It’s time Ben Affleck steps out of the negative light that has surrounded him over the years because he is a fine actor and probably a fine director too. Together with the rest of the big names in the cast, this movie was a runaway surprise for me.

The story provided the thriller and Kevin McDonald accentuated it. He did well in keeping the pace and coherence, resulting in what must be the best political thriller of the year so far.

And all players involved were a great watch, especially the partnership between Russell Crowe and Rachel McAdams. Even a small appearance by Jason Bateman and Jeff Daniels were highlights.

From the previous review about an expected style and swagger, the duo here that is Affleck and Crowe showed just how not to do it.

Rating: 8 / 10

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There’s a certain style, a swagger if you will, that is only Denzel Washington and John Travolta, but after so many years they have become their own style and you can be certain you will see that style in their movies. This can be a bad thing. No matter what role they play, they bring their signature style with them. It becomes typical. I think it’s time they reinvent themselves.

The plot wasn’t all that original, it was a remake though. The acting was just as expected. The film was carried by both Washington and Travolta as much of the scenes involved around their verbal sparring before the two meet eventually.

Tony Scott’s direction did well to provide the thriller but it was a little draggy in parts and felt like it took too long to reach the end. Plus the ending did not have a big climactic finish after all the suspense but it was still commendable, different in a way.

Rating: 6 / 10

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Newcomer director Neill Blomkamp is a native of South Africa. Together with his co-writer, Terri Tetchell, they came up with a satirical “mockumentary” with a touch of political undertone in a very original science-fiction piece.

His choice of locations, the dusty and harsh environment, the people and their accents, every detail onscreen added on to the tapestry of the place. Together with cinematographer Trent Opaloch, scenes are delivered from mini-handhelds to black-and-white surveillance cameras (but nothing as shaky as Cloverfield).

The aliens were all created out of CGI and seamlessly blend into the realistic urban world of Jo’Burg. But why are they here? How smart are they? Why are they stranded? The story let you ponder and decide for yourself.

Blomkamp deals a lot with the human psychology in his debut feature. It was reflected clearly in and around his lead character Wikus. From his initial arrogance and ignorance, to a change in perspective with his change in appearance; followed closely by his struggle to stay alive; and to finally realising what he needed to do.

That’s where Blomkamp really came through with his storytelling. He took the audience on a journey to see Wikus’ growth in character, which undoubtedly was the best part of the whole movie. The audience was able to feel disgust first for Wikus and then rooted for him towards the second half as he became the proverbial protagonist.

And Sharlto Copley did a fantastic job with his portrayal even when this is his first acting job. Unfortunately though, his character was the only one that was fully developed in the whole story.

There never was any indication that the aliens bore ill will or they would have used their technologically advanced weaponry against the humans. But the dark side of human nature was abundantly clear.

It started simply with the derogatory term, “prawn”, given to the aliens because of their appearance and their scavenging nature. Then there was the curiosity, the thirst for power and control; characteristics that ultimately destroy humanity and bring on mass destruction, as shown in this movie.

Blomkamp’s first movie is out with a resounding bang. It takes you in a direction you wouldn’t expect; and after the whole experience, it will take a while for the movie to really sink in.

Rated R for reasons never out of context, District 9 had everything from drama and touching moments to humour and some violence, and a big action piece towards the end to close it off.

But most importantly, it had a compelling story and is very well told. Blomkamp has just made himself as someone to watch out for.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9 / 10

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The Half-Blood Prince was dark and menacing and was far from what this series was when it started with The Sorcerer’s Stone.

With the death of Cedric Diggory at the end of The Order Of The Phoenix, there finally came a sense of dire danger. But the change in direction the story arc has taken also became more interesting and thrilling. And This looming darkness has carried on into this sixth instalment, bringing back director David Yates for seconds.

The driving force behind the story this time came from Harry searching for the evil left behind by Voldemort. And his encounters with Draco became more than just shoving and throwing useless punches at each other; they are actually hurting each other now with deadly spells.

