SYNOPSIS: 

After the events of Endgame or what the school kids have been referring to as 'The Blip', Peter Parker (Tom Holland) carried on being Spider-Man. However, he has been pressured by many to step up and be the leader of the Avengers, replacing Tony Stark which is quite hard for him since all he wanted was to have a normal teenage life (or at least a proper normal holiday in Europe). 

I can assure you that the most exciting thing for me about this movie is Jake Gyllenhaal. I simply adore him as a person and worship him for his acting. He rarely disappoints. In this movie, I love him more than Tom Holland. Sure, Tom is great like always but Jake is so terrifyingly charming. I mean, one moment he can be this caring bro like Captain America and the next thing you know, he turns out to be this emotionless psychopath. 

I mean, as a comic book reader, I've known from the start that Mysterio is a baddie but the way Jake Gyllenhaal portrayed the character made me hopeful that maybe the MCU Mysterio is not evil and the perfect mentor for Spider-Man. Yeah, for a second there, I was very hopeful. That's why when the evil plan was revealed, I was a bit crushed and yet in awed of how the story went. 

The look of Mysterio is also mindblowingly awesome. The fish bowl head works and the overalls are phenomenal. His "super powers" are well thought of. The integration of illusion techniques and technology makes him believable. His threat is also no joke. You can see how formidable he is with that horde of killer drones and hyper illusions. The character can stand tall as one of my favorite MCU villains. 

The second best thing about this movie is the puppy love between Peter Parker and MJ (Zendaya). I have to say that this version of MJ is the one that my younger self would have a crush on because I was pretty into weird, quirky girls when I was in high school and college. The interaction between the two characters is awkward and sweet which is how a puppy love should be. These two did bring a smile to my face. 

The awkwardness is not just in the relationship of Peter and MJ. In fact, most of the characters are cringey and awkward like the class teacher and Ned and his new girlfriend, Betty. Happy and Aunt May!!!! The characters are awkwardly hilarious and it makes this movie much more enjoyable.

I love the story so much because it makes sense and well thought of. I mean, seriously, you can see many events are related to each other. First of all, if you watch the second end credit scene, it does make sense why Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson), the most paranoid and smartest person in the MCU would make a mistake of believing in Mysterio. Welp, it's because he's not Nick Fury. He's Talos, the shape shifting alien. Then I love that this movie is related to some of the previous MCU movies. Like, how Mysterio has the motivation to hate Tony Stark. Heck, I never thought that small scene of Tony showcasing BARF from Civil War would be used as a huge component in this movie. Big kudos to the writers.

Did I mention second end credit? Yes I did. There are two end credits and while the second one is intriguing as I mentioned earlier, the first end credit is hilariously amusing. The return of J.K Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson blew everyone's mind!! I love where this movie is going. I shows how the creators care what the audience truly wants in terms of casting. I can't help but feel sorry for Peter Parker though. All he wanted was just to be small time superhero - the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man but after this reveal, I can imagine how chaotic his life would be. Many villains would surely go after his family and loved ones. I just can't wait to see what the next movie would be like. I'm predicting multiple villains at the same time - THE SINISTER SIX! 

The second end credit also opens new doors to the MCU. If I look at the comic books, I would say that this is a preparation for the Secret Wars Arc. 

The action scenes are plenty and at a larger scale than the first movie. As I mentioned, Mysterio is a formidable opponent and Spider-Man has to go through a lot to beat him. My favorite scene is when Spidey took the bridge sign and held it like a shield and his other hand was holding something that seem like a hammer. For me, he looked like Captain America during his solo fight with Thanos in Endgame. Got me excited for a bit. Seriously, it made me think that Spider-Man is a combination of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. Smart, humble and never give up.

Furthermore, the visual effects of this movie is astounding. My favorite? The part when Tony Stark came out of his grave. Holy Shit! Damn. I never expected Mysterio's illusions can be made to as awesome as that. 

All in all, I just want to say that this movie is probably the best Spider-Man movie ever because I love how formidable Mysterio is not just in terms of fire power but also intellect and cold heartedness. The movie is hilarious and the action and visual effects are awesome. 

5 out of 5 Stars.

