The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

PG-13 | 146 mins | Sci-fi, Adventure | November 22, 2013 (USA)

Director: Francis Lawrence

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Donald Sutherland

(Based from the novel written by Suzanne Collins)

After watching this movie, I had three (3) realizations:

1. Catching Fire is better than Divergent.

2. Cinna (Lenny Kravitz) is a revolutionary just as much as the rest, only in a different way.  

3. I want a book (or a spinoff movie) about Johanna Mason's (Jena Malone) life.

#ReadyForMockingjay 

RATING: 7/10

Pitch Perfect

PG-13 | 112 mins | Musical, Comedy, Romance | October 10, 2012 (Philippines)

Director: Jason Moore
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, Skylar Astin and Rebel Wilson



It is about young adults. It involves music and has a romantic element. 

LOL.

Pitch Perfect is something between Bandslam, Glee and Easy A. Only, imagine that all of the characters are in uni, and imagine they're more hilarious, more talented, and more badass.

Pitch Perfect follows a female acapella voice choir, The Bellas, competing to be the best of all the universities. I loved how understated Beca (Anna Kendrick), the main character, was. Her love interest, Jesse (Skylar Astin), was cocky yet cool. Everyone else in the cast were all exaggerated and funny characters. Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) is easily my favorite character. She's so funny I found myself eagerly waiting for her witty one-liners. 

As far as the music was concerned, it was topnotch. Man, they could sing! Awesome harmonies, great mash-ups. Our office has had to endure hours of people singing the same songs!

This movie is not your usual cheesy teen rom-com; the predictable love story and the girl bitching aside. It has funny puns via singing (watch out for the riff-off) & projectile vomiting. Haha.  

Apart from Anna Kendrick (Twilight, Up in the Air, Rocket Science) & Brittany Snow (John Tucker Must Die, Hairspray) the cast aren't exactly 'star studded'. But each one of them has 'one-to-watch' potential, which you may know by now because you realize you've heard about them all over and seen them in one or more other movies. 

Boys might not like this film as much, because there aren't any guns (although Fat Amy assumed she's been shot in one scene). So, yeah, this may sound unlikely as f*ck, but I want you all to know that I loved the movie. I thought it was quite good and didn't complain once!

Everything in this movie is musically and comically on key. It's what Glee wishes it could be! Kidding. It's refreshing to see a musical and comedy combo like this.

If you like a feel-good movie with excellent music and lots of really good laughs, then this one is definitely worth checking out. You're gonna like it whether you want to or not.

RATING: 7/10

Life of Pi

PG  | 127 mins  | Adventure, Drama, Sci-fi | November 22, 2012 (USA)

Director: Ang Lee

Starring: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, and Rafe Spall

A feast for the eyes & a riddle for the mind.

Azlan was my favorite feline, until Richard Parker came along. This movie had me wanting to get a cat...and call him Richard Parker!

RATING: 9/10

Skyfall

PG-13 | 143 mins | Action, Adventure | October 31, 2012 (Philippines) 

Director: Sam Mendes

Starring: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, and Ralph Fiennes

Agent 007 is definitely back, and the cool factor is higher than ever. 

Skyfall starts with Bond’s end. At the beginning of the film, we are treated to an action sequence -- James Bond (Daniel Craig) in pursuit of a crook who has stolen the precious hard drive of M's computer containing a list of all undercover MI-6 agents positioned in terrorist organizations. But the mission goes wrong when the head bitch in charge, M (Judi Dench), instructs young agent Eve Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) to fire her sniper rifle, even with James in the way. Agent 007 gets shot instead of the thief and presumed dead. Fast forward 3 months and M is now pushed into early retirement for the stolen hard drive and the (wrong) decisions she's made over the last year. But courtesy of the return of now-out-of-shape Bond, M gets a second chance to redeem herself. 

This 23rd James Bond movie, more than an homage, is in itself an assessment on the 50 year old franchise. It taps into whether our world still needs undercover agents from super-intelligence organizations (like the MI-6) on the ground when everything can be easily supervised online. The franchise afterall stemmed from the Cold War and the espionage that was so widespread at the time. It is this theme of irrelevance and outdated-ness that overwhelms Skyfall. Even the new geeky Q/ Quartermaster (Ben Whishaw) suggests that he can do more in his pajamas, and his computers, in a week than Bond can do in a year. To further prove that point, the film's brilliantly menacing villain, Silva (Javier Bardem, with blonde hair!), challenges the idea behind and the need for the primitive MI-6. He shakes the MI-6 and is out to make M realize, with his clever methods comparable to Christopher Nolan's The Joker, that her ways and means are obsolete. 

