| Movie | Rating | Review | Date | Your Rating | Match | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| My Neighbors the Yamadas - PG | January 7, 2010 | N/A | ||||
| Neko no Ongaeshi (The Cat Returns) - G |
This is a very different follow-up to Ghibli's Whisper of the Heart and a wonderful fantasy film, cute and funny, and full of remarkable and memorable characters. Let me start by saying that The Cat Returns is not the best of Ghibli and Miyazaki had almost nothing to do with it. If Miyazaki had directed or even written it, the film would have been as great as Totoro or Kiki. This movie is pretty much Whisper of the Heart as a Spirited Away style fantasy. |
January 7, 2010 | N/A | |||
| Iron Fisted Monk - Unrated |
Excellently crafted kung-fu film dealing with the conflict between the Manchus and the Shaolin monks. We see the barbaric actions of the Manchus from early on in the film, and the tension builds quite steadily until there is only one option left: fight to the death. Sammo Hung is brilliant as usual and his directorial talent can be identified in this film clearly. His martial artistry is great and his strength improves as things get more desperate. The final fight scene is a fantastic display of athletic agility, superb choreography and totally mind-blowing action. |
January 7, 2010 | N/A | |||
| Push - PG-13 |
In the premise of this sci-fi-thriller film is crammed into the first five minutes, and the exposition hits me so quickly the rest of the film is spend trying to figure out what's happening. The story doesn't quite make sense, there are some problems with pacing, and some of the villains are straight out of anime. Despite all this, it's a fun time, with enjoyable performances, particularly from Dakota Fanning and Chris Evans, while the telekinetic gun battle bristles with great fx. Wildy ambitious, this blends elements of X-Men, Firestarter, Matrix and Memento. |
January 7, 2010 | N/A | |||
| Red Cliff (Chi Bi) - R | John Woo's visionary epic based on the Chinese legendary battle is marvelous. Woo has left the mean streets of Hollywood behind him and returned to his homeland for this film. Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro make wonderfully performance as the artists of war. Cue hundreds of extras, explosions, flying arrows, throat slashing mayhem, slow motion doves, blood-letting galore and a cup of tea that changed the face of China forever. | January 7, 2010 | N/A | |||
| Fighting - PG-13 | This action film has action, romance and a buddy element in a tight, professional package. It is a quite familiar to Jean-Claude Van Damme's 1990 film, Wrong Bet in which Channing Tatum taking on the 'street fighter' role. | January 7, 2010 | N/A | |||
| Leap Year - PG | January 7, 2010 | N/A | ||||
| Castle in the Sky (Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta) - Unrated |
A joy to watch! Pirates are hilarious!!! What an incredible animated family adventure of two leads, Pazo and Sheeta who are on explore to the mystery castle in the sky. I believe this is one of my best Studio Ghibli animated films ever seen since Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle. There is plenty of adventure, but not blood and gore. The animation is smooth, detailed, and cinematic ally composed - not a lot of flat shots. The backgrounds are wonderful. |
January 5, 2010 | N/A | |||
| Whisper of the Heart (Mimi wo sumaseba) (If You Listen Closely) - PG | Wonderfully Studio Ghibi of the animated drama story about a schoolgirl. With its wonderful marriage of dreamlike flights of fancy and touching rise of passage, Whisper of the Heart could bring a tear to a glass eye. Inspirational. | January 5, 2010 | N/A | |||
| Shrek the Halls - G |
There are lots of laughs with Shrek, his family and friends after Shrek the Third. Fortunately these are present in spades with the film being consistently funny with a hatful of really good laugh-out-loud moments. The German pigs are a treat and the gingerbread man's horrific experience with Santa is a clever reference as well as being very funny while Donkey of course does his usual fast talking stuff. Shrek and Fiona are, as normal, handed slightly weaker material as they are at the core of the film and thus not able to just drop in for a funny line or strong scene, but they are still fun. My favourite moment was Puss losing himself playing with a bauble ("I have shamed myself") ? that had me rolling. The voice work is roundly good and the laughs are reasonably evenly spread out for everyone to get a bite. |
January 5, 2010 | N/A | |||
| West - Unrated |
This Aussie film is an honest and confident film that made me sit up and pay attention. To Daniel Krige's credit he has written and directed highly complex characters true to people who have experienced their youth in the western suburbs of Sydney. This film does not judge the characters it presents, but rather reveals people who are trying to do their best to "break the mould" with limited options for advancement. In this film such all-consuming passion accompanied by the bitterness of complete betrayal has the power to destroy everything in the end. I was extremely moved and impressed after watching this film, which is a rare experience in the current climate of Australian films, which tend to stereotype real people with comedic intent. |
January 5, 2010 | N/A | |||
| The Prodigal Son - R | This Sammo Hung's second Wing Chun movie is good action-comedy with Yuen Biao and Lam Ching Ying. The final martial-arts match, pitting Yuen against Frankie Chan, is generally considered one of the best fight scenes every committed to film. | January 5, 2010 | N/A | |||
| Dead Snow (Død snø) - Unrated | A tongue-in-check splatterfest which pays homage to a range of low budget '80s horror flicks (certainly Evil Dead), this zombie film is the work of director Tommy Wirkola, who, helming his second feature, has assembled the movie from some of the more popular and obvious tropes long synonymous with the genre. Invention in the movie is reserved mainly for its many wild deaths and one notable survival. Call it intestinal fortitude. | January 5, 2010 | N/A | |||