Mitch Rapp (Dylan O'Brien) and his girlfriend was on holiday at a beach when a group of terrorists attacked. His girlfriend was killed and that triggered Mitch to train himself to be an assassin so that he could get revenge. 

If you read the synopsis above, you might think that this is a typical revenge story. Welp, it's not. The revenge part is just short. Then, the main character got sucked into a world of spies and CIA shit. I have to say, the revenge part, which is at the first 10 to 20 minutes of the film is very intriguing for me. The rest of the film?? Hmm... Not so much. To be honest, this movie is boring. 

The story is kinda ridiculous. A man who train himself to be an assassin is hired by the CIA to do some shit. Of course, when talking about CIA, then ought to be some secret program to train people into spies. The main character got thrown into that secret training program for, I don't know, maybe 2 days??? and then got permission to join a mission. Oh wow. 

The training scenes are hilarious. I did not mean it in a good way. It's unnecessary and it's just a poor excuse to introduce the main character to the Micheal Keaton's character - Stan Hurley, the secret program instructor. There's nothing cool about the training scenes. I thought it was going to be a tough program but nope. 

Furthermore, the pacing is slow. Characters spend too much time talking to each other about how people should not take this shit personal and only focus on the mission. For fuck's sake, there isn't even a love scene. You know, if a movie is bad, but there's a scene where the main characters make love for a few seconds, you would be thinking "Welp, at least the sex scene is good.". Nope, nope. This movie has no sex scene, no lovey dovey. There is a moment of tension between the main character and his female colleague and they were in a bathroom. But nope. He beat the shit out of her. Literally. 

In terms of acting, Dylan O'Brien did an okay job. I think the material he was given to work with is lacking something. The character lacks... conviction? Like he doesn't know whether he's a brat with a mouth or just an emo guy. 

The script also does not bring the best out of Micheal Keaton. Like, what a waste. Micheal kept talking and talking and talking, it bored the shit out of me. 

Apart from that, the action is meh. There are no over the top spy action shit. Just regular shooting and stabbing and brawling. The main character spends too much time fighting nobodies. For example, there's this scene where he breaks into an apartment and he takes so much time to kill one bodyguard. Like hell, kill him already!! The title of the movie suggests that this movie would be filled with cool assassinations. Hahahahahaha.... Nope. No assassinations in here. 

All in all, I would recommend you to skip this movie because it is boring. The story is uninteresting, the action is not intriguing, and the characters just won't stop talking. 

1 star out of 5. 

SYNOPSIS: 

Jacob (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), a plain, married suit and tie guy, was sent to prison for a crime he unintentionally did. In prison, he quickly learned that he needed to adapt or die. 

I have to admit, I was interested in seeing this movie because Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (damn it's hard to type his name) a.k.a the infamous Jamie Lannister a.k.a the kingslayer is in it. This guy is damn good in Game of Thrones and I was intrigued that he is willing to star in a prison gangster film. 

I have to say, Nikolaj is the best thing about this movie. His acting is on point. At first he is portraying this tough, scary prison gang member and then during flashbacks, he seems like total nerd. That's good acting. The whole appearance change from nerdy to frightening formidable guy is also impressive. I'm not talking only about the looks. His presence, his persona... Damn, this guy is good. 

Talking about acting, the supporting characters are also awesome. Jacob's wife, Kate, played by Lake Bell is also a good character birthed from good acting. Another outstanding actor is Jon Bernthal a.k.a The Punisher who played Jacob's fellow gang member, Shotgun. 

I can say that all actors and actresses in this movie did a really good job. 

The story and plot is also outstanding. The transitions between real time scenes and flashbacks go smoothly and do not seem out of place. The pacing is nice. It's not too fast and not too slow. I don't know how to describe it but it is nice. It glued me to my seat. I don't feel bored at all. 

Furthermore, this movie is beautifully shot. The camera angles and picture edit made me think, "Oh, this would make a beautiful photo." a few times. I am pretty impressed with the director. 

Apart from that, the fight scenes are bloody and kinda realistic. It is not over elaborated. All of them are prison style. Shanks, clumsy brawls and etc.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoy this movie and hoping that there would be a part two because the main character can be seen as necessary evil or something like that. The actors are awesome and the story is well written. 

