RoboCop (2014)

Okay, I was blown away by the original RoboCop (1987) by Paul Verhoeven. Paul Verhoeven's "in your face" violence and humor (tongue in cheek) blew me away!!

I am sad that he does not really direct movies anymore, well, at least not in the US. His works tend to surprise me. He views the Americans from a different point angle and he usually makes fun of them in a subtle way, so much so that they end up laughing with him (at their stupidity...)

Confession, I watched the latest incarnation, because of the original, and it is... not bad.

It is much much better Total Recall (2012), which was also originally done by Paul Verhoeven. Michael Keaton plays Raymond Sellars, a tech guru (can anyone say Steve Jobs). Samuel L. Jackson who basically took over Leeza Gibbons role as news commentator (nice role, illustrates how media can be used as a propaganda tool), Jay Baruchel (sleazy sales man), Jackie Earle Haley (from Jamie Boyle, to Freddie Krueger to A$$h0le??), Abbie Cornish (much bigger wife role) & Joel Kinnaman (whom I believe, like Peter Weller, is given the role, more on because of his body type more then his thespian skills)

Story is actually decent. You get invested into the storyline. And the juiciest part goes to Gary Oldman as Dr. Dennett Norton.

In some aspect, this movie did go to place that the original did not venture into, so what I'm saying is, it is different enough from the original for it to work.

If you like a story driven action movie, give this a go why don't you!!

My Two Sen.

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Feb 1 2014, 04:44 PM

A "miracle" had happened!!

I Just watched

The White Storm 掃毒 (2013)

and... LIKED IT!!

Casting is good. You actually care for the characters!!

The storyline is actually pretty strong.

Okay, some of the car chasing sequence is downright impossible (do they show Mythbusters in Hong Kong )

This is probably on the of the better movie to come out for Hong Kong for the pass... 5 years!!

This is a Cop & Robber movie.

One thing bugs me though...


Good job Benny Chan (director)!!

My Two Sen

LEGO: The Movie (2013)

What does one say, when words fail him...

You say it with song

Jamie Cullum - Pure Imagination

My Two Sen

I definitely like this much much better than the Chinese Ghost Story 2 and Chinese Ghost Story 2011

Tony Leung's monk was actually interesting

I believe the relationship between Tony Leung and Joey Wong is doomed to fail from the start, him being a monk and all.

Additionally, Jacky Cheung role, is the opposite of Wu Ma's role. In the first two movie Wu Ma's character always criticized Leslie Cheung character as being too idealistic! And in actual fact, Wu Ma's character is an idealist himself. Because he believes the world should be fair and there were major corruption in the government, he left his post in the government to live alone in a haunted temple, until he met Leslie Cheung, who reignited his idealism... His character lived out his life alone, and Jacky Cheung had always begged Wu Ma to take him in as a disciple and Wu Ma rejected the idea. When Wu Ma died, Jacky Cheung's character told hold of his possession and learned the art of magic. This had an influence on Jacky Cheung making him more "enterprising" and always selling his skills to the highest bidder. He is by definition a guy and is mesmerising by Joey Wong's beauty, so I would not necessarily say he stuck his nose without reasons.

Another interesting note, Wu Ma, who recently passed away is an understudy for Chang Cheh (famous Shaw Brothers director). He actually did alot of assistance director work and had directed some movies...

In newer Chinese Ghost Story (2011), I believe the love triangle storyline did not necessarily work... Better not say too much and spoil it for you.

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Feb 13 2014, 11:31 AM

Carrie (2013)

People are mean.

This is the second Carrie movie I have seen, the first being Carrie (1976).

Both actually well made.

This is a horror movie, but not because of ghosts or ghouls/psychotic killers.

This is a horror movie because of a scared little girl with an unstable mother, who discovered she had telekinetic powers...

To make things worst, she goes to school with probably the worst bunch of kids...

Bleak, bleak movie.

Definitely not something you watch with little children...

My Two Sen

Unbeatable 激戰 (2013)

Director: Dante Lam
Writers: Fung Chi-Fung (screenplay), Dante Lam (screenplay)
Actors: Nick Cheung, Eddie Peng

Well, color me surprise.

Another Hong Kong movie which has threw me for a loop.

