Stuck on you 2003

Actually the only reason why I downloaded this movie is because I really enjoyed Greg's acting in Ghost Town opposite Ricky Gervais. I enjoyed his acting so much I had to find some other stuff the guy has been in! I searched around and saw this movie with him and Matt Damon in. Damon is not usually my pick for a night with a movie except for his tower of strength in the Bourne trilogy ... in which he doesn't do speak much ... Another comedy starring Damon? Do I really want to put myself up on that again? Well I am glad I did.

As I have told my friends many times before, Hollywood is able to make a movie of anything (some even turn out okay!). 2003's Stuck on You starring Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as a pair of co-joined twins proves just that. Did the movie turn out okay? Well for me it did.

The two actors strength compliment each other well such an awkward and strange subject matter actually held me entertained for the better half of it. The script is breezy and light, never taking itself too seriously was just what a movie like this needs. Cher's role in this movie which is at places totally making fun of herself is also enjoyable to watch taken in small doses. Actually in some scenes she is actually quite merciless on her own life! Greg and Matt chemistry is crucial for this movie to pull through and they do it really well in this movie. This is no Oscar grabbing material but it probably just be great to chase those 45 mins blues away and that is sometimes better than Oscar material which ever way you look at it!

Have a look at the trailer below.



After watching the real thing, check the bloopers below for some laughs ...

Shoot em up - 2008

I heard some mixed reviews regarding this one starring Clive Owen. Some said it worked while others said it was not so good and seem overly crass. So, I gave this movie a whirl just to see which group I fell into. Well I guess I fall into the second group of people. I was out looking for a few good laughs unfortunately I did not find any and in fact sad to say I fell asleep a few times during the movie! I could hardly force a laugh out! Take a lesson from some Stephen Chow's movies please Mr Davis. Somehow the supposedly funny scenes did not work for me and what I was left with was this dis-engaged feeling from the whole proceedings.

Well, let me just get some of Mr Davis's earlier efforts later and I will see if his earlier efforts are better than this doozer.

The whole thing felt false to me and even the combined forces of both the movie's leads, Clive Owen and Monica Belluci failed to raise me from my mid way movie slumber. Hubba Hubba though for Monica Belluci. If you are forced to watch this movie at gun point, just forward to the love making scene between Owen and Belluci and get it done with. The words "Rolling around like a Bollywood movie" will never have the same meaning anymore after that.

Trailer :



Imdb Page:

Shootem up

So, only watch this one if you are having a really slow afternoon or you are a die hard Clive Owen fan.

Before the devil knows you are dead

Since last week I did an old Sidney Lumet gem, I thought this week I would do one of his newer ones. It's Sidney's 2008 effort, Before the devil knows you are dead. BTDKYAD stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney and Marisa Tomei just to mention a few. This movie is a testament of how a simple plot can be lifted into realms of greatness deftly in the masterful hands of director such as Lumet.

It examines the downward spiral of two brothers life after a foiled robbery attempt on their parents jewelery shop in which their mother gets shot. What I like here is the Vantage-Point style story telling where the story is seen through the eyes of everyone involved. What to notice here is Sidney's great camera angle and how each character seems to play out differently just from a different camera angle. Well done! This one point alone lifts it above the garden variety thriller to a classic! I am also a sucker for those Fight Club story rewind scenes which is kinetically done here which really helps to tighten up the story line. I LIKE!

Editing and directing aside the acting here is top notch! Philip and Ethan carry their roles really well and their fear and sense of loss is conveyed well on screen. Albert Finney's character as their father although a bit understated is also very well done. Shades of Miller Crossing's Albert Finney here still shines through and he can still carry that tough guy persona well as he proceeds to open up a can of whoop ass on his sons.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one and have no problems giving it a 9.5/10. One of the better movies I a have seen this year!

Imdb

Torrent

A trailer:

12 Angry Men (1973)

When it comes to new movies and old ones, I am in between. I like oldies because of the generally better acting and move developed plot while on the other hand I like the newer releases for the tighter editing.

12 angry men is the latest golden oldie that I came across. This one is directed by the venerable Sidney Lumet. For those who haven't heard of Mr Lumet, he is the director behind the great "Before the devil knows you are dead".

