SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

John Cusack in "2012"

The movie mainly revolves around Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) who is a writer and a part-time limousine driver. His ex-wife Katie (Amanda Peet) and his children live together with her boyfriend, Gordon (Thomas McCarthy). Occassionally, Curtis takes his children for an outing.

Dr. Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and his counterpart in India have discovered that extraordinary phenomenon of a sun burst occurring in the sun and he begins to alert the President’s Chief of Staff, who later alert the President of the United States (Danny Glover). With that, a secret organization is formed to save mankind by building ship vessels beneath the Himalayan mountains while the public remains clueless of the upcoming disaster.

Soon, Earth’s crust displacement occurs all over the world causing cracks on the roads and before long, major cities in the world turn into dust. Curtis manages to rent a plane to save his family but his plane soon runs out of fuel, forcing him to join his limousine boss, Yuri (Zlatko Buric) who has a bigger plane.

The movie has similarity like the classic movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still” where the film depicts the end of the world and mankind are being saved.

Although mankind is saved in the end, many dies in the process and almost the entire world is filled with water except the Africa continent, which ground level has risen and the new era begins.

Overall, it is indeed an action-packed thriller, somehow, the movie is also filled with a lot of special effects and sometimes, it’s too unreal as the main characters are invincible, especially the Curtis family.

My ratings: 7 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Channing Tatum, Dennis Quaid, Saïd Taghmaoui, Rachel Nichols, Marlon Wayans in "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra"

Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) are military and are involved in transporting extremely dangerous warheads. Their caravan is ambushed by a group of mercenaries led by the Baroness (Sienna Miller), who possesses highly advanced weapons far more superior than the NATO transport unit. Duke and Ripcord’s fellow soldiers are all killed by the mercenaries. The Baroness spares the life of Duke, as Duke knows her as Amy Lewis. All of a sudden, G.I. Joe appear out of nowhere and attack the mercenary, forcing them to escape leaving behind the warheads.

Sienna Miller in "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra"

Later on, Duke and Ripcord are recruited by General Hawk (Dennis Quaid) to join the ranks of the Alpha Team, the G.I. Joes and they are brought to The Pit, the home of the Joes where Duke and Ripcord have to go through military training where most parts involve virtual reality. When they pass their tests with flying colors, they are immediately engaged in battles with the mercenaries when the mercenaries invades The Pit to steal the warheads. It is known that the mercenaries known as Cobra is led by James McCullen (Christopher Eccleston), the person responsible in using NATO’s funds to make the warheads and then steal them back.

Duke, Ripcord, Scarlett (Rachel Nichols), Snake-Eyes (Ray Park), Heavy Duty (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and Breaker (Saïd Taghmaoui) are sent to Paris to stop Cobra from activating the warheads. However, they are too late as Baroness and Storm Shadow (Lee Byung-hun) manage to activate the warhead, killing Baron de Cobray in the process.

After all the high speed car chase with Duke and Ripcord in highly advanced suits which make them incredibly fast and nearly invincible, Scarlett in a superbike and Snake-Eyes on top of the jeep that Baroness and Storm Shadow are in, Storm Shadow manages to destroy The Eiffel Tower even though Duke manages to stop the nano bugs which come from the warhead to continue to destroy the entire city.

Throughout the movie, there are numerous flashbacks to further depict the story behind everything includes how Duke’s ex-fiancée, Amy Lewis is recruited into Cobra and how the entire military thinks Rex Lewis (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Amy’s brother is killed but actually survived and becomes “The Doctor”, Cobra’s highly intelligent scientist.

The movie is like the combination of “Watchmen” and “Terminator Salvation” in which the world is going to end but in G.I. Joe, “When All Else Fails, They Don’t”. That’s the motto of the movie. And as a matter of fact, it doesn’t fail. It is surely highly entertaining, full of actions and has the right elements and is occassionally comical.

My ratings: 8 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Gianna Jun in "Blood: The Last Vampire"

Saya (Gianna Jun) is a 400-year-old half human-half vampire who hunts full blooded vampires. Her dad was a vampire hunter as well but was killed by the greatest vampire, Onigen (Koyuki). Vow to avenge her dad’s death, Saya joins a coveted government agency to hunt down vampires with the goal to eventually meet Onigen.

Saya disguises as a Japanese student in an American military school in order to find the demons hiding there. In the process, Saya kills Linda and Sharon, two demons who disguise as students in the school. The slaughter is witnessed by Alice Mckee (Allison Miller), the daughter of General Mckee (Larry Lamb). Alice reveals what she has witnessed to her dad but to no avail since the cleaners manage to disguise themselves as CIA.

