Movie Review: "The King's Speech"

Being a movie freak who lives in Indonesia is quite challenging. I'm a super curious person when it comes to the new releases, and I have this impulsiveness to must watch those newest ones. Unfortunately the foreign movies that arrive in my town, Yogyakarta, usually only the 'big-budget' ones. Those which are set for international/ wide release, for the smaller projects we usually have to wait until they arrive in Jakarta, then few weeks later they will arrive here. That's why we just got "The King's Speech" arrive here a couple of days ago. When my friend asked me "Do you want to watch 'The King's Speech' or 'Mechanics'?" I was like "'THE KING'S SPEECH' OF COURSE!!".

Knowing that the movie is highly acclaimed, I totally raised my expectations (it just won Best Film in the BAFTA, and is predicted to win Best Picture in the Oscars). And what can I say? The movie was wonderful! It came from a very simple idea, but Tom Hooper and the crew developed it into a beautiful pack of masterpiece. Great actors, great screenplay, great cinematography — that's all you need.

Colin Firth was 'man of the scenes'. He depicted the struggling Bertie perfectly, seems like something was hanging on his throat and that he actually wanted to say so many things but he couldn't. Firth was able to connect his struggle to the audience, in a very natural way. He raised our symphaty yet admiration of his strong will to be a good leader as his father wished for. At one point after reigning as King George VI, he was so desperate and screamed "I'm not a good king!" so many times — it was so heartbreaking.

Firth's vulnerable character was supported by the eccentric speech trainer Lionel Logue, played by Geoffrey Rush. Logue was initially reluctant to help Bertie when Bertie's wife came to him. But when she revealed that it was actually Duke of York who needed his help, he accepted the proposal directly. During the speech training (but it's more like 'therapy' to me), those two different characters met and they created this intriguingly dynamic conversation. Logue tried to dig into Bertie's mind, which Bertie rejected first, but slowly they got to know each other and bond naturally. Rush did amazing, he was all of encouragement, optimism, and confident. Exactly the kind of person Bertie needed, besides his loving wife Elizabeth (played by the-oh-so-amazing Helena Bonham Carter).

Overall, the movie was relaxed, positive, and really nice to watch. I really enjoy the flow of the plot. The actors were terrific — it was merely perfect cast. There was a lot of meaningful dialogue that I can't even remember. I don't know if this movie will beat the more-hype "Social Network", but this was absolutely an Oscar material. Five stars out of five!

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Movie Review: "Let Me In"

"Let Me In" is probably one of my most favorite horror movie ever!

To celebrate yesterday's release of "Let Me In" DVD and Blu-Ray, I am going to review this one of the best horror movies I've seen! The reason why I was eager to watch this movie so much is: 1) I basically love vampire movies, and 2) the main cast (including the vampire) are children. I saw it for the first time on a Korean music video, which was the soundtrack, and it was all about the movie clips. When I found out that Chloe G. Moretz played a vampire, I put "Let Me In" directly to my 'must watch' list.

Previously I have reviewed the original Swedish version of this movie, "Let The Right One In". It was great, the whole movie was cold and thrilling — it's silent but scary. I barely heard a scoring background in every scene, silence is all around. The feel of cold came out because of that reason, moreover the setting was very snowy. Comparing to the Swedish version, I must say that I enjoyed the English more.

Matt Reeves (the genius behind 2008 hit "Cloverfield" — one of the best fake-documentary movie I've seen after "The Blair Witch Project" and better before "Paranormal Activity") successfully made a fast-paced plot to "Let Me In", so it wasn't too silent and wouldn't make you sleepy.

Still the same story, only different location and names. Set in New Mexico around 1983, a 12 years-old Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is struggling with life in home, dealing with the divorce of his parents; and in school, he is so powerless when it comes to bullies. Thus he becomes a loner, someone who doesn't talk too much but keeping a grudge inside him. When he is alone he loves to act as if he bullies a little girl, something that he won't dare to do in real life.

One day he finally meets the girl who just moved in right next to him with her father outside of their apartment. Her name is Abby (Chloe Grace Moretz). She is a weirdo, that's what he thinks, because she walks with barefeet on the snow wearing only a thin jacket. She says, "I'm not what you think I am," and "We shouldn't be friends,". Owen doesn't know that she brings much 'bad luck' to the small town — well not him, but to the other innocent people.

