectation toward this movie... and reading some early review online certainly didn't help either... but by the end of this movie, it surely doesn't feel like an almost 3 hours movie... erm... i'm not saying it in a bad way, i actually enjoy the whole 2 hour plus show with the exception of some few scenes...

although overall, i do think this movie is more of an eye-candy rather than delivering a stunning storyline, but the stunning graphic of destruction just kept me on the edge of my seat almost throughout the movie... and eventhough there were lot of chaos being shown throughout the movie, it doesn't make us lose focus on the storyline...

to summarize it, it got awesome visual, above-average storyline but won't bore you type of movie... and as for my rating, i'm gonna rate this based on the enjoyment of watching this movie... i'm giving it an 8.5 out of 10...

and for those who have watched the movie, you should know the cause of the destruction right? now here is something for you think about... this movie was written and started shooting in 2008... and last month, NASA captured THIS... kinda freaky eh?

Up Review

I must say, it's really been a great month this month... last week, i left the cinema totally satisfied after watching District 9... this week, different movie, different genre and i still end up feeling very satisfied...

I didn't actually read the synopsis of this movie, so i didn't really know what to expect from this movie... but after seeing the trailer a few weeks ago, it was a regular trailer, but something caught me and i just felt like i want to see it, and i'm glad that i did...

anyway, i felt that this movie is different from any animation that i have seen before (anime is not included... eheh...), it's not really about comedy nor it is a serious animation... infact, the intro was a very touching scene (i was kinda touched again when Fredricksen said "crossed my heart" again in the middle of the movie)... there aren't a lot of animation including anime that can make me feel sad, so i guess there is just something special about this movie for able to make me feel this way...

anyway, the story revolves around this character named Fredricksen... the intro was a short story from the when he was still a kid all the way to his present older years... then the real story begin when he ties thousand of balloons to his house and flies away to South America... along the way, he met several characters, but even with the many characters around him, the movie still focus on him... and for the whole movie, there wasn't a bit where i felt bored, there were just a lot of mixed emotion in the movie... (owh, the most touching scene was when Fredricksen look back at his wife's memory book... kinda remind me of a memory book that i kept with me... eheh)... and owh, don't let that bother you, i still think it has a great entertainment value in it too...

so overall, i find it's a great movie to watch by the whole family... personally, i think this movie is better than Finding Nemo and i really think that this is the best animated movie so far this year... so my rating based from movies of this genre, i give it a 10 out of 10... seriously, i really really like it... :)

District 9 Review

First of all, a warning to those who don't like gore movie, STAY AWAY! Coz there will be a lot of scenes involving blood, mutilation and even people being pulverize... So for those who don't mind the gore stuffs, then I must say that this is one superb movie!!!

Initially, I thought it would just like another Cloverfield movie when they started off the movie with what look like a footage taken by a handheld video camera... but luckily, not all of the scene was taken from a video cam perspective, it was a mix of video cam shots with regular shots which I find it interesting and past the quarter mark, there were no more video cam shots being used...

Storywise, it was almost like a regular story, but something about it just keeps on drawing my attention, but I don't really know what, it just manage to keep me interested for the whole movie. And come the part where the alien weapon start to being used, that is where most the action begin and it was one exciting battle, it wasn't a really big battle, but it is still very exciting (i said it twice, so it got to be exciting... err... make it three times... eheh...).

Another cool thing about the movie is the effect. The mothership and the "prawn" look so real, it doesn't look like a CGI. And the ending was kinda open which can give a possibility of a sequel, and I do hope they make one!

So overall, as I described in the opening paragraph, this movie is not for those who don't like gore stuffs and it is definitely not suitable for the kids. Other than that, I find it interesting, exciting and SUPERB! I definitely think that this is one of the best movie so far this year. As for my rating, I know that this is not a perfect ten rated movie, but considering I haven't seen any movie that can make me this excited for quite some times (I think, the last time I felt this excited was when I watched Dark Knight), so I might be a bit biased in my rating, I'm giving it a 9.5 out of 10... :)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Review

First of all, I just want to say that The Half-Blood Prince was my least favourite book among all Harry Potter series, so I didn't really put a very high hope in this movie.