5 stars from me. 

SYNOPSIS: 

Arthur (Jason Mamoa) is a product of love between Queen Atlanna of Atlantis and a normal lighthouse keeper. Being the first born, he is destined to be the King of Atlantis and no matter how much he wanted to deny his own rights, situation forces him to unleash his own potential and be the bridge between two worlds. In more simple and direct words, Aquaman doesn't want to be king but his asshole younger brother wants to start a war so Aquaman has no choice but to be king. 

James Wan is an interesting director for me. When he was assigned to be Furious 7's director, I had my doubts because how come he who is specialized in making good horror movies is given the task to direct such a fun and action filled franchise? Well, he nailed Furious 7 as the action parts are so over the top and fun to watch. James brought the same elements into Aquaman and managed to take a different turn from other DC movies so far by not making it too gloomy and serious but instead, full of wonders and fun. 

Okay, making Aquaman a surfer dude may not be James Wan's idea but he embraced it and fully exploited it. I love the concept because the Aquaman in the comics is too serious and kinda depressed about not wanting to be king and wanting to belong somewhere in the world sort of thing. Movie Aquaman just lay it out to everyone - "Hey, I don't want to be king. But if you keep pressing me to do it!!!!! Whatever, I'll do it." DC cinematic Aquaman is so laid back and cool, it's hard not to fall in love with him. 

Going back to assessing the movie, as I mentioned, James Wan managed to make it fun by putting so much over the top action scenes. My favorite is the part in Sicily, Italy which is revealed in some of the marketing efforts before the release. Even though I have watched the scene before the release, it's just so cool to watch. 

The action scenes also showcase Aquaman's strength as a hero. We can finally see how strong he is and how talking to fish is not an ability can be taken so lightly. I'm just so happy with the amount of work being put into the action parts. 

Besides that, I am impressed with how Atlantis turns out. In the comics and animated movies / series, Atlantis has always been portrayed as a bit primitive with some spices of technology. In this movie, it's the other way around. Atlantis is so modern with little touches of ancient customs and elements. James Wan's Atlantis is like a mixture of Tron cities and Star Wars. 

The CGI is tremendously wonderful. I love the Trench scene when the ship is being attacked. It's very Snyder like and reminded me of scenes from 300. As expected from Zack Snyder. 

The costumes are awesome to see and pay homage to the comics especially at the later part of the movie. So glad to see the bright original colors are used on Aquaman. Orm or Ocean Master's battle armor at the end is also awesome. I love the face cover. Well, I don't have to mention how happy I am with Mera's. Honorable mention? Nicole Kidman. Phew. Man, she still got it. You know what I'm saying?

Of course, this movie is not perfect. The obvious flaw is in the script. I get that Aquaman / Arthur is a surfer dude with a vocabulary of a ten year old but in my opinion it would not hurt to give him one or two cool, memorable lines. I also wish they had done a better job at writing Mera's script. She's a princess for God's sake. Throughout the movie, she speaks like a bimbo but acts like warrior, which I think do not match. 

Maybe I love comic book Mera too much that I feel conflicted about movie Mera. Amber Heard is awesome but I think she needs to bring more fierce into Mera. Comic book Mera is not to be messed with. In the comics, even Aquaman kinda fears her a bit. In this movie, Mera seems more flirty or easily charmed. Hey I get that Aquaman is the most manly man in the whole seas but come on, she's a warrior princess. I was hoping that she would have Wonder Woman's characters a little bit because when I think about it, both are quite similar in background. 

Even though Aquaman is the main, to tell you the truth, I kinda fell in love with Orm / Ocean Master a bit. It's probably because the production gave Jason Mamoa with little to work with while Patrick Wilson has so many inspiring yet evil lines. Like I mentioned, they should give Aquaman more cool lines and not portray him as too dumb. 

Lastly, I just had to say that I am so glad to see Willem Dafoe in this. He's awesome. 

To conclude, Aquaman is a fun to watch movie as the action is over the top fun and the scenes are beautiful to see. Though, I expected more clever and memorable script. 

4 out of 5 stars

"Hulk? Smash!"

