Welcome to the Punch (2013)

6.5/10

A thrilling film with a decent twist. The film tried to use slow-mo action sequences to set itself from other action films, which was effective. However, this film still kept many cliche gun fights and car chases that somehow ends in the hero surviving the madness.

Bit slow at times but superb performance from James Mcavoy and Mark Strong makes it worthwhile.

State of Play (2003) Mini-Series BBC

8.5/10 [Highly Recommended]

Looking for an exciting drama/thriller/crime with twists and curve balls?

Plot: A thriller set in London, in which a politician's life becomes increasingly complex as his research assistant is found dead on the London Underground and, in a seemingly unrelated incident, a teenage pickpocket is shot dead.

 State of Play mini-series is probably one of the best mini-drama series I've seen. It was so successful that a movie (by the same name) was made starring Russel Crowe and Ben Affleck. If you're debating to either watch the movie or the series, I would advise you to spend the extra bit of time with the original British series over the film. Here's why:

Even with Crowe and Affleck, the film did not have the same effect as the cast in the series. John Simm and David Morrissey was a better match as Cal and Colin. With guest stars James McAvoy and Bill Nighy, this series does stand apart from its successor.

The 6 episodes mini allotted more time to develop the stories and characters better than the film. When the story is really rich with many characters interwoven, like State of Play a 2 plus hour film just doesn't do it justice.


The only difficulty I found was the heavy accented dialogue, but I did not mind rewatching bits throughout.

I highly recommend this series. It is smart, sophisticated and really explores journalism and politics.  I encourage everyone to open up their minds and give this series a spin. Until you've seen it, I will not talk further about the ending or my thoughts on the 'curve ball'.

Charade (1963)

7.5/10 [recommended]

Twist after twist after twist. It was mysterious whodunit thrill ride that constantly makes you doubt who to believe in.

The movie begins with a death, rolls  the introduction credits followed by a gun pointed at Reggie (Audrey Hepburn). This fast gripping start instantly caught my attention, without revealing too much I will leave you to go see what happens next.
How Reggie meets and becomes very trusting towards a Peter Joshua (cary Grant) was a bit farfetched for me. The relationship started off and became something too quick. However, the dialogue exchange between the two leads are quite witty and funny, strengthening the weaker parts of the film.
If you enjoy action fight scenes and fast paced chase scenes, you'll probably find Charade a bit lacking in these aspects. The one fight scene and chase scene in this film are very slow. Charade depends much on dialogue and the twists for much of its thrill- a very classy and retro way of creating the intense atmosphere.
So do yourself a big favour, grab a bag of chips and some other junk food stuff, curl up and enjoy this film.

Rise of the Guardians (2012)

6/10

Flawed storyline but good feel good film for kids.

At times it felt like the film was trying too hard to take many well known myths and turn them real.

Has a few quotable and funny lines, but overall not as humor filled as Monster Inc.

WORLD'S END (2013)

8.5/10 [Highly Recommended]

What do you get when action, hysterical laughter, quirky to the max, drinking, ass-kicking and boo boo come together? World's End. Let the weird begin

Plot: Five friends who reunite in an attempt to top their epic pub crawl from 20 years earlier unwittingly become humankind's only hope for survival.

The director/maker of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz is back. This time with World's End. Edger Wright and Simon Pegg, thank you. You two did it right again.


 Cons: the beginning was a bit slow, it was a good 20 minutes into the film before the pace finally picked up. I would have loved more hints at the weirdness earlier in the film, just little oddities of speech.

Pros:

1. I loved the CGI, even though some of the final scenes appeared kind of fake but overall 7.5/10
2. casting is great (esp addition of Martin Freeman and Rosamund Pike) 9/10
3. I really appreciated the witty dialogue as it sometimes required some head work to get the punchlines.
4. It didn't depend on slapstick comedy, or even grotesque rate R references to create the humor.  10/10
5. Many great one-liners that I will be carrying into my daily use,  Boo Boo

Dredd (2012)

7/10

Plot: In a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, a cop teams with a trainee to take down a gang that deals the reality-altering drug, SLO-MO. 

