rocknrolla (2008)

This one I truly enjoy! I have since watched this movie a couple of times and it really stands up to repeat watches. Like many of Guy's movies the gangsters theme is built around a story of recovering of a precious item (Snatch comes to mind?). I like the breezy story telling and the creative ways in which visuals are used to aid story telling. There are no spoilers as I really recommend those who like gangster comedies to catch this one.

Scenes to watch out for: The scene where Bob (Tom Hardy) finally confronts his best mate (Gerald Butler) about his sexuality. The setting of everyone supposedly being tough gangsta guys makes the eventual punch line ("I want you") hillarious! It was so good I almost fell off my chair! Good stuff!

I thought Tom Wikinson's character as the aging gangster had a few good lines and he carried his character well. Nice to see an actor of his caliber still in action ... Well enough of reading this review go and watch the movie already!!

A bit of preview ... check out the opening scene ....

Score: 8/10

UP

This year, forget about the highly anticipated Transformers 2, or the dissapointing GI Joe, which only saving grace is the chase in Paris, if you want to watch a movie which has a soul and heart and all the hilarity that one can get from a movie, then you MUST watch UP.

Pixar have proven time and time again that they are the best in the business of computer animation and dare I say movie making itself...(except maybe a little mishap which I am calling it "CARS")

It started off funnily with the shorts like in the normal tradition of Pixar called "Partly Cloudy" That already started the ball rolling to what's to come. That already has heart in it.

Then we moved on to the main story where we met the protagonist (Carl Frederickson) as a kid who meeting his soul mate, Ellie by chance and we see their life story unfold upon us as they dreamed to go on an adventure in South America. Although no words was utterred but the scenes in itself was moving, as Ellie moved on leaving old Carl behind.

The adventure begins when Old Carl took off with his house with thousands of balloons and with the reluctant boy scout Russell in tow. I won't go much into the story or else it would be spoiling readers enjoyment of their adventure in the wilderness.

All I can say that this is one adventure that is worth tagging along with and it's simply a deligthful movie that will appeal to everyone regardless of age.

9/10

Talentime

If there is one local movie you have to watch this year, please make it Talentime...(instead of the Over-rated Geng- I may add)
It's done in such a way that you didnt realise that you're watching a movie, but instead real life people going through their everyday's life.There are scenes you can cry to and scenes which you can laugh at too. Yasmin Ahmad has yet again created a winner here...
The songs used in this movie is also very catchy and you wouldnt mind listen to them again...
Talentime will restore your faith in our local movies. It's really that good.
8/10

Valkyrie

Went to see this one with the other half. First impressions after leaving the theater is .. everything is factually correct but Singer must have forgotten to imbue it with a heart. Everything seems correct ... well as accurate far as one can tell from it's wikipedia entry. However Singer in this outing has missed the most important ingredient of the movie for me. The heart. Devoid of emotions this was just like one of those stuffy afternoons I spent try to chow down historical facts from my Sejarah text book for future regurgitation. This movie strangely mirrors those days perfectly where after each session, I would feel fascinated with history as I wondered how the people involved felt.

This brings up the point to ponder. How far should a film maker go to give heart to cold historical facts? Some turkeys have surfaced in the past because they went over board with the emotions to the point of almost changing history. Pearl Harbour comes to mind. I am still harboring a plump and delicious little hatred for this turd of a movie that re-interpreted the American tragedy to be almost a victory for them! Valkyrie is on the other extreme of the scale and most of the time remains true to the facts. To this I would say history needs a person to interpreted the going ons to see it from the eyes of the protagonist to try and decipher how they must of felt, for if not it would just ultimately end up like how both of us felt at the end when the supposedly tear-jerker-cum-emotionally-driven-moment when Tommy bit the dust.. we were dried eyed and unmoved. That being said, I would like to give special mention to Bill Nighly who did a commendable job given the circumstances putting across the conflicted feelings of General Olbricht. Personally looking forward to his next outing.

My final conclusion ... thanks for the history lesson Bryan, just wished it was a tad more memorable ... 4/10

Trailer ...