Crush (2013): Painful recollection

Trailer:


The Plot:
A promising high school soccer player, Scott (Lucas Till), injures his knee in a silly race and doctors say it might take up to two years for his knee to heal. His father is against his playing soccer and wishes that he takes rest until he recovers completely.

However after 6 months, Scott insists on keeping fit in order to continue playing soccer much earlier. So much is his focus on soccer that when Jules (Sarah Bolger) makes a move on him, Scott declines and asks her to remain his best friend. Bess (Crystal Reed) a girl studying in Scott's high school, has a crush on Scott, and works in a store owned by David (Leigh Whannell) with her mature colleague Andie (Caitriona Balfe). Bess keep sending love letters to Scott but Scott doesn't realize who has sent them and ignores them. However, it does irk him when someone draws some warning on Jules' wall, saying "He's mine".

Later, Ms. Brown (Camille Guaty), Scott's teacher favors him by giving higher grades than he deserves and asks him to call her regarding a novel. Bess who hears the conversation, asks Scott whether he will call her and remarks that Scott is someone special, letting him to suspect that Bess is his secret admirer. Lucas can't help from making a scene as he is rather frustrated with all the attention, embarrassing Bess in front of David and Andie who happen to be there as well.

Ms. Brown is later attacked at a park while jogging, however, the attacker is not revealed. Things begin to get worse and worse as the stalker takes extreme measures including trying to kill Jules with a pillow during a party at a friend's place. Jules pretends to be unconscious and escapes from the incident. Scared, she informs Scott who also is present at the party. Scott assumes that Bess is responsible for the attack and he escorts Jules to her house.

While returning home, he encounters Andie who accidentally crashes her bicycle with Scott's car and is injured. Scott offers her to be taken to the hospital but she turns down and instead accepts when Scott offers to give her a ride home. While Scott is at Andie's house, he is attacked by her and is knocked unconscious revealing that it was Andie who was the stalker all along and not Bess. Andie holds Scott captive in her basement. David visits Andie's house and conveys his feelings about her on which she refuses and kills David. Scott attacks Andie at a suitable opportunity and tries to escape from the basement. Bess accidentally visits Andie's house and sees Scott and David's dead body. However, Andie attacks both of them and Jeffrey, a guy who has a crush on Bess and followed her there, comes to their rescue. Finally, the cops arrive and Andie is submitted to a mental asylum where she reveals that she had been stalking boys since her childhood and killed a lot of them. Finally Bess dates Jeffrey, and Scott reconciles with Jules. He reciprocates her feelings and they kiss.

The Riviu:
O-M-G.. the movie is so lackluster.. Bess couldn't be more boring a person.. I wonder how she got the job at the store being so dark and angsty and mumbling to herself as a manner of speaking to others.. really!

Lucas Till was ok as Scott though I spot many opportunities for him to escape Andie yet are never utilized.. the storyline is so weak! I mean, what made Andie snapped and decided to finally take Scott in and reveal herself in the process? adoi la..

I admit, the only thing that made me watch this is because the subject is having a crush on someone. it is not a very comfortable feeling, painful even.. as painful this movie is.


Full Movie:

Grown Ups 2: ohpleasegrowupalready!

 

the Trailer:


the Plot:
Three years after the events of the first film, Lenny Feder (Adam Sandler) has relocated his family back to his Connecticut hometown where he and his friends grew up.

In the film's opening in the Feder household, Lenny wakes up to find a wild deer standing next to his bed. Upon waking up, his wife Roxanne (Salma Hayek) startles the deer, causing it to urinate all over their home.



Eventually, Lenny is able to get the deer out of the house just in time to take his children Greg (Jake Goldberg), Keith (Cameron Boyce), and Becky (Alexys Nycole Sanchez) to their last day of school. Roxanne brings up the idea of their family having another baby, but Lenny says their family is perfect as is, upsetting Roxanne.

At the Lamonsoff household, Eric Lamonsoff (Kevin James) and his wife Sally(Maria Bello) are at odds with each other over how to raise their children. Sally believes in unwavering support while Eric prefers to be more practical with them. At the McKenzie household, Kurt (Chris Rock) surprises his wife Deanne (Maya Rudolph) with a thoughtful anniversary present, only to find that she has completely forgotten. Meanwhile, Marcus Higgins (David Spade) is waiting at a train station after receiving a letter from an old girlfriend, who tells him that he has a seventeen-year-old son Braden (Alexander Ludwig). Marcus is stunned to see a tattooed, six-foot-tall boy, who turns out to be Braden. Marcus tries to be nice and takes him to school, but Braden shows an immediate dislike toward him.

