Jupiter Ascending: Watch it for the boots

My friends said Jupiter Ascending was a really bad movie, but I can't help but think they're exaggerating.

So I watched it today...

...and yeah, it was pretty bad.

But I can think of a lot of movies far worse (have you guys seen Vice?).

So here's what's good and bad about Jupiter Ascending:

Good

- Mila Kunis scrubbing toilets in full make-up

- The Wachowski Brothers' special effects

- Eddie Redmayne (even though I hardly understood the words he said)

- Sean Bean and the thrill of waiting to find out if his character survives or not

- Razo's hover-cycle

- Cain Wise' awesome flying boots

Bad

- Mila Kunis scrubbing toilets in full make-up

- After 21 Jumpstreet and Magic Mike, I can't take Channing Tatum seriously anymore. He acts like he's got serious bowel issues in this movie.

- The whole plot rests on Jupiter being kidnapped in succession and being rescued each time. The damsel in distress scenario gets old around halfway through.

- The Kunis-Tatum loveteam has no chemistry and does not work. Actually, Tatum is the oddest one out in the cast. The Wachowskis could have made the movie better if they had gotten the casting for the Cain Wise role right.

Trailer!

Marilyn Monroe's Dress: Worth Millions

I believe a lot of you have not seen the movie The Seven Year Itch, but I'm pretty sure that you are all familiar with this scene from that movie.

It's just so iconic.  It had put Marilyn Monroe in the forefront of modern pop culture.  It doesn't mean that she can act, but she is pretty darn sexy on top of that subway vent.

So can you believe that that dress had been sold to the tune of $5.6 MILLION?!  Flippin' amazing.

It was apparently part of actress Debbie Reynolds' collection of film costumes and props which, incidentally, included the Audrey Hepburn's dress during the horse race scene in My Fair Lady.  It makes me wonder of Reynolds had known long before that these dresses will be worth a fortune decades after the movies were first shown.

Maybe I should start looking for the original Darna costume of Vilma Santos... it might just be the investment of a lifetime. Hehehe.



Source

Green is the color of will

It feels so good to be updated with movie releases!  Being in the UK has deprived me of one of my favourite pastimes for three months that I'm relieved to get back to it!

Ever since I've found out that Ryan Reynolds was chosen for the role of the Green Lantern, I vowed not to miss this film.  I'd been a fan of his since watching Definitely Maybe and The Proposal (wow, from rom-coms to superhero -- whodathunkit?!).  Ok, I admit... I kinda ogled his naked self in a scene in The Proposal and that's how he earned my admiration.  Not for his acting, but for his buff hunky-ness.  (What, I'm a red-blooded female!)

 I have to say, the movie's got some cool CGI, costumes and action scenes.  Can I say that my favourite scene involved Reynolds floating supine with nothing but underwear on?  Hahaha!

Seriously though, I quite liked how the script is a little lighthearted and not too cheesy, but I'm afraid that I don't care much for Blake Lively.  Her performance leaves something to be desired.  Also, despite the coolness factor that the movie effortlessly induces, there's still that element of "Is that it?" feeling that I noticed when the credits rolled.

That's the reason it bombed at the box office, perhaps?

I don't care if the movie flopped, here's your ring back.  I'm laughing all the way to the bank, anyway.

Due Date, You Again & Takers

Movies showing this week! I'm a Robert Downey Jr fan, so guess which film do you think would be on top of my list?




Due Date
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Zach Galifianakis
Synopsis: An expectant father needs to rush home in order to be there for the birth of his child. But it turns out that he's on the no-fly list, and he's forced to drive cross-country with an eccentric aspiring actor, leading to one disaster after another.


So what if it's another roadtrip movie??? I love roadtrip movies! Hehe!




You Again
Starring: Betty White, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kristen Bell, Odette Yustman, Sigourney Weaver
Synopsis: A successful young woman returns home for her brother's wedding, only to discover that the bride is a girl who bullied her in high school. She decides to settle the score by revealing the bride's true colors.


