SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Astro Boy

Set in futuristic Metro City, a small city that floats on top of Earth, Toby Tenma (Freddie Highmore) is an 11-year-old boy genius whose father is the Head of Ministry of Science. Toby sneaks into the demonstration room when his father and other scientist are experimenting with the two cores of energy, a “positive” (good) blue core and a “negative” (evil) red core and he ends up evaporated by a robot called “The Peacekeeper” which is powered by red core.

Devastated by the lost of his son, Dr. Tenma (Nicolas Cage) works day and night to create a robot that reassembles his son and has all of Toby’s memory by using the hair strand of his son left on the cap. He powers him up with the blue core and is excited to spend time with his son, he soon realizes it isn’t the same and the new Toby reminds him that his son is gone.

By accident, Toby learns that he is actually a robot and can fly but President Stone also discovers Toby’s blue core energy and tries to capture him. He ends up on the surface of Earth and finds a group of kids led by a caretaker named Hamegg as well as some robot friends to learn the purpose and true meaning of life only to be forced to fight ala Roman style with other robots in a stadium with robots after Hamegg reveals Astro as a robot. Astro forcefully wipe out all the robots but refuses to fight Zog, a giant construction robot which he revives using his blue core energy. The military then arrives and captures Astro.

Back in the lab which Astro is created, Dr. Tenma takes out the blue core and apologizes to Astro but Astro apologizes for not able to be a better son. Dr. Tenma’s conscience comes to mind when he almost gives the blue core to President Stone. Instead, he puts it back in Astro and tells him to escape. Stone uses the red stone to activate The Peacekeeper but is absorbed into it. The Peacekeeper then goes on rampage, destroying everything in its path in order to get Astro. In the end, Astro sacrifices himself to stop the Peacekeeper and dies since the blue core was drained from the explosion.

Zog then arrives and revives Astro with some of the blue core energy Astro gave him previously.

Overall, Astro Boy is a brilliant animated film with great morale value. The film is suitable for kids and adult alike and is a great way to introduce the original Japanese manga to everyone. Astro Boy may be a robot, but he certainly has a great heart, or more like a “positive” core. So, is the movie.

My ratings: 8 out of 10.

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.

Michael Jackson’s This Is It

Directed by Kenny Ortega, the film features 24 songs from his albums. The film starts with a small introduction text followed by audition for dancers and rehearsals of songs and dance choreography. The highlight of the film includes the remake of “Thriller” 3D version, amazing high-tech stage set ups, duet rehearsal with Judith Hill for “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” and lots of special effects and something we have never seen before.

The movie ends with “This Is It” and “Heal the World” during the credits. Some notable songs weren’t featured include “You Are Not Alone”, “Remember The Time” and “Ben”.

Overall, from a neutral perspective, the film is well produced with superior sound editing, great cinematography combining different angles of the rehearsal footage. As a fan, we get to see the making of what would be the best concert of the century if “This Is It” were to be shown “Live”. Michael Jackson’s a perfectionist, a great singer, a superb dancer, a well-respected director, a mastermind and most of all, a loving soul.

My ratings: 8 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Bruce Willis and Radha Mitchell in "Surrogates"

In the year 2017, mankind lives their lives using “surrogates”, an advanced robotic bodies with the aesthetic of the human beauty and rarely step out from their homes. However, there are minorities which oppose the usage of surrogates known as The Dread.

When the teenage son of the surrogates inventor is killed through the surrogate, FBI Agent Tom Greer (Bruce Willis) and his partner, Agent Jennifer Peters (Radha Mitchell) begin to investigate. When they find out about the advanced weapon and the killer, more and more surrogates and operators are killed.

Agent Greer is suspended from the FBI when he invaded the compound of The Dread in his relentless pursue of Miles Strickland (Jack Noseworthy), the murderer of surrogates. Greer, therefore, continues to investigate without the use of surrogates. When Greer finds out the truth, he realizes Strickland has been killed by The Prophet and his followers. It is learnt that the corporation which owns the right to “surrogates” has hired Andrew Stone (Boris Kodjoe), Greer and Peters’ supervisor to get rid of Dr. Lionel Canter (James Cromwell), the inventor of the surrogates.

While the movie portrays the advanced technology of using “surrogates” body, the film is highly superficial and portrays mankind is slowly losing touch to the nature and perhaps, the way to live. In some ways, the movie has a bad influence with the usage of drugs and alcohol. One of the least entertaining movies that star Bruce Willis, that’s for sure.

My ratings: 6 out of 10.

]]> http://www.yowazzup.com/2009_10_08/surrogates-movie-review.html/feed 1 http://www.yowazzup.com/2009_10_03/sorority-row-movie-review.html http://www.yowazzup.com/2009_10_03/sorority-row-movie-review.html#comments Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:09:32 +0000 james pong http://www.yowazzup.com/?p=3521 Sorority Row is a horror movie remake of the 1983 film The House on Sorority Row.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Briana Evigan, Rumer Willis, Leah Pipes, Jamie Chung, Margo Harshman, Audrina Patridge in "Sorority Row"

Megan (Audrina Patridge) discovers that her boyfriend, Garrett is cheating on her, with her sorority sisters help, Megan pulls a prank on Garrett by faking her own death. However, the prank goes awry when Garrett stabs Megan with a tire iron, actually killing her this time. The girls dump Megan’s body in the mineshaft, vowing not to even speak of the event again.

Eight months later, after the graduation, the sorority sisters throw a huge party. Chugs leaves the party to go to her sex appointment. However, he is killed when a hooded man turns up. Chugs is killed after that with a wine bottle shoved down her throat.

Then the killer taunts the girls by sending them the video of Megan’s death and threatens to report it to the police if they don’t show up within 20 minutes. The sisters go back to the mineshaft only to find Megan’s body missing. As the hooded killer tries to kill the girls one by one, the mystery and surprise comes to a sudden halt when the killer turns out to be Andy, Cassidy’s boyfriend who was the valedictorian during the graduation.

While the movie reassembles the mix of both The House Bunny and Final Destination, the suspense of the movie turns out to be mediocre. Sorority Row is a poor remake of the original film. Still, it is highly entertaining to watch especially when the girls start to scream.