The school bus driver is wasted so Lenny takes charge of driving the bus, picking his friends along. After dropping off their kids, Lenny, Eric, Kurt, and Marcus spend the day roaming around town, reminiscing about the amazing summers they used to have when they were kids and Lenny's childhood bully, Tommy Cavanaugh (Steve Austin). Lenny argues that he could take Tommy as a kid and he can still take him. Eventually, the friends go to see Becky's ballet recital, where Lenny runs into Tommy, whom Lenny is visibly terrified of. Tommy threatens that if Lenny ever lies again about being able to beat him up, he'll publicly beat Lenny up.

Once the kids are out of school, Lenny, Eric, Kurt, and Marcus decide to visit the old quarry, where they used to swim as kids.
 

There they run into a bunch of partying frat boys (lead by Milo Ventimiglia and Taylor Lautner) who force them to jump into the quarry naked. Braden who was partying with the frat boys, witnesses this and goes off to vandalize their frat house. When the frat boys return, they swear to take revenge.

Lenny arrives home to help Roxanne set up for a 1980s-themed party for their friends. Meanwhile, Marcus begins to bond with Braden, who realizes he was wrong about his father. As all of their friends begin to arrive, Roxanne urges Lenny to consider having another baby. Lenny continues to protest the idea and is left dumbfounded when Roxanne reveals that she is pregnant.

Lenny, feeling overwhelmed by this discovery, goes off to drink with his friends. The Feder's party goes well most of the night until Tommy Cavanaugh shows up and disrespects Lenny in front of everyone, so Lenny challenges Tommy to a fight. In a surprising turn, Tommy decides to take a dive so that Lenny can look tough for his kids, and the two develop a mutual respect. Soon after, the angry frat boys arrive at the house looking for retribution for the damage to their frat house. They go on to insult the local town residents, inciting a fight. The locals hold their own against the frat boys and eventually send them running away defeated.


After all the commotion dies down, the four friends have pancakes at Eric's mom's house. Mrs. Lamonsoff (Georgia Engel) reassures Lenny that a new baby is a wonderful thing and eventually he will never be able to imagine life with just three kids. Lenny has a change of heart and returns home, telling Roxanne he is sorry and excited about the new baby, and they reconcile.

Review:
I knew I gave such a glowing review for the first film, but the sequel is too much.. There are (some) highlights but the tired run-of-the-mill jokes really bother me. I mean, please, I think you guys could find grown-up jokes that don't involve male nudity, horny old janitor, high and wasted adult, poop and such. Why stoop to low levels of funny HA??? The opening scene where the deer urinated all over is SO unnecessary! And it is odd that Roxanne has to scream when she saw Greg in nude. I mean, even though he's a teenager now, Greg is still YOUR son kan? Come on! To scream is to indicate there is some sort of detachment between a mother and her children. Don't you think so too?

urghhh.

Salma Hayek as Roxanne in this one is merely ornamental. There are scenes but she's almost invisible, only to shine a bit at the end of the movie when Lenny finally greets his unborn baby.

I also like the moral that Greg and Andre (Kurt's son) though having opportunities to drink alcohol during the frat party, had evaded to do so. This is what we should impart to our kids, even though grown-ups are not watching, you have an integrity to uphold. That it is your moral code that you should adhere to.

For a star awarded, I love that this movie is some sort of a reunion. We could see SNL players in it having fun.


And Oliver Hudson, David Spade's fellow in Rules Of Engagement was recruited as a yoga instructor. Dishy definitely but yes, still ornamental. No character development whatsoever. Pfftttt!

I also find it odd that Tommy picks the wrong time to reveal that he's a decent guy. I mean, if he truly respects Lenny as a guy, and am repentant of his past bullying, middle of the crowd is definitely not the place to confess. I mean, you could approach Lenny at another time, and yes STOP bullying him in public.

Another low point to me is Milo Ventimiglia playing frat boy role. I mean, he's a spectacular actor. To reduce him to such role is so degrading to me. Milo, you should have picked a better script than this T-T And Patrick Schwarzenegger is also wasted here. The producers could have picked other unknown faces and it won't matter a bit.

Oh, and the same opinion goes for Shaquille O'Neal's role as Officer Fluzoo. Degrading.


Regardless of the disappointments in the storyline, the film has done well to earn triple of its cost. Meaning that Adam Sandler and co has a solid support from moviegoers. Just please do it well next time, please. Lenny is such a decent guy that I wish the Grown Ups gang had a very nice closure, minus the silly (unfunny) gags. Do Grown Ups 3 better please!

