War of the Arrows Review

War of the Arrows

South Korea has exploded into the film industry for many years now, releasing entertaining movies in a number of genres. What I enjoy most is the stories that tell about the history of Korea, especially in the timelines when the area of Korea was still independent kingdoms. When a movie is released based on ancient history I get intrigued. I don’t know why, but I sometimes wonder if I lived during ancient times, not necessarily Korea, but in that time period if you believe in that kind stuff. I’m not sure If I do or not, but it makes me wonder why I am fascinated by ancient history, which brings us to the movie I would like to introduce, a South Korean movie called ‘War of the Arrows.

The story is about Nam-yi played by Hae-il Park, who was the son of a skilled archer and officer of King Gwanghae, who died protecting his two children so they can escape. After several years later, Nam-yi grows up to be a skilled archer like his father. While hunting, Nam-yi realizes the village was being invaded during the time of his sister’s wedding. He rushes back, but finds out his sister Ja-In played by Chae-won Moon was taken by the Qing army, placing him on a path of danger and self-sacrifice to save his sister, while garnering the attention of the Qing commander known for his legendary archery skills.

One thing I enjoyed about this movie was the action scenes. Ninety-nine percent of the time, movies during these times periods focus a lot on action scenes using swordplay, this one does not. What it does focus on is the action scenes using archer skills, which was truly unique and entertaining to watch. To get an idea what the actions would be like, think of all the Robin Hood movies, minus the sword play and add all the archery combat scenes together, while thinking of other ways to use it besides being a range weapon. That’s what this movie does; it presents a cool look on how one would survive using archery with breath-taking cinematography to present the feeling of what an archery combat would be visually like.

Nam-yi played by Hae-il Park, performed very well, delivering great action moments, and what little lines he had, he displayed it with his physical performance winning Best Actor. Ja-In played by Chae-won Moon had an excellent performance, delivering an innocent and helpless sister that won her Best New Actress at the 48th Grand Bell Awards.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie. I was very entertained by the cinematography with the action scenes. Although, the story wasn’t anything new, it wasn’t bad either for the acting was enjoyable even for a subtitled movie, which at times can be a distraction. This movie is available on Netflix; check it out if you don’t mind foreign movies and subtitles.
I give War of the Arrows 3 out of 4 smiles. Worth Seeing!

The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch Review

The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch

Imagine you’re a rich individual in your late years, but for some reason you don’t have a wife, relatives or children. Would you adopt to pass on your wealth and business? That’s exactly what happens in this French movie ‘The Heir Apparent: Largo Wench’. This movie was released in 2008, but recently made its way to the US in December 2011 and was nominated for Best International Film at the 2012 Saturn Awards.

Billionaire Nerio Winch lived a reclusive life style, but ends up being murdered. The board members of the corporation he built believe he was not murdered and left no heirs. Little did they realize Nerio adopted a child named Largo played by Tomer Sisley. Things unfold and Largo investigates the murder of his father and uncovers a conspiracy that threats his life and everything he holds dear while he proves he is truly the heir to the Winch dynasty.

Largo played by Tomer Sisley is amazing, presenting an over-confident, street wise, but well-educated character who can brawl. I was surprised to see this much action, for I was expecting more of a drama story, but I was thrilled. Tomer could almost be considered a martial artist for he delivers some amazing fight scenes I wasn’t expecting. The way he presents his character is truly entertaining, displaying a likeable and seasoned actor. The supporting cast also presented noteworthy performances, especially the character Ann Ferguson played Kristin Scott Thomas and a few others who made this movie even more enjoyable to watch.

I truly enjoyed the acting. The amount of action scenes was not something I expecting, for I went in thinking this was a drama story, but no complaints for the fight scenes were awesome. I also didn’t have any issues with the subtitles for it was presented well enough to not be distracting.

Overall, I was very entertained by this movie. I was expecting a drama story, but received a drama action movie full of twists that kept me interested.

I give The Heir Apparent: Largo Wench’ 4 out 4 smiles! A must see!