My ratings: 5 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Milla Jovovich, Steve Zahn, Timothy Olyphant, Kiele Sanchez in "A Perfect Getaway"

Cliff (Steve Zahn) and Cydney (Milla Jovovich) are a newly wed couple and celebrates their honeymoon in Hawaii by hiking to a faraway beach. Along the way, they meet Cleo (Marley Shelton) and Kale (Chris Hemsworth) and later, a group of hikers who discuss about a couple who murders another couple in Honolulu. Feeling unsafe, Cliff and Cydney decide to join another couple Nick (Timothy Olyphant) and Gina (Kiele Sanchez) to continue to hike towards the remote beach.

Throughout the journey, Nick and Gina display brutal actions that show they could be the killers. At one point, Cleo and Kale are arrested by the police and it is revealed that Kale’s bag has a Dentyne Ice box full of human teeth. When the couples finally reach the beach, Cliff invites Nick to kayak to a distant cove. Gina begins going through the Cydney’s wedding video and finds a slide that reveals that Cliff and Cydney are actually impostors. She hurriedly waves to Nick to ask him to come back, but Nick cannot hear her and tell her he’ll be back by sunset. Panic, Gina runs along the beach towards the cove, while Cydney, knowing something’s wrong, pursues her.

Then, there are a series of flashbacks that show Cliff and Cydney are the killers — they kill newly weds, pull off all their teeth, cut off their fingers, take their rings and impersonate as them. And it was Cliff who planted the teeth in Kale’s bag.

Gina arrives on top of the cove and sees Cliff is about to shoot Nick. Cliff, who’s actually Rocky, shoots Nick in the head as Nick’s boat capsizes and fires a few shoot at Gina too but he misses. Cydney reaches the top of the cove and wrestles with Gina but she trips and falls into the water. Gina’s phone rings and it appears that an Indian telemarketer is calling from AT&T. Without hesitation, Gina asks for help. When Cliff and Cydney find that out, Cydney quickly rows the kayak back to the beach while Cliff pursues Gina. As predicted, Nick’s alive as he’s saved by his titanium skull plate and continues to run after Cliff. Cliff kills a group of hikers but is surprised that Nick’s still alive as he slices Cliff’s hand with a knife. Cydney manages to flag down a police helicopter and convinces him that she is the victim.

Although in the beginning, Cydney tells the police’s sniper that Nick is the killer, in the end, when Nick drops his weapon, Cydney reveals to the cops that Cliff is the actual killer as he tries to reach for the gun. The sniper shoots and kills Cliff instantaneously.

In the helicopter, Nick proposes to Gina but the two agrees not to have a honeymoon simultaneously.

Overall, A Perfect Getaway is a cheap thrill despite the fact that it is predictable. Sometimes, the movie seems to be written by a eleventh grade student with all the twists and turns. Still, it is fun and entertaining to watch. At one point, Cliff displays his frightened self as he googles for the “Honolulu murder” whereas he turns out to be the actual killer. This only shows how deep he has embraced himself with a new identity. How fun.

My ratings: 7 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Andrew Fiscella, Shantel VanSanten and Bobby Campo in "The Final Destination"

Unlike its prequels, The Final Destination has a promising start with Nick O’Bannon (Bobby Campo) having a premonition on the freak accidents that’s bound to kill everyone in a racetrack stadium known as McKinley Speedway. While he manages to save his friends along with a few other spectators who follow Nick, the remaining people in McKinley Speedway are killed.

While Nick’s friends are glad they are alive, Nick keeps having premonition that shows him clues on how the next person is going to die. And from there on, the movie gets stale and predictable. Though it’s exciting to watch how people are killed, the movie becomes unoriginal by borrowing the way the victims die from the previous films as Death comes to collect the remaining survivors.

Perhaps, with the movie intentionally made for 3-D, the script is somehow largely ignored and the storyline becomes boring and predictable.

Overall, The Final Destination is the lousiest film among all Final Destination movies and it can be well the worst film of 2009.

My ratings: 3 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Laurene Landon, Hayden Panettiere, Lauren Storm, Paul Rust and Jack Carpenter in "I Love You, Beth Cooper"

Hayden Panettiere, we all known her from “Heroes”. In I Love You, Beth Cooper, Hayden plays a lead cheerleader yet again (not surprising). This time around, she needs no heroes to save her. Instead, she’s the hero who saves high school valedictorian Denis Cooverman (Paul Rust) twice. On the graduation day, Denis is persuaded by his best friend, Rich Munsch (Jack Carpenter) to confess his love for Beth Cooper as it is now or never. And he did. At the same time, he has also talked too much, offending a snobbish girl, a big bully and an army named Kevin who happens to be Beth’s boyfriend.

After the ceremony, Denis invites Beth to his pathetic graduation party before he gets his ass kicked by Beth’s boyfriend, Kevin.

Back home, Denis parents leave the two boys alone as they have a “vacation” plan. Mr. Cooverman lets his son have a bottle of champagne and even tells him where he keeps the condom.

Both Denis and Rich wait for Betty to show up though Rich knows it’s a dead cert she won’t turn up. He was wrong, as a matter of fact, she did turn up with two of her best friends, Cammy and Treece tagging along.

Afterwards, Beth’s former boyfriend, Kevin shows up at Denis’ house with his bulky friends as they try to kill Denis. And the chase begins, three maniacs pursue two losers and three cheerleaders. The adventures are surely fun ala Superbad style, you know, dorks get pursued and there are tonnes of funny moments ensue.

Although I Love You, Beth Cooper is another teen movie, it is a light-hearted comedy that’s never short of fun and excitement. The teenagers have a fun outings and good times together. So did I.

My ratings: 7 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Russell, Carl Fredricksen, Dug, Alpha in "Up"

Like most Pixar movies, the movie starts with a short film — in this instance, Partly Cloudy is the name of the short film. The movie Up begins with Carl Fredricksen as an 8-year-old boy who is timid despite his love for famed explorer named Charles Muntz. When he meets an eccentric girl named Ellie who shares the same interests as him, Ellie welcomes Carl to her club and gives him a badge which happens to be a soda cap. Ellie expresses her desire to move her clubhouse to Paradise Falls in South America and she makes Carl to promise her that.

As they grow older, Ellie and Carl get married and work as a zookeeper and a toy balloon vendor respectively. Not able to have children, Ellie and Carl save up for a trip to Paradise Falls but due to other financial obligations, their savings keep fading. When Ellie passes away due to old age, Carl becomes bitter. Carl is forced to move as the city has grown around his house but he refuses and when he accidentally hits a construction worker, the court orders Carl to move into a retirement home. Carl comes up with a scheme of his own as he attaches 10,000 helium balloons to his house to lift it up. Up above in the sky, when Carl tries to sit down on his armchair, he finds Russell, a Wilderness Explorer knocking at his door. Russell is trying to earn his final merit badge for “Assisting the Elderly” and has been hiding in his porch after Carl sends him for a snipe hunt on the previous day.

