Review: Disturbia

Having stayed in the No. 1 spot in the US box-office charts for 3 weeks, I had high hopes for this movie. I was greatly disappointed as all I got was a disposable teen comedy in disguise.

Shia LaBeouf plays Kale, a teenager who has been put under house-arrest after he assaulted his teacher. Getting bored at home, he starts to spy on his neighbors. Soon he starts to notice some strange behavior going on with Mr Turner who lives across the street, and suspects that he could be the serial killer who has been stalking women recently.

Shia is not a bad actor. I can see why he's currently one of the most popular young stars around. Unfortunately there's not much script for him to work on.

The first hour played like a Disney channel movie, which might not be too bad if you are a teenager. The suspense and thrills only picks up in the last 30 minutes or so. Whoever said that this is a remake of 'Rear Window' is out of his mind! Anyway, if you're a teenager, chances are you've never heard of Hitchcock. So that's ok because this movie was certainly made with that target age in mind.

Review: The Last Kiss

'The Last Kiss' is about four male friends in their late twenties (3 unmarried, 1 married) who are on the brink of 'growing up' and realizing that their lives are not what they have expected it to be. Michael (Zach Braff) is a 29-year old architect who has everything he's ever wanted. He learns that his girlfriend is pregnant and they will probably get married. Then Michael starts getting cold feet and wonders what life will be like now that there are no surprises left. When he meets sexy Kim at a friend's wedding, Michael's uncertainties lead to an unexpected affair. Finally Michael is forced to deal with the consequences of his actions and has to choose between the two women.

Zach Braff ('Scrubs') sheds his goofiness and grows up in this dramatic comedy. In fact, calling 'The Last Kiss' a comedy is bit disingenuous because the movie deals with a very serious subject - commitment and the 'thirty' crisis of growing up. Although the movie starts off a bit slow, the second half was very engaging and touching.

Overall, the film is watchable - a good cast and a realistic storyline. One of the reviewiers on IMDB said this "this film is not a feel good film, it isn't a happy film, it really isn't a sad for feel bad film. this film is honest".

Hellboy 2

Director Guillermo del Toro is finally back with the sequel to Hellboy. Take a look at the teaser poster of Hellboy 2 that debuted at Comic-Con '07 recently.

The mythical world starts a rebellion against humanity in order to rule the Earth, so Hellboy and his team must save the world from the rebellious creatures.

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army will open in August 2008.

Indiana Jones 4 group photo

Shia LaBeouf, Steven Spielberg, Ray Winstone, Karen Allen and Harrison Ford greet fans at Comic-Con International from the set of the new "Indiana Jones" movie on Thursday, July 26, 2007.

Many of you may remember Karen Allen as Indy' old flame in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'. She is reprising her role as Marion Ravenwood in the new movie.

The upcoming "Indiana Jones" adventure is planned for worldwide release on May 22, 2008.

Spice Girls Reunion

It seems like a lifetime ago (11 years to be exact) when we first heard the Spice Girls singing 'Wannabe'. Six years after their break-up, they are finally getting together to perform a series of concerts worldwide.

Here are some pictures of Geri Halliwell, Melanie Chisholm, Melanie Brown, Victoria Beckham and Emma Bunton. The Spice Girls Reunion tour will start in Canada on December 2 and ends on January 24, 2008 in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, covering 14 cities in total. They have just added 4 new shows including Vancouver, San Jose, Beijing and Shanghai.

Their long-awaited Greatest Hits album will be released in December 2007.

The Simpsons Movie soundtrack in a donut

To coincide with the release of 'The Simpsons Movie' on July 27th, the soundtrack has been released in this limited edition cool donut packaging!

Tom Cruise as a German officer

Tom Cruise is starring as a German officer in his new movie 'Valkyrie'. The movie is directed by Bryan Singer ('Superman Returns', 'X-Men').


The story is about a group of high ranking German officers, led by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (played by Cruise), who hatch out a plot to assasinate Adolph Hitler, and sieze power of the military in order to end the war.

The movie is set to hit theaters August 8, 2008.

Torture Porn

Don't get your juices all worked up. 'Torture Porn' has got nothing to do with pornography! 'Torture Porn' is the term given to movies with extreme violence and gore, often featuring naked or near-naked women in extreme degradation and peril. 'Torture Porn' became big box office with the release of movies like 'Saw' and 'Hostel'. Soon many other clones came out lke 'See No Evil', ' Wolf Creek' and the recent 'Captivity'.

