WAFFLE STREET

http://bit.ly/22oNoFa

REVIEWED

I expected this movie to be good but it was not so. Chose this movie hoping it to be another one about somebody who made it in the financial sector like "Secret of my Success". However the plot is not like that but i could had like it if it was presented better. Well, its about Jim Adams who was a big shot in the financial world of wall street who got sacked and tried to recoup his life in doing something different and what he thought was honest from the challenge thrown  by his father and grandpa. As I said the plot is interesting enough, it could have been good. This was based on a true story about Jimmy Adams, so thats not much running you can do.

 

It has Danny Glover whom to me was good in this one. His usual self but his character brought the charm which still he has as a veteran black actor. Dont know much about the lead guy J Lafferty but he acted in TV series. Not much on acting but with hard work and luck he has that cut to make as a young action hero guy.

 

Now lets get to movie..

The movie is slow and nothing much interesting happen. With the way its directed, it could have well fit as a TV movie or those DVD released ones.

 

One plot that is believable unlike some financial go broke movie is that when Jim got fired he was still ok financially as of course he still has his savings. Unlike some movie who went berserk after got fired. Dont they thought or prepared that anything could happen ? Anyway as this is based on a true story so thats how it should be.

 

And eventually (as in real life would be) he had to let go his nice house and car and even his good office shoes. 

 

But good or no good film, you could really admire Jim Adams (he actually existed right?) courage and spirit to do something other than the life he knew on the Wall Street. Really hard working and goal orientated, how he wanted to reach his goal. That is what I like about the character.His wife was also super supporting thou not agreeing right away, she morally supported her husband anyway.

 

So thats my review. See this to understand that shit happens in real life. Its how you take it that matters.

American Idol 1519

http://bit.ly/1Z8EEh8
Alternate link (streaming video) below
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5pYpkTIQCDzUnJSeDV6eTFINlk

D-DAY SURVIVOR

http://bit.ly/1Z5RLzI
DROPPED 

REVIEWED

Start watching this film with anticipation with the hope that it will give a good war film or at least an acceptable one. But nahhh ! in the first 15mins just feel that the rest will turn out a disappointment. A British production with unknown actors. The sight of a young British soldier making friend with an equally young German soldier was a turn off. 

 

ANOMALISA

http://bit.ly/1R1zjoG

REVIEWED

This movie had numerous nomination and wins of awards. Its not your straight forward animation thats for sure. More like the puppets type but with fluider movement. Yet still it looks stiff. Dont forget a 7.5 IMDB ratings !

When starting to watch this film, I knew something is not right. Seem that all except one (lisa of course) of the female characters sounded in male voices and looked like male in female dresses and hairs. Thou the film is animated, it dont want to be one where theres nothing to the characters that a real actor cannot do and maybe do it better. But then audience will not have the "admiration" that real actors do a crappy and pointless film.

This film is about a consultant by the name of Michael Stone who traveled to Cicinati and put up a night in a hotel called The Fregilo. There he met one of his audience named Lisa.  He has his marital problems and doubts.

Kids, please do not watch this as it is X Rated ! It has view of old protruding man's  penis. And dont forget a harmless love making scene too.

Still I dont get why are their faces (definitely MS) are like wearing a mask ? Are they robots ?  

The good I got from watching was a very brief but useful lectures on Selling by Michael Stone.

This movie is pointless without any direction and definitely over rated. Real people could carry this film with ease and prove its unworthiness just the same. But people would then know its a crap. But you did it this way and people say that its a masterpiece !

See this if you want to know how bias can IMDB ratings be and how a below par film become a gem. Make it so pointless that audience felt that they missed the whole point of the film cause they aren't intellect enough to understand a film like this. Thats how I felt anyway.

CHURCHILL'S SECRET

http://bit.ly/1QP5U2e

REVIEWED
From title we know right away its about the former premier of Britain Sir Winston Churchill. The secret is nothing sinister that he had multiple strokes near the end of his career. The movie showed his courage to survive due to the support from Clemy his wife. Equaly important was the nurse that attended to him during the trying months.

