Red (2010)

More information here.

The Plot. The story is about a retired CIA operative, Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), who leads a quiet life talking on the phone with Sarah, his pension department representative. One day Frank is attacked by a team of special ops, who he defeats with ease. Since Frank knows that whoever tried to kill him would go after his loved ones and the only one he cares about is Sarah, he goes to Seattle to rescue her. It soon becomes obvious that for some reason a lot of the old operatives are being eliminated and Frank starts contacting his old acquaintances. Together the group begins to unravel a sinister plot.

General Thoughts. This is a really fun movie and I liked it very much. I got a lot of good laughs out of this. What I liked most about this was the cast. They pretty much took the better part of Hollywood oldschool action and drama actors and put them together to form a mix of nostalgic and modern action.
The actors that took part in this were indeed the best of the old Hollywood generation. Bruce Willis has always been a serious action hero and always plays pretty much the same role, from the first Die Hard to the   Sixth Sense, he's always the same. We like that and he's good at it and he's also exactly the way we like him in this one. Morgan Freeman is one of the best actors in Hollywood and also is pretty much the same he's always been - a warm, friendly old man with the hidden capability to do some serious damage. John Malkovich plays a paranoid crazy person in this one, but also stayed to the Malkovich we're used to. Then there's Helen Mirren, who we're used to seeing in drama and not in action. Seeing her handling a 50. cal heavy machine gun is quite different. While being a great action type with blazing guns and ruthlessness, she manages to keep the lady-like appearance we're used to. What all of these actors have in common? They're all quite old and seeing them in an action movie together is a little bit weird and even nostalgic, but it's still great.
When it comes to the plot, this was a pretty standard action movie with a lot of clichés but again, this was not what makes this movie so great. The same plot with a bunch of little known actors wouldn't have been this fun, so this is another one of the movies that depends strongly on the reputation of the actors. It's quite standard for an action movie have a lot of comedic value. Red can even be labeled as an action-comedy. There are loads of one-liners and other funny stuff and it's also quite amusing to see old people with moves like that.

All in all, this is a great blockbuster which mostly feeds on the fame and talent of old Hollywood stars, but at the same time actually works quite well. This one is more suitable for people who have grown up watching stars, like Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich, because for a person who is not familiar with these actors, this would seem like a simple cliché-ridden action flick. Not worth a lot as a movie, but an excellent source of nostalgia. I loved it.

6/10 Flogs

Stargate (1994)

More information here.

The plot. This is a story about an egyptologist, Dr. Daniel Jackson, who has some revolutionary ideas about the pyramids that nobody wants to believe. He is then taken to a secret military compound to decipher some Egyptian. There he finds out that some of the symbols are actually indexes to points in outer space. He then finds out that a weird round gate has been dug up in Egypt and is there, already functional, just missing the address. With the help of Jackson, the gate is opened and he is sent through with a team of military personnel lead by Colonel Jack O'Neil. After going through the gate, the team meets some people who have been living on that planet for a long time, mining resources for the original Egyptian god of sun, Ra.

General thoughts. This is the one that started the whole Stargate franchise.
First of all, this movie is quite nice. It's not really that magnificent, but given that it's from 1994, there's not much to expect, really. This was really weird to watch, since right now the Stargate franchise has had two series, Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis, a bunch of movies and right now there's also Stargate: Universe, which I've been watching with great interest.
There is a lot of the original story that has been thrown out of the window to produce the series. Before watching this movie, I watched the pilot episodes of Stargate SG-1, which is supposedly the story that happens a few years after this one. Also note that the actor who played Skaara, Alexis Cruz, is one of the actors who appears in the original movie and in SG-1 as the same character. The rest of the cast has been changed.
I personally don't think you can compare the Jack O'Neill of Richard Dean Anderson with Jack O'Neil of Kurt Russel. Richard Dean Anderson has always been more of a ironic funny type of actor, when Kurt Russel's Jack O'Neil is a jock bad-ass with a bad attitude and a melancholic personality. Some would say that Anderson ruined O'Neill, but I wouldn't have had much interest in Stargate SG-1 if it had Russel instead of Anderson. I mean, come on, it's MacGyver we're talking about here. Speaking of MacGyver, there was a quote in SG-1's pilot, where Amanda Tapping as Carter said something in the lines of "you can't just MacGyver this together". Be it said that Richard Dean Anderson spent 7 years being MacGyver, but just the SG-1 series ran for ten years and Richard Dean Anderson is still occasionally appearing on Stargate: Universe. But I digress.
As I already mentioned, a lot of the stuff from the original movie has been forgotten. For instance, the material that the Stargate was constructed from was supposedly mined from that planet. Chances are, that there are more than one planet that had that metal and even that these stargates were built by someone else, but according to the lore of Stargate: Universe, the gates were built by an ancient race, that disappeared long before man came along, leaving behind a vast array of different advanced technology, the most important of those being the stargate.
Another quite important fact is that the movie described the seventh sign as a point of origin of the signal, meaning that for every planet, the seventh symbol in the address would have to be different. In the SG-1 and all other series, every stargate had a specific address, which was dialed from earth and you could simply dial back without ever having to look for the local symbol. This made writing new planets much easier, of course, but sortof messes with the original story a little bit.
Another thing that bothered me a lot was that back on earth, the team of scientists couldn't make the gate work, but were somehow managed to build equipment that would run the gate, dial the symbols and even show the decomposition of the things sent through the gate, not to mention the exact destination on a weird glass two-dimensional map of the sky.
All things considered, this was still quite an achievement. Certainly something new and different.

