High School Musical 3:Review

Only doing this cause I'm bored to death waiting for The Star to call me back for the internship thing.
 So okay... Pui Cheng forced me to watch this and there I was in the cinema feeling like a freakin pedophile cause I was like the only grown guy in the place. I swear they were all UPSR students. So already I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable before that shitty movie was on. So I went to see this a month ago and now only starting to blog about it. Why? Cause I there's this conflict within me whether I should hate this or not. And..... I liked it.
 I expected much worse from this movie to be honest and that's the only reason why I like it. If I was going to really say what it was like... I'd say it was ok lah. Not that bad, not that good.
 Don't get me wrong, it's still full of Disney *aww we all love each other and fuzzy wuzzy feeling* shit but it was still tolerable. The story was slightly different than the usual ones because for the first time, this was actually about a high school musical. The first High School Musical was about a high school musical audition, the second had nothing to do with high school so the third finally got it right.
 I like the little subplots in HSM 3 cause I can relate to them going through the whole graduation process and the whole college scholarship and career path thing. I especially liked the subplot with Zac Efron's character having to chose between performing arts and his dad's choice. I thought Zac Efron was really good in the movie, he showed some really good acting.
 I also liked the whole concept for the musical numbers cause it sort of took on a Broadway perspective. There were cool props and settings coupled with high kicks and nice costumes as you would get on a real Broadway show. And the best part was... The songs weren't catchy!! Seriously, I can't remember one damn song that was in the whole movie! Disney is finally learning!!
 Still there are the little things in the movie that made me cringe. The introduction of the new HSM characters were lame and was forced around too much. There's the skater punk who reminds me of myself. The black sidekick who had no dialogue throughout the movie (that'll change since Obama's President now) and the British version of Ashley Tisdale who remarkably gave up drama in London Performing Arts School to be in a musical at Albuquerque East High. Smart.
 Then there's the lovey dovey scenes with Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens that takes up 70% of the film. Maybe it's just my unromantic self but I just couldn't take all that. But at least all the Disney cliche's where left out of this one, thank God.
At the end of the film, yea, I did feel a little bit sad that it was over. I liked the first HSM and I'll miss this cast. HSM 3 was a fitting finale. But High School Musical 4??!! Talk about beating a dead horse man. They should let this franchise lay to rest and move on to something else.

RATING: 5/10

Tropic Thunder: Review

So when heard Ben Stiller was going to be directing a movie... I tough "Great, he's going to kill himself by making a really shitty movie." But after seeing Ben Affleck do pretty good with Gone Baby Gone,I thought I'd give Tropic Thunder a try. Wow, was this an amazing film!
So the film is about a group of actors trying to make a war movie.We have the Oscar winning great actor, the fading action hero, the funny comedian guy and a famous rap superstar. The problem is the director cant control all these big egos and he decides to do something drastic to save the film.
He drops them in the middle of the Vietnamese jungle with nothing but a script and tells them no one goes home until he gets the shots he needs. But after some really funny shit, we find the director dead and the actors genuinely suck in the jungle. Things gets worse when they come across a Vietnamese drug group and are in some series shit. But these actors still think they are acting and that none of this is real.
Tropic Thunder is t it's heart a parody film. It takes on lots of classic war movies and action films like Platoon and Bridge on The River Kwai and turn them into something stitchingly hilarious. It's also a big parody of the whole Hollywood scene these days and I gotta respect Ben Stiller for making a movie that is really bold and still funny at the same time.
From the get go before the movie even starts, I was already laughing my ass off. I'm talking of course about the fake trailers at the beginning of the movie. I just 3 short minutes Ben Stiller literally slaps every aspect of Hollywood in the face.
The lousy fart comedy's starring the comedian who's the flavor of the week. The serious art film that takes every opportunity to say ho much awards it's won. The absurd action movie with stupid deep voice over narrations. And the "musician"who's more clothing line and fragrant products than music. Tropic Thunder is Hollywood making fun of itself and I think some people are gonna be pretty pissed with it. But hey,more pain for them.. more fun for me.
And damn is Robert Downey Jr.amazing in this. What I tell ya'll in the Iron Man review this dude is one of the greatest actors of our time ya'll! Or maybe it's just cause he might be secretly black. I dunno, but wow is he great in this. Imma make a prediction and say that Kirk Lazarus is going to become one of those iconic characters 10years from now. This guy is so fun to watch. It's sad that this performance won't get any big awards cause it really is one of those great acting moments but just cause it's also retardedly funny, it will get overlooked.
And we've got some other great performances to. Matthew McConaughey is great in this film playing a conflicted agent to Ben Stiller's character. Jack Black and Brandon T Jackson are funny as hell. And there's this kid who plays the leader of the Vietnamese drug gang named Brandon Soo Hoo who is one hack of a martial artist. He's got a Bruce Lee future, I guarantee!
And how bad ass was Tom Cruise in this? My man Cruise is back ya'l! He plays Les Grossman a foul mouthed obese film producer that spends most of his time on screen saying f words and going all ape shit on everyone that is near him. Bu I really hated his dancing. Jeez it's enough having a regular to cruise dance, why'd you have to make him bald and add 300pounds on him and then make him do the Michael Jackson crotch trust and shake his ass. Gross!
And this movie also has some great action sequences to. When the movie reaches the third act, it turns into an all out, guns blazing Hong Kong action flick. We get explosions, lotso gun fire, jack black kung fu-ing one kick ass mean kid and Robert Downey Jr speaking Mandarin. Wow Ben Stiller really wrote this movie? He's gotta quit acing and start making more of these cause Imma loving what he's doing.
Great film! Funny as hell! Great parody of Hollywood! Great performance from Robert Downey Jr. And kudos to Ben Stiller! I Predict Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay.