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters - blerghh!!

the Poster:
 

the Plot:
Abandoned by their father deep in a forest, young Hansel (Cedric Eich) and Gretel (Alea Sophia Boudodimos) enter a gingerbread house and are nabbed by the old witch who resides in it. The witch forces Hansel to continuously eat candy while making Gretel prepare the oven, but the siblings outsmart her and shove her into the fire. Throughout the fifteen years after the incident, Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) become famed bounty hunters dedicated to mercilessly eradicating witches. Their work is relatively easy because, for an unknown reason, they are immune to spells and curses. Hansel, however, is diabetic as a result of his ordeal and needs to take a regular shot of insulin every few hours.

One day, in the town of Augsburg, Hansel and Gretel prevent Sheriff Berringer (Peter Stormare) from executing Mina (Pihla Viitala), a young woman accused of witchcraft. Mayor Englemann (Rainer Bock) has hired the siblings to find and rescue several children abducted by witches. Berringer hires trackers for the same mission, hoping to regain the respect of the townspeople.

However, all but one of the party are killed that night by the powerful grand witch Muriel (Famke Janssen), who sends the surviving member back to the town tavern to explode as a warning to the locals.

Hansel and Gretel, with the help of the Mayor's deputy Jackson (Bjørn Sundquist), capture Horned witch and interrogate her. They discover that the witches are preparing for the ritual of Blood Moon, which requires sacrificing six boys and six girls, each born on a separate month.

No sooner than after they found out that the witches are planning to abduct an April-born girl, Muriel with the help of a Redhead witch, and a troll, Edward (Derek Mears), attack the town and abduct the targeted girl. Gretel is knocked unconscious but is brought to safety by a teenager named Ben (Thomas Mann), their local fanboy and an aspiring witch hunter; Jackson is forced to kill himself with his shotgun while being controlled by Muriel. Hansel grabs a fleeing witch by her broomstick, but becomes lost in the forest.


The next morning, Hansel is found by Mina, who takes him to a spring to heal his wounds. Meanwhile, Gretel enters the forest to search for him, but she is assaulted by Berringer and his henchmen for luring the witches to their town. She is rescued when Edward intervenes to kill the men and mend her injuries.
When Gretel asks why he saved her, Edward answers that trolls serve witches and walks away.

Hansel and Gretel reunite at an abandoned cabin, which they discover is not only their childhood home, but also a witch's lair. Muriel appears in front of them, telling them the truth of their past. She reveals that Hansel and Gretel's mother was a grand white witch named Adrianna (Kathrin Kühnel), married to a farmer.

On the night of the Blood Moon, the heart of a white witch is needed to create a potion that makes witches impervious to fire. As Adrianna was too powerful, Muriel targeted Gretel, who was revealed to be a white witch herself. Muriel spread a rumor across the village about Adrianna. To keep the siblings away from the mob of villagers, their father left them in the forest before he was hanged, while their mother was burned at the stake. Following this revelation, the siblings battle Muriel before she stabs Hansel and abducts Gretel for the ceremony.

Hansel wakes up to the sight of Mina, who reveals herself to be a white witch. After Mina uses a spell to bless the siblings' arsenal, Hansel, Mina, and Ben head to disrupt the Blood Moon Sabbath. Whilst Mina mows down dozens of witches with a Gatling gun, Hansel squares off against Muriel's minions and frees the children, while Edward defies Muriel's orders and releases Gretel before Muriel throws him off the cliff. Muriel attempts to flee, but Ben shoots her off her broomstick.

On her way to meet up with Hansel, Gretel finds Edward and uses her stun gun to defibrillate him back to life. Meanwhile Hansel, Ben, and Mina follow Muriel's trail to the old gingerbread house.

During their confrontation, Mina and Muriel battle as Ben and Hansel are knocked to the ground. Muriel fatally stabs Mina. Gretel arrives to find Hansel in battle with Muriel. The siblings then engage in a grueling fight against Muriel inside the gingerbread house, until they behead her with a shovel.

In the end, Hansel and Gretel collect the rest of their reward for rescuing the children before embarking on their next hunt, with Ben and Edward joining them.


the Review:
i found my concentration simply strays during this movie. somehow it lacked the pull of Van Helsing. despite both GA and JR are eye candies, their lack of chemistry on screen as well as questionable weaponry simply unable to draw much enthusiasm for me to continue watching. there wasn't even sense of humor injected in and you find even the evil characters boring.

weak scripts, some say. weaker character development i would add. Mina is forgettable, even though she stripped bare to seduce Hansel.

entah le. bosan nengok citer ni.