So just like in the book, the movie started kinda slow except for the part where the Death Eater attacked the muggle world. And along the movie, I can't help feeling like they were putting too much emphasis on the teen hormones (errr... romance and stuffs) rather than the impending danger that lies ahead, it was as if Voldemort didn't exist yet... I don't know... maybe it's just me...

And because of that, I feel like things did start to heat up in the last quarter of the movie and it felt like they rush it off to complete it... I didn't feel the intensity of the situation, wasn't as intense as portrayed in the book, the ending wasn't as epic as I hoped for... but then again, you can't expect them to include everything from the book... oh well...

So depending on how you rate the book, you might rate the movie slightly the same... meaning, if you think the book is great, then the movie would be slight less great and if you think the book os average, then the movie might be slightly above average (afterall, the movie did cut out some of the unnecessary scene)... while for me, being a Harry Potter fan, so my rating might be a little bit bias... so I'm giving it a 7.5 out of 10...

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Review

I wasn't really a big fan of Transformer 1... I didn't hate it, I do find it to be the coolest movie of the year, but other than that, I find it kinda overrated... Now come the sequel... With three times more robots available compared to the first movie, will it be better than the first one? Well... before that... Michael Bay came under heavy criticism by movie critic on the first movie, and in this sequel, he gave the movie critic more "in your face" stuffs for them to hate even more... yepz... personally, the added robots are just plain overrated as most of them are nothing more than just some extras (*ehem* more merchandise to sell *ehem*) that doesn't really add much to the storyline... and with the sequel were built around the name of The Fallen, he didn't do much in the movie either... such a let down I must say...

In the first movie, I hate the lame joke... and for the sequel... I hate it even more... though there are some part that made me laugh, but overall, it's worst than the first one... while storyline-wise, I find this one is much weaker than the first one... seriously, I don't think it worth 150 minutes of showing... it's the action that make the movie long...

So overall, I think it is just one over-the-top movie made by Michael Bay, whether it's the lame joke or the oh-so-many-explosion scene, it was done wayyyy to over... probably he did that just to annoy the movie critic, which for me, destroyed the whole movie... So if you're hoping for a good storyline, then you will be disappointed... but if you like to see some explosion and some robots fighting, then you won't be disappointed... my rating... I give it a 3.5 out of 10...

Blood: The Last Vampire Review

I only see bits and pieces of Blood anime movie, but I've seen and own the anime series... So although I don't really know the whole story of the original anime movie, I do know the concept of Blood and fortunately, they tried to keep this movie as close as possible with the concept of the anime, but will that be enough? Unfortunately for the fans of Blood, it's not... 

I really feel that his movie have the potential to bang, but due to the low budget being financed for this movie, you can't help feeling like you're watching a cheap movie (and the fact that local cinema cuts most of the gore part spoils the fun too)...

In term of storyline, a friend of mine say that the movie was little bit different from the original movie (as usual), and the ending was quite different, so that's another thing Blood fans might want to gripe. But for those who don't know about the original anime, the storyline is quite good actually... the action started off almost immediately with background of Saya (played by Gianna) were told as the movie goes by through series of flashbacks and it was done quite nicely as it keep the audience interested to know more about her past while trying not to forget about what is currently going on. For the ending, somehow I didn't feel any intensity eventhough that is supposed to be the final battle, I felt like they are just rushing to get it done... well, that's just my opinion...

Acting-wise, unfortunately, nobody did great, for me it was below average except for Kato who perform better than the rest of the crews... and I think Gianna couldn't really get into Saya character, she look more toward being awkward rather than being a lonely and raging Saya as portrayed in the anime, her weakness were clearly seen when she tried to speak Japanese. Though the sword fight is good, would have been better had they didn't cut-off most of the fighting scene (pfftttt to the censorboard).