Utterly disappointed, Alice goes out hunting for the truth when the sky goes dark but is surrounded by vampires. Alice runs for her life and is saved by Saya, who manages to wipe out all the vampires without even a scratch.

Alice returns home only to find her dad is dying and the government agents try to kill her as well. Alice finds Saya in a motel downtown as her last resort as she has nowhere else to run. Together, they steal a military truck and escape into the jungle as both of them are wanted by the military. While in the forest, they encounter demons which can fly, although with Saya’s abilities, they manage to fend off the demons.

Although the truck plunges down in the end, both of them somehow survive the fall. When Saya finally encounters Onigen, she realizes Onigen is her mother and all the while she kills vampires, she’s becoming more vampirish rather than becoming more human. In the end, Onigen willingly lets Saya to kill her so she would become her.

While the special effect department did a really great job, the character, Alice added some flaw to the film. Although Alice is human, she’s more invincible than Saya. In fact, the only time she bleeds is when she fed her blood to Saya to relieve her. Anyway, Blood: The Last Vampire is still enjoyable to watch, especially if ones like blood.

My ratings: 8 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"

In 1845 James Howlett sees his dad (Peter O’Brien) killed by Victor Creed’s dad (Aaron Jeffery). Furious, James kills Victor’s dad by using bone claws which extend from his hands. Before Creed dies, he tells James that he is also his son as James and Victor escape.

As they grow up, James (Hugh Jackman) and his half-brother, Victor (Liev Schreiber) are seen battling for the US in the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War. In Vietnam, Victor attacks and kills his superior and is sentenced to death together with his brother. They survive the firing squad due to their regenerative abilities and are imprisoned. William Stryker (Danny Huston) then approaches the two mutants and offers them to join his Team X, which consists of other mutants — Fred Dukes (Kevin Durand), John Wraith (will.i.am), Chris Bradley (Dominic Monaghan), as well as expert marksman David “Agent Zero” North (Daniel Henney) and blade-wielding Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds). The brothers join the group, and Stryker sends it to search for the source of adamantium in Nigeria. After an incident where Stryker orders the team to kill innocent civilians, Logan refuses and leaves the team.

A few years later, Logan works as a logger in Canada and lives with his girlfriend Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins). When Victor hunts down and kills Bradley, Stryker locates Logan to warn him someone from the now-disbanded Team-X is out to kill the remaining members. Logan refuses to help and as a result, his love interest is murdered by Victor. Logan hunts down Victor for revenge but is easily defeated. Stryker offers Logan help to kill Victor by infusing Logan’s skeletal system with adamantium. After the procedure, Stryker orders to erase Logan’s mind but Wolverine hears it and escapes the premise nakedly.

When an elderly couple sees Wolverine running around naked and goes into their barn for shelter, the old man enters the barn discreetly with a rifle only to end up offering Wolverine clothes, food and shelter. The next morning, the elderly couple are shot dead by Agent Zero. Wolverine flees in a motorcycle and eventually kills Agent Zero. Wolverine locates former teammates, John Wraith and Fred Dukes, seeking to learn about the whereabout of Stryker’s secret island only to find out Creed and Stryker are working together to roundup mutants and keep them in the island for experiments. Dukes reveals that a mutant named Remy LeBeau a.k.a. Gambit (Taylor Kitsch) had escaped from the island and would know the location. Wolverine learns that Team X had been tasked with capturing mutants, which was the reason why Wraith had left the group.

Wolverine finds Gambit in a bar only to be blown out of the bar by Gambit’s deck of cards. Outside the building, he sees Victor who has just finished off Wraith. With his adamantium claws, Logan manages to defeat Victor but is attacked by Gambit. Victor flees realizing he can’t match Logan’s superior ability. Gambit tries to escape but Wolverine manages to pin him down and persuade Gambit to take him to Stryker’s secret island.

Gambit flies his private plane won from gambling and drops Wolverine off at the location, Three Mile Island. In the lab, Wolverine confronts Stryker and learns Silverfox is still alive — she had earlier faked her death to lure Wolverine into becoming Weapon X because of her deal with Stryker who promises he would release her captive mutant sister Emma (Tahyna Tozzi) who has the ability to turn her skin into diamond. Wolverine leaves the premise disappointedly but when he hears Silverfox screams, Wolverine goes back and attack Victor and once again, easily defeats him. Silverfox convinces Wolverine to release her sister and other captive.