I don't think Roland Emmerich thought that this simple little sci-fi movie could turn out to become one of the largest Sci-Fi series ever, with 3 different related series showing for over fifteen years. For that contribution to the Sci-fi world, we thank him.

6/10 Flogs

Black Swan (2010)

More information here.

The plot. This is a story about a ballerina, Nina (Natalie Portman), who is chosen for the most coveted role of any ballerina, the swan queen in "Swan Lake". As she is frigid and strives only for perfection in her act, she makes an excellent white swan, but lacks the emotional depth for the black swan. She is instructed by a ruthless artistic director, who takes on a mission to get her into the desired emotional state to become a black swan. This is a story about a quiet frigid girl, a perfect white swan, transforming into the opposite, a black swan.

General thoughts. This movie surprised me. I knew, that this wasn't just a movie about ballet and just any old inner conflict. This is so much more. This is basically a story of a slightly schizophrenic ballerina, who completely loses it as stress hits an all-time high. A psychological thriller about ballet doesn't sound promising, I know, but apparently there is a lot to it.
This movie starts off as normal and with every passing minute gets more and more crazy. It starts with hints of visions, which progress into a deep psychosis and as the big night nears, she is slowly consumed by it. It's pretty much a text-book example of schizophrenia getting out of control due to stress. As described, Nina has always had problems which indicate something deeper. She is pampered by her mother, who doesn't let her live her life and that is also probably one of the reasons behind her psychological meltdown. There are all sorts of little signs of her pending insanity. Even the texture of her skin shows that everything isn't quite all right.
Natalie Portman was awarded an Academy Award for this performance as the female leading role. I think she deserves it. While for the more technical parts, actual ballerinas acted as body doubles for the actors, a lot of the ballet was actually done by Portman herself, who had ballet lessons as a child and then spent six months preparing for this role. While it is not uncommon for the actor to work hard for the preparation of the role, it is still commendable. She also did an excellent work portraying the emotional breakdown of a young fragile mind.

All in all, this was an excellent movie. One would think that this is the type of movie to inspire their children to do ballet, when in fact this would be a very unsuitable viewing for children. This movie doesn't popularize ballet, it is a story about a person, who breaks down due to stress. It has a lot of really weird and confusing moments and some of them aren't completely explained in the end, but if you're into psychological thrillers, you'll love this one. Ballet is serious business.

8/10 Flogs.

Kick-Ass (2010)

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The Plot. This is a story of Dave (Aaron Johnson), a fan of superhero comics, who decides to put on a silly costume and fight crime. Dave doesn't have any superpowers, but he decides to try anyway. First time he does it he gets his ass kicked and ends up in a hospital. His injuries disable some of his nerve endings making him feel less pain. Shortly after his recovery, Dave tries again and is recorded by a group of witnesses and the video of Dave as Kick-Ass becomes viral. After a while, Dave meets two other heroes, Hit Girl and Big Daddy, who are more about killing the bad guys rather than helping the good guys. Soon Dave gets mixed up with some bad people and stuff just gets out of his hands.

General thoughts. This is an awesome movie. The main theme of the movie is a normal teenager, who instead of just fantasizing about being a superhero actually tries it. I'm not saying everybody should dress up and get their asses kicked, but I think this movie inspires people to stand up for the weaker ones and notice people in need. I know this movie has inspired some people to do exactly the same. Somewhere in the US, supposedly someone dressed up as a superhero and called the police on some criminals. He didn't interfere himself, but this is sort of what this movie was aiming for, I think.
This one is also based on a comic-book and it has some comic-book elements. Not as much as Scott Pilgrim, but there were a few elements used, one of which was the sequence about Hit Girl and Big Daddy's history.
Another thing I think this movie teaches is that even if you become this awesome hero, you'll still have to endure a lot of pain and bad situations. This movie had more of a realistic perspective on the whole superhero thing. None of the characters had any real superpowers. Sure, Hit Girl had some impossible moves for a ten year old girl, but they were still just martial arts and weapon handling. Sort of like, if you really really want to be a hero, it might kill you, so think before doing stupid stuff like this.
Well, I liked it. This movie gets your heart beating faster and it has a lot of awesome moments and is really fun to watch. The best hero in the whole movie is a 10 year old girl, so kids of all ages can relate to that.
I'd recommend this if you're into comic-book to movie adaptations, if you like fun action or if you like superheros. Just, don't try this at home. Contrary to popular belief, the police is actually quite capable of handling crime by itself.

7/10 Flogs

Jury Duty (1995)

Important information here.

The plot. The story is about a young man, Tommy (Pauly Shore) who lives with his mother and his dog in a trailer and enjoys being unemployed and pampered by his mother. One day he receives a jury duty call, but discards it right away as being a waste of time. When some time later Tommy's mother goes to Vegas to marry his stepfather, they take the trailer with them leaving Tommy and his dog homeless. Tommy decides to take part in jury duty and joins a jury for a lengthy trial, which means that the jury will be secluded in a hotel. He then makes a deal with the hotel manager for better accommodations and doesn't want the case with an obviously guilty verdict to end when the time comes for the jury to vote.