And so it begins, the adventure of a lifetime. Carl and Russell meets many colorful characters including a giant bird which Russell names Kevin and Dug, a dog whom can speak with a translating collar. They finally meet a 92-year-old Charles Muntz who stays in South America to find a giant bird to clear his reputation after being called fraud. The giant bird Charles is looking for happens to be Kevin, Russell’s newfound pet. When Carl realizes Charles will hunt down anyone relentless just to capture the bird, they escape from Charles airship.

Like most of Pixar Animation movies, Up is funny and touching. The film builds around a strong and never-give-up will of Ellie which later on transfers to Carl and from there, Carl turns out to be heroic when he saves Russell and the giant bird while granting Ellie her wish. It turns out Ellie has furnished her Adventure Book with photographs of her and Carl together since their wedding days with a message on the last page telling Carl to have a new adventure of his own.

Overall, Up is a yet another brilliant and adventurous animated film from Pixar. I’m sure it touches many hearts and will touch many more.

My ratings: 9 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Sharlto Copley in "District 9"

District 9 opens with a short documentary-style interview footages which cover the alien spaceship which hovers above Johannesburg, South Africa. After months without contact, humans take initiative by cutting into the ship only to find prawn-like aliens mostly malnourished or sick. These aliens are then housed in a government camp called District 9.

The movie then starts after 20 years of the alien’s arrival. District 9 has slowly turned into a slum and the situation is out of control as humans want the aliens out, therefore, an organization called Multi-National United (MNU) takes over with the interest in aliens’ advanced weaponry rather than the aliens’ welfare.

An MNU field employee, Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) is promoted to undertake the task to move 1.8 million aliens to a new District 10 camp located more than 200 km from Johannesburg. Wikus is exposed to a mysterious alien device which squirts a dark liquid on his face. Soon after, Wikus’ left arm mutates into alien-like claw and is taken into custody by the MNU with series of experiments performed on him. When the MNU decides to harvest his body for biological material, Wikus fights back and escapes from MNU.

During his bid to hide from the MNU, he ends up in a shack belonging to an alien called Christopher Johnson whom Wikus has taken the alien device from. Christopher explains to Wikus he needs the device to fuel his shuttle to return to the mother ship. Christopher also tells Wikus that with the mother ship, he can fix Wikus’ mutated arm. Wikus then pays a visit to a Nigerian criminal gang to buy the weaponry he needs but when the Nigerian discovers Wikus “prawn” arm, they intend to chop if off for their nutritious benefit. Wikus manages to grab a highly advanced alien weapon and blast it at the gang disintegrated a few Nigerians in the process.

Wikus and Christopher then storm into MNU in order to retrieve the fuel device. With their advanced weaponry, they manage to retrieve the fuel device but while there, Christopher has discovered that MNU have been experimenting on his people. When they return to Christopher’s shack, Christopher tells Wikus he needs at least three years to fix Wikus’ arm. Furious, Wikus knocks Christopher down in order to power the ship by himself. His attempt fails when MNU manages to destroy one of the shuttles engines and the shuttle crash lands inside District 9. Thereafter, MNU mercenaries and the Nigerian thugs begin to fight over the possession of Wikus van der Merwe. Although, the Nigerian manages to capture Wikus, Christopher’s son Little CJ gains control of a mechanized battle suit located in the Nigerian camp and wipes out the entire gang in order to rescue Wikus.

Wikus returns Christopher a favor by donning the battle suit and assisting him to escape to the shuttle. Christopher promises Wikus that he will return in three years time while Wikus continues to destroy all that stand in his way. When Wikus finally falls and is ejected from the suit, the leader of the MNU mercenaries point a gun on Wikus at point blank range. Then, by some means, aliens begin to surround the mercenary before they disassemble him.

Christopher and his son manage to reach the mother ship and evacuate Earth while it is shown Wikus has finally transformed into a alien as he waits for Christopher’s return.

Overall, District 9 is one of the most thrilling films in 2009 even though it combines documentary-style of Cloverfield, the slums of Slumdog Millionaire rather than being just an ordinary alien movie.

My ratings: 9 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.

Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds in "The Proposal"

Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) works for Golden Book as the chief editor. When she finds out that she is being deported back to Canada, she forces her assistant Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds) to marry her. An immigration officer is suspicious of their marriage and warns them on conducting a fraud.

As Andrew accepts Margaret’s idea of marriage and a quicky divorce to follow, he makes her to promote him to the position of editor and have his manuscript be published.

They spend their weekends in Andrew’s hometown, Sitka, Alaska to celebrate the 90th birthday of Andrew’s grandmother Gammy (Betty White). Andrew announces his plan to marry Margaret in front of many friends and family members, everyone rejoices except Andrew’s father and ex-girlfriend Gertrude (Malin Akerman).

Andrew’s mother and grandmother insist to have Margaret and Andrew marry in the barn at their house in conjunction with Gammy’s birthday.

As Margaret is overwhelmed by the reception she receives from Andrew’s family, she decides to tell Andrew’s family about the truth and walk off from the wedding. Gammy fakes a heart attack in order to get Andrew to the airport. However, when Andrew reaches the airport, Margaret’s plane has already departed. Margaret has 24 hours to leave The United States of America as soon as she lands in New York. Andrew finds Margaret packing in her office and announces his love for Margaret in front of the entire office.

Overall, the movie is surprisingly entertaining with numerous satirical jokes. The chemistry between Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock is amazingly matching despite their age gap and position level in the film. While Ryan Reynolds is well-known for his sarcastic jokes, Sandra Bullock who is also the executive producer of the film, manages to pull this off as an attractive but arrogant boss that everybody hates.

My ratings: 8 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Denzel Washington in "The Taking of Pelham 123"

In a busy New York City, a few suspicious men led by “Ryder” (John Travolta) hijacks a subway train but the overtaking of the train is not seen on the CCTV as these hijackers are not amateurs. The gang then uncouple the front car from the rest of the train as it is easier to take hostage of one car than ten cars.