Based on the comic books, Dredd is a guy flick with a ton of violence, shooting, bloody gruesome gore, car chase and armoured hero ass kicking. The only thing missing is a romanic story to tie it all up.

Judge Dredd, played by Karl Urban, dominated the screen with a mean and serious growl the entire film. Urban brought more character to Dredd and is much more believable than Stallone in the first Dredd film in 1995. Urban, although I really wanted to see his face, kept the helmet on as Dredd the entire film keeping close to the comic books. The only part of Urban we saw is the lower half of his face, as his eyes were covered by the helmet. Even with most of his face covered, Urban was able to convey many deep emotions during some heart to heart moments with his fellow cast member Olivia Thirlby, who portrayed Judge Anderson. Thirlby, is fantastic, she reminds me of Camilla Belle in Push.

The graphics and visual effects in Dredd at times looked very animated but this worksin favour for the drug induced scenes and the comic book nature of this film. The slow-mo mixed with highly saturated imageries made the film feel like it stepped straight out of the pages of a comic.


If you hate gore and blood, this film is everything you'll hate. The slow colourful scenes of blood splatters and skin tearing scenes can make your skin crawl. Even though this film isn't as nasty as SAW or slasher films, Dredd still embraces similar aspects...just without the horror.

All in all, don't over think it and just enjoy this action flick!

Push (2009)

7/10

Push is a very exciting sci-fi, action, thriller that is definitely worth the watch. It is exciting and gripping, a mixture of Jumper and X-men.

I was quite surprised by how much I liked this film especially after seeing the low rating it received. The film is exciting, action packed and contains certain amount of mystery that makes it quite entertaining.

The cast consisting of Dijimon Hounsou, Dakota Fanning, Chris Evans and Camilla Belle are fantastic combination, with a appearance by Joel Gretsch (from V and The 4400).

The setting being in Hong Kong gives this film an interesting appeal. The flashbacks and dream like sequences are well integrated with the sci-fi aspect of the storyline. The cinematography and editing technique is choppy and has certain qualities similar to that of Chungking Express.

Push does have some down sides as its storyline lacks in depth, and there are some loop holes that goes unexplained. Overall, a very entertaining and action filled movie that kept me interested.

If you enjoyed Jumper, X-Men, or Mutant X(TV show) then I would recommend this movie.

Gambit (2012)

7.5/10 [highly recommended]

I stumbled upon this film quite accidentally as I was searching for the superhero "Gambit". My initial excitement that there was a film based on the comic-hero Gambit was quickly shot down when the film turned out to be a comedy/crime about a con by an art curator. HOWEVER, before quickly switching the page I was quickly drawn in by the cast and plot of this film and decided to give this film a shot. Boy, am I glad I did.

TOP NOTCH acting from Colin Firth accompanied by extremely witty dialogue (via the Coen Brothers) and some extremely funny scenarios.

I completely and utterly fell in love with Gambit. I am shocked at the 5.6 rating on IMDB. This film has everything I wanted in a comedy and avoided being crude.

HIGHLY recommended

Pawn (2013)

5.5/10

Great cast but too much coincidence made Pawn weak


For a low budget film, Pawn is succeeded in captivating and grabbing attention with the plot in the first 2 acts. The amazing ensemble (Stephen Lang,Michael Chiklis, Forest Whitaker, Marton Csokas, Ray Liotta) also helped strengthen the captivation of Pawn.

Sadly, despite these aspects, Pawn fell short at being completely epic. The film moved a bit too quickly, not allowing you much time to connect with the characters and completely grasping the complicated use of flash-backs, present time and flash-forwards. Pawn felt like it was going uphill in the first 1/3 as everything was coming together, but just before the climax was reached, it felt they ran short on budget and the story began moving fast paced. Dialogue was boarder-line cliche and somewhat entertaining.

