Locomotive Magic

So, today, I decided to watch two movies. (1) Unstoppable... and (2) Harry Potter 7 Part 1 (yes, sounds like a motherf*cking cash cow). So on to the post-mortem.


1) Unstoppable (2010)


First up, was Unstoppable, a story about a genius who left a train pulling about four cargoes filled with some sort of highly flammable chemical unmanned. The train then 'decides' to pick up speed and goes on a joyride around highly populated suburban areas while the authorities wet their pants trying to figure out what to do. Well, what do you do in such a situation? You call on captain Kirk and Denzel, thats what you do!


Lame intros aside, the movie was pretty decent, quite good actually. Truth be told, I thought it was crap watching the trailer. But fortunately it turned out to be a good movie. Washington and Pine made a great duo on camera. They had the whole 'old-veteran vs newbie' thing going quite well. Who would have thought a story about a runaway train could be so intense? It was interesting from start (well, maybe 15 minutes in) to finish and as a whole it was a pretty decent movie, I would say.

The only fault I would say is the fact that the story is about a freaking runaway train (okay, it also about the two locomotive heroes). The story was predictable and really felt restrain to as what it could do with itself. But I dont blame the movie. How much can one actually make about a movie involving mostly a runaway train? The ending was probably a little corny, but they had to put something for people chuckle about at the end.


+ Good acting
+ Sufficiently intense
+ A decent joyride
- Predictable
- Corny
Rating: 6.5/10

2) Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (a.k.a HP7P1) (2010)


When I saw the trailer, I was impressed. Then I saw the words "presented in two parts". The first thing that came to my mind was.. "CASHCOW!!!"... And I dont think that I am wrong. I must admit though that I am NOT a Harry Potter fan. Also, this is my first ever Harry Potter movie... and it only took me 6 installments to convince myself to watch a nerdy wizard with normal teenage problems.


Well, I must say that the environment is somewhat confusing. First you're seeing buses and cars, the in 2 minutes, you see trees and wide plains. Then in 2 more minutes (yes you guessed it), we're back in a semi-modern society. Point of note, Im treating this movie as a stand-alone and not HP as a whole. The magical effects were kinda cool, all the blasting and waving of the wands. PHEW! Magical stuff! The guy with the flattened nose who had a snake for a pet was pretty cool too (a.k.a Mr. Voldemort).


What I didnt like though is the dependency of the movie on the three main characters. Eventhough it is understandable that 85% of the movie focuses on the trio, it would be nice to see better acting (especially from people who have acted as the same character in 6 previous installments of the same thing). I felt Emma Watson was stiff most of the time, Mr. Potter cant pull off a sad face. And the red headed guy seemed scary, like a druggie minus the drugs. The supporting actors gave life to the movie, especially all those 'bad' guys.

That being sad, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. From start to finish, I was'nt terribly bored. I took it as a build up to Part 2 - which we all know is where the real shit happens. The landscapes really added loads of emotion to every scene. To put it in simple terms, this movie was beautifully shot. And special effects are icing on the beautiful cake. Again, I am NOT a Harry Potter fan, but im not a hater too. So before you Pot-heads (pun intended) try to spellbind me with your imaginary wands, fear not, for I too am anticipating the final chapter to this epic wizardy tale.


PS1: Its probably that I didnt get most parts of the movies... hence the somewhat confused review. but... meh...
PS: I will try to watch HP 1-6 during the holidays... try...

+ Good special effects
+ Story is gripping at times
- Pretty poor acting (based on my expectations)
- Predictable and dull ending (they could have made it more intense)

Rating: 6.5/10 (not bad for my first potter movie, I would have given it a 7, but while I was writing this review... I realized there was'nt really much greatness about it - BUT, I did ENJOY the whole of the movie)

The Social Network (2010)

The highly rated Facebook movie. This movie takes you through the journey that Mark Zuckerberg went through to create and establish Facebook, lawsuits and all. I think that this movie's major selling point is that its about Facebook. Who doesnt have Facebook? Everyone uses Facebook, most on a daily basis. Even your mum has Facebook. Some peoples' pets have Facebook. Not surprisingly, even people without a laptop or a computer has a Facebook account. This movie has the potential to be one of the best movies of 2010 solely because people (the audience) can associate with the premise.

