The Brothers Bloom

This was the only other pick for the weekend next to the mad rush for perhaps one of the biggest robotic block-buster of this Summer. It played out kinda funny, kinda weird but all in a very colourful kinda way.

Films involving cons, scams and swindles have always been playing between the fine line of the grand scheme of the con and not getting emotionally involved. That which is real versus that which is not. This film is no different but yet unique in an indie kind of way.

The movie kicks off interestingly well and does a great job keeping its audiences entertained with the colourful characters constantly injecting humour of all kinds both in the fore and background. The tempo two-thirds into the film suffers a slight slowdown but continues to steamroll till the end. One other area where this movie scores points is in its costumes.

With a cast of Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo and muted Rinko Kikuchi (yet again). What could go wrong?

The Taking of Pelham 123

If there be a hall of fame for action film makers. The Scott family would have scored two easy hits on its A-list.

Although the pull factor was not exactly felt in the trailer which may not always be a bad thing. The film manages to deliver the under-promised and more in full effects.

The story is your usual hostage-negotiator-ransom-deadline action. However, it draws plenty of references to the Heroes of everyday Life. In fact, it reminds us that there are no such thing as Heroes. Only normal people with the gallantry to take that step forward in order to preserve Lives of others in distress even if it means putting their own in harm's way.

The ride is packed with action at every turn and the thrill is really intense. Even the humour injected are pretty dark too.

I had no idea that this was a remake of an earlier film until after, but anything that bears Denzel Washington's mark is reason enough not to be missed. I have never been a big fan of John Travolta but that does not dispose the fact that he is still regarded as an on-screen heavy weight with sensational acting skill and even more amazing chemistry to match his title.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Although I have had my fair share of chick flicks. I have all but given up as the plots are largely identical and gets pretty mundane after a while.
Needless to say, I was dragged into this one but what a hilarious surprise it turns out to be indeed.

Cocky-funny would sound just about right for this one. Although we all know how such flicks ends but the course it takes getting there is quite worth the trouble.
It would have a field day for your Girlfriends but at the same time has much to offer us guys too.

This may have been the funniest romantic comedy I have seen this year yet and would be the perfect date movie of this season.

State of Play

In view of all the clever conspiracy theory flicks that came and went. Few manages to do so with such wit and sacarsm. This one really is quite the gem. The plot gets pretty thick but worry not as the rabbit hole deepens at quite a comfortable pace.

The links to each of its subjects slowly establishes as the two journalists follow-up on a lead of a political scandal but ends up racing against time trying to uncover the dark truth behind all the lies and deceit.
The story starts out okay but quickly presents more and more pieces to the puzzle that weaves into the main which that digs into your curiosity evermore.

Action seekers but warned. This dialogue piece, although written with much wit offers very few bullet shells and even lesser bodycount.

Drag Me To Hell

My long yearning for a film that is able to make the hair at the back of my neck stand and my skin crawl made me walked into this horror flick which seems pretty promising.

The formula for most of Hollywood horror flicks have always seem come up short when invoking fear as compared to the likes of Japanese or Thai ones. This one is no different.
Yes, there are many jumpy scenes. And yes, there are the usual blood and gore to gross you out. Although the mysteries behind Gypsy curses are rather intriguing. The whole idea of the movie is not as scary as I had hoped (or wished) them to be. In fact, many of the scenes are downright hilarious.

This is honestly a fun B-grade horror comedy to watch and give your date a good scare but seriously nothing much beyond that.

Henry Poole Is Here

If my Life was a movie. I would really like it if it was this one. More movies are churning out of tinseltown recently than I have time for, but I am just so glad I chose this one today.

The story line although not expectional nor fantastic is very well-paced and scores major muffin points on the amount of Heart it brings to its audiences.
It touches the sensitive subject of religion but yet focuses fully on simply having faith even if you are not a Godly person.
Faith in Life, faith in Love, faith in the good in people around and most importantly, faith in ourselves when the horizon looks bleak. That things we encounter in our everyday Lives are not totally random and happens for a reason.

Ultimately, I am a person who is rather skeptical about miracles although I do acknowledge the fact that they do happen once in a (very long) while. And the basis and rationality of miracles is: Believing.

This is definitely a feel good tear jerker you can bring a date to away from all the reports and explosions of the usual fair. And who knows, a good portion of those muffin points I spoke of earlier might just get bumped up to you too. All you need is have some faith.

Der Baader Meinhof Komplex

Walked into this German film blind being drawn by the fact it is based on a true story of how the terrorism group Red Army Faction (RAF) in post-war West Germany began and gained momentum in the 80's.

This is too intense a movie (for me) to really be enjoyed on a Sunday afternoon unless you already have some idea what the RAF is all about to begin with. Too bad I did not even knew they existed until now...

Movie goers who are looking for a run-of-the-mill action terrorism flick had better reconsider this one. It is a long and slightly draining film where audiences may be caught trying to make sense of all that is happening before being thrown into yet another thick plot. The only thing that kept me interested was the sparse but intense terror tatics the group used and the retro wardrobe donned by the actors and actresses.

Terminator Salvation

Have been looking forward to watch this film most hoping the franchise would be revive after the colossal disappointment of T3 which leaves one to wonder how something so unimaginably fantastic turns so unimaginably sour in just one sequel.

This new film is seriously a breath of new Life for all Terminator fans. In some ways, it seems to have totally disclaimed the last film in having anything to do with the franchise as most references were made to remind audiences of the second film instead of the irreconcilable last.
The pace of the story is very well-spaced to let us recollect and link up where our memory left off.
However, audiences who have no idea what the previous stories were about had better make an effort to do some homework before walking into this one.
Despite its comeback, one will still have to admit that T2 is still that fantastic an action sci-fi which would be impossible to top.

The constant mystery of what became of our World in the future where the resistance wages war against the machines is finally coming to light in this installment. My only gripe is that we are not seeing enough encounters with the Terminators although I suspect the makers are only serving us appetizers of what is to come.

A previously unknown, Sam Worthington caught his big break in this film being the first of the Terminator trilogy as he stars next to the Dark Knight. He has totally proven that he is as much a worthy actor for this role as the confidence James Cameron placed in him. We can be sure we will be seeing more of him.