Sunday, May 20, 2012

Review - John Carter, Battleship, Think Like A Man



Movie reviews are here again. Just giving you guys some heads up on some currently released movies that I've seen. Always remember, movie trailers are the devil so don't always fall for those cool and flashy scenes they showcase. Our movie liking may be different so feel free to comment expressing your views and subscribe. Enjoy :)







Pariah (2011)
Starring Adepero Aduye, Kim Wayans and Pernell Walker.

Man it feels good to finally watch a good black movie which is not directed and destroyed by Tyler Perry and Madea. 'Pariah' highlights the life of 17year old Alike (Adepero Oduye) as she embraces her lesbian lifestyle through adolescence. However, her mother (Kim Wayans) suspects and disapproves even though she hasn't directly questioned her about it. Alike finds comforts by hanging with her closest friend Laura (Pernell Walker), who is also a lesbian herself. With trouble in her household as her parent's marriage is on the rocks, a new found love interest in her mother's friend daughter; Alike strives to overcome heartbreak, ridicule and pressure and most importantly move forward in life despite the obstacles.
 This film will definitely connect with persons who have experienced similar situations. Great acting from the whole cast and the plot instills hope especially with persons confused or enduring hardship regarding their sexuality. Positive film and definitely a good watch.
Rating: 8/10


Intruders (2011)
Starring Clive Owen, Carice van Houten and Daniel Bruhl.

 This movie is about a face-less ghost called Hollowface who terrorizes two kids who live in different countries. John Farrow (Clive Owen) and his family live in Britain, while Luisa (Pilar Ayala) and her young son lives in Spain. Both children of the families are visited and terrorized by a strange ghoul and for most of the film, I didnt know why. The interesting part of the film was the twist which was revealed. The flashback twist and how both stories interconnected was good but the ending was confusing and messy. Never really understood why the ghost haunted the boy but whatever. The movie was boring and hardly scary.
Rating: 4/10



Battleship (2012)

Starring Taylor Kitsch, Rihanna and Alexander Skarsgard.

This filmed was dubbed "Transformers at sea" upon release. I'm not a huge fan of the Michael Bay Transformer films but they were way better than this crap I wasted two hours of my life watching. Okay, so the film features the US Navy marshals participating in naval exercises at sea. Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch) is a member of the navy and and he's deeply in love with Samantha (Brooklyn Decker) but is afraid to tell her father who is the captain. Haven't we seen this story somewhere before? Yeah in 'Armageddon'. So apparently NASA discovers that there's a planet out there with the possibility of life on it, so they send out a signal to the planet. What kind of signal? I have no idea. Anyways, it seems the aliens got the signal, come to earth and now seemingly plans to conquer it. The alien vessels landed right where the naval exercises were taking place so yeah, Alex and his crew go on a lifelong battle against the aliens to save the planet. And I'm pretty sure you know how these movies end, no surprises, no twists, NOTHING. 
Let me be plain and simple, there were no high expectations for 'Battleship' but whyyyy did it have to suck so badly? I also notice they were trying to use a similar 'Armageddon' and 'Pearl Harbor' kinda concept but it failed miserably. Not only was the dialogue stupid and corny, the actors seem so out of character and the story line was dumb. It's Rihanna's first time on the big screen but I did not see her relevance in this movie at all. She was so out of place. And what's up with those aliens? Pathetic. The special effects were okay but that was not enough to carry this film off. If you're fan of dumb action flicks like Battleship, then have fun. I would not even recommend this movie to a dead person.
Rating: 1/10


John Carter (2012)

Starring Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins and Willem Dafoe.

Based on the novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Taylor Kitsch plays 'John Carter' who is a former military captain who has somewhat lost his will to fight since the death of his wife and son. One day while being chased by Apache Indians, John stumbles across a "Thern" in a cave, kills him but is accidentally transported to Mars or as it is called in this film  'Barsoom'. On Barsoom, there is a ongoing war between two cities for dominance of the planet. John becomes friends with the local natives called 'Tharks' who are amazed by his ability to jump. He also meets Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins), the princess of Barsoom and Helium city who seeks his help to put an end to the ongoing war. 
I had very low expectations for 'John Carter' seeing that it was a box office flop but after watching, it left me rather surprised. It was engaging, fun and somewhat unpredictable. Only issues I had were that a few parts of the film were a bit incomprehensible and the acting was sort of lame. But at one point, I felt like I was watching a modern day 'Star Wars' movie, which is good. What I really liked was the ending of this film, there was a twist and it really added to the cool experience I had watching John Carter. With decent action sequences and special effects, John Carter was pretty cool surprisingly.
Rating: 7/10



Lockout (2012)

Starring Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace and Vincent Regan.

