At Long Last, Apollo 18 Gets A Trailer

After a millenia waiting (well, it feels like a millenia), at long last Dimension Films had shown the trailer for their upcoming movie Apollo 18. It was released several days ago for public viewing and I must say the trailer looked good, tense and mysterious at the same time. You can watch it below.

Movie Synopsis: Apollo 17 that was launched on December 17th, 1972, was the last manned mission to the moon. But a year later, in December of 1973, two American astronauts were sent on a secret mission to the moon funded by the US Department of Defense. What you are about to see is the actual footage which the astronauts captured on that mission. While NASA denies its authenticity, others say it's the real reason we've never gone back to the moon.

Courtesy of Joblo.com

That Long Nosed Kid Is Coming Back

Thanks to Joblo.com I happen to come across this news and I must say it intrigues me a little bit. Do you still remember that wooden kid who came to life and whenever he lied, his nose grew longer?? Well guess what, he's coming back and Hellboy director Guillermo Del Toro is at the helm. He's directing a 3D stop-motion version of Pinnochio! The best part is that it's going to be a bit darker. This should be good.

Here's what he has to say:

“There has to be darkness in any fairy tale or children’s narrative work, something the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson and Walt Disney understood,” del Toro said. “We tend to call something Disney-fied, but a lot of people forget how powerfully disturbing the best animated Disney movies are, including those kids being turned into donkeys in Pinocchio. What we’re trying to do is present a Pinocchio that is more faithful to the take that Colodi wrote. That is more surreal and slightly darker than what we’ve seen before.”

For instance: “the Blue Fairy is really a dead girl’s spirit,” del Toro said. “Pinocchio has strange moments of lucid dreaming bordering on hallucinations, with black rabbits. The sperm whale that swallows Pinocchio was actually a giant dogfish, which allows for more classical scale and design. The many mishaps Pinocchio goes through include several near-death close calls, a lot more harrowing moments. The key with this is not making any of it feel gratuitous, because the story is integrated with moments of comedy and beauty. He’s one of the great characters, whose purity and innocence allows him to survive in this bleak landscape of robbers and thugs, emerging from the darkness with his soul intact.” 

Del Toro is also writing it along with Matthew Robins and it's being built by McKinnon and Saunders, the company behind CORPSE BRIDE and FANTASTIC MR. FOX.

My Top 5 Comedies....So Far

Comedy movies are essential in our everyday live. When you're in a stressful period when you feel like breaking people's neck or drinking poison, these movies can entertain you. Sure, not all of them are funny since nowadays there seem to be a plethora of spoof movies where they take certain scenes from certain movies and make it painstakingly silly. They barely let out a giggle from me, serious. These are my top 5 comedy movies that I think you should afford the time to watch. We'll start with number......

5. SHOOT EM' UP (2007)

Clive Owen is a man who loves guns and he eats carrot for his main diet. But when he found a baby being hunted by hitmen when he was hanging about on a lonely road one evening, that's when the action and violence begin. Love it!

This is more of an action movie actually but there are also some funny scenes and lines mixed to it. Those are the things that make this movie a pleasure for me to watch. 

Paul Giamati as the bad guy is a perfect choice for this action piece. I like him as an actor and as an 'accidental' comedian for this movie. Plus, some of his lines throughout the flick really made me chuckle.

Monica Bellucci is the eye candy and she does nothing other that to look pretty and taking care of the baby, but I forgive her as she looked stunning as always. She's still wonderful to watch even though she plays an 'escort' in this movie.

You must be wondering....THIS IS a comedy??????

4.  GHOSTBUSTERS (1984)

This is the type of horror-comedy that never bore me every time I tune to it. It can scare and make you laugh at the same time which not all movies are able to replicate nowadays.

It also has one of the best movie themes around. Who doesn't know the Ghostbusters main theme from Ray Parker must be living under a shell. "If there's something strange, in the neighbourhood, who ya gonna call? GHOSTBUSTERS!." That music will always be a classic and will stand through time.

Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Rick Moranis will always be the Ghostbusters and no one can replace them. Rumour has it a new sequel to the Ghostbusters series is being planned out but they are facing some predicaments. One of them is that Bill Murray is refusing to return as Dr. Peter Venkman.

Come on man! I'd love to watch Ghostbusters for the first time on the big screen! 

3. KICK-ASS (2010)

I love superhero movies but when they make it funny I love it even more! Kick- Ass is a superhero/action-comedy movie based on a comic book with the same name which will blow your minds out.

It's a relatively easy flick to follow and understand. It tells the story of a teenage boy, Dave (Aaron Johnson) who wants to become a real life superhero and he calls himself Kick-Ass. But his exploits lead him to another superhero called Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and his daughter Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz) who are on a revenge mission by battling a drug lord who killed his wife and mother respectively.

This movie despite of it's funniness, is also very violent and absurd (that's why it's funny right?). Can you imagine a father who trains his daughther to be a ruthless killer? Or, have you ever thought of blowing your enemy to pieces with a bazooka??

Well, they got it all in this movie...almost.

2. AIRPLANE! (1980)

Yes, this movie was in 1980. That's nine years before I was even born. Had my best buddy not recommended this movie to me I wouldn't have known about the existence of this comical flick. It's a spoof movie actually but a really good one at that. Not like Scary Movie. It really is a genuine effort to make you laugh. This movie made me laugh and at times, hard with its absurdity. 

The premise of the movie is fairly simple, an ex-war fighter pilot hero, Ted Striker (Robert Hays) who is scared of flying has been left by his stewardess girlfriend, Elaine Dickinson (Julie Hagerty). So in order to win her back, Ted has to brave himself and get aboard the plane that she's working on. Oh, there's also a food poisoning which left everbody in the plane feeling sick (including those in the cockpit!) and it's up to Dr. Barry Rumack (Leslie Nielsen) to cope with the problem...with hilarious results of course.

For those of you who loves comedies with a little bit of silliness, absurdity and corky characters..this is a movie for you.  

1. THE HANGOVER (2009)

This movie didn't even make it to the cinemas in Malaysia. I don't have the slightest clue as of why. This is a movie that every single movie buff SHOULD watch. It's probably the comedy movie of the century to me because it's simply hilarious. To justify my claim, it was the tenth highest grossing film of 2009 with various nominations!

The plot is this, four friends go to New Vegas for a bachelor party and the next morning they found that the groom is missing and they don't remember anything what happened the night before which leads to their hilarious adventure.

For those who haven't seen it, go check it out! There's a tiger in their suite, a baby, Mike Tyson and absurd moments that I won't tell you. You have to watch it to see what I mean.

Now THIS IS a comedy and I higly recommend it.

Check Out The Latest Fast Five Poster

Below is the new movie poster for this year's upcoming movie Fast Five, another sequel in the Fast and Furious series. Pretty sleek poster if you ask me. Simple yet elegant. Courtesy of IGN.

 

Fast Five will be the reunion of the casts from previous installments of the series. Expect more action, explosions and fast cars in this new movie. This will be a cool flick.

You can also watch the trailer below.

How The Green Bee Turned Into The Green Hornet

It's been a while since I last posted something to this blog. The reason is plain and simple, I'm busy! Now, here it is...my latest movie review for The Green Hornet.

Synopsis: After the death of his father, Brit Reid (Seth Rogen) teams up with his late father's assistant Kato (Jay Chou) to become masked crime fighting team...The Green Hornet and his unknown sidekick.

Review: I got in late into the cinema while the movie had past its 30 minute mark so I missed certain parts of the flick..a whole half an hour of it. But what I know is that Brit Reid's now the heir to his father's newspaper empire and he wants to battle crimes in the city with the help of his assistant, Kato.

From what I've been watching from previous years, Seth Rogen is no action hero. He tends to play this adult child that cracks you up, most of the time. So, with him being the main lead actor in this movie turned me off a little bit but luckily this being an action comedy it fits him well.

