F_Mizra Reviews

Warm Bodies (2013)

Www.. www... Whoa! Something new to me

[8/10 · 2 July 2013]

The first word I tried to utter while watching this, was: Www… www… whoa. Warm Bodies (WB) is nothing like any typical Zombie movies that I've seen before. The film stands out because it is told from the perspective of a Zombie. And it shows that even these walking-dead could still have some human characteristics, despite the need to eat people.

The Apocalypse world in WB is survived by three groups: Humans, Zombies and Bonies. Zombies who have lost humanity and any bits of hope would shed their own flesh and become Bonies. Bonies, as the name suggests, are nasty skeletal figures who prey on anything that has a heartbeat.

The film is based on a novel by Isaac Marion which bears the same name. I highly respect the originality of humanistic nature of Zombies in Marion's ideas. The film starts off with the protagonist named R (a young ambitious Zombie-lad) wandering in an airport, while narrating to us his daily routine such as communicating (grunts and moans, actually) with his best friend M, hoarding, and listening to vinyl records.

One day, while touring to the City with his packs of Zombie friends, they bumped (attacked, actually) into a group of humans seeking some medicines in a pharmacy. There, R met a pretty hot girl named Julie, among others. It's love at first sight! The story goes on, developing the relationship between R and Julie.

When my sister said (and showed the trailer) about the bizarre elements of this film, it enticed the curiosity in me. Thus, I've set my mind to be as open as possible, and regard this as a light-watching. Man, I never thought I'd be this thrilled and satisfied! Perhaps because it's been so long since I've last watched any romantic-comedy genre.

Seriously, some of the scenes are like damn funny. You would grin at the very least. And the l'amour. Sigh. The story gives you many hints of Romeo and Juliet references. Just look at the names R and Julie for starters. Chick flick? Nahhh, I wouldn't be as mean to label this as that. But rest assured, it's not Twilight.

The cast gave their best. Nicholas Hoult (R) and Teresa Palmer (Julie) had this sweet chemistry. Rob Corddry plays M while Dave Franco and Analeigh Tripton acted as Julie's boyfriend and best friend respectively. And with John Malkovich as Julie's father, you could expect his wittiness coloring the film.

WB has this awesome soundtrack too. I dare say the music and score help the success of this film. I personally love Bruce Springsteen's Hungry Heart! It's one of those song that would stuck into your head, and you'd reminiscent the scene over and over. Just check out the videos in YouTube, and you'd see many people thanked Warm Bodies in making them searching for the selected song(s).

My only problem, a slight one, is the appearance of Bonies. Looks very computer-generated. But hey, the film is not that serious (deviate from orthodox Zombie-rules), so I tend to get over that. The plot is superb, and at the end, well, it's wonderful. Needless to say, WB becomes one of those movies that I'd recommend my friends to watch when they come over.

Verdict: Rrrrrrrrrr Read my last sentence above.

World War Z (2013)

Z For Zombies. A for Stars

[9/10 · 21 June 2013]

Saw the trailer at the Man of Steel's premier last week. It WHOA-ed me enough to buy the tickets 2 days before the screening. World War Z is the mother of virus-spreading-zombie film! Less than 5 minutes after the intro credits, the action already begins. No slow introduction, no rubbish talks.

From New York streets to New Jersey apartment to Pyeongtaek military camp to Jerusalem fortress to Belarusian airplane to Welsh WHO facility, trust me, you will be GLUED to the screen, because the action are non- stop. Quoting my pal Fairuz, "there's no resting while watching this film". Your adrenaline rushes, anticipating and dreading of what would happen next.

Salute to Brad Pitt for giving splendid performance as the (retired) UN- special-officer. The Pepsi-drinking scene is quite cool. After surviving the holocaust in the US soil, he's given the task to protect a promising-young virologist Dr. Fassbach in searching for the cure, the vaccine of the pandemic.

Little did they know, what awaits them in South Korea. Didn't recognize any of the other cast, except for the WHO doctor, whom triggered my usual "who the heck is this dude/chick? So darn familiar!" sense. Later found out that he acted in Angels & Demons and Narnia.

The zombies look real enough. Have the standard of rabies-infected- people like in Rec. They're vicious and fast and… intelligent too. They react to something and they refuse to something. I won't spoil that.

