Kongsi [2011]

Director: Farid Kamil
Cast: Shaheizy Sam, Fizo Omar, Yana Samsudin, Bront Palarae
Genre: Action/Comedy/Crime thriller
Rating: General
Comment: "A decent action flick with some blaring plot holes and a rather confusing story..."

Synopsis

The authority of Malaysian crime lords is shaken when a mysterious man from the south of Thailand makes his way through the underground world, taking out key members of several different gangs. With the police taking notice, and the gangs are out for blood, the man has to outrun both of them while he roam the streets of Kuala Lumpur to fulfill his mission.

What to Expect

1. Decent action sequences
2. Likable characters (especially the protagonist)

3. Cool fight scenes

4. The "comedy" was mainly sight gags

5. To fill in a lot of blanks

What NOT to Expect

1. The story to make much sense

Read all about it... CLICK HERE

Pirates of the Caribbean : On Stranger Tides [2011]

Director: Rob Marshall
Cast: Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush, Ian McShane, Kevin McNally
Genre: Adventure/Fantasy
Rating: General
Comment: "It's Pirates of the Caribbean, with the novelty value worn off..."

Synopsis

At the dawn of the age of pirates, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) struggles to make a living without his ship or his crew. A reunion with his loyal first in command, Gibbs (Kevin McNally) reveals that Jack has something up his sleeve after all. They set on their quest to search for the fountain of youth, only to learn that the most vicious pirate of them all, Blackbeard is also after it along with his daughter, an old flame of Jack's, Angelica (Penelope Cruz).

What to Expect

1. An adventure that feels a bit dragged out

2. Gorgeous mermaids

3. Cool new characters

4. A "forced" Pirates of the Caribbean feel to it

5. An obvious set up for a sequel (or a new trilogy, perhaps?)

What NOT to Expect

1. A complete absence of a romantic subplot

2. Characterisations

Read all about it... CLICK HERE

Hell Ride [2008]

Director: Larry Bishop
Cast: Larry Bishop, Michael Madsen, Eric Balfour, Dennis Hopper, Vinnie Jones
Genre: Thriller/Biker
Rating: Adult (graphic nudity, violence)
Comment: "A good homage to the genre, with some excesses of its own..."

Synopsis

Pistolero (Larry Bishop), leader of the Victors motorcycle gang returns to the scene along with his two loyal lieutenants, The Gent (Michael Madsen) and Comanche (Eric Balfour). This return is the result of the reformation of a rival gang, the Six-Six-Six'ers led by The Deuce (David Carradine) and Billy Wings (Vinnie Jones), bringing along with them some unfinished business between the two rival gangs. All bets are off, now it's all about "kill or be killed".

What to Expect

1. Some over-the-top biker machismo

2. Gratuitous nudity

3. Some sexual content

4. Awesome bikes!

What NOT to Expect

1. The Tarantino charm

Read all about it... CLICK HERE

Chasing Amy [1997]

Director: Kevin Smith
Cast: Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Jason Lee, Dwight Ewell
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Rating: Adult (overt theme of sexuality)
Comment: "Probably the quirkiest love story I've seen so far..."

Synopsis

Holden (Ben Affleck) and Banky (Jason Lee) are long-time friends and also happen to be successful comic book artists, who pretty much live the dream of many in their field. They spend their days working and nights just hanging out. Their friendship gets strained for the first time when Holden falls for a girl named Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams), a lesbian.

What to Expect

1. Not your typical romantic comedy

2. A bunch of dick jokes

3. Lengthy dialogues about sexuality

4. Some anti-gay slurs

5. Pretty realistic too

What NOT to Expect

1. Predictable plot progression

2. Over-the-top romantic gestures

Read all about it... CLICK HERE

Priest [2011]

Director: Scott Stewart
Cast: Paul Bettany, Cam Gigandet, Karl Urban, Maggie Q, Christopher Plummer, Lily Collins
Genre: Fantasy/Horror/Action
Rating: Teen (horrific images)
Comment: "It rests a little too heavily on the cool factor, because there really isn't much else to love about the movie..."