Hollywood, movie fans shy away from "torture porn"
Fri Jul 13, 2007
By Bob Tourtellotte

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Torture, it seems, doesn't pay at movie theater box offices like it used to.

In recent years, films dubbed "torture porn" have been the darlings of many a Hollywood producer looking to make a quick buck. The latest such release, "Captivity," opens in theaters on Friday.

But the popularity of movies like blood-and-guts thriller "Hostel: Part II" and zombie flick "28 Weeks Later," appears to have waned, prompting some to wonder if the trend is on its way out.

The answer is yes, depending on the type of movie and whether that genre includes the latest box office hit or miss.

"The horror genre has had more ups and downs over the years -- maybe only musicals have more," said Paul Dergarabedian of box office tracker Media By Numbers. "I think what happens is subgenres like (torture) become popular, then play out.

Dergarabedian noted the old Universal Pictures' monster movies such as "Frankenstein" were hugely popular in the 1930s, but eventually died off. In the 1950s, horror was represented by alien invasion flicks such as "The Thing from Another World," but these went the way of the graveyard, too.

This current wave of horror films seems to have begun in 2004, when Dergarabedian tracked 19 of the movies that raked in more than $1 billion at U.S. and Canadian box offices. The figure was roughly double the $525 million from 13 movies in 2003.

Hits in 2004 included "Freddy vs. Jason," at $82 million, and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," at $80 million, both from New Line Cinema. In 2005, Lionsgate Entertainment's "Saw" hauled in $55 million and spawned two sequels.

'Hairy' Potter!!

Daniel 'Harry Potter' Radcliffe recently appeared on the cover of Details Magazine looking all scruffy and unshaven. Where is the little wizard boy that we all loved?

D-War

D-War (short for Dragon War) is the new monster movie from Korean director Shim Hyung Rae. The movie was made at a whopping cost of US$70 million, which reportedly makes it the biggest budgeted South Korean film of all-time! This is also the first English language movie to be produced by a South Korean production company. The trailer is available at the following link:

D-War trailer

The story is based on the Korean legend which tells of the dark lord, Imoogi who can transform himself into a dragon, who comes to present-day Los Angeles to wreak havoc.

10,000 B.C.

'10,000 B.C.' is the latest movie from director Roland Emmerich, the guy who directed 'Independence Day' and 'Godzilla'. The movie is set in prehistoric times and follows a young man's journey through uncharted territories to secure the future of his tribe. Sounds very similar to 'Apocalypto'.

The trailer can be viewed at the following website. The special effects looks very good, especially the giant mammoths!

http://www.10000bcmovie.com/

After a few postponements, the movie is now slated to be released in March 2008.

Spider-Man 4 villains

According to sources, Spider-Man 4, which will only be released in 2009, will feature The Lizard and Carnage.

The Lizard is actually Dr. Curt Connors who decides to experiment with nanotechnology. Connors' experiment goes wrong when he starts mixing nano-bots with the DNA of a lizard.

The Carnage story focuses on a serial killer called Cletus Kasady who comes into contact with some of Eddie Brock's symbiote goo while they're both in prison.

There are also rumours that Black Cat might be in the movie too.

Transformers rip-off!

I went to the Pasar Malam the other night, I saw this guy was asking the DVD vendor about this movie, thinking that it's Transformers. This was like 1 week before even the Transformers movie was released worldwide! The DVD vendor said the copy is very clear blah, blah, blah....and the guy believed him and bought the copy. So warning to all you guys out there....don't get conned!


Anyway, this movie is released by Asylum, which is famous for its cheap rip-offs which are usually released a couple of weeks earlier than the original counterpart to cash in on their success. Their movies include 'Pirates Of Treasure Island', 'Snakes On A Train', and 'Da Vinci Treasure'!

The origin of the Transformers

For those planning to or have watched the 'Transformers' movie, you might be interested to find out more about the origins of the Transformers. I found the following article from About.com:

It should be noted that the Transformers history has become very convoluted over the years with the many different incarnations of cartoon series, comic books, and movies. What follows is a basic overall origin that is mostly from the original series of comics and cartoons.