But I just gotta say this: the piling up to overcome tall fences is pretty sickening! I never thought Zombies could that. That's why I said, the Zombies in WWZ are smarter, than their cousins in Resident Evil or Dawn of the Dead.

World War Z is like the fusion of Contagion, 28 Days Later, Dredd, Rec and Resident Evil. You enjoyed those films? Well, you certainly will LOVE World War Z then. Even if you haven't watched them, you would still be entertained.

Verdict: Satisfaction-GUARANTEED! ;D

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

Another super duper Trilogy, coming up!

[9/10 · 16 December 2012]

The first thing that came in my mind when seeing the title at the opening credits is: WOO HOO! Finally a decade after RotK, I finally could experience another adaptation of Tolkien's Middle Earth, on the big screen. Been anticipating this since I saw the trailer like a year ago.

FYI, like LotR series, The Hobbit comes in three installments, with the first part being this one: "An Unexpected Journey". Peter Jackson still has his magnificent touch in directing the film. The opening scene tells us the tale of peaceful city of Dale and the ancient Dwarven Kingdom of Erebor. A real epic-opener! A few of the past characters reprise their roles such as Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, Saruman, Frodo and even My Prrrrecious.

If Lotr Part 1 shows Aragorn's forefathers, well in Hobbit Part 1, we'll be seeing Legolas and Gimli's fathers. Moreover, we'll see again The Shire, Imladris (Rivendell), Misty Mountains, and many other extraordinary landscapes. Computer or no computer, the cinematography is just brilliant.

The Hobbit is a story about the beginning of young Bilbo Baggins' beautiful adventure to the outside world, filled with excitement, danger and mystery. He is persuaded by Gandalf to be the 14th companion of the pact of merry Dwarfs, led by Prince Thorin Oakenshield. My fa-vs are Kili and Fili. I dare you to try to remember all their names, loll. Their mission is to find a secret door into the Halls of Erebor within the Lonely Mountains; to reclaim back the city from the clutches of Smaug. Yeah, no more Sauron… at least, not yet. New bad-guys are Smaug the Dragon, The Three "Stooges" Trolls, Azog the Orc Leader, and Witch-King of Angmar.

I'm very satisfied with this film. Some scenes really touch your inner lo-tr-sweet-moments, which kind of explain or elaborate the story in the original LotR series. You'll be like, "Oh, so that what happened!". The cast are superb. Hats off to Martin Freeman (Bilbo) and Richard Armitage (Thorin). The score also helps the mood throughout the film. Some critics say that the movie is too long. Heck, when I watch the movie, I never checked my watch because honestly, I do not want it to end…

Bottom line, this is a must-watch for everyone, even if you're not a fan of LotR. If you have friends or family members who never known this saga, THIS is the right time to promote the franchise to them! Verdict: Two-thumbs up!

Mousehunt (1997)

A world without Laughter is chaos

[8/10 · 22 October 2012]

Two brothers Ernie (Nathan Lane) and Lars (Lee Evans) inherit a museum- like thread factory and a debt-ridden mansion after the demise of their father. They soon discover that the mansion was designed by the infamous Charles Lyle La Rue, and actually worth millions of dollar. Eager to furnish and sell it, they forgot about the other "caretaker" of the house, a cute, cunning unnamed Mouse. Things got wacky when the brothers start to get rid of the mouse, using one method after another.

This film was like 15 years ago but its humor is still fresh. It's one of those comedy-films where you'd laugh at the same scenes, over and over again. The first family-film by Dream Works, I dare say it's a classic. Jokes and laughter aside, Mouse-hunt teaches audience the family value, the quality of life and… how to catch a Mouse. One should ponder deeply what Mr. Rudolf's saying - "A world without string is chaos" really means.

Verdict: Watch and laugh.

Dredd (2012)

Superb Adaptation

[8/10 · 5 October 2012]

I confess I never knew anything about the Judges, the comic book, and so on. For those amateurs like me, this film is a reboot from 1995 Sylvester Stallone's Judge Dredd and adapted from a British comic strip.

In the post-apocalyptic wasteland, the people no longer live in nice decorative homes but in tall huge buildings – more like 200-story of slum. The dystopia residents of Peach Trees tower are controlled by the prostitute-turned-drug-lord Ma-Ma, where she is the sole provider of newly-created drug called Slo-Mo.