They fall for each other, of course, and it's a good chemistry. Soon after Owen finds out that Abby is not a human, he gets angry. But at the same time he can't just let her go, because she's practically his only friend. She's the one who encourages him to fight back to the bullies, and he did so. Owen is still in his skinny figure, but his mental grows stronger. In return, Owen teaches Abby how to love, thus she doesn't feel insecure anymore of what she really is. In short, he gives a light of hope to her.

Abby the vampire girl!

The scary part wasn't only when Abby feed on her victims (and when her face changed, my goodness...), but the fact that she's a monster in disguise. We have no idea whether she actually fell in love with Owen, or she just wanted to keep him replacing her previous partner (which only described as her 'father', but he actually wasn't. In a scene, it revealed that her 'father' was a little guy like Owen whom she kept for a very long time to be with her — not just to be her lover but also her 'babysitter' who brings her 'food' everytime she gets 'hungry'.)

This isn't a movie for children, that's for sure. Blood is everywhere. And even though it wasn't very graphic, it's truly disturbing for me. I feel so bad for Owen, his dilemma that is. If he didn't meet Abby he might be still living his miserable life, in which he had wished to get away of. He doesn't want to live there anymore, he wants a new life. And when he meets Abby he knows that he finally gets that chance. To runaway from his sad life, which will make him happier because he's able to be with a girl he likes.

Trust me Owen, if you see it through a different perspective, I believe you'll realize that you have the wrong choice.

This movie is definitely a must-watch material, if you love horror movies! Three stars out of five!

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Movie Review: "I'm Here"

I just watched Spike Jonze's short-movie titled "I'm Here". No words can describe my feelings, it was simply beautiful! The 30 minutes movie tells about a love story between two robots named Sheldon (Andrew Garfield) and Francesca (Sienna Guillory).

Sheldon is described as a lonely boy with a plainly boring life. He spends his every day life working at the library, riding a bus because he can't drive. One day when he's standing at the bus station, he sees Francesca for the first time, who's driving her car miserably but seems like she's having so much fun. They meet again the next day at the same place, but this time Francesca isn't alone. She's with three friends who invite Sheldon to join them.

While Francesca's friends are having fun, Sheldon takes a walk with Francesca and get to know each other. Francesca attaches some papers in which she drew herself and wrote "I'm Here" on the planks. Francesca falls and injures her knee, but Sheldon repairs it by his own toolkit. Francesca shows him her favorite CD, and Sheldon seems to fascinate her. The next day, they meet again in front of Sheldon's work place and spend more time together. In short, they begin to date.

And this is where the real story begins. I don't want to talk any more details because I'll be spoiling you. So basically, the love story may be familiar for those who loves to watch romance movies (especially the likes of Korean movie themes). It's simply sweet, meaningful, and touchy. But what makes this movie different is the idea of using robots instead of human as the principal characters. The robots themselves are not perfectly formed, their heads are CPU (like Sheldon's), so you can see the CD-Rom and Floppy A drive. But they have a pair of expressive eyes—you can really tell their feelings.

Andrew Garfield as Sheldon

Andrew once again did a good job (in making me cry as well). He totally fits into the character of Sheldon. We can't see his face, but his voice is so vulnerable, and his gesture is so assuring that we can understand what kind of guy Sheldon is. Sienna is also able to portray a cheerful-but-miserable type of girl in the robotic form. This robot couple can complete each other; Francesca brings the fun to Sheldon, while Sheldon brings her the true meaning of loving, that he's willing to sacrifice everything to her. Another cute thing is, that this movie location is Los Angeles, but Andrew and Sienna speak in British accents, which is awesome!

And you may not question Spike Jonze's ability. His movies "Being John Malkovich", "Adaptation.", and "Where The Wild Things Are" are all critically acclaimed. I enjoyed all of them, because Spike seems to emphasize the actors' expressions & the leading characters instead of the screenplay. Hopefully he will make more movies like these!

You can watch "I'm Here" on its official website, or you can see it below.

I'm Here from nappyafro on Vimeo.

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Review: "The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader!

