National Treasure

Rating: PG
Running time: 131 minutes
Now out on DVD and Blu-ray

Some info:
1) Wiki Article
2) IMDB Profile
3) MovieMIstakes Profile

The prequel to the Book of Secrets [reviewed here]. I remember back then when it opened in local cinemas here, I was just enlisted into the army. Boohoo, how sad. Didn’t really have the mood back then to catch this movie even after being released from the initial confinement period. Haha, ah well I watched the sequel and it didn’t seem to affect very much. Finally, I’ve got hold of the prequel, so I’ll be contributing yet another $0.02 worth to my blog. Lol.

Indeed, the style in the sequel does resemble its predecessor. Objectively speaking, if I were to watch it back then in late 2004, I’ll probably be enjoying it a little more. After all, the clue hunting style back then wasn’t as popular yet. As usual it goes a tad too smoothly when it comes to understanding what each of the clues meant, but I guess that’s highly unavoidable. Haha.

Some of the things presented in the movie didn’t look very convincing, and indeed some of them are actually listed on MovieMistakes. For example, in the opening portion of the movie when Gates picks off some ice, they actually look quite soft, not what I would find in the Arctic. Lol. There are dozens of other mistakes listed, but I couldn’t really bear to read through all, especially the continuity ones. I guess I’m more interested in the factual errors part. Haha.

Enough bashing. Now for some redeeming points of the show. Let’s see… the jokes and humourous parts of the show are actually quite subtle, or at least I find it so. Quite nicely executed in general, which also helps to divert attention and prolong concentration of viewers I guess. Always trying to follow all the deductions can be a little tiring. Heh.

Another pretty ok movie. Has its plus and minus here and there. My take: 6/10

Get Smart

Rating: PG
Running time: 109 minutes
Opens: 19 June 2008, Now Showing

Some info:
1) Wiki
2) IMDB Profile
3) MovieMistakes Profile
4) Official Site (English)

This is a movie adaptation of a TV series of the same name that aired a few decades ago. Well of course, I haven’t watched the TV series, and I’m quite sure there’s no need to have watched it to enjoy this entertaining movie that packs lots of funny mishaps and stuff in a “spy” movie. Lol.

The story’s pretty simple, and is quite neatly summarised on Wiki liao. And since imo the highlight of the show isn’t really the storyline but the fun and lame stuff that’s of the higher entertainment value, I shan’t be summarising it this time. Too bad =P

Well, as I’ve said above, I think this show’s nicest part would be all the funny actions and dialogue that really keeps the audience’s attention there, and of course all the laughter generated. It’s something you’ll probably never see in films like James Bond so it’s quite refreshing to see such a combined genre of comedy + espionage combined though the latter isn’t very much. Lol.

Anyway, some things that I’ve noticed [could be wrong =P]
1) Let’s see… 99 can find 86 so easily even though she took a while to realise + equip herself with a parachute. Brilliant skydiving.
2) While 99 is trying to pass through all the laser obstacles, there are instances that she went without shoes, yet at the end of it all, she has them again. CONTROL agents have some really cool shoes.
3) At the rooftop with the heli, 86 stood so close to 23 yet his radiation-detecting watch didn’t make any noise, but later outside the concert hall it did. The best agent in the force chooses a right time to let the cat out of the bag. Splendid! No wonder he’s the best =D
4) When 99 activates the flame thrower by accident, she burns the passenger seat [headrest at least] in front of her. In later scenes, I see that the passenger seat is pretty much intact without signs of serious burns. The front parts of the SUV is burning though. All vehicles should use that material for passenger seats =D
5) The amount of dirt and stuff on the agents can vary. Quite common I suppose. Even agents aren’t spared =D
6) See MovieMistakes for more stuff. They’re good as usual =D