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter: too much CinemaSins!

the Poster:


the Trailer:


the Plot:
In 1818, Abraham "Abe" Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) lives with his parents, Nancy (Robin McLeavy) and Thomas (Joseph Mawle), who work at a plantation owned by Jack Barts (Marton Csokas). There, Lincoln befriends a young African American boy, William Johnson (later to be played by Anthony Mackie), and intervenes when he sees Johnson being beaten by an overseer. Because of his son's actions, Thomas is fired and his employer demands the debt he owed to be paid fully. That night, Lincoln sees Barts break into his house and attack Nancy. She dies shortly afterwards. Thomas tells Lincoln that Barts poisoned Nancy.

Nine years later, feeling vengeful, Lincoln almost drinks himself into a stupor to build up his courage to pursue Barts and put a bullet into him. A stranger casually comments on his drinking motives but Lincoln simply ignores him and walks away to fulfill his purpose.

Lincoln attacks Barts at the docks, but Barts, who is actually a vampire, overpowers him. However, before Barts can kill him, Lincoln is rescued by Henry Sturges (Dominic Cooper), the stranger he met at the bar.

the next day as Lincoln awakens, Sturges explains that vampires exist, and offers to teach Lincoln to be a vampire hunter. Lincoln accepts and spends the summer with Henry sharpening his senses. During his training, Sturges tells Lincoln that the vampires in America descend from Adam (Rufus Sewell), a vampire who owns a plantation in New Orleans with his sister, Vadoma (Erin Wasson). Sturges also tells Lincoln of the vampires' weakness, silver, and presents him with a silver pocket watch. Henry nurses Lincoln back to health and explains some of the nature of vampirism, emphasizing that some vampires are good and others are evil.

After a certain period of his training, Lincoln travels to Springfield, Illinois to start hunting the vampires. There he gets a job from Joshua Speed (Jimmi Simpson) as a shopkeeper while he studies Law. Henry sends Lincoln the names and addresses of evil vampires; Abraham dutifully tracks them down and kills them. in the process, he meets Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) whom he would later marry.

Eventually, Lincoln successfully finds and defeats Barts. Before dying, Barts reveals that Sturges is also a vampire. Lincoln confronts Sturges, who reveals that, several years ago, he was attacked and bitten by Adam. Because Sturges' soul was impure, he became a vampire, and that prevented him from harming Adam or any other vampire since "Only the living can kill the dead". Sturges has since been training vampire hunters, hoping to destroy Adam. Disappointed, Lincoln decides to abandon furthering his mission.

However, when a casket of Barts arrived to his mansion, together with the silver watch, Adam is furious and kidnaps Johnson to lure Lincoln into coming to his ball at his plantation. in order to save Johnson, Lincoln recruits Speed in the mission. however, it is a trap as Adam captures Lincoln and tries to recruit him, revealing his plans to turn the United States into a nation of the undead. Speed rescues his friends, and they barely escape to Ohio with the help of the slaves.

Lincoln decides to enter politics in order to free the Southern slaves from the vampires who are feeding on them, much to the chagrin of Henry Sturges. Henry argues that allowing the southern vampires to have slaves as a food source is the only thing keeping the vampires from attacking everyone else. Lincoln counters that allowing this is immoral and that everyone deserves freedom. Henry and Lincoln's relationship seemingly ends after the disagreement. Lincoln puts aside his axe and is determined to end the scourge of vampires and slavery through political means.

Lincoln's 1860 presidential election triggers the secession of the southern states and the start of the American Civil War which has been a disaster for the Union. Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation to not only free the slaves but eliminate the vampires main food source. However, the war takes a personal toll on Lincoln. Vadoma sneaks into the White House disguised as a maid and kills Lincoln's son, Willy. Henry appears at the White House and offers to turn Willy into a vampire so that he will "live" again, but Lincoln is unwilling to allow it, causing a drift between him and Mary Todd, who finally learn about the vampire-hunting secrets that Lincoln kept away from her.

On the Union-Confederate battlefields, Adam deploys his vampires, and this causes the massacre of the Union army on the first day at Gettysburg.

Being so frustrated at so many loss of the Union soldiers, it drives Lincoln into realising only the silver can kill the vampires so that the Union soldiers have a standing chance. He orders the confiscation of all the silverware to produce silver weapons. Speed, believing that Lincoln is tearing the nation apart, informs Adam that Lincoln will transport the silver by train to Gettysburg.

On the train, Adam and Vadoma, who have set fire to the upcoming trestle, attack Lincoln, Sturges, and Johnson. During the fight Adam learns that the train holds only rocks. Speed reveals that his betrayal was a ruse to lure Adam into a trap. Enraged, Adam bites Speed and kills him. The carriages begin to break loose off the train and the group have to jump carriages to escape. Adam corners them but Lincoln gets out his silver pocket watch and punches Adam in the chest, killing him, and Lincoln escapes the exploding train alongside his allies.

