Thor

Plot Summary

The warrior Thor (Hemsworth) is cast out of the fantastic realm of Asgard by his father Odin (Hopkins) for his arrogance and sent to Earth to live among humans. Falling in love with scientist Jane Foster (Portman) teaches Thor much-needed lessons, and his new-found strength comes into play as a villain from his homeland sends dark forces toward Earth. imdb

Movie Box

Director	Kenneth Branagh
Producer	Kevin Feige
Screenplay	Ashley Edward Miller
	Zack Stentz
	Don Payne
Story	J. Michael Straczynski
	Mark Protosevich
Based on	Thor by Stan Lee Larry Lieber Jack Kirby
Music	Patrick Doyle
Cinematography	Haris Zambarloukos
Editing	Paul Rubell
Studio	Marvel Studios
Distributor	Paramount Pictures
Release Dates	21 April 2011 (Australia)
	6 May 2011 (United States)
Running Time	1 hour, 54 minutes

Cast

Chris Hemsworth	Thor
Natalie Portman	Jane Foster
Tom Hiddleston	Loki
Anthony Hopkins	Odin
Stellan Skarsgård	Erik Selvig
Kat Dennings	Darcy Lewis
Idris Elba	Heimdall
Colm Feore	Laufey
Rey Stevenson	Volstagg
Tadanobu Asano	Hogun
Joshua Dallas	Fandral
Jaime Alexander	Sif
Rene Russo	Frigga
Clark Gregg	Phil Coulson

REEL Review
I never knew that Thor is a Marvel superhero. Well, in fact I did not know Thor. I just wanted to watch the film because I saw ♥ Chris Hemsworth ♥ on the trailer, plus Natalie Portman was in it also. I watched the film in 3d.

I had to think twice when I read that Chris was in A Perfect Getaway film. He looks so different in that movie. Thor has made Hemsworth evolved into a god. This film is definitely a big break for him as an actor. I guess he deserves it. He performed so well in the movie. I can't think of any actor who can be Thor besides him. From his body, to acting, and to his godly appeal. He ceded to the viewers what it takes to be a god of thunder, and a soon to be king. It will not be a surprise if a prequel or sequels will be lined up for Hemsworth. Anyway he was prepared early to be a cast for The Avengers in 2012.

I was not able to see the post-credits scene. I went out of the movie house when the credits rolled. But like what they did with Captain America : The First Avenger, they are hinting for a next movie bridging this one. This does not have the The Avengers teaser trailer on post-credits though.

After the Black Swan film, Natalie Portman is back onscreen. Of course her role is not as big as the Swan Queen, but good enough to be the love interest of the god of thunder. The role is so plain and simple, but has captured the scenes efficaciously. She fits well to be an astrophysicist.

Kenneth Branagh (played Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) has directed 14 films to date, though I have not watched the other 13. Just based on Thor, Branagh can produce an amazingly impressive blockbuster hit, carefully and heedfully directed. Plus an astonishing visual effects that makes everything so real.

I like this film more than Iron Man. This one is more Marvel-ously entertaining. Thor definitely hurled everyone to an intensifying and compounding superhero film as he hurls his hammer - a concoction of action, humor, drama and romance. 

Thor is a bang for the eyes, and bang for the bucks! All hail the mighty god of thunder!

imdb | rottentomatoes | trailer

Read more ...

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Plot Summary

In the sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and in both wizard and muggle worlds Lord Voldemort and his henchmen are increasingly active. With vacancies to fill at Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore persuades Horace Slughorn, back from retirement to become the potions teacher, while Professor Snape receives long awaited news. Harry Potter, together with Dumbledore, must face treacherous tasks to defeat his evil nemesis. imdb 

Movie Box

Director	David Yates
Producer	David Heyman
	David Barron
Screenplay	Steve Kloves
Based on	Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by JK Rowling
Music	Nicholas Hooper
Cinematography	Bruno Delbonnel
Editing	Mark Day
Studio	Heyday Films
Distributor	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date	15 July 2009
Running Time	2 hours, 33 minutes

Cast

Daniel Radcliffe	Harry Potter
Rupert Grint	Ron Weasley
Emma Watson	Hermione Granger
Helena Bonham Carter	Bellatrix Lestrange
Jim Broadbent	Horace Slughorn
Robbie Coltrane	Rubeus Hagrid
Warwick Davis	Filius Flitwick
Tom Felton	Draco Malfoy
Michael Gambon	Albus Dumbledore
Alan Rickman	Severus Snape
Maggie Smith	Minerva McGonagall
Emma Thompson	Sybill Trelawney
Timothy Spall	Peter Pettigrew
Julie Walters	Molly Weasley

REEL Review
JK Rowling says that among the 6 film adaptations, Half Blood Prince is her favorite one. In contrary, this one is my least fave. I have high expectations, especially on the battle scene. You can feel the hard battle in the book. In this movie, the battle scenes were cut short. I am not disappointed that much though. It's just that something is missing. I have read that Heyman said that it was removed to avoid repetition with the forthcoming adaptation of the Battle of Hogwarts in Deathly Hallows. Okay, you are the producer. 

