The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey

My love for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings Trilogy was the primary reason why I watched his new adventure trilogy. It was one of my anticipated films of the year. Though I didn't really care watching it in 3D, the  first part of The Hobbit trilogy was still worthy to watch but I would say it falls a little behind the the LOTR films.

'The Unexpected Journey' is the first part of the prequel of the new trilogy which took place 60 years before 'Fellowship of the Ring' where Bilbo Baggins was young and went on an adventure with Gandalf The Grey. Accompanied by thirteen dwarves lead by the Thorin Oakenshield whose kingdom was taken by a dragon Smaug,  Bilbo Baggins reluctantly joined the the group and went on a journey that changed his life forever. While traveling to the  Lonely Mountain where the dragon resides, the young Bilbo met the Elves, Giant Spiders, Goblins, Orcs and Gollum with his precious Ring along the way. I haven't read the book so I didn't have any idea how the story goes, I sat through it and satisfied my eyes with great special effects, though the story felt a little vague as the first LOTR I still find the ending a little touching and makes you hang on for two more films to come. (Rating 4/5)
  

World Invasion Battle: Los Angeles - A Movie Review

Just got off from watching "World Invasion Battle: Los Angeles or simply known as Battle:LA in North America. Due to not-so-good reviews from the movie critics (only got 34% from Rotten Tomatoes) I didn't expect too much from it and to my surprise I found the film interesting as alien-invasion themed movies District 9 and Independence Day.

Set in August 2011, Extraterrestrial invaded and started to colonize the Earth due to its abundance of water. While people from all over the world were being exterminated, a group of marines in LA headed by retiring Sgt Michael Nantz was sent on a mission of securing the remaining civilians before Air Force bombs the entire invaded area. Carrying the baggage from the last mission, Sgt Nantz realizes that aliens are not just his only concern, he also needs to deal with his marines and their bad speculations about him.

Filled with non-stop action thrills, World Invasion is a pretty good action flick which promises to give you more explosions despite of being short in exploring human emotions. Director Jonathan Liebesman could have extracted deeper from the characters though it isn't really necessary in an action film but since Liebesman started showing it on the beginning he could have been more consistent with it to make the ending more joyful and unforgettable. But despite all that still I was a bit moved by its little drama and the action-thrill with decent special effects is worth watching. (3.5 out 5 stars)

World Invasion Battle:Los Angeles is starred by Aaron Echkart (Dark Knight, Rabbit Hole) as Sgt Nantz, Michelle Rodriguez (Avatar, Fast and Furious), Michael Pena (Observe and Report, Shooter) and R & B singer Ne-yo. Directed by Jonathan Liebesman whose directing jobs includes Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning and now working on Wrath of the Titans (Clash of Titans 2).

Shake, Rattle & Roll 12 - Movie Review

I don't exactly remember when Shake, Rattle & Roll or SSR started scaring audiences but what I remember is the creature "Undin"(starred by Manilyn Reyns and Ai-ai Delas Alas) gave me ghost bumps every time I'm left in the rest room alone. Several years have passed and technology has become more sophisticated, SSR reaches its 12th films but unfortunately delivered less scary stories compare to its predecessors (talking about the films released in 90's).

Just like the usual trend of the series, SSR 12 comes with three different episodes, "Mamanyika", "Isla", and "Punerarya". While the first two episodes were disappointing, the movie as a whole was concluded with a great one.

Mamanyika: Is a story of a possessed doll that kills every one or everything (including its fellow dolls) who gets its way. The episode was not scary at all, everything was ridiculous. First time director Zoren Legaspi apparently wasn't ready to take the director's seat. Starred by Shaina Magdayao and Ricky Davao.

Isla: The second episode focuses on a heartbroken woman who let things cooled down in an island haunted by "engkato". Though it got better visual effects, the second story was even more boring and totally a waste of time. Dir Topel Lee should have focused on the story line than working more on the effects and the killing scenes. Starred by Andi Eigenman and Rayver Cruz.

Punerarya: The final episode is the most suspenseful story among the three, one of the best episodes I've watched in SSR series actually. The plot was simple and I believed was used in horror films before but still made into a real shocker. Focusing on a story of a teacher who takes a private tutor job for two children of a family whose business involving funerary services. Intrigued with the family being different from normal people, the tutor realizes that she has to run for her life before the whole family prey on her. Starred by Carla Abellana and Sid Lucero.

Don't know why our local movie makers can stand with ridiculous stories that are not even worth of a single peso to spend for. With the strong final episode, SSR 12 obviously could have been better. The movie is watchable but you just need to suffer on the first part of it for you to enjoy what has been stored at the end of it. (My rating is 3 out 5 stars)

Back-to-Back Will Smith Movies on Sunday

Got a triple-action treat from Will Smith today. Watched his old movies from late 90's and early 2000's. I don't remember his full movie that I first watched but I'm sure it wasn't one of the MIB or Bad Boys films but I remember watching 'Wild Wild West' in 1999 with Kevin Klein and Salma Hayek, I remember him and Sisqo then rapping the soundtrack of it on MTV (I was in 3rd year high school then). Since then he became such a huge movie star and seen him in many films which include "I Robot", Shark Tale", "The Pursuit of Happyness", "I Am Legend", "Hancock", "Seven Pounds" and last December I was able to watch "Enemy of the State". With this number of films on his record I still missed a lot of his hits which include "Bad Boys I and II", "Hitch", "Ali" including the other three movies which I just saw today.