Meanwhile, Mary and the ex-slaves have transported the silver to Gettysburg through the Underground Railroad - it is here that Vadoma is killed by Mary using her son's necklace. The now leaderless Confederate vampires stage a final, massive assault and are met head-on by the Union. Armed with their silver weapons, the Union soldiers destroy the vampires and eventually win the battle.

Nearly two years later, on April 14, 1865, Sturges tells Lincoln that the remaining vampires have fled the country. Sturges tries to convince Lincoln to allow him to turn Lincoln into a vampire, so that he can become immortal and continue to fight vampires, but Lincoln declines and leaves for the theater with his wife.

In modern times, Sturges approaches a man at a bar in Washington, D.C. as he once approached Lincoln.


the Riviu:
it was a rather flimsy plot with loopholes that elephants can dance around so cosily, in herds! there are so many chances for Abe to finish off Barts but he didn't do it, sticking instead to Henry's postal orders. why? even during the rescue of Johnson, he should have finished Adam off but he didn't, waiting instead for everyone in the south to suffer. plus, why did he have to abandon the mission of ridding vampires should his instructor was also a vampire? this is not about henry for g-sake!

and i tend to notice that this film is so crowd-pleasing. Johnson had been bitten but that doesn't turn him into vampire. the fiery train, how in the world that they escaped that? and how did Abe recover so quickly from his nightly wounds? grrr..

sincerely, this movie has too many holes in the story that i'm tired of enumerating them. too much. even Abe's prosthetic face seems too fake!

as for Henry, given that he can fight off Adam (as shown in the final fighting scene) and whatnots, he should stick to that. be a protector instead boleh? instead of making excuses for himself and preying upon vengeful desperate souls..

entahlah. it's a boring pointless film. the special effects are ok though.

Mirror Mirror, you are (dead) boring me

i like this poster best

the Plot:
Snow White's mother died in child birth. Her father, the King (Sean Bean), then raised Snow White so that she could rule the kingdom one day. His new wife is the Queen (Julia Roberts), the most beautiful woman in the land. One day, the king leaves to fight a great evil that has invaded the land, giving Snow White a golden dagger. He rides off into the forest and never comes back.

The Queen rules in his place. Jealous and threatened by Snow White, the Queen continues to belittle and oppress Snow White, even forbidding her from leaving the palace.

Ten years later Snow White (Lily Collins) is turning eighteen and has spent much of her life locked in the palace. The Queen does not care for her but Snow White is still loved by the palace staff, especially by a kind baker named Margaret (Mare Winningham), who took care of Snow White ever since the King disappeared.

On Snow White's 18th birthday, Margaret tells her that the kingdom is rightfully hers and that she should go outside and see what has become of her people.

Snow White then silently defies the Queen's orders and leaves the palace in secret, intent on seeing the conditions of her kingdom.

In the forest, she meets Prince Andrew Alcott (Armie Hammer) and his companion Charles Renbock (Robert Emms) who have been robbed by short bandits.

She and the Prince are drawn to each other but go their separate ways. Snow White arrives in the town the palace overlooks (which she remembered visiting the town once before with her father), and discovers it is barren and the once-happy people are destitute due to the Queen's greed. Angered that the Queen has destroyed everything her father worked for, Snow White decides to overthrow her stepmother.

Prince Alcott finds his way to the palace. The Queen, realizing he comes from a wealthy kingdom, hatches a plot to get him to marry her so she can solve her financial problems. She hosts a ball in honor of the Prince and goes to great lengths to make herself as beautiful as possible.

Snow White secretly attends the ball planning to ask the prince, whom she believes she has not met, to help her restore the kingdom. She and Alcott learn the truth about each other when they are partnered in a dance.

Smitten, Prince Alcott makes sure that Snow White stays by his side which the Queen notices. The Queen has Snow White seized by her guards, and Snow White (for the first time in her life) stands up to her stepmother and tells her she has no right to rule as she does.

Seeing Snow White as the threat she always feared she would be, The Queen orders her manservant Brighton (Nathan Lane) to take the princess into the forest and feed her to the Beast that lives there. Brighton takes Snow White to the forest, but is unable to kill her. He releases her and tells her to run. Snow White flees the Beast (Frank Welker) and collapses at the door to the Seven Dwarfs' house.