Walter Garber (Denzel Washington) who used to be an MTA dispatcher is demoted to the Rail Control Center due to an ongoing investigation that he took a bribe. Garber numerous attempt to call Pelham 123 train is unanswered until Ryder takes over the microphone. He demands $10 million in ransom money to be paid within one hour, otherwise, for each minute after the timeline, one passenger aboard will be killed.

In the background, Ryder men set up a wi-fi booster to enable Ryder to access the Internet through his laptop to watch stock market as well as to view the camera set up just outside the RCC building in NYC. Unknown to him, one of the male passengers has an active laptop with a webcam connected to his girlfriend’s desktop. The girl witnesses the hostage situation through her webcam and provides the live feed to a local television station. Garber and his colleagues are able to instantly recognize Phil Ramos (Luis Guzman) as one of the hijackers since he used to work for MTA. Meanwhile, the Mayor is transported to RCC and he has agreed to pay the $10 million ransom money.

When NYPD Negotiator Lt. Camonetti (John Turturro) enters RCC, Garber’s boss orders him to leave the premise as Camonetti will take over the hostage negotiations but Ryder is angered by that and demands Garber be put back on the microphone. When Camonetti refuses, Ryder shoots and kills the motor man, who was Garber’s classmate in motor school. Camonetti has Garber brought back to the RCC at once. Camonetti is suspicious of the relationship between Garber and Ryder and even asks Garber for consent to search his home. When Ryder learns about Garber’s ongoing bribery investigation, he forces him to confess by holding the boy with the laptop at gunpoint.

A sniper accidentally fires a gunshot and kills Ramos instantly when a rat bites his leg.

In the meantime, NYPD transports the money using high-speed police patrol car but the car is involved in an accident in which the patrol car overturns. The NYPD motorcycles continue to transport the money to its destination. When it reaches Grand Central, Ryder demands Garber to deliver the money personally in 7 minutes. Garber delivers the money together with a 9mm gun hidden under a secret compartment in one of the bags. Garber is ordered to operate the train to another stop where the hijackers exit. When they reach their destination, Garber manages to escape from the hijackers. As the hijackers try to escape through an emergency exit underneath an abandon subway station, they are clueless about Garber’s pursuit. Ryder manages to grab a cab while his hijackers friend are surrounded by the police before getting killed.

In the cab, Ryder checks his laptop and it is revealed that Ryder has made over $300 million through his investment in gold as the stock market plunges tremendously. Not known to him, Garber is chasing from behind. In the end, Garber finds Ryder trying to walk away from the Manhattan bridge but he confronts Ryder with his gun. When Ryder threatens to kill Garber if he doesn’t kill him first, Garber open fires and instantly kill Ryder.

The mayor offers his gratitude to Garber and even vows on backing him up in the bribery investigation. The mayor later offers Garber a ride home in his car but Garber refuses, saying the subway is faster.

Overall, The Taking of Pelham 123 is a great movie although it lacks a number of elements of a successful film. While actors Denzel Washington and John Travolta gave inspiring performances, there is time when the film intentionally shows that both the cops and the crooks are human with loopholes and careless mistakes greatly visible. Why transport the money using patrol car when you can use the helicopter? Even the Mayor knows that.

My ratings: 7 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"

The film starts with the Death Eaters attacking Diagon Alley and a Muggle bridge causing havoc.

In the midst of the chaos, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is reading a newspaper in a subway cafe. When Harry is about to pick up a waitress he flirts with from work, Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) arrives and they Apparate into a Muggle village to locate Horace Slughorn, who has been hiding from the Death Eaters by camouflaging as an armchair. Dumbledore asks Horace to come back and teach at Hogwarts School as later, it is revealed that Professor Slughorn has a very important piece of memory about Tom Riddle, the boy who turned into Lord Voldemort.

Bellatrix and Draco Malfroy’s mother, Narcissa are seen entering Severus Snape’s (Alan Rickman) home as the Dark Lord has chosen Draco Malfoy to perform a task for him. They perform the Unbreakable Vow so Snape has to swear that he will look after Draco, and should Draco fail to accomplish the task, Snape will do it for him.

In Hogwarts, a girl named Lavender Brown (Jessie Cave) flirts with Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and later on becomes his girlfriend. Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), whom has fallen for Ron for a long time gets heartbroken.

In potion class, Harry finds a Potions textbook belonging to the Half-Blood Prince. With the book, Harry manages to excel in class and as a reward, Slughorn gives Harry a luck potion called “Felix Felicis”. It is revealed later that Severus Snape is the Half-Blood Prince.

Meanwhile, Dumbledore gets Harry to convince Slughorn to give up the important piece of memory he is holding related to Tom Riddle. Harry finally manages to persuade Slughorn for the significant piece of memory by using the “Felix Felicis” potion, it is revealed that in the early years, Voldemort has split his soul into seven pieces, called Horcruxes, in which two are already destroyed. They then Apparate to a cave to get the third Horcrux only to have almost killed by Inferi (dead people who reassembles Gollum) before Dumbledore summons rings of fire to kill the Inferi.

When Dumbledore and Harry returns to Astronomy Tower at Hogwarts, Draco enters the room when Harry is told to hide. Death Eaters have also just arrived at Hogwarts via the passage at Vanishing Cabinet that Draco has been working on. Draco says he is chosen to kill Dumbledore but he chickens out and Snape kills Dumbledore instead.

Harry, Hermione and Ron will take time off from Hogwarts next year in order to find the remaining Horcruxes.

Overall, the sixth installment of the Harry Potter movie focuses more on the storyline instead of pure action. Romance also prospers between Ron and Hermione, and Harry and Ginny. Though the movie ends with a sad note, I’m sure Harry Potter fans will love this movie as much as they love the first one.

My ratings: 7 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Johnny Depp and Marion Cotillard in "Public Enemies"

In 1933 as John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) is brought to a penitentiary by his partner John “Red” Hamilton (Jason Clarke) but they are actually there to help their gang members to break out of prison before heading to Chicago to rob banks.

Meanwhile, Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) and several other FBI agents manage to gun down another criminal, Pretty Boy Floyd (Channing Tatum) and J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) recruited Purvis to lead the hunt for Dillinger.

At a party, Alvin Karpis offers Dillinger a role in a kidnapping plot but he declines politely stating that the public doesn’t like kidnappings. There, Dillinger meets Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard), whom he takes to dinner. But when Dillinger begins talking to associates of Frank Nitti, Al Capone’s right hand man, Billie leaves and takes a taxi. Later, Dillinger manages to locate her and beats up a drunker who is verbally abusing her. Impressed, Billie leaves with Dillinger to a motel.