The Raid: Redemption Review

The Raid: Redemption (2012)

I grew up watching martial arts films with poor dubbing, so when a foreign movie is released that I am interested in, I prefer to watch it with subtitles. Thankfully, most of my favorite martial artists are mainly in the US now, so subtitles are not required to often. But every now and then, some new martial arts actor appears making noise outside North America, and one did. I heard a buzz about this new martial arts actor named Iko Uwais. I hit the web and YouTube to find out more, which led me to the movie ‘The Raid: Redemption’.

A few things on why I was curious and excited to watch this movie; first, the movie introduces the Indonesian martial art ‘Pencak Silat’. How many movies have you seen use that style? Second, Iko Uwais is a true practitioner, studying for over 10 years, and is an exhibition champion of the style, so we can expect a great performance, which many already compare him Jet Li and Tony Jaa. Exciting!

The Raid: Redemption is the story about a crime lord that has bunkered down in an apartment building, who has been defending the building from gang rivals and cops for years making the place a no-go zone. Eventually, a rookie cop named Rama played by Iko Uwais and a 20 man SWAT team lead by Sergeant Jaka played by Joe Taslim is ordered and guided by Lieutenant Wahyu to take out the crime lord. Things end up badly where it turns into a fight for survival full of action, gunplay and body counts.

Iko Uwais delivers an outstanding performance. His presents a creative fighting style that can remind you of Jackie Chan’s stunts and antics, but graceful and quick to the eyes like Jet Li (The Expendables). He can easily turn up the heat, resembling a ferocious and brutal style like Tony Jaa (Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior), but has a unique enough style that can distinguish himself from other martial artists, especially when he is using a knife and police stick.

Don’t watch this movie for a story, for its nothing ground breaking or new. What makes this movie amazing is in the action and fight scenes. With the help of the supporting cast, they deliver a well-rounded performance of intense fight and gunplay scenes that is an accelerating ride full of non-stop action.

Overall, this movie was awesome and entertaining! To see the Indonesian martial art ‘Pencak Silat’ in action was inspiring. It resembled a number of styles, but had a unique enough style that I am curious to learn it. Also, watching the movie with subtitles didn’t really bother me, for there is very little dialogue during the action scenes to distract you from enjoying.

I give ‘The Raid: Redemption’ 4 out of 4 smiles. A must see!

Total Recall (2012) Review

Total Recall 2012

As much as I love and hate remakes, expecting a movie to duplicate the original story will likely cause disappointment. Expecting a similar visual presentation will probably produce complaints about using too much computer graphics and these are the types of complaints viewers had with the new Total Recall. It’s been 22 years since the original Total Recall was released. Do you really think the original story and visual presentation back then would be acceptable in this day age? In my opinion, NO! I expect better visuals and story, not an exact duplicate of the original.

The story starts very similar to the original movie, where Douglas Quaid played by Colin Farrell lives with his wife Lori Quaid played by Kate Beckinsale. Douglas keeps having mysterious dreams that lead him to RECALL; a place that implants memories for people to experience. Upon his visit they scan him for issues, but instead activate his abilities that help him to take out a security force. He starts to question who he is and returns home to his wife, but she is out to kill him leading to non-stop action, gunplay and the search for the truth. At this point the movie starts to branch away from the original movie, and begins to tell its own story.

As I much as I enjoyed the original, the new Total Recall presents a non-stop action with amazing visuals and over-top scenes that would make Arnold loss weight given the amount of calories burned by the three most active characters. It also tells a different storyline without mutants, aliens and Mars that the movie shouldn’t be considered a remake, for I think the title doesn’t give the movie justice for its new presentation.

I will always enjoy Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall, but he doesn’t hold a candle to the two new talented and gorgeous actresses, Lori Quaid played by Kate Beckinsale and Melina played by Jessica Biel. Kate was superb! Seeing her play as villain was surprising, entertaining and sexy. Jessica was also amazing and her one-on-one fight scenes with Kate were entertaining and hot! Although not as muscular as Arnold, Colin Farrell did an excellent job. His smaller body size presented a more agile and versatile character, which delivered more action and martial arts choreography not observed with Arnold’s character in 1990.

