The Wolverine (review)

Honestly, due to financial issue I've decided to reduce my budget to go to cinema. That's why I don't have plan to watch The Heat, The Wolverine or The Conjuring. But then I read in Flipboard that there's a sneak peak of X-Men: Days of Future Past in the end credit of The Wolverine. Call me crazy. As soon as I read that, I immediately check the theater schedule, take a bath, then rushed to go to cinema.

I think The Wolverine is quite good but somehow I feel it's a let down. It's more a drama than action and there's a twist in the story. Most people will be surprised but I'm not. You know that you've watched too many movies when you can guess the twist in the middle of the story (right after Yukio said she can't foretell the death of one character). The music is forgettable. The action is quite good. Personally, I don't like the fight between Wolverine and the yakuza on top of the Shinkansen. It's a little bit unrealistic. But I love to see Yukio fight. Is it just me? I think I prefer Wolverine-Yukio pairing than Wolverine-Mariko. He he he. Oh, and the Viper is quite a sexy villain.

Overall, I think this movie is a so-so movie. It didn't meet my high expectation. Much better than X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but I love X-Men First Class a lot more. And as for the ending credit scene? For me, just seeing Sir Ian McKellen come back as Magneto and Patrick Steward as Professor X is a treat. In X-Men: Days of Future Past, Magneto and Professor X is comrade rather than enemy. I want to know how Bryan Singer will play that out. So, have you seen The Wolverine? What do you think about it?

Pasific Rim (Review)

When I read today that more people choose to watch Grown Ups 2 than Pasific Rim, I thought maybe the Earth is really coming to an end. Seriously, after a series of mediocre to bad films that neither good nor funny, I've lost faith to Adam Sandler's ability to make me laugh. On the other side, Pasific Rim had many cliche moments but it still really fun that I don't really mind and still think this movie will make it to my Top 10 Best 2013 Movie list. To be fair, my opinion maybe have something to do with the fact that I'm a fan of anime. Maybe that's why more people watch Grown Ups 2, because it attracts attention from everyone but Pasific Rim only get attention from nerds, anime fans, and anyone who wants to watch giant robots fighting giant monsters. Whatever, just read my review about this film below!

Guillermo del Toro is a very visual director so it's not surprising that the visual in this movie is good. Some people complain about the darker tone he use in this movie. I really don't mind because a lot of the fighting scenes were in night time. If it's too bright it would not feel realistic. The action sequences is good. Unlike Transformers movie where the action is messy and over the top (so sometimes I don't get what's happening), the action scenes in this movie is not hard to follow. It's not boring and repetitive like what I felt when watched Man of Steel. The music score is good. Some would feel that the score of this film is too loud and noisy but I was so immersed in the action scenes that I don't mind at all.

This movie is imaginative but some parts of it is believable. I can really picture what would human do if someday Kaiju appear in this world, it might be not so deviated from this movie. The characters are interesting though there's many cheesy dialogues in this movie. I was impressed by the performance of Mana Ashida, the young Japanese artist who played the young Mako. Idris Elba is very good too.

What I don't like about this movie is the ending. Too convenience and made me raise a lot of questions because of the implausibility. But overall this movie is fun and enjoyable. Have you watch Pasific Rim? What do you think about it? Comment bellow. Let me know.

Despicable Me 2 (Review)

After Monster University, I had a high hopes for Despicable Me 2. Is the reality match my expectation? Keep read this post to find out!

Actually this movie is good enough. The minions is the highlight of this movie and they're so funny. Gru's 3 children are so adorable (particularly Agnes). The villain is a badass, I particularly like the introduction of El Macho. The gadgets are cools even thought there's only few of them. I don't really like the music score though. The music and the story in this film is pretty lame, the solution of the problem is too convenient. Children will love it but adults will feel that they don't have many things to dig from this movie. The 3D is useless so don't watch it in 3D because it won't add more good viewing experience. Finally I would say that I'm a little bit disappointed. But the funny minions in this movie made it still worth watching.