After getting a tip up, Melvin Purvis and his men ambush the motel where he believes Dillinger is staying but they only find an ordinary husband and wife. As Purvis is suspicious of the “husband”, he leaves one of his men to stay behind and watch the door. But, the agent is distracted by someone approaching the door and is killed by the “husband” who turns out to be Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham).

While Purvis has mistaken Baby Face Nelson to be Dillinger, Dillinger and his men manage to conduct another robbery and Purvis admits it’s his mistake and demands from Hoover to bring in professionals to help him to catch Dillinger.

When Dillinger and his girl are enjoying their vacation together, the police manages to locate and arrest Dillinger. In the court, Dillinger’s lawyer is able to convince the judge to keep him in the county jail instead of transferring him to the state prison. With the help of a few inmates, Dillinger manages to escape using a fake gun but is unable to meet Billie due to tight surveillance by the FBI.

Later on, Billie manages to escape and meets Dillinger as they spend a night together. The next morning, Billie is recaptured by the FBI and is severely beaten by an interrogator. Purvis and his men come later on and stop the interrogator from his abusive ways.

With the help of Anna Sage, a prostitute who is also Dillinger’s acquaintance by threatening to deport her back to Romania, Purvis manages to track down Dillinger. But, it is another agent, Charles Winstead who shoots Dillinger. Purvis quits the FBI a year later and committed suicide in 1960 while Billie lived the rest of her life in Wisconsin after her release in 1936.

Public Enemies has slight reassemblance like the movie “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” where actor Johnny Depp’s character, John Dillinger is the Al Capone version of Brad Pitt’s Jesse James. Asides from Johnny Depp’s incredible performance as Dillinger, Public Enemies is brilliantly filmed in high definition and it has a great cinematography and is beautifully set up.

My ratings: 8 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Manny and gang in "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs"

Manny (Ray Romano) and his new wife Ellie (Queen Latifah) are expecting a baby and parenthood has made Manny anxious. Diego (Denis Leary) meanwhile feels that it’s time to move on as his laid-back life has taken a toll on his stamina. Sid (John Leguizamo) starts to wish for a family of his own and trouble ensues when he steals some dinosaur eggs from an underground cave and begins treating them like his own.

When the mother T-Rex finds her eggs are missing, she goes on a rampage and when she sees Sid and her baby dinosaurs, she carries them back to an underground world where dinosaurs roam free. Manny and his gang embark on a dangerous mission to rescue Sid while dodging dinosaurs and danger that lies ahead. Along the way, they meet a weasel known as Buck (Simon Pegg) who hunts dinosaurs as pastimes. Buck leads Manny and the herd to rescue Sid and surely, an unforgettable adventure ensues.

Like the earlier installments, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs also features Scrat, the saber-toothed squirrel who is obsessed with acorn. This time around, a flying squirrel known as Scratte joins Scrat in his madness for acorn but although they are in love after a period of chasing after acorn, eventually Scrat leaves Scratte for acorn.

While the adventures are shifting away as the herd ages, there are still plenty of action as the herd goes into a dinosaurs world and brave the danger in order to save Sid. Scrat also gets more screen time as he’s well-known for being nuts over nuts. Overall, it is a good family adventure film.

My ratings: 7 out of 10.

ThreeWordsMovie.com is a movie review site I started in April 2009. Unlike most movie review sites (including Yowazzup.com), ThreeWordsMovie.com only does movie review in three words. It’s as simple as that. There are no long-winded review, just a sweet and short review in three words — mostly adjectives.

Please visit www.threewordsmovie.com and have a look!

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Unlike the first movie, in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, director Michael Bay brings to back to 17,000 BC to relate us to a tale of Transformers first encounter with mankind. The movie proceeds with the present where the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime team up with the US military to combat the Decepticons hiding out on Earth.

Although the Decepticons leader, Megatron is dead and his corpse is lying underneath an ocean secured by the US Navy, through smooth coordination from hacking into the satellite to retrieving the remaining AllSpark pieces, the Decepticons manage to relieve Megatron and yet, another plot to destroy Earth is conceived. In fact, Megatron’s master, The Fallen wants to destroy both the Earth and the Sun. Incredibly ambitious.

Megan Fox in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"

Back to the humans, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) has a considerably major role in the second Transformers film, yet his sexy and sultry girlfriend, Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) appears once awhile with him flashing her lovely assets even more frequently than the first film. Although the movie has better plots and storyline this time around, at times, Michael Bay seems to be wanting to outdo every major blockbusters which were shown in the past couple of years. This would more or less include the Indiana Jones with pursuit of rare artifacts in Egypt, Da Vinci Code with the mystery-solving puzzle, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian with the mention of The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Jumper with the teleportation through “space bridge” to Egypt, and many more.

Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf running for their lives in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"

Of course, the movie also introduces a bunch of new robots, including the twins Skids and Mudflap, the Constructicons which eventually combine to form Devastator, Soundwave and many more. The movie even introduces a Pretender robot, which camouflage as a human to seduce Sam.

Bumblebee in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"

Overall, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen does not really disappoint at all with plenty of actions and some funny jokes with the inclusion of funny sidekicks such as John Turturro and Ramón Rodríguez. However, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen does not really satisfy as well, because at the end of the film, the feeling of awe was there, but not the satisfaction.

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.

Susan and her Monsters friends in "Monsters vs Aliens"

On the day Susan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon) is getting married to weatherman Derek Dietl (Paul Rudd), she is hit by meteorite. When she gets into the aisle, she grows into a giant Susan. The military arrive as they are alerted by the meteor and capture Susan. She is sent to a top-secret facility led by General W.R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland) and given a nickname “Ginormica”. In the prison, she meets other monsters: B.O.B. (Seth Rogen), a brainless, gelatinous blob; Dr. Cockroach Ph.D. (Hugh Laurie), a mad scientist who turns into a cockroach; the Missing Link (Will Arnett), an amphibious fish-ape hybrid and Insectosaurus, a giant grub that is even larger than Susan. The monsters are contentedly locked in the facility for the past 50 years but Susan feels incredibly isolated and wishes to return to her old life.