Loki (Tom Hiddleston) arrived on earth with a mission - to steal the Tesseract and wage war against the humans... Standing between him and his bloody invasion were Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and S.H.I.E.L.D...

Marvel's The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble) is unarguably the biggest 2012 movie so far... Though I'm not a Marvel fan (I would choose the Justice League over Avengers), but I've seen all of its movies - Iron Man 1 & 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America : The First Avenger, therefore, I just can't afford to miss this one... 

The Hilarity 

Kudos to the director and script writers for successfully winning laughs from the audience with clever dialogues and physical humor... Yes, this movie is entertainingly funny! 

Note that Tony Stark wasn't the only one who contributed the verbal jokes... I personally love the part when Thor answered Black Widow's allegation on Loki by simply saying, "He's adopted..." That one cracked up the audience hard... 

What made audience laughed even harder was the part when Loki angrily yelled at the Hulk... "I am a God!! I am not going to be bullied by a [DUMM! BLAMM!! DUSH!!]..." 

The Story

The plot was quite engaging because the build up before the epic conclusion was tense... The heroes didn't just sprung into action as soon as they assembled... Instead, because of their difference in philosophy and approach, Loki managed to get inside their heads and turned them against each other... Hulk made everyone nervous especially during the heroes' tense blame game... 

The Action

Four superheroes against an army from another realm... Of course the action must be made big! Awesome director is awesome... Joss Whedon didn't simply blow up everything aimlessly... He carefully paced the movie to give every character a fair chance to shine... All Avengers got their own moment of epicness in battle... Even Black Widow and Hawkeye had their own awesome action moments...

Loki FTW!

Since the movie Thor, I've always adored Tom Hiddleston and in this movie, he didn't disappoint... His every appearance was a treat for me because I love that sinister smile and crazy talk... Thanks to writers for giving him awesome lines to work with... His best scene would be when he tried to get inside of Black Widow's head... Even though at that moment he sorta fell for Natasha's act, but his performance just mesmerized me... 

I love his head gear :-P

Before the showing, the biggest concern that I had about this movie was will the director be able to provide each of the main characters fair amount of screen time without abandoning their backstories with the right pacing... Well, Joss Whedon managed to successfully address that issue and created quite a masterpiece... 

I also resented the fact that Edward Norton not being the Hulk but Mark Ruffalo did such a great job... 

My wife drooled over Chris Evans... I did too... 

The best 2012 movie so far!!

4 out of 5 stars~

"It's the North Koreans, I'm tellin' ya!"

As Earth's astral technology is advancing, humans are finally able to locate distant planets including Planet Goldilocks which was identified having the same features as Earth... Opportunists sends out signals to the planet hoping the beings there respond in a diplomatic way for the benefit of both planets... The aliens' respond, however, is not friendly...

A little trivia - this movie is based on a board game by Hasbro

I had quite a few reasons to be excited over the showing of this movie... The main reason would be because it's a war movie which I love... I expected a bombardment of action scenes and gun firing and giant explosions... The other reason was because this movie is one of the first high budgeted movies this year... Wrath of the Titans was rather disappointing, so I really hoped that this one delivered... The last reason was how my friends who had watched it before me reacted after watching... They said that it was awesome, cool and the best 2012 movie so far... Upon hearing their comments, on the second day of the showing, I persuaded my wife to come with me to the cinemas... My wife was not a fan of alien movies and therefore I kinda hoped that Battleship could change her perception... 

The Humor

The first thing that I liked about this movie was the humor brought by the problematic Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch) and his wild acts of flirt to gain the attention of Samantha (Brooklyn Dekker), Admiral Shane's (Liam Neeson) daughter... His funny moments continued even after he joined the navy as ordered by his older brother Stone Hopper (Alexander Skargard)...

The Special Effects

The mood shifted from humorous to serious as five alien space crafts landed in waters near Hawaii islands... I was astonished by the special effects when the aliens started to make their moves... As expected from the creators of Transformers... I loved the design of alien space ships where they "hopped" on water instead of hovering on the surface... The rolling assault vehicles were also awesome... 

The Action

The action part, on the other hand, was a letdown for me... I found the battle between the three destroyers versus the alien crafts not very engaging...