Perhaps deliberately less fanciful than previous instalments, The Half-Blood Prince puts its characters closer to life-and-death drama as Yates injected more grit and grime into the filming, and making the story more serious in preparation for the final story arc, which will be made in two parts.

Radcliffe is slowly and finally growing into the role. His acting has come a long way since he started the series. And so are his cast-mates; although while Watson is becoming a young woman in her own right, Grint has developed a physique that is beginning to be difficult to hide his real age.

Felton as Draco portrayed the biggest change in character since the last instalment, fully embracing and yet still too young to understand the dark side. He definitely has been given more this time and is a fine and welcomed change from his usual one-dimensional character.

But the best performance belonged to Jim Broadbent with his eccentric portrayal of the professor who holds a secret link to young Voldemort.

The only character that should have been given more screen time is Bellatrix because Helena Bonham Carter plays her with such care-less abandonment that is pure evil and yet mesmerising at the same time.

But who’s the Half-Blood Prince? And this is where the movie fails to make a connection. There were only one or two points in the movie where you will be asking this question because for the rest of the time, the movie-makers do not make you wonder or show you how Harry is affected by this mysterious character.

Having said that, however, this is still one of the stronger entries from the franchise; and hopefully it will bring out the best in the finale.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7 / 10

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We first saw Tom Hanks as Prof. Langdon swimming laps in a pool and when he emerged out of the water, you knew he has been working out.

Plus he has gotten rid of that absurd hairstyle he so infamously sported in The Da Vinci Code. So this was a good start.

For those who have not read the book, it might be a little confusing at times when watching the movie because so many details had been omitted. Akiva Goldsman, who also adapted The Da Vinci Code, was teamed up this time with the talent of David Koepp.

And between the pair, they have produced a fast paced movie that didn’t even allow Langdon to catch his breath; and when he did slow down, say researching at the library, you could tell something was about to catch up on him instead.

But comparing Robert Langdon to another professor-slash-adventurer, Indiana Jones, there’s no doubt which lecture students would rather attend. Even with the talented Hanks portraying Langdon, there just wasn’t enough charisma in the adapted character. More often than not, Langdon looked like a reluctant tourist thrown into deciphering cryptic codes.

But there were moments when Hanks really shone and right then you knew there’s no one else who could have delivered those scenes any better, especially when he needed to explain all those scientific mumbo jumbo to the audience.

Fortunately there’s Ewan McGregor to do the charming as the young camerlengo. He was magnetic in this role and really gave some spark in his scenes. Together with Skarsgard and Armin Mueller-Stahl; the three of them created more interests towards the fate of the Catholic Church with each struggling for power in the wake of the pope’s death.

Angels & Demons succeeded in many ways The Da Vinci Code has failed. However, if compared to the book, too much of the final act has been left out in the movie to do the book any justice. I was sorely disappointed in not seeing the final ambigram which was amazing.

But as a standalone, the movie is one fun ride that’s thrilling from beginning to the end.

Rating: 7 / 10

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When the beginning of the movie cued to the year 2018, a short action sequence ensues with the outcome ending badly for the humans. But what we got to see for the first time was the post-apocalyptic lives of the survivors and their relentless war against the artificial intelligence of endoskeletons.

Judgement Day came and went, leaving Earth in a bleak, desolate and barren state. And that feeling of solitary desperation really transcended through the screen into the hearts of its audience. When John first went into a life-and-death battle with a Terminator, the scuffle looked so real that it took its audience into its world. And this is where director McG really shone.

Long time collaborating writers John D Brancato and Michael Ferris both return for seconds. Their greatest achievement was creating a mystery that was Marcus Wright, in which the audience couldn’t help but guess till the end which side he belonged to.

But their greatest failure, apart from derailing once too often from the main storyline, was not having enough of John Connor’s presence in the whole movie as he was getting closer and closer to becoming “the one”. Because of that, Bale seemed to be playing second fiddle to Worthington instead (a déjà vu for Bale).