The death of Dumbledore is really moving. I can feel Harry's grievance on his headmaster's demise. It is like losing a great hero in a film. Michael Gambon is now the epitome of goodness, the man who knows pretty much about everything. The man in sweeping robes with stars and moons patterns will surely be missed. We will see him again at King's cross station for Harry Potter 7 film.

As with the trio's performance, still over-the-top. Radcliffe is still the same Harry that we watch since years ago. He just seems growing too fast, he might look older for the last HP installment. Rupert and Emma do not have the typical romantic spark as an on-screen lovers, but it is fun to watch them. The three are wonderful actors.

Alan Rickman also did well as he himself is the film title, since he is the Half Blood Prince. Tom Felton's performance is also notable. This film is his second best next to the Sorcerer's Stone. To prove that, he won as the Best Villain in MTV Movie Awards. He is in fact the only actor in the film to won a prominent award, the rest were just nominated. Though the film in general won many awards. Best Film (SFX Awards, Gouden Flip Award), Best Fantasy Movie (IGN) and Best Family Film (Digital Spy Movie Award, National Movie Awards) to name a few.

It is David Yates' second HP movie. After the Order of the Phoenix, he still amazingly came up with a mesmerizing material that is stunningly hearty and satisfying. HP5 grossed higher than HP6, though both ranked as no. 2 top grossers for 2007 and 2009 respectively. As for the visual effects, very realistically conjured, making the Harry Potter world tangible on screen.

The style and substance of a Harry Potter film has been once again seen. The movie is a little bot dark yet thrilling and fascinating. It would have been a Goodie for me, if not with the lacking 'action-packed' material that I wanted to see. Well, it is a Harry Potter film. Sectumsempra!

imdb | rottentomatoes | trailer

Read more ...

Priest

Plot Summary

After centuries of war between men and vampires, the Church assigns warrior-priests to vanquish the vampires. The survivors are kept in reserves and hives and the humans live in chaotic cities ruled by the Church. The priests are outcast by the Church, afraid of the power of their fighting skill. When Shannon and Owen Pace, who live in an outpost, are slaughtered by vampires and their daughter Lucy is abducted by the vampires, the local sheriff Hicks seeks out Owen's brother, the Priest, to search for Lucy. The Priest asks permission to Monsignor Orelas but he denies. So the Priest breaks his vows and travels with Hicks to track down the vampires and rescue Lucy before they turn her into a familiar. Sooner the warrior Priestess joins the Priest and Hicks in their quest. imdb

Movie Box

Director	Scott Stewart
Producer	Michael DeLuca
	Joshua Donen
	Mitchell Peck
Screenplay	Cory Goodman
Based On	Priest by Min-Woo Hyung
Music	Christopher Young
Cinematography	Don Burgess
Editing	Lisa Zeno Churgin
Studio	Tokyopop
Distributor	Screen Gems
Release Date	13 May 2011
Running Time	1 hour, 27 minutes

Cast

Paul Bettany	Priest
Karl Urban	Black Hat
Cam Gigandet	Hicks
Maggie Q	Pristess
Lily Collins	Lucy Pace
Stephen Moyer	Owen Pace
Madchen Amick	Shannon Pace
Christopher Plummer	Monsignor Orelas
Alan Dale	Monsignor Chamberlain

REEL Review
I have read that this film is based on a Korean comic of the same name. I am not fully aware of the comic, so I am seeing this film as an independent material and just a movie alone. 

Regardless of whatever the story in comic is, Priest is a combination of supernatural and action-packed film. I do not know why the vampire slayers have to priests or some spiritually inclined group, but it clearly shows that the elite group is highly skilled and has supernatural abilities to kill vampires. 

Not much good things to mention about the story, because it is perceivable from the beginning. And the twist about Lucy being Priest's (the lead role) daughter is a common thing. What is not common about that is, he is a priest. And he has a daughter. Yeee.

Cinematography is just fine. The setting of the film is perfect for the plot. It was a mixture of modern and old architecture. The confession room is very modern. Confessing via video conference, that would be cool. The action scenes are quite impossible in real life. Why would I even say that, it is a supernatural film. But the fighting scenes are detailed and well-executed. 

Oh, I should not forget to mention Maggie Q. She is really good in action films. Perfect for a female warrior. After her Naked Weapon film, she even more exemplifies in this genre. More movies Maggie!