RATING:8/10

Eagle Eye: Review

Eagle Eye! Hell frickin' yeah man. This movie was awesome. People still trying to find a movie that matched the level of action in The Dark Knight should really give this movie a go.
 Eagle Eye is about Jerry Shaw, who's pretty much a complete bum played by Shia LaBeouf. Out of no where Jerry gets a call from some woman saying, "Look, I put some crazy shit in your apartment and if you don't do what I say, you'll die." Obviously he doesn't listen to her and he gets arrested and the FBI thinks he's a terrorist. Across the city, Rachel Holloman, who's this hot single mom played by Michelle Monaghan, gets a call from the same woman saying "Hey I got a camera on your son wherever he goes and I'm gonna kill your precious if you don't do what I say." This all sets the whole motion for the film.
Eagle Eye is directed by D.J Caruso, who directed Shia in Disturbia and on TV he's known for doing The Shield. This guy really knows how to direct action. The car chasing scenes were one of the most intense I've seen but it still goes at a good pace so the audience can follow what's going on beneath all that carnage. Best part to this action movie was there was somewhat of a thread of a plot which makes the whole movie not only entertaining but believable to. It doesn't really do it in spades like The Dark Knight but it's somewhere there more or less.
I really can't buy Shia LaBeouf playing this mature character. I'm looking up the movie on the Web and his character is suppose to be in his early 30's. Shia doesn't look anywhere near 30. He just doesn't have the look for it, which makes me wonder why the hell they cast him.
See what Shia is suffering from right now is the same thing Leonardo DiCaprio went through after he did Titanic. he tried doing some mature roles but we still can't get that teen Jack Dawson outta our heads. Giving him a mustache and making him wear an over sized trench coat doesn't make him look older.
Now, I've heard a lot of comments about Eagle Eye being too unrealistic but I found it okay for my taste. C'mon it's a freaking movie, it doesn't have to make a whole lot of sense. The story built around the two main characters was excellent, the build of the tension was gripping and most of the resolutions were clever. Though I do agree with the others that the ending was a bit anti-climatic.Another thing that did bother me was Shia LaBeouf's favorite word. If you haven't noticed, in all his movies there's going to be one part where he goes NO NO NO NO NO. Besides that, I thought Eagle Eye was highly entertaining. Just check your brain at the door and enjoy the ride. Quite a good quench for our thirst for good movies in this horrid month of house bunnies and high school musicals.
PS. To those who've been asking, the woman who calls Jerry and Rachel in the movie is Julianne Moore (The lady from Jurassic Park 2)

RATING: 7/10