The only law enforcer in such metropolis are the Judges – given the power to be the Judge, the Jury and the Executioner. When Ma-ma orders the execution of three sorry-asses (skinned and pushed down from the top), fear consumed the city, thus Judge Dredd and rookie-mutant-psychic Anderson sent by the Chief Judge to bring order.

Ma-ma's henchman, Kay is arrested. To prevent him from being interrogated (remember Slo-Mo business??) Ma-ma hijacked the security and made Peach Tower as the battling ground for the capturing of Dredd and Anderson. The hunt begins! Sit tight and be amazed with the exploding limbs and splattering of blood here and there.

The film deserves high appraisals for its tremendous action, sequences, cast and background music. I personally like the scenes when they busted Kay and the gang, and during the gun massacre! Darn wicked! Some elements/scenes will make you think of The Matrix (slo-mo scenes), Robocop (the helmet/costume and passion), the Terminator (loyalty and obligation) and Die Hard (kicking-ass actions).

Bottom line is, this film is prone to be having sequels and with good- will, becomes another awesome action-hero trilogy like many other comic adaptations. Verdict: HIGHLY recommended to be watched in 3D.

Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)

Totally Garbage

[1/10 · 22 September 2012]

Two words for it: TOTALLY GARBAGE! Hollywood has butchered this awesome game-series to the level of beyond recognition, unlike the butchering of its previous movie-series. There are two types of people who would critic this film: the die-hard fan of Resident Evil franchise and the ordinary film-goers.

I've seen this in 3D, and as a RE purist gamer, these four criteria are on my checklist: 1) Stick to the game's storyline; 2) Brilliant plot if criterion #1 is too difficult to visualize; 3) Awesome 3D effects and 4) Well-coordinated cast. Like being sucked by the virus of Las Plagas, Hollywood had sucked completely the first three criteria! Even criterion #4 is somewhat only mediocre to be mentioned of. If you're in the second group, you'd be also feeling disappointed. Guaranteed. At least the previous four movies though lack of criterion #1, they still have decent criterion #2.

The original storyline developed by Capcom are far far different and brilliant enough! I tried a little bit of the first PC-based RE game, watched my bro played RE Nemesis, and played myself PS2-based RE Code Veronica, RE 4, and X-box 360 RE5. Each of them has bloody brilliant storyline. I could never understand why Hollywood would deviate from them and introducing non-original character of Alice. We don't need Mila Jovovich. We need Chris, Jill, Claire, Leon, Ada, Steve and Sheva.

We've seen for the first time the adaptation of Ada Wong and Leon S Kennedy. Costume-appearance-wise, Ada is quite okay and she sticks to the agility of her character, though her voice is somewhat funny like a Chinese whom recently learned English. Leon, as my most favorite character in RE, was quite disappointing because in the film he's not much of a fighter and… he should be clean-shaved too. He's not Thor for God's sake!

The series have been transformed into typical Hollywood shoot shoot bang bang fantasy wrapped in so-called good CGI and without purity of original horror element. I feel like I'm watching Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter where there are endless mindless fighting scenes. And what's this tag-line about going global-sh*t?! You'll be deceived because the only truth of that comes at the very end of this pitiful short film, where you just starting to feel the hope and rejoice but then, "The End". 6.5? Really? Just save your money from watching this junk.

Verdict: Worse than filthy zombies. Get it?

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

The Perfect Finale

[10/10 · 2 August 2012]

With the success of The Dark Knight [2008], I doubt if Christopher Nolan would be able to put all his charm in the finale of the trilogy. I'm happy that I was wrong. The Dark Knight Rises is the absolute perfection! Made all of its predecessors, in shadows. I love every single bit of it.

With many rumours on the net says, Batman's gonna die, etc, etc, etc, the plot makes you tingle and anticipate what will come next. The film never becomes dull, albeit it runs for almost 3 hours. Actions and sequences are well created and very penetrating.

The gadgets are so cool. Me and my buddy really eyed that Batpod, especially when it's cruising sideways. Just awesome! A note to those who never watched Batman before, well, you guys might be wondering who Harvey Dent, Ra's al Ghul, Crane, and so on. So, it's advisable to watch Batman Begins and The Dark Knight prior to this.

In this film we have Bane, the masked kick-ass villain. Though personally, Joker (Heath Ledger) is still my favourite baddie. Tom Hardy successfully portrayed a near-to-comic Bane: strong, cunning, gruesome, and a skilled-fighter. His accent, fyi, is a Romani gypsy.