Millions of years ago, a planet known as Cybertron housed workers and soldiers. The planet was a factory which created robots to serve and robots to fight. At one point in time, the workers rebelled against the oppressive soldier robots. The soldiers eventually became what we know as the Decepticons and the workers became the Autobots. The battle ravaged the planet and when their precious energy known as energon began to run out, the Autobots decided to leave Cybertron and seek out alternative sources of power.

The Autobots departed in a spaceship known as the “Ark” with the Decepticons following behind in their ship know as “Nemesis.” During a subsequent battle, both ships were forced to land on primitive Earth, where they laid dormant for four million years.

They awoke in present day time, finding that Earth had the energy source called energon. Their fight became a battle that raged all over the earth and brought in the forces of the world and sometimes Marvel characters, such as Spider-Man and Nick Fury into the fray.

The two forces opposed each other at every turn but the Autobots banded together with the earth’s forces to work to stop the Decepticons from destroying Earth and its inhabitants.

The current comic book storyline from IDW Publishing has rebooted continuity as well, having the Autobots and Decepticons fleeing a destroyed Cybertron and coming to Earth, which was seeded with energon by the Decepticon Shockwave. The Autobots and Decepticons use their transforming abilities to occupy Earth unnoticed, until the time is needed.

Shia LaBeouf to star in Indiana Jones 4

Shia LaBeouf is currently the newest hot property in Hollywood. Following the success of his roles in 'Disturbia' and 'Transformers', Shia is currently filming 'Indiana Jones 4' with Harrison Ford, also to be known as 'Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods'. Shia plays the role of Indy's son.

Here's a first look at a couple of shots of Shia with Harrison Ford during the filming of 'Indiana Jones 4'.


'Indiana Jones 4' is planned to be released in May 2008.

Kevin Costner plays serial killer in Mr Brooks

Earl Brooks (Kevin Costner) is a loving family man and a local business icon. But Mr. Brooks is deeply flawed and very aware of it. He is addicted to killing. Struggling with his pathology, he tries to quit, but his alter-ego, 'Marshall' (William Hurt), has an altogether different idea. 'Marshall enjoys his 'existence' and his 'work'. Demi Moore plays a detective who gets intimately involved with the Mr Brooks.

First look at Transformers

Here's a first look at the robots from the upcoming Transformers movie. Looks very cool. This is THE movie to watch out for this summer.

Silver Surfer posters

Here's a couple of cool promo posters of Silver Surfer from the upcoming movie 'Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer'.



In this movie, the Fantastic Four meets their greatest challenge as the enigmatic, intergalactic herald, Silver Surfer, comes to Earth to prepare it for destruction. As the Silver Surfer races around the globe wreaking havoc, Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben must unravel the mystery of the Silver Surfer and confront the surprising return of their mortal enemy, Dr. Doom, before all hope is lost.

The true 'happyness' of Chris Gardner

I have just watched 'The Pusuit of Happyness' over the weekend and I must say that it's one of the most inspiring and touching movies I've seen in a while. We all take what we have for granted....but watching the movie makes you realise that there are so many unfortunate people out there who are jobless and homeless. And with determination, faith and ambition one man breaks free from his chains to become successful.

The movie is based on the true story of Chris Gardner, a struggling salesman whose wife left him to take care of his son alone. In the face of this difficult life, Chris has the desperate inspiration to try for a stockbroker internship. Together, father and son struggle through homelessness, jail time, tax seizure and the overall punishing despair in a quest that would make Gardner a respected millionaire.

I thought rather than going at lengths about the movie (which eventually all of you will see), I will share some quotes from the real-life Chris Gardner instead.

I asked the guy two questions. One was, ‘What do you do?’ The second was, ‘How do you do that?’

I was homeless, but I wasn't hopeless. I knew a better day was coming.

One of the things young people always ask me about is what is the secret to success. The secret is there is no secret. It’s the basics. Blocking and tackling.

When I look back at the journey from homelessness to prosperity, I hold one thing dearer than all else – my commitment to my son. Doing a movie with the top movie star portraying me, doing a book with an editor who's last book won the Pulitzer Prize – all that stuff is great, but the most important thing that I will have ever done in my life was break the cycle of men who were not there for their children.

As busy as I am wherever I am, I try to get out and walk the streets, to remember how far I’ve come and appreciate every baby step of the way.