This is a really good show and unlike some older movies I have seen, this movie does not suffer any dated feel to it. The mix of 12 men are a concoction interesting mix. Henry Fonda plays the cool analytical head while Lee J. Cobb plays the hurting hot head with his own personal motivation for calling the guilty card. Both actors are outstanding in this movie and play their parts very well. Henry Ford's character gives Grissom from CSI a run for his money any time of the day. The contradiction to their temperament and their interaction makes for a interesting and carries the movie along. Talking about older actors, this is the first time I am lucky enough to come across the work of Ed Beagley instead of his son. He carries off his role as the cynical old man convincingly and he is very believable.

About the only weak scene I can pick out of this movie is the scene where all the jurors boycott Ed Beagley character displaying a personal bias. This did not work so much for me and seems a bit heavy handed followed by the personal bias speech by Henry Fonda.

12 angry men also shows how personal biases of jurors colors the decision they make. Personal biases and assumptions are brought into the decision making. On another side, this movie also explores the seriousness jurors are supposed to put into their decision making especially those involving the death penalty, rather than coming up with a decision that brings them home the fastest, here shown by Jack Warden's character, trying to catch the ball game, nicely put in his place in the duration of the movie.

I think this movie is really really good and heartily recommend it. 10/10 !

Hmm ... digging a bit deeper, I found from imdb there is actually a remake for TV movie of 12 angry men starring people like Tony Danza, William Petersen and Jack Lemmon standing in for Henry Fonda! Well ... thanks but I shall politely decline.

A preview for you here:

Glengary Glenn Ross

All I can say for this one is wow oh wow oh wow and wow!

Great performances all round by a capable ensemble of a cast! Spirited performances by all the "lead" roles the two most memorable for me being Jack Lemmon's Shelly Levene and Al Pacino's Roma. They could have easily stole the whole show just with the tour de force showcase of the ingenious acting in the last 30 mins of the show. This however is not to sneeze at the performances of the rest of the group ... sorry I seemed to have been carried away espousing my love for this show that I forgot to give a proper introduction to the movie ... tsk tsk tsk.

This movie is a snapshot of a not so typical day in the lives of a few real estate salesmen trying to making their quota. In the span of the 100 minutes or so of the movie, the plot thickens. There is a robbery, who is responsible?! The plot is forwarded just by the sheer performances of the leads here. While Al and Jack have the lion share of screen time here, the supporting cast are not push over either. The likes of Kevin Spacey (trust me ... tolerably good here), Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin all hold their own with their wonderful performances. The feel is not entirely unlike the feeling one would get watching something like Reservoir Dogs where in the movie the atmosphere is taut and tight riding on the performances of the actors alone.

If I could give this movie an alternate title I would give it "Shut up and just act". All the actors turn up an artistic notch in their acting without relying on cgi or special effects to further the plot. I don need no steekin' special effects!!! Good job guys. A special mention about Alec Baldwin's acting here... it is at least at par or even better than what Tom Cruise did in Magnolia. Watch out for it.

This is definitely a must watch for all aspiring directors!

Score: 9/10

Check this out for Alec Baldwin's almost oscar performance here:



The good news is ... you are fired! Oh? Did I get your attention now? :) Good stuff!

Wall-E

This is what animation is all about. Able to tell a story that otherwise the human beings can't. This movie is simply put- SUPERB.

We all go to movies wanting to forget any problems that we may encounter in our real life.. and watching this movie was able to transport me to another world. My problem seems so miniscule compared to the title Character, Wall-E,

There was hardly any dialogues uttered in the first 30 minutes of the movie. Yet as the saying goes Actions speak louder than words.

Pixar is back at their very best, after last year's success with Ratatoutie

Being a cross between Short Circuit's robot and Spielberg's ET, Wall E will charm your heart with his innocence and Love and Devotion for Eve. Trust me, this movie is just not for the kids. It's truly one that need to be watched to be believed.

Also check out the beginning where there is shorts on a funny magician with his rabbit which would certainly get you in the mood of the main story.

8/10

A bit on how Pixar evolved so far.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

This one is another winner from the Apetow team dare I say the best for me so far, initially the first place taken up by the 40 year old virgin. The newest outing from Apetow is funny and touching at the same time. It plays on the well known feeling of being dumped and the hell one goes through after that.