--Spoiler below--
One of the biggest disappointment was the use of the character lying in the hospital bed. He played a major role in the entire cafe robbery set up as being 'the mole', but spent most of the film lying half unconscious in the kitchen. His character ends the film describing what went down in the cafe, but was half bleeding to death for a good 50% of the film. This might have been intensional, but being such an important character in the final reveal, I felt no attachment and couldn't relate to him at all.

-----

The Door (Die Tür) (2009)

7/10

A second chance in life...but comes at a price.

The Door (Die Tur) 2009 is about a successful artist who loses control of his life after his young daughter's death. A chance for a new start appears, but all is not what it seems.

Intriguing idea that is well shot but with some loop holes.

The movie begins in what appears to be an innocent/peaceful residential street, which gives this film a very spooky feeling as it is nothing near innocent. The film's most important event, the death of the child, occurs in the first 10 minutes of the film, which sets the tone for the rest of the film.

Mads Mikkelsen was fantastic in the lead role as the father, who took his life for granted and wants to redeem himself. Mikkelsen is great playing a role that is fairly dynamic.
There are a few events in the film that brought up more questions than answers, but the overall effect of the film is fairly good as it keeps you pondering. I would recommend you to check it out and judge for yourself.

Jack Reacher (2013)

6.5/10

Ok, so I have said before that I didn't like Tom Cruise action films but this one was quite enjoyable. Putting aside how true this film stayed to the book, I felt it was a decent.

Reasons why I enjoyed this fim: 1) stars one of my favourite actresses Rosamund Pike 2) the witty dialogue 3) the very slight undertone of humor. Rosamund did a wonderful job, she's the demzel in distress, not too difficult role but I like her portrayal. The dialogue in the film is worth a closer inspection, it is witty and at times quite funny. There was one incidence where Jack (Tom Cruise) was examining the weapon he was lent and his reaction to it left me laughing. This slight use of humor made the film stand out a bit, and reminded me a bit of Lethal Weapon.

Now as for elements that I didn't like. As usual Jack Reacher has the very typical cliche of hero who's ever so lucky, damzel in distress and different teers of bad guys.
Jack Reacher (played by Tom Cruise) is a military veteran who gets involved in a sniper investigation, and now must fight all odds to save the day. He is able to fend of bad guys left and right, and eventually [oh look this includes a spoiler] save the damzel in distress, Helen [portrayed by Rosamund Pike] after fighting off the group of bad guys.  If you're angry that spoiled it for you, I don't apologize because this is a fairly obvious part of this film.

Jack Reacher has all the elements of the typical action film with the different levels of bad guys. As you can see there is always one big boss, who in most cases is the weakest but has a lot of power/money. Next after the big boss is the right hand man, he is usually the strongest fighter, toughest to beat and will be the last fight sequence in the film. In most cases the bad guy would hold up a weapon to the the hero and talk for a while, but thankfully this was kept out of this film. This film also included the lowest form of bad guys, the goons and idiots who would try to kill the hero but each failing miserably. What this film does do quite nicely, is the fact that it makes fun of the goons and idiots with this one scene in the bathroom...for those who have seen the film will know what I mean, it is VERY humorous.

 So if you're into James Bond, Die Hard or Lethal Weapon...and have actually read everything I just wrote....then you have just made me really happy, and deserve my blessing to go enjoy this film.

The Call (2013)

6.5/10

Great acting, thrilling but overdone with the final act.

Plot: When a veteran 911 operator takes a life-altering call from a teenage girl who has just been abducted, she realizes that she must confront a killer from her past in order to save the girl's life.

The Call was definitely thrilling and keeps you intrigued. However, the story becomes quite violent and twisted towards the end, which works well to support the maniac that is the killer.

The first 2 acts of the film was better, as it shows a very real portrayal the desperation 911 operator experiences. Their hard work everyday on the end of the phone lines does not get recognized enough. As the film progresses the story takes a crazy turn, the 911 operator Jordan (played by Halle Berry) makes a couple bizarre-superhero-braze decisions that results in the conclusion of the film (I won't say more as it will give the ending away). I felt the story was a bit too crazy at the end, but I understand that it was a necessary in order to make the film more suspenseful and striking. Also, the ending is very twisted...and leaves you wanting a bit more.


Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine, Zombieland) and Halle Berry (X-Men) makes a great team. But Breslin absolutely stole the show, as she was amazing in capturing the terror and panic of her character. Bravo.

A Midnight Clear (1992)

8.5/10 [Highly Recommended]

A wonderful masterpiece!!

Plot:Set in 1944 France, an American Intelligence Squad locates a German Platoon wishing to surrender rather than die in Germany's final war offensive. The two groups of men, isolated from the war at present, put aside their differences and spend Christmas together before the surrender plan turns bad and both sides are forced to fight the other.

What I loved about this film:

The unique start of the film, that drops you right into the world of the soldiers. The way this film present each character gives me instant connection with them.

Superb acting! Ethan Hawke, Kevin Dillon, Frank Whaley, Arye Gross are amazing together. Their dialogue and emotions compliment each other perfectly and . I felt drawn to each character and the mission they drew for themselves. If I had to be in that forest, I just hope Will Knot (Ethan Hawke),Cpl. Mel Avakian( Dillon), Paul 'Father' Mundy (Whaley), Bud Miller(Peter Berg) and Stan Shutzer (Arye Gross) has my back.

A story that captures. At no point of this film did I think about any behind the scenes or filming technique. I was so engrossed by the dialogue, story and engulfed by the decisions the squad took. (spoilers follows) Though the ultimate occurrence made me sad, as I direly wanted it all to have worked out.

Very believable filming locations and acting. Like I mention before, the story and approach at presenting this story is so unique and compelling that I might need to rewatch it again, just so I can observe the filming technique.

A Midnight Clear is probably on my top 5 favourite war movies, beating Saving Private Ryan

Oblivion (2013)

6.5/10

Good graphics but poor plot

Plot: A veteran assigned to extract Earth's remaining resources begins to question what he knows about his mission and himself.

I was captivated by the plot but this didn't last long as the film rolled to its conclusion. I have a serious love/hate relationship with this Oblivion, and I'll summarize it:

Love: I'll start off on a positive note, the graphics of Oblivion is well done. I, having scene and worked in VFX, know how difficult it is to do a simple scene let alone an entire film. From my past experience (though brief) felt the landscape of the CGI is a good one.

Hate: The story wasn't that captivating and left many unanswered questions life what happened to the other "clones" on earth. Also the big reveal at the climax didn't really lead to a bit twist that left me in awe, rather it was a lull.

Love: The colour filter is classy and the filming style reminds me of Minority Report and IRobot. The fact that I was more distracted by the visual appeal than the story line tells you a thing or two of this film.

Hate: LONG and dragging. IMDB users giving it a 7.2 rating boggles the mind, this film wasn't that great!

The Yards (2000)

6/10

Typical crime film that is predictable throughout.


Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix and Charlize Theron teams up in this simple crime drama about the politics and corruption behind the city's subway repair contractors. The plot line sounds exciting with Leo (played by Wahlberg), newly released from jail, gets caught up in the messy back drop of subway contracting with his friend Willie (played by Phoenix).

This film is not as exciting towards the first quater as the story started becoming more predictable and slow. There were no surprises and not much suspense as the film rolled to its climax. I saw the final conclusion coming long before the mid point of the film and spent majority of the time studying the use of lighting and colour grading, as both were splendid and well done, losing interest in the actual story. Cinematography was well done by Harris Savides , giving the film a very film noir appearance. The acting by Phoenix, Theron and Ellen Burstyn are all worth mentioning.


My more preferred film by Wahlberg and Phoenix collaboration still would have to be We Own the Night. Wahlberg and Theron teamed film would have to be Italian Job. As for this film, nice try...thanks for playing but The Yards missed at being a more memorable movie.