I was surprised to read viewers complain about the movie using too much computer graphics. Without the use of CG, the visual presentation in the movie would not be possible. We don’t live in the days of using props or low-level graphics, so we should strive for better CG quality rather than complain about a tool that is commonly used in our film productions today. Also to hear viewers complain the movie was too much like a video game. What movie were you watching? At what point did the movie portray it was a video game. Yes. It had a lot of action and over-top visuals, but it never tried to be like the movie Doom, where it actually had scenes in first person view to mimic what players do in a video game.

Overall, I truly enjoyed this movie. Like in most remakes, I expect an improvement in story and presentation. The new Total Recall delivers just that. It’s visually amazing and action packed. Although the story isn’t as thrilling as the original, it has different take in the story that I enjoyed.

I give Total Recall (2012) 4 out of 4 smiles. A must see!

The Dark Knight Rises Review!

It’s been 7 years since Christopher Nolan introduced us to his vision of Batman in the movie Batman Begins. I just can’t believe it’s been that long. I haven’t watched that movie in almost 3 years, and yet the experience, story and memorable characters are still very fresh in my memory. Then 3 years later, Nolan presents The Dark Knight. Wow! That was, and still is an amazing, epic, and astonishing movie that easily outshined the first movie. I almost forgot about Batman Begins for Nolan tied the two movies so well that I felt I was watching one complete story. Long live the Heath Ledgers version of the Joker! 

Christian Bale as Batman

After 4 years of waiting, the final chapter to Nolan’s Batman trilogy has finally arrived. The Dark Knight Rises is entertaining. I went to the midnight showing, and after realizing the movie was 3 hours long, I was a bit worried that I would dose off. Not once did I fall asleep. Even without air conditioning and feeling uncomfortable, I was still engaged and interested. Maybe It was a lot to do with the fact I was excited to see this movie.

I am not going to dig into the story too much to spoil it, but Nolan delivers an excellent story. He presents a Batman that has aged, and lost his since of purpose, but rises again to bring a final epic conclusion. There are moments in the movie that felt drawn out, but it wasn't to bad to hurt the overall flow of the story. He ties the three movies well, that you will definitely feel this is the final chapter for Batman.

Marion Cotillard as Miranda

With so many cast members from all three movies making appearances, there was a lot of things going on. Some characters like Miranda played by Marion Cotillard becomes a love interest for Bruce Wayne, and plays a big role in the Wayne Company, yet she felt out of place given how little screen time she recieves, especially for the role she plays in the main story. Some may argue the movie had too many characters that Bane and Catwoman did not have enough screen time. With the roles they played, I believe they both had a good balance of screen time to present their stories. I also felt Batman had less screen time in this movie compared to his previous movie. I don’t think that hurt the movie for it was crucial each supporting character had screen time to tie things together and provide a memorable conclusion for Batman.

Tom Hardy as Bane

If you are not familiar with the Batman universe, Bane is Batman’s greatest adversary who was the only villian to break Batman’s back. In this movie Bane is physically and intellectually a dominating figure played by Tom Hardy (Warrior), who is the main antagonist or is he?  I was curious how one would present a character like Bane in a realistic setting. I got say they did a good presentation of Bane. Hardy’s version of Bane is a brutal, no holds barred character with I am the man complex personality with brains. Some may complain Hardy played him too much likes a Sean Connery impression, but I think Hardy captured his personality close enough. Bane is also a bit small compared to the comics. He was over 7 feet tall, but in the movie he was equal to the size of Batman, however, the cinematography presented a physically dominating figure. If Bane was any bigger his character would feel unrealistic, so I was happy with his physical appearance. I also like the breather mask he wore. It provided a more realistic feel and menacing appearance compared to the cheesy wrestling mask presented in the comics.

While, Bane’s background is not true to the comics, similarities to his origins are still in place, like his time in prison and connections. Also don’t expect a monstrous Bane to appear. The drug like venom that he is known to use to increase his physical appearance even more is not presented in the movie. He also does not have his famous tubes proliferating from his back to indicate he was even using venom. As dominating as Bane may be in the comics, that version would not translate so easily into a real life setting, but the one in the movie did. Hardy delivered a superb performance that was essential to delivering an epic conclusion with his version of Bane.