An alien called Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson) is in the search for quantonium, the most powerful source in the universe and he finds it in Earth and thus deploys a gigantic robot to find and extract from its source, Susan. As the robot refuses to make peace after an attempt from the US President (Stephen Colbert), the President of the United States orders an attack on the robot. As all the attack from the military proves useless, General Monger convinces the President to use his top-secret monsters to fight the robot instead. The monsters agree with the promise of freedom if they succeed. Susan and the monsters manage to defeat the robot on the Golden Gate Bridge with her new-found strength.

Susan returns to her hometown and introduces her family to the monsters, but the monsters are rejected after causing panics in the party. Meanwhile, Derek breaks up with Susan, claiming she overshadows his career. Susan is devastated but realizes that becoming a monster has changed her life and Derek is just a selfish jerk. Susan is abruptly abducted by Gallaxhar and along the way kills Insectosaurus when he tries to save Susan. On the ship, Susan manages to release herself from captive and chases Gallaxhar, only to end up in the machine which extracts the quantonium from her body, making her normal again. Gallaxhar continues to use the quantonium to clone himself into armies so he can invade Earth.

With the help from the General, B.O.B., Dr. Cockroach and the Missing Link invade Gallaxhar’s ship and rescue Susan, in the process, activate the ship’s self-destruct sequence. Susan is separated from her monsters friends who are trapped inside the ship. In an attempt to save her friends, Susan embraces the quantonium and transforms her into a giant again allowing her to save her friends. The monsters are rescued by General Monger on the back of the revived Insectosaurus, who had transformed into a giant butterfly.

Overall, the film is amazing and is definitely catered for children and maybe some adults. If you love good-humored fun and Nickelodeon’s cartoons, you will love this flick.

My ratings: 7 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Ben Stiller and Amy Adams in "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian"

Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is a successful man, he’s the CEO of his own company, which invents things like Glow-in-the-dark torchlights. Larry has George Foreman (as himself) as the guest star of his own invention TV Show.

The Museum of Natural History, the place where the first Night at the Museum movie was based is closed for upgrades and renovations. It was already two years since Larry leaves his night guard job. Out of curiosity, Larry steps into the museum to check out what happen. His former boss tells him that the museum will be using high-tech technology to beam the exhibits to life instead of showcasing wax figures. The existing exhibits will be moved into federal storage at the Smithsonian Institution instead.

Larry attempts all possible ways to save the exhibits but to no avail. When he receives a call from Jedediah Smith (Owen Wilson), whom tells him that the capuchin has stolen the tablet which brings things to life and therefore, everything in the world’s largest museum complex has come to life. In order to save his friends, Larry breaks into the prohibited area of the Smithsonian Museum to save the world.

Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams) who flew on her non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic joins Larry in his adventure to prevent Kahmunrah, a wacky evil Pharoah (played by Hank Azaria) from activating the tablet to resurrect his armies.

While attempting to save the old exhibits which are held captive by Kahmunrah, Larry and Amelia encounter many new exhibits including Al Capone (Jon Bernthal), Ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest), Napoleon Bonaparte (Alain Chabat), The Thinker and Abraham Lincoln (both played by Hank Azaria as well).
Even Sesame Street’s Oscar the Grouch and Star Wars’ Darth Vader are not spared as they want to join Kahmunrah in his evil’s bid, but both are deemed unqualified by the Pharoah.

Larry and Amelia develop some feelings for each other while trying to save the exhibits. Larry has sold his own company to fund the The Museum of Natural History and once again, the exhibits are back to its original place. The museum is even opened at night and the exhibits themselves act as tour guides. The boss of the museum doesn’t have a clue that it’s not technology but the exhibits really come alive. Larry encounters a lost tourist whom assembles Amelia and the movie ends with Larry acting as tour guide for the lost tourist. Shortly after the credits appear, the sailor who finds Larry’s cellphone in the exhibits picture frame is seen called by his mom as "Motorola".

Overall, the movie is hilarious and fun to watch as the visual is stimulating. Somehow, the excitements end there. Kahmunrah, as an evil Pharoah, is wacky and at times, funny and not at all terrifying while Al Capone, Ivan the Terrible and Napolean Bonaparte are not ruthless enough. A good film for the family.

My ratings: 7 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Tom Hanks and Ayelet Zurer in "Angels & Demons"

Professor Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is once again being called upon to solve the kidnapping of four Cardinals from the Vatican City and a possible bomb threat.

Langdon believes it’s the work of the Illuminati, based on his expert interpretation on the events. Dr. Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer) is also being called upon to help the investigation as the anti-matter stolen from the LHC project is from her lab. Vetra makes known that the bomb can wipe out an entire Vatican City and even part of Rome. The secret Illuminati has warned to kill each of the Cardinals every hour from 8pm. And when the clock struck at midnight, the bomb will go off.

While Langdon and Vetra, together with the Vatican City police travel around Rome to find clues in churches, Father Simeon and other followers stay put inside Vatican City. Unlike Da Vinci Code, in Angels & Demons, Langdon seems to be the one who’s asking questions and the only person who’s able to answer them as well.

Overall, the movie lacks actual dialogs like it’s in a hurry to get to the conclusion. Angels & Demons also lacks the inquisitive and thrill of a mystery and crime-solving film. The actors are not convincing enough with the exception of Ewan McGregor whom plays a priest, Camerlengo Patrick McKenna, of whom his father was the previous Pope. Camerlengo is young but intuitive and wise and looks innocent until the very end of the movie where the truth unfolds. Like The Mummy and National Treasure franchises, it gets boring and loses its appeal when the sequels are made.

My ratings: 6 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk in "Star Trek"

Star Trek begins its journey with Captain George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth) taking over U.S.S. Kelvin as acted captain after its original captain, Captain Robau goes on board Romulan’s ship. Captain Kirk is ordered to autopilot the ship after evacuating the ship, however, due to limited resources, the ship is not able to autopilot itself and thus, Kirk sacrifices himself by staying in the ship. His wife is giving birth in one of the capsules ejected from the ship when he is in the ship colliding with Romulan’s spacecraft and he saves 800 lives. Captain Robau is killed by Nero (Eric Bana), the Romulan villain when Robau tells Nero he doesn’t know of a man named Spock.