George and the Dragon (2004)

5.5/10

Good concept with a great cast but poor and very rushed execution.

Tagline: A knight returning from the Crusades takes on a dragon and becomes a legend.

James Purefoy, Piper Perabo and Patrick Swayze stars in this crusade comedy. A wonderful cast, could not save this poorly written and rushed film.

Character development is poorly done, and the story felt extremely rushed. The dialogue attempted at being humorous, but only achieved a faint tint of cheesiness that wasn't very classy.The princess (played by Perabo) was suppose to be this pro-protecting of dragons but her relationship with the female dragon and the reason for her disappearance wasn't well established.

It is a good film for kids to watch as the underlining message is very positive and in favour of protecting dragons instead of slaying them. But the story could have been with a tighter knit dialogue and slowing down the sequence of events.

Sherlock (2009-present) TV series

9/10 [highly recommended]

AMAZING series that has got me hooked!

Each season only has 3 episodes..and so far there are only 2 seasons. SOOOO Catch up quick!

Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are quite possibly the best combo of sherlock and watson (that's right, I like this duo even more than Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law). The performance by the cast, the writing/adaption as well as the filming/editing technique gives this film a very unique feeling. The use of a victorian era character and puzzle solving ability along with very modern equipment gives the old Sherlock Holmes new life.

 Bravo Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss

3 Idiots (2009)

9/10 [highly recommended]

I started this film with absolutely no expectations, and walked out with a smile. 3 Idiots is a sheer brilliant, heartfelt, laugh-out-loud  hilarious, and, most importantly, uplifting.


It's 4am, and I just finished; though I should really sleep, I also really need to get this review out. This bollywood film is absolutely an experience you must partake.

There are a few tiers that makes a film excellent.
A) Great characters; meaning all characters from protagonist to all the supporting members, are well rounded and support each other.
B) excellently intertwined storyline that uses multiple points of view, keeps you guessing and full of twists.
C) a well mixture of emotions (be it joy, fear, tears, anger, disappoint, love, hate, sorrow, confusion, thrill...)
D) Underlining message that will be left with the audience. Since the audience has invested their time, money, patience and effort. A sense of accomplishment after the film ends, something that the viewer can learn, experience, think about, use in their lives. Not just be left with regret that they started watching the film or just a mere memory of having watched a film.
E) Good cinematography, editing, direction, art work that can fully put together the screen play. Some times a film could be such an amazing idea, but fails to be put together nicely.

I can say 3 Idiots has succeeded all these tiers. It just rose onto my list of top favourite films. This is what true friendship is about...

Don't say you didn't watch this film because you couldn't find it! For your viewing pleasure, here's the entire film on the Tube:

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008)

7/10

A touching family film with a great underlying message

Loved it. Similar type of feel good and meaningful family film that Pixar does so well. Many of the scenes are quite cheesy, but this film is aimed for family so it isn't too bad.

My favourite cameo comes from one of my favourite comedians, Colin Mochrie, who plays a hobo living at a 'hobo jungle' (where homeless people gather, and share what they have/can find.)

There are fairly funny dialogues and decent acting from all the kids.

Good family adventure with a lovely bit of mystery and heartfelt lesson about 'not judging a book by the cover'. There should be MORE films like this for kids! :) Good babysitting film to share with the kids.

Legend of The Fall (1994)

6.5/10


Plot: Epic tale of three brothers and their father living in the remote wilderness of 1900s USA and how their lives are affected by nature, history, war, and love.

Tight knit story surrounding the lives of three brothers, and their stories of war, love and pain. Well acted, great cinematography, splendid sceneries and very detailed character study. Also, the 1994 Oscar winner for Best Cinematography.

This film is a fine piece of work, HOWEVER I am very against the way the film glorifies killing and death. It makes revenge and  killing to be almost heroic.

A film worth seeing for it's cinematography and characters, but not a good role model film

End Of Watch (2012)

8.5/10 [highly recommended]

Heartfelt, realistic and powerful police film.