Synopsis

In an alternate universe where man and vampires wage war against each other, there was no clear winner until the church began training a special caste of warriors simply called Priests. With this new weapon, the vampires were soundly beaten and kept imprisoned underground. Now that they have fulfilled their raison d'etre, the priests were left without purpose or direction hence the church's decision to disband them. The story then shifts its focus on one particular Priest (Paul Bettany) whose niece gets kidnapped, forcing him to abandon the church law and track down the vampires who took her.

What to Expect

1. The cool factor

2. Paul Bettany's trademark icy-coolness

3. Interesting spin on the Christian lore

4. Plain ol' popcorn movie

What NOT to Expect

1. Anything out of the ordinary

Wait for the DVD perhaps?

Read all about it... CLICK HERE

The Hurt Locker [2008]

Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Cast: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo, David Morse
Genre: War/Drama
Rating: General
Comment: "A suspenseful war drama that captured the intensity and unpredictability of the life of soldiers..."

Synopsis

Amidst all the craziness going on in the Iraq War, the movie chronicles the time when the US Army are in the early stages of the post-invasion in Iraq. A three-man bomb squad scour cities where everybody is potentially an Iraqi insurgent and anything could blow up in their faces at any second. All the while the three of them have to cope with the turbulent relationship they have with each other.

What to Expect

1. A strong documentary-like feel to it

2. Tight and suspenseful plot progression

3. An anti-war film

What NOT to Expect

1. A Michael Bay-esque movie

Not as "nearly-perfect" a movie as they say, but it is good.

Read all about it... CLICK HERE

The Cell [2000]

Director: Tarsem Singh
Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Vincent D'Onofrio, Vince Vaughn, Dylan Baker
Genre: Thriller/Science fiction
Rating: Adult (graphic violence, horrifying images, nudity)
Comment: "Every bit as intriguing as Inception [2010], although there's a need for a strong stomach to go through this one..."

Synopsis

In a world where the technology to enter the mind of others exists, a social worker, Catherine (Jennifer Lopez) excels at a revolutionary form of therapy using that very same technology. She then gets hired by the FBI to enter the mind of a comatose serial killer, an attempt to find out where has he hidden his latest victim.

What to Expect

1. Director Tarsem Singh's one of a kind vision

2. Vincent D'Onofrio doing what he does best; playing a pyscho

3. A disturbing, yet strangely beautiful presentation

4. Art bordering on violence and sadism

5. Artistic use of motifs and Christian imagery

What NOT to Expect

1. A dull moment

Not very mainstream or commercial, but that doesn't mean it's any less spectacular

Read all about it... CLICK HERE

Thor [2011]

Director: Kenneth Branagh
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard
Genre: Fantasy/Action
Rating: General
Comment: "It's a lot deeper than most comic-book-movies, making it feel a lot less like a superhero movie and more like a traditional fantasy movie..."

Synopsis

Heir to the realm of Asgard, Thor is a powerful but arrogant warrior-prince whose fall from grace is the result of reigniting the war between Asgard and the land of the ice-dwellers, Jotunheim, against the wishes of his father, Odin. Thor is then banished to the realm where humans roam, planet Earth, stripped of his godlike powers. Little that he knew that it was all part of a master plan by a traitor within Asgard to usurp the throne.

What to Expect

1. More than just a superhero movie

2. Plenty of Shakespearean feel to the themes

3. Funny "fish-out-of-water" element

What NOT to Expect

1. A lengthy (and boring) origin story

Not enough to warrant it a "Don't miss it" rating, but only by a hair

Read all about it... CLICK HERE

Mary and Max [2009]

Director: Adam Elliot
Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Toni Colette, Eric Bana, Bethany Whitmore
Genre: Drama/Animation
Rating: Adult (dark themes; depression, anxiety, obesity)
Comment: "An interesting marriage of a Clay-animation with a bleak atmosphere..."

Synopsis

A neglected eight-year-old girl, Mary (Toni Colette) forms a friendship with an autistic, obese, forty-year-old man, Max (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Although their interactions are limited to mail, they both affect the lives of each other in a way that neither of them could have seen coming.