Sure, Seth plays The Green Hornet but he's not trying to be the hero here. The one who bashes and kicks bad guys in the movie is Jay Chou. All Seth do in the movie is make people laugh. There was this scene between him and a gas gun that makes me laugh so hard until tears came out from my eyes. That's what he do best.

Jay Chou on the other hand is the complete opposite to Seth Rogen. He's Kato and the unnamed sidekick to The Green Hornet and he's the one who beat up bad guys in the flick. I have to say that some of the action sequence performed by Kato in the movie really made my heart pumped. Whenever a fight is about to erupt Kato can slow down time and during that period he identifies his enemies weapons and what he's going to do next. It's really cool and something new in my opinion. The downside to his character is that I have difficulties in understanding what he said at times.

Now, to the main villain. It's played by Christophe Waltz (The Inglourious Basterds) as a drug lord called Chudnovsky. But when The Green Hornet and Kato had destroyed his dirty business he decided to change his name to Bloodnovsky. His name amuses me and later in the movie he wears a red jacket with a gas mask in order to strike fear to his enemies. Pretty hilarious given that I had hoped he would be a serious threat with a diabolical plan or two in his mind. It was disappointing a little bit but this IS an action comedy after all so what do I expect right?

Cameron Diaz as Lenore Case is Seth's new secretary and she adds that much needed fiestiness to the movie with him and Jay Chou battling it out to win her heart. She also becomes their 'advisor' for the pair when they were lost for thought on what to do. That's pretty much her role in the movie.

Well, I can say that this remake of The Green Hornet directed by Michael Gondry and written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg is an enjoyable movie with good comedies and great action scenes. This is a good popcorn flick. I had a blast. Oh, for those who didn't understand the title of this post..Brit Reid wanted to name his alter ego as The Green Bee when Kato said that The Green Hornet would be better.

*Here's what other movie sites say about the piece:

Joblo Movie Network: "While I can't say THE GREEN HORNET is a terrific, or particularly original work, it's nevertheless a great popcorn flick, that does exactly what it sets out to do, which is entertain. I enjoyed this a heck of a lot more than the early trailers made me think I would. It's a good, solid action comedy, and a great showcase for Jay Chou."

IGN.com: "While it may not ultimately prove memorable enough to launch a new film franchise, The Green Hornet is still a fun action-comedy and clever superhero satire that's about as close to a cool summer movie as you're going to get in the dead of winter."

7/10

Can't I Review This Any Faster???

What is Faster in Bahasa Malaysia? It's 'kelajuan' or something like that right, but you can't directly translate that into 'kelajuan' because it wasn't fitting for the movie. Honestly speaking, I couldn't fathom any scene that has got to do with anything that's fast from the movie at all! Sure there were one or two car chase scenes but they're certainly not fast enough in my book. Before I keep on babbling about the movie, here's my review for Faster. But first, the synopsis.

SYNOPSIS: An ex-convict (Dwayne Johnson) is out to seek revenge for his brother's death while being tracked by a drug addict homicide detective (Billy Bob Thornton) and a contract killer ( OliverJackson-Cohen).

REVIEW: Faster is an r-rated movie starring Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Carla Gugino. What I can say about this movie is that it's not the worse movie I've ever seen but it's not that good either. 

Dwayne Johnson as the main lead of this movie in my opinion is an astute choice but, yes there's a but, all he had to do was to look mean, grunt and shoot the heads of off people..that's all. Plus, he's off screen for almost half the movie, which is unfitting since he's the reason why people go to watch this action flick in the first place. In addition, he doesn't talk much.

As for Billy Bob Thornton as The Cop, that's how the movie highlights his character, is also a fine addition to the movie cast but he plays in what I would say a cliche' type of cop. First, he's a drug addict. Second, he has an angry ex-wife with a kid. Lastly, he's about to retire. Cliche' right?