Anne Hathaway as Catwoman

With so many characters already in the mix, Nolan manages to present two key characters that leave you wondering what part they play in the movie. One character in mind is Selina Kyle aka. Catwoman played by Anne Hathaway. Catwoman has been presented in so many ways, that I was hoping for something refreshing. Hathaway delivered just that and boy was she hot! She didn’t purr, clean herself by licking her leather or meow like previous actresses. Although, I will always remember Michelle Pfeiffer's version of Catwomen. That style of acting would not fit in this movie given its presenting a more releastic character. Hathaway presented us a unique character that was ferocious, cunning with a feline attitude without being to cat like. Her outfit was simple and wore night goggles that left the impression she was wearing cat ears, which was pretty cool. She brought a unique twist to the story and a complex relationship with Batman that left you wondering if she was good or evil. Hathaway’s performance was outstanding, and is among one of the better presentations of Catwoman.

Joseph Gordon Levitt as John Blake

The other character is John Blake played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He is a rookie cop that exhibits a lot of courage and bravado. He can handle himself well and grew up in an orphanage that was supported by the Wayne family. He also figured out who Batman really is and learns the true nature of the world from Commissioner Gordon and Batman. Many believe he is Robin, but the original name of Robin was Dick Grayson. He also did not accompany Batman as a sidekick in this movie, so who is he exactly? Pay close attention to this character and you will find out more. Levitt does a superb job of delivering a mysterious and unique character leaving you with a lot of questions.

Overall, Christopher Nolan provides a great conclusion to an amazing trilogy that sets a new standard for future superhero trilogies. Nolan truly is one of the best, and probably is the best superhero director and story teller of our time. I give Dark Knight Rises an impression score of 3 out 4 smiles.  Althougth the story is not as solid as the Dark Knight, it still provides a great performances across the board ending with a unique closure to a great trilogy.

Wrath of the Titans Review

When I read there was a sequel being made for the Clash of the Titans, my mind automatically concluded the movie was going to be horrible. For the life of me I could not picture a sequel. The remake of the Clash of the Titans did not deliver a great story to really warrant a sequel. Don’t get me wrong, there were moments in the remake I did enjoy, but mostly it was because of the amazing CG and action scenes. Of course, I still prefer the original movie because it presented a better story on why Perseus went on the epic journey.

After finally watching the Wrath of the Titans, I was actually entertained, especially because of the action. There was something about the presentation that was more enjoyable than the remake. I think the story was better, probably because it was not trying so hard to overshadow a classic movie since it was its own unique story.

Sam Worthington as Perseus

If you know anything about Greek Mythology you will kind of understand the premise of the story of the Wrath of the Titans. Basically, Chronus and the Titans was overthrown and imprisoned to Tartarus (a pit like abyss and maze) by Zeus and his siblings making Zeus the king of the gods. The story takes place when the gods was less favored by the world giving Chronus a chance to break free from his imprisonment using Hades and Zeus’s son Aries to help him escape. After further events Perseus, who is the son of Zeus played by Sam Worthington and Agenor, who is the son of Poseidon played by Toby Kebbell begin an epic journey accompanied by Andromeda played by Rosamund Pike, to forge a weapon that was used to imprison Chronus to defeat him.

Rosamund Pike as Andromeda

In the original movie Andromeda was an innocent princess who was to be sacrificed to the Kraken, but was saved by her love one Perseus. In the Wrath of the Titans they upgraded Andromeda’s character; making her a warrior queen, who lead battles and accompanied Perseus to defeat Chronus. Since Perseus’s wife was dead and a single parent raising a son, Andromeda was now a love interest for Perseus. I like the idea the love between Perseus and Andromeda was rekindled in this movie, but since the love between the two was missing from the Clash of the Titans, it didn’t really portray the strong love Perseus really had for Andromeda. After all, it was originally the love for Andromeda that Perseus went on the epic journey to defeat the Kraken to save his love in the first place. It’s too bad they did not present the love between the two during the remake. It would have made a more epic presentation when they finally fell in love in this movie.