The story starts off with Zuckerberg being dumped by his then girlfriend, Erica Albright just to get the audiences' attention. From then on the Facebook Journey begins. The whole journey is really entertaining and insightful, especially for users of FB. Who would have thought a Harvard drop-out could be a billionaire at such a young age just by coming up with a simple online social network.


But as the story unfolds, not every step of the journey is easy.
A tale of deceit and manipulation depicts just how bad Zuckerberg's friendship with 'close friend' Eduardo became drenched with bad blood. A huge chunk of that was due to the inclusion of Napster's Co-Founder, Sean Parker.

The acting was superb by all means. The emotion and tension conveyed from each scene was really believable. One would think that a documentary-ish movie would be boring and dry, but The Social Network really is the total opposite, filled with emotion and legitimate character; and just the right amount of humour and brains.


At the end of the day, I feel that there really isn't anything to fault or dislike about this movie. Its great, its tense, its emotional on some grounds, its insightful and most importantly to most people today (at least to 500 million active FB users), its relevant. Its alot of premise (backstabbing, failed relationship, university life, etc.) all rolled into one and its based on actual events which as usual, makes it better than it is.


on a side note: It really makes you wonder how a simple idea can have the potential to be something extremely huge (ie. Facebook). I am sure most people who will (or have watched) watch this movie will go "Owh, why didn't I think of that?". However, I cant help but wonder just how long can Facebook keep this up. How many more years till people stop bothering about it an use a brand new social networking site? Only time will tell.

Rating: 8/10

NutShell Reviews

From time to time, when there isn't any movie in the cinema worth watching, I grab a couple of DVDs of old movies (old doesnt mean 70s or 80s but simply means movies that have ended their run on the silver screen). And because Im a lazy bastard, and old movies are just, old, I end up writing a nutshell review instead of a full review. Neat!

1) Get Him To The Greek (2010)


This movie revolves around an intern, Aaron Green (Jonah Hill), who has to bring the out-of-control British rocker, Aldous Snow (Brand) to a concert at the Greek Theater for Infant Sorrows' 10th year anniversary Greek performance. The movie is pretty funny from start to finish with enough humour and story to keep it interesting. Aldous lives a cliched rocker lifestyle - the drugs, the woman, more drugs - and Aaron Green is this nerdy, life-long fan of that rocker. Things can get a little crazy at times but I felt nothing was over the top or unbelievable. The bad thing though is that some parts seemed a little bit too repetitive, like the puking, the drugged Aaron. All in all, its an 'okay' movie. It is interesting enough to keep you glued for the whole movie, but not enough to make you crack about the jokes in it for days.

Rating: 6.5/10

2) The Haunting in Connecticut (2009)

Based on the true story that tells of a boy with cancer, Matt, whose condition forced his family to move to a house in Connecticut so they could be closer to the hospital where he was receiving treatment. But they soon find out that the house is not as perfect as they make it to be. It has a dark past of being a funeral home where its owner, Aickman practiced some sort of Satanic Ritual to enhance his medium's (Jonah) power. The innocent family soon find themselves seeing 'things' and experience supernatural disturbances. It was only when they tried to remove the 'ghost' that they find out the true history of the Haunting in Connecticut.


Well, the movie is pretty simplistic from start to finish. Boy has illness, family tries everything, supernatural things appear, call a priest (reverend), perform 'exorcism', VOILA! Just like the other 1000 horror movies that we've all seen. But the fact that this is based on a true story makes it a little bit better, but still pretty bad. Its predictability is its downfall. There were a few jumpy and scary moments, but not enough to send chills down your spine.

Rating: 5.5/10

Let Me In (2010)

"Let me in tells" a story of a typical bullied boy, Owen, from a torn family who befriends a peculiar girl, Abby. It turns out that Abby is a vampire, or something like that, she cant go out in the sun, she only eats/drinks blood and she has to be invited into a place before she can enter. This movie is a remake of the original Låt den Rätte Komma In (Let the Right One In) (2008). In the previous months, not alot of horror movies came out on the silver screen, and the ones that did, sucked. And this, apparently, based on online reviews, is one of the hollywood remakes that did not spoil the original.

