Well I watched Vantage Point at PS yesterday at 4.55pm and I must say I am glued to the screen for the whole 86 minutes that it was screening. The newspapers apparently gave it a low rating, but I guess they just have a different system from me because I am obviously happy with it.

The general story is that the President of the United States has been shot, and there are many witnesses with many points of view, including one with the mastermind of the terrorist plot. The movie will show you each witness’s viewpoint, and up till a certain moment in time, they will backtrack like reversing a VCR. Then another point of view will begin at the same time as everyone elses’ begin, at 12pm. This goes on for quite a number of time, so you may either be sick of the way the story goes, or you can find it refreshing. I found it refreshing and a nice way to show everything.

In the last point of view, everything will be shown from each of the witnesses last point of view, and you will see what they saw before the movie stopped showing from their point of view. You can see that some people are just being made use of and they die in the end. Some people are really bad.

Spoilers!!!

Well, one of the secret service dudes is part of the terrorist organization. The shot that hit the “president” came from a window and is operated by a machine getting commands from a PDA phone. Same goes with the bombs. I say “President” because it’s fake one. A double. Anyway the real president still gets kidnapped.

The day is saved when a lost child stands in the middle of the road. The rogue ambulance carrying the terrorist and the President had to break and do a drift (ok maybe not intentionally) and the ambulance got overturned. The hero, Thomas managed to check the situation out and save the president again. I say “again” because he saved the president once. Maybe they should give him a hero’s retirement with a great pension.

Spoilers end!!

Anyway I think it’s a pretty great movie to catch. I rate it 4/5 stars. I think that’s high because I don’t rate 5/5. There is no such thing as a perfect movie.

Other links
Vantage Point Movie Official Site
IMDB
Wikipedia
Apple Trailers

Movie Information

Cast: Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker
Director: Pete Travis
Genre:Action/ Adventure
Language: English
Release Date:20 March 2008
Running Time:86 minutes

I went to catch “The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep” yesterday at Vivocity. Vivocity’s GV seats are really great. They are nice to sit on and the arm rest can be lifted all the way to the back, unlike the ones in Plaza Singapura where they stick out like a sore thumb. However, 1 big bad mistake by GV: Popcorns in between the seat from the last movie? Wow. I’m not reserving anything for later.

The Water Horse is fundamentally a story about The Loch Ness Monster, and it talks about this boy Angus who found a black lump by the sea side. He brought it home and tried to use a knife to open it, and he managed to clear the mud to reveal a blue stone - an egg, really.

Thus this begins the adventure of the boy who raised the Loch Ness Monster, also called the Water Horse, who supposedly have magical powers. This is a story about the boy who lost his father in the war and found solace in his own pet. The boy eventually had to sent the horse into the Loch (or Lake or body of water) because he was growing too big.

Spoilers Ahead:

The war office had sent a battery of artillery and the commander had tried to impress Augus’ family by firing shells into the Loch. Naturally it angered the water horse and then it became an angry being. Some of the military guys wanted to kill it, and they got capsized eventually by the water horse. The story continues when the boy tries his best to save the water horse, and how the water horse managed to escape into the open in the end.

Spoilers End

Anyway, the movie’s pretty ok and I didn’t get bored. However on further thinking, I guess it wasn’t an extremely interesting flim. I watched it because it had the Loch Ness like monster inside and I thought it would be fun. I rate it 3/5. I think it will be a good movie to catch with kids.

Websites:
Official Site
IMDB
Wikipedia

Information:
Cast: Emily Watson, Alex Etel, Ben Chaplin
Director: Jay Russell
Genre:Fantasy
Language: English
Release Date:6 March 2008
Running Time:112 minutes

I watched “L Change The World” today at GV Max in Vivocity. I must say the seats are great. Anyway, the movie is a spin off, which means it has nothing to do with the official death note story. In the first place, the movie death note wasn’t exactly in tune with the manga’s. But this has nothing to do with Death Notes though the shinigami appeared for a few seconds.

The story is about another clever human, but clever in the medical field. The gist is that there is this virus that spreads quickly and kills humans quickly too. L only has a few days left before he dies from the Death Note, and he has to solve the case quickly.

