The King's Speech

The last Academy Award nominated movie for year 2011. The King's Speech is truly a remarkable show. So moving and captivating.

Colin Firth did well as a stammering King George VI. His troubles and incapability to be the voice of the nation troubled him greatly. With the aid of him unorthadox speech therapist, Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Louge, he practices and work on his stuttering background. Also not to be forgotten is the support and aid of the king's wife, Helena Bonham Carter as Elizabeth. She persuaded the king to go treatment with Lionel. This truly shows the support someone receive from the people around him which is not easy to achieve nowadays.

Here we see the challenges of providing the voice of a nation, the voice of a leader whom everyone would look up to. The fear to stand up for the nation is truly quite challenging especially with a stutter. To overcome it truly indicates the passion and sacrifice for the nation.

Ratings: 4
Can't believe I managed to complete such a slow. It's such a moving show that kept me glue to the screen. And from all the Academy Award movies, I do hope they will bag most of the awards(Though I have yet to catch True Grit)

127 Hours

Here goes for another round of Academy Award movie. Just one more to go, The King's Speech.

Anyways, James Franco could be nominated for his role as Ralston but his portrayal is so-so. You're sure you're nominating him for that? Fine, make him go canyoneering, slip and fell with a boulder landed on his right hand. See him suffer and submit to defeat, allowing him to submit to death and then relieved him with a burst of strength to do what's right to survive. He can portray it but it's nothing for the win. The show is great though, but not the actor.

Why do great shows have to portray someone suffering or inflicting pain. Could be art. Yes but a gruesome art. I squinted watching him stabbing his arm, breaking it and lastly cutting it off. Don't get me started with the Passion of the Christ. Why? Why do you have to make such scene in the movies? Maybe that's why I still refused to watch Saw even it multiplied to many sequels, 7 to be precised.

Ok it's still a great show. Bet if you're stuck in the same situation, you'll be regreting whatever you did wrong and hope to forgive the person and to treat them better if you survived. That's KARMA, bitch!!!

Ratings: 3.5
Utterly gruesome ending that I had to endure. But good show nonetheless.

The Ghost Writer

There are a couple of shows I got a while back and have yet to watch. This is one to name the few. A political thriller which I have no idea why I gotten it in the first place. I'm know nuts about politics but this could be a good exposure somehow. I wonder.

The term ghost writer is actually someone who write or edit a biography, in this case an ex prime minister. Ewan McGregor returned to the role of a writer (Moulin Rouge and The Men Who Stare at Goats) to write the biography of ex-prime minister(Mister Bros-Nan).

At the start of his writing assignment, the prime minister was accused of a war-crime for torturing terrorist. Something was quite amissed especially with the death of the predecessor of the ghost writer. While writing, the new ghost writer uncovers hidden clues of the prime minister. As the ghost writer digged deeper, he uncovers unrevealing truth till his own life is at risk.

Ratings: 3
It's a political thriller! Have got to be slow and many talk. That's seems to be politics nowadays.

Black Swan

Before I started the movie, my brother informed me that I'm not going to like the show. That could only mean one thing, the show can be a gory(which I don't mind) but something that inflict pain till our insides shows. I cursed him once for bringing me to catch Passion of the Christ on my birthday. The caning scene was truly unbearable to watch. I was kind of traumatized after the show.

OK back to this year's Academy Award movie, it's not really that gruesome as I thought. Damn brother of mine. But there were some disturbing scene where she was pulling her skin off her finger tips. I could imagine the pain on my own fingers. Shudders!

Natalie Portman did portray well for the role of the Swan Queen like her character. And if not for the visual when she did the Black swan number, it was just so-so.

The notable aspect of the show is her pyschotic nature of perfection and her actions to ensure no one steps into her goals. No one was spare, not even her own mother. The price someone will pay to achieve own goals.

Ratings: 3.5
As much as it's an Oscar nominated movie, I still don't feel the show. Not much connection except the squint of flesh ripping. Eww....

Burlesque

I just love musical films. Top favorites is Moulin Rouge. Others include Happy Feet, High School Musical (you read it right), Rent, Dream Girls, Mamma Mia!, Hairspray and the Producers. Adding to the list would be Burlesque.

Vocal powerhouse Christina Aguilera stars in a character role movie unlike other 3 where she played herself (go wiki to check what movies she's in) as a young girl pursuing her dreams in singing. She came to Los Angeles and was caught by the glitz and glamor of Burlesque. Tess (Cher) the club owner didn't not took her in but accepted her as a waiter. During auditioning for a stand-in for a fellow pregnant dancer, Ali(Christina) worked her ass off to win Tess's heart. Her hard work paid off.

During a mishap of lip syncing(what most girls did), Ali mesmerized the patrons with her powerful vocal that also wowed Tess. To save her club from being bought over, she made Ali the star and gained enough to save her club.

Rating: 3
As much as I love musical films, most film make me glued to the screen. But Burlesque didn't. The songs are great but a bit too painful from both Cher and Christina powerful vocals. It's great but too much, too painful.

All Star Superman

Another comics adaptation of the same name by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. All Star refers to the all star personal behind the great storyline if you like to know. If only they could finish up All Star Batman & Robin and produce it to a animated movie.