Stryker prematurely orders Weapon XI to be activated to kill Wolverine. Weapon XI is formerly Deadpool and consists of other mutant powers, including Cyclops’ optic blast, Wolverine regenerative ability, Deadpool’s martial arts ability and Wraith’s teleportation ability and retractable adamantium blades from his arm. Wolverine orders Silverfox to bring the young mutants to safety while he stays on to fight Weapon XI. Silverfox is injured during the escape while the other mutants manage to escape in Professor Charles Xavier’s (Patrick Stewart) helicopter.

When Weapon XI almost kills Wolverine, Victor appears and saves him. Together, they manage to defeat Weapon XI when Wolverine cuts off Weapon XI’s head with his adamantium claws heated with powerful optic blast. Wolverine is shot by the head by Stryker with adamantium bullets which makes him unconscious and wakes up with amnesia. Although Silverfox manages to use her power of persuasion to make Stryker walk away, she dies from bleeding. Gambit then returns to tell Wolverine that the young mutants are safe, but due to the amnesia Wolverine does not remember anything. When the cops arrive, Wolverine decides not to follow Gambit and flees the scene.

Before the ending credits, Stryker is seen walking until the armies stop him and he is wanted for investigation for murdering General Munson.

Overall, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a successful X-Men film far better than the X-Men trilogy as the movie doesn’t just focus on the mutant abilities and although there are less fighting scenes, the movie has a strong storyline of the origins of Wolverine and before the formation of X-Men.

My ratings: 7 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A scene from "Fast & Furious 4"

Fast & Furious is set between the second and the third film where the character Han (Sung Kang) is introduced before he dies in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) or better known as Dom is a wanted man for hijacking gasoline trucks. There is a 20-minute prequel showing the days where Dom and Letty are together in Dominican Republic, together with Han and a few others. When the FBI’s are closing on Dom, he leaves Letty and heads for Panama. But as soon as Dom learns that Letty has been killed, he heads to LA, where he vows to take revenge on the drug lord.

Dom and Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) are hooked up by David Park, a mechanic to enter an illegal racing where the winners get to work for a man called Braga. Both Dom and O’Conner manage to finish first and second place respectively and they are transported to Mexico together with a couple of other previous winners without realizing their job is to do drug trafficking across US borders.

While the movie takes a slower dimension in terms of street racing, director Justin Lin takes us to a new whole level of car chasing by including underground tunnels. However good this movie is, it is never as good as Death Race. Somehow, it is good for entertainment values.

My ratings: 6 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Jackie Chan in "Shinjuku Incident"

Jackie plays a tractor mechanic nicknamed Steelhead and enters Japan illegally like many others in the 1990’s. There he meets Jie (Daniel Wu), his friend and they do laboring jobs to make a living. Most of the time, Steelhead, Jie and the Chinese immigrants spend their time running away from cops. At one time, Steelhead even manages to save Inspector Kitano (Naoto Takenaka) from drowning in the sewer.

When Lily (Fan Bingbing), a beautiful young lady, also from Mainland China sees Steelhead doing the dishes, she generously offers him some money. Steelhead inadvertently saves Lily’s customer from some gangsters and thus become closer with Lily.

Before long, Steelhead finds out that Xiu Xiu has married a Japanese Yakuza boss called Eguchi (Kato Masaya), therefore he decides to remain in Japan and obtain citizenship. When life gets tougher, Steelhead decides to earn a living by doing illegal activities, including selling phony phone cards and cheating at slot machines by tampering with the microchips. As Jie is too cowardly to continue doing illegal work, Steelhead and the rest pull together some money to buy Jie a chestnut cart.

However, one unfortunate day, Jie temporarily replaces his housemate in a slot machine game when the Taiwanese mafia already suspects tampering of the microchips. Jie becomes a victim and the Taiwanese gangsters beat him up and violently chop off his left hand using his chestnut wok and steel turner.

After saving Jie from the Taiwanese gangster, Steelhead seeks retaliation and secretly walk into the Taiwanese establishment. By chance, Steelhead finds out that one of the Japanese Yakuzas plans to lure Eguchi to the establishment and have him assassinated. When the Taiwanese mob leader attempts to thrust a knife into Eguchi, Steelhead appears from underneath a table and slices the mob leader’s hand. They manage to escape and Eguchi even brings Steelhead to his house and greets his wife, Yuko Eguchi where her real name is Xiu Xiu. Initially Steelhead refuses to work with Eguchi but when the both of them meet again together with Lily, Steelhead accepts Eguchi’s offer of assassinating two Japanese Yakuza leaders in exchange with legal documents and the territory where the Taiwanese is currently occupying.