A few days ago I went to watch The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader (haha, yes, finally!). I didn't have any high expectation of this movie, but I was so sure that it will be entertaining. But I was wrong. THIS MOVIE WAS SUPER DUPER COMPELLING!

Peter and Susan Pevensie are now in United States, living with Mr and Mrs Pevensie. While Edmund and Lucy who are still underage-but-growing up, staying in their uncle's house along with their annoying cousin Eustace. Everyone wants to kill Eustace at the first time but his character slowly develops throughout the movie, along with the unexpected adventures he has. Eustace is actually a smart kid, but he loves to make troubles with Edmund, and he doesn't believe in fairy tale. One day, when he and Edmund are fighting, Lucy realizes that the painting hung in her room is moving, and suddenly water starts to come out from it.

All three of them are drowned inside the room but when they got on to the surface, they find themselves in the middle of the sea. A huge ship comes in front of them, but it turns out to be the Dawn Treader, King Caspian's expedition ship. Caspian and his crew save the three kids and bring them to the ship. Caspian tells Edmund that Narnia has been in peace for three years, but he is still curious about finding the 6 lost former Telmar kings. And this is where the journey begins.

As you can guess, the adventure is filled with magical creatures and wonderful visual effects. But then, the least thing you can ever expected, the dialogue in every scene reflects a meaningful moral message. This is the best part that you couldn't even find in the previous two movies (The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and Prince Caspian). Most teenagers almost lose their innocence, as they are affected by a desire to be a real man or simply be a beautiful woman (read: puberty). Edmund, who's been always 'number two' since the first and second movie, knowing that Peter is the highest king and oldest brother. And now, he becomes 'number two' again, because Caspian is the new king of Narnia and the captain of Dawn Treader. While the cute little Lucy, grows up into a nurturing and maternal teenager, but facing a new phase of 'attracting opposite sex'. She wants to be as beautiful as her sister Susan, and almost get herself in trouble when she finds a dangerous incantation.

Another best part is the character transform of Eustace, from the least heroic to the likely heroic. He is 'mentored' by Reepicheep, the mouse warrior, who teach him to fight with swords and give him wonderful life lessons (believe me, suddenly I'd love to have a cute mouse bestfriend like Reepicheep—recalling other characters who bestfriend with a wise mouse, in a book I just bought a couple of months ago, Clair de Lune, or even Cinderella! :D).

Overall I give this movie 3.5 stars out of 4. I'm sure the kids loved it! And yeah, I almost cried at the last part of the movie (as usual). And I had to hold my tears because I forgot to bring tissues (as usual). And I gotta say this movie is way better after 20th Century Fox snapped it from Disney—in direction and screenplay. For those who haven't seen it or who simply need an entertaining feature, go see this movie!

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Movie Review: "Let The Right One In"

"Would you let me in?"

What makes this movie creepy is actually not the murder nor blood, but the idea of the story itself. You know when you are attached to someone and that person will never let you go? I'm not talking about possessiveness, it's more like you are 'kept' by someone who has something wrong within her/him, and you know it and you still like that someone without knowing the future impacts because you are still a child. I don't know if you are so in love with that someone (read: love drunk) and you choose not to care about her/his 'frightening habits'. But throughout this movie, all I want to do is scream "Wake up! She's a monster! Run for your life!" at Oskar, the little guy who friends (or let's say, fall in love) with the vampire Eli. No matter how sweet, polite, nice, and protective Eli is to Oskar, no matter how good looking she is... That girl is no human. At all.

And that's what makes this movie damn good. Their friendship begins with their shared similarity: being a loner. Eli refuses to be friend with Oskar at first, knowing the risk of being around her, but then she starts to see Oskar in deeper sense. Oskar seems to be friendly and non-judgemental, but his main weakness is bullies. He is the main target of the bullies at his school, and is too afraid to fight back. Eli encourages Oskar to hit the bullies back, and Oskar tries to strengthen his mental and physical appearance by swimming and weight-lifting. Despite his weakness towards bullies, Oskar puts interest to criminal news and even forensics (I bet his favorite TV show is all kind of CSI!). He collects murder or any criminal articles from the local newspaper. And yeah, as you can guess, the criminal records grow since Eli moves next door to Oskar.