Then there's The Killer, a role handed to a relatively unknown British actor in Oliver Jackson-Cohen. I seriously have a problem watching this guy. I mean, what is he doing in this movie? Sure, the audience know him as a mega rich software billionaire turn assassin but did he kill anyone in the movie to justify that he's a killer? No. His character is basically needless and a downright torture for me during the movie. He only monitors Dwayne Johnson's actions most of the time and only got to neck in neck with him like three times and none of them were memorable.

Being an action movie, I expected more from Faster. I expected explosions, car chasing, and loads of shooting but what I got from my RM13 for a 2D Faster yesterday was disappointing, really disappointing. Now, if you'll excuse me..I want to shed some tears and punch on the wall.

Here's what other sites have to say:

Joblo: "The jury’s still out whether or not FASTER is going to be Johnson’s ticket to the action A-list, which is territory he wasn’t able to crack prior to his Disney detour. He’s about a burly as he’s ever been, and I’m sure that given the right vehicle he could deliver, but for my money, FASTER ain’t it."

IGN: "It may be a perfunctory action flick, but Faster is nevertheless worth a look for no other reason than it rescues Johnson from banal family fare. (If it tanks, you know we'll just get Tooth Fairy 2.) Sadly, the film's sermonizing (literally) about the perils of vengeance and the ridiculousness of some of its characters prevent Faster from being a better movie. For what it is, though, it offers offers fans of The Rock their money's worth of ass-kicking."

4/10

The New Spidey

Here's a first glimpse of Andrew Garfield (The Social Network, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnasus) in a Spiderman suit. For those of you who aren't aware, Spiderman is currently being rebooted for a 2012 release, which is next year. There won't be a return of the origninal Spidey Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and director Sam Raimi. The new Peter Parker/Spidey will be the one in the picture below with a new love interest in Gwen Stacy, a role given to the pretty Emma Stone (Zombieland) and will be directed by Mark Webb (500 Days of Summer). The main villain is yet to be unveiled though, rumour has it that it's going to The Lizard. There's not even a title for the new Spiderman flick as well.

So, take a look at the new Spiderman's costume.You can click for an enlarged look.

Check These Out In Cinemas Near You!

2011 promises to be another great or not greater year at the movies. This month only we have the remake of The Green Hornet, then we have an action movie in the form of Faster starring Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson along with other movies that might or might not interest you. Next month we have The Mechanic, also an action flick lead by Jason Statham and Sanctum, an action thriller film produced by James Cameron, the director of 2009's Avatar.

* Click on the links of each subsequent movies to watch their trailers.

Now those are the movies that I think would make January and February interesting before we arrive to Summer, where all these what I'd like to call 'popcorn movies' come out to entertain us.

Now, to the main purpose of this new post of mine. I'd like to give you a preview of the movies that will premier in March and April. These movies are in my opinion are the warm up flicks prior to 'kick off' in May. I won't highlight them all, I'm only showing you the movies that made my movie sense tingling. 

MARCH

APOLLO 18 (March 11)

Ever wondered why the Apollo 18 expedition to the moon was scrapped? Are you even aware of the existence of Apollo 18? I know I don't. Well, don't worry because this movie would show you why the mission was cancelled. Spoiler, it has something to do with aliens. Produced by Timur Bekmambetov and directed by Trevor Cawood, this is a video documentary of the expedition of their first encounter with the aliens. Intriguing. Little is known of this movie so far.

Notice the footprint?

 

BATTLE: LOS ANGELES (March 17)

Starring Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight) as the leader of a squad of soldiers battling it out with an alien invasion. This is another movie about aliens but this time they are invading us, well America actually. This is a war movie but with the addition of aliens to it. Feisty, love it.

The teaser trailer was up online for quite some time now. Judging from the trailer, it looked like it could be a good entertainment with explosions everywhere. I'm going to check this out when it comes out. Oh you can watch the trailer below, courtesy of YouTube.