Back in the future, in Iowa, young James T. Kirk (Jimmy Bennett) is a rebellious teenager. He drives an old vintage car at a very high speed and is even chased by the officer until he has to jump out from the car when it reaches the edge and falls off the mountain. When James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) grows up, he picks up a fight with some Starfleet cadets over a girl named Uhura (Zoe Saldana). Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood), the captain of the Enterprise whom has stopped the fight invites Kirk to enlist himself in Starfleet. He mentions Kirk’s dad whom has saved 800 lives by being the captain of the starship for only twelve minutes.

James T. Kirk shows up the next day and together with Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy (Karl Urban) and many others enlist themselves as they aboard U.S.S. Enterprise. Kirk tries to pass the Kobayashi Maru test by cheating after failing it three times. The test is devised by no other than Spock, a half-Vulcan and half-human (after his father married a human). When called for an emergency action onboard the newly created U.S.S. Enterprise to battle Romulan villain, Nero, Kirk is left out as he is being suspended for cheating. His buddy, Bones fakes a medical emergency to get Kirk on board the Enterprise.

Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto in "Star Trek"

In the Enterprise, Kirk realizes the starship is in danger when he remembers the past occurrence and tries to warn Captain Pike, but he is initially being ignored. However, when Uhura and Spock support his statement, Captain Pike begins to trust Kirk. On a mission to land on board Romulan’s ship, Captain Pike promotes Kirk into the First Officer while Spock takes over as acting captain. Kirk, Sulu (John Cho) and Chief Engineer Olsen (Greg Ellis) try to land on the giant drill belonging to the Romulan but Olsen does not land successfully and is killed in the process. Despite eliminating the enemies on the drill, Kirk and Sulu fail to save planet Vulcan as Nero manages to release a red capsule into the center of planet Vulcan, which transforms itself into a black hole absorbing planet Vulcan. While Spock manages to save his family, he has lost his mother and 6 billion Vulcans have perished.

Back in the Enterprise, Kirk disobeys Spock’s order and is expelled from the ship into a deserted planet. There, he has to run for his life when a huge monster gives him a chase but he’s safe when another man scares the creature away with a torch — that man happens to be future Spock. Then the older Spock (Leonard Nimoy) shows Kirk how he ends up in the deserted planet. He is unable to prevent a sun from going supernova and destroying the Romulan home planet in the process, thus, he is blamed for the tragedy by a Romulan miner named Nero. Spock then brings Kirk to an abandon starfleet where he meets Scotty (Simon Pegg), an engineer with a Scottish accent. His knowledge of teleportation is not perfect and the aged Spock just knows the equation and thus, Kirk and Scotty manage to teleport themselves into the Enterprise.

Kirk challenges Spock’s instability and takes over as captain of the Enterprise when Spock punches Kirk before he resigns. When the Romulan sets their target to Earth, Kirk and Spock set their feet onto the vengeful Romulan ship and together, they manage to destroy the Romulan and save planet Earth.

Overall, Star Trek is surprisingly delightful to watch despite not being a Trekkie fan. Zachary Quinto gives an outstanding performance as Spock. Nonetheless, Chris Pine is also brilliant in portraying a young captain in James T. Kirk and together, these two actors give Star Trek a new breathe of life. Marvellous.

My ratings: 9 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.

Harrison Ford and Alice Braga in "Crossing Over"

Harrison Ford plays Max Brogan who leads immigration officers into routine busts in Los Angeles to collect illegal immigrants working factories and depot them back to their own countries. Along with his partner, Hamid Baraheri (Cliff Curtis) and the other officers, Max Brogan’s job involves little humanity.

During one of the crackdowns, Brogan finds Mireya Sanchez (Alice Braga) hiding behind a rack of clothes. He initially decides to let her get away but fellow officer sees her and voila, there is nothing he can do about it. Even when Mireya begs Brogan to find her son and brings him back to Mexico, Brogan cruelly rejects her. Behind the scenes however, Brogan is a man with conscience as he comes back to collect the piece of paper he garbles earlier containing the address of Mireya Sanchez’s son. Throughout the movie, Brogan never cease finding the status of Mireya as she didn’t return home to Mexico.

Everyone struggles to achieve legal status in the film. While some like Aussie actress Claire Shepard (Alice Eve) attempts to get her document illegally by having sex with an immigrant officer, Cole Frankel (Ray Liotta), others like Gavin Kossef, an atheist Jewish musician has it easier as he pretends to be an Orthodox to get his green card.

Ashley Judd plays Denise Frankel, wife of Cole Frankel and works in the children welfare department. Contrary to Cole, her job is to take care of the children whether they are immigrants or citizens of the United States.

Overall, the movie touches on sensitives issues such as religion and race but it evens it out by playing a melancholy tone as some manage to get green cards while others have to be deported and some even ends up dead.

My ratings: 6 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Isla Fisher in "Confessions of a Shopaholic"

Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher) works in an unpopular magazine publishing company in Manhattan as a journalist and she has a strong urge to shop for clothes, bags and shoes all the time. When she sees a beautiful green scarf which she doesn’t have enough money nor credit limit to buy, she cheats her way into buying all the hotdogs from a man with a check in exchange for cash and hotdogs by telling everyone she needs to buy a scarf for her dying aunt. A man from the street purchases a hotdog and gives Rebecca the $20 dollar she needs to buy the scarf. When she goes for an interview with Alette magazine, she is told that the position has been filled and the person who has taken the position, Alicia (Leslie Bibb) walks by. Rebecca is disappointed but admit Alicia has long legs. As she leaves while telling Allon, Dante West’s receptionist she purposely buys the green scarf for the interview, Allon introduces her to a job at Successful Saving. When Rebecca goes for a job interview with Luke Brandon, the editor of financial magazine Successful Saving, she realizes he is the man from who she had borrowed the money.

Feeling disappointed at not getting the job at Alette magazine, Rebecca writes drunken letters to Alette magazine and Successful Saving, but she has wrongly posted them the one another. Impressed by her "out of the box" thinking, Luke Brandon hires her on the spot and she is given another assignment. Instead of completing the assignment, she goes to a clothes sale and ends up with bags of clothes and shoes. After realizing the expensive cashmere pullover she has bought is only 5% cashmere and the rest acrylic, she writes an article about it and uses an anonymous nickname "The Girl with the Green Scarf" and not long, she becomes an instant hit when readers send letters, TV shows invites her for a talk show and even the boss, Edgar West (John Lithgow) calls in to compliment.

Impressed by her success, Luke invites Rebecca to a conference and an important ball in Miami. In the process of picking up the clothes for Luke for the ball, Rebecca finds out that Luke’s mother is none other than the famous socialite Eleonor Sherman and his parents were divorced when he was young.