Overall, it’s an entertaining with a lot of laughs. If you’re looking for something not so serious and getting a good laugh out of it, this is probably a pretty good option. My take: 6.5/10

p.s. on my bus trips, I noticed 2 interesting van/pick-up. 1st one is Tyco Fire & Security [Asian/SG site here], apparently quite a big company, but I find it quite… amusing =P 2nd one would be 新马针车 [written in 繁体], and the English name is… S M Sewing Machine. Lol. I just found them amusing. Please don’t sue me =D

21

Rating: PG
Running time: 122 minutes
Opens: 26 June 2008, Now Showing
Now out on DVD and Blu-ray! (U.S. at least I suppose)

Some info:
1) Wiki
2) IMDB Profile
3) MovieMistakes Profile
4) Official Site (English)

Ok, I didn’t think that English movies will lag that much when it comes to Singapore, but I guess this one is bad enough. Well, according to the wiki article, the DVD and Blu-ray are already released more than a week before it officially opens in local theatres here. Ah well. Did it get stuck with the censorship board because of the gambling/counting nature of the show? Shrugs…

Anyway, this movie is supposedly inspired by a true story of the MIT Blackjack Team, which is quite an interesting read. Things smart students can do. Haha. The article on card counting is also somewhat interesting too. What am I thinking, reading all those articles? Urgh =_=

The movie opens with the star of the show, Ben Campbell [played by Jim Sturgess] being interviewed by a Professor in hope of obtaining the prestigious Robinson scholarship [Never heard of it. Maybe it's fictitious cos wiki doesn't have an article on it either. I could be wrong though] to pay for the fees for studying in Harvard Medical School. Despite having a brilliant academic background [I don't think SAT 1590 is THAT great right? Yes I know 1600 is max score. GPA 4.0 aka perfect score is more impressive though, if MIT uses a similar scoring system as that of Mark's university. Don't know how good the Medical score is though. Heh], the Professor is less than impressed cos every other applicant is a brilliant student anyway. Ben is then asked to share a life experience that will dazzle the Prof, but he fails to find anything to impress, hence losing the chance to obtain the scholarship.

The movie shifts back to Ben’s school life where he has an advanced Maths class [and hey, they were discussing about Newton-Raphson method initially... I guess that's quite advanced...]. The Prof, Mickey Rosa [played by Kevin Spacey], realises how smart Ben is from the way he answered questions and solved his 3 door problem [wah, got 1 whole article on that], and so Mickey wants to rope Ben in as a member of his casino raiding team. Initially Ben is resistant to the idea, but is eventually tempted by the prospect of earning big bucks to finance his Harvard Medical education as well as the persuasion of Jill Taylor [played by Kate Bosworth]. Being a genius, Ben picks up all the tips and tricks needed in the system to break the Blackjack game in casinos.

Well, things go super smoothly, and they earn big bucks. Because of Ben’s superb performance, Mickey decides to promote him to the big player, who’s the important person in the team as he’s the one that’s gonna bet big and rope in the $$$. The original big player of the team of course feels pissed off that a “new guy” is stealing all the limelight and eventually causes some trouble for the team, only to be axed mercilessly by the Prof [he's treating this as a business...]. More troubles for the team, in particular Ben, will only take place from here.

At this point in time, the casino security/surveillance team notices the huge loss at certain tables [Ben too pro liao, what to do =X] and starts to take note of Ben, and looking out for possible accomplices that aid him in his money earning ventures. Back at MIT, Ben brings his 209 [a self-navigating robot building competition] team mates a wrong microchip, hence screwing up the entire project and is kicked out of the team [of which he is using this competition as part of his academic participation and achievements]. This puts Ben into a state of emotion instability, and not surprisingly he loses himself on the next casino raiding operation, thus upsetting MIckey, and getting himself fired from the team, as well as having to shoulder all the losses incurred.

A double blow for Ben, and you can only expect that he wouldn’t be taking it quietly. Hence, he drags the other team members for 1 more try back in the casinos believing he was capable enough to lead the team and earn big bucks. Well, he did get back his composure, but the casino staff laid their hands on him, and dragged him into another place to be taught a lesson [the other members escaped fine though]. Not all the details of this part are released at this point of the movie, but will be shown later on to explain the entire situation.