SUCKER PUNCH (MARCH 24)

This is a Zack Snyder movie and every single one of his movies were a feast to the eyes. From 300 to Watchmen, they all have stunning visuals and graphics and Sucker Punch is no exception. 

The premise of this movie is that it's about a young girl who has a dream world that provides an escape from the reality. She is unrestrained by the boundaries of time and space where she can go wherever her head tells her to. Thus, we have an adventure in the making.

The trailer itself was enough to convince me that this is a Zack Snyder's flick. It has a samurai with a mini gun, monsters in Nazi gear and dragons! Check it out below. 

APRIL

RED RIDING HOOD (April 21)

This movie is an adaptation of the folk tale of the same title but they made it into a horror movie. Yes, a horror movie. Basically it's about a village set in medieval time, Daggerhorn which is under threat by a werewolf. Thus, the villagers seek the assistance of a hunter to deal with that creature. Oh, there's also a love story between Valerie (Amanda Seyfreid) and a wood cutter. Basically, this is like a new Twilight only that there's a girl wearing the red hood. Interesting to see how it unfolds.

You can watch the trailer below.

THOR (April 28)

We already had Marvel's characters came to life in cinemas with the likes of Spiderman (my personal favourite), Incredible Hulk, Ironman and now it's Thor's turn to be the saviour to mankind. This is basically an origin story where a warrior god named Thor who was arrogant and then banished from Asgard to Earth. He becomes their ultimate protector where he battles the forces of evil sent from the villains of his world.

I'm pretty sure there will be loads of action in this movie but I'm not too sure whether it's going entertain me much. We'll see.

But I can say that the trailer looked good though.

* Well folks, these are the movies which I think will entertain us before May. I'm not saying that all of them will be quality movies but they looked good on trailers. Here's hoping that they will be worth every penny spent. Bring on March and April!

5 Movies That Left Me In Awe

As the mammal lift its hind legs to feast on the leaves of the soaring tree, it left Dr. Grant (Sam Neill), Dr. Ellie (Laura Dern) and others lost for words.....it's a Dinosaur! A living fossil right in front of their eyes! It was an unbelievable sight for the paleontologists but little do they know the nightmare that awaits them in this multi million dollar amusement park.

This particular movie from Steven Spielberg has captured everybody's imagination, they couldn't believe it as this was made in the 90's, 1993 to be precise. It was a feast to the eyes with a plethora of Computer Generated Images (CGI) of the long lost reptiles and mammals. More importantly this fiction thriller flick inflicted a long and lasting love for movies in me as well as compels me to become a movie director one day.

That's what JURASSIC PARK did to me.

Oh, the movie went on to win three Oscars, 19 other wins and another 15 nominations.
What a movie to be inspired at huh.

A 1993 Masterpiece by Steven Spielberg

* This and another four movies down below are the ones that managed to captivate me. They're not necessarily visually stunning, have good plot lines, filled with star studded cast or with an Oscar nominated director at the helm but they tend to excite me with their action, suspense, thrill, eye catching moments, love story and most importantly, they never bore me even when I have watched them over and over again. So please, stick with me.

THE TERMINAL

This 2004 comedy-drama movie from Steven Spielberg depicts a man, Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks), who's trapped in a terminal at JFK International Airport when he was denied access to the United States as his country, a fictitious Krakhozia was under a revolution. On his stay there, he met a stewardess Amelia Warren played by Catherine Zeta Jones and love ensues among other funny incidents from the 'residents' of the airport.

Another Film from Steven Spielberg

The movie actually received mixed reviews from film critics but in my own opinion, it's good...really good in fact, at least in my book. It has love, drama, comedy and moral values and one of them is keeping a promise and try to fulfill it. It was simple but fitting nonetheless. Tom Hanks as a Krakhozian, even though it's not a country that exist but he was convincing in portraying his character. His love interest, Catherine Zeta Jones looked stunning in this movie and she complements that with her acting, which always gets a thumbs up from me. On top of that, the funny scenes in this movie really made me chuckle. That, accompanied with some dramatic moments really made this movie one of the best in my life. I never get tired of it.