As for the few female characters, they also lacked soul with their limited lines. The little girl, Star, didn’t speak at all. Howard could pass as a cyborg with her disappointingly emotionless portrayal – good thing she has that big bump on her tummy that proved otherwise. And Bloodgood just looked like a miscast.

Nevertheless, it was still a story well told and well directed. The action and special effects were beautifully created and executed. And there were even enough robots here to challenge the upcoming Transformers movie.

Rating: 7 / 10

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So, just a short recap on the special abilities that were more like rules of the game. “Movers” can move objects without touching them. “Sniffers” can recall the past by sniffing on one’s possession. “Watchers” are clairvoyants who sketch out images of the future. “Pushers” can create believable lies in the minds of others. “Bleeders” are banshee-like individuals who use their screams as weapons. “Shifters” temporarily change appearances of objects. And “Stitchers” can heal as well as they torture.

The setting resembles a lot like the first season of Heroes. There is even a line in the opening sequence that may as well have been verbatim to the hit TV series’ catchphrase, “Save the cheerleader, save the world.”

It is refreshing to see a superhero movie that was not from a pre-existing comic book, therefore there was a lot of room for the storyline to take liberties. But even though terms like “mutants”, “telekinesis” and “psychics” were avoided like a plague; it still reminded a lot of X-Men, thus making Push feels second-rated.

It was quite obvious that director Paul McGuigan tried hard to inject style and grit into the progressions, but some scenes worked well while others not so much.

However, working with his photography director Peter Sova, McGuigan managed to show the chaotic Hong Kong suburbs as picturesque and photogenic. Plus, using the concept of “indie” filmmaking, he definitely created a niche appeal and a good substitute for green-screen special effects.

Writer David Bourla, left to his own devices for the first time, has done well in creating a setting whereby one particular class trumps another, just like a game of rock-paper-scissors. Unfortunately though, it became apparent that he was in way over his head as plot holes after plot holes started to surface. Especially his storytelling towards the end that became too confusing and didn’t hold together well.

Camille Belle as the “key” to it all suffered the most from the script as she appeared bland and aloof. Djimon Hounsou once again took on a role that wasted his massive talent. Fanning as the world-weary young teenager on a daunting rescue mission needed a lot more for her character to be interesting, and Evans seemed to be struggling with the weight of the movie on his shoulders.

Perhaps with a better writer, this movie may just have been the beginning of a new and original franchise. But sadly the end result of this very promising premise was far from being the next big thing.

Rating: 4 / 10

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This was what Knowing did to me.

Right from the beginning, the colour and texture had this creepy, classical horror movie feel to it. That little girl was hauntingly good. Everything about the setup for the rest of the movie was just perfect.

The director Alex Proyas seemed to have studied M. Night Shyamalan (or whoever M. Night studied) because on the whole, that’s what it felt like. The way the camera angled or the way a scene was shot, just like what M. Night would have done. I love M. Night so this was meant to be a compliment though I’m sure none of the above will see it that way.

And when we finally got a close-up of the alien being, it was M. Night’s Signs all over again.

Throughout the movie, I’ve had so many goosebump moments that I’ve lost track in count. But I’m definite no other movies have given me this many. All the coincidences of events made for an intriguing and interesting topic and they were all well done.

The two disaster scenes were great given that the budget of this movie wasn’t as generous as other CGI movies (I can only assume). The first one was fantastically horrific and the second one was equally scary that I’m surprised this was actually a PG-13 movie. But both gave the audience such a dark ride that made the movie even more. Proyas really made it work under whatever circumstances or budget constraints.

The accompanying music in the background suited the bleakness of the theme and added to the effects. The actors all did a competent enough a job.

The only downside of the movie was the heavy religious undertone. Especially the last five minutes of in the end, which was totally unnecessary. The movie could have ended with Cage saying goodbye and that’s it. The rest of those ten minutes didn’t really do much for me.

But this is one movie I wouldn’t mind re-experiencing again soon.