Ooh, Halloween & Alien lead actresses in one film? This should be interesting...





Takers
Starring: Chris Brown, Hayden Christensen, Idris Elba, Jay Hernandez, Matt Dillon, Michael Ealy, Paul Walker
Synopsis: A gang of professional thieves are called in by a recently paroled colleague to perform one last spectacular heist. The thieves are set to get away with twenty million dollars, but a tough detective stands in their way.


I have serious doubts about this one, but it looks good on paper.

Stone + The Social Network

New movies this week!

Everyone and their grandmothers have, one way or another, heard about The Social Network, so I'm not going to talk about that. Instead, there's Stone. It's rated rotten on RottenTomatoes.com, but I'm an Ed Norton and De Niro fan. So there.




The Social Network
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Max Minghella, Justin Timberlake
Synopsis: A story about the founders of the social-networking website, Facebook.





Stone
Starring: Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Milla Jovovich
Synopsis: A convicted arsonist looks to manipulate a parole officer into a plan to secure his parole by placing his beautiful wife in the lawman's path. A convicted arsonist looks to manipulate a parole officer into a plan to secure his parole by placing his beautiful wife in the lawman's path.

Blue Valentine: What the heck is an NC-17 rating?!

I love movies. There's not enough time in the world for me to watch all the ones I find interesting, but I'm slowwwwwwly clearing my movie debt. Unfortunately, it just keeps piling up on me!

Just this morning, I've read about one on the news called Blue Valentine. It's an emotionally-charged relationship drama starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. It was one of the most talked about films from the Cannes and Sundance film festivals. Hollywood is all abuzz at the moment because this film got slapped with an NC-17 rating by the MPAA.





Now, what the bloomin' heck does NC-17 mean?! It's the first time I've heard of it, so I did some research.


Apparently, NC-17 means that anybody who's 17 years old and under is NOT allowed to see the film. This rating is detrimental to ticket sales, obviously.

The NC-17 rating also replaced the old "X" rating usually given to films that show graphic violence or sex scenes (incidentally, it is not the rating given to porn -- the "X" or "XXX" ratings on those are self-imposed and don't matter).

However, the rating does get a film talked about. What's more important, then -- money or recognition?

The only movie that I know was given an NC-17 rating that I saw was "Kids," featuring a very young Chloe Sevigny and Rosario Dawson. It was about sexually active, illegal drug-using teenagers during the height of the HIV scare in the mid-90's. The film disturbed me for many days after seeing it and it still gives me the chills now (but that's probably just me and couldn't say the same for anybody else who's seen it.

Bad girls don't write journals

Sometimes, you have too much fun living that one forgets to write about it. When will I stop making excuses for my blogging delinquency? I don’t have a clue. If you really want a daily dose of my nonsense, follow me on Twitter via Sosyaleraquips.

It’s such a pity that I can’t tell you guys everything that’s been going on, but such is life! I’m still a private person, after all.

I didn’t write about the new movies this week because, well, they are lamer than last week’s movies! I’m a reasonable appreciator of (some) mindless flicks, but I’m really not inclined to see either Cats & Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore or Ip Man 2. Splice has great reviews, though, but I think I’ll just wait for the DVD.

Who has seen The Expendables? It has got really rubbish reviews, but I really enjoyed it! It’s an all-star cast of elderly action stars and brings back memories of all the old action movies we’ve seen throughout the 90’s. There’s an action movie cliché every minute and the script isn’t worth a darn, but by golly all the stunts and explosions got me laughing all the way!




Look Ma, I'm running! Now where did I put my hypertension pills?




They really, really, really shouldn't have let Stallone take his shirt off.

The Inaugural Eclipse

All teenage girls, their more (err) mature counterparts, including their grandmothers, are probably shrieking their way to the cinemas to see Eclipse today (was it today?).