I didn't really follow on Superman storyline but I enjoy watching them on animation. Superman is dying from the solar radiation poisoning achieved by Lex Luthor. It's time for Superman to reveal his identity to Lois Lane. He even created a formula for Lois to experience the same abilities for 24 hour. Lex managed to attain the formula and causes trouble. It's up to Superman to save the day for the last time.

Rating: 3
Don't really like Superman. Sorry...

Attack on the Pin-Up Boys

Thanks to a 1-year old boy(Bob & Lin's little Rayyan) dancing to a catchy Korean song, I looked up the web for what the boy was dancing to and what the mother was screaming about. It's Super Junior. Never have I known of a boyband consisting of 13 members. Mine was only a total of 7(come and go). Yes I was in a high school boyband. Look up my JBQC blog. Anyway, I found the tunes catchy and got hook to Super Junior(Suju or SJ). And I got to know of the movie produced in 2007. And it wasn't easy searching for the DVD so I ended watching it on Youtube.

It's a high school mystery/comedy movie. And it's nice to see these lads in their acting roles. The characters are just lovable. Basically, 3 popular high school students from neighborhood school had an unusual attack, feces thrown at their faces. After the attack, the 3 students became even more popular. Knowing that the school is targeted next, the 3 top students debated on the next possible victim. The price of popularity.

It very much reminded me of my high school boyband days where popularity was the agenda. Looking back at it, most of us just stayed as acquaintance now unlike the show where everythings back to normal. It was nice to see a scenario that I earned and enjoyed before but fame doesn't last forever.

Ratings: 3.5
Truly enjoyed the show and the plot. I'm quite surprised on the identity of the attacker. Suju did a splendid job in their character. They are a good entertainer and I will continue watching them. How I wish I went for the Super Show 3.

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

From the studios that brought you Happy Feet, it justifies the splendid animation of animals especially the birds. The movement of the feathers and the weather are just magnificent, best watched in 3D(which I didn't).

So is it like the happy tuned Happy Feet? No it's not. It's more like a spin-off of Harry Potter's Hedwig. But it's not. Very closely similar to Lord of the Rings in Owl context.

Soren, our lead owl was snatched from his home tree together with his brother, Kludd when the 2 owlet were practicing to fly. Brought to the lair of Metalbeak, the 2 owlets were seperated. Soren managed to escape and was directed to seek the Guardians of Ga'Hoole. Together with a group of owls, the flock flew to the legendary tree of Ga'Hoole where they seek aid from the guardians to stop the evil plans of Metalbeak.

Ratings: 3.5
Magnificent animation and wonder how tiresome it is to fly like a bird. If only I have wings like Angel of the X-Men.

Alpha and Omega

Normally I get animation for the kids and most of the time I'll watch it first. They can watch it with their parents or grandparents. LOL...

This animated movie, Alpha and Omega has a close resemblance to Romeo and Juliet of the wolves society. But both wolves are from the same clan of a different class, the Alphas and the Omegas. The hero Humphrey is an Omega while the heroine Kate is an alpha. To save the clan by reuniting with another clan, Kate is to marry with opposite clan's Alpha male. During the howling at the moon (which is more humming in the movie), both Kate and Humphrey were tranquilized by humans and relocated to Idaho to repopulate. Knowing her responsibilities, Kate had to find a way home to save her clan. With help from a goose and a duck, they 2 wolves made their way back home and fell in love along the way.

Ratings: 2
It's meant for the kids.

The Green Hornet

Growing up in the 80's, I remembered watching a lot of great cartoons and shows on TV. The general idea of the shows are just unlike shows nowadays. Sure, technology is great but you're distracted from the substance of the show. And Green Hornet is one of them. Eventhough it was broadcast in the late 60's, it was repeated in the later years. I don't recall the characters to be funny.

Anyway, the Green Hornet movie is action packed with new technology. Fine, we're moving into the next millenia and I'm not complaining. It's definately cooler than before. Seth Rogen as the Green Hornet seems suitable. The old GH wasn't that funny or a unique trait to mention. And it's not the campy funny like Batman. It's straight up enjoyable to see a comical hero. Filling up a tremendous shoe is Jay Chou. Too much technology going on in the fight so it's not too realistic. But Chou's Kato is now quirkier unlike Bruce Lee's Kato. So the pair of Rogen and Chou has a great bromance connection. Sadly, Cameron Diaz wasn't given much air time. But I just love her smile no matter what. Her character as Lenore is quite similar to her Charlie's Angel Natalie, which I just loved. Ok Diaz is great for those kind of roles.

As for the show in general, go watch for a nice comical hero which I don't know why they don't refer themselves as vigilante. Seth Rogen did a great job co-writing the movie. The laughs are great especially the cover-up for him being shot. Just awesome.

Ratings: 4
Great "this millenia" actions and laughable laughs.

Furry Vengeance

I was wondering what Furry Vengeance is about. Would be something like Doctor Dolittle or something like Evan Almighty. Apparently it's a mixture of both. You won't be listening to animal talking but you will see what they are thinking, you will see the unusual behaviours of animals. So how smart are these animal? Smart enough to prevent urbanisation to their home.

And how about our human characters? They suffer from the wrath of the animals. Funny man Brendan Fraser is back to comedy with a couple of pounds added. No more flexy muscles from George of the Jungle. But his comedic plastic features still the best. Brendan managed to survive the wrath of the animal with a loss of dignity, scary and grotesquely funny.

Ratings: 2.5
Cute animals but not much of a laugh to mention worthy. But cute nonetheless