Judging from its trailer, I thought 'Lockout' was gonna be a fun action flick but boy was I wrong. The movie stars Guy Pearce as Agent Snow, a man wrongly convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage against the U.S. In an outer space maximum security prison, hell breaks loose and the prisoners are set free and riot. Unfortunately the U.S president's daughter is at the facility and held hostage. Soo, Snow is offered his freedom if he can rescue the president's daughter from the outer space prison taken over by violent inmates. Firstly, this movie was very disappointing but I should have known better. I don't get it, is this movie an action movie or is it a damn comedy? Because I got confused with the plethora of corniness. What is up with Guy Pearce and his constant corny jokes throughout the entire film? The dialogue in this movie was an absolute FAIL. The acting was even worse. This movie seems as if it was put together a week before it was released. I was not even impressed by the action sequences either. 'Lockout' was more of a failed attempt of a comedy more than an actual sci-fi action flick. They should have used the prison cast of "Con Air" because this was an obvious joke.
Rating: 1/10


Think Like A Man (2012)
Starring Kevin Hart, Michael Ealy and Steve Harvey.

Based on Steve Harvey's best selling book, 'Think Like a Man' features a star-studded cast and follows four best friends who are/become involved with four women who are advert readers of Steve Harvey's book. The book highlights what women should do to take control of their relationship or how to make it work etc. Everything seems to be working fine for the women as they follow Steve Harvey's advice keenly. However the friends learn that the women are taking advice from the book and decided to turn the tables on them using same information from the book. However their plan backfires and the men are left stranded. 
You know how this movie will end because it is predictable as hell. 'Think Like A Man' felt like a knock-off of "Two Can Play That Game" and "The Ugly Truth" but it was funny and entertaining, for most parts anyways. For a movie of this nature, it was too way LONG. It was so long, the jokes became unfunny and the movie felt like a drag. Also, I think this movie should have focused a little more on the women, seeing its title. But anyways Kevin Hart was the "Stifler" of this film, he instilled his humor. But what's up with that other white friend ? His relevance was next to none. Very Cliched film but you'll get a few laughs here and there.
Rating: 6/10


Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
Starring Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg and Jeremy Renner.

There was a lot of hype surrounding the release of MI4 and after watching it, I'm wondering why. The fourth installment in the Mission Impossible franchise, Tom Cruise reprises his role as Ethan Hunt, an agent of the IMF. Ghost Protocol is activated so now Ethan and his crew fight for their lives as they try to clear their organization's name and stop a terrorist from destroying their country. 
MI4 is a pretty simple action flick, nothing special. There were some cool action sequences but not enough to really impress me. As most action movies these days, MI4 felt like a movie I've seen so many times before. Although predictable and a bore for most parts, overall MI4 is still an okay movie to watch.
Rating: 6.5/10


The Lorax (2012)
Starring Danny Devito, Taylor Swift and Zac Efron.

Dr. Seuss's classic tale comes alive with Danny Devito as the voice of the Lorax, Zac Efron as Ted and Taylor Swift as Audrey. They live in a world where there are no real trees. Ted embarks on a mission to find one so he can impress his new interest Audrey, who longs for a real tree. Ted meets the Once-ler who conveys stories of the Lorax, a grumpy but charming creature as they strive to save the environment. 
Like the other Dr. Seuss adaptations 'The Lorax' is colorful animation and charming for most parts, but I don't think the story line was brought across really effectively and it took a while to get to the point. The film had its funny moments but it definitely had its boring moments too. The songs were also cheerful. 
Rating: 6/10



The Woman in Black (2012)

Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Ciaran Hinds and Janet McTeer.

 Harry Potter in a horror flick? Interesting. Okay so 'The Woman in Black' is about a young solicitor Arthur Kipps (Radcliffe) who travels to a remote village where the locals are being terrorized by the ghost of a scornful woman. In the past, the woman's son had died and the locals did nothing to save him so now she seeks her revenge. Any time someone sees the woman in black, a child nearby dies. Arthur believes he must do all he can to help put an end to the terror and put the woman's soul to rest. 
I would be lying if I said this film didn't have its scary moments, it did have a few. Nothing special overall; it's your typical horror flick of the 21st century surrounding children haunting. The film boasts decent performances and a decent ending, which surprised me a bit. The Woman in Black is a decent watch when you're bored.
Rating: 6.5/10

No comments:

Post a Comment