Leap Year

i was planning on reviewing this movie yesterday, as to keep in theme of the leap year thingy. but alas.. heaps of work detained me..

nonetheless let's start shall we?

the Poster:

the Trailer:


the Plot:
After long waiting for her boyfriend, Jeremy (Adam Scott) to pop out the WYMM question, Anna Brady (Amy Adams) decided to take her chances on the Leap Year to propose to him as the Irish tradition stated that on that auspicious Leap Day, a woman can propose to a guy and be accepted. the problem is Jeremy went to Dublin and Anna had to go there in order to get her luck through. on her journey to meet Jeremy, Anna had to take a lot of detours accompanied by the surly Declan O'Callaghan (Matthew Goode) and in the process found out that heart can change so swiftly if you met the right person for you.

the Riviu:
i enjoyed this movie, Anna and Declan were nice together. their chemistry believable, their squabbles funny. and the tipping point was the wedding vows shared by the Bride. sorry, i was intending to embed it but no such luck. and that sweet vows earned at least a star.

the pairing is believable in a way that i can relate to both Anna and Declan, as to how they can fall in love. the question about the fire alarm is also something that i should put in mind to ask. kan?

the movie was deemed somewhat a flop in box office terms (though it earned more than its initial budget) but to me, as long as you enjoy the movie, the chemistry, well, that's good enough for me. however, the part where Declan walks out from the bar upon hearing Anna's declaration, that one is somewhat hard to swallow. at least you say something, demmit!

and Adam Scott is different in this movie as compared to "Friends with Kids". Here he seems less assertive and somewhat cold. i mean, who gives a girl a pair of diamond earings when it's already past time for you to get a ring instead! and to propose marriage in order to snag a dream apartment, that's much too cold, man. no wonder Anna walked out.

oh well. here's some snapshots :)

(Anna's hoping for a diamond ring but alas...)

(Declan refusing to help carry her Louis Vuittons)

(pretending to be the O'Brady Callaghans to get a room)

(the Final Scene, a Proposal by the Cliff)



the OST:

Just Say Yes by Snow Patrol

two Adam Scott movie reviews coming right up!

blame it on "Friends with Kids", i'm totally smitten with Adam Scott. oh wait, blame it on Kristen Wiig, the guys in her movies, before were unnoticed, after were da BOMB! in a great way definitely :)

i was slow-pokey again on "Leap Year". but i guess you guys will wait for it. i assure you that both of these two movies are a fave on the night when you just want a feel-good romantic story to warm your toes in a good way.

anyway, do a bit of waiting for me ya :)

he's 38 by the way, married with two kids. looks so young kan? even michael fassbender who is 34 by the way, looks much older. anyway, umm, YUM!

which reminds me, i haven't done any ground work on "Jane Eyre" and "X-Men: First Class" yet! arghhhh.. so slow-pokey betul!

Puss in Boots: sometimes the Side Dishes are much better

the Poster:

the Trailer:


the Plot:
it's the story of the humble beginning of Puss the Boots (voice of Antonio Banderas), of how he earned the Boots, a friend in Humpty Alexander Dumpty (voice of Zach Galifianakis) who was an imaginative inventor with a dream of Magic Beans and a Mother whom he respected so much.

Puss was raised in an orphanage with Dumpty and earned the Boots when he saved the Commodore's mother. being a hero is natural to him and with Puss in the limelight, Dumpty was left to seethe and plot on how to get rich, to get the Magic Beans to grow the Beanstalk and ultimately the Golden Eggs.

somehow, due to a bank heist that Dumpty tricked Puss into abetting, Puss became an outlaw to their hometown and Dumpty was left incarcerated. few years on, their path crossed again with the help of Kitty Softpaws (voice of Salma Hayek)with the common goal to get the Magic Beans from the mean Mr Jack and Mrs Jill. little did Puss knew what was in store for him...


the Riviu:
after the Shrek franchise ran its course, came the spinoff, Puss in Boots. with the Grimms' and Aesops' fables tweaked here and there for numerous times, the story came with no surprise. in fact, i yawned and just follow through. nothing special here. for kids only as the storyline is predictable and require no intellect at all. for that, i easily will award 2 star only.

thus, why the 3.5 star? well, because the Side Dish is fresh and likeable. to the spinoff, came a short story of Puss in Boots and the three Diablos. and it is a saving grace..



i enjoyed the short story very much. memang the three Diablos tu cute sangat. truly adorable with their round black eyes :)

oh well, i do enjoy animated story sometimes.

what's your number?

