Gulliver's Travel

With no many good options this end of the year we went to see Jack Black Gulliver's Travels. This movie is performing really poorly in sales with low interest all across the board. But somehow the movie is not so bad; it has a fair bit of jokes and some funny moments. This is a simplified version of the classic satirical novel. The story goes as Gulliver finds himself in a land of small people and slowly becomes a big hero to those people. He saves the king and the princess from tyrannic enemies of the kingdom and even fights their entire armada with his bare hands.

All in all, it's worth seeing if you are looking for something light and entertaining.

We give 3 out of 5 for Gulliver's Travels.

Tron Legacy

A sequel of the old movie but with today's technology it has improved considerably. The plot is about a perfect computer (the grid) in which people are programs which have a life of their own. Our hero (user) ends up inside the computer and has to play games to survive. He meets his dad who has been the creator and was caught inside the computer for many years. The portal is open and is his only chance to get out and shut down the computer from the outside. We found the movie entertaining with fantastic special effects. Recommended to all audiences but specially young males would find this movie interesting.

We give 4 out of 5 for Tron Legacy.

The American

George Clooney is some sort of an agent of the Italian mafia who has been delivering tasks efficiently. Eventually he is no longer needed and they try to get rid of him. But they fail a few times until eventually he dies in the end after killing the mafia boss. So sad!!! The movie is slow and dark and is really difficult to follow; it is never clear what is going on. What I just wrote is my interpretation of what was going on but I am not sure whether is correct. There are nice sceneries from Sweden and a small town in Italy in the side of a mountain. There is a beautiful and completely naked Italian lady with whom George has some hot moments. This is clearly no a movie for the young.

I give 2 our of 5 for "The american".

Due date

Robert Downey Jr was going to Los Angeles where is wife was almost due for their first baby. In the airport he meets Zack Galifianakis in a rather strange way and things just go downhill from there. Due to a small issue regarding the mobile phone already inside the plane they end up causing a fight and are put in the no-fly list. Which means they would need to drive all the way from NY to LA, a trip that takes a few days. With no money or documents they find themselves in a lot of trouble, which is really entertaining for the audience. At some stage everybody watching was laughing intensively. It is an interesting comedy for an adult audience.

I give 3.5 out of 5 for Due date.

Red

Red is an entertaining action movie where Bruce Willis is a retired CIA agent who finds himself running for his life. He slowly tries to find out who is behind the attacks and search for his old friends including Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich. They eventually form a team and defeat the bad guys, including the vice-president of the US.

It is an interesting movies with good action and explosions, a fair bit o humor which makes it enjoyable. However is not a fantastic movie. Just your average Bruce Willis movie.

I give 3 out of 5 for red.

Inception

Last Sunday Citra saw Inception in Eng Wah cinema, West Mall, alone. Rogerio stayed at home with Carla. Thanks Rogerio! Here is her review of the movie.

Inception is about a group of people, led by Cobb (Leonardo di Caprio) who can go inside people's dreams to steal ideas. They are offered a job by Saito (Ken Watanabe), a wealthy businessman, not to steal an idea, but plant an idea, inside his business rival's son.

I was a bit undecided about this movie. When I started watching it, I got really impressed by the amazing visual effects. As the movie progressed, I alternately felt awed and indifferent. Awed because of the complex dream/reality storyline, and indifferent because all those crazy and cool actions only happened in dreams, it was like... hey, why do you bother? It's just a dream.... However I got more and more interested in the movie and the ending really intrigued me... Was it real? Was it just a dream?

All in all, this is a great movie and really worth watching. You really need to concentrate not to get lost in the complex storyline, but you'll have great fun.

I give 4.5 out of 5 for Inception.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

The other day we saw The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. What to say about this movie? Well... It was entertaining enough, although the acting was just so-so and the storyline was very simple. It was clearly made for teenagers. The theatre was fully packed with teenage girls, mostly members of "team Jacob", who would scream and squeal everytime Taylor Lautner appeared shirtless (90% of the the whole movie). Talking about Lautner, we though his acting had improved a bit since the last movie, but it was a pain to see Robert Pattinson trying to act. Sorry Robert! All in all, the movie is still worth seeing, but we've warned you about the teenage girls!

We give 3 out of 5 for Eclipse.

Clash of Titans

I had really low expectations going into this movie due to all the bad advertisement from friends. And they are right in most terms. The movie is 3D but not many features are inside and could have easily seen in 2D that nothing much is lost. In the end I was not disappointed, in fact I was quite entertained.

I give 3 out of 5 for Clash of Titans.

Hot Tube Time Machine

This hilarious comedy will make you laugh. The story goes around 3 guys who are complete failures in life. They go camping and find themselves 20 years in the past and they need to do everything as it happens not to change the future. And they go through all the same struggles all over again. This movie is more suited for adults audiences since a lot of the content and jokes are related to sex and drugs.