I'm not one of them. I can wait until the DVD comes out. This is because I will surely catch myself groaning loudly with exasperation in the cinema while watching the movie and would prefer to do this in the privacy of my home. I'd be mostly expressing myself during scenes of absolute mushiness and when the girls in the cinema shriek with "kilig." At least at home, I can even let out the occasional "Oh, come on!!!" that I tend to do with movies of this kind.

I'm not going to be a hypocrite who claims not to like the series. I liked listening to the audio books (because I still refuse to read them out of principle -- I've found a way around that, it seems), but the movies are just fanservice projects. It's just so girls could attach faces to the characters in the story.

Like I said last year, the franchise sucks. The storyline is weak and the scenes are ultra-cheesy. However, it doesn't change the fact that raw teenage feelings of lust and love have been accurately captured by the author. They were...err... sensual.

I mean what girl couldn't refuse being fought over by a gorgeously sophisticated older guy (who happens to be a supermodel-ish vampire) and your hot, caveman-like guy best friend (who happens to be a werewolf)?

*sigh*

Honestly, the monster-love angles are just plain weird. But then, the books wouldn't have gained any attention if there weren't any.



Hmm... looks like Jacob needs to stand on a box here. He looks more like a were-pup than a wolf in front of his overly-foundationed arch enemy. Err, scratch that. They look more like they want Bella out of the picture.

The Wofman's Emily Blunt

I've seen The Wolfman over the weekend and I've actually found it an "ok" movie, despite the poor ratings it received at RottenTomatoes.com.





For those who don't know, The Wolfman (starring Benicio del Toro and Anthony Hopkins) is a remake of the 1941 classic black-and-white film of the same title.

Some idiot Twilight fan actually had the nerve to say that this Universal movie did a COMPLETE REMAKING of the wolf pack from the Twilight Saga. Apparently, it gives the werewolves a bad name and makes them look like some deformed mutation of a rabid dog. (See, I told you she was an idiot). Read all about it here.

Anyway, what really caught my attention is the Wolfman's leading lady -- Emily Blunt. She is very pretty and oozing with charm. I thought I'd seen her somewhere before and when I looked her up, she turned out to be Emily from The Devil Wears Prada!




Who would've thought that she was the same person???





Having seen that chick flick, although Emily Blunt was a complete scene-stealer, I would not have known she would ever be leading lady material.

Makeovers really can make wonders, huh?

Smashing Sherlocks

As a child, hearing about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories about Sherlock Holmes always puts me to sleep. I've tried reading The Hound of the Baskervilles, but I never even finished the first chapter. For me, the stories of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are absolute snorefests. The way they were depicted in movies and animated versions as well were sooooo... boring. Holmes was this stuck-up know-it-all and Watson was his wimpy sidekick, who sometimes seemed rather stupid.

But the movie was great! It portrayed that Holmes as an eccentric and an underground fighter (a touch of Fight Club right there). He's still too smart, of course, but at least he has character issues. Watson, on the other hand, was this charming ex-military and doctor, with penchant for adventure.

If I had known that Guy Ritchie directed the film, I would've been more excited to see it. Curiously, it wasn't marketed like that. I still love his work, but I think the pre-Madonna movies were a lot better than his more recent ones.


There's just one thing I didn't like about watching Sherlock Holmes at the cinema... the deleted scenes! I'm pretty sure it was MTRCB's fault again. Tell me, did you guys see how Holmes ended up like this?





I didn't.

Unless I was asleep, I'm pretty sure I didn't see the scene in time the trailer below. Forward to 1:20, that's what I mean.

Avatar on my mind

It has been three days now since I've seen Avatar at the cinema, and I still can't stop thinking about how cool it is.

The same phrase keeps repeating in my head over and over:




AVATAR IS COOL.






There was no other way to describe it. The visuals was absolutely stunning. You actually feel like you are in another world and sometimes you forget if you are watching CGI or actual people onscreen. It's just amazing!