General thoughts. I watched this movie just because it is the last Pauly Shore movie I hadn't yet seen. This one was simply more difficult to come by than any of the others and being a long time fan of Pauly Shore I simply had to see this. I was not disappointed.
Now, I can't say that this movie is good, because it isn't, but then again none of Shore's movies actually are. What I love about his movies is his own character, which is very similar in all of his roles. This goofy dude with a weird sense of humor just appeals to me for some unexplained reason.
This movie is pretty much the very standard court-type plot. The main character takes part in a case, decides that the defendant is not guilty and then proceeds to convince other jurors of the defendants innocence. As a standard, there is a hot chick amongst the other jurors that is the first one to support the main character. I guess if you've seen one, you've seen them all. A good reference is Twelve Angry Men, also shown and quoted in this movie.
But this movie is good for everything but the standard and predictable plot. The Pauly Shore style of wacky comedy is the reason for watching this. Him and his dog. As Peanut the dog, they used a rather ugly looking Chihuahua, who was actually a really interesting character.

So, all in all, this is not a very good movie, but you'll like it, if you like Pauly Shore. I'd recommend this if you liked movies like Biodome and In The Army Now. If you don't like childish wacky humor, you will not like this. This is for Pauly Shore fans and this is not even the best one.

4/10 Flogs

Exit Through The Gift Shop (2010)

Important information here.

The Plot. This is an interesting documentary about modern street art. The main story is about a French-American amateur film-maker Thierry Guetta, who after meeting some street artists decides to start filming them and their work. For years Guetta follows all sorts of street artists and also helps them out. He gets to meet almost everybody, who matters in the world of street art, but the most influential and controversial street artist, Banksy, seems to elude him. At one point, by sheer luck, Guetta gets to meet Banksy. After earning his trust, Guetta is allowed to film Banksy, as he works on more and more influential material.

General thoughts. I'm not a huge fan of documentaries, but this one was truly interesting.
This film was directed by Banksy himself, while Guetta is more of a main character. At first the movie seems to be about street artists and finding Banksy, where Guetta just explores the world of street artists, but at one point the whole thing is turned around and Guetta himself becomes a street artist. This film is quite artistic itself, the way it's put together by excerpts of Guetta's amateur material, mixed with other people filming Guetta and some documented footage about Banksy from other sources and all of it is mixed together to form a story about not Banksy, as it would be expected, but about Thierry Guetta also known as Mister Brainwash.
It's difficult to say how much of this all is actually true, but this documentary presents a really interesting point of view on some of the street artists lives and their relations between each-other. It also simplifies the otherwise mystical view on the world of street art and personifies the actual people who come up with these awesome ideas. Some of the artists faces are not shown, including Banksy himself, but you get an insight on the way these people work.
This art form truly represents the evolution of art, moving it from stuffed galleries meant for rich people out into the streets, where any person walking by can enjoy these awesome ideas. This documentary really made me interested in this art movement. It made me want to cut up a stencil and smack it on a wall in a public place. Something with a brave message. So much more than just random graffiti, someone tagging their illegible name or just badly drawn depictions of genitals on garage walls.

I would recommend this documentary to anybody slightly interested in the evolution of modern art or anybody wondering why are there so many weird drawings all over the city. A remarkable piece of art on it's own.

7/10 Flogs

The Social Network (2010)

Important information here.

The Plot. This is a true story about Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. The story goes about how the site was created and revolves around two lawsuits, one against the twin brothers who had the original idea of such a site, on which Zuckerberg based Facebook and the other against his original business partner and CFO of Facebook, Eduardo Saverin. As the story develops following the two lawsuits at the same time, the story of Zuckerberg and Facebook unfolds.

General thoughts. This movie makes Zuckerberg look like a naive child working with evil grown-ups who use him for their own gain. It felt like Zuckerberg was suddenly thrown into the real world and didn't know how to cope with all the complicated business and relationships. This is a sad story about why you shouldn't do business with your friends.
The thing that makes this movie somewhat interesting is the way it was written. The plot is divided into two parts, each a law-suit in the present, while the descriptive sub-plot is the same for both of them and the actual plot runs in the background of these two lawsuits.
Being a Facebook addict myself it is really interesting to see the history and the evolution of it. While I'm also somewhat involved in the software industry I liked how they didn't over-simplify the programming part, leaving it pretty much what it really is - a lot of boring-looking text that can do wonders when used in a correct combination. Some movies tend to make programmers and hackers more interesting by either having the heroes type really fast and do really cool stuff with just a few lines of code or make the whole process look pretty and graphical, when in reality it's not as adventurous. It was nice that they tried to make the hacking part at the beginning realistic. What Zuckerberg explained as 'hacking' really is not too difficult to accomplish, given that the information is not protected properly.
Also, as somewhat of a surprise, Justin Timberlake had a major role in this movie, playing Sean Parker, the founder of Napster. While I'm not a fan of the man, I think he handled himself quite nicely. An unlikable slick character sortof suits him.

I'd recommend this movie to anyone who is interested in the people behind Facebook. Otherwise, it's an okay movie, but nothing spectacular. And yes, I will post this on Facebook.

6/10 Flogs

Ninja Assassin (2009)

Important information here.

