Movie: Iron Man

"I shouldn't be alive... unless it was for a reason... I just finally know what I have to do. And I know in my heart that it's right." -Tony Starks."

I'm not one of those die-hard super-hero fans, and I have never really appreciated comics or anything, but somehow, the childhood fantasy of having awesome powers just got the better of me and so, off to the cinemas. It was a choice between Street Kings and Iron Man, but too bad, Keanu Reeves lost to Iron Man. (As I write this, I'm wondering how it might turn out if they really fought in the Matrix. Coolness.)

Robert Downey Jr. plays Tony Starks, child prodigy who 'at the age of 4, invented blah blah blah' - call him the Mozart of the engineering world if you would, and eventually took over his father's business, Stark Industries, as the world's leading weapons manufacturer.

Tony Starks is captured by terrorists wile on weapon demonstration trip, and is forced to rebuild the new missiles system, the Jericho. He and another captive, Yinsen (Shaun Toub) start work shortly after setting up a workshop in the caves. Tony was never going to build the missile, but an iron robotic suit to help them both escape - the moment where his concept of such a powerful suit is finally taking shape.

The plot is rather long and detailed, so I shall not go deeper into it, since it would obviously require a lot of spoilers to go through the story. The show's good, a lot of nice shots, suited to be your background display. This is a show for those who love to daydream about building robots and the likes, and watching Tony build Mark II of his suit really makes you drool. I personally liked the plot development, and I definitely enjoyed Robert's acting skills as the lax and casual Tony Starks - quite interesting since Robert isn't really a big name in Hollywood, but kudos to him anyway.

Great movie to catch, whether or not you are a comic-super-hero fan, not as dumb or pointless as you might think it is. And oh, please stay after the credits for a short introduction to Iron Man 2. Sadly, I didn't.

Movie: Horton Hears A Who!

"All right, I gotta get this speck up to the top of Mount Nool A.S.A.P, whatever that means, probably act swiftly awesome packaderm! I mean, how hard can that be?" - Horton in Horton Hears A Who!

I was watching Oprah about two weeks ago when she interviewed Jim Carey and did a quick introduction to Dr Seuss' Horton Hears A Who! That kind of prompted me to go catch it in the cinema, and I did so a couple of days back.

Yes, it's another Dr Seuss thing, one you'd expect to be for children only. I'm pretty sure you must have at least read one of the Dr Seuss stories, or even watched one of the films. (The Cat In The Hat [2003], How The Grinch Stole Christmas [2000]. I must admit that I have never appreciated any of the Seuss thing, but I would say that Horton is somewhat different - at least he does not go on a Grinch-spree. But having said these, I still found Horton a tad boring, even if the story made more sense than the Grinch. (Sorry I keep picking on the green creature, but that movie was as good as his green, hairy looks.)

Horton the elephant, voiced by Jim Carey, chances upon an entire civilization of Whos living in Whoville (Please pardon the names, it's a Seuss thing.) which happens to exist on a tiny speck in Horton's world, and is on the brink of destruction. Horton the forest teacher believes that "a person is a person, no matter how small," and embarks on a quest to return the speck to a sheltered spot. Things are made difficult by Kangaroo, voiced by Carol Burnett, who decides to teach Horton a lesson for 'polluting' the young minds by speaking of the existence of things that cannot be 'seen, heard, or felt'.

You might find some familiar concepts in the movie pertaining to religion, philosophy, or even politics. But please, try to keep the intellect in you under control and try to enjoy the movie. Quite a number of detailed humour from the choice of words, so try not to think of Big Brother or anything that might just make Horton turn into an old fogey with thick black spectacles sanding in front of the blackboard.

This animated film is somewhat funny, with a dose of Seuss-y rhymes in the narration, and topped with great visuals. Of course, having both Jim Carrey and Steve Carell doing voice-overs for two cooperating characters already seems funny, after seeing them at loggerheads in Bruce Almighty. (Yes, it's Steve Carell as Evan Baxter.) I wouldn't give it 10 or 5, whichever rating you might be familiar with, but I guess it's still okay if you had no other movie on your 'To Die For" list, even if it does not quite belong to that list.

And oh, the mayor of Whoville (voiced by Steve Carell) happens to have one son and 96 daughters. And that one son JoJo would be your chance to listen to Jesse McCartney's voice, even if it were only for a couple of minutes. Not a very convincing reason to head to the box office.