Great story. Impressive action. Stunning visuals. From the tense three-way chase through grey London to the climactic and blazing finale in the damp Scottish highlands, Skyfall is simply gorgeous and exciting as hell. Emotional depth and all, the acting is excellent collectively. Craig splendidly channels the humanized version of the aged secret agent with all that charm and grit and handsome griminess; Dench's indelible performance as M could easily win her an Oscar; Bardem's portrayal totally makes his flamboyant and mad cyberterrorist character by far the best Bond villain; and Ralph Fiennes who plays Mallory will keep you guessing whose side he is on until towards the end of the film. I also love Daniel Kleinman’s work. His title sequence, with Adele's throaty vocals, is so surreal. And Thomas Newman’s musical score gets an A+ from me, his best to date. 

Sam Mendes' two-and-a-half-hour Skyfall is one of the best films of 2012 and the best James Bond film of the franchise. Highly recommended, Bond fan or not. 

Lesson to the next M: do not, I repeat, DO NOT keep a single file with the name of every agent in the MI6 on a hard drive sitting idly in your office. 

RATING: 9/10

Taken 2

PG-13 | 92 mins | Action, Adventure, Drama | October 4, 2012 (Philippines)

Director: Olivier Megaton
Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen

Taken was one of my unexpected favorites in 2008. So imagine my excitement for this action flick's sequel.

The movie introduces Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) reestablishing his relationship with his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) and ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen). Taken 2 picks up a year after the events of the first film, where Bryan successfully saved his daughter from human traffickers in Paris. Now, Bryan will be haunted by the consequences of that rescue. The father of one of the men he killed to get Kim back is seeking revenge. On a trip in Istanbul, Bryan and Lenore gets abducted, but cleverly managed to escape with Kim's help. The action begins here, as this former CIA agent is forced to retaliate.

Taken 2 was a decent follow up, although predictable. A sequel where the baddies' nearest and dearest strike back at your hero and his family is just unoriginal. 

There's more running here. I mean far-better-than-The-Bourne-Legacy kind of running, and a cliché  but awesome car chase sequence.

The movie felt like Transporter. But of course, this was also directed by Transporter 3's Olivier Megaton. 

As a sequel, it’s rather underwhelming because the story wasn't as smart as Taken, nor as intense, although the fragile-daughter-becoming-the-heroine-and-not-the-victim-anymore subplot was pleasantly refreshing. The action and fighting scenes are great; it just lacked the brutality that its predecessor showed when a father was so hell bent on rescuing his precious daughter. Even Megaton's Colombiana had more kick-ass action scenes than Taken 2, I think. But Neeson made up for the slack, thank goodness. Maggie Grace did so very well too, playing a bigger role this time around.

It's a lot of fun if you fancy seeing Neeson run around -- shooting, driving, and killing thugs. It’s got a good amount of conflict, adrenaline and drama.

I’m not jumping up and down about Taken 2, but I had a good hour-and-a-half with it. 

RATING: 7/10

The Dark Knight Rises

PG-13 | 165 mins | Action, Sci-fi, Adventure | July 19, 2012 (Philippines)

Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, Michael Caine, Anne Hathaway and Marion Cotillard


Awesome. Is that enough movie review already, that this movie is awesome? LOL.

The Dark Knight Rises picks up 8 years later since Batman (Christian Bale) took the fall for Harvey Dent's crimes. Batman hasn't been seen since. Bruce Wayne seem to be forever mourning Rachel Dawes's death, who was murdered by The Joker (the late Heath Ledger). One chance encounter however with an enchanting jewel thief Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) sprung him up. Unfortunate news of Wayne Enterprise’s financial standing in his time off, and the new apparent threat of global terrorist Bane (Tom Hardy), forced Wayne to embrace his alter ego again.

The Dark Knight Rises clocked in at 164 minutes, just the right time to tell this powerful post-apocalyptic/war story while allowing the audience to breathe and digest the material. The KAPOW and SPLAT, inked and derived from the pulpy pages of comicbooks, is what a movie about superheroes and supervillains like this is built on. But the bone crushing violence in this movie was so carefully staged and filmed that it all felt more human and authentic than the wrestling matches I see on TV. Monstrous goon Bane crippling Batman, delivering damage so intense, genuinely broke my heart. The stream of pounding had me flinching so bad the whole time. Twas an agony to watch.

The central actors are by and large topnotch. Christian Bale has stated this is his last time to play the role of Batman, and he did a better performance here than he did in The Dark Knight, mostly as Bruce Wayne than as Batman of course. Anne Hathaway was perfect as Selina Kyle. She was gorgeously hot and wicked and entertaining, and when she talked she purred like a cat (was never referred to as Catwoman though). Her chemistry with Bale tramples over that of Bale and Marion Cotillard's. Cotillard's significance as Miranda Tate sure was murky for the bulk of the film, until the big reveal in the end. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays doe-eyed police rookie John Blake, and arguably his performance was better here than in Inception. Hardy's Bane was intimidating enough, despite his facial expressions being hidden behind a mask (but The Joker is still supreme nasty). Credit to Bale and Hardy for selling their characters' personal conflicts so well. And as always, Michael Caine gives much gravitas as the film's heart, Alfred. Disappointingly, Cillian Murphy lacked the menace that he displayed from Batman Begins, and only reminded me of a local singer Christian Bautista.