Funny minions!

Monster University (Review)

Finally! The first descent animation movie in 2013 is none other than Monster University!

Mike Wazowski  and James P. Sullivan

Monster University is the prequel of Monster Inc that told story from the days Mike Wazowski and James Sullivan train as scarer. It's kind of odd that in this movie they first meet each other in university since I remember Mike said to James in Monster Inc movie that he always jealous of Mike's face since they're in their 4th grade which emphasize that they've known each other since they were kids. But whatever, It's still a good movie both for kids and adults.

It opens by a short animation movie, "the Blue Umbrella". It's quite a good and unique movie. I personally love the intro of the movie that tell us how Mike Wazowski became fascinated by the scarer  and dream to take the scare major in Monster University. After that, the movie told us a generic story of how losers and underrated group become the winner of the contest. It's far from bad story, but generic. I must point out that the story of Monster Inc is more unique and fresh. But the last 30 minutes of this movie is golden, deep, touching and entertaining.

Overall, I'm satisfied with Monster University. I only wish they could bring a more fresh story but this movie is executed in a descent way. Watch it! It's worth your time.

World War Z (Review)

World War Z is a movie based on novel with the same name. However, the story in the movie is deviated so much from its original noveI, lead to outcries from the fans of the book. I never read the book so I can't give comment about that but the movie is enjoyable enough. Maybe I would say otherwise after read the book though, like when I saw Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief movie that I thought was fine at that time. After read the books in the series, I became furious because they almost ruin the original story. But in the meantime, let me told you my impression of World War Z as a movie.

Brad Pitt act as the main character, a United Nations agent that have to investigate the source, cause and cure of the zombie apocalypse. This movie is cool enough for a bloodless zombie movie. If majority of books and movies portray zombies as slow creature, in this movie they fast and act more aggressive to sound. The premise is cool and the story touch a little bit about politic here. Just imagine what measures the government will take to overcome this whole zombie outbreak. This movie is meant to be touching but I found that the addition of the family in this story did not lead to a touching drama. It's all about building the tension and suspense. The cinematography is good. The music score is so so. It's too bad that this movie don't give room for minor characters to shine. The ending is not satisfactory, but maybe it's because they want to make the sequel of this film. Overall, watching World War Z is a good time for me.

Man of Steel (Review)

Just as Iron Man 3, half the viewers love it while the other half hate it. I was hesitate to watch it at first but finally I made up my mind and watch it 1 week ago.

Overall, for me it is a good movie. Even thought I could not grasp all those things about Codex and basically all the things about Krypton. The movie spend a good amount of time to introduce Krypton to us and it looks impressive. I don't know whether it's because I'm dumb or the story is not plausible, I really don't get why Jol-Er put the Codex inside Kal-Er then send him to Earth. Of course I know that he want to save his child before the destruction of Krypton, but he intend to save the Krypton legacy by incorporating the Codex, thing that store the DNA code of Kryptonian, to Kal-Er. How he plans to bring back the whole Kryptonian race by doing so is still a mystery for me. Other things that I still don't understand is General Zod and his baseless hatred to Kal-Er. I found it's weird that Kryptonian had time to adjudicate and sentence General Zod and his follower while they supposed to evacuate themselves since Krypton planet is on its edge of destruction (and foolishly made them an extinct race).  

Apart from the Krypton thing, I found Man of Steel is enjoyable. The acting is good but too bad there's not much room for romantic story between Clark Kent and Louis Lane. The music and the cinematography is so-so. The action is cool but I found it tiring. Maybe because I fed up with mega CGI-action scenes such as in Transformers, The Avengers, practically almost all Hollywood movie. Seriously, why the destruction is always focused in America?? (Not that I complain though. At least in the movies those aliens never come to my home country).

It's funny. Credit to the maker, uploader and 9gag.com

It's not groundbreaking or a must-see film. That's being said, I will still recommend you to watch it and see it for yourself.