The Plot. The story tells about a young ninja, Raizo, who is an orphan raised by the Ozunu ninja clan, but ends up turning on his clan at one point. He is then hunted by his clan, while he tries to come up with a way to gain access to and kill the head of the Ozunu clan. The main story arc is about a young ambitious Europol investigator Mika who discoveres that ninjas still exist and operate in the modern world and are linked to many high-grade assassinations. While Mika is about to be executed by a ninja, Raizo steps in and rescues Mika in order to use her to get to Ozunu.

General thoughts. Well, it was about time they made a proper ninja movie.  This wasn't much anything above an average Hollywood action flick, but it it is quite a nice ninja movie. A lot of special ninja equipment, a lot of ninja tricks and a LOT of blood.
I think the amount of gore deserves a special mention. At one point the protagonist kills a man, but doesn't succeed to do so right away and ends up stabbing the poor bastard a lot of times, every time producing a bucket of blood. He ends up covered in the stuff. While really nice and atmospheric, the amount of blood just makes this movie a tad silly.
Since this movie was built on action rather than the plot, the effects are usually quite nice. There are a lot of slow-motion shots to show off all sorts of extreme martial art stunts. And to balance it all out, there was a whole lot of ninja philosophy involved, with lifestyle tips and everything.
The story, while pretty standard, was nice. It had a romantic arc to show the morally nicer point of view to being a ninja. Nothing unexpected there - boy falls in love with girl, girl is killed, boy wants revenge. But I did mention that this is a pretty standard plot when it comes to Hollywood action flicks.
The part that bothered me was that while being all Japanese with their gang of merry nin, they didn't mutter but a few Japanese words during the whole movie. A little bit disappointed there.
Also, chilling on a nail-pillow isn't ninja, it's just basic weight distribution, where your body weight distributes equally, not leaving a whole lot of weight for any single nail.

I would recommend this one to any ninja fans out there. For anybody else this would just seem like a waste of time. This is a nice action flick with a lot of martial arts and ninja tricks, but not much of a masterpiece when it comes to cinematography or writing. They even used hand-signs for some brief moments. A lot of shurikens flying around, try not to get hit.

6/10 Flogs

Oscar (1991)

Important information here.

The Plot. The story is about a gangster, Angelo 'Snaps' Provolone (Sylvester Stallone), who promises on the death bed of his father to go straight. The whole thing is happening a month later, on a single morning, when a young man comes with an urgent message. Right away the man reveals that he wishes to marry his daughter and that's where the whole confusion begins.

General thoughts. I love this movie. The first time I saw it was a few years back on TV and this must have been the third time I see it. This is a very simple situational comedy. It all takes place in one house and around it (with the exception of the very beginning). While the movie itself is quite simple, the plot gets mixed up a lot of times and the plot twists are quite unexpected at times. This movie really is a pearl that is not considered anything very special, but in it's own right is simply marvelous.
The thing that makes this movie so good and funny is the cast. From the classic Italian mobster turned butler to a shy linguistics doctor played by none other than Tim Curry. Every character is special and even the little guys make this movie something truly unique.
Another thing I really liked about this one is the soundtrack, which is pretty much the same song played a lot of times. The song itself is "Largo al Factotum", probably the most famous song from Gioachino Rossini's "The Barber of Seville". I'm not a big fan of opera, but because of this movie, I really like this particular song. This song is also very rhythmical, so it gives the whole movie a sense of urgency, a sort of a fast pace. This is necessary, since there is a whole lot going on in this movie.
A very interesting thing about this movie is that it shows a completely different side to an action-based actor like Sylvester Stallone. Another movie of his that has this side, for example, is "Stop! Or my mom will shoot".

I love this movie. This is a great example of what a sit-com should really be like. Just using a single house and the space around it for all the confusion. This is also based on a Claude Magnier stage play, which probably explains the use of a small space for everything. This really plays out like a theater comedy.
I would recommend this to any sit-com lovers. This truly is a gem you shouldn't miss.

8/10 Flogs

Mr. Nobody (2009)

Important information here.

The Plot. The story is about Nemo Nobody (Jared Leto), a dying man at the age of 118 in the year 2092. He is the last mortal alive and his demise is apparently a big media event. He would appear to have lost most of his memory and with the help of hypnosis starts telling the story of his life. It's hard to say when and where is the story actually set since parts of the story jump around between his childhood, adult years and the future.

General thoughts. First of all, I totally and utterly loved this movie. It has everything - romance, sci-fi, actual science and the good old mess of a plot which starts making sense closer to the ending.
This movie is one of the weirdest I've seen in a while. Most of it is because most of the movie you just don't understand what's going on. The movie opens with the main character dying. Many times, all different ways. After that, the main character gets married. Three times. There is no way to tell if the plot is happening in the future, in the past or in the present and it's all very confusing. In fact, it reminded Inception a little bit, in the parts where the protagonist wakes up after something happens, as if it was a dream.

