HOT TUB TIME MACHINE
4 out of 5 stars

nick (realizing it's the 80s): "quick...what color is michael jackson?"
random girl: "...black?"
nick: "AHHHH!!!!"

a HILARIOUS movie about getting schwasted in a hot tub, time-traveling back to the 1980s, and attending winterfest 1986 all over again... BRING ON THE AIR GUITAR! :P

the entire premise of this movie is just ridic, but hey... that's what makes it comic genius. nick (craig robinson AKA darryl the warehouse dude from the office) works at some dog exercise place called 'sup dawg, adam (john cusack) is a loser-about to be divorcee, and lou (rob corddry)... well, let's just say alcoholic and attempted suicide victim. (however, his suicide "attempt" is really funny... in a really twisted way! let's just say it involves singing along to home sweet home by motley crue and a closed garage... :P) then, there's random jacob, who is adam's loser nephew/second life devotee... anyway, after lou's suicide attempt lands him in the hospital, nick and adam decide to take his butt up to kodiak valley for some R&R. we learn that kodiak valley was a very special place for these guys, esp. when it came to things like drugs, sex, and lots of skiing!

like i said... the whole premise is absurd, but it's done in a really funny way. i think the dialogue was written well, esp. since two really funny guys are part of this cast. i think i could have done without john cusack, but someone had to be the "serious" one...i guess. the 1980s attire/flashback was actually done quite realistically, and they even got POISON (ahhh! bret michaels!) to have a cameo on stage @ winterfest! ain't lookin' for nothin' but a good nostaglic flick for a random friday night? try this one... it don't get better than this! ;)

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
3 out of 5 stars

umm... this is the swedish version of twilight w/o the whole teen angst and sparkling vampires. i found this one after following some research on a book that was recommended to me on amazon. turns out it could have been better since it left out some key details that could have made it interesting... :(



the plot is very simple: shy/lonely 12 year old oskar meets a strange girl named eli at the playground, only at night. she smells funny, and her tummy is always growling... well, lo and behold: she's a vampire child. she really grows on him by becoming his friend/giving him advice on dealing with bullies, doing puzzles with him and even exploring their little suburban swedish town together. it's not coincidental that their little town is experiencing a string of weird murders, but it's not eli. you find out that her "caretaker" is the one committing the murders, so he could keep eli alive and well. it's only a matter of time where oskar, keeping a scrapbook of every news item in his town, figures out what eli is, and what she is truly capable of... 

following the subtitles on this one was half the chore, but i couldn't stop giggling due to the fact that hearing swedish always sounds a bit funny to my ear. (is it just me or does it sound sorta russian? even a bit of english? and def german?) i know... i should be mature about this because the movie is quite dramatic. there are a lot of gross moments too, and it's really hard to believe that a small child could be capable of so much death... eli is no sweet girl. i found the screenplay and dialogue to be really DULL, and this could have been done better due to the fact that the book is quite interesting in terms of character development and plot. this one's a real snoozer for those who don't like foreign films, but the music is really fitting. redemption points in my POV! (thus the extra star) ALSO: the plot is also very innocent. i think this story is simple/plain to show that even though eli is a vampire, their "love" for each other is very pure. (they communicate through morse code and oskar finds himself a misfit just like eli) also, even though eli has lived for 200 some years, she's still just a child. (she never got a chance to grow up)

p.s. i read on wikipedia that the british are going to take a stab @ this in their own remake. this time in new mexico! i'm really hoping it'll be better... the sweds really lost me on their version... :/