Dante Lam is proving himself to be a pretty good director.

I do see hope for their industry!!

Make no mistake, this is a blatant replica of Rocky, and it is NOT a bad thing!!

You know what they say Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Unlike the 80s and 90s, where the scripts being churned out are outright copy of their western counterpart, this took the rags to riches/underdog theme of Rocky and acclimatised it to the Hong Kong/Macau environment!! And it is actually beautiful to watch

I have never been a fan of Nick Cheung and after White Storm and this, I am sold, he is a good actor.

Not sure I know much about Eddie Peng but the dedication he put into getting in shape for this movie is actually a novelty in the Asian movie industry, hats off to him.

Watch this if you haven't

It is good!!

My Two Sen

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Feb 24 2014, 03:47 PM

Frankly, I never quite got it myself...

Correct, I meant White Storm... Old already...

Gravity (2013)

Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Writers: Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón
Stars: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney

I really REALLY enjoy Alfonso Cuarón's works. What comes to mind are A Little Princess (1995), Y Tu Mamá También (2001) & Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004).

I actually now wish he had done more of the Harry Potter franchise.

This movie, if you want me to describe in a word, would be GRIPPING!!!

It is very good.

I really do not want to state anything here that would reduce your enjoyment of this movie.

Watch this.

My Two Sen.

Death Becomes Her (1992)

One of my guilty pleasure. Something I have revisited over and over again.

A nonsensical movie with surprisingly good special effects, that withstood the trial of time and also, the absolute tongue in cheek works of Meryl Streep, Bruce Willis & Goldie Hawn are simply breathtaking to watch.

The story is delightful.

The vanity and the extend in which people go to in the name of vanity is actually well portrayed here and I think the moral of the movie, I believe is still valid to this day and age!

If you like comedy dark, look no further.

I wholeheartedly give to you, this!!

My Two Sen

Spring Breakers (2012)

If you have 94 minutes of your time to waste and you want some mindless drivel of a movie, have I got a movie for you!!

Otherwise, please avoid this like the plague!!

You've been warned kiddies.... YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

My Two Sen

The Relic (1997)

Wow, for a 1997 movie, I am actually quite impress by the transfer.

Please be warned. This is a dark movie (picture and story wise) so if you cannot stand dark scenes over and over again, this is not a movie for you.The sound, kiddies, the sound is awesome. Very good workout for your subwoofer(s?). There are tiny sounds I can hear on this that I did not hear on other formats.

This actually, I feel, is an under appreciated horror movie.

It is a little out there, but the people involved really put in effort to make it entertaining.

And for me, it is!!

If you like "creature" horror, this is pretty good.

My Two Sen

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Mar 2 2014, 10:26 PM

I pity the both of us... I could not even finish the movie. Switched it off after 45 minutes and COULD NOT CARE LESS WHAT THE ENDING IS LIKE.

Wow... really pointless... as predicted... Thanks for that... be-itches is it...

The Beastmaster (1982)

Dennis Miller (comedian) jokes that the true meaning of HBO was not "Home Box Office," but 'Hey BEASTMASTER'S On!" (excerpt from DVD booklet)

Another of my guilty pleasures...

I really lost count as too how many times I have watched this!

From Video Cassettes (anyone here remember this) to DVDs (my very first DVD I bought from Amazon) and now bluray!

My copy of Dvd was released by Anchor Bay America and this bluray copy is by Umbrella Entertainment.

I am doing a side by side comparison. Here is the kicker! For most part, the aspect ration of the movie is correct in the bluray version (In the DVD version, Achor Bay supposedly used a 4:3 ration masters and put top and bottom black bar to make it seem letter box). Strangely though, the bear scene at the beginning of the dvd copy's ration looks like the correct one compared with the bluray version. So far, this is my only complain about the bluray copy and some very very brief video artifact as opposed to the scratches and dust on the DVD version. So overall, am very VERY happy with my bluray copy.

Am actually surprise to find out that prior to this the Director/Producer (Don Coscarelli/Paul Pepperman) team made three low budget movies, the most famous and expensive amongst them was, Phantasm (1979, with a budget of 500,000)!!

Beastmaster had a budget of 4,500,000 (to 9,000,000 depending on which source you believe).