Well, Mr Ben’s sad life doesn’t end there. He turns back to his dorm only to find a letter that say he won’t be able to graduate cos he failed some core module. On top of that, his room was ransacked and all his hidden wealth in the ceiling was also taken [can't he freaking deposit the money in a bank?! geez, 350k in cash. what a genius.]. Convinced it was Mickey’s doing but having no proof, he tries to get himself back in the team [with a purpose explained later on]. After some trying he manages to convince Mickey to be an active player of the team and taking the role of the big player [since Ben has already blown his cover and can no longer play big bucks].

They do manage to earn some huge amount of money before the casino staff comes in to give chase. They split up and the cunning Mickey asked for the bag in which they kept all the chips, but only to find himself being pwned later. Lol. Turns out Ben made a deal with the casino staff to help them capture Mickey [while allowing to make a killing], who’s been a target to hunt down for years. Lol, quite shiok to see MIckey get caught, though the movie doesn’t explicitly show what happens to him, but you can get the idea. =D But Ben doesn’t go away rich, as he’s betrayed and forced to hand over the bag of chips or be shot. Lol, sad siah lose money again! Bobian, life more important =P

Well, finally the movie ends with Ben being back at the office applying for the scholarship, sharing his dazzling life experience which left the Prof really speechless this time. Lol.

Yea that ends the summary of the show (yes I know very long), but the entry’s not over yet. Now for more of my comments:
1) While card counting does help in letting the player know the “game state”, it only tells you what kind of cards are left in the deck, but there’s no way of telling the order of the cards as well as what cards you’ll be able to get since you can’t control the behaviour of other players and the dealer.

2) “Spotters” are placed on many tables to observe the deck situation and signals to the big player when the table is in a favourable position. However, they don’t leave the table even after the big player comes. As mentioned above, since there’s no way of knowing the order of the cards, shouldn’t the spotter leave the table so that the big player has [slightly] more chances to win, as well as being able to go to another table and start observing. Indeed, wiki does mention something like this. Heh =D

3) As mentioned in point 1, the big player shouldn’t be able to win like crazy so easily since there’s still some amount of chance involved, and indeed the card counting article says that the advantage over the casino is only about 1%. But I guess it’s made to exaggerate a little to look like it’s a good way to go for big bucks or something.

4) Since Prof Mickey is so particular about the people he ropes in for this “business”, and that he picks the smart and capable people, I wonder why the team members are having difficulty counting the cards in the early parts of the movie and even the newcomer Ben is able to get used to the cards faster and being able to count accurately. Though Ben’s superior ability made him the choice for being the big player, if the other members are not so steady with their counting, how are they supposed to “spot” tables effectively? =_=

5) In the card counting wiki article, under the History of Blackjack card counting section, there’s a mention of Beat the Dealer book. I’m not sure if it’s same book [can't possibly spot ISBN number in a 2 second scene], but it appears in the movie when Ben is diligently studying it instead of whatever module’s lesson he was attending. Why oh why do I notice such things? =_=

6) Refer to MovieMIstakes profile page for more mistakes in the movies. Didn’t notice most of them though. Lol.

The movie is really more of the drama type, with some inclusion of maths/logic elements in them. I guess the maths-y part was the only thing that kept my interest there, but not for long. Furthermore, there are flaws in the way they carry out their logic-powered operations. Sigh, sad to say, but my take: 5.5/10

p.s. I don’t why I ended up summarising the entire movie. Eeks I shouldn’t be doing that… Makes my entry super long. Wonder who reads through all that stuff anyway. Haha. If there are typos, feel free to tell me >.<

You Don’t Mess With The Zohan

Rating: NC-16 (Sexual References)
Running time: 113 minutes
Opens: 19 June 2008, Now Showing

Some info:
1) Wiki
2) IMDB Profile
3) MovieMistakes Profile
4) Official Site (English)

Well, as expected, this movie contains quite a lot of stupid and lame but funny stuff. Certainly, you can expect some laughs and all, while fending off some of those sexual references [quite of a lot of these actually...] if you’re put off or feeling disgusted by them.