During a "Live" TV show, Rebecca is publicly humiliated by the debt collector, Derek Smeath who has been chasing her for the debts for almost a year. Luke is hurt to know Rebecca lies to him all this while but he still finds her as a source of inspiration.

When Rebecca goes back to New York, a debt collector arrives at her doorstep. Her housemate, Suzy (Krysten Ritter) warns her through a phone call and she has to enter her apartment through the backdoor. Suzy recommends Rebecca to join a Shopaholic Anonymous group.

Rebecca decides to sell all of her clothes with the help of the Shopaholic Anonymous participants. She hesitates to sell the green scarf but a blonde woman buys it for $300. With the successful sale, she manages to repay her debt and she turns up at Derek Smeath’s office with the $9,000 she owes all in jar of coins.

Rebecca bumps into Luke in the street and Luke gives her back the green scarf revealing he’s the man behind both bidders and Rebecca ends up working for Luke’s new magazine.

Overall, Confessions of a Shopaholic is quite amusing and Isla Fisher who plays the adorable copygirl in Definitely, Maybe plays her role well. Worth watching for the laughs and the satisfaction is almost like when you shop for something using credit card. The feeling is so complete and happy.

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.

Nicolas Cage and Rose Byrne in "Knowing"

The movie begins with the year 1959 where a competition is held between the students of an elementary school. The winning idea from a student called Lucinda Embry is to bury a time-capsule of all the students drawing of the future they can imagine to be opened 50 years later. Instead of drawing pictures, Lucinda writes down numbers but is prevented from finishing them. Later, she goes missing and her teacher finds her in a gym closet, scratching the remaining numbers onto the wooden door.

Five decades later, the time capsule is opened and the drawings are handed over to the children. Caleb Koestler (Chandler Canterbury), the son of John Koestler (Nicolas Cage) receives Lucinda’s envelope. John, an MIT professor and an astrophysicist, initially ignored the numbers but accidentally discovers that the numbers are no coincident but a serial of dates and death tolls of every major disaster in the last 50 years, with three events have not happened.

When John realizes the remaining numbers are the GPS coordinates, he witnesses a tragic plane crash which kills 81 people and he is almost traumatized by it as he has seen people burning before their death. After seeing an unknown man popping outside of his house occasionally, John decides to contact Lucinda’s daughter, Diana (Rose Byrne) to gain more insights, but is turned away.

After the second event John has predicted occurred, Diana and her daughter Abby visit John and Caleb. Both Caleb and Abby are able to hear the "whisper people" just like Lucinda. Initially, John thinks the last event will only kill 33 people but finds out it is actually "EE" backwards. After investigating Lucinda’s mobile trailer, they find out that "EE" stands for "Everyone Else". John then figures out there will be a massive solar flare which will kill everyone else.

Diana tries to get the kids to the cave where she believes could shelter them from the solar flare while John tries to figure out the last numbers scratched by Lucinda on the wooden door. Diana’s impatience makes her drive the kids to the cave without waiting for John. During the stop at the gas station, the "whisper people" hijack Diana’s car with the two children. Diana gives a chase in another car but is killed by a truck at midnight when she runs the red light, just like her mother predicted.

When John returns to Lucinda’s mobile home, he finds out that Caleb and Abby are safe in the hands of the "whisper people" who are revealed as celestial beings who invite the selected children to escape the disaster and help them start all over again in another planet resembling Earth. A solar flare hits Earth and kills every single life on the planet. Caleb and Abby are then seen dressed in all white in a beautiful landscape which has at least two moons, running towards a huge white tree.

Overall, the movie may seem interesting in the first place with the likes of Da Vinci Code, Final Destination, The Armageddon and Eagle Eye merged into one movie. But, with the ending, it seems like the movie which ripped off The Day The Earth Stood Still as well. Somehow, what amazes me is how everything is put together — the mystery of the numbers, the actions from the disasters, the terrifying "whisper people" who turns out to be celestial angel-like beings onto a single film.

My ratings: 7 out of 10.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Saoirse Ronan and Harry Treadaway in "City of Ember"

A group of professionals known as The Builders acknowledges that the world is doomed due and announces their plan to build a fully-contained underground city to house a human community for 200 years in order to shelter the human race from an unspecified disaster. And that’s why the City of Ember is born.

A box has been given by the Builders to the mayors of Embers for generation after generation. The box contains instruction and a key to return to the surface of the earth. But the seventh mayor collapsed and the passing on of the box becomes unnoticed.

After 200 years has passed, the city becomes depleted of its resources — food supplies and especially the electricity. Ember often experience longer blackouts and more frequent as the generator that powers the city has deteriorated. Two friends, Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan) and Doon Harrow (Harry Treadway) are graduating from school. While Lina is assigned to work as a pipeworker but she trades with Doon since Doon also doesn’t like his job as a messenger. They begin their jobs and soon, they learn that the city is in danger and may suffer total darkness when the generator stops working one day.

While the city is deprived of food supplies, Mayor Cole (Bill Murray) has been stockpiling food with the help of Looper (Mackenzie Crook) in a secret bunker. When Lina discovers the bunker, she tries to report him but instead she and Doon are ordered by the mayor to be arrested.

Lina and Doon together with Poppy (Amy Quinn & Catherine Quinn) escapes into the sewer of the city and tries to find a way out of the city with the instructions left in the box. Doon’s mentor Sul (Martin Landau) also lends a hand with his knowledge in pipeworks. When the generator shows signs of failing, Mayor Cole escapes into his secret bunker and leave Looper, breaking their initial deal. But, Mayor Cole doesn’t know a giant star-nosed Mole is waiting for him in his bunker and thus, get killed by the Mole.

When they arrive at the surface, Lina is utterly disappointed that it is dark as well but as the sun rises, they realize the planet has healed and they can even see Ember through a huge hole. Lina and Doon send a message tied to a rock and it is found by Doon’s father, Foris Harrow (Tim Robbins).

Overall, it is an indeed unique movie and brilliant performance by Saoirse Ronan, the 15-year-old actress whom also excelled in Atonement, a 2007 movie starring Keira Knightley. Once again, the movie theaters are dominated by young children whom are already beginning to take over major roles in the acting world. Amazing storyline, beautiful cinematography and a very well-played science-fiction adventure film.

My ratings: 7 out of 10.