Soon, Steelhead has made a name for himself by becoming the largest foreign gangster in Japan as his cronies are controlling most parts of Shinjuku. As Inspector Kitano owes Steelhead his life, he has many times let Steelhead off with a warning instead of arresting him. While Steelhead makes money the legal way, he has little idea that his other members are selling drugs and the likes. Steelhead confesses his wrongdoings to Inspector Kitano and brings him to his establishment to arrest Eguchi. At the same time, the elders of the Yakuza has decided it’s time to wipe out the Chinese immigrants as their power has become too dominant. Nakajima (Kenya Sawada) and the Taiwanese mafia all march towards Steelhead’s establishment with their samurai swords.

Brutality and gang fights take place. Many of the Chinese immigrants whom are now legal residence of Japan are killed in the battle. Even Eguchi is shot to death. Steelhead manages to escape but in the end, he bleeds to death and he returns the inspector a favor by giving him the flash drive belonging to Eguichi, which contains vital information about the Yakuza’s dealing.

Overall, the movie is brutal, dramatic and is full of action. Jackie Chan shows a different side of himself besides being a comedian and a kung fu expert. A must-watch film of 2009!

My ratings: 8 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Justin Chatwin and Emmy Rossum as Goku and Bulma in "Dragonball Evolution"

Dragonball Evolution starts with Goku (Justin Chatwin) as an American Teenager who goes to high school in modern days. He lives with his grandfather, Gohan (Randall Duk Kim) in a huge mansion and practice martial arts with him. In school, Goku is an outcast because he is different and because his grandpa strongly advises him against starting a fight.

Meanwhile, Lord Piccolo (James Marsters) is freed after being sealed for 2,000 years by a group of masters. However, the movie didn’t state how Piccolo manage to escape. Together with his sidekick, Mai (Eriko Tamura), they travel in their spaceship to search for Dragonballs.

When Goku’s love interest at high school, Chi Chi (Jamie Chung) invites him to a party, he immediately agrees. It happens to be Goku’s birthday, who shares the same birthday as his grandpa. At the entrance to the party, Goku faces challenges from the school bullies. As he has promised his grandpa not to fight, he causes the gangsters to fight among themselves instead by dodging their every moves. Chi Chi is surprised and impressed by Goku and she wants to confess her real identity before Goku leaves in a hurry after sensing something wrong’s happening to his grandpa.

True indeed, when he reaches home, his house has collapsed and his grandpa is dying. Gohan tells his grandson about Piccolo’s release and his intention and to find Master Roshi (Chow Yun-Fat), as well as to find all the seven Dragonballs as the only way to capture Piccolo. As Goku’s grandpa passes away, an invader comes to the collapsed house searching for a 5-star Dragonball stolen by Piccolo. Her name is Bulma (Emmy Rossum) and she almost kills Goku since she has suspected Goku to be the thief. Only after Goku shows her his Dragonball (a birthday gift from his grandpa) has 4-star instead of 5, Bulma is convinced there are other Dragonballs and decides to find all of them so that she can fulfill her dream of becoming famous. Goku, on the other hand, invites Bulma to join his search for Dragonballs to stop Piccolo.

Despite the failure to find Master Roshi from the phone directory, an accidental encounter from the Dragonball radar puts Goku, Bulma and Master Roshi under the same roof. When Goku tells Roshi that Gohan has passed away and Piccolo is freed, they embark on a journey to find the remaining Dragonballs. While, traveling in the desert, they fall into a giant hole. Yamcha (Joon Park) finds them and offers to help them in return for some money. While Goku’s attempt to fly up fail each time, Master Roshi has little problem in doing that. But, once Roshi is up, Bulma’s radar has detected a Dragonball nearby.

As they continue their magical journey, Piccolo continues to watch over them and Mai manages to steal the Dragonballs by disguising as Chi Chi after getting a sample of her blood in a martial arts tournament. Before Piccolo manages to summon Shen Long, Goku and gang manages to reach there in time to stop him. But, they have a price to pay as Master Roshi dies in the hand of Goku when Goku turns into a monstrous monkey as the eclipse arrives. However, due to his strong will and determination, he transforms back into human form and manages to defeat Piccolo. In the end, Goku uses the seven Dragonballs to grant Master Roshi or Muten Roshi (as he likes to call himself) his life back.

After the credits have ended, it is shown that Piccolo is still alive and is being treated by a beautiful Japanese woman whose life has been spared by Piccolo during the search for Dragonball.