The story is expectedly simple as well, and you can read more about it on Wiki. Some of the things may seem offensive as well, but coming from an American comedy of this nature, it is of little surprise bah. Hopefully the people concerned won’t get too offended by it and begin doing something extreme. Hic.

But beneath all the seemingly stupid stuff that has happened, there are actually a few meaningful messages that are being put across. Though it seems a little out of place when it’s among all the lame jokes and stuff. Heh, I guess they did try to incorporate some good things as well. =X

To be honest, there isn’t very much to review about this movie. It’s the kind you have to watch in order to get a laugh [or get turned off in disgust]. My take: 6/10.

p.s. is this my shortest movie review so far? i wonder…

edit: Huishan has blogged about the small outing I had eariler today. You can read about it here. And, no, I won’t be blogging about it

Shaolin Girl

Rating: PG
Running time: 113 minutes
Opens: 19 June 2008, Now Showing

Some info:
1) Wiki
2) IMDB Profile
3) FestiveFilms Official Site (English)
4) Official Site (Japanese)

While advertisements [at least on radio (I listen to too much of YES933 liao...)] mention that Stephen Chow is a producer of the show, there is no indication of any sorts in the entire movie. Maybe it’s an advertising gimmick, or maybe for some reason [cough cough] he doesn’t want to be named.

Perhaps this movie is trying to achieve too much - by wanting to have connections and relations to Shaolin Soccer, as well as wanting to have their own Japanese feel to the movie. The outcome? Just weird, very weird.

Let’s see, even from the beginning of the movie, it already has this very weird [but somewhat amusing] feeling. So the movie starts from supposedly the Shaolin temple, where Rin [played by Shibasaki Kou] graduates after 3000 [weird number] days of training. Never mind that she has to speak Mandarin [although it's kinda weird], but why get Japanese actors to act as the Shaolin monks as well?! My gosh, they must be the most horrible Mandarin speaking Shaolin monks I’ve ever seen in a movie/drama. I guess most of the audience are Chinese, because we couldn’t help but giggle at the very funny accent and attempt in pronouncing the words. Thank goodness there were subtitles! Made understanding A LOT easier. Go figure >.<

As opposed to Shaolin Soccer, there’s also a sports featured here, which would be lacrosse. Rin is dragged to join in as an agreement between Min Min [played by Kitty Zhang, the teacher in CJ7] and herself, where Rin can only get to teach Shaolin Kungfu only if she joined the [S I U] university lacrosse team. However, lacrosse doesn’t get much attention like in Shaolin Soccer [well, this isn't shaolin lacrosse =X] in the main movie content. It gets full attention during the entire credits though, hence making most of the viewers to stay behind to sit through the credits as well as watch some lacrosse action [kungfu and special effects powered though]. Oh btw, Kitty Zhang can speak Japanese somewhat well, considering she has quite many lines to speak. Definitely way better than those monks trying to speak mandarin by a long shot.

Also, we get to see 2 familiar faces from Shaolin Soccer, which is the big [fat] guy as well as the goalie! They *try* to add some comedy value, but most of the time it just fails spectacularly. Oh yah, they get to speak canto too, but at least they sound right. Another attempt failed! Well, they also do get to try to speak Jap, but their lines are a lot more limited [hence can die die go practise until sound decent?] and sounds a bit more weird than Kitty’s =D

Ok, let’s get to the villain of the show, before moving on to commenting about the fight scenes. And so, the baddie is the principal [or head or whatever] of the university [I can only rmb SIU on the jersey ><] that the lacrosse team belongs to. He’s [played by Nakamura Toru] apparently the leader [or chairman or CEO] of a bunch of apparently sinister-looking subordinates dabbling in various investments as well as talent allocation for various sports and activities. Come to think of it, I don’t seem to recall any occasion where he’s being called by his name throughout the entire movie. But anyway, the sinister/fishy looking business thing didn’t get very much attention other than the hinting of using underhand methods to “dispose” of a reporter who wrote an unfavourable article about the university’s practices. I suppose this was made to mirror the baddies in Shaolin Soccer who also used underhand methods to achieve what they want. But again, the presence of all these people just disappeared after a while and nowhere to be found ever again. Another failure!