Movie: Vantage Point

When I first saw the trailers to the movie, I decided that this movie would be on the top of my "To watch" list. It seemed like a really interesting action film that would involve secret agencies and really complex crime-solving, but I was somewhat disappointed when I finally watched it. However, the disappointment only lasted a couple of minutes, and after that, I got totally engrossed in the film.

Vantage Point is essentially a story of a well-organised assassination attempt on the president of the United States by a rebel group, told through the perspective of 8 different individuals. Different eyes, different minds, and different perspectives, that all converge at the same point eventually.

The movie is definitely well-directed and brilliantly planned. The delivery is such that the entire event is repeated through all 8 perspectives, revealing more information each time it repeats. Effort was definitely made by the director to ensure that certain details and scenes are found in multiple perspectives to tighten everything together, and as each individuals story is told, more and more information is revealed, allowing you to piece everything together. The movie tricks you into making plenty of assumptions that would seem realistic, but shortly after, prove you wrong, leaving you to ponder again on what exactly happened, right till the end of the movie.

I personally got a little bored of the transitions between perspectives, but putting that little flaw aside, I totally appreciate the amount of effort put into filming and producing the entire movie. Lots of logistics and detailed planning must have gone into the production. Also to mention, the cast was rather decent, with William Hurt looking quite suited for the role of the US President. Same thing goes for Matthew Fox, who plays one of the presidential bodyguards. Of course, it was rather nice to see Sigourney Weaver in the movie as well, as a 'commercialized' chief reporter.

If you are planning to watch the movie, try to figure out whose perspective was first shown. I did not qute manage to get that. Great movie, definitely worth a watch. I still cannot believe who the 'superhero' of the day was though.

Movie: P.S. I Love You

'P.S. I Love You' is based on the best-selling novel by Cecelia Ahern. In this romance flick, Hilary Swank plays Holly Kennedy, a young lady married to an Irish husband, Gerry Kennedy. The movie starts with a heated argument between the couple that ends rather comically. In the scene following their make-up love, Holly faces the sudden death of her husband due to a brain tumour, and is left to fend for herself.

Months passed but the young widow is still unable to move on from her past. On her 30th birthday, however, she receives a surprise - a voice recording from Gerry. Following the recording, Holly receives more letters from her loving husband, who prepared everything, including a holiday trip to Ireland, before his death. Every note and letter ends with a "P.S. I Love You" that never fails to leave Holly (and even the audience) longing for more. However, this plan to help her get on with life with ease threatens to backfire and keep her captive in her past as she waits obsessively day after day for more letters to come.

I liked the way the script was written, able to fully display each character's personality, and same for the pace at which the plot develops. Great acting by Hilary Swank, and kudos too to Kathy Bates, albeit having a somewhat smaller role in the movie. As you watch the movie, you marvel at the master plan and wished that you could, one day, find/receive such love. However, you are also constantly haunted by a heart-wrenching reminder that that sweetness comes with a heavy price of losing a loved one - almost as if someone was playing an evil trick on you. 'P.S.' has a great story that leaves you with a sweet-sour feeling tingling inside. A decent movie to watch if you aren't into explosions and gun-fights.

Movie: American Gangster

"They hate what you represent... You represent progress." - Warning to Frank Lucas, black gangster titan.

American Gangster starts off with a short scene where Frank Lucas unloads a gun in his victim after setting him ablaze with a healthy doze of fuel. You would definitely expect more brutal action from this movie, but you might be a little bit disappointed if that's what you really want. This movie isn't your typical gang movie filled with street brawls, gun fights and such, but more of the telling of a story. Denzel Washington, playing as Frank Lucas, and Russell Crowe, casted as Detective Richie Roberts, star in this 157-minute movie that shows the rise and fall of one of the greatest black triad kingpins of all time.

The first section of the movie criss-crosses between the lives of Frank and Richie, whose lives seem to run parallel to each other, perhaps in an attempt to juxtapose (it can get a little dizzying) both their lives - one of an honest law-enforcer, one of a brutal triad leader. Frank takes over his previous boss's position as a black gangleader (from being his driver) and ropes in his family to run his drug business, while Richie goes about his work as a non-corrupt officer, struggling with his family and bar examinations. As the story develops, we see how their paths finally cross, and how Richie learns of Frank's existence as a kingpin, and seeks to put an end of the rampant drug-abuse in America, as well as to do away with corruption within the ranks of the police force.