This is my time with Jason Segel which holds the title role in this movie. I think all in all he submitted an acceptable performance as Peter whose heart has just been broken into a thousand pieces by the love of his life, Sarah Marshall also played well by Kristen Bell. The plot is carried on the strength of the performances of it's main casts and the reason why it works so well here is that it dares to take itself not too seriously although dealing with a gloomy issue of the deconstruction of a man's world after loosing his love. The breezy plot and the quirky and bubbly characters here is reminisce of 50 first dates another one of my favs.

I won't reveal too much of the plot here because I really really recommend this movie and I want you to watch it, but suffice to say there is a good ending in store although and not too formulaic for my taste too (something really really hard to achieve in love comedies nowadays)! I too found a new female actress for my adoration Mila Kunis .... hubba hubba (Thought for me personally I thought Kristen Bell was purty sexy too )!! She carries the role of Rachel in this movie which did not require much acting from her part but let me tell you that woman had sultriness oozing from the screen of my lappie!

If you are going to watch this movie however, do not plan to watch it in the theaters as I am pretty sure a lot of scenes would be censored. Do the scene matter? Well, as in all apetow movies, not really but do you really want to do without them?

Also, look out for those parodies of CSI and Law and Order! There is a scene I laughed myself silly when they poked fun at Kristen's movie 'Pulse'. Watch out for that one. Classic! These scenes are done really really well and are hillarious.

Score : 9/10 - Best so far for me this year.

P/S - Later I think I will work with spchu to compile a top ten so far for the year 2008 and what's more I will make it a joint post!

Enjoy the trailer ...

The Dark Knight

I thought this movie deserves another review as I declared it the best movie I saw this year after coming out of the cinema.

After all what's not to like about it? The gritty scripts, the tight storyline, the dry humour, the batmobile, the action sequence which keep you at the edge of your seats are all here.

I like it even more than Batman Begins which I had been recommending to friends 3 years ago, so very seldom a movie improve on its predecessor, and I believe Dark Knight achieved this.

The fight between good and evil in this one makes it feel not like any superhero movies that's been churned out from the Hollywood thread mills which we have seen of late. It pans out more like a very believable crime thriller.

Kudos to director Christopher Nolan, the late Heath Ledger (he would be missed) and Christian Bale. They managed to keep you guessing throughout the movie what would happen next and there never was a dull moment.

I hope everyone watch this on the big screen where such movies are best enjoyed. (I had less fun watching Batman begins on tv recently :)

9/10

Street Kings - 2008

This is one kick ass movie! This is by the same director that gave us Training Day. This movie offers the same dark gritty feel to it and is also about cops. I thought Training Day was okay throughout just that it lacked the punch at the end to make it really memorable. Where Training Day fails Street King delivers abundantly! Street Kings' Tom Ludlow follows successfully in the footsteps of Chow Yuen Fatt's anti-hero mold ... read Mark of Better Tomorrow.

A bit about the plot, Tom is cop that has to face off with his own people when they frame him for murder. One man against the system in a flurry of bullets flying all around the screen style! Keanu's portrayal of Tom is gritty and believable. The action here is good and bloody and can hold it's own against any of John Woo's classics.

The plot starts out a bit slowly but heats up and doesn't let up right until the final fight scene. You could almost taste the intensity on the screen!

This has got to be one of the better action movie I have had the pleasure of watching this year. Good effort!

8.5/10

The Dark Knight

Saw this one and the only thing I can say about it is I am underwhelmed by Nolan's latest offering of the dark knight saga. I don't if it's just my tired entrepreneul self talking or this or is it this second outing seems a bit less focused or less potent than Batman Begins. For a director of this stature with gems like Memento under his belt I would have expected a tighter story line with smarter dialog instead what I found myself feeling most of the time was a rushed feeling plus rehashed dialog borrowed from a thousand other action movies before this.

On the acting, is it only me or does Chistian Bale change of voice during his Batman scene looks forced almost to the point of being farcial? On the Joker's side it is indeed a plum role role Heath Ledger and a good way to sign out, just that some original dialog would have done the Joker a world of good. I know this review won't win us a lot of fans out there, but this is just what I think, "I think the original is better" - 5/10

As usual the trailer is here :

Kungfu Panda

I guess I went in to the movie with too high an expectation, and ended up this movie was just so so...

Maybe I find the trailers too funny and cute, but in the end I thought all the funny scenes seems to have covered by the trailer...