Spoilers ahead:
The movie is about the virus, and its creator is this clever lady, whom it was discovered to be K, another of Watari’s people. Watari told K to change the world, and she thought she could change the world by killing off humans who were destroying Earth’s ecosystem.

The virus has an antidote who was discovered by this brilliant scientist, K’s colleague. When this scientist discovered that K is so evil, he injected himself with the deadly virus, and kept the antidote with himself. To prevent a disease outbreak in the facility, K has to destroy the lab herself, and the antidote is also gone.

However, this is not before the scientist gave his daughter something to pass to Watari (whom is dead but no one else knows). The daughter holds the key to many mysteries, and without spoiling further, let me just say that all ends well and L saves the day.

Spoilers end…

Oh..Do stay after the credits. There is a 5 second clip that shows L munching on a chocolate bar before the subtitles announce that L passed away peacefully. I guess there won’t be a sequel? Or will there? Near, a character in the manga, is manifested in the flim in the end. Perhaps this means there is a chance for future movies? However, with L missing, perhaps the attraction isn’t there anymore.

For entertaining me for 2 hours, I give “L Change The World” a total of 4/5 stars. Do catch it if you have watched the previous 2 death note movies. It will help in understanding the gist of the introduction.

Links:
Official Site
IMDB

Cast: Kenichi Matsuyama, Yuki Kudo, Mayuko Fukuda
Director: Hideo Nakata
Genre:Thriller/ Drama
Language: Japanese
Release Date:21 February 2008
Running Time:128 minutes
Movie Code:4138
Distributor:GVP

The Straits Times Life! Section rated Ah Long Pte Ltd a 1 star movie out of a possible 5. This is the first time I have ever seen a movie get such a rating. Even a so-so movie gets 3 out of 5. Jay Chou’s KongFu Dunk movie even got a 3 stars.

The Straits Times Page 4 states that this movie has many similarities to another Korean movie titled My Wife is a gangster. In it, the woman got married at some relatives wishes, got a not so macho guy as a husband, blabla. The movie even started with a narration for both movies. Somehow I wonder if its true that Jack Neo did not watch the movie at all. The parts are really similar, though the main plot is different. Perhaps its just a coincidence. (By the way, my professors refused to believe that any algorithm that we create can be similar in nature)

Anyway, Jack Neo seems to enjoy using Fann Wong portrayed as a guyish person. Perhaps this can boost sales? Other than the “attraction” of seeing Fann in such a different role, fans of Fann (no pun intended) will probably flock absent-mindedly to watch the movie for their idols.

Has Jack Neo lost his touch? I don’t know. However his past work seems to be having the signs of depreciating standards. Gone were the days of “I not stupid”. Even “Just Follow Law” seems a little lame.

To tell the truth, I would rather put my money in CJ7.

I went to watch 27 Dresses yesterday, and I must say that I have enjoyed it very much. Romance isn’t a genre of movies that I will watch frequently, but this one is a romantic comedy, and I do watch comedies to have my fair share of laughs.

27 Dresses, for the uninitiated, is about this lady who has been a bridesmaid for 27 times, putting in effort for every friend’s wedding but not getting any love in return. She has a crush on her boss George, and the problem arises when her sister returns home and meets George at a company party (Jane, the eternal bridesmaid invited her own sis there and created the problem). Soon, her sister and George decided to get married and Jane is left feeling upset. However, Kevin (played by James Marsden, also starred in Enchanted), a newspaper writer she meets starts pestering her. Eventually Kevin did something that made Jane super upset, and things cool off for a moment.

Spoilers ahead:
Well, no prizes for guessing, but in the end when everything got sorted out (the wedding between the sister and George blew off because Jane showed George her sister’s lies), she discovered the guy she actually fell in love with isn’t George, but Kevin. And no prizes for guessing again, she got married with Kevin in the end.

Cliche? I guess so. The story’s ending could be guessed right at the start of the movie, but its refreshing actors and actresses, coupled by a good laugh every few minutes, really made my day. If you have money to spare, why not catch 27 dresses? Some links are given below for your perusal:

Some Links:
Official Website: http://www.27dressesthemovie.com/
IMDB: Internet Movie Database
Apple Trailers