... err, zero?

hahaha.. of course, ZERO ok.

the Poster:

the Trailer:


the Plot:
Ally Darling (Anna Faris) recruits her hunky commitment-phobe neighbour, Colin (Chris Evans) to help her find her past sleeping partners so that she won't go above the national average of sleeping partners a woman should have if she's keen on marriage. her little sister, Daisy (Ari Graynor) is getting married, her mom (Blythe Danner) is disappointed in her and she just got fired on the day she found out that her sleeping partner of 3 months is not keen on being in a serious relationship with her.

the Riviu:
i've always been a fan of AF. and this is the second movie in which i'd have the opportunity to oggle on buck naked CE. :blush: the first one was in the cult movie "Not Another Date Movie" in which CE played a major role too, though in this movie, it's like umm, yumm :)

Ally is funny, an optimist and yet, her luck in love haven't struck yet. once she cleverly ensnared Colin into an agreement, they started to hang out together and you have an inkling that Colin is really into her. it just took a longer time for Ally to realise that and she drove, cycled and ran all the way to declare her affections to Colin.

the movie got many funny hilarious points, for example, this one with Simon (Martin Freeman):


but my fave scene is the strip H.O.R.S.E. basketball game Colin got Ally to play to down her sorrows.. it was like- :speechless mata keluar bintang kejora:

dem, CE can shed his clothes for me anytime :)

anyway, this movie is full with nudity or any state of undress, shamelessly. but it also has redeeming points, as to how Colin always smiles around Ally, and Ally is really a good girlfriend to hang out with a guy.

and the wedding vows are romantic.. it reminds me of the scene in leap year, where the Bride expressed her Wedding Toast

may you never steal, lie, or cheat..

but if you must steal, then steal away my sorrows..
and if you must lie, lie with me all the nights of my life..
and if you must cheat, then pls cheat death coz i couldn't live a day without you..

sweet kan? sigh..

i'm looking for a guy friend that has the potential to be a life partner. and it was kinda sweet when Colin admitted that he never had any relationship with a girl for so long without sleeping with her until he befriended Ally...

and the OST was quite great. i love the wedding songs :)

wish list, anyone?

i've been dragged away from blogging (and watching movies) due to truckloads of work. mind you, i'm looking forward to this upcoming weekend so freakin' much.

i managed to peek at "What's Your Number" and my interest is piqued. will definitely jot on it soon !

anyway, does any one of you wish to request a movie review? just put it in the comments section ya~

Tooth Fairy: a dental (and mental) torture

i'm having a toothache at the moment, and thus had made a mistake in watching Tooth Fairy, a movie by my fave actor, the Rock. and yes, disappointingly it doesn't make my pain go any less.

the Plot:
Derek Thompson (Dwayne 'the Rock' Johnson) is a minor league hockey player nicknamed "The Tooth Fairy", for hitting opposing players so hard that he knocks out their teeth. One night, Derek steals a dollar from his girlfriend Carly's (Ashley Judd) six-year-old daughter Tess (Destiny Whitlock) that had been left for her lost tooth. Later that night, he receives a summons under his pillow. He magically grows wings and is transported to the realm of tooth fairies. There, he meets his case worker, Tracy (Stephen Merchant), and the head fairy, Lily (Julie Andrews). Lily tells Derek that he is a "dream crusher", due to his unsympathetic dealings with children, and Tess in particular. He is then sentenced to serve two weeks as a tooth fairy.

the Trailer:


the Review:
DT is an obnoxious, snobbish, selfish ox whose cheesiness i couldn't tolerate more than 15 minutes of my time. the only redeeming fact of this movie is the hilarious scene DT has with Jerry (Billy Crystal), the fairy storekeeper. even that scene was lame and closely resembling the scene where Harry Potter first met the WandMaker.