I doubt they will be making a second movie of Blood, so if you want to know what happened to Saya, just watch the series as the series is the sequel to the movie... While for Blood fan, I'm pretty sure most of them will be eager to bury this movie away. As for me, it's quite hard to rate this movie... I really want to give it a high rating for its potential, but the low budget destroy everything, so in the end, I end up giving this movie a 6.5 out of 10, and for all the Blood fans out there, you can just try to avoid this movie or just wait for it to come out in DVD...

Shinjiku Incident Review

If you expect some kungfu and comedy from Jackie Chan, then unfortunately, you won't be seeing it in this movie... this is a different movie by Jackie Chan, and I think this is the first time I see Jackie Chan acted so seriously throughout the movie... owh, if you think that is crap, then think again, personally, I think this is the best anti-hero asian movie I have ever seen!

As you can see from the title, it happen in Japan, and there were some element of Japanese-styled movie being put into the movie... as most of you might know, Japanese movies tend to have a slow-paced movie, and for most part of this movie, the pace was also slow, but not as slow as most Japanese movies... for those who are not used to Japanese movies, they might find it too slow, but for me, since I'm used to Japanese movies, I didn't really find it that slow... the introduction was necessary to explain the whole concept of the movie... though the only thing I hate about the movie was at how easy it was for Jackie Chan to assassinate two head yakuza at point blank... but other than that, everything was done superbly...

Acting wise, Jackie Chan & Daniel Wu did a great job... as for Takenaka Naoto who played as a detective, for some reason, he keep on reminding me of him playing as Strezemann in Nodame Cantabile, maybe it's because of the way he talk, overall he was ok...

So overall, this is one asian movie worth watching even at weekend price and personally, it is highly recommendable... for the rating, personally again, I would give it a 10 out of 10... eheh... seriously, I'm not really into anti-hero movies, but this movie rally captivate me, so I really think it worth a 10... but for those who don't like the pace of the movie might give it an 8 or 7.5 out of 10... but that is still a good rating right... :)

Dragonball Evolution Review

When the actors lineup was first announced for this movie, I didn't really give much hope for this movie, and considering I am not a big fan of the original Dragonball, I didn't anticipate much for this movie, the only thing that kept me interested was to know that this is being produced by Stephen Chow.

But I guess, there is a blessing in disguise for me not to anticipate this movie, after watching the trailer, I was hoping for the worst, but the movie turn out to be slightly above average, and since I didn't give any high hope for this movie, an average movie is still better than a bad movie. But for fans of the original Dragonball, I'm pretty sure most of them will end up feeling really really disappointed with the whole storyline... coz they change it a lot and it was far away from storyline that we knew form the original Dragonball.

The movie started with the narration of how Piccolo got prisoned, then it start with a fight training between Goku and his grandfather... and well, the training scene look crap and I thought, "oh well, I guess my fear for the worst is coming true" But luckily, there were quite a numbers of funny scene which works quite well and it really help me not to feel bored about this movie...

Other than that, the storyline was simple... too simple that is... it only took Goku one overnight training to beat the most fearsome enemy in the world... even the romance was cheesy, all it take was just one serious conversation then you end up falling in love with each other... shesh... talk about simplicity... lol... and by the end of the movie, I end up saying "that's it?" to myself, I really felt as if they were rushing to finish off the movie...

Overall, I really think the movie had the potential, just give it a little bit more screening time and some more budget, I think they could make a good movie out of it (PS: this is coming from a non-fan of the original Dragonball)... So by taking into account of me didn't give any high hope for this movie and being a non-fan of the original Dragonball, I think I can give this movie a 6.5 out of 10 (not really recommendable to watch it at weekend price, weekday would be ok)... as for fans of the original Dragonball, I'm pretty sure they will rate this movie even less, probably around 3 - 4 out of 10...