A thing that makes this movie very special is that it was made by collaboration of German, French, Canadian and Belgian filmmakers. Don't worry, the whole thing is still in English, but this strange collaboration means that this is in no way a mainstream Hollywood flick and it shows. There are a lot of interesting shots and camera angles, a lot of weird things that make this movie something very different and interesting. Some of the ideas they came up with, you have to have a really surrealistic imagination to come up with things like building an ocean out of blocks of water brought by helicopters.
A very noteworthy thing about this plot is the romantic angle it had. For some reason, the main romantic storyline was really heartwarming and touching. It was just some teenager love, but it had a really interesting effect on the whole movie. This movie has a lot of emotions. All kinds of emotions, all mixed together.
Also, it was a very philosophical movie. About thoughts, memories, time and emotions. Things like a smoking cigarette or a decaying mouse had a lot more to them than appears at first. It's really quite difficult to delve into the philosophy of it without spoiling the movie, so I'll skip ahead.
There is also a scientific side to the movie. At moments, it will stop and the main character will narrate some information, followed by explaining visuals. This information, for most part, is quite true, actually. Being moderately interested in the subject I didn't agree with all of it, but it mostly represented what the common belief in science is right now.
This is one of those movies where it is better to concentrate to better get all the nuances. In fact, it was so interesting, I didn't want to be interrupted in fear of missing some important point. Actually it's not that difficult to watch, since most of the things happening are explained enough to make perfect sense at the end.

This is a movie I would recommend to any romance fans, for the awesome romantic angle, to anyone who enjoys a movie with a complicated plot, any sci-fi fans, for the scientific angle, and just about anyone who doesn't go to the movies for cheap thrills. An awesome piece of film.

9/10 Flogs

Going The Distance (2010)

Important information here.

The Plot. The movie tells a story about a couple on a long-distance relationship. Garrett (Justin Long) meets Erin (Drew Barrymore) at a bar and they hit it off right away. At some point Erin tells Garrett that she is just an intern at a New York newspaper and will return to San Fransisco in 6 weeks. Both agree that this could be a nice no-strings-attached relationship, but as always, one thing leads to another and 6 weeks later, when Erin leaves New York, they decide that they will try a long-distance relationship.

General thoughts. I am a sucker for a good romantic comedy and this is one of the best I've seen in a while. The movie is about showing all the ups and downs, all the temptations and perils of a long-distance relationship. There are many kinds of long-distance relationships, where the difference could be a few hundred miles to a few thousand miles. This movie is about the extreme case, where Erin is in San Fransisco and Garrett is in New York, which means that the distance couldn't be much larger within the compounds of the US borders. This movie made me want to have a long-distance relationship but at the same time not want it. I'm really confused on this one.
This movie also had a lot of funny moments. As a pleasant surprise, Jim Gaffigan played the brother-in-law of Erin. Gaffigan is a really strange and at the same time an extremely funny comedian that I saw in a Comedy Central special some years ago. While Justin Long isn't the funniest person imaginable, he is really good for the part of Garrett for that exact reason and the same goes for Drew Barrymore. It's a common thing for romantic comedies that the two main characters are more of the serious type, whereas the supporting characters make it all funny.
I would consider this to be an excellent date movie. The main characters aren't anything too special, so watching this wouldn't probably set any expectations on the couple watching this. There are a lot of "aww" moments, but also a lot of educational value, when it comes to the dynamics of not just the long-distance relationship, but any kind of relationship.
It gains some points for not being totally predictable. I know that it's really hard to come up with a plot that wouldn't be predictable, but would have a happy ending anyway.
So yes, I recommend this to anyone who, like me, is a sucker for a proper romantic comedy or someone on a date wanting to watch something. I know watching romantic comedies on dates is always a risk, but this one should be relatively safe.
An excellent movie.

8/10 Flogs

The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010)

Important info here.

The Plot. This is a story about a young boy who wanders into a magic shop and encounters a weird man who gives him a little dragon. This dragon turns into a ring, which means that this boy will inherit the magical powers of Merlin. The man in the shop is actually one of three apprentice of Merlin, Balthazar (Nicolas Cage). There is another apprentice who was sealed away with an evil witch, Morgana, into some sort of a doll and the third one, Horvath, who is trying to release Morgana. When the young boy receives the ring, he accidentally releases Horvath who proceeds to get into a fight with Balthazar and they end up locked in an urn for the next ten years. Ten years later, the boy has become a physicist (Jay Brauchel) and is now to train with Balthazar to destroy Morgana.

General thoughts. This movie has a really interesting view on magic in the modern world. The way they try to explain this is that there are some people who can use the unused 90% of their brains to manipulate energy. These people are called magicians. They wear fancy shoes, to help with the grounding, and huge rings, to channel the energy. They also manipulate the energy using really big and colorful CGI effects and use the same energy to give different objects life. Makes perfect sense.
It's nice and all that they tried to find some sort of an explanation to all the magic stuff, but this wasn't really necessary, since it just made this whole thing feel fake and lame. There is no way to manipulate energy enough to give life to a metal hawk and have it save you from a huge metal bull who Wants to kill you. Then again, never say never, right?
This movie is pretty much what you'd expect it to be if you know what's it generally about. There aren't many ways a Hollywood movie has to go. The plot is standard, there is a girl involved and the ending is predictable. Hollywood is about entertainment and this is something this movie has done perfectly well. I myself am a fan of magic and mystery and this movie delivered quite nicely on that. There were a lot of pretty effects, there was a goofy main character who is funny and awkward, there is an angry mentor who occasionally shows that he has a heart, there were funny moments and sad moments and lame one-liners. This review feels like so many others just like it. Change the plot part and you're set. I miss plot twists.