Now, let’s get on to the fighting part. For the most part, there isn’t much fighting until the baddie got impatient in waiting for Rin to fight him and instead makes the first move and forces her to, well, action. And so, Rin ventures into the school compound in order to save a kidnapped Min Min and is greeted by groups after groups of fighters, either belonging to the various fight-related clubs in university, or just some “henchmen” mr. baddie has employed. But anyway the hordes of people seemed -a bit- like Kill Bill [or that's what I rmb of it]. Rin doesn’t seem to fight very well anyway, or at least her actions and movements don’t seem impressive [although Shibasaki supposedly trained for this film. Probably for fitness and stuff bah...]. True enough, she has problems handling the huge group and the 2 Chinese stars come to her rescue and lets her proceed to “stage 2″.

The 2nd obstacle was rather lame. Or should I say, kinda insulting to all Bruce Lee fans out there. There’s this Bruce Lee-wannabe who gets knocked out with just ONE kick. But I suppose that gave Rin quite some EXP points to level up for stage 3! Let’s see, obstacle 3 part 1 involves fighting with 3 apparently skilled people each from Judo, Kendo and Wushu from the looks of it. Of course Rin can’t match up to 3 of them and gets knocked into some store room with brooms etc, as well as all the different dojos’ 招牌 Mr. baddie has defeated and realised her teacher’s dojo was one of them… [Sidetrack: Rin's clothing doesn't seem to get much dirt even though she's knocked into a place that stores brooms and rags and stuff...]. Just when she begins her counterattack, the teacher in charge of administration [though not his usual self...] barges in and dismisses the 3 other dudes. Rin has a hard time, and can’t win until she powers up [got special effects of her power!! Orange colour...] and knocks the teacher off the tower. Oh yah, till the end of the movie, there’s no explanation as to why the teacher become so skillful [he can't even win the big guy at all...] and berserk.

Yes, finally we arrive at the final boss after Rin passes through some trap-filled room. Min Min’s in a nice 旗袍 now [Mr Baddie so shiok ah, change her outfit =P], sleeping [unconscious lah!] nicely on a couch. I thought the final fight should be somewhat nicer, but again it is just weird. Suddenly we get to see Baddie’s punches and kicks have purple effects to them as well [boss also can power up one... he serious liao mah...]. And then, there’s this DEEP pool of water in the middle of the “stage” and suddenly both of them also know 轻功! Can stand on water one, or even LIE on the water surface [reminds me of naruto's chakra training...]. Then basically, they can do all sorts of waves with the water [can even cut through lots of stuff], lots of knocking into the water and then coming up again. At least Mr Baddie’s clothes get wet, but RIn’s one just remain dry [her clothes super material]. Ok, but the most shocking thing is Rin’s ultimate move that subdues Mr. Baddie and even converts him into a good person. It’s a hug! And then goes into some dream/illusion state where it manages to touch Baddie’s heart and make him “wake up”.

Yah, it’s about time I finished with the story of the show. Lol, yeah what’s left is mainly the ending credits and people learning kungfu. Hehz. Oh, the theme song is not sung by Shibasaki but by Mihimaru GT, but I don’t think anyone bothers lah.