| Mutant Chronicles - R |
I didn't expect much when I saw the title, the name mutant in the title is never a good sign, but I was surprised. The atmosphere was really great, being a historian I enjoyed the weird mix of Great War, cyberpunk and post-WWII United States. Reminded me of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, just not that shiny. It's like Chronicles of Riddicks meets The Dirty Dozen meets Gears of War!! Tension is used effectively and the film moves quickly enough, Thomas Jane is still good to watch. Also Sean Pertwee puts in a solid performance as well. There is plenty of action, some great fight scenes, and some creepy moments - but that's your lot! |
January 5, 2010 | N/A | |||
| Summer's Blood (Summer's Moon) - R |
Girl gets picked up by a nice young man. Ends up abducted and chained in his basement where she is given to join him and his killer family or well...you know the drill. Good cast and crew make something out of a well worn plot line. You've been here before, the question is do you want to go here again since the material isn't anything special, even if the performances are very good. This is one of the increasing number of movies that are taking well worn ideas, spicing them up with a great cast and then getting a weak script. It ends up wasting everyones time. Ashley Greene is not the sweet girl from Twilight, but a tough girl with a will to survive. |
January 5, 2010 | N/A | |||
| Four Christmases - PG-13 | Vince Vaughn must have a soft spot for festive flicks: in 2007, it was Fred Claus, and this year sees him team up with Reese Witherspoon for a more grown-up Yuletide comedy. Really good funny than unwrapping pressies on Christmas morning. Well, almost! | January 5, 2010 | N/A | |||
| American Pie Presents: Book of Love - R | This is the worst series of American Pie. Stifler (played by John Patrick Jordan) is a complete waste in this movie, actors are not gorgeous or at least beautiful or at least pleasing, this version has severed the fame of American Pie brand and a huge disappointment to plenty of teen comedy lovers. | January 5, 2010 | N/A | |||
| District 9 - R |
What a powerful experience which breaks with convention. Brave, intelligent and exciting film. Director Neill Blompkamp draws on issues of apartheid and other current affairs relating to the planet as it stands in this highly original movie, parts sci-fi, political-thriller and action epic. Some of it's story beats fall into the "unlikely" category, but the central idea, the design, and the acting are so strong that you'll likely go with it and have a damn good time doing so. This is possibly the most witty and eloquent sci-fi movie of the last decade. |
January 5, 2010 | N/A | |||
| Igor - PG |
This animated film is sort of a riff on the original Frankenstein film, but it adds its own elements to the mix. It is entertaining and has some amusing moments, but it's not what I would call hysterical. There's romance angle which works well here, and there are a few good action sequences. The only thing I liked on this film was the character Scamper, thanks to Steve Buscemi's solid voice work. |
January 5, 2010 | N/A | |||
| Gedo senki (Tales from Earthsea) - Unrated |
Shape-changing wizards, feisty young females, troubled, quixotic heroes... this animated fantasy as all the hallmarks of a classic Studio Ghibi film. After watching this film I was pleased with the overall feel and look the production. Most notably I was impressed with the studio's visual creation of Earthsea. While the artistry and animation quality does not entirely measure up to other recent Ghibli studio films, I felt it did create a rich and colorful setting in which the story unfolds. A solid score also helps to shape the vibrant world that the movie conveys. |
January 5, 2010 | N/A | |||
| Gake no ue no Ponyo (Ponyo) (Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea) - G | This story is inspired by The Little Mermaid as I love it because two little kids are so cute. There are no pop culture references or adult jokes here; Ponyo is children's film in its purest form. While the strange images may confuse adults, children will love the cute characters and sweet story. The animation is remarkable in its simplicity. each frame has been hand drawn and is incredibly detailed, resulting in about 170,000 separate images - a record for a Miyazaki film. | January 4, 2010 | N/A | |||
| Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Ice Age 3) - PG | This third adventures of Manny and his rag-tage is really exciting and heaps of hilarious than the sequels. Enthusiastically voiced by Simon Pegg, Buck the crazy cavalier weasel is great guide to the vibrant, dangerous land. And Scrat's battle of the heart and stomach is sub-plot gold - I loved that the best. | January 4, 2010 | N/A | |||
| Fred Claus - PG | This Christmas movie is funny and has many hilarious moments. The message that there is no naughty child and consequently every child deserves a Christmas gift is great. The cast leaded by Vince Vaughn is fantastic and I really liked this movie. | January 4, 2010 | N/A | |||
| The Shaolin Temple - Unrated | Finally watched Jet Li's debut kung fu motion picture as what I saw him seem so young as well as it's good as tracing the history of the Shaolin Temple set in the seventh-century China. | January 4, 2010 | N/A | |||
| The Ugly Truth - R | This explores the battle of the sexes from a contemporary and neutral standpoint. The material provides laughs acress the gender divide in this sprightly updating of Cyrano de Bergerac. The funniest scene is getting Katherine Heigl to squirm and gasp through dinner in a pair of vibrating undies. | January 4, 2010 | N/A |
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