Rating: 7 / 10

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The International comes at an opportune time when the world is in an economic crisis and banks all over are barely keeping afloat from the result of shady investments and risky hedge fund deals over the past years. Making banks the villain should be an easy sell at this time but apparently not so much with this movie.

The script by newcomer Eric Singer offers another idea of what big corporate banks are capable of. Money laundering and arms dealing are examples of what actually happened with The Bank of Credit and Commercial International (BCCI) founded in 1972 in Pakistan and registered in Luxembourg – which the script is loosely based on.

The International marks Tom Tykwer’s first big budget movie. And this is Tykwer’s first chance at working with big names like Clive Owen and Naomi Watts; but the main star of the movie has to be Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece in New York City, the Guggenheim Museum. A whole 15 minutes was devoted to destroying it with machine guns from within. The destruction of art, by art, is just total mayhem in its glorious art form.

And these 15 minutes was the best part of the two-hour long movie because even though the script properly built up a momentum, nothing here seemed important enough, or personal enough, for the audience to care.

Owen is back to his sombre, grimy, unshaven, Children Of Men portrayal. In one scene we saw him bury his face into a basin of cold water and ice, but that’s about it as far as his character’s psychological detail was concerned.

Watts suffered more in that aspect, and Watts seldom has this problem. Constantly looking tired and lacklustre, her character was so underdeveloped that she could be played by a lesser actor and it wouldn’t have mattered. Worse was, the two leads shared no chemistry whatsoever.

And in the end when Owen had to make a difficult decision, we didn’t really care what happen to him because there has not been anything for the audience to invest emotionally in right from the start.

Among the characters, only Armin Mueller-Stahl’s Wilhelm Wexler was the interesting one. With queit ruthlessness and gentle composure, it’s not difficult to stare into his eyes and straight into his soul, and have a sense of genuine care for the man’s ambitious goals. Unfortunately, his screen time wasn’t all that much.

The only thing the movie really has going for it was the cinematography and the beautiful shots of the different cities, from Lyon to New York to Istanbul.

But as a thriller, it’s just not thrilling enough; it didn’t come with a soul. And it felt much longer than it actually was. Most of the time, it’s just going through the motion with this one.

Rating: 5 / 10

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From the movie’s opening, it straight away jumped into its dark theme and violence, and why it’s rated R. Nothing in the fight scene between The Comedian and the mysterious assailant was watered down and the brutality of each punch was reinforced by an unrelenting choreography sequence.

Snyder is a visionary. Whether the result is appreciated, he is out to create something so cool and so different that no one has seen before. He’s done it in 300 and he’s doing it again here.

Watchmen, visually, is incredibly stunning. From the texture of the superhero costumes to the grime in their hair, from the colours you see onscreen to the meticulous production designs; Snyder’s knack – or obsession may be a better word – for details is one of the main reasons how this movie springs to life from a graphic novel.

But as stunning as the visuals go, Watchmen was still far from being perfect. From the ensemble, there were great performances like the supporting effort from Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and then there were the not-so-great from some of the main characters.

Unlike 300, where acting didn’t have to be the main focus, this wasn’t the case with Watchmen. The depth of each character required much psychological development in order to portray what the comic has so successfully achieved, and the adapted screenplay just didn’t have the luxury in time to delve into every individual. This left the actors an impossible task of showing any emotional growth on their part.

The writers also had to forego some of the important story arcs to recreate this story for the big screen. Balancing out a faithful adaptation and a crowd-pleaser meant having to sacrifice and compromise.

But it was Snyder who weaved all the fragments into one cohesive and progressive story that gripped at you right from the start. Where another visually pleasing adaptation, The Spirit, has failed; Watchmen has succeed in most parts.

Again to stress the point, this isn’t your average superhero movie. It’s a dark, dark story that awakens the intellectual, psychological and the philosophical. Amidst all the stunning visuals and smooth choreography, the topic of existentialism lies at its core.

Rating: 8 / 10

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