The plot is is another story. It's predictable. Have you seen the animated movie Ferngully? Well, it's like that except that it is in another planet.

You only get to see it in Manila today and tomorrow, so catch it before the MMF movies come out on Christmas Day!





This avatar version of lead Sam Worthington looks eerily like Brendan Fraser as Encino Man, though.





Compare.

My Life in Ruins -- aptly named!

.
.



My Life in Ruins
Starring: Nia Vardalos, Richard Dreyfuss
Synopsis: Georgia Georgia (Nia Vardalos) has lost her kefi (Greek for “mojo”). Discouraged by her lack of direction in life, she works as a travel guide, leading a rag-tag group of tourists as she tries to show them the beauty of her native Greece while waiting to land her dream job. Opening their eyes to an exotic foreign land, she too begins to see things in new ways—finding her kefi and possibly love in the process.



Errr...

It's very predictable and the acting is, well, bad. I mean, yeah, it's funny. But I'm shallow, so I'll laugh at most things. Only watch if you are absolutely bored and have got bucketloads of time to waste. It's basically My Big Fat Greek Wedding Part 2, on location in Greece, minus the funny families. Instead you get lousy tourists. It's got a 9% Rotten rating on RottenTomatoes.com, so that should tell you something.

HOWEVER, I will not totally write this movie off because of one thing (and one thing only) --




-- leading man, Alexis Georgoulis.

I don't think he has acted on anything else aside Greek movies. But man, he is HOT. Stole the whole movie away from Nia Vardalos ENTIRELY.

I mean, just watch this trailer. Make sure you look out for 1:46 time stamp, and you'll know what I mean.

Drag Me to Hell -- always be nice to grannies

The bf dragged me to watch Drag Me to Hell last night and I gave in because I was outnumbered, 5 to 1.

I had no intention of watching this, as with all scary films from the past, because I get startled easily and hate being inundated with booming suspense sounds that scare the shit out of me. Why? Because it stresses me out more than working.

Frankly, I hadn't seen much of the film because I was hiding behind my hands or my hair for most of it. However, in (my limited) conclusion , I did think it was one of the better scary movies around.

As Sam Raimi was the same director that gave us Evil Dead, I now understand that "Drag Me to Hell" was definitely the best title for this movie. I thought it was utterly stupid before, but after watching I see now that it makes sense. It's meant to be serious, but the scary stuff turned out a little funny because they were so outrageous at times.

The moral of the story -- don't go pissing off grannies. You never know which ones turn out to be witches/mangkukulams.

The verdict
Watch it! This coming from a person who hates scary movies, that should be something.

Please, no! I'm not a lesbian and if I were, I won't be into women of advanced age!

FS Reel Review: The Watchmen

The Watchmen


Starring: Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Carla Gugino
Director: Zack Snyder (of 300)



My take on it

As the opening sequence rolled on, I thought The Watchmen was going to be promising. I loved how artistic it looked and how the scenes contrasted with its soothing music. The first action scene between The Comedian, one of the Watchmen, and his attacker was brilliant. I thought it would set the tone for the rest of the movie.

Sadly, it didn’t.

In my opinion, the plot premise was good, but a little weak. The actors weren’t mesmerising at all, and couldn’t hold my attention for very long (except for the guy who played Rorschach). Carla Gugino, who played Silk Spectre, was more watchable in the few minutes that she appeared than all the rest of the lead cast combined.

I understand that The Watchmen were only police officers in costumes and should not be classified as superheroes (which might explain why they look so plain), but I wonder how the director will explain the broken walls and counter slabs in the fight scenes? For ordinary people, they sure are awfully strong.

I hadn’t read the comic, but I don’t think the movie convinced me to read it. A friend said that the director had been faithful to the story (except for a little alteration in the ending, apparently) but if that’s all there is to it, then the hell with it.

The makers of The Watchmen have done what I thought was impossible – to make a (super)hero movie so gawddamn boring.