What to Expect

1. A rather dark atmosphere

2. Things to feel a little dragged out

3. Inspirational at times

What NOT to Expect

1. But not generally a "feel-good" movie

You can afford to miss it, although once you start watching you're likely to stick until the end

Read all about it... CLICK HERE

The Big Bang [2011]

Director: Tony Krantz
Cast: Antonio Banderas, Robert Maillet, Thomas Kretschman, William Fichtner, Delroy Lindo, Sienna Guillory, Autumn Reeser
Genre: Neo-noir/Crime Thriller/Science fiction
Rating: Adult (mild violence, strong sexual content)
Comment: "This movie deserves a worldwide release..."

Synopsis

A private investigator, Ned Cruz (Antonio Banderas) gives his interrogators his accounts on what happened during his search for a missing stripper. The people he comes across with inexplicably ends up dead, turning what initially seemed like a simple search mission into a convoluted mess of organised crime, missing diamonds, eccentric characters and a science experiment that could destroy the world.

What to Expect

1. A tongue-in-cheek delivery of the story

2. Attractive visuals

3. Sienna Guillory and Autumn Reeser to be absolutely stunning

4. An urge for repeated viewings

What NOT to Expect

1. A not-all-too-predictable plot

Wasn't screened worldwide, but this is one you would want to see at least once.

Read all about it... CLICK HERE

The Boondock Saints [1999]

Director: Troy Duffy
Cast: Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, Willem Dafoe, David Della Rocco
Genre: Crime Thriller/Drama
Rating: Teen (violence, strong language, mild sexual content)
Comment: "Imagine if The Matrix was a crime thriller..."

Synopsis

Devout Catholic fraternal twin brothers, Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus) are just your average joes living in a bad neighbourhood, until they accidentally kill some members of the Russian mafia in self-defense. They willingly turned themselves in and later released as heroes, but their lives could never be the same again. They are now convinced that they have been chosen by God to rid their city of crime and evil. They set out to do some vigilante work, all the while being pursued by a brilliant FBI Special Agent Paul Smecker (Willem Dafoe).

What to Expect

1. A both enthralling and disturbing presentation

2. Stylistic violence (that's always good for me)

3. Very interesting characters

4. Plenty of humour throughout

5. Awesome soundtrack and film score

What NOT to Expect

1.To not be able to think that this movie is cool

Read all about it... CLICK HERE

The Illusionist [2010]

Director: Sylvain Chomet
Cast: Jean-Claude Donda, Eilidh Rankin
Genre: Drama/Animation
Rating: General
Comment: "Poetry in motion in the truest sense of the term..."

Synopsis

There was a time when magicians, or illusionists were big in the entertainment industry. But this movie is set at a time when their popularity is dying out. A down-on-his-luck illusionist quickly find himself out of work and has to travel abroad to make ends meet. He ends up performing in rural areas where electricity is still a luxury people can afford to live without. He meets a girl in a small Scottish island, and she becomes fascinated with him, believing that magic is real. They bond like a father and daughter, and neither lives would ever be the same again.

What to Expect

1. Beautiful hand-drawn and animated world

2. Indistinguishable dialogue

3. Despite that, there's plenty of characterisation

4. Calm, soothing film score

What NOT to Expect

1. To be for everyone

2. A fast-paced film

You might just fall in love with 2D animation again

Read all about it... CLICK HERE

Source Code [2011]

Director: Duncan Jones
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright
Genre: Science Fiction/Thriller
Rating: General
Comment: "Never before had a Sci-Fi Thriller contain so many human elements, and this ended up becoming a terrific movie altogether..."

Synopsis

In a universe where the technology to become a somewhat omniscient entity exists, decorated army helicopter pilot Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) finds himself inside the body of another man. Severely disoriented, he slowly begin to make sense of what is going on and discovers that he is part of a military mission to stop a terrorist attack on a commuter train. What makes it even harder is the fact that he only has eight minutes to conduct his investigation before the bomb explodes, and he has to do it all over again...

What to Expect

1. An intriguing story that will simply absorb you

2. Subtle yet powerful human drama

3. To get just a little bit disoriented as well

4. Some genuine comedic moments

5. Russell Peters (Yes, the Russell Peters) to steal a couple of scenes

What NOT to Expect

1. Emphasis on the terrorism part of the plot

2. Offensive stereotype of a terrorist *wink*

Brilliant! Definitely one of this year's movies that you wouldn't want to miss!