Supernaturally fabricated, yet realistically acted. Though, it could have been a better screenplay.

imdb | rottentomatoes | trailer 

Read more ...

From Prada to Nada

Plot Summary 

When their dad dies on his 55th birthday, Beverley Hills sisters, Mary and Nora, find themselves destitute, forced by a grasping sister-in-law to move in with their aunt in East L.A. Mary, the younger sister, is mortified: spoiled by her dad, ignorant of Spanish, scared of the vatos. Her sister convinces her to finish college, and she promptly decides that one of her T.A.s will be her ticket back to Rodeo Drive. Elder sister Nora, a law student, gets a job as a legal intern, and Edward, her supervisor, the brother of the grasping sister-in-law, promptly falls for her. Slowly, the sisters realize what a rich place the barrio is at the same time that they get bruised in the contact sport of love. imdb

Movie Box

Director	Angel Gracia
Producer	Gary Gilbert
	Linda McDonough
	Gigi Pritzker
	Chris Ranta
Screenplay	Luis Alfaro
	Craig Fernandez
	Fina Torres
Music	Daniel Hubbert
	Andrea von Foerster
	Sebastian Zuleta
Cinematography	Hector Ortega
Editing	Brad McLaughlin
Studio	Gilbert Films
	Odd Lot Entertainment
Distributor	Pantelion Films
Release Date	28 January 2011
Running Time	1 hour, 47 minutes

Cast

Camillia Belle	Nora Dominguez
Alexa Vega	Mary Dominguez
Wilmer Valderrama	Bruno
Nicholas D'Agosto	Edward
Kuno Becker	Rodrigo Fuentes
Adriana Barraza	Aurelia Dominguez
April Bowlby	Olivia
Karla Souza	Lucy
Alexis Ayala	Gabe Dominguez
Catalina Lopez	Trinita
Luis Rosales	Juan

REEL Review

I enjoyed watching this movie. It might be the same as the usual chick-flick films, but there is something into this one. I don't know, maybe because it is more centered to family progeny with a twist of romance and comedy which makes it a little less comparable.

Camilla Belle is really a good actress. I've seen her in 10,000 BC (played the role of Evolet) and she's really exceptional. That's why I really wanna watch her in this film. I want to see how she does with comedy. And yeah, she carried the movie. Alexa Vega is just a secondary character, though she has also portrayed her character well.

I find the mixing in of Mexican heritage thingy nice. I like the way they talk, act and even sing and dance. I guess the actors are really of Mexican decent which makes everything so natural.

A romantic comedy yet family oriented film - there's so much to this movie than what just the title says.

Not a bad film, still deserves a passing rate.

imdb | rottentomatoes | trailer

Read more ...

Captain America : The First Avenger

Plot Summary 
It is 1942, America has entered World War II, and sickly but determined Steve Rogers is frustrated at being rejected yet again for military service. Everything changes when Dr. Erksine recruits him for the secret Project Rebirth. Proving his extraordinary courage, wits and conscience, Rogers undergoes the experiment and his weak body is suddenly enhanced into the maximum human potential. When Dr. Erksine is then immediately assassinated by an agent of Nazi Germany's head of its secret HYDRA research department, Johann Schmidt aka the Red Skull, Rogers is left as a unique man who is initially misused as a propaganda mascot. However, when his comrades need him, Rogers goes on a successful adventure that truly makes him Captain America and his war against Schmidt begins. imdb

Movie Box

Director	Joe Johnston
Producer	Kevin Feige
Screenplay	Christopher Markus
	Stephen McFeely
Based on	Captain America by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby
Music	Alan Silvestri
Cinematography	Shelly Johnson
Editing	Robert Dalva
	Jeffrey Ford
Studio	Marvel Studios
Distributor	Paramount Pictures
Release Dates	19 July 2011 (World Premiere)
	22 July 2011 (United States)
Running Time	2 hours, 4 minutes

Cast

Chris Evans	Steve Rogers/Captain America
Hayley Atwell	Peggy Carter
Hugo Weaving	Johann Schmidt/Red Skull
Sebastian Stan	Sgt. James "Bucky" Barnes
Tommy Lee Jones	Col. Chester Phillips
Dominic Cooper	Howard Stark
Neal McDonough	Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan
Derek Luk	Gabe Jones
Stanley Tucci	Dr. Abraham Erskine
Kenneth Choi	Jim Morita
Bruno Ricci	Jacques Dernier
JJ Feild	James Montgomery Falsworth
Toby Jones	Arnim Zola

REEL Review 
I know nothing about Captain America, aside from the fact the he is a Marvel superhero. If it were not for my college friends who invited me to join them, I might not watch this movie on big screen.