DT was made to be of lowly character, someone who'd take a dollar from a young girl to play poker with his friends. plus, i don't even like the Fairy community even a bit. Julie Andrews is so underused in this movie. a la Rahim Razali in Andartu Terlampau: 21 Hari Mencari Suami (and all the other actors in that lowly excuse of a movie). and the storyline is of no help. the tagline is downright bad (and of no imagination beyond a 5-year old). You can't handle the tooth? hrrumphhh!!!

anyway back to TF, i don't like it one bit. and i didn't finish it. judging from the trailer, DT made up and cleaned up his act. but damage is already done. TITIK!

Sucker Punch is a delight!

i'm sorry i took a long time in reviewing SP but i merely don't have the time to do this delightful Zack Snyder's piece a justice it truly deserves. besides, i'm true to this blog's name: Slow-Poke!

The Poster:

The Trailer:


The Plot:
based on Wiki, "Babydoll" (Emily Browning), is institutionalized by her stepfather (Gerard Plunkett) at the Lennox House for the Mentally Insane after she is blamed for the death of her younger sister. Blue Jones (Oscar Isaac), one of the asylum's orderlies, is bribed by Babydoll's stepfather into forging the signature of the asylum's psychiatrist, Dr. Vera Gorski (Carla Gugino), to have Babydoll lobotomized, so she cannot inform the authorities of the true circumstances leading to her sister's death.

In the seconds prior to being lobotomized, Babydoll retreats into a fantasy world in which she is newly arrived in a brothel owned by Blue, whom she envisions as a mobster. She befriends four other dancers – Amber (Jamie Chung), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens), Rocket (Jena Malone), and Rocket's sister, Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish). Dr. Gorski is envisioned as the girls' dance instructor. Blue informs Babydoll that her virginity will be sold to a client known as "The High Roller" (Jon Hamm). The "High Roller" is actually the doctor scheduled to perform the lobotomy. After Babydoll saves Rocket from a rape attack from the Cook, Gorski encourages Babydoll to perform an erotic dance, during which Babydoll fantasizes she's in Feudal Japan, meeting the Wise Man (Scott Glenn). After she expresses her desire to "escape", the Wise Man presents Babydoll with weapons. He tells her that she would need to collect five items in order to escape: a map, fire, a knife, a key, and a fifth, unrevealed item that would require "a deep sacrifice". Before parting ways, she is confronted by three demonic samurai giants, which she defeats. As her fantasy ends, she finds herself back in the brothel, her dance impressing Blue and other onlookers.

The Review:
the most integral part of SP is that it doesn't have to show us how erotic the dances were, instead Babydoll and her friends were simply kicking ass in their tasks, as a metaphor of how good they were at dancing. i love this technique. it saves the time of catering to one's whim of how erotic the dance is and credits one's intelect of being able to accept the director's word for it. No rolling in the bed a la Hariz and Izzah of Ombak Rindu. No hacking people into pieces to show how violent you are (and somehow giving people ideas on how to be violent and hide the crime). i mean, the movie allows you to be creative, to give your imagination its free rein.

i enjoy this movie, truly. the opening score hooked me right in. and i was interested in the lobotomy proccess. how do they do it ?

anyhow, give this movie a spin ya. even though it performed so-so in financial earnings aspect, it is fast becoming a cult movie :)

i gave this one a 4 and half star, just because i was lost in the sequence. yup, i'm not that imaginative yet to piece things together, that is, to relate the real sequence with Babydoll's fantasies. but then that doesn't mar the movie at all. i love it just as it is and i hope you love it too.