Read all about it... CLICK HERE

Just Go with It [2011]

Director: Dennis Dugan
Cast: Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston, Brooklyn Decker, Nicole Kidman, Dave Matthews
Genre: Romantic/Comedy
Rating: Teen (sexual content, brief nudity)
Comment: "Just go with it, and you'll have a good time!"

Synopsis

A successful plastic surgeon, Danny Maccabee (Adam Sandler) is traumatised by marriage after almost getting married to a woman who was going to marry him for the wrong reasons. But he quickly spots a silver lining as he is able to meet women and have a string of one night stands by feigning an unhappy marriage. Everything changes however, when he falls in love for real the second time in his life, this time to a girl named Palmer (Brooklyn Decker). Fearful of telling her the whole truth, Danny enlists the help of his office manager Katherine Murphy (Jennifer Aniston) to keep up the facade. They struggle to maintain the web of lies and hilarity ensues.

What to Expect

1. Lots of funny moments

2. Surprisingly well-written for a rom-com movie

3. Adam Sandler being Adam Sandler

4. Jennifer Aniston being Rachel (Well, not quite)

What NOT to Expect

1. To be entirely original or unpredictable

2. A dull moment

Mamümeter

A good one for laughs, and to pass the time

Read all about it... CLICK HERE

Anu Dalam Botol [2011]

Director: Khir Rahman
Cast: Arja Lee, Diana Danielle, Wan Raja, Fauziah Ahmad Daud, Normah Damanhuri
Genre: Drama
Rating: Teen (theme of homosexuality)

Comment: "As good as watching paint dry..."

Synopsis

Rubidin, a gay man who had recently undergone a sex change operation returns home in Malaysia, only to be met with disapproval by Ghaus, the man he's in a relationship with. Weighed down further by their financial strain, their relationship falls apart. The death of his father further breaks him down, but it also leads him back to his hometown and he seeks to reexamine his life.

What to Expect

1. An art film

2. Painstakingly slow

3. To be entirely about a guy feeling sorry for himself

4. Powerful acting

5. Legitimate reflections about homosexuality in Malaysia

What NOT to Expect

1. For everyone

2. To be too comfortable to watch

Mamümeter

Almost a waste of time, but not quite.

Read all about it... CLICK HERE

The Machinist [2004]

Director: Brad Anderson
Cast: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, John Sharian, Michael Ironside, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon
Genre: Psychological Thriller/Mystery

Rating: Teen (brief sexuality, disturbing images)

Comment: "A bleak psychological thriller that keeps you guessing, that makes it good..."

Synopsis

A machinist, Trevor Reznik is suffering from chronic insomnia and it's beginning to take a toll on his life. After a year-long of struggle, strange things begin to happen around him, and the line separating reality and insanity is now a blur.

What to Expect
1. A bleak atmosphere
2. A very artistic presentation
3. Christian Bale's trademark of immersing himself into his role

What NOT to Expect
1. To be too fast-paced

Read all about it... CLICK HERE

Sucker Punch [2011]

Director: Zack Snyder
Cast: Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung

Genre: Action/Fantasy

Rating: Teen (horrific images)

Comment: "Crazy, wild, a little silly at times and I loved every second of it..."

Synopsis

After the death of their mother, Baby Doll and her little sister find themselves at the mercy of their abusive stepfather. All bets are off, however, when he finds out that his late wife leaves him with virtually no share of the family heirloom, instead all was left to her two daughters. In an act of self-defense, Baby Doll accidentally had her sister killed, while her stepfather walks away with only minor injuries. But that was enough for him to build a case against her, hence Baby Doll is admitted to an insane asylum. Amidst her woes and despair, it is here where Baby Doll learns that life is not about what happens to you, but rather it's about what you make of it.

What to Expect

1. Exactly as advertised; Alice in Wonderland with machine guns

2. Uber-stylistic ballet of violence

3. Hot girls

4. A crazy, imaginative world

5. A jarring change in tone towards the end

6. Hot girls

What NOT to Expect

1. For it to make a whole lot of sense (but that's a strength, really)

Mamümeter

Read all about it... CLICK HERE