The aliens seemed so superior at first - just by sounding their reply warning left all deck hands on the three destroyers paralyzed and vulnerable to attack... However, as the movie progressed, the aliens became more and more careless... a laughing stock... 

I was hoping that the battle between destroyers and aliens to be more long lasting as it will increase the tension... Yes, there were explosions and gunning, but there were no "Whoa, shit!!" moments... 

Rihanna??

Having Rihanna to play a badass chick didn't help with anything... Who's idea was it to put her on board? Through out the movie, I hoped the aliens murder her in cold blooded... 

The verdict is, this movie was a big letdown for me... I personally think that it's on par with Wrath of the Titans... Just average, just a popcorn flick... Maybe it's my fault for expecting too much out of it... 

2.5 out of 5 stars...

Though some might disagree with me... For example, my friend Adi here... :-P

"You will learn someday that being half human, makes you stronger than a god..."

The demi-god, Perseus (Sam Worthington), son of Zeus was forced to leave his humble way of life and help to save the gods and mankind once more... This time, he battled Kronos - the evil father of Zeus (Liam Neeson), Hades (Ralph Fiennes) and Poseidon (Danny Huston)... 

Finally, the second installment of Clash of the Titans is now showing in the cinemas nationwide... I'm pretty excited about this movie because I'm a sucker for Greek god movies and the trailer looks kinda awesome... However, at the same time, I'm worried that the second is as disappointing as the first...

Special Effects

Looks like the production house, led by Jonathan Liebesman, the director, is quite generous with the special effects... I'm sure that the crew had been spending most of the production time working on making this movie looks great... I praise the awesome design of rampaging titans and monsters - Kronos, chimera and the two bodied soldiers - as all of them look colossal and frightening... 

The most impressive scene in terms of special effects is when Perseus battled Kronos at the end... The lava spills, flaming attacks and gigantic physical attacks are indeed well suited for 3D imaging... 

Same Formula

Wrath of the Titans uses the same formula as Clash in terms of the story : Gods in deep trouble, Perseus is forced to help, the journey begins, Perseus defeat gigantic enemy... So, is it a good thing or a bad thing? For me, it's bad... I didn't like the first one, therefore, because the story is quite the same, I also don't like the second one...

Acting

This time, they gave more material for Liam Neeson to work upon and that's pretty awesome... There's no need for me to elaborate how good Liam is as an actor... His performance was matched by Ralph Fiennes who played the role of Hades... Watching both Zeus and Hades fought side by side is indeed exciting...

I wished Zeus wore the shiny armor costume from Clash...

However, the lead, Sam Worthington was very stiff in his acting... He failed in portraying touching emotions when playing the Perseus being a father part... His effort to be subtly hilarious also win no laughs from the audience... It's better for him to be just in action scenes...

If u love the Clash, then the little improvement in Wrath would be very significant for you... Nevertheless, if u're not a fan of the first movie (like me), then, this one would remind you again about how average this movie is... 

Yes, this movie is not bad... It's just mediocre... 

2.5 out of 5 stars...

"Bunohan is one of those slow movies that I don't really mind being slow..."

After years of separation, three step brothers, Adil (Zahiril Adzim), Ilham (Faizal Hussein) and Bakar (Pekin Ibrahim) returned to their hometown, Bunohan, all with their own individual intention and mission... The reunion was a bloody one as all three turned against each other in a dispute on inheritance and blood ties... 

First of all, I would like to congratulate Dain Said, the director of Bunohan for the success of making such high quality and in depth movie... I have to say, this is the best Malay movie I've ever seen so far... 

Okey, now lets move on to the analysis... Dear readers, bear in mind that this writing of mine is based on my own findings and it can be contradicting with your thoughts... If u find there's a need to correct me, please do so by leaving some comments on the comment section below...

Camera Work

The thing that first caught my attention and impressed me the most is the camera work... Instead of using basic camera techniques, Dain Said experimented with close ups and long shots, thus putting some artistic values in each movie frame and scene... For example, the part when Bakar had a conversation with his father, Pak Eng... Instead of just focusing on the conversation, the camera shifted focus on the whole house with Bakar and Pak Eng at the windows of their respected rooms... I was also wowed at the scene when Bakar killed his own father... Superb camera trick there...

