Movie Review - War Horse

Movie Title 
War Horse
Year
2011/2012
Genre 
War, Adventure, Drama

Story
Albert Narracott watches the birth of a hardheaded foal born into the world. Albert visits the farm everyday and watches with admiration of a foal which grows into a colt. Its playful nature and its loyalty to its mother impresses Albert. When the horses are big enough they are auctioned in market places to get the best offer possible. Ted Narracott, father of Albert was there and bought the colt with an unbelievable amount of money! Which is pretty much of an absurd price considering the build of that colt to be a plough horse. Rose Narracott, mother of Albert was then worried for now they would need to make more money to pay up their monthly rent to their landlord, Mr Lyons. The Narracott promised Mr. Lyons that they would meet the deadline by planting turnips. Albert was quick to volunteer to devote himself to take up full responsibility in taking care of the colt and training it to be ready to plough the wasteland which is filled with rocks and weeds.
    
Albert trains Joey to plough the land and within a day with Joey's almighty strength, successfully ploughed the whole wasteland into a fertile land ready to plant loads of turnips. A terrible distress came when England has declared war with the Germans! In order to compensated for the high debt, Ted decided by himself to sell Joey as a war horse to Captain Nicholls. He promised Albert as man to man that he will take good care of Joey and love him as much as Albert did and gladly returned it once the war is over. At camp, the British decided for an element of surprise which is to ambush the Germans. The cavalry charges forward to the tents of the Germans only to find that the German were actually the ones with the element of surprise which is a whole roll of machine guns in the roll of trees waiting for them.


Joey and a few other horses along with Topthorn, the black horse which whom he train with survived the battle. Both horses are quick to attach to each other. They were assigned to pull the ambulance wagon driven by two brothers named Gunther and 14-year old Michael. They escaped from the army with Joey and Topthorn to a country side of France to a land owned by an old man and his granddaughter, Emilie. The German soldiers found them hiding and ordered for a firing squad due to desertion. The next day Emilie found two great war horses in the windmill and claimed she 'found' them to her granpa. Both horses was captured by the Germans and was now sent to pull heavy artillery, a task which quickly kills horses due to extreme strengths used. The two are assigned to a german horse caretaker, whom feels pityful towards these two amazing horses.


The plot moves on when Albert now joined the army with Andrew. The Britian soldiers charged into a no-man's land ( land not occupied by both parties either due to fear of each other or uncertainty who it belongs to) and made it to a German deserted trench, where a gas bomb explodes and chemical gaseous spread viciously throughout the whole area. Andrew was sacrificed in the explosion and Albert's eyes was exposed to the poison fumes and is temporarily blind. At dawn, casualties were heavy on both sides and in the middle of the no-man's land was Joey trapped in barbed wire. Joey was saved and brought back to the camp and was reunited with Albert once again.

Acting
While watching the whole movie, I manage to learn something important, and that is the love for horses. Joey being handled down from owner to owner which each shows love and care for him. I am a horse lover myself and watching this movie really left me sitting in awe. Jeremy Irvine's acting was really good! He played the role of a country side boy, you could easily tell the way he run and move around his dad's farm. I'd say it took effort to act in that sort of manner. David Thewlis never fails to always put up a good role as a villain in the movie. Steven Spielberg has succeeded once again for producing such an awesome movie! At first I was thinking that this isn't going to be a superhero movie nor a science fiction one, Back To The Future for e.g., but Steven showed to us how great his skill as a director is and he has produced such an entertaining movie for all ages!

Overall
This movie portrays love for horses and that the awareness is made clear in this movie. Joey was handled down from one owner to another through out the years of war. Each owner shows affection for Joey and takes good care of him. This impresses me so much that at times I could feel tears stinging my eyes. The songs and musics chosen were precise to fit each scene and allowing audiences to seep into the moment and savoring it. For a horse lover or anyone who has a heart for animals, I strongly suggest you to check out this movie for it's love for horses are shown and proved. You'll definitely enjoy watching all playful and adoring scenes. So ENJOY the movie 


Guest Reviewer: Justin Chan

Movie Review - Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengence (aka Ghost Rider 2)

Movie Title

Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengence

Year
2012

Genre
Sequel, Comic Adaptation, Action,

Story
To keep himself from turning into the Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze (Nicholas Cage) has been hiding himself in Eastern Europe for quite some time. That is until a monk, Moreau (Idris Elba) from an ancient religious order comes looking for him to help them in preventing the rebirth of the Devil into his mortal son - Danny Ketch's body (played by Fergus Riordan) as he turns 13. Moreau manages to convince Blaze by promising to break his Ghost Rider curse forever.