Although, Sam Worthington played Perseus well, his character seemed a bit out of touch. You have hero who defeated a number of legendary monsters during his journey in the Clash of the Titans, and yet he seemed a bit lost. It’s like he lost all his heroic personality. Maybe it was the lifestyle he was living that made him too timid. Eventually, he does become heroic, but not as compelling as he was during the Clash of the Titans.  

Where the movie takes off is in the action sequences and CG presentations. The movie presented amazing battles scenes. And the presentation of Tartarus was so epic that it showcased a maze so confusing that you would not want to be exiled in such place.  The acting was ok, but it was the action scenes that made this movie truly entertaining.

I give Wrath of the Titans an impression score of 3 out of 4 smiles. Great entertainment worth watching, especially if you are a fan of Greek Mythology and action movies!

The Amazing Spiderman Review

I have always been a big fan of comic books and especially the idea of presenting superheroes to the big screen. One thing I don't like is the lack of progression of stories from these movies.

While the Amazing Spiderman does present a new villian and story arch; it still tries to educate the audience on how Spiderman was born. Why! Just because we have a new actor does not mean we need a reboot. And yes, it’s been 10 years since the first Spiderman with Tobey Maguire, but honestly, do we really need to be told again how Peter Parker became Spiderman?  The story that was told from Spiderman in 2002 is still fresh in my mind and probably with many other viewers. Retelling the story in a different viewpoint does not present a better Spiderman; it just adds to confusion on the origins of Spiderman.

Andrew Garfield as Spiderman

Now for the new actors;
Peter Parker played by Andrew Garfield and Gwen Stacy played by Emma Watson had a great onscreen chemistry. Garfield played Spiderman and Peter Parker with a darker presentation. He showcased a more annoying and quirky personality, which to me was closer to Peter Parkers personality in the comics and other stories. This adaption helped separate Garfield from Tobey Maguire’s version of Spiderman and allowed us to see his own talents come forward.

Rhys Ifans as Dr. Connor/Lizardman

Dr. Connors and the Lizardman played by Rhys Ifans did a great job of presenting a complicated and confusing doctor. When the Lizardman was finally revealed; it felt realistic and life like.  The fighting scenes between Spiderman and The Lizardman were action packed and breathtaking to watch.

Overall, presenting a new villain not seen in previous Spiderman movies really expands the story of Spiderman and that is what makes it more enjoyable to watch, for it was entertaining, action packed and fun. I think Andrew Garfield did a great job with his Spiderman presentation and I look forward to his next Spiderman movie.

I give The Amazing Spiderman an imp score of 3 out of 4 smiles. Great Entertainment worth watching!

Act of Valor Review

Having served in the armed forces as a U.S. Marine, I have a lot of admiration and respect for the men and women who serve our country. And for those who serve at the elite levels of our armed forces it takes a lot of sacrifice, pride and honor to do what they do. And the movie 'Act of Valor' tries to present that atmosphere.

It's a story about a group of elite Navy Seals, who take on a risky mission to rescue a kidnapped US agent. This type of mission isn’t your typical operations were the team is supported by an army. It's the type of job that is secretive and risky to the point it may be the final mission the team may experience which presents an emotional view of the sacrifices these few men take for the country, with their families, friends and their own will being.

Some of the Navy Seals in the movie

With real life Navy Seals acting in this movie; it presents a more realistic military presence, especially when the operations are in progress. It showcases a true sense of how an elite team would act in the field, to how these types of teams work together in the roles of leadership and support, to the struggles and risks each person undergoes when situations get ruff or when a team member are lost.

Overall the military presentation was superb to experience. Although we won’t see academy awards being presented for the acting abilities of the real life Navy Seals in the movie during non-military related scenes. They do deserve to be praised for their ability to present a strong military experience during the action scenes throughout the movie.

I give the ‘Act of Valor’ an Imp Score of 3 out of 4 smiles. Great entertainment worth watching!