Eli lives with an old man whom people believe to be her 'father'. He is a real loner, when someone asks him to join his table with his friends at a restaurant, he refuses without saying 'Thank You'. I can tell that he's not Eli's real father, because Eli says she's been twelve for a "very long time", but he seems to really love Eli for he is willing to kill people, take their blood, and feed them to Eli (this is actually explained in the English version of the movie, Let Me In). Unfortunately he fails to bring Eli her 'dinner' twice, and at his second attempt he decides to pour his face with accumulator water so the police won't recognize his face. Eli visits him at the hospital, in a very hungry condition, and her 'father' finally gives himself up to her. She drinks his blood and he falls from the seventh floor. This is no love, this is freaky!

As Oskar gets closer to Eli, he knows what kind of 'person' she is. Yes, he finds out that she's a vampire, but instead of keeping him away from her or being afraid, he puts more interest on her. One night, Eli visits Oskar when his mother is away, and Oskar teases her without inviting her in. Eli steps into Oskar's apartment without invitation, and the blood starts to shed from all of her body. Oskar starts to panic and finally tell her the invitation (like I told you before, vampire is quite polite when it comes to entering someone's house—but apparently that Edward Cullen guy is not, since he loves to enter Bella's room by himself haha).

Things are getting worse when Eli kills a local citizen inside her apartment, and she decides to leave the town. Oskar is a bit 'devastated' (but not as annoying as Bella Swan in New Moon who looks like a stupid crazy girl for being left by her boyfriend forgetting the facts that she has many people who care for her—OK I need to stop comparing this cool movie to that sucky movie), but he realizes that he has to move on.

One day the bullies pull a prank for him by asking him to come to school for swimming practice, but it turns out to be a 'bully showdown' instead. The big bully challenges Oskar to stay under water for 3 minutes. If he succeed then the bully will only give him a small nick with his knife, but if he failed one of his eyes will be poked out (I think this kid watched too many Saw or Hostel movies). After the bully holds Oskar under water with his hand, a few minutes later, you will see this unbelievably creepy scene, although it isn't displayed.

OK, spoiler alert: suddenly there's a head falls into the water. And a pair of shaking legs like when someone is tortured. And then... The bully's hand that grips Oskar's hair is truncated and falls down. Another hand pulls Oskar up and saves him. Yes, vampire Eli is back. As the scene is 'zoomed out', you can see the bullies are all lied down without hands, legs, or head, and yeah, blood is everywhere.

You may guess the ending, Eli keeps Oskar to her forever. And ever. Without happily ever after, because in my logical sense, Eli will treat Oskar like the way she did to her 'father'. I bet Oskar will be the person who love her most but also her 'personal assistant' to kill people and help her feed. And this is the creepy idea I'm talking about earlier.

But the movie itself, I really enjoy it! Even though it's too silent because there's no scoring or music background, and the dialogue is just a few. But as a horror and vampire movie, it definitely nails the audience. Next thing I'm going to do is read the novel (yeah I already got it YAY!) and watch the English version.

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Movie Review: "Tron: Legacy"

A couple of weeks ago I made a pact with myself, to ‘control my desire to watch movies at the cinema’ whenever a new one comes out—at least until the end of this month. It isn’t like my usual activity, you know, I’ve been striving myself to watch the latest movie in the premiere date. I don’t know, I had this mindset that watching movie at the exact date of its premiere somehow more ‘prestigious’ and ‘cool’.

I kept the promise and voila, I could resist myself not to go to the cinema even though Rapunzel, Unstoppable, The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and Tron: Legacy were released. For me this is an accomplishment, because I must say I’m a movie mania. I can watch four to five different movies in a month, even watch two movies in a day. It’s probably the same as those fashionistas and shopaholic who can’t help just looking at the ‘new release’ mini dress or shoes. It was rather impulsive.

And eventually today, at 24 December—the Christmas Eve, I went to watch one of those movies. I chose Tron: Legacy, because last week I watched Disney Mara-TRON with Olivia Wilde and Garrett Hedlund on it (they’re super gorgeous!) and was simply curious about this movie. I haven’t watched the predecessor though, but I read Olivia’s tweet that we aren’t obliged to watch the first one to understand this sequel. OK, let’s go directly to my review!