Yes Man! (The Review)

Yes Man


Starring
Jim Carrey
Zooey Deschanel


Plot
A man who has made a habit of saying "no" to everything attends a self-help seminar, and gets convinced that he's been missing out on life. He soon challenges himself to say "yes" to everything, taking chances he would never have taken before.



Let's get down and dirty!



Overall Production
As a standard rom-com (romantic comedy), there's no special effects to speak of apart from a few stunts and Carrey's facial gymnastics. Everything in this aspect is ok, but nothing really stood out.


Acting
Carrey's slapstick style aside, he's actually a good actor (i.e. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). He definitely delivered the goods here and made the most with what he's given to work with. Ergo.... absolutely HILARIOUS!

Deschanel is...err... cute. *blushes and trying to control lesbian tendencies*

But she needs to work on acting a bit more.


The verdict
It's a really funny film, it really is. There didn't seem to be any boring moments, surprisingly. Unfortunately, the plot is just so thin and predictable.

I mean if you actually say "yes" to anything and everything that's offered to you, what will happen? Whatever your answer is, that's the whole movie.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans Review

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans



Synopsis
Michael Sheen and Bill Nighy revisit their roles from UNDERWORLD in this prequel to the horror-action hybrid. Sheen (THE QUEEN) stars as Lucian, a werewolf who battles vampire Viktor (Nighy, the Pirates of the Caribbean films), despite his love for Viktor's daughter Sonja. Kate Beckinsale might have departed the series, but fellow dark-haired beauty Rhona Mitra (DOOMSDAY) fills fans desires for a sexy heroine in her role as Sonja. -- rottentomatoes.com


Starring
Bill Nighy
Michael Sheen
Rhona Mitra


Directed by
Patrick Tatopoulos



Let's get down and dirty!


Overall Production
I'm not really a fan of films that are set at night the whole time. Why? Well obviously, there's just so much less to see. Everything is either blue, black or grey.

I know I've said that I wouldn't watch this 3rd Underworld, but the gang wanted to see it so I tagged along to see what the fuss is about. I was a little hesitant because I hadn't seen the first two movies, so I might miss out on bits of storyline here and there. Good thing that wasn't the case here, because it's apparently a prequel to the previous movies. Whew.

The cg effects were ok and there seem to be a little bit of animatronics mixed in it, but it wasn't fantastic.

What I hated about the action scenes is the lack of it. I mean there were loads, but there's this annoying flashing light that blinks the whole screen after every move they make. So basically, I didn't see anything.


Acting
Bill Nighy as Viktor emits this very luminous vibe, which kind of believably makes him coven leader. Unfortunately, the style reminds me too much of his Davey Jones role in Pirates of the Carribean.

Michael Sheen as Lucian the lycan does well, unfortunately he's not eye-candy enough to attract the women in the audience, which is kind of important in a semi-love story type theme.




Don't get me started on Rhona Mitra! The guys and I are arguing if the Sonja role was played by Kate Beckinsale, when I hadn't seen her name in the credits at all. I kept saying that Sonja couldn't possibly be Kate because her lips are bigger than the screen! I mean yeah, they have similar looks, but I'd still root for Kate. Sorry Rhona fans.





Everytime a Sonja scene comes up, I'm reminded of Janice the Muppet. Sheesh. Too much lip action there.



The verdict
It's a watchable film, but I'd recommend you just wait for the dvd. Some people got up and out of the cinema in the middle of the screening even. That's bad.

Rockin Rocknrolla!

RocknRolla


Synopsis
In London, a real-estate scam puts millions of pounds up for grabs, attracting some of the city's scrappiest tough guys and its more established underworld types, all of whom are looking to get rich quick. While the city's seasoned criminals vie for the cash, an unexpected player -- a drugged out rock 'n' roller presumed to be dead but very much alive -- has a multi-million dollar prize fall into his hands. -- Imdb.com


Starring
Gerard Butler
Thandie Newton
Jeremy Piven
Chris "Ludacris" Bridges

Director
Guy Ritchie


My verdict

This film definitely has "Guy Ritchie" all over it and fans of "Lock, Stock.." and "Snatch" sure as hell will look forward to seeing another installment from Madonna's ex-husband (didn't realise that it took their separation for him to churn up another film -- guess he needs the moolah now that Madge is gone).

