The Dark Knight Rises (Movie Review)

The Dark Knight Rises

Ka-Pow! Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated closure to his Batman saga is a great one but personally it wasn’t as mind-blowing for me because I couldn’t help but reference Heath Ledger’s performance in the last movie. The cast does a stellar job here but not one of them could stand up to the The Joker; who is hands down one of the greatest villains to grace the silver screen.

The Dark Knight Rises is still a great watch nevertheless because the events of the movie are pretty epic and it raises a lot of questions about morality & sacrifice. Unlike The Amazing Spider-Man, the latest Batman flick is a thinking man’s superhero movie and a whole lot more realistic in its setting which I didn’t enjoy as much cos’ it kinda depressed me a little.

The entire cast holds their own here. Christian Bale does a decent third outing as Bruce Wayne but I felt that his supporting cast really outshone him throughout most of the movie. Tom Hardy makes for a super-menacing Bane whilst Anne Hathaway really stole the show in exquisite manner as Catwoman. Joseph Gordon-Levitt deserves a special mention too as rookie cop John Blake.

Christopher Nolan has given us a satisfying ending to his trilogy of Batman movies and I’m pretty sure most fans will not be disappointed by this one.

I give The Dark Knight Rises a back-breaking 4.5 out of 5.

The Fighter (Movie Review)

The Fighter

Awesome. That just about describes Christian Bale’s Academy Award winning role as Dicky Eklund in 2010’s The Fighter. My brother managed to score 4 preview screening passes and I’m really thankful that I decided to catch the movie tonight. Bale outshines Mark Wahlberg’s Micky Ward in every scene he’s in and he definitely deserves his win at this year’s Oscars. Bale’s portrayal of Dicky Eklund’s crack addiction just drew the audience deeper into the tale.

I honestly wouldn’t have thought to catch The Fighter if not for the free passes and I found myself sucked into the tale of two brothers battling their way through the tough hand dealt to them in order to make something of themselves. I’m not one for violent sports like boxing but I found myself gasping and cheering during the fight scenes. Sure, it was just a movie but it all felt so real and I think the entire crew did a great job at capturing what it’s like to be in the boxing ring.

The cinematography has a gritty feel to it and treatment the makers gave the visuals really made the whole movie feel like it was the 80’s all over again. The Fighter is a gripping drama made even stronger by the solid cast of Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Amy Adams. Melissa Leo also deserves a special mention as Bale & Wahlberg’s mom in the film.

Don’t miss The Fighter cos’ it’s a great film that tells (what I hope) is a true account of how we can overcome the struggles that life throws at us. I give The Fighter a surprising (for me) 5 out of 5. Next up in a couple of weeks: Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch.

Double Trouble

Terminate the Enterprise?

The weekend was pretty hectic. Helped out at a Youth Camp on Saturday and Sunday morning. Rushed back to Pee Jay for Star Trek (picked up some Baskin Robbins along the way too) and celebrated my aunt’s 70th birthday with my cousins.

Now back to the real purpose of this post. For the first time in a long time I watched 2 movies twice. Caught Terminator: Salvation on Thursday and Friday last week; Star Trek during its opening week and one more time yesterday with my cell members.

Star Trek was so much more AWESOME the 2nd time round and yes Zachary Quinto is great as Spock. Funnily enough in both movies I’ve found that I liked the supporting characters more. Sure, one might argue that Spock is a central character in his own right but technically Kirk is the hero of Star Trek as is the case in most stories. Sam Worthington’s Marcus Wright is a favourite of mine too as opposed to Christian Bale’s John Connor in Terminator: Salvation. Supporting characters play a great part in a movie and it’s rare these days that the strength of a movie can be placed on just one character. Point to note: one doesn’t always have to be the main character to be great in a movie.

Ah life is good in movie land this summer. Star Trek & Terminator: Salvation were both great and I “wonder” just what’s Up next?

P.S. If any of you are up to winning some hi-tech gear, there’s a blogging and video contest with great prizes that’ll reward your creative juices. Check it out here!

Terminator: Salvation

Terminator: Salvation

Highly-anticipated but a little disappointing. The conclusion of the movie leaves a fair bit to be desired and while watching it with my friend Jonas; well, he pointed out correctly that the closing battle in the movie was somewhat of a farce. It was a lil’ annoying tho’ that he pointed out some of these things while we were watching it. Heh heh … oh well.

Other than the two things above, Terminator: Salvation is definitely a worthy add-on to the Terminator series. On the whole I really enjoyed the performances of Christian Bale and of special note would Sam Worthington who plays the mysterious Marcus Wright. If some of you have already seen the trailer and the exclusive 4-min clip at Apple.com then you’d already know why Marcus Wright is such an interesting character and definitely a great addition to Terminator canon. I liked his character even more than I did Bale’s rendition of John Connor.

Effects-wise , Skynet’s army of robots are a sight to see. Hunter Killers, Mototerminators, T-600 terminators and some I don’t even know what they’re called; they are quite a spectacle to watch on the big screen. The future is a desolate & dark place indeed!

The weirdest thing that just occurred to me about the Terminator series is that Skynet is a computer and it so desperately wants to kill John Connor … that’s a lot of faith by the dreaded AI that one person can make a difference in a future that’s already overrun by the machines. Heh … funny how Skynet has a lot more faith than a lot of us put together. I think we can learn something from this fictional AI character in the movie. LOL!

All in all, I enjoyed the movie a whole lot even though the ending was a bit of a fizzle. McG (the director) definitely did a good job on this one but to be fair to him, 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day with James Cameron at the helm is a hard movie to beat cos’ the memory of it is burned into so many of us who watched it when we were younger (yes, yes I’m that old!).

Despite some of my negative comments, Terminator: Salvation is still a worth a watch at the movies this season. Catch it at a cinema near you!

P.S. Thank YOU Joshua for the FREE tickets. It was super nice of you to give them to me! God bless!

Rating: 4 Stars (out of 5)