Despite the rather predictable plot, Tron: Legacy is a great movie choice before the curtain of 2010 closed. The movie is just simply cool—I suggest you have to watch the 3D version because the special effect is AWE...wait for it...SOME (trying to pull out some Barney Stinson here, haha)! It’s really nice to see that the director might chose this simple plot because it’s under Walt Disney Pictures production, and Disney movies are mostly (and somehow must be made) suitable for kids (at least teenagers), so they had to create a good balance between the super advanced effects and understandable storyline.

Any of the Grid fights are absolutely my favourite. The motorcycle race is superb—I wonder if that kind of race track actually exist. And I love the design of the Tron world. Jeff Bridges successfully brings the ‘feel of the movie’, as a hopeless father/ inventor who’s ‘alienated’ by his own creations. I gotta say that Bridges is the star, and even though I love Hedlund and Wilde so much, they simply work as the ‘eye candies’.

Since I haven’t watched the first movie, I actually feel that I didn’t watch this movie as a whole. I mean, I still need to figure out some things: Flynn said he created Clu and Tron to help him build the real Tron world. But unfortunately I, as the viewer, don’t have much information about the Tron himself (even though at the end of the movie they reveal it). The ending is cheesy and unsatisfying, but I almost cried when Flynn let his son get away with Quorra and he sacrifices himself (I told you, Jeff Bridges is the man!). Not forget to mention that seeing the incredible effect is so worth it! Plus, Daft Punk did a really great job on scoring this movie. The epic-techno (OK to be honest I don't know the genre name) music suits the movie theme: sophisticated and futuristic.

So what are you waiting for? Go to your nearest theatre to experience the Tron world itself. Don’t forget to choose the 3D version if you have an extra cash. In case you want to go out and hang out with your family in this Christmas holiday, watching Tron: Legacy might be a great choice. Happy Holidays and have a great weekend, people!

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Movie Review: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I"

Last night I finally watched the most awaited, anticipated movie of the year, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1). The movie was inarguably great! Just like David Yates did at the two previous installments, Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince, he brought this deep and dark touch on the movies. Since the beginning of the movie, you’ll somehow feel the horrifying situation that befell to the characters—I was even nervous!

When Hermione ‘obliviate‘d her parents memories in order to protect them, when the Order members disguised themselves as Harry, when Xenophilius Lovegood was so desperate that Luna got kidnapped by the Death Eaters, how Ron felt so insecure joining Harry’s ‘clueless-Horcrux-finding’ adventure because he’s worried that his parents & siblings would be listed in ‘Missing Wizards’ list, and most of all, you could actually see deep deprivation within the actors facial expressions—which was amazing!

The ending was of course left us with a huge expectation, wishing the second part would come out the next day (which is impossible of course, because it’s set to release July next year :<) Don’t ask about the special effect, it was superb! There were shots—but not by guns, simply by the magic wands. Ron and Hermione were so adorable, I can’t wait to see them with children next year! Big four thumbs up for the movie!


I also called this a "Horror Potter", because it's truly horror! Go watch it by yourself if you don't believe me. ;)

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Movie Review: "Prince of Persia"

Ever since I watched the movie trailer, I was really excited to see this movie. It's not just because of Jake Gyllenhaal, but it also has historical background within it (you know I'm an epic movie freak ;-p) and the special effects looks promising.

"Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" is based on a video game with the same title, and since I don't play the game I really had no idea about the storyline. When I asked my brother, who's a video game geek, he just told me, "The game is quite sadistic, you jump from rooftop to rooftop beating the enemies with two big daggers and blood sprayed everywhere."

Hmmm... I think that was interesting, because this movie is actually a Walt Disney production. Which means, it's usually rated G or PG-13, and we can't expect PG-13 movies to be bloody and brutal. But thankfully, it's Mike Newell and Jerry Bruckheimer who takes the director and producer seat respectively, so I was really sure that the movie won't be 100% same to the video game.

The storyline tells about Prince Dastan (Gyllenhaal), an adopted son of the King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup), the Persian King, who is accused to kill the King by giving him an acid-poisoned robe. Dastan is the King's favorite son, for having a great fighting skill and battle strategy. One day, Dastan's uncle Nizam (Ben Kingsley) delivers a report that Alamut, a sacred city near the kingdom, has a deadly weapon made to destroy the Persian empire. The kingdom soon prepare a strategy to attack the city, with Dastan and his brothers Garsiv (Toby Kebbell) and Tus (Richard Coyle) as the leaders.