The story of Po the Panda who is very into kungfu, and he had the chance to learn kungfu when the Old master Tortoise chose him to be THE ONE, although other kungfu students and the master were sceptical due to his size, one funny dig at his size was when they chided how can he be the one when he cant even touch his toes, and another student remarked whether he can even see his toes.

No doubt kid would dig this movie, but the adult in me just says, man this is predictable, You're almost certain how it's all going to end....

and the movie just belongs to Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman, the sifu who train him.

Other big name stars like angelina jolie, jackie chan and Lucy Liu hardly register and impact the movie.

5/10-

Indiana Jones 4

For those of you that live under a cave, I will still try not to spoil this movie and provide you a chance to catch it for yourself because I know this one is an all time favorite.

Hmm what can I say about this one? I really liked the build up to the story although I must say that Harry Ford looks a bit too crufty to play the part of Indy. It had some of the elements of the old Indy Jones movies I loved while growing up. I thought the general plot was enough to hold my attention through out the movie and was light enough never taking itself too seriously.

The beginning scene where our hero is introduced only in his shadow on the car shadowing his famous hat is just superb and done with style.The action that ensues from this scene never lets up right until the end and it has Indy painted all over the screen. However, the one thing that really let this movie down for me was the X-Files ripped ending. I just couldn't jive with it. An ark or a the holy grail now those things jives with an Indiana Jones movie, but that ?! Half way through while sitting in the theater, suspecting the direction of the plot I heard my self moan "Oh please do not go there .... please please don't go there" and true enough about 45 minutes later my greatest fears about the plot was confirmed!

Steve, why did you have to let a favorite classic of mine go down with a whimper like this? **sob sob** booyah to you man !

Catch the trailer here :

A conversation abt Shutter (Spoiler Alert)

SPCHU: Shutter was on TV3 Yesterday
SP CHU: did u watch?
SP CHU: I wonder how they make the hollywood version
sorcerer_low: yes
sorcerer_low: i think the thai version is superb
SP CHU: like the ending
SP CHU: give me the creeps
sorcerer_low: yes i think the ending is good
SP CHU: so the ghost has been piggy back him the whole time?
sorcerer_low: and the whole show is shot superbly
sorcerer_low: yuppers
SP CHU: and why as his bf, he let his friends rape her?sorcerer_low: yups
sorcerer_low: peer pressure
SP CHU: kinda sissy boy
sorcerer_low: i saw 27 dresses
sorcerer_low: well it was peer pressure
SP CHU: any good?
sorcerer_low: we have all fallen to it one time or another
sorcerer_low: well light hearted flick
SP CHU: but this is rape
SP CHU: yr own gf at that
sorcerer_low: i dare not say coz i have seen some pretty screwed up shit happen
sorcerer_low: then again
sorcerer_low: he did not really treat her as a gf did he
sorcerer_low: ahhhh there in lies the gist of the show
SP CHU: so he like her for her money?
sorcerer_low: i just get the feel he did not really "love" her
sorcerer_low: he was a play boy la
sorcerer_low: wonder how is the hollywood version
SP CHU: dont think i would enjoy it
SP CHU: critics been bashing it
sorcerer_low: yeah better not la
sorcerer_low: really ah
sorcerer_low: okay
sorcerer_low: one less movie to see
SP CHU: check out RT score
sorcerer_low: i don like the new rt site
sorcerer_low: prefer the old one
SP CHU: less than 10% like it

I guess I can recommend Shutter if you're a horror fan... especially fun if you can snuggle up to your loved one and watch it.

My rating 7/10, for a creepy ending....

Favorite music videos

This is my favorite music video :



This is antigravity's .... :



So what is yours ?

2004's Laws of Attraction

First off let me just say I was searching for something completely different when I came across this movie starring Pierce Bronsnan and Julianne Moore as two divorce lawyers at the opposite ends who fall in love, I gave this one a chance much due to the pull of the two main leads. I also like the quirky performance of the lady who played Julianne's mom in the movie, although strangely enough her name is missing on the imdb page.

This is as like many other movie this genre light fluffy humor at best. The leads are old hands at playing roles like this so they fit into the roles quite perfectly and a chuckle or two did escape as I watched Julliane Moore's neurotic performance as the uptight lawyer Audrey Woods.While this is no When Harry Met Sally, the pace and plot is just great for a slow Saturday afternoon or a lonely Friday evening ...

Score : 6/10