I guess the movie didnt have much to tell so it also included the squables of his 4 children. Due to that the focus on the man went side tracked. So watching this movie rather than expecting it to be about Churchill vs Stroke and his career plus the help from his nurse Millie, it also incuded his family which I was not interested to know. If the movie had concentrated on how Millie got him well again (never mind if over dramatized) it would have been better. Maybe too little plot to just do that. Or the movie might stressed the timeline a bit to include what he did for Britain and the man he was when in office rather than sticking to tell his bed side victory.

How Millie looked back as her achievement in nursing back to near normal with some nice motivating (and suspenseful back ground music) was good. Thou from the timeline when Churchill left the house and arrived to make the speech which was hours way did not synschronise with Millie depature from the house. She even had time to listen to his stammering on radio. Anyway it was for dramatic purposes which formula was used by a lot of films.

See this if you a fan of SWC and wanting to know the man a bit closer at least during his vulnerable time.

LONDON HAS FALLEN - cinema viewing 16th March 16

REVIEWED

So the day at the movies finally came and I went to see it with my wife. As always I was skeptical watching movies at this particular movie outlet. And I was not wrong as the venue was a disappointment. Although the screen is good, sharp, I cant say the same for the audio system. I told my wife, our own home made audio system is better. Never have I got annoyed in watching a movie not because the movie is shitty but the venue is, or merely the audio is the culprit. Poor bass and maybe treble on the higher side. Thou the sound is loud and clear, for conversation, I cant say that its good for the sound effects.

Now lets talk about the movie - London has fallen.

Many reviewers like this film even JJ and CS said so. But still they said it cant beat its predecessor Olympus has fallen which I agree. Perhaps letting a US president let loose with his bodyguard in a deserted city of London is too big a task to take to entertain.

The special effects was a let down in the required places. I thought this will be the film strength when watching its trailer but its not. Some bombs scene was not real. The helicopter escaped too was cartoonish. Even the ripples and waves of  London river was below average to me. Film like "2012" or the recent "San Andreas" did this better even on a grander scale. Thou this was only some briefs moment, they still failed starkly.

This is another film of US supremacy against the terrorist. In the end we can predict who won and what it took to win. The Brits did play their part adequately to help the US. MI6 was in this in the form of a female Agent (sorry no Mr Bond here). And the SAS did help Mike Manning to save the president.

Lots of explosions and fire power. How I wish the sound was better !!! as it only hurts the ears.

But at the end of the movie when everything finally subside and you salute the hero who is Mike Manning aka Gerard Butler, you realized that that guy is actually a British disguising as an Agent in the Secret Service body guarding the President of the US. Ooops sorry that is real life this is actually a movie after all. 

Giving it the rating above and I am trying to count out in the physical disappointment of the cinema.

 

Found a suitable date to watch this movie at the cinema which is Wednesday 160316 night show MBO Brem Mall.Tickets to be booked. Reviews will follow soon afterwards

Bosch Season 2 is back !

 http://bit.ly/1XltzI3

     
 Bosch is a TV series released all episodes at the same time like House of Cards. Yup this is for cable TV. Saw the first season way back in 2014. Kind of slow but it was really like you are watching a real cop by the name of Bosch (presumably no relationship with the Brand that makes hardware). This season has 10 episodes. Check out the download link if you want to see the 10 episodes. But its advisable to check back season 1 to know the who Bosch is.

POINT BREAK (2015)

http://bit.ly/2229FZs
2nd download link
http://bit.ly/1YZ87tY

REVIEWED

So I finally saw this film after an unusual long months of waiting for a good download copy. Watched this with my son as before it came out in the cinema he wanted to see it. Too bad it came with a rating 18 (he's only 13). But after watching this movie at home, it should not have got the 18 ratings. That goes the same for Need of Speed a few years ago. There are politics going on in the censorship board for sure. As I complained on a Malays film with foul, bad language, shootings, knives, hitting police and all the the other stuffs got into the cinema with a PG13. When asked why ? The director says because somebody had leaked the film over the internet and if they are tagged with 18, then income would be less. Just because the father of the director is closed with the Police does not mean that you can make that as an excuse. But anyway the film went through with a PG13 ! Well forget about this local hypocritical bullshit for a while and talk about the film instead.