ECHELON CONSPIRACY
3 out of 5 stars

a LAME and knock-off version of eagle eye...you know, that movie with shia labeouf and michelle monaghan about strange cellphones telling a couple of strangers what to do. it's the same thing, but plot is LAMER... (and almost the same actually)


max peterson (shane west - the american version of jonathan rhys meyers in my opinion) is an IT consultant who installs computer security software in high-risk companies and organizations. while he's working in bangkok, he gets a mysterious DHL package, and finds a snazzy new cell phone in it. once he activates it, someone starts sending text messages to him re: stock he should buy, which blackjack table he should play at, and even which flights to get on... casino security @ the prague casino max is playing at finds it peculiar that max is taking directions from his cell phone, so ex-FBI agent john reed (ed burns - the lame version of ben affleck?) gets on his tail! pretty much, FBI agent ving rhames is also on his tail, along with the NSA. the question becomes who is sending max the texts and who is behind all this? if you've seen eagle eye before, you'll know then... ;)

like i said, it's a cheap knock-off of eagle eye, but a different twist at the very end. (well, it's a good attempt hence the extra star!) it reminds me a little bit of that angelina movie salt, but you're better off watching either of those films than this one. the momentum is good, the acting...eh. martin sheen is NSA director burke, but his role is so minor, there is no redemption for this one. there's the random "bond" chick who tricks max into sleeping with her, and a number of moments, where you'd rather be watching eagle eye. (i.e. the chasing, the same type of texts, same endgame plot, etc.)

sigh...doesn't hollywood know movies like this were already done? GIVE US SOMETHING NEW! grr... frustrates me, dammit! :P

‎ZOMBIELAND
4 out of 5 stars

"it's time to nut up or shut up!" - tallahassee


another horror-comedy a la style of shaun of the dead! zombieland is all about how to survive in a wasteland full of zombies and a scardycat's list of rules for survival. it's actually told from the POV of one guy nicknamed columbus (jesse eisenberg - very michael cera in this role), who was playing world of warcraft and eating boxes of pizza one day, and the next... well, let's just say that he helped out his neighbor in 406, and she tries to eat him! when he crashes his car, he tries to hitch-hike on the highway, where he meets up with tallahassee (a hick woody harrelson) driving a cadillac escalade with the # 3 painted in its sides. on their way to the west coast, they also run into a couple of sisters named wichita and little rock, who also happen to be a couple of con artists, using every trick in the book to survive on their own.

the movie is done in quite a creative way, esp. the way the opening sequence was done and as well as columbus's rules for surviving in zombieland. (my favorite's the double tap!) the zombies are really grotesque, and actually quite scary looking... too bad for them, this gang can take them on like donkey kong! best scenes: the grocery store, hanging out with "zombie" bill murray @ his mansion in hollywood, pacific playland, and of course, the opening sequence. for the horror parts, A+. for the comedic parts, also A+. i certainly don't hope the u.s. doesn't EVER turn into a zombie wasteland, but when it does, i know i'll be sure to follow columbus' rules, ya hear? :P

THE GOOD THE BAD THE WEIRD
5 out of 5 stars

‎"i like to call this a kim-chee western. it's spicy and full of flavor just like the korean ppl and the korean culture." - director ji-woon kim


this was my first time watching an oriental western, and i think this is the first of its genre... in case you were wondering...it's BRILLIANT. enough said... ;)

just kidding. this wouldn't be a proper review without some type of blog entry, wouldn't it not? so, here we go. the movie starts simply with a train robbery during the occupation of korea by the japanese, where yoon tae-goo (kang ho song from the host- another korean horror flick) decides to stick up the first class passengers of a train crossing the manchurian desert. little does he know that one of the train passengers happens to be japanese imperial banker kunihara who is carrying a valuable treasure map. tae-goo steals the map from kunihara, but park chang-yi (the gorgeous byung-hun lee with an awesome faux-hawk badass haircut) is already on his tail to steal the map back from a korean collaborator who commissioned it in the first place. then, to add to the mix of things, there's park do-won (woo-sung jung- GORGEOUS tall korean man i've ever seen!) following the bounty trail of both tae-goo and chang-yi for their respective rewards. problems start rising as the ghost market gang decides to steal the map tae-goo is carrying as well as the japanese army, who believe the map is the key to occupying china and beyond...

like i said, this is the first of its kind, and it's a wild west ride in manchuria! lots of action, bullets, good kung fu fight scenes, knife fights, and explosions! there's even a good plot twist at the very end, and you find out what the real treasure is... the movie was inspired by the sergio leone film, the good the bad and the ugly, but i have to say that both the plot and the characters in this one are much more vivrant! it's not your typical wild west film, but one that speaks to history and culture of my ppl... IF YOU ARE KOREAN, SEE THIS NOW! ;)