Armed goons, led by the inept Carrigan (Johnny Whitworth) were employed by the Devil to abduct the boy with little success. Things start to heat up (pardon the pun) only after Carrigan is transformed into one of Ghost Rider's arch-enemies - Blackout.

Acting
I know this is a super-hero/comic based movie but does the acting have to be so bad? I was telling all my friends the moment I knew Cage was going to reprise the role of Johnny Blaze that this was going to suck big time. Unfortunately, I was right. Fergus Riordan was also quite bad because if I was not a comic fan and knew that he was a good guy, judging from his acting skills I would be so confused as to whether he was the villain or the victim.

Marvel fans would know that Danny Ketch is actually the 2nd incarnation of Ghost Rider (the 1st one with the cool flaming chains)

Overall
This was one sucky movie. It made Ghost Rider appear retarded. I mean, first of all, Ghost Rider does not kill. He's a hero. The only "heroes" who do are Punisher and Wolverine (OK, and members of X-Force)! Here, GR happily kills armed goons like he's shooting for a prize in a carnival. Next, he does the head-bop! What the heck is that?

The other thing that really spoiled it for me was the powers that be couldn't really decide whether to make the movie dark or comedic. The supposed funny bits incorporated into the film didn't really fit and seemed odd and inappropriate (unlike the bits in Thor, Spider-Man or X-Men).

Marvel - Ghost Rider as a movie could actually work, as he's a visually very interesting character. Just DROP CAGE!

In a way, it is kind of good that the bad stuff are out of the way. So now I can look forward to the Avengers, Dark Knight Rises & Amazing Spider-Man.

I have now concluded that all Marvel movies that come out in Feb are hopeless duds. Remember Daredevil, Elektra, the 1st Ghost Rider, and now this?

I must admit that the CGI has improved tremendously over the 1st installment. The flames and the shadows it casts on the nooks and cranies on GR's skull & vehicles looks really great! I did miss the stunts his flaming bike could do from the last movie - speeding up the side of a tall building for one.

This one is honestly bad. Wait for the DVD - not for the viewing pleasure, the story or acting, but only so that you can say you've EVENTUALLY watched it,...aaand perhaps enjoy the CGI.

Rating: 4/10 (as it's a weekend and I'm feeling generous.)

Movie Review - Safe House

Movie Title

Safe House

Year
2012
Genre

Police, Action, Thriller

Story
Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) - a living legend amongst the espionage community, who had been branded a traitor by the CIA and had managed to elude capture for years. suddenly surrenders himself at the Cape Town US Consulate.


Viewers are privy to the fact that Frost has obtained a top-secret file with dirt on some very powerful people within the espionage community making him #1 Enemy of the world's major intelligence agencies.


Eagerly trying to get some field experience, Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds), a rookie CIA agent assigned to the very same Cape Town "Safe House" where Frost is headed, awaits his chance to have his first "House Guest", read CIA captive, the the armed escorts and interrogators.


Within a couple of hours, the Safe House is breached by a group of armed-to-the-teeth killers. Everyone in the Safe House gets brutally taken out, leaving Matt no choice but to get the House Guest away from the kill zone. They then race against time to find out who's behind these killings and why before they end up dead!

Acting

Denzel (such a cool name) & Reynolds turn in pretty good performances. While some complain that the movie didn't really make full use of the acting skills of other great actors like Vera Farmiga (last seen in Source Code with Jake Gylenhall) & Brendan Gleeson (last seen as Prof Mad­Eye Moody in Harry Potter - Goblet of Fire) BUT, I disagree! Good actors know what they contribute to a movie and when not to steal the limelight from others. And this IS a movie about the 2 main men - Denzel & Ryan!

Overall

The slightly grainy camera-work adds a gritty element of realism into the whole viewing experience. Meanwhile, the pace of the show never lets up from the get go. Viewers are drawn in from the very beginning! 

This movie also introduces (well, to me at least) big screen's new version of Megan Fox (Read Hottie!) in Nora Arnezeder who play's Weston's love interest. She's easy on the eyes and perhaps may annoy fewer people than Megan Fox.

I must say that the fight scenes are pretty brutal and realistic! Kudos to the fight choreographers and the actors themselves for pulling off the scenes so convincingly! The fights don't look choreographed and are messy, making them extremely realistic. Even the car chase scenes were done pretty well.


Although I won't say this is a must watch but there isn't any recent action flick this good recently. I can see myself watching this again.


Rating: 7/10

Movie Review - Journey 2 : The Mysterious Island

Movie Title
Journey 2 : The Mysterious Island

Year
2012
Genre
Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sequel

Story

A sequel to the Journey to the Centre of the Earth (2008), this movie starts with a rebellious Sean Anderson (a rather all grown-up Josh Hutcherson) breaking into a govt. facility to intercept a coded signal he suspects was from his grandfather Alexander Anderson (Michael Caine). The message tells them that the Mysterious Island that Jules Verne wrote about exists!