Well, I guess I’ve said enough above. You should understand my opinion of this movie by now. My take: 5.5/10.

p.s. I’m glad that I could roughly make out many keywords in the Jap lines. But I still can’t read Jap characters for nuts >.<

Kung Fu Panda

Rating: PG
Running time: 92 minutes
Opens: 6 June ‘08, Now Showing

Some info:
1) Wiki
2) IMDB Profile
3) MovieMistakes Profile
4) Official Site (English)

I guess this movie doesn’t really need much introduction. It’s about how a clumsy panda becomes The One (aka Dragon Warrior) destined to defeat a fearful foe.

While the entire story is well-summarised in the wiki article, the comedy moments and other fun and entertaining scenes can’t really be expressed in words [at least there's no way I can]. It’s all these entertaining times that add more life and value into this otherwise simple movie [well, animated movies are usually kinda simplistic...].

Besides having fun things, there’s of course some amount of kungfu fighting. While it may not be as satisfying as seeing Jet Li or Jackie Chan [who happens to be voice actor for the Monkey, with very few lines...], it’s good in its own right. =) If only they showed the secret behind the WuXi Finger Hold. It really looked quite powerful, so much so that the baddie disappeared into thin air after that [after seeing a huge glow + explosion of the village].

And well, animated movies can have mistakes too! I could see most of those listed in the MovieMistakes profile. but some of them I just happily overlooked since it’s an animated movie and strange things can happen in animated movies easily. Haha, and most of them are usually quite minor. You’ll understand what I mean if you watch the movie [pre-condition: spot the mistakes first].

An entertaining movie. My take: 6.5/10. Short review this time huh. Really don’t know what else to add. If you got more things to add, leave a comment or two ok? :)

p.s. apparently, there’s something after the credits end. Didn’t stay…. Nooooo =(

The Incredible Hulk

Rating: PG
Running time: 114 minutes
Opens: 12 June 2008, Now Showing

Some info:
1) Wiki
2) IMDB Profile
3) MovieMistakes Profile
4) Official Site (English)

This movie isn’t a sequel to the previous Hulk movie I guess, since it does present some flashbacks of how Bruce Banner became the Hulk when experiment goes wrong. The events that happen after that incident and before the movie starts proper are different from the previous movie.

Very early into the movie, viewers can easily spot Stan Lee. Lol, yeah he’s the victim who drank soda that was contaminated with Banner’s blood (which of course is radioactive). He just has to appear in all the Marvel films of recent years does he? =P Well, you could say that this cameo is rather important, since it gives away Banner’s location [he's hiding. duh]. The story kicks in from here, and you can read the rest in the wiki article.

This movie spends quite a bit on the emotional and fear of Banner, who’s afraid of the existence of the Hulk since he isn’t able to control the transformation at all. Seems like his heartbeat rate [probably 200 is the critical level] is one of the key [or maybe is the sole] factor for activating his transformation. So much so that he can’t even have fun with his girlfriend. How sad. =P

Also, I personally felt that the Hulk is made to appear as a scarier character due to his uncontrollable rage and berserk. Of course, the transformation process is also somewhat not so pleasing on the eyes, which I believe should be intentional. I also felt that the visual effects are much better this time round, as compared to whatever impressions I have left from the previous Hulk movie. Probably improvements in technology and techniques helped in some ways. =)

As many may [maybe not?] know, Tony Stark (the man in the iron suit =P) makes a cameo too! But he appears right at the end, just before the credits, telling the General that they are forming a team. I didn’t bother finding out what the team consists of, but my guess is that it involves Iron Man, Hulk and Nick Fury [and maybe the entire S.H.I.E.L.D.]. I say so cos at the opening scenes of the movie during the flashbacks, the presence of Stark Industries and Nick Fury can be easily seen through all the flashes of scenes. Maybe there are other details that I’ve failed to spot, but hey at least I spotted Nick Fury in all the flashes. =P

Overall, I think this movie is quite nice, and also better than the previous Hulk movie. Can also see efforts to streamline some Marvel characters together instead of seeing standalone movies for various heroes over the years. Looking forward to the “sequel” where heroes join forces. Whee~~

My take: 6.5/10

p.s. for those who are wondering if there’s anything after the credits. nope, no extra scenes.