This was the series' best work in the musical score department, kudos to Hans Zimmer for a chillingly good theme overall. Wally Pfister's cinematography, his Gotham City, is solid.

The movie presented a perfect plot for a terrorist attack - putting a city into anarchy and using weapons of mass destruction. The movie ought to disturb viewers a lot more than it does, yes, because it would touch upon issues like terrorism and gun violence. But I don’t think the comicbook violence in the Batman world caused the senseless and merciless movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colorado. The business of easily and legally acquiring guns and ammunition made that happen. The Dark Knight Rises movie as a matter of fact promotes at length a gun-free type of violence.

This is the third and final installment in Nolan’s Batman series. Or not. The restored bat symbol that Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) discovered and Blake's final scene definitely points to another Nolan adaptation, with Gordon-Levitt in the lead role, I conclude, but not as Robin the sidekick in green and red costume. Blake's going to take on the role of Batman in the future! Why? It was well established earlier in the film that anyone can be Batman, that it’s just a mask. So Bruce Wayne who apparently faked his own death gave Blake the coordinates and tools necessary to find the batcave, seemingly entrusting all the Batman equipment to him while he enjoys his hiatus. And he was already Robin in the film (Blake was actually named Robin, we found out at the end). He doesn't need to suit up and become Robin in the future because he already served the sidekick role of Robin in the movie. Finally, that powerful symbolism at the end, with Blake RISING up as the screen goes black, then the title: The Dark Knight RISES. So, yeah, I had reason to think this movie was a prelude to John Blake's task being the Batman.

I personally prefer this John Blake version of Robin and not the original Dick Grayson; this is how artistic Nolan is at rehashing characters from the comicbook source. Maybe Nolan will choose to adapt Frank Miller’s four-part Dark Knight Returns? Maybe. But having other Batmans will be interesting, like a Blake version of Batman. He could be like Jean-Paul Valley (Azrael) from the Knightfall series who stood in for Bruce Wayne after he was broken by Bane.

The first chapter presented the central characters. The second gave us the most loved (or hated) supervilain. Summing up the entire series, in grand fashion, The Dark Knight Rises tells the story of a man and his city.

Imperfections and all, this movie is an epic Grade A comic-book production.

RATING: 9.5/10

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

R | 105 mins | Sci-fi, Action, Adventure, Horror | July 4, 2012 (Philippines)

Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Starring: Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Anthony Mackie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Rufus Sewell

In light of the upsurge of twisted fairy tale movies comes an alternate retelling of historical events via Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. This was based on the mash-up fiction novel by Seth Grahame-Smith. It reveals the supposed secret life of the 16th President of the United States as a slayer of the undead. Abraham "Abe" Lincoln (Benjamin Walker), one of America's well-loved president, discovers vampires are planning to take over the US and makes it his mission to annihilate them. Like Harry Turtledove, the father of alternate history, Grahame-Smith masterfully wields this fiction genre where he rewrites classic literature and mix it with zombies and monsters. 

It's hard to imagine Lincoln as a vampire hunter. Learning about his 'real' life story and his ideals, and memorizing The Gettysburg Address in highschool, the title just seems silly and derogatory. But mind you the story (based on the book) itself was well researched and, though suggests ridiculousness, made sense to me that's for sure. How? Abraham Lincoln is an ideal vampire hunter because of his outdoorsy background and his towering height, he was in good shape. Lincoln portrayed as an excellent fighter has basis, he in reality likes fist fights (check "Ten Things You Don't Know About: Abraham Lincoln" on History Channel). A historian said once that during a campaign speech, he went down the platform to pound on a rival supporter who was beating up his own follower then went back and continued with his speech.

Benjamin Walker channeled the stern look of Lincoln well. Mary Elizabeth Winstead was good in her portrayal as Mary Todd, proving that she can take on serious roles and she's not just a Sky High character. 

I wasn't too impressed with the CGI, especially that scene where Lincoln chases a vampire through a stampede of horses. They just couldn't realistically create the animals, sorry. (Read: Don't watch it in 3D) The sound effects could be better. Twas so nonsensical when a 2-inch toy sword made of plastic that's dropped on carpet sounded like King Elendil's Narsil dropped on a mass of metal. The scoring could have added the needed depth to the story. It could've been worse, but at least the movie brought the novel to life enough. Bekmambetov's earlier directorial work, Wanted, was a flop for me. It was more of a comedy than a serious movie to me, so imagine my surprise when Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter worked out OK taken as a whole. 

More than the technical atrocities, I still enjoyed it. Well, mainly because of the refreshing story really. This is something different.  Vampire cum history lovers will like this! But, just a heads up, the vampires here don't sparkle in the sun. LOL.

RATING: 6/10