4,500,000 in 1982 is worth $11,156,601.06 today, so, still amazing the amount of stuff they managed to squeeze into this movie.

Prior to this I never knew Director/Producer (Don Coscarelli/Paul Pepperman) who wrote the script, had total control of the production at the beginning of the filming of the movie to no control at the end. Don Coscarelli was banned from the editing room, by the investors of the movie (European).

Cannot talk about The Beastmaster without talking about Tanya Roberts (who had since confessed that many a man had walked up to her since to tell her how much a fan they are of her because of her "acting" talents in Beastmaster) and Marc Singer (I was in Shakespeare plays before I did this!!!)

In 1982, Tanya appear as the centerfold for Playboy the same month The Beastmaster was release at the movies. Coincident?? I think not. Alas,, the movie did not do well in the box office. But I believe with the receipts from overseas market did recuperate the initial investment. I believe they hit the jackpot, so to speak when the movie was release in Home Video and when HBO started showing it on cable, well as they say, the rest is history.

Well, back to the two leads, the movie would not have gain so much popularity without them!!

Having said that, Marc Singer did come back to do Part 2 & 3 (without Tanya), but they never managed the popularity of the original.

There are also cute animals in this so something for adults and kids.

Please do note there are some mild nudity with Tanya and the three witches, but nothing too scandalous.

If only every men have a black tiger as they wingmen when they wooing women...

Also for the vieweres with keen eye, you will also not that Q (Men In Black) is the bad guy here (Rip Torn)!!

I like this movie, even now. It is not perfect, but when you were my age when I first saw this, it damn near is...

Like always, My Two Sen.

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Mar 10 2014, 06:25 PM

Saving Mr. Banks (2013)

This is definitely not what I expected.

There are two distinct stories here. And they are both intriguing.

Emma Thompson is brilliant here, playing P.L. Travers.

Surprising to find Colin Farrell and it is probably his most dramatic role to date.

Interestingly, this movie is about father and their relationship with their children and how this intersected with Walt Disney and P.L. Travers when Walt was pursuit her for the movie rights for her books. The result is Mary Poppins.

Very good movie. Very good insight to how a movie is made.

My Two Sen.

Electric Dreams (1984)

What do you get when you crossed Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, Tchaikovsky, Bach with the 80s?

Well, you get this movie!!

It is my opinion that outside of the Golden age of Hollywood, Lenny von Dohlen & Virginia Madsen probably is one of the loveliest screen couple in the movies!!

Virginia Madsen in more recent interview admitted that they were head over heals over each other during the making of the movie but alas none of them acted on their feelings after the movie!!

Believe it or not, this movie is about Artificial Intelligence in an age where there is no internet, and Personal Computer has the same processing power of a scientific calculator (no sound card, not graphic card, no USB ports etc)!! Gosh I don't believe how people in the 80s live without the internet, wikipedia, emails, ipod, smart phones and actually had actually had to talk to each other!!

Still they managed to built a "smart house" so to speak.

The PC images in the move although rudimentary in this day and age. but back then, it was state of the art!!

In the film credit, they actually dedicated the movie to UNIVAC I.!!

Love this, love this, love this. Too bad it is not out on DVD or Bluray.

My Two Sen.

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Mar 10 2014, 06:36 PM

Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

Gosh, I'm on the blast from the past, trip!! For some odd reason, I have never watched this before.

I have heard about it mind you, but never watched it.

I'm sure most of you probably heard of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, and I believe this would be his most famous case! (And also the author's favorite film adaptation)

Albert Finney's (last seen in Skyfall [2012]) Hercule Poirot (a fictional Belgian detective) is impeccable!!

Just see his night "routine" before he goes to sleep and you will not help but notice, this person is immaculate in EVERY FACET OF HIS LIFE!

This movie has the whose who of Hollywood, Ingrid Bergman (I just want to be alone), Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Connery, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Michael York (Basil Exposition anyone?? ) etc, etc... No wonder the tagline for the movie was "The greatest cast of suspicious characters ever involved in murder."!!

If you have not read the book, and you like drama, for Pete's sake watch this. I promise you, you'll never guess, WHO DID IT!!

My Two Sen

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Mar 10 2014, 05:52 PM