But still why it took so long for it to come out with a clear copy. Just the opposite of Star Wars: TFA, this movie has very bad reviews from Youtube reviewers JJ and CS. They even say they fell asleep watching this. Gimme a break. Anyway, maybe the reason is because the producers were afraid to spend more money making blu rays and nobody buys ? 

OK lets talk about the movie.

It is a remake of a 90's hit of the same name starring Keanu Reeves and the late Patrick Swayze. KR played Johnny Utah and PS played Bodhi. In this film you have not too popular actors playing the 2 parts. But if you read IMDB, the parts were actually offered to known actors but they declined due to one reason or the other. I think the physicality requires for this film is the best explanation.

The film could have been better. The actions are fantastic thou. It looks so real and you wonder which one is the special effects. It was spectacular watching on LED TV and cant imagine how it was at the cinema. It makes you wonder in awe that there are places like this in this world. The waterfalls, the mountain top, the sea waves (which could be fake) and many more. 

This remake does not follow exactly what the original story was although there are familiar part. But to me nothing could beat the part when KR (without a parachute) jump the plane to catch PS (with parachute).

I agree with the reviews in saying that character development was lacking. Not that their acting were poor rather than their character were not interesting or they did not do anything to make them memorable. Also I would caution the director to do some timeline story telling when two scenes which are years or months apart but are back to back. Audience might miss the Time imprint to tell how long it was from the previous one especially when the first was 7 years apart and the 2nd one 7 months apart. They look the same and that was the problem.

I enjoy the film despite the handicap above. Its an action film which try to have serious acting and serious story line of what made them do the thing they did. Anyway who cares for that and it miss the mark. But 5.4 on IMDB is on the low side for me.

American Idol 1518

http://bit.ly/1P3HNY9

IP MAN 3

 

http://bit.ly/1TQKTqL

REVIEWED

This is the 3rd installment of the IP man. It started with a confrontation from Bruce Lee who wanted IP man to teach him Wan Shu but he was still reluctant. Nevertheless, somewhere in the movie, IPM asked a favor from BL which I think have some effect why IPMan finally agree to teach Bruce Lee. I reckon if there is an IPMan 4, it'll be about Bruce Lee and IP Man. But this story has got nothing to do with Bruce Lee but something else. Mike Tyson showed his boxing skills with IP Man but I doubt if a boxer can be in the same ring with a Martial Arts expert. However, the film didnt want to belittle MT even though he is now a has been. Fatty Sgt Po is quite a familiar face in Hong Kong film circuit.

I like this film. Too bad its in Chinese with subtitles for I have to read the subtitles to understand and this took away the concentration on the acting which is actually good. Donnie Yen can act as the "couldnt care less" Martial Arts master. You can feel his character even when he is with his wife who is taller than him in the movie. Maybe the film dont want to hide the height difference as its according to real people or simply dont have the incentive to do it. 

The background music is also commendable. Its not totally chinese flavored but very soothing when the scenes warrant it. Also effective during the fight scenes.

The strength of the film is definitely the fighting and there are lots of em (including with Mike Tyson of course). What make the fight "pleasant" is that its not superficial with less use of ropes, adequately use of slo mo with excellent editing and camera angles. Its even better than Hidden Dragon Crouching Tiger 2 which I saw recently. Perhaps the artistry of the fights lies in Wan Shu itself. But superbly done bravo.

Dont forget the love and family elements of the film. Donnie Yen pulled off as being one cool very committed husband and father. 

See this as its good but ensure you have the subtitles on unless you know chinese. 7.9 on IMDB very appropiate.