Watchmen Review

hmm... it's hard for me to rate this one... even harder for me to write a review without spoiling the whole story... so i'll just try to keep it short and simple...

but first, let me warn you, this movie is definitely not for kids... there are a lots of nudity in it (owh, and they got blue willy too... lol...), very violent (chopping someone's head, sawing someone's arm) and lots of blood... so if you're planning to bring your kid to watch this movie this weekend, then forget it!

ok, you can say that i follow the entertainment news, so i can say that this movie is one of the most anticipated movie this year, so automatically, it got my anticipation a bit high on this one... so by the end of the movie, unfortunately, it disappoint me... i'm not saying this movie suck, i do find it to be unique, but it just doesn't click me... and with the remotely high hope i have with this movie doesn't really help much to give this movie a better rating...

in term of storyline, i can say that the early three-quarter part of the movie was quite confusing as i felt the storyline kinda shifting from one thing to another, so it does kinda make lost on what the whole story was all about... past that part, then slowly it start to reveal itself... erm... well, in other words, you can say it was a good twist... something i didn't really expect...

in term of actions, considering this is more like a superheroes movie, i hoped to see a lots of fighting scene... unfortunately, it didn't... but when there is a fighting scene, it does look good, i don't find it cool, but it really look very good!

so my conclusion, even though i don't find this movie ti be suck, but i won't be watching this movie again... i want to give it a 7.5 purely for it's uniqueness, but i feel that rating would be so over-rated to the movie as whole... so originally i wanted to give a 5, but due to it's unique storyline and fighting scenes, i decided to give it a 5.5 out of 10... (would have given it a 6, but the blue willy make me to drop it to 5.5... lol...)

Street Fighter: Legend of Chun Li Review

it's been a while since i last write a movie review, so i'm kinda bit rusty, especially after watching Street Fighter... erm... well, I'm not saying it's suck, but after watching a second rate performance by Kristin Kreuk, third rate performance by the rest of the actors, below average fighting scenes, crappy CGI and a mediocre storyline, it really left me with nothing much to say... personally, i really think that this movie is something that should have go straight to DVD instead of cinema... in other words, it is something that i won't mind watching on TV and best avoid watching at cinema...

to make it short, if you're planning to watch it this weekend, try to find an alternative, personally, i don't think this is worth the weekend price, maybe you could watch it at weekday price but that would be at your own discretion... eheh... and for my rating, i give this movie an 4.5 out of 10...

Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa

I like to move it move it! and 3 yrs after that song was first heard, i still find it quite catchy especially when the four main characters of madagascar sings it... eheh... well... that's just me...

so madagascar get its sequel... and like most movie with sequel, you can't help comparing it with it's predecessor... and same goes to this movie... compared to the first movie, this one is more family oriented and less funnier... but that doesn't mean that this movie is less entertaining... i still find it to be enjoyable throughout the whole movie... and it also seem like they tried to include as many "cute" characters as they could...

anyway... that aside, in term of storyline, as i've said that this is more family oriented than the first one, so the whole concept is very different and could even be made as a stand alone movie rather than a sequel... eventhough its family oriented, the storyline is still quite light and it doesn't require you to think a lot... so if you want to relax and have fun, then just watch this movie... :)

so overall, i wouldn't say that this is a great movie, but it is still something that you can enjoy watching with your family/kids or even with your partner (remember the cute characters? i'm pretty sure there is some scenes where the girls will go "awww..." eheh...) so i'm giving this movie an 8 out of 10...

James Bond: Quantum of Solace Review

It's been a while since I last wrote a movie review... last one was Wall-e... that was like around 2 or 3 months ago, so I'm kinda rusty a bit... anyway, I'm not really a fan of James Bond, the only James Bond I watched was Die Another Day, yepz, I haven't watched Casino Royale yet...

anyway... action wise, I can give it a 10 out of 10... although a friend of mine do say that it's a typical James Bond action where there is running on rooftop, jumping here and there, but nevertheless, the action is still quite breathtaking...

as for the storyline... well, as I've said, I'm not a fan of James Bond, so I don't really know how the storyline should go... but as a non-James Bond viewer, I do find some scene quite confusing, especially the part where they tend to speak quite fast as I can't really grasp what they are trying to explain...

but overall, i think it's quite an interesting movie, mostly thank to the action... come to think about it, at some point I do feel like it'a a more-action-less-talk kind of movie... eheh... but that's just me... so as for my rating, i give it an 8.5 out of 10, and it's all thanks to the action scene... :)