While, the movie challenges the norm and takes us to the modern era, fans of Dragon Ball will surely be disappointed by this live-action film. It’s almost like watching an hour and a half of Power Rangers, you know — high school, superheroes with hidden super powers, monsters, martial arts. You’ll get what I mean. Besides Piccolo’s realistically identical to the real character, Yamcha’s voice is amazingly same like the cartoon itself. Other than that, everything else is so mixed up — white boy as Goku, studies in an American high school which is located within the same area as some Japanese houses and temples and the likes. While, the effects is more than mediocre, and the actresses picked are hot and sexy, the way the epic saga is packed into an 85-minute film is just not right. Why the rush when the movie can be made into an epic like The Lord of the Rings? Even though the ending of the film gives us a hint there will be a possible sequel, it is perhaps a good way to tell us to avoid it. Just wait for The Hobbits for something truly epic, no more comic adaption movies besides Marvel’s.

My ratings: 6 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Set in 1985, the tensions between the United States of America and Soviet Union are incredibly high with the threat of an atomic bomb from the Soviet. When Edward Blake (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), also known as The Comedian is killed, former superhero, Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) investigates the murder to uncover a plot of an intent to dispose the past and present vigilantes. Along the way, Rorschach reunites with Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson), Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman) and Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup).

When these vigilantes attempt to unmask the conspiracy, they only end up in unwanted situation. Dr. Manhattan, a superhero who works for the U.S. government, is made to believe he is the cause of cancer to his former colleagues and ex-girlfriend, which lead him into hiding out in Mars, leaving U.S.’s soil in a great danger as he’s the only one who has the power to stop a possible World War III. Rorschach is set up to look like he has killed Edgar Jacobi (Matt Frewer) or known as Moloch to the vigilantes and is put in the same jail as 50 other criminals which he is responsible for.

Nite Owl II a.k.a. Daniel and Silk Spectre II a.k.a. Laurie decide to go public and help to save people. After saving a group of people from fire, Daniel suggests to Laurie to save Rorschach from the prison.

When they realize that Adrian Veidt (Matthew Goode) is the man behind all the conspiracy, they fly to the Antarctica to arrest Adrian. However, it is too late as Adrian has already activated his time-bomb which wipe out the people in major cities of the world.

The movie is not only rich with visual graphic and sound effects, it is one of the best adapted movies based on comic book. I am also amazed at how the director managed to bring not just one character but so many characters to life.

Overall, even though the movie is dark and complicated, the script for the film is well-written and throughout the entire movie, there are numerous flashback scenes which connect the past with the future. This could as well be the best superhero flick for 2009.

My ratings: 9 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Chun Li (played by Kristin Kreuk) is kicking ass in "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li "

The movie starts with Chun Li as a young girl learning wushu from her father. Chun Li is another typical young girl whom her parents have groomed into a concert pianist. As a teenager, Chun Li saw her father kidnapped by Bison (Neal McDonough) and his crony, although she was left unharmed. When she grows up, she seeks revenge for what Bison has done to her father.

After one of her typical concerts, she receives a strange scroll with ancient Chinese written all over it. She gets the help of a woman in a store who seems to understand ancient Chinese and tells her to go to Bangkok as her destiny awaits her there to meet a stranger called Gen (Robin Shou). Together with the help of Gen whom mysteriously turns up out of nowhere, Chun Li finds Bison as she knows her father is still alive.

Along the way, Chun Li faces Cantana (Josie Ho), Vega (Taboo of Black Eyed Peas) and Balrog (Michael Clarke Duncan) and Charlie Nash (Chris Klein), the Interpol who wants to nab Bison for the crime he did.

The only signature move you’ll see in the movie is Chun Li’s Spinning Bird Kick. Chun Li can even do a Hadouken after trained by Gen. Otherwise, the fighting scenes in the movie are quite ordinary and boring.

The movie is generally disappointing with very shallow storyline. The characters do not have enough depth, sometimes, the actors playing these characters seem to have just enrolled into an acting school. Kristin Kreuk is best to stay in Television while Michael Clarke Duncan should remain as a Lycan in Underworld series. The special effects are quite pathetic as well, with the sound mixing going the wrong direction.

Overall, the movie is a lousy B-grade movie that wastes time and money. I would say any Paris Hilton’s film, Uwe Boll’s movies and any of the parody movies (i.e. Epic Movie, Disaster Movie) even surpass the film of this caliber.

My ratings: 3 out of 10.