THE GHOST WRITER
5 out of 5 stars

MAN! WHAT A MOVIE! this is probably one of the best political thrillers i've seen in a while... i just love when politicians have burried secrets, and things start to get uncovered all the while a scandal is blossoming over their heads! :)


directed by roman polanski (yes, THE one), the ghost writer is all about a former british prime minister and his memoirs. adam lang (007 AKA pierce brosnan) hides away at a remote island (shutter island style) near martha's vineyard, after he's been accused of being a war criminal for arranging illegal torture flights for accused terrorists in england. he wants to have a "ghost writer" write his memoir for him, thus ewan mcgregor comes into play... writing the memoir is the easy part, since a first draft has already been written by adam's deceased assistant michael mcara, who mysteriously "drowned" in the ocean. it's all very hush-hush and fishy to everyone, but what the writer wants to know is what the bigger secret is that cost michael his life and why no one seems to want to talk to him about it...

now, without giving anything away... (the secret is a good one, trust me) the writer is tossed into this web of conspiracy, and the movie does a great job flipping out each layer and piece of the puzzle. i wouldn't say that this is polanski's best, but you gotta hand it to the man who made every single artistic decision behind swiss bars and edited the movie under house arrest. the guy may be a child molester, but he's still quite brilliant! i personally liked the pianist and repulsion as polanski's best, but he does the political-thriller genre justice with this one... great acting, great casting, and great direction! what's kind of creepy is that some of what happens in the movie is based upon former PM tony blair's life... :/

so if you liked the girl with a dragon tattoo or state of play, this one is DEFINITELY for you!

THE BOOK OF ELI
2 out of 5 stars

to me, this movie ended up as a glorified ray ban commercial feat. denzel & mila kunis! in fact, the ad ppl @ ray ban could use a post-apocalyptic setting as an ad campaign in the near future... there wasn't any real religious tone to this except for the fact that eli was carrying around the holy bible, nor was it action/adventure since many of us fell asleep watching this... :/


such a disappointment! however, if you'd like to know the plot (or lack thereof): eli AKA a hobo-looking denzel is on a mission to deliver the only copy of the holy bible to a place in the "west". along the way, he stops by to get rest, water, and food in a lil' desert town, and runs into trouble... carnegie, the town bully/leader and a villianous gary oldman, is looking for the bible, so he could use the words to control the weak and the desperate. (basically, he wants to become an evangelist) as we learn, carnegie has been looking for the bible for many many years, and somehow he realizes that eli is carrying it... (how? we still don't know) oh yeah... there's also solara (mila kunis) looking hot in vintage clothes and an awesome shade of ray bans to block out the strong sunlight...

one of the things i ACTUALLY liked was the color-filtering of this movie with the drab shades of grey, then color just POPS as eli and solara make it to the west. it's actually quite beautiful...the way it was done. plot, however, is pointless and almost 1/2 way through the movie, you're pretty much lost and wondering where this movie is trying to take you. (you'll find yourself asking these questions: is this suppose to be religious? or just an action flick? why did great actors like gary or denzel even agree to this?) i gotta hand it to the hughes bros.: there's a little bit of action that's done stylistically nicely, and a realization at the very end you'll find semi-satisfying... don't want to give it away, but pay attention to how eli realizes on smell and his ears to his surroundings... ;)

‎WHIP IT
4 out of 5 stars

"YAY! WE'RE NUMBER 2! WE'RE NUMBER 2!" - hurl scouts


this movie reminds me so much like bend it like beckham, with a dash of the humor from juno, and then with a sprinkle of good ol' fashion texas tradition... ;)