All in all, this is a movie to see if you're into magic, want to see something easy and entertaining or if you like Nick Cage. I'm not a big fan of his, but in this one it didn't bother me.
To be honest, I expected this to be a bit more. It's a decent block-buster, but nothing special.

6/10 Flogs

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

Important info here.

The Plot. The story is about Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera), a 22 year old unemployed youngster who dates a young Asian girl and plays in a band. Scott meets a girl named Ramona Flowers and in an attempt to date her finds that he has to defeat her seven evil exes in a fight to the death.

General thoughts. Not much to tell about the plot, but that is not the most important part of this movie. I totally and completely loved this movie. Why? Because while the plot itself is not so special, the whole thing is presented in a completely unique way.
All of the movie is in a quirky over-the-top comic-book action styling. Many of the sound effects had comic-book style visual sound effects and everything was just unreal. There were a lot of 8-bit references, like the Universal logo at the very beginning, which was an excellent touch, and the whole fighting part was played out like an epic clash of awesome powers. The world around them is quite normal, but all the people around don't find something like a person exploding into a bunch of coins at all strange or unusual. Oh, and keep a look-out for an 8-bit light-saber, which is really awesome.
Another thing that makes me like this movie a lot is all the awkward tension the characters display when communicating. This is mainly due to the really unique acting style of Michael Cera. The ability to make any simple conversation funny and awkward at the same time makes this actor something to look forward to. And yes, this movie is funny. In many ways, it's a lot funnier if you can relate to geeky stuff, like 8-bit and video-game and comic-book style action.
Truly an epic tale. I recommend it to anyone who is in a good relationship with their inner geek and likes a romantic comedy every once in a while. I sure was positively surprised.

9/10 Flogs

Inception (2010)

Important information here.

The plot. The story is about people who use a device for entering other people's dreams. This is mainly used for espionage. It's used to get information of all sorts that the person would otherwise not release. The story tells about a man who specializes in extraction or information from people's minds. He gets an assignment to plant an idea into another persons mind, which is called inception, hence the name. Since inception is a lot more difficult than extraction, he and his team have to enter many different levels of subconsciousness of the subject.

General thoughts. This is quite a difficult movie to follow. Not too difficult, so any person with the ability to think logically should be able to follow it without problems. So this is basically a movie that you have to concentrate on to understand what's going on. I enjoy movies that make you think and this one certainly does.
On the other hand, I think this could have been a bit better. There were some moments, where a plot twist would have spiced things up a whole lot. I'm not exactly happy with the ending, because I was expecting more to happen. The plot left the ending open for a lot of development. I hope they are planning to do a sequel to expand it some more.
A thing I like about this type of Hollywood block-busters is the eye-candy and Inception did not disappoint. There's the part where this girl bends half of the city upside down (as seen in the trailer and on the poster) and another one where the gravity either shifts around or disappears completely for a while.
The whole concept of controlling dreams is actually very real. It's called Lucid Dreaming and I think this is another thing that would be nice to include in the sequel, if there ever is one. A person that could control what happens in the dream and can attack any extractors that enter his dream.

This movie is for anybody who likes a movie that makes you think. If you like this one, you will like Memento.

8/10 Flogs

Jisatsu sâkuru (2001)

Also known as Suicide Circle and Suicide Club. Important info here.

The Plot. One day in Tokyo, Japan, 54 young school girls throw themselves in front of a train at a subway station. All at the same time. Shortly after that, people start committing suicides in very strange ways. The story is about police officers investigating the suicides and a girl who loses her boyfriend in the same way, starting her own investigation. Also, a popular children's j-pop group called Dessert is involved.

General thoughts. This movie is weird. Really really weird. It opens with 54 girls jumping in front of a train at the same time, fake watery movie-blood and rubber limbs all over the place. Every violent death in the movie involves a large splash of red paint and some bloody people. So yes, this is a very graphic movie. I can't say it's very gory, but it has it's share of blood, skin, flesh and.. an ear. All this is accompanied by a modern view of Japan, with it's usual weirdness with some extra freaky weirdness to spice it up some more.
With that said, I must say, I rather enjoyed it. There were some slower moments, but in general it had a decent pace. It also tried desperately to include some words of wisdom, but I didn't see much sense in it all. Actually, a whole lot of the movie didn't make any sense and that just adds to the general weirdness of it all. There are some really special weird scenes, which don't have much to do with the plot, but are just there to add to the weird. The movie also ends quite suddenly. A lot of things are left unexplained and that is a thing I seriously dislike about movies. I understand loose ends when there's a sequel planned, but this is a stand-alone thing and loose ends just leave you wondering too much. They never really explain why all this madness is going on.
All in all, I liked this movie. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys just really weird movies, alternative Japanese movies or over-the-top gore style.

7/10 Flogs

The Last Airbender (2010)

Info here.

The Plot. The movie tells a story about a world of spirits and elements (the good old air, water, earth and fire). In this world, some people are born with the ability to bend an element to their will and there is one who is called the Avatar who can bend all four elements. The Avatar goes missing about a hundred years before the plot takes place and the land is ruled by the power-hungry Fire people. The story itself is about a young boy, who is found enclosed in an ice sphere in the middle of the frozen water country by a water bender and her brother. Soon after, it is discovered that the boy is a reincarnation of the Avatar and has been in the sphere for a hundred years.