Besides that, there are so many panoramic shots showing the vast area of greenery, indicating how beautiful and untouched most places in Kelantan are... 

The Story

The fact that the script is mostly Kelantanese is not the most unique feature of this movie... Instead, what makes it so special is the story line because there are so many hidden messages behind most of the scenes...

Bunohan is one of those slow movies that I don't really mind being slow... It starts with an enigma by showing two old folks talking about main puteri and saka leaving the audience blurred on what the movie is all about... Then, it blasts them with the intensity of a Muay Thai underground fight followed by a bloody riot and the portrayal of how badass Faizal Hussein is as a hitman... The movie then transits into a slower pace until the end...

However, the slow pace is not something to dread about as audience are treated with more enigmas and shocking revelations on what really happened in Bunohan and what triggered the family dispute... 

Hidden Messages

A straight forward movie is the least appropriate term to describe Bunohan... Like I said before, there are so many hidden messages in the scenes and here are some that I could figure out on my own... 

Lets start with the title, BUNOHAN... In Malay, Bunohan means "the killing" or "murder"... This could be a foreshadowing of how the story would be - full with blood spills and horrifying deaths... However, is it really that frank? I don't think so... 

I think that humans are not the only ones being killed in this movie... The massacre is also on the culture... Pak Wah had told us about it a few times by giving lectures on how humans had been destroying nature's gifts and thus the traditional ways of treating wounds and injuries are slowly fading and no longer practiced... 

The death of culture is also portrayed in Adil's action of declining the land inheritance... The land is actually a symbolism of culture... Instead of embracing his people's ways, Adil traveled far and learned Muay Thai which is a foreign martial arts... This sort of portrays the condition that is happening today where our youngsters prefer to embrace foreign ways of life instead of living their own... 

When Adil rejected the land inheritance, the old graves including his mother's, were dug out and the bones were thrown away in the wild... This shows how the rejection of culture inheritance by our future generation can lead to the tarnation of history...

Adil represents the young people of our country...

Whereas, Bakar represents the vicious modern businessmen and politicians... He's like Lynas... With the presence of Lynas, culture and nature will be destroyed... Bakar ordered the damnation of the graves and his project on the land shall destroy everything... 

Adil ignored the land and therefore it gave Bakar the chance to seize and manipulate it for his own profit... Young people are being ignorant on the importance of defending our country's resources and inheritance thus opening doors to businessmen to destroy culture and history... 

Bakar's vicious actions to gain the land obviously portrays the dirty games businessmen and politicians play in order to gain profit... At first, they play with words and when they're desperate, they go for the kill...

What about Ilham? What does he represents? I'm not so sure about it... I guess Ilham is a portrayal of those who stands between culture and foreign ways... Just like Adil, Ilham also traveled far and acquired foreign ways of living... However, despite of that, he still believe in his history and culture... He came back to Bunohan and gave effort in searching for the truth and restoring graves...

At the end of the day, both Adil and Ilham were killed in the name of business... It's nothing personal, it's just business... Before Adil learns about the real truth and proclaim the land, it's best for him to be eliminated... Ilham tried to protect Adil but he's also eliminated... Do you understand the symbolism? At the end of the day, Bakar is the only one who survived and gained profit out of the dispute...

The fact that they all are brothers indicates that the businessmen are actually killing their own people...

Another aspect that I'm not so sure of is the representation of the kid who tried to learn from Pak Eng... Who is he? and why is he so spooky? All I know is the conversation between the two old men at the beginning of the movie had to do with him... Maybe he's possessed by Pak Eng's spirit and acted as a gateway for the late Mek Yah to communicate with Pak Eng... 

To summarize, Bunohan is a slow paced movie with a really intriguing story with lots of hidden messages... For me, it's an extraordinary movie, on par with foreign indie movies and Oscar materials... 

Many complained about how Bunohan is not getting the appreciation it totally deserves... Well, as I were saying, Bunohan is on par with Oscar movies... Have you ever seen Oscar movies being celebrated on the blockbuster lists? Nope... but they sure win a lot of awards...

Yes, Bunohan should be awarded for it's artistic and moralistic values... Go Bunohan!!

4.5 out of 5 stars...