This instalment introduces Sean’s new stepfather, Hank (Dwayne Johnson – the Rock) who has been having trouble connecting with Sean, and takes this opportunity to do so by helping him decode the message Sean intercepted and head off to find Alexander & the Mysterious Island.

Once they arrive at the location near Palau Island (near the Philippines), they needed some locals to bring them to the island itself. They managed to hire helicopter pilot Gabato (Luis Guzman) and his daughter Kailani (Vanessa Hudgens) to fly them there.

Once they find the island, after a perilous storm which hides it, they are left stranded after their helicopter is destroyed. The discover strange things as described in the Jules Verne’s books – elephants the size of domestic cats while reptiles, insects & birds magnified a few hundred times over. Alexander shows up just in time to save them from a giant lizard (not a dinosaur but literally a giant lizard!)

All is not well as they soon find that the island is actually Atlantis and it undergoes a surfacing and submerging cycle, and they only have a few days before the entire island sinks back into the ocean! Thus begins their race against time to find a way off the island. The is found only in Jules Verne’s book.

Acting

Vanessa Hudgens is there to please the teenage boys and bring them to the cinemas as she does nothing much besides providing eye-candy while Josh Hutcherson was rather difficult to watch as he comes across as a rebel without a cause who has little (if any) redeeming quality and is downright unlikable from the start of the movie.

Well, I personally thought Luis Guzman stole the show as he has the funniest bits in the movie. The Rock also delivers as he too has a few funny parts and is comfortable doing the funny scenes. He’s quite versatile as he seems to be comfortable doing both action flicks as well as comedies!

Overall

Although the Rock is a good substitute but I personally would’ve liked Brendan Fraser to be in the franchise instead. Call it nostalgia.

This is a movie to be enjoyed as a fun pop-corn movie for the family. Do not try to make any sense out of it as it would leave you disappointed. This is not mandatory viewing but fun for the afternoon if you have nothing else better to do.

Wait for the DVD.

Ratings: 5/10

Movie Review (NOT) - Avengers (More Teasers)

Some new images which caught my fancy reproduced here for your pleasure!

There are rumours that Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield may make a cameo much like Wolverine's cameo in X-Men First Class). Can't verify until more info surfaces or when we watch the movie in May! 

Movie Review - Chronicle

Movie Title

Chronicle 

Year

2012

Genre

Action, Sci-Fi

Story

Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan), an only child to a dying cancer-stricken mother and a drunkard ex-fireman father who was discharged due to an on-the-job injury. A social outcast (not so much a victim of cruel high school peers but his own depressing personality & awkward disposition) who doesn’t fit in at home or in school. Fortunately has an older cousin, Matt Garetty (Alex Russell), who loves and watches over him like a big brother. 

One day, joined by Matt’s best friend, Steve Montgomery (Michael B. Jordan, nope, not THE Michael Jordan) they discover a strange hole in the ground (presumably created by a crashing UFO that has lodged itself underground) that gives all 3 of them varying degrees of telekinesis (think Jean Grey/Marvel Girl).

This is when the 3 of them form a strong bond of friendship as they discover their powers and how to control them. However, Andrew, being the most emotionally volatile, allows his outbursts of anger to get the best of him, thus causing harm to others. This is when things start to spiral out of control, leading to a super-powered confrontation among the 3 friends.

Acting 

Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell & Michael B. Jordan are relatively unknowns (for me at least) but they deliver credible performances. Especially DeHaan (who looks a little like Leo DiCaprio from certain angles, agree?), he managed to convince viewers that he was indeed a depressed social outcast who didn’t fit in either at home or in school. But when he received his incredible powers, he came out of his shell and was behaving like a normal teen, even to the point where he was basking in the limelight of popularity.

Overall

I watched this movie with very little expectation (remember I Am Number Four?) and was pleasantly surprised by the end result. For most of the movie, the audience sees the story thru the lenses of various cameras’ perspectives – Andrew’s recordings, Security Room screens and CCTVs. And this “gimmick” actually works very well here. Some may say that this “gimmick” has been used in movies such as Cloverfield and the Blair Witch Project. However, this method doesn’t distract viewers and I think it provides a lot of realism to the viewing experience.

Fans of the superhero genre would really enjoy this as the fight scenes are done perfectly. The physics of the fights were flawless, unlike many others of the same or similar genre where extensive wire-work is employed. Usually, the physics for those films are wrong. Here, the damage to buildings and trajectory of flying objects were so good I couldn’t detect anything that’s “off”.

Go watch it!

Ratings: 7/10