The Queen goes to her Magic Mirror, a portal to a bleak and barren world that contains a house full of mirrors. Within the mirrors lives the Queen's reflection (Lisa Roberts Gillan) who is much wiser, kinder, and somewhat younger than her. She gives advice to the Queen when she asks for it. The Queen requests a love potion so she can make the Prince fall in love with her. The Mirror Queen repeatedly warns her that there is a price for using dark magic, but the Queen refuses to listen.

Back in the forest, Snow White wakes up to find herself surrounded by the dwarfs Grimm (Danny Woodburn), Butcher (Martin Klebba), Wolf (Sebastian Saraceno), Napoleon (Jordan Prentice), Half Pint (Mark Povinelli), Grub (Joe Gnoffo), and Chuck (Ronald Lee Clark) who is nicknamed "Chuckles" because he is always laughing. After much debate, they agree to let her stay with them for one night.

The Queen levies another tax against the people to pay for the parties she throws for Prince Alcott. Brighton is sent to collect and is informed by the town magistrate that the people can not tolerate much more. On the way back to the palace, the dwarfs rob Brighton and steal the tax money. When Snow White finds out that the Dwarfs are thieves and that the stolen money belongs to the townspeople, she is angry. The Dwarfs explain that no one stood up for them years earlier when the Queen expelled them from the kingdom because she thought they were ugly. Snow White sneaks away while they are distracted to return the money. The townspeople are overjoyed to have their money back and Snow White lets the Dwarfs take credit for it, earning them the people's acceptance and gratitude.

The Dwarfs agree that Snow White can stay permanently if she agrees to become a thief like them. She agrees, but only if they can steal from the Queen and give back to the people.

Meanwhile, the Queen informs Alcott that Snow White is dead and attempts to get him to marry her only to be interrupted by Brighton.

When the Prince finds out that the bandits have robbed Brighton, he goes after them unaware of the awful things the Queen has done. In the forest, Alcott discovers that Snow White is not only alive, but in league with the bandits.

 Each believing the other to be in the wrong, Snow White and Alcott duel.

Alcott returns to the Palace defeated and informs the Queen that Snow White is alive and in league with the bandits that stole her money.

The Queen consults her Magic Mirror again and demands that the Mirror Queen punish Brighton for lying to her. The Mirror Queen turns him into a cockroach (which he was dressed up as at the Queen's ball) and tells the Mirror Queen to use its magic to kill Snow White. Despite the Mirror's warning about using dark magic, the Queen (blinded by hatred) agrees to accept whatever consequences her actions may bring. She uses a love potion to make the Prince fall in love with her, like what she did to Snow White's father but with unintended results (she accidentally used a potion called Puppy love which causes the Prince to act like a devoted puppy dog). Although the effects of the potion were wrong, she uses the Prince's new found devotion to get him to agree to marry her.


When Snow White learns of the wedding, she is heartbroken. The Queen then uses black magic to create two giant wooden puppets in the forest and uses them to try and kill Snow White and the Dwarfs. Snow White is able to cut the strings of the puppets and break the mirror's spell, but she decides to run away to protect her new friends.

The next morning, the Dwarfs find her gone and discover a note she left them telling them that she loves them all. They intercept her just as she is preparing to leave and convinces her that their lives are better with her.

They decide to crash the wedding of the Queen and the Prince, and do so.

Meanwhile back at the palace, the Queen huffs and puffs to fit into her wedding gown. Brighton somehow turns into a human again and aids the Queen to prepare for her wedding.

However, when they arrive at her wedding, the Prince is gone and the noble guests are in their underwear, robbed of their clothes and valuables.

The guests inform the Queen that Snow White has captured the Prince. Back in the forest, the Prince (still under the spell) wishes to be with the Queen. The Dwarfs and Snow White come to the conclusion that they have to use true love's kiss, which will break any spell. Snow White kisses Alcott as her first kiss and the spell is broken.

The Queen arrives in the forest intent on killing Snow White herself. She reveals that she can control the Beast that has been plaguing the forest and sends it after Snow White. Snow White fights the Beast with help from the Dwarves and the Prince, but all are soon overcome.

As the beast is about to deliver the killing blow, it hesitates and Snow White sees that it wears a necklace with a moon charm on it similar to the one the Queen wears. She cuts the chain with her father's dagger and the Beast suddenly becomes engulfed in light. In the Mirror House, the Queen is gloating, but suddenly realizes something is wrong. She begins to age and the Mirror Queen tells her that this is her consequence for using dark magic. The Beast turns out to be Snow White's father who has no memory of the last ten years.

Grateful to Alcott for his assistance, he agrees to let him marry Snow White.