Independence Day (1996)

I first watched "Independence Day" after taking breakfast early this morning. It's a 1996 action-thriller film directed by Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow, 2012). When a city-like alien space ship positioned itself on the skyline the people of America was puzzled but when it started to attack and destroy all the cities, the President of America (Bill Pullman) must unite with his people together with the marine pilot Capt. Steve Hiller (Will Smith) and an electronics and computer expert David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) to defeat the aliens and draw them away from planet Earth. It was breath-taking. I was surprised that the movie '2012' was almost a copycat of this film, no wonder most critics were unhappy with Roland's latest film. (My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars)

Men In Black (1997)

Watched this film after lunch. Though I have watched this before in cable channels, I didn't really get the gist of it since I wasn't able to watch it in full (and I don't like watching movie in cable channel or online streaming, I prefer in DVD or playing from my hard drive). Just like "Independence Day", Men In Black is also about aliens, only they co-exist with humans and Agent Kay (Tommy Lee Jones) and Agent J (Will Smith) maintain their peaceful living on earth without letting the human race know that they really exist. These aliens should really behave 'coz if they don't MIB will turn them into tons of green slime. Though the film was a bit short and less action, it was funny and considering it was released in the 90s the special effects were really cool. (My rate 3 out of 5 stars)

Men In Black II (2002)

Watched this sequel MIB II right after the first part. It was released five years after the first movie and was directed by the same director, Barry Sonnenfield (who will be back with MIB III sometime next year). Agents Jay was back in action fighting aliens but couldn't do it alone. He had to restore the memory of Agent Kay as he resigned the job before the first movie ended. With the help of Frank (the talking dog) and the four alien-worms MIB should defeat Serleena before she conquers The Light of Zartha and destroys the world. Added cast was Lara Flynn Boyle, the 'Jackass' star Johnny Knoxville and Rosario Dawson (who later worked with Will Smith again in 'Seven Pounds'). The film is funnier than the first one because of Frank, and Will got more of the spotlight here compare to his parter. But the film was still vague and it got lesser actions this time (2.5 stars out of 5)

'It's Kind of a Funny Story' is a kind of a good movie too

"He is not busy being born is busy dying" as what Bobby (Zach) said which was quoted from Bob Dylan song according to the film 'It's a Kind of a Funny Story'. It was a pretty cool light-comedy-drama film starred by Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover, Up in the Air) with Emma Roberts (Hotel for Dogs, Valentine's Day), Viola Davis (Eat Pray Love, Doubt, Law Abiding Citizen) and Kier Gilchrist. The movie talks about how beautiful life is when much appreciated and how little things we really wanna do can add up to make it more meaningful. Simple things like art, music and letting people that you love know how you feel (bad or good) can save you from getting your mind too messed up (that you wanna kill yourself sometimes). We often feel depressed and frustrated because we don't see the beauty of the things we have and the people we love 'coz its presence and simplicity blind us and it takes other people to show it to us.

Zach Galifinakis is really an awesome actor, his funny acts are effortless and he showed some serious faces here too which shocked me. Viola Davis is adorable as always, since seeing her from 'Doubt' I can't help but to get impressed with her performance in each movie she's in, she's just so natural and pleasing. Emma Roberts and Kier Gilchrist also did a pretty good performance especially when their together. Not the best movie of 2010 and you won't be laughing throughout the film but it does keep you smiling 'til it ends. It was simple but inspiring in someways. Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck who also directed the critically-acclaimed movies like 'Sugar' and 'Half Nelson' which I haven't seen yet but I will because of this film.

My Rating (3.5 stars out of 5)

US Box Office Gross: $6.4 million (only released in US)

Production Budget: $8 million

Movie Everyday - Paranormal Activity 2

Today's movie is 'Paranormal Activity 2'

Genre: Horror - Supernatural

Katie Featherson is back this time with the new director, Tod Williams. It's the prequel of the first movie, so it happened that Kristi (Katie's sister) was also haunted with the same demon that terrorized her and Micah on the first film. The movie was a bit dull and sadly it didn't live up to it's predecessor, it was not just so scary at all despite having the same concept. I wonder how would it turn out to be like if it was directed by Oren Peli (the director of the first movie). It could have been a lot scarier than the first one.

I just don't know what they have to offer on the final movie coming out this year (also directed by Tod Williams) and I'm not excited to watch it (though I like to see Molly Ephraim again on the sequel).

My Rating (2.5 stars out of 5)
Worldwide Box Office: $171.6 Million
Production Budget: $3 Million