sick of pageants, bodeen, the oink joint, and boredom, bliss cavendar (ellen page - well known for her role(s) as juno and hayley from hard candy) decides she wants to join a roller derby team in austin, TX. while on a shopping trip with her mom and lil' sister, she runs into some of the roller derby girls at an austin head shop, and then convinces her BFF pash (appropriately mayby from arrested development) to come out and see these derby girls kick some major ASS! pretty soon, bliss tries out for the team, makes it, and is a rising star in the derby league called babe ruthless. she even has an arch-nemesis by the name of iron maven (a tough juliette lewis), and also catches the eye of a up-and-coming rockstar by the name of oliver. one could say that she has a 2nd arch-nemesis in the form of her mother (a SUPERB marcia gay harden), whose only dream is to have her daughter win a pageant. (or two) the question soon becomes: when push literally comes to shove, who will she choose? her life as babe ruthless or boring ol' bliss? i'll let you find out... ;)

this movie is drew barrymore's directional debut, and it's actually REALLY GOOD... (she even stars as perpetually stoned smashly simpson!) she did a great job getting jimmy fallon casted as "hot tub" johnny rocket as the MC, kristen wiig as cool aunt maggie mayhem, daniel stern as the TX football lovin' father, and of course, marcia gay harden as the strict mother. (one look from her and you are bound to turn to stone! tee hee!) the story is really heartfelt, the austin culture is well represented, and not to mention... HIPSTERS!!! best line is when a girl @ the tryouts tells another girl that she wants her derby name to be jabba da slut. bahahaha! (just an inside joke with some of my TX/rice friends... :P)

YEAR ONE
3 out of 5 stars

believe it or not, it was actually sort of funny... i feel like both jack black and michael cera should team up in more movies since they seem to compliment each other quite nicely as an "odd couple"! :P


i honestly thought this was about just cavemen, but it ended up being a little bit more than that. in a nutshell: zed (jack black) is probably the WORST hunter in their primitive village, who can't even throw a spear correctly to save his own life. he's got a best friend named oh (michael cera), who is a gatherer in the same village, and he's got a HUGE crush on zed's sister, imma. (juno temple) so when zed decides he's going to eat the forbidden fruit in order to become more "knowledg-ier", he gets kicked out of the village, and "accidentally" starts a fire! thus, zed flees with oh's help, and together, they decide to explore the rest of the world. cynical oh keeps telling zed that the world literally ends at the mountains, but zed knows better because he's the "chosen one"... :P

pretty random events lead these two into a world they've never experienced before, and with random events comes with random cameos i.e. hank azaria as foreskin obsessed biblical abraham, paul rudd as abel, david cross as cain, vinny jones as commander sargon, and a HILARIOUS oliver platt as the uber-gay and uber-horny elton john-ish high priest of the city of sodom! the movie really picks up when zed and oh keep running into these biblical characters, starting with cain and abel, then abraham and issac, then partying up in orgies at sodom and gomorah. it almost becomes biblio-trip, you know... sort of like road trip or euro trip? ok, maybe not... :P  BEST scenes: when zed decides to track ppl down by tasting their turds (sick but funny when he's describing their eating habits...); the welcome "gift" from sodom (how appropriate...); the eunuch asked to cast the first stone during zed and oh's trial and his response; the awkward hot oil rubbing between michael cera and oliver platt!

however, like most comedies, the best parts are the outtakes at the very end of the movie. watch those as jack black, oliver platt, and paul rudd can't keep straight faces while filming... i mean, who could? it's a comedy about a couple of cave dudes! :P

MONSTERS VS. ALIENS
3 out of 5 stars

"the united states seems to be the only place aliens like to invade in movies." - general t.w. monger


i have to say that i was a bit disappointed with this one because it wasn't as witty or funny as the shrek saga. i excepted better from dreamworks, but it was cute... ;)

the monsters are actually quite animated in terms of their personalities, and we learn about them and their character traits through the eyes of one susan murphy. susan is just an ordinary woman living in modesto, CA, and she's engaged to local weatherman derek. now, derek's a bit of a selfish jerk, but susan is sooooo infatuated with him, she doesn't see the selfishness at all... little does she know that she gets hit by a large meteorite on her wedding day, and during the ceremony, she starts to GROW bigger and BIGGER... pretty soon, the u.s. govt captures her, and basically throws her into a prison full of other monsters: 1) the missing link: half fish-monkey-man who likes to terrorize ppl @ beaches, 2) B.O.B.: a blue gelatin looking blob with an IQ of -283728, 3) dr. cockroach: mad scientist turned insect who has dreams of taking over the world, 4) insectosaurus: uhh... half guinea pig-insect whose BFFs with link. so when the u.s. govt need their help with an alien invasion, they are thrown into the action and need to try and save the humans from the alien robot probe causing destruction in san francisco!