During the battle in Alamut, Dastan takes down one of the Alamut warrior who brings a 'fancy' dagger. Dastan then takes the dagger for himself, and the Persian army successfully occupy the city. Tus meets Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton), the leader of Alamut, asking her to be a part of Persia in a friendly relationship. Tamina isn't being friendly at first, but when she sees Dastan and the 'fancy' dagger hanging on his waist, she reluctantly accept Tus' request.

To celebrate the victory, Dastan and his brothers plan to give their father a holy robe for prayer. And when the King wears it, he soon falls down while his body is burning inside. Anyone who touches the robe and try to take it off of the King have their hands burnt also. Then the King is dead, and everyone accuses Dastan for killing him, because it was him who put on the robe to the King.

Dastan runs away from the kingdom, along with Tamina, and this is where their journey begins. Dastan soon finds out about the hidden power of the 'fancy' dagger -- and since now we all know that it's not a usual dagger, I won't call it 'fancy' dagger anymore, it's now just 'dagger' -- it can turn back the time. This dagger has a small slot to fulfill with sands, but not for usual sands we can find in the dessert.

Dastan plans to use the dagger to clean up his name in front of Persian people, and tries to reach his uncle Nizam to tell the truth. During his father's funeral, Dastan secretly meets up with Nizam, only to find out that the dagger has been replaced by a chain weapon by Tamina. At the same time Dastan notices Nizam's burnt hands, which makes him suspicious because he remembers that Nizam didn't touch the King's robe at all during the celebration. Dastan finds out that Nizam was the one who poisoned his father's robe, and runs away to find Tamina and the dagger.

Nizam goes to the Hassansin's lair, the elite and most well-trained army in Persia. If you have watched 300, Hassansin might remind you to the Immortals. They dress in black, cold, scary, mysterious, and fast to kill. Nizam tells the Hassansin leader (Gísli Örn Garðarsson) that Dastan has the dagger, and they have to kill him and bring back the dagger to Nizam. Dastan is now a fugitive not just for the Persian army, but also for Hassansins.

And then I'm sure you'll know the rest. You know where the story will lead you. And I won't give any spoilers either. Let's go straight to the review. This movie has something to tell, it does have a clear storyline. It's about trust, legacy, brotherhood. There's drama within the Persian kingdom family, where Dastan isn't actually the real blood, but he's always been the King's favorite. And then there's another family member whose thirst of power, he's willing to do anything to take over the government.

But unfortunately the main characters are not as appealing as the minors. Dastan for example, is a physically perfect portray for a Persian prince, but he doesn't have the 'charisma' and 'uniqueness'. He's the King's favorite, he should have something different from his other brothers (other than the great fighting skill), but he turns out to be insecure and confused all the time. At the beginning to the middle of the movie I thought he's the strong, careless and 'I-don't-give-a-damn' type of guy. But for some reason he becomes more mellow (read: weaker). In short, Dastan isn't as interesting as I thought he would be.

In contrary, the minor characters are totally cool. Let's take Sheik Amar for example. Looking at that character, I really had no idea if it was Alfred Molina. He totally changes himself into this materialistic and self-centered ostricht owner. His appearance is really refreshing and brings fun comedy. Nizam's character is also interesting. Ben Kingsley looks reeeally vicious! Just look at his eyes and you'll know he's the bad guy. Tha Hassansins are also cool, the makeup really shows that they are cold deadly assassins.

Special effect is amazing I must say. Seeing the whole Persian country swept away by the sandstorm is WOW. The scene where Dastan slides away inside the ruining temple and jump off by doing backflip was 'da bomb'!! And the fighting scenes are all cool. Bloods and stabbings are around but it's just a few.

Even so, this movie does give me an experience. By experience I mean, I didn't regret buying the ticket and sat down inside the theatre for two hours. I'm sure it will refresh you up. It's not that good, but just like what I said in the most movies I've reviewed, it's entertaining. 6,5 out of 10.