The whole film spells out T.O.U.G.H., just like all the others and the opening sequence has got me bowled over. Mr Ritchie has a knack for getting the word "astiiiig" out of my mouth during these first few minutes.

The acting by the leads were excellent (except for Ludacris, he seemed out of place in dodgy London streets) and the atmosphere of the whole film is well-played.

Some of the director's signature sequences still appear, but that's what's good about it, really.

The only problem I had with this film is somewhere in between, the fast-paced momentum hadn't been kept. This inconsistency resulted in dragging scenes which could've been made better by tweaking the script a little bit -- some people may even fall asleep.

But mid-storyline aside, I still liked it (but that's probably because I like hearing the London Eastend accent being spoken in a gangster film, what the heck).

Spying Over Burn After Reading

I hate Brad Pitt.

He cheated on Jennifer Aniston, for pete's sake! Who the hell cheats on Jennifer Aniston??? Yeah, I know he did it for La Jolie, but that doesn't make it a lesser evil, does it? Besides, Brad isn't exactly my type.

Now George Clooney, that's a different story. He's gorgeous AND he had made some proper critic-friendly films recently. Not any more of that Batman shit that didn't really suit him.

I've seen the Ocean's Eleven installments and Brad & George's chemistry is good onscreen.

But what if you put the Coen brothers into the mix? Whaddya get?





I didn't bother seeing "No Country for Old Men" even if it was an Oscar smash. But I'm considering on seeing Burn After Reading for the following reasons:

1. George Clooney (ok, I'll add Brad Pitt) -- Do I really need to justify this?

2. Coen brothers -- I want to see what kind of hairstyles they made the actors sport this time. They have a "hair" thing, if you hadn't noticed.

3. Rotten Tomatoes rates the film as 78% Fresh -- Now, THAT is a good rating.


I'm all giddy with excitement!

It's so Payne-ful

Max Payne



Synopsis
Rockstar Games' antihero Max Payne gets his own movie with this video game adaptation. Mark Wahlberg plays the titular cop who is still trying to get over the death of his family while investigating several murders, while Mila Kunis costars as an assassin desperate for her own revenge. -- www.rottentomatoes.com



Starring
Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Beau Bridges, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges
Directed by John Moore


My verdict
I had no idea who Max Payne is -- never played the game. I thought he would be somebody like "The Punisher." Guess I was dead wrong, but that's ok.

After seeing the blockbuster-friendly Eagle Eye (which, apart from the ending, is quite thrilling btw), I think that this adaptation of the game is horrid. I feel sorry for the game fans.

It played out like a cliche Pinoy action film --

Guy is a cop. Guy's wife and kid are murdered. Guy becomes emo. Guy hunts down the murderer still at large after 3 years. Murderer gets his ass kicked. The end. (Sequel is possible.)

It's like a bloomin' Ronnie Ricketts movie with Mariz haunting him in between scenes! All the action sequences were standard, too. It was so predictable.

To be fair, there are some good shots in Max Payne, but that's about it really. (The bf was disappointed that there weren't many "bullet time" sequences, as that was what set the game apart from the others apparently.)

Someone had stolen it's thunder -- or maybe it didn't have it in the first place.

Tropic Thunder


Synopsis
Through a series of freak occurrences, a group of actors shooting a big-budget war movie are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying.


My verdict
When you know that Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr are starring in a comedy film, you expect to roll around the mucky cinema floor laughing.

This one? Bleh. Ftoooey!

Don't waste your time. If you're really curious, just wait for the DVD.