I give 4 out of 5 for Hot Tube Time Machine.

A Single Man

A single man tells the struggles of a man who finds himself alone after his boyfriend dies in a car accident. Eventually he decides to kill himself and all the movie goes around this fact. As an organised person he goes to bank and takes all money out. .. leaves letters to people and prepares everything. He then talks to one of his students and finds back a reason to live and decides not to kill himself anymore and 3 hours later dies of a heart attack. This movie is really sad and depressing but has some superb acting.

I give 3 out of 5 for A Single Man.

Ip Man

This excellent movie happens in Hong Kong in the last century. Most of the movie is in mandarin with a few parts in English. Ip Man is a kung fu master that wants to teach in Hong Kong after moving from China. He has to go through massive struggles to get the right to open his school. After a kung fu master is beaten to death by the English boxing champion Ip Man challenges him to maintain the honor of the chinese martial arts. He eventually becomes the master of Bruce Lee.

I give 4 out of 5 for Ip Man.

Up in the air

We were incredibly surprised by how good this movie was. It does not have any explosions or destruction just good people with excellent acting. The story is based on a company that sends its employees around the country to fire people when the bosses are too afraid to do so. With fantastic acting by George Clooney and the female supporting acts this movie captivates and keeps you interested until the end, which is totally unexpected and different from most ends in which everything ends happily.

We give 4.5 for Up in the air.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is a combination of small love stories which brings together a bunch of famous names with 2 or 3 minutes of action each. From the young to the old generation every story had the opportunity to present with many aspects of love. Many stories started badly with break ups, but in the end everybody was happy. It is a 'feel good' movie with some funny moments. Though it received harsh reviews from the specialised critics it still will have a good run in the theatres due to possible good word of mouth because of the happy environment it created.

We give 3 out of 5 for Valentine.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Percy Jackson is a really lively film but could have been better. All the ideas were there, the tales were nice and even entertaining. But the acting was not fantastic and it seemed like a tale of short stories without much connection. Most of the stories were well-known like the Medusa, the Hydra and the Lotus eaters. It was not a bad movie and we found ourselves really entertained. It is a movie for the young but not so young.

The story is based on the Greek Mythology. Gods come to earth in human bodies and have kids with humans and they become sons of god or demigods. Then they leave and the kids are raised by humans until they are old enough to be sent to a place for demigods where they train and become heroes.

It had a solid start in the cinemas so we should expect to see more in the same line based on the 5 books of the collection.

We give 3.5 out of 5 for Percy Jackson.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Today we went to see the last movie of Heath Ledger. The movie had to be adapted to take into account the fact he was no longer there. Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell were called to perform in some scenes. The final picture looks quite good though the movie as a whole is a bit strange. Dr Parnassus is an immortal who had sold his soul to the devil and has to deal with that for eternity. Parnassus and the devil make a final bet that would decide the fate of Parnassus' 16 year old daughter. In the end he wins and she finally can live her dream of having a happy family.

We give 3.5 out of 5 for this movie.

The Blind Side

The blind side is a really good movie based on a true story of a black boy adopted by a white family in Memphis, Tennessee. The movie has emotional moments and shows the struggles that the story brought to the people involved. 'Big Mike' is how they call the boy due too his huge size. The christian school coach see great potential in him and manages to get the school to give him a chance. He starts performing really poorly at school but his football skills grow fast. Due to his fantastic football skills Big Mike was invited to play in many university teams but needed good marks to be able to get a university place. With enormous determination he managed to achieve at school and went to Old Mississippi where he graduated and became a professional footballer. It was an amazing performance by Sandra Bullock which gave her Golden Globe win as best actress for her performance as well as Oscar nomination.

We give 4 out of 5 for The Blind Side.

Did you hear about the Morgans?

Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker play a separated couple who witnessed a murder. They are both from New York with business to manage but after that incident they are put under the witnesses scheme because the case is related to big mafia and they are under serious risk of being murdered. The Morgans end up in a small town in the middle of Wyoming (whatever that is), becoming the Fosters and have to spend time together though unwanted. There they learn about small town life and get to revive their marriage which collapsed after Grant slept with another woman. Though the total package is reasonable and there are really good jokes during the story, the beginning is too slow and boring but improved with time.

We give 3.5 out of for Morgans.

Sherlock Holmes

Today we saw Sherlock Holmes in an almost full theatre. He comes around stronger, faster and smarter than ever before. The movie flows well and the story entertaining though the background is mostly dark. Sometimes we had to pay attention cause they would speak so fast especially when Holmes was solving some puzzles. The fight scenes were a bit over the top at times, but they were fun to watch.

We give 4 out of 5 for Sherlock Holmes.