of course, this is a movie for children, so the overall message is to accept yourself and to accept your friends for who they are. (even if they are monsters!) like i said, it's cute, but dreamworks has done some more creative/wittier movies, and this one just fell off that "wagon"... i did like some parts of it though like when dr. cockroach has to break the color security code, and it's just like DDR... (you can't help but chuckle to yourself) or when the president of the united states (voiced appropriately by stephen colbert) tries to communicate with the alien probe via synthesizer! so silly! :P

THE INFORMANT!
4 out of 5 stars

i can't believe this movie is actually based on a true story! and when you see it, you'll have a hard time believing as well, methinks... ;)


matt damon takes us more of a comedic role this time, taking a break from kicking asses as jason bourne or participating in heists with his co-stars danny ocean and rusty ryan. however, he does team up with ocean's 11 director steven soderbergh to portray a man who decides to become a whistleblower at an agricultural corn processing company ADM, thus becoming the informant! what starts out with a little white lie about an extortion from japan turns into a conspiracy for price-fixing in the agriculture industry, and matt damon's character mark whitacre enjoys every minute of it, thinking he's a spy taking on the "bad guys". mark may think this is a game, but the FBI certainly aren't taking any of his taped meetings and such lightly... what's even more hilarious is how BAD of a "spy" he is esp. when he's greeting his colleagues with their full names and titles, just for the wire. there are many moments like that, and you end up laughing/shaking your head many times...

mark whitacre is a bizarre character, and it's amazing how the FBI just eat up all his lies w/o doing any fact-checking. (another reason why i can't believe this story was real!) but the story (real or not) and its price-fixing conspiracy is quite good. also, steven soderbergh, who's got a penchant for retro-style storylines and concepts, came up with a great concept of using 70s style fonts for his title cards and costume design i.e. 70s style 'taches and hairdos. i think i really liked the story and how it was told-- the acting is just great! example below:

mark is meeting up with his FBI case officers for lunch @ a chinese restaurant, and he's telling them hypothetical situations i.e. if a corporate car was used for personal use, is that legally wrong? if a corporate plane was used for personal use, same question... then, he tells them "what if i cashed in kickbacks from corporations ADM did business with?" OBVIOUSLY, that's illegal because that's technically stealing! but the looks on the FBI agents faces is PRICELESS... ;)

LAW ABIDING CITIZEN
4 out of 5 stars

a very INTENSE film about how one man strives to gain satisfaction and thus vengeance for the murders of his wife and daughter by taking on...the entire u.s. legal system!


it's almost DEXTER-like, actually... (that except w/ the whole serial killer angle) clyde isn't a serial killer. just a pissed-off husband/father... but let us start from the very beginning! the story starts with the violent crime. clyde shelton (gerard butler) is just an average guy, living in surburban philly with his beautiful wife and 5 year old daughter. he's just a "law abiding citizen", but when he opens the door, 2 filthy/violent men attack him to steal items in his home. the breaking/entering is violent, but then one of the men rapes his wife, and kills his daughter... (all the while clyde is watching helplessly tied up) it's disgusting, but what's more disgusting is the fact that assistant district attorney nick rice (jamie foxx) decides that it'd be a win/win situation for all (more like himself) to plea this case out. clyde is speechless, and doesn't understand why nick is doing this. so, he spends the next 10 years planning the ultimate cat/mouse game of vengeance...resulting in many deaths and some a very interesting twist at the very end! :)

this movie reminded me SO MUCH of this other vengeance/legal thriller i've seen, where the guilty party is just as cunning as the legal counsel. has anyone seen fracture with anthony hopkins and ryan gosling? it's really good, and this is on par with it! i think gerard butler's character is a stretch from the norm (he turns out to be an ex-CIA low impact kinetic expert...oh, comeon!), but the moves he makes to mess with jamie foxx's character is pretty clever. the scene with the cell phone & the judge is so INYOURFACE, i nearly jumped out of my seat! however, the best part(s) of this movie is the little twist at the end + the soundtrack with that beautiful cello...