General thoughts. This movie is based on a cartoon called Avatar: The Last Airbender and I'm sure the movie would've been called this way too, if it weren't for the other popular picture with a similar name. So, this one was just called The Last Airbender.
I must admit, I haven't seen the cartoon, but from what I hear, the movie is a really bad adaptation of the cartoon. I don't care about that. I went into this movie without knowledge about the cartoon or any previous thoughts and I must say, I really enjoyed this movie.
This movie was written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, but it's really different from the rest of his movies. The classic Shyamalan style is a long and slow-paced movie with a really shocking ending. I really like the thriller-ish style of Shyamalan, so this was sort of a disappointment in that part. This movie was more like something James Cameron-ish, with really lavish special effects and not much of a special story line to speak of. The setting is nice, but it was created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the people who created the original cartoon series, not by Shyamalan. That is probably also the reason why it couldn't have worked out as something Shyamalan would do. He just couldn't drift too far off the original plot.
As I've already mentioned, the special effects in this one are really cool. I love a blockbuster with lots of eye-candy.
The plot also left room for a sequel and I must say, I would want to see that one. Although, sticking the name of Shyamalan on this project made me expect some really elaborate plot twist, I'm not sorry I saw this. Great entertainment.
Also, this movie has no mainstream famous actors, so that was a nice touch. The most famous was the banished prince, who was played by Dev Patel, made famous by Slumdog Millionaire. Overall, there were a lot of actors of Indian descent, probably because Shyamalan himself was born in India.
I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys a pretty fairy-tale.

7/10 Flogs

Machete (2010)

The important stuff here.

The Plot. The story is about a federale (Machete, Danny Trejo) on a run from Mexico after he is betrayed by his boss. A drug lord (Steven Seagal) kills his family and Machete flees to the United States, where border control is run by vigilantes and a ruthless anti-immigrant senator is trying to be re-elected. Machete is hired by the senator's aide to assassinate the senator, but instead of killing the senator, Machete is framed for the attempt, after which the senator's people go after Machete to dispose of the witness. Machete contacts the local underground immigration network for assistance.

General thoughts. I really enjoyed this movie. It's got fast-paced action with a Robert Rodriguez twist to it, which means that some of the elements in action sequences are so bizarre, unreal and outrageous, that it's funny. Like, when some interesting fact is mentioned about something or some item is shown that would seem irrelevant at the time, you just know that this will be used to do something nasty. The one-liners are another thing that really adds to the weird atmosphere of the action sequences. They are tacky and stupid at times, but that just adds to the funny action. Also, Rodriguez likes blood, guts and dismemberment to somewhat of an alarming extent. I'm not saying it's bad,  after all it adds to the realism. The bloody bits are also made to look as over the top as possible. Even the sound effects are to the extreme, when it comes to all kinds of bloody deaths.
Another great thing about this movie is the cast. It has Danny Trejo as the main character and I really can't think of anybody who would be better for the role of a big mean Mexican with the lust for sharp objects with inhuman length. Also, Michelle Rodriguez was awesome as a sexy, but tough sidekick. She played the role of the head of the immigrant resistance and I think she was spot on.
Jessica Alba played a sweeter sidekick who was also able to take care of herself, when needed, but was more into cuddling and settling things peacefully. She does have some Mexican blood, but I don't think she was the best choice for the role. I'd have gone with Penelope Cruz or even Salma Hayek, but the truth is, they probably wouldn't have been as cute as Jessica Alba.
The one role I didn't like was Steven Seagal as the Mexican drug lord. The man is Irish-American and Jewish, but not Mexican. He was so wrong for the role, that it was painful to watch. Luckily he wasn't shown enough for it to ruin the movie. Come to think of it, Steven Seagal is painful to watch in most roles because he can play whoever he wants to play, but he'll always be Steven Seagal and not the person he's portraying. Although, it was sort of funny to see Seagal in a movie like this.
Danny Trejo's son, Gilbert also had an interesting little role in this movie. He was one of the few non-violent characters. He was the one who was drawing in the middle of the battle.

All in all, I would recommend this movie to anybody who would enjoy an action movie with a comic twist and doesn't mind an above average amount of human-sauce every once in a while. A great movie. Thank you, mr Rodriguez, for once again proving, that Hollywood has more ways to go than just down.
Next hope - Sin City 2.

9/10 Flogs

Knight and Day (2010)

"We have a long way to go, Roy. To Gay Porn." [Cape Horn]

Important info here.

The Plot. The story is about a woman, June (Cameron Diaz), who meets, by random, a man, Roy (Tom Cruise), who turns out to be a secret agent. He is protecting a new special kind of battery, that's supposed to be an endless energy source, and the creator of said battery. This battery is sought after by a government agency and a Spanish arms dealer. The two get into all sorts of trouble and in the middle of the action, some romance breaks out for a few moments.