I went to some very successful business people when I was trying to open the doors of my company, and none of them would give me the time of day. I made a promise to myself and to God. I said, 'God, if you ever let me get to a certain level, I am not going to be like that.'

The coolest thing in the world is walking up the street in Chicago, New York or San Francisco and having someone say 'Hey, you might not remember me, but thank you for helping me get in the business'. That was 12 or 14 years ago. These kids have graduated from college and gone to law school or gotten their MBAs and are running departments in some of the biggest financial institutions on Wall Street.

You know how mountains get moved? Everyone who can move a couple, move a couple. Those who can move rocks, move rocks. Those who can move boulders, move boulders. That’s how mountains get moved. If every one of us did everything we could, I believe we would be in a different world.

You have to be committed, and you have to find something that you are passionate about. And forget about money. I’ve learned that money is the least significant aspect of wealth.

No matter how much money is involved or no matter how easy it is for you to do, if you’re not happy, you are nothing more than a slave to your talent and money. Do something that makes you happy and makes you feel good about yourself. Do something that makes you feel your work is significant and meaningful. If you just want to make money, that’s a whole different trip. I can’t help you with that.

Living with a baby tied on my back, trying to work, he recalls. It can be done, but you have to make it happen. And no matter what, you have to cling to it like it’s life itself, if that’s what you really want to do.

There's a choice: you eat or you stay in a hotel. We chose to eat. And we stayed in a subway station. We rode the trains. We slept in bathrooms.

I wanted to be world class at it or world class at something. At 18, Miles Davis was in New York playing with Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. At the same age, I was playing with some cats named Pookie and Ray Ray. It wasn’t going to happen. But I made a commitment to be world class at something.

We all understand genetics. You get your eyes from your dad, your mom’s nose, there’s nothing you can do about that. But your spiritual genetics you can choose, pick, embrace and commit to. That’s what I did.

Though my mom had too many of her own dreams denied, deferred and destroyed, she instilled in me that I could have dreams. And not just have dreams but had a responsibility to make them reality. My mom taught me from a very early age that I could do anything I wanted to do.

We were homeless, we were not hopeless. There’s a world of difference. A lot of folks don’t realize it, but it’s estimated that 12 percent of all of the homeless people in this country have jobs and go to work every day.

Baby steps count, as long as you are going forward. You add them all up, and one day you look back and you’ll be surprised at where you might get to.

More Asian remakes from Hollywood

Following the success of movies like 'The Grudge', 'The Ring' and recently the Oscar-winning 'The Departed', Hollywood is planning to 'bastardize' more Asian movies. Why do the film-makers think that people would prefer the English version to the original version? I guess maybe Americans can't read subtitles...lol.

Anyway, like it or not, here's a bunch of remakes on the way to your local screens soon.

• One Missed Call: According to Variety, Intermedia has paired with Kadakowa USA to produce and finance the English-language remake of the Japanese horror hit. The story is about several people who starts receiving voice-mails from the future foretelling the date, time, and details of their deaths. The remake will star Edward Burns and Azura Skye.

• Shutter: Joshua Jackson and Rachael Taylor will star in Regency Enterprises' psychological thriller 'Shutter', which begins shooting March 12 in Tokyo. This is a remake of the 2004 Thai movie. The remake will be directed by Masayuki Ochiai and will be released in 2008.

• Confession Of Pain: After the success of 'The Departed', Oscar-winning screenwriter William Monahan will be adapting another Hong Kong flick 'Confession Of Pain', which was also made by the 'Infernal Affairs' team of Andrew Lau, Alan Mak and Felix Chong. Leonardo DiCaprio is in line to produce and star.

• The Eye: Jessica Alba takes on the role as the girl who receives an eye transplant that allows her to see into the supernatural world. This is the remake of the Hong Kong horror movie directed by the Pang Brothers.

• Bangkok Dangerous: The most promising thing about this is that the original movie's directors, Pang Brothers, are going to direct the remake as well. The new version will be titled 'Time To Kill'. Nicholas Cage stars as a hitman who comes to Bangkok to pull off a series of jobs and falls for a local woman.

• My Sassy Girl: The remake combines the original Korean story, the French whimsy of director Yann Samuell, the Indian spice of writer Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham), and the American midwestern setting. The remake stars Jesse Bradford and Elisha Cuthbert.