Plot: Shot documentary-style, this film follows the daily grind of two young police officers in LA who are partners and friends, and what happens when they meet criminal forces greater than themselves.

A film about friendship, family, trust and love

The cinematography and shooting method is done in style of handheld cameras, much like in Cloverfield or Blaire Witch Project. The film is filled with many ''Amercian's Funniest Home Videos home camera footages that can be fairly shaky and blurry at times. BUT this shakiness worked in favour to tell the story as it gave the film a personal appeal, that it may not have been able to achieve if it went with a very block buster grand cinematic shooting style.  Thus, I applaud the choice of handheld camera.

I don't think there could be a better choice of a cast for this film: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña, Anna Kendrick were top notch in driving the emotions of  End of Watch. The chemistry between the characters were believable and real. Every time something happened to one of the characters, you could see it in the eyes of their supports.

A nice piece of artwork that has some disturbing contents but extremely heartfelt and well done.

Pitch Perfect (2012)

7.5/10 [Recommended]

Witty, funny with a fairly good acting from a fair fresh cast.

Plot: Beca, a freshman at Barden University, is cajoled into joining The Bellas, her school's all-girls singing group. Injecting some much needed energy into their repertoire, The Bellas take on their male rivals in a campus competition.


 When I started watching this, I didn't expect to have liked it so much. I am not a fan of Glee, with the poor storyline and horrid dialogue, so I didn't have much expectations for Pitch Perfect. However, I was truly surprised by Pitch Perfect and its perfect package with the hilarious scenarios, witty dialogue and fairly decent acting.

The many FANTASTIC one liners, love those to pieces! Hats off to the writers ( Kay Cannon for screenplay and Mickey Rapkin for the book) and the cast for the perfect delivery. Here's a sample of some of my favourite lines:

• I ate my twin in the womb.
• I set fires to feel joy.
• Thank god I asked to go to the bathroom 3 hours ago.
• Lesbi-honest
• Im going to pip slap you so hard your man-boobs will concave.
• At least its not herpes or do you have that as well.
• Its probably just god punishing you for being a ginger. - watch this in the credits Sisters before misters.

Anna Kendrick, was awesome. She includes many small gestures and expressions in every scene to give the film dynamic, allowing this film to shine and escape the flatness that entraps many of these Cinderella type stories. and Brittany Snow, I fairly enjoyed her performance as well.

The ending is very predictable, but what was really classy about Pitch Perfect was the fact that the film recognizes its predictable ending.

Definitely rewatching this again :)

Top 10 Tear Jerkers

Recently watching the 6th season of ER, I was fairly saddened when one of the character was brutally attacked and died. This brought about a long conversation in regards to films that tugged at the tears.

In no particular order

1) UP
-Took only a 30 second clip to get the water works going.

2) Toy Story 3
-learning to let go

3) Schindler's List
-He's done all he can

4) Ghost
-That final scene,

5) Old Yeller
-It had to be done, but it doesn't make it any easier to watch

6) Seven Pounds
- giving someone the chance to live

 7) Million Dollar Baby 
-Right and wrong sometimes is a field of gray; that scene hit hard.

8) Lion King
-That scene...you know the one...I can't even get into it without snifflying

9) The Green Mile
-don't judge the book by its cover

10) Dead Poets Society
-Oh Captain, My Captain

Big Nothing (2006)

7/10
Starring Simon Pegg, David Schwimmer and Alice Eve

A frustrated, unemployed teacher joining forces with a scammer and his girlfriend in a blackmailing scheme (courtesy of IMDB)

Big Nothing is funny, full of plot twists and very entertaining. The film has just the right amount of dark humor balanced with the familiar techniques for a crime/blackmail movie.

Casting is great, Schwimmer and Pegg does a wonderful performance in the lead with a great support from Eve.

The overall plot twist is predictable, HOWEVER this film has so many small twists that it'll entertain you from beginning to end.

The cinematography and editing is fantastic in Big Nothing. There is never a dull shot, or a boring moment. I would watch this film again just for the cinematography.