Christian Bale continues to be the greatest Batman. Though I miss Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman, Anne Hathaway has own aura in making this film's Catwoman to be such a rrrrreeoooww! Joseph Gordon –Levitt as John Blake should be praised too. He's proved again to be a very versatile actor. Not to mention old timers like Michael Caine (Alfred) and Morgan Freeman (Fox).

The plot??? Well, I leave that to you to enjoy it. Verdict: Satisfaction, guaranteed! ;-D

The Usual Suspects (1995)

The Plot thickens

[8/10 · 19 June 2012]

Five men got arrested, acquainted, and set a revenge to NYPD. That valiant act brought them to the attention of a legend, a mastermind of evil: Kayser Soeze. They soon learned that each of them had wronged Soeze at some point of their criminal life. Debt must be paid. A near-suicide mission must be completed, or their loved ones will perish. Who will triumph? The quintet or Soeze?

I cannot say what's the best thing of about this film. Not that it is not brilliant. It is! But sadly, cannot even utter the word. It's one of those films where you cannot risk reading the plot summary. I'm glad I've watched it with the full satisfaction, as intended. Gabriel Byrne and Kevin Spacey had done brilliantly. Verdict: Two thumbs up!

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012)

Guaranteed to laugh

[7/10 · 18 June 2012]

Madagascar 3 EMW brings us back to the happy fun group of Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman, along with King Julien, Maurice, Mort, and the penguins.

Seeking the penguins in Monte Carlo, the group made chaos in a hotel and thus we're introduced to the antagonist Captain Chantel DuBois, the leader of the French Animal Control. Upon escaping from DuBois and her men, the group meets new (animal) friends in a circus train, en route to Rome and London. Can they get back to New York?

I watched this without remembering what happened in Parts 1 and 2. But that doesn't mean that one won't be able to understand this film without watching its predecessors. The laughter goes on from the beginning to the end of the film. That's a guarantee! It has quite a number of excellent songs, namely: Katy Perry's Firework (circus in London) and Edith Piaf's Non, je ne regrette rien (DuBois in Italian custody). Both fits the scenes really well. The latter reminds me vividly of that one scene in Babe 2.

Like Shrek, this film is not only for kids, but adults too would enjoy it. So, go watch it! =D

My Way (2011)

Unlike the ordinary war-films

[9/10 · 14 June 2012]

Where do I begin?? I dare say this film is way better than Saving Private Ryan or any other Hollywood WWII movies! Exaggeration?? Well see it for yourself.

My Way tells a tale of two rivals: Korean Kim Jun-Shik and Japanese Hasegawa Tatsuo. Jun-Shik's father works as a servant of Tatsuo's grandfather in Japanese-occupied Korea. They first met when Tatsuo arrived there with his parents in 1928. Though they differ in nationality and social standings, they have one thing in common: to be the greatest marathon runner. Every year they compete in races, though Jun-Shik wins the most. One day, Tatsuo's grandfather is assassinated by a Korean terrorist, which only deepens the resentment of Tatsuo towards Koreans.

Due to an incident after a marathon race, Jun-Shik and several other Korean friends are drafted into the Japanese Imperial army. Little did Jun-Shik know that he would be serving under Tatsuo, much much later. That's it for the plot. I won't spoil anymore than that. ;-)

I find that this film is unique, not like any other war-like films, because of these two things: 1) There are at least 5 different languages spoken: Korean, Japanese, Mandarin, Russian and German. 2) If you are a Kim, initially you are forced to fight under the banner of the Sun Emperor, and then for the Red Army, and then for the Krauts. Whoopsie.

Blend of cinematography, theme and cast are top-notched! From oriental Seoul to desert Mongolia to icy Steppes of Russia to bloody Hedosk and to calm sandy beaches of Normandy France. Tatsuo is played by Japanese "Johnny Depp" Jo Odagiri (Shinobi, Azumi), while Jun-Shik is played by Korean heartthrob Jang Dong-Gun (Tae Guk Gi). Though it's a two-hour film, rest assured that you won't be left with boredom or too much drama. Fighting and battle scenes will make yourself glued to the screen. One bomb-scene where both Tatsuo and Jun-Shik flew to the air in slow-motion is really breathtaking!

Bottom line is, if you're the one who really values FRIENDSHIP, this IS a must-see film for you. =D