The movie plays around with the stereotype of black people in America in the past, and how that discrimination found its way into the underground world of the triads as well. Unsuprisingly, this stereotype seems to haunt us even till today. It seems that many black rappers are playing the 'gangster' in today's entertainment scene - a seemingly sure-fire method in America at least. Perhaps, this movie is a gentle reminder on how far behind we are lagging socially, even as we (superficially) preach to do away with racism.

As mentioned, forget about the action, you are better off watching Rambo - coming soon as well - if you want action. Acting is of nothing to boast of, considering the lack of room to really shine in this storyline. Perhaps the plot development was done rather nicely, a great job with the way the story was told. Plenty of details to reflect the personalities of the characters, and the script was well-paced to ensure that the story did not become too choppy. Having said all these, I absolutely enjoyed the movie, and I'm sure most others would, too.

Movie: I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry

Try visualizing Adam Sandlers in Brokeback Mountain. Ok, not quite the same.

I Pronounce (No need to type out the entire title right) is a movie about two firefighters, Chuck and Larry (Duh.) Two buddies - considered the best partners in the fire department - find themselves in a faux gay marriage as an arrangement to help Larry out with his insurance payout problems. It looked good on paper (no, really) and it was supposed to be simple. However, the government, in a bid to prevent abuse of the system, sends someone to watch them to see if they were really a same-sex couple. A simple procedure on paper ends up in both Chuck and Larry dragged (unintended) deeper into the gay community.

Plenty of focus on sexist issues and discrimination. Perhaps the mildly obscene and repulsive scenes serve as a reminder of the inner discrimination and homophobia, not just in individuals, but in the rest of society. Great use of humour in the plot development to slowly introduce the audience to gay rights issues without being too blatant and sleazy. Culture shock to some, but it gets better as long as you keep your filters off.

A 150-minute comedy with an oh-so-expected politically-correct ending that serves to entertain and educate (still, a far cry from assimilation). A little bit of a drag (unintended) at times, but not overly peachy. Definitely brave of everyone in the production team, and good job with the ending, even if it was so expected. I guess you can't make everyone gay. Happy.

Movie: Ratatouille

If you were hoping for a cooking programme, go watch Jamie Oliver on Discovery's Travel and Living Channel. If you were looking for witty humour, awesome animation and a truly remarkable storyline, then do not give this movie a miss!

This two-hour movie brings the viewers' attention to issues on friendship, trust, betrayal, sacrifice, and more. Above that, it also sets you thinking about our perception about what is right or wrong, about expectations - of us from ourselves and others, and to an extent, about social norms.

The story might take quite awhile to develop, with the first section being slightly draggy. However, the development was quite consitent after that, all the way till the end. Slightly rushed, but better than extending the showtime. Overall, the script was well written, with nothing left hanging.

An entertaining movie for everyone of al ages. Quite alot to be learnt from the movie, especially so for the more matured audience. Touches on many different issues, usually up to the viewers to go think about and interpret. I'm sure everyone can get something out of it, and that would probably be different for each individual.

Movie: The Bourne Ultimatum.

Sadly, it seems that I have a tendency to always catch the third movie in movie series without watching the first two. (Pirates of the Carribean being the other.) Damn. But anyways, just like Pirates, not watching the first two did not really affect the enjoyment level. The Bourne Ultimatum (Follow-up to The Bourne Identity [2002] and The Bourne Supremacy [2004] ) brings Jason Bourne back to New York City to search for his real identity as he travels across different countries while escaping his 'creators' who want him dead.

Plenty of action to keep you at the edge of your seat. Very interesting plot and storyline, as well as a very interesting display of intelligence and counter-intelligence. Filming as done quite nicely, not the boring still-camera style (rather chaotic at times though), and the sound effects were quite good.

Really liked the entire story. (Thanks to everyone for the full story from the previous two films.) Worth the watch. And especially if you have already watched the first two shows, there is no reason to give this movie a miss.

Movie: Rush Hour 3

The third installation of the Jackie-Chris movie brings the two to Paris to track down a triad secret after the assasination of an ambassador. Another action movie with a few spectacular stunts, except for a few typical Jackie stunts. This time round however, the movie was less action-packed than I expected.

Rather expected of them to do have some of the filming done at the Eiffel Tower, but the fight scene there was quite entertaining. Nothing special about the story, but heck, who watches action movies for storylines anyway.

Although they decided to cut down on the action scenes, Rush Hour 3 is not at all boring. Alot more humour in the movie to keep you curled up in your seat throughout the entire 90 minutes or so.

Not too bad a movie, at least we did not complain about the $9.50 for weekend tickets. Still worth watching at the cinemas. And oh, don't rush off right after the movie.