Box Office

The team behind The Hangover loses to Mega Mind...

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/movies.ap.org/ferrells-megamind-makes-mega-debut-with-477m-ap

Casting News

Casting news for the Avengers Movie. But before that, I was a bit surprised to see that Joss Whedon (the genius behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse) was directing it. But that's a good thing. Joss is good. :)

In addition to Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow, Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury, Chris Evans as Captain America, Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Don Cheadle as War Machine, now we have Hawkeye.

Jeremy Renner, Oscar nominee for The Hurt Locker... is either in talks for the role or have signed on, depending on which news you read...

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=28057 or http://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20100604/ten-entertainment-us-renner-db3f2d5.html

Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 is of course the sequel to the 2008 film, Iron Man. Iron Man is about Tony Stark, who was captured and injured in Afghanistan. He fashioned an arc reactor for his injured heart, along with the iron suit and weapon technology. He then told the whole world about it.

In the second movie, his adventures continue but he is actually dying from having the arc reactor in his body. So now, he is reckless and being a daredevil.

Trouble shows up in the form of Whiplash, who can also build the same reactor and also has vengeance in his mind against Stark/Iron Man. To make matters worse, Justin Hammer, Stark's archrival, is secretly funding Whiplash to humiliate Stark.

Other new characters that showed up include The Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff played by Scarlett Johansson and War Machine played by Don Cheadle, although technically James Rhodes is not a newbie.

Terrence Howard played Rhodey in the first movie and he was replaced by Don Cheadle for the second movie, over a salary dispute if I read correctly...

THE GOOD:

1. Tony Stark is a hoot and a half! Robert Downey Jr seems to play himself in this one... although, his most recent work are all almost exactly the same. Wry, sarcastic, self-deprecating charming guy... :P

2. The fight scenes between Iron Man/War Machine and the drones... really nice...

3. Has comedy, has action, has drama... nice

4. Has Scarlett Johansson as one bad-ass Black Widow



THE BAD:

1. Like The Losers, this movie suffers from a lame villain... no, not Whiplash... he's kinda good... Justin Hammer, Tony Stark's archrival... played by Sam Rockwell, the annoying villain from Charlie's Angels. Either he's written to be annoying... or he's just annoying... not at all scary or intimidating...

2. Don Cheadle playing Rhodey. He's a good actor but he's no Terrence Howard, who fit the bill and look the part. Cheadle is not kick-ass-y enough to pull it off.



Other than that, it was a good summer outing and a good sequel to a good movie. :)

Watching Movies

Twas a long break during the christmas holidays... time to catch up on some movie watching in the cinemas... there was plenty to choose from... of course the first thing I caught was Avatar...

We came in slightly late... the movie has started... maybe 5 to 10 minutes late... the hero has been transported to Pandora already... oh well...

Avatar's story is about humans trying to survive after they've nearly destroyed their own planet. They found a planet full of riches called Pandora and they're trying to get rid of the natives (Na'vi) so that they could harvest these riches.

Unfortunately, the Na'vi are not budging. Instead of a full scale invasion, some scientists decided to infiltrate the Na'vi using body doubles that they can control remotely ie the Avatars.

They need to get the Na'vi's cooperation or the army will start bulldozing and shooting...

I watched it in 3D. Avatar really is a masterpiece, combining all kinds of technology. The story itself was good and the acting is excellent. The final battle is a sight to be seen. One of the best movies out this year. Really.

Bodyguards & Assassins have a huge cast and it ran for 2 and a half hours. Quite long eh? The storyline is simple. A revolutionary leader intended to stop by Hong Kong to meet with faction leaders to discuss, what else, revolting... an assassination order was given out and the local rebels decided to put their lives on the line to ensure the leaders meet.

The 'chase' scenes were pretty good but there were too little fighting sequences given that there were plenty of action stars in it. Maybe if they shorten the movie, then the action sequence would seem longer...

There was a dubbing problem, not sure whether it was intended or an oversight... but a lot of the characters's mouth were not moving as the voices/dialogue that we can hear...

Couples Retreat. The rare one in this mix. The one with a lot of talking and no fighting nor explosion in it. Some people find that a turn-off. Well, with a title called Couples Retreat... you should know what kind of a movie this would be yes?

One couple (Jason Bateman and Kristen Bell) found themselves drifting apart because they could not conceive so they enlist their friends to come with them for therapy.

This is quite a funny, charming movie. The writing and the acting was spot on. The actors have great chemistry. I really liked Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars, Heroes) and Malin Ackerman (Watchmen).

Now, we're back to action and explosions and fighting. Sherlock Holmes. Who doesn't know him? But they've updated him into someone more dashing and debonair, slightly in the veins of 007 but slightly looser... and Watson is not just a doctor. He's a swashbuckling, handsome one.

The story starts out as Holmes and Watson thwarted Lord Blackwood's latest attempt to murder and it spiraled out of control from there. Apparently, Lord Blackwood's dealing with the supernatural and has risen from the grave and is now killing off people still. So now, Holmes and Watson needs to solve the mystery and stop Lord Blackwood's devious plans.

In the midst of all these, comes a distraction in the form of Miss Adler, who is working for someone else... and this is being set-up for Sherlock Holmes 2 I think...

Pretty good show, nicely mixing comedy, drama, mystery and action. Robert Downey and Jude Law have good chemistry together. Can't wait for Part 2... :)

Finally, Muallaf... technically, Muallaf is not actually about Muallaf... not too sure why's it's titled that way. Maybe the second time round, I'd get it.

First of all, I love the late, great Yasmin Ahmad. Her movies are all inspiring, beautiful and touching.

But... with Muallaf, I felt a bit disconnected. Hmm, how to say this... it's not her best work... but it's still good...

Some of the acting was a bit wooden but the girls (Sharifah Amani and Sharifah Aleysha) and Brian Yap were quite good. Guess Sharifah Amani and good goes hand in hand...