TRANSFORMERS

Extraterrestrials from a planet called Cybertron came down to Earth and wreak havoc in order to regain the AllSpark, a cube which creates life. This 2007 movie from Michael Bay aka Bayhem was a pure action and adrenaline pumping movie and a good one at that too in my opinion as it managed to fulfill all my childhood dreams come true. I grew up watching the cartoon and seeing Optimus Prime and his fellow Autobots battling it out with the Decepticons in downtown LA was breathtaking. It is how exactly how I imagined it, except cooler. Explosions, destructions, transforming robots and Megan Fox really made this movie one of my favourite and it actually left me in awe...and unleashed the kid in me.

Protect or Destroy?

The main premise of the movie is fairly simple and easy. A cube from the planet Cybertron known as AllSpark crashed down on Earth. Thus, two Cybertronian factions, The Autobots and The Decepticons came down to Earth to scour for the cube. They eventually found out that the clue to the power was held by a teenage boy (Shia LeBeouf) thus chaos ensued.

MEET JOE BLACK

A media mogul acts as a guide to Death who takes the form of a man in order to learn more about life on Earth. The twist is, he fell in love with his guider's daughter.

This is a 1998 romantic/fantasy film directed by Martin Brest. Brad Pitt played Death, Anthony Hopkins was the billionaire Bill Parish and Claire Forlani as his daughter, Susan and the object of affection of Death himself.

I want to be Death

Now, what can I say about this movie. It's just perfect..a perfect romantic movie for those who are in love in my opinion. No other romantic movies can match this masterpiece for the fact that it has Death in it. Not only that, the movie had two very good actors as well...Anthony Hopkins and Brad Pitt. A combination made in Heaven in my opinion. Furthermore, a young Brad Pitt as Death can really melt the hearts of every woman out there. He managed to make Claire Forlani falls hard on her knees. So why can't you (this is meant for female)? Who could have imagined that Death would be this sexy? Even my mind was wandering of the possibility of me becoming a suave Death as Brad Pitt when I watched this movie for the first time, I was 12 mind you. I'm not saying that I adore Brad Pitt but I think he's a good choice to portray a good looking Death. Anthony Hopkins also put in a remarkable performance as he did for so many times in his movies.

SIGNS

What would you do if you find a crop circle in your cornfield? Would you panic and make a run for it? Or would you be amazed on the creativity of it?? Or perhaps you would wonder, is this human work after all? That's the premise or purpose of this movie, how would you react when these things happen.

As you may or may not know, this 2002 movie from M. Night Shyamalan tells a story of a family who lives in a farm and one day they find a mysterious crop circles in their cornfield. The cast of the movie are Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix as the brother of Graham, Merrill Hess, Rory Culkin as the son, Morgan Hess and Abigail Breslin as Bo Hess, the daughter of Graham.

This movie garnered a lot of positive reviews from various movie critics and it definitely get a two thumbs up from me. One of the most memorable moments from the movie would be when Graham heard a noise in his cornfield one night and he immediately grabbed a torchlight and went in to the cornfield but to his disappointment he found nothing. As he was on his way back to his house that weird sound or voice came out from a nearby area and he was startled and dropped his torchlight, he shook and knocked it but when it came on again he saw a leg in the nearby crop and immediately made a run for it. Now that scene really send chills to my bones to this very day.

* Now these are the five movies that I really love but there are many more actually but I didn't really have the time to list them all out.

Welcome!

As you all may or may not know, this is the first time that I'm blogging. So I would appreciate it if you could shed some light on how to make it better.

To brief you a little bit, this blog of mine would touch mostly on movie aspects such as reviews, previews, movie trailers and gossip (not celebrity gossip but movie gossip). 

So in the coming months, I would at least upload two to three posts. I can't tell whether that's going to be two to three posts a week or a month though because I'm busy with my study.

Please stay with me for the next thread. Thank you.