p.s. KUDOS to viola davis for her small but stellar performance as the mayor of philly. ALWAYS love her... ;)

LEGION
3 out of 5 stars

bob: "you know this is crazy, right? i mean... i don't even believe in god."

michael the archangel: "well, that's just fine, bob. because he doesn't believe in you either."

umm... i might have given this one an extra star due to the fact... that paul bettany is in this one! (it was actually quite surprising but his face is very angelic, methinks! :P)

this religious-horror flick is all about demony-angels (is that suppose to be an oxy-moron?) trying to exterminate the human race. GOD has lost faith in mankind, and decides to give the order to "cleanse" the earth. the archangel michael (bettany) is sent to earth to carry out a hit on the messiah baby, but he disobeys those orders and tries to help a group of people holed up at a truck stop in the middle of the mojave desert. he also protects the messiah baby and its mother, all the while gabriel (the other archangel and martin keamy from LOST!) is sent by GOD in a second attempt to kill the baby. oh, and then randy quaid and tyrese kill a bunch of angels with semi-automatic weapons...

there seems to be a new genre emerging these days with strange mashups like reli-horror and horror-comedy, but i think reli-horror doesn't really work since it really has to focus on one or the other... i felt like this could have been great as a straight-up horror flick with posessed people attacking the truck stop or even having this random group of people turn on one another. the whole angel/GOD thing really threw me off because it felt almost like another storyline within this one. that or focus more on the relationship of the angels! (it's almost heartbreaking to see the great paul bettany reduced down from his true ability...) however, there are some REALLY CREEPY moments in this movie, where you really feel scared for these people's lives... i.e. the ice-cream truck "angel"- WTF!; the "trap" with the minivan; the stillness of the final escape!

oh! and i don't appreciate the fact that michael knew that a korean toy warehouse housed weapons in downtown L.A.! jerks... :P

‎9
4 out of 5 stars

1: "they've left us nothing. nothing... why do we have to right their wrongs?"


after reading some IMDB trivia, i learned that this movie was originally a short film made by a very young film student @ UCLA (shane acker), and then tim burton... and timur bekmambetov (2 very famous directors) attached themselves to the project for a full-scale production through focus films. it's a very creative and intriguing film about a group of rag doll looking robots fighting to survive against a destructive machine force in a post-apocalpytic/sans-human world. the doll robots have numbers stitched to their backs, and each of them have distinct personalities... 9 (voiced by elijah wood) is the brave/answer-seeking one, who wants to know why the machine is trying to kill them? 1 (voiced by christopher plummer) is the old-school/fearful leader of the group, 7 (voiced by jennifer connelly) is the warrior, and 5 (voiced by john c. reilly) is the creative/inventive thinker. so when 9 wakes up in a room with no knowledge of what's going on, he tries to seek answers by approaching the machine, looking through archived materials, and eventually learning how he and his companions are connected to "the source"...

it's very much like the matrix or resident evil, where there is something destructive trying to annihilate everything good in this world. it's all about control, and i just love how we learn why the machine was created. (hint: think adolf hitler & nazis) the animation and stoyrline is actually quite well done, and this one is definitely a hidden gem! tim burton's touch is quite apparent with the macabre factor and his own stylistic approaches i.e. the funeral scene channeling the penguin's own funeral in batman returns and the inventor's relationship w/ his robots channeling the inventor and edward in edward scissorhands. it's no wonder he wanted to attach himself to this project... ;)