During the wedding celebration, a hooded crone offers Snow White an apple (which is the poisoned apple) as a wedding gift. Learning that the crone is what has become of the Queen, Snow White cuts a piece of the apple, offers it to the Queen, and remarks it is time to accept that she has been beaten (something the Queen once said to her).

 Accepting defeat, the Queen eats the apple. The Mirror House is subsequently destroyed as the Mirror Queen declared that it was Snow White's story all along.

The film's epilogue reveals what happened to the Dwarfs: Grimm writes a book of fairy tales, Napoleon becomes a hairdresser, Wolf rejoins his pack, Half-Pint finds a girlfriend, Grub just eats, Butcher becomes a flyweight champion, and Chuck joins the royal circus.

the Riviu:

the movie has so many weak points, mainly in form of its main character: Snow White. and the tackiness and awkwardness of the ending made the film lose most of its stars. were it not for the charms of Prince Alcott and the dwarves, i would have abandoned watching altogether.

Speaking of the dwarves, each one of those seven bandit dwarves stole the movie! The dwarves are (from left to right): the stylish Napoleon (Jordan Prentice), ever-hungry Grub (Joe Gnoffo), howling Wolf (Sebastian Saraceno), surly Butcher (Martin Klebba), clever and amorous Half Pint (Mark Povinelli), stalwart Grimm (Danny Woodburn), and funny Chuckles (Ronald Lee Clark). These actors served as the flavor for the entire film and carried the humor and emotional connection for the audience for movie, my all time fave is Half Pint. he was funny all right. and cute.


Lily Collins plays a perfectly graceful, kind and delicately brave young princess but you can't rid the feeling that her casting was purely for her likeness for the part. she tried to give the character some depth but failed unanimously. when she tried to woo Butcher to agree to let her stay by looking cute (at least i thought that is what she tried to do), it was not at all cute nor appealing. sorry missie, wrong door here.

plus, the rag tag team of the kitchen helpers being her strong supporters are not likable and unrelatable. and the finale song, and the tacky dress, and the dance, my eyes simply bleed!

however Armie Hammer gives a surprisingly solid and consistent performance as the dashing Prince Alcott. He is funny and charming all at the same time and it felt like his character kept the tempo of the film going. i would bet my last dollar that he was the RIGHT person for the job. women swoon and the Queen does implied that she can't think when faced with Prince Alcott in a state of undress. yup, that was believable :)

Julia Roberts’ evil Queen was not as much fun to watch as it could have been. Perhaps Roberts as an evil-doer is simply not believable? she does portray meanness but that is how far her meanness goes. if she could turn the King into a beast, Brighton into a cockroach, why not turn Snow into something, let her vanish altogether a long time before!

as for the villagers, i wonder where on earth they could come out with big nuggets of gold money to pay for the taxes. hello producer, jangan malas, buat la duit in copper ke, kecik-kecik sket, baru la percaya yg org kampung semua susah-susah takde duit nak makan tapi still Evil Queen tak heran.

anyway i love the prologue part and the entrance into the Mirror house. WICKED!! nonetheless the failure of the epilogue dragged the movie rating down in manifolds. i cringed big time! sori beb, you cannot match Ella Enchanted epilogue. that lot was fun and not at all awkward!

this scene is FUN

The Last Airbender: another animated-feature-into-film flop

the Poster:

the Trailer:



the Plot:
Fourteen-year-old Katara (Nicola Peltz) and her fifteen-year-old brother, Sokka (Jackson Rathbone), are near a river at the South Pole, in the Southern Water Tribe, the small village. While hunting, they discover an iceberg that shoots a beam of light into the sky. Inside of the iceberg is a boy named Aang (Noah Ringer) and a giant flying bison named Appa. Unknown to them, Aang is the long lost Avatar — the only person on the planet able to "bend" all four elements. One hundred years have passed since the Fire Nation has declared war on the other three nations of Air, Water and Earth in their attempt to conquer the world.

Zuko (Dev Patel), is an exiled prince of the Fire Nation, is on a quest to find the Avatar and bring him as prisoner to his father, Fire Lord Ozai (Cliff Curtis), so he can return back home. Seeing the light that appeared from Aang's release, Zuko and some Fire Nation soldiers arrive at the Southern Water Tribe to demand the villagers hand over the Avatar. Aang reveals himself as he surrenders himself to Zuko on the condition that he agrees to leave the village alone.

On the ship, Aang is tested by Zuko's Uncle Iroh (Shaun Toub) to confirm him to be the Avatar. After being informed that he is to be their prisoner for passing the test, Aang escapes using his glider and flies to his flying bison brought by Katara and Sokka.