This movie was draggy from start to finish with way too much unnecessary dialogue killing every scene. Most people just want to see mindless horror movies with not much substance to it. But this movie had too much of it, maybe a little too much to stomach. The scary scenes were minimal to say the least and when it did appear, it wasn't so satisfying. The movie was missing something, a very important factor. And that factor is to leave the audience with the fear of the movie in their head.


'Let Me In' almost had me screaming 'Let Me Out'. The first hour, or rather 3/4 of the movie made me want to go out and skip the rest of the movie. It was only until the final 30 minutes that the movie got interesting. When Abby started to go on a rage (well, kind off). I felt like this movie is more of a 'love' story (if you will) with a side of horror. The typical bullied boy falls for this peculiar girl. I think I heard more laughter than screams in the cinema.


All in all, this movie let me down. I had high expectations of it thanks to online ratings and such. But I personally find the movie boring and a little too draggy for its own good. To be nice, the only good thing from the movie was its sporadic horror moments and Chloe Moretz's role as Abby. The rest can be excluded and the movie would still be the same.

Rating: 5.5/10

Scott Pilgrim vs The World (2010)

For some reason, this movie didn't get released here in Malaysia alongside with other potentially awesome movies (ie. Easy A, Social Network etc.). So I had to resort to other 'means' of watching this epic movie of epic epicness. The movie is based on a graphic novel by Bryan Lee O'Malley that revolves around Scott Pilgrim who must defeat his new new girlfriend's seven evil exes in order to win her heart. Sounds pretty bad ass no?



This movie uses the elements of video games and comics to its very best. From words in the air, to power upgrades to the very old school "K.O" announcement. People who dont read comic books or play video games probably wont appreciate it as much as those who do. I felt the choices of actors were good, each of them fitting their role. The jokes were funny, nothing was way too over the top. The story was a little to rushed in the first 15 minutes or so but subsequently it slowed down to a normal pace.


The highlight of this movie would most probably be (well at least to me) the fight scenes with all the exes. The comical nature of the fights were awesome to say the very least. Again, the element of video games and comics really made this movie what it is, an epic in its own way. The fights were like the ones you used to play in video games in the arcade. The cinematography (or how the fights were capture/filmed) helped alot if augmenting the effects. My favourite battle was between "Sex Bob-Omb and the Katayanagi twins". The effects though simplistic, was very very cool. The on I liked least was against Todd, which involved way too much talking.


So, to put it down in a few words, this movie is definitely an epic in its own way. The elements of video games and comics (I cannot stress this enough) really worked well (almost perfectly). The characters played their role really well. Everything was pretty much simplistic without trying to be more than it is. Nothing was too over the top. The movie felt quite long, but it wasn't boring. So if you want something epic to kill time or is just sick of what the cinemas in Malaysia are showing, go get Scott Pilgrim vs The world and enjoy the ride of epic epicness.




Rating: 7.5/10

Megamind (2010)

Megamind is DreamWorks's latest offering in their battle against fellow animation giants, Pixar. Megamind tells a story of a super-villain, Megamind (Will Ferrell) who gets his butt kicked by Metroman (Brad Pitt) on a daily basis. But when a more evil super-villain 'appears', Megamind has to take an unfamiliar role, to be the Hero and no longer the villain.


You would think that this movie is straight forward and predictable. And you're right! It is straight forward and totally predictable. The cliched story of a villain turn good and developing feelings for his most frequent kidnap victim. Jokes are unoriginal and repetitive. This is not to say that the movie sucked. It just failed to embody any 'WOW' factor to it. Simply put, its just another superhero cartoon.


The animation is definitely pleasing on the eye. The detail, the colours, the whole environment is spectacular to say the very least. Voices of characters are well-chosen, each voice fitting each character. SOME jokes and comedic moments are funny, but I definitely did not laugh my ass off. The characters (ie. Megamind, Metroman, Roxanne etc.) are all very unoriginal. I hoped for something a little bit more original.


Well, in a nut shell, this is no where near the likes of DreamWorks's best work (Shrek 1 and How to Train Your Dragon). But neither is it one of the worse ones (eg. Shrek 3 and 4). Its a very watchable cartoon but not one that will remain with you like Shrek. However, it is safe to say once again, DreamWorks have failed outshine titles from Pixar (ie. Up, Toy Story 3). Pixar is still number 1 in my book when it comes to amazing animation.

Rating: 5.5/10