Chris Evans portrayed the character well. Aside from his yumminess like Thor (but i still like Thor more), his acting is good. Maybe because it was my first time to see Hayley Atwell, that is why I think there is lacking in her. Her team up with Evans has no chemistry. I don't know if this is because the romance part is not really given emphasis on the film unlike the Spiderman film and Transformers. A different actress might make the love team 'waffier'. 

I appreciate the 40s setup and costumes. Hayley's make up and hair looked good on her. Some might even feel nostalgic - you know, the nazi stuff and all. Made me wonder at first if there would be other villains besides Red Skull. And speaking of the villain, Hugo Weaving had finally came out on screen to act as the bad guy himself after voicing Megatron on the three Transformer films (not to mention his great portrayal of Elrond on the Lord of the Rings Trilogy). 

Johnston was able to extradite the sense of this superhero film. It was during World War 2, the height of the war. How will anyone think of having a great looking guy perfect to look like a superhero and represent and promote war bonds? A mixture of a serious and jest progeny. Yet the director and his writers (Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely) have successfully surmounted the plot. And from being a role model and promoter comes out the outburst of Captain America, triggered by his kind and friendly personality. The writers were also able to overturn the usual military vs Nazi setting to a military vs some villain context lead by Col. Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) where they were in search for the Red Skull's bases called the Hydra.

And talking about CGI these days, would there any be impossible things left? From a tall, hunky and lumpy Chris Evans comes out a short, skinny and frail pre-super-serum Steve Rogers. I just noticed that some of the angles make Steve really small, specifically his scene with Peggy in the taxi on their way to the lab for the treatment. He was like a 9-year old kid there.

What I like best in this movie is having Howard Stark, Iron Man's daddy, to be conjoined in the film - bridging the conception of Marvel characters.

Rolling of credits in the end of the movie took 3-5 minutes, but we really waited to see the epilogue, connecting Captain America to next year's summer hit - The Avengers. 

Maybe not one of Marvel's best films, but Captain America : The First Avenger was able to show good perception as to what a superhero should be. The skinny Steve Rogers was not actually a superhero in the making, but already a hero to the world. Iron Man film is better than this, still I'm giving it a positive review. A typical superhero film, nothing so special, yet decent.

imdb | rottentomatoes | trailer

Read more ...

Mars Needs Moms

Plot Summary

Take out the trash, eat your broccoli - who needs moms, anyway? Nine-year-old Milo finds out just how much he needs his mom when she's nabbed by Martians who plan to steal her mom-ness for their own young. Milo embarks on a quest to save his mom - a wild adventure that involves stowing away on a spaceship, navigating an elaborate, multi-level planet and taking on the alien nation and their leader. With the help of a tech-savvy, underground earthman named Gribble and a rebel Martian girl called Ki, Milo just might find his way back to his mom - in more ways than one. yahoomovies

Movie Box

Director	Simon Wells
Producer	Robert Zemeckis
	Jack Rapke
	Steve Starkey
	Steven Boyd
Screenplay	Simon Wells
	Wendy Wells
Story	Wendy Wells
Based On	Mars Needs Moms! by Berkeley Breathed
Music	John Powell
Cinematography	Robert Presley
Studio	ImageMovers Digital
Distributor	Walt Disney Pictures
Release Date	11 March 2011
Running Time	1 hour, 28 minutes

Cast

Seth Green	Milo (motion picture)
Seth Dusky	Milo (voice)
Joan Cusack	Milo's Mom
Tom Everett Scott	Milo's Dad
Elisabeth Harnois	Ki
Dan Fogler	Gribble
Mindy Sterling	The Supervisor
Kevin Cahoon	Wingnut

REEL Review
The title gives us a hint that this one speaks of a family-oriented animated film. It centers a mother and a child relationship, what it takes to be a mother, and what it means to be a child. The lesson is obvious, our moms want the best for us, and they can do anything for us, even if it will cause them their own lives.

This film has a heart. Maybe not so perfect imagination, but I guess there is more to this film than the animation and visual effects. The animation is not really exquisite. I bet the movie is not that good in 3d. And the story itself is not over the top. But it successfully sent the message.

I like the scene when the robot Two-Cat puke, throwing up not food but some sort of metal craps, when he witnessed Gribble and Ki having an uncomfortable moment together where Gribble blushed. Who would think about it, an earthling and a Martian having a sparkling connection? Woooo. I wonder how Gribble survived for 25 years. What does he eat? Martian food? Hmmm.

I never knew that films like this have to be captured in motion picture before being animated. I thought it is just like the usual cartoons, where the technology will do everything. At the end of the film, the casts are shown acting and voicing the scripts. they are wearing suits (special sensor-equipped performance-capture suit - wiki) for the motion capture that will further be translated to the digital models. Cool! 

Simple but deep.

imdb | rottentomatoes | trailer

Read more ...