Aang and his new friends visit the Southern Air Temple and he learns that he was in the ice for a whole century and that the Fire Nation wiped out all of the Air Nomads, including his guardian, Monk Gyatso. In despair, he enters the Avatar state and finds himself in the spirit world where he encounters a dragon spirit that tells him that he only knows the Power of Air, and that he also needs to learn Power of Water, the Power of Earth and the Power of Fire to be a true fully realized Avatar. The dragon spirit tells him that he should learn the Power of Water first, and the best teacher is in the Northern Water Tribe.

To seek shelter, Aang's group arrive at the little Earth Kingdom village controlled by the Fire Nation, and they are arrested because Katara tries to help a young boy escape from a Fire nation patrol soldiers. They incite a rebellion by reminding the disgruntled Earthbenders that earth was given to them. Katara is given a Waterbending scroll that she uses to greatly strengthen and hone her Waterbending and help Aang learn as they make their way to the Northern Water Tribe and liberate and secure more Earth Kingdom villages in the process, weakening the Fire Nation's food and water supplies.

During a side track to the Northern Air Temple on his own, Aang is betrayed by a peasant and captured by a group of Fire Nation archers, led by Admiral Zhao (Aasif Mandvi), a Fire Nation Admiral appointed by the Fire Lord. However, a masked marauder, the "Blue Spirit", helps Aang escape from his imprisonment. Zuko is the masked vigilante, and Zhao realizes this. He arranges to kill the prince. Zuko survives the attempt on his life with Iroh's help. He sneaks aboard Zhao's lead ship as his fleet departs for the Northern Water Tribe, which is a heavy fotress, to capture the Avatar. Upon arriving, Aang's group is welcomed warmly by the citizens of the Northern Water Tribe.

Immediately, Sokka befriends the Northern Water Tribe princess, Yue (Seychelle Gabriel). After a few agreements, a Waterbending master, Pakku (Francis Guinan), teaches Aang Waterbending.

Soon, the Fire Nation arrives and Zhao begins his attack while Zuko begins his search for the Avatar on his own, capturing Aang as he enters the spirit world to find the dragon spirit to give him the wisdom to defeat the Fire Nation. Returning to his body, Aang battles Zuko before Katara freezes him. As the battle escalates, Iroh watches Zhao capture the moon spirit Tui, with which its water spirit counterpart had assumed the form of a fish. Despite Iroh's pleas, Zhao kills Tui to strip the Waterbenders of their powers and abilities to Waterbend.

Yue explains to everyone that the moon spirit gave her life, willing to give it back as she dies in the process. With the tables turned, Zhao is drowned by Waterbenders after Zuko and Iroh leave him to his fate. With his Waterbending powers, Aang raises the ocean into a gigantic wall in order to drive the armada back.

Aang now fully embraces his destiny as the Avatar as he, Katara and Sokka prepare to continue their journey to the Earth Kingdom to find an Earthbending teacher for Aang. The Fire Lord learns of the defeat, and angry about the betrayal of his son eldest Zuko, he tasks his youngest daughter Azula (Summer Bishil) to stop the Avatar from mastering Earth and Fire before the arrival of Sozin's Comet.


the Riviu:

this movie is an adaptation of a popular Nickelodeon animated tv series. the director, M. Night Shyamalan was interested in filming this movie due to his childrens' love of the series. i admit, i am a fan of the animated series too, it was funny, and full of zeal. Aang was youngish, fun and interesting. so is Katara and Sokka, they provide comic relief and act their age.

which the film fails to portray. Aang was made to be melancholic and devoid of emotion. when the dragon accused that Aang was full of grief and anger over the death of the monks, i was like, hello? mana ade! he was mute of any emotion whatsoever, angry or not.

Katara and Sokka, they were played by a much older actor/actress, who failed to deliver a convincing interpretation of their characters. Katara was too melancholic and old-ish , Sokka so bland instead of effervescent. the so-called romance between Sokka and Princess Yue was non-existent and tepid. i'd rather watch Zuko almost half of the movie, he was that ok as compared to other characters.

the film was criticised for whitewashing the supposedly Asian characters into a Westernised bunch. the Fire Nations were represented by Indian-descents whilst Aang, Katara and Sokka were Caucasians.

apart from that, it tried to focus on so many characters, and lost the main pull of the story, the transformation of Aang the fun-loving Child monk to the serious Avatar, the hero who fought for justice and peace.

i don't know how to express my entire feelings watching this flop of a movie. as i am a fan of the great animation series, i was left with a stale taste in my mouth when i watch this movie, and dollops of disappointment, the same feeling i felt watching Dragonball Evolution. Perhaps Hollywood better leaves us cult anime fan alone!