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Movie Review: "Clash Of The Titans", "How To Train Your Dragon", "Cop Out", and "Iron Man 2"

As I have promised before, I'm going to give you my reviews from the movies I've watched since last month. Well I'm not a movie expert, that's for sure. And I do this just for fun, just in case you haven't seen the movies and look for some references. So here we go!

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Movie Review: "Valentine's Day"

Besides From Paris With Love, I also watched Valentine's Day yesterday. It's not because of the all-star actors, but I was more curious because all the critics hate it. I read an article about Taylor Swift's bad performance in the movie and was like "Wow! Even all-star movie doesn't guarantee!". But before judging of course I had to see it myself, and seems like I agree with those critics.

With the same concept as Love, Actually, Paris je t'aime, and New York I Love You, this movie revolves around a bunch of couples who have their own love problems in the Valentine's day, and that those people are related. Reed Bennet (Ashton Kutcher), a flowerist who proposes his oh-so-busy-and-work-oriented girlfriend Morley (Jessica Alba); a school teacher Julia Fitzpatrick (Jennifer Garner) who fell for a douche-bag doctor Harrison Copeland (Patrick Dempsey - no, this isn't McDreamy); Jason (the always looking handsome Topher Grace), a naive and conservative man from Indiana fell in love with Los Angeles beauty with Liz (Anne Hathaway), who turns to be a phone-sex operator (ouch!); the always bickering old couple Edgar (Hector Elizondo) and Estelle (Shirley MacLaine); Kara (Jessica Biel), a publicist who doesn't have time for herself and always hates Valentine's Day, turns out to love it because of her own pal Kelvin Moore (Jamie Foxx), a man who seems skeptic about the whole V-Day thing is actually a romantic one; a football superstar Sean Jackson (Eric Dane) who's too afraid to reveal who he really is; a rich man Holden (Bradley Cooper) meets an American solider Captain Kate Hazeltin (Julia Roberts) and have a really nice conversation inside a 14 hours flight; a young school boy, Edison (Bryce Robinson) who seems like he needs a love of a mother and falls in love for the first time; and the finally the high school lovebirds whose love is 'on fire', Willy (Taylor Lautner - he looks really good throughout the movie, seriously!) and Felicia (Taylor Swift), and Alex (Carter Jenkins - who's also handsome!) and Grace (Emma Roberts) who are trying to 'seal the deal' during school's lunch break.

I must admit that this is one of the emotionless and flat romantic movies I've ever seen. I did feel the vibe of the Valentine, and yes there were a lot of 'sweetness' came up, but I just couldn't feel the 'love' and 'emotions'. There was no sparks. The stories are mostly predictable - and I think they tried too hard to compile and combine those love stories in a day. And what happened to the actors? They seemed really 'flat' and 'not-into-the-characters'. I can say that they played it safe, because most of the characters are just plain, nothing special. Some of them are overrated I must say, including the Taylor Swift part. Well I love Taylor but she looks like she's trying too hard for to be funny and turns out to be... weird. Jessica Biel acted a bit weird too, I couldn't see her devastated because she doesn't have a date, but she's more like devastated because she is a mess. Jessica Alba was just an eye-candy, nothing more.

But of course there are good stuffs. I love Julia Robert's performance, even though her part was just a few. Anne Hathaway & Topher Grace's story was also nice - it's about accepting the one you love as a whole, even the worst part (that's kind of my problem right now, so yes it's something personal). The kid's lovestory is always cute and sweet, I like it too. I also love the "I marry my bestfriend" part, it's a straight and quick answer but it shoots you right to the heart - I was like "aww..." (it's not that I fall for my bestfriend -eww- but to consider your boyfriend/girlfriend as your bestfriend is just...wonderful!).

So overall, I think it's not fair for me to compare this movie to Love Actually and Paris Je T'aime - because I don't really like it. I cried like a baby when I watch Love Actually, and I can feel the Paris-hype in Paris Je T'aime, but this V-Day movie is just emotionless. There was a part that I feel like I wanted to cry, but it didn't happen because it wasn't worth to cry for. But if you have some spare time in the weekend and want to watch movie with your boyfriend/girlfriend (or even alone like I did), it's quite nice to watch - it's entertaining. 2 stars out of 5. Period.

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