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON
2 out of 5 stars

TEAM JACOB!!! ;)


i'm sorry, but if i were bella, i'd rather be with a warm-bodied man-animal than a cold-blooded bloodsucker i.e. edward... :P

this was probably the most frustrating movie i've ever seen, just because i think kristen stewart is the WORST ACTRESS on the face of this planet. seriously, hollywood?! she's got one expression, and makes bella seem like a complete bitch... ugh, so frustrating to watch her on screen!!! anyway... i think most of you know what the plot is by now... bella (kristen stewart) celebrates her 18th birthday with the cullens, but when she cuts her finger opening a present, jasper (one of the cullens) attacks her. edward and his family decide that it's time to move from forks, so edward breaks things off with his precious bella. she is heartbroken/depressed for months until...she decides to become friends with jacob black. (an ab-licious taylor lautner!) jacob turns out to be a werewolf, protecting the humans in forks from vampires that lurk in the woods, including bella from the murderous victoria from the first twilight movie...

i actually really liked the first twlight movie a lot! but this one, just doesn't do it for me... i think it's because it had too much kristen stewart, and not enough robert pattinson, whom i think is a fabulous actor. michael sheen (lucius from underworld) stars as aro volturi, head of the vampire council in italy, and he shines the most with such villiany! even a teenage dakota fanning with her blood red eyes and 5 speaking lines gets right into character as part of the volturi... one of the redeeming qualities of this book/movie is the romeo & juliet storyline, where "star-crossed lovers" kill themselves in order to be together. nice touch, stephanie meyer...

i think now the question is: should i go see eclipse? is it worth it? i guess if i were 16 again. so nah... i think i'll netflix that one too... ;)

SALT
3 out of 5 stars

i blame peter travers (movie critic from rollingstone) for making me go into this movie with high expectations! it's very much in the style of the bourne identity series, where an agent is on the run, but it lacks the chase and the mystery of bourne... :/


angelina jolie ...shows us that she's always been an action starlet! she kicks ass, takes names, throws grenades, shoots with precision, and even knows how to dye her hair properly as part of her disguise as evelyn salt, renegade CIA agent! after an interrogation with a russian defector, she is accused of being a russian sleeper spy with a mission to kill the russian president at the funeral of the american vice president, where he will be giving an eulogy. at first, salt is surprised/taken aback, but then realizes that her husband michael is in danger from her CIA colleagues. or is she and michael really in danger from the russians? i'll let you find out...

it was great to see that the movie took place here in our nation's capital with some very familiar landmarks i.e. the white house, U street, metro stations... it was also great to see liev schreiber and chiwetel ejiofor go head-to-head about how to stop salt from completing her "mission". there's a great plot twist towards the end, plus we get to learn the truth to the "real" evelyn salt! tom cruise was originally attached to the role of salt, but when he backed out, angelina was given a chance to get back into her tomb raider gear, which she delivers with an ass-kicking performance in this one. wait until you see the open-ending, where she swears she'll be hunting those who cost her everything...

thus, the chase continues... ;)

ARMORED
1 out of 5 stars

i should have known... anything with matt dillon is bound to stink of poo, but i had to give it a chance due to the fact that laurence fishburne (AKA the kennedy center's thurgood marshall) and the always great frenchie jean reno would deliver... i guess i should always stick with my instincts! :P


i was expecting some kind of interesting heist type of plot, but this one just failed on me... very disappointing even with a stellar cast! basically, the gist of the movie is that matt dillon, columbus short (the brother w/ the drugs in death at a funeral!), laurence, jean reno, amaury something (AKA sucre from prison break!), and skeet ulrich (RANDOM!) are armored vehicle security guards. they come up with a very loose plan to steal 42 million dollars from their own security company, but things get problematic when one of them shoots a homeless man, who happens to come upon them right when they're stashing the money in an abandoned building...

the heist is so simple that you can't help but think...OMG these ppl are so stupid! do they honestly think the cops/FBI would just BELIEVE that they got jacked? plus, the heist is not creative at all. there is a bit of intensity through the eyes of the "hero", but very momentarily... i was confused to whether this was suppose to be more psychological (where it lacked character depth) or was it just straight-up "shoot-em-up" style action? (where it lacked any action)

also, don't they know that stealing newly minted dollars can be...TRACED??? honestly, stealing real currency in this day & age is pretty much useless due to the fact that it'll all be traced back to the person who spends the dough. sigh... another ridiculously disappointing movie to stay away from... :(