General thoughts. I'm not a big fan of Tom Cruise, let's start off with that. I don't like the man, so I was really biased going into the movie. It didn't actually turn out half bad. It had a lot of action and a lot of general entertainment. This was the sort of a mindless action flick you would want to watch when you've been doing a lot of thinking and want to relax and not think about things much.
Like, the concept of the battery, or Zephyr. This is supposed to be a battery that could power a small city and not run out of juice. First of all, it's the size of a matchbox. If it's so new and radical, how can it be so tiny? OK, maybe the guy who made it really was a total genius, since he managed to create and build alone, at a young age, something, that has been impossible for a long long time. In fact, it still is. Energy needs to come from something. You'd have to have supernatural powers to create something from nothing.
So yeah, for someone who knows more than 9th grade worth of physics, this movie is a bit weird.
It was good entertainment, but nothing I'd want to watch again. It didn't get boring, but it wasn't special in any way. It just wasn't anything but another Hollywood action flick.

5/10 Flogs

The Karate Kid (2010)

Important info here.

The Plot. If you have seen the original Karate Kid, this is the same, only the kid is black, 12 years old and the whole thing is set in China.
If you have not seen the 1984 version - The story is of a kid who gets bullied at school by some martial art wielding bullies and is saved by an asian maintenance guy. The guy ends up training the kid for a big marital arts tournament in order to win the respect of the bullies.

General thoughts. As I said, the movie is set in China. Beijing mostly, but for some reason they did some training in the Great Wall of China. I don't know why, the thing is quite far from Beijing. I guess one point of the movie was to show the world that China is not that bad of a place. They showed the Forbidden City, some kind of a fancy temple on top of a mountain and some other stuff.
I don't know why they named the movie Karate kid. They don't do much of Karate in China. The whole movie is build around Kung Fu instead. Pretty much the same thing, but the name sort of makes a difference. Why call it the Karate Kid, if it didn't have Karate in it?
I think one of the reasons for this to be set in China, not in Japan, is because they just had to get Jackie Chan to do this, but he's Chinese. Come to think of it, how many car factory workers moved to China once the production was moved there? Was it really cheaper to move to China then find another job? I guess it is. That's how little Dre got there.
I wish they at least would've come up with a separate story for this movie. The final tournament is exactly the same, with the leg injury by the half finalist, who Happens to be in the same team as the main bad guy, who is supposed to meet the hero in the final round. The tournament was the same, but luckily the moves were a bit different. I swear, if I would've seen him do the Crow technique, I'd have stopped watching it.
I also noticed some cut-backs. The master taught the student using only one 'weird exercise' instead of the three different ones used in the original. There was the car connection with the master, but instead of having 4 antique cars laying around in the back yard, he had only one, in the middle of his living room and not even an antique. And of course, the movie was shot in China, which must be a lot cheaper than doing it in, let's say, Japan or the US.
On the bright side, the first big role for Jaden Smith was a real good one. I think the lad did a really great job. Maybe a little too much showing off, but the parts that matter were good. Also, he is really his father's child when it comes to his facial characteristics. And attitude. Let's just hope that his career won't end where it started, like for Ralph Macchio, with Karate Kid.
All in all, this movie would be great for someone who has not seen or heard about the first movie. For anybody else, this just feels like a complete and utter rip-off. It's great entertainment and a nice family movie with a happy ending. Just what you'd expect from this type of movie.

5/10 Flogs

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (2010)

Any necessary info on the movie is here.

This one is of a particular interest to me simply because I've had the chance to have a go at both the original Prince of Persia game (yes, the 1989 version) and the first of the modernized series, The Sands of Time (2003). The latter conveniently bares the same name as the movie in question.
I didn't plan on seeing this right away, but figured it was worth a look, since I really liked the concept of the 2003 version of the game.

The Plot. The main character Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) isn't born a prince, but is found by a Persian king, who takes Dastan in and raises him as his son along with his own two sons. Dastan grows up to be respectable and wise and both of his brothers trust his opinions as does their father.
When the Persians conquer the city of Alamut on the suspicion of them selling weapons to the enemies of Persia, Dastan comes across a weird dagger. Soon after, the king is murdered and Dastan is framed for it. He escapes with the princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton) and goes on a quest to restore his name.

General thoughts. There aren't many game-to-movie ports that actually work and I am happy to say this is one of them. I really liked that they incorporated the whole running, climbing and jumping around into the movie. The movement dynamics were possibly the greatest part of the 2003 game and at that time were also quite innovative. In the movie, this got a little bit unreal at times, but it didn't get too bad. They did change the story a whole lot on this one. In fact, the only things left from the original Sands of Time plot were the dagger (even the general shape and the functionality of it), the idea of a great sandstorm, the big hourglass (which looked very different) and the fact that there's a princess involved. They did make the movie a little bit more realistic. The game was all about hacking through loads of sand monsters, while the movie was about betrayal, parental and brotherly love and a whole lot of light wisdom. Just like any average Hollywood flick, the ending is predictable with the better part of the whole plot and the whole movie is built around eye-candy, likable characters and the chemistry between the main hero and his sidekick (typically female). As an average Hollywood flick, this was great. It was entertaining, pretty and interesting.
Jake Gyllenhaal did a great job as Dastan. He was really believable. The one that seemed sort of weird was Ben Kingsley as Nizam, the brother of the king. He did a great job, but I don't think he was a very good choice for the role.
All in all, a really entertaining movie, but nothing more than that. I probably wouldn't watch it again, but it was good entertainment. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes eye-candy, fast-paced action, beautiful women and.. well.. sand.

6/10 Flogs