Tag Archives: Pinoy Exchange

Review: Real Steel (2011)

via wikipedia

via wikipedia

Real Steel tells the story of Charlie Kenton played by Hugh Jackman who travels around with his fighting robots in tow. It is loosely based on the short story by Richard Matheson entitled Steel where fighting robots are the new form of entertainment through the sport of boxing.

While Charlie is on the road, he received bad news about the death of his old beau leaving him an 11-year old son named Max who now needs a guardian. He was then summoned to attend the custody hearing of his son whom he willingly gave to his sister-in-law in exchange of $100,000. His sister-in-law’s husband offered him half the money to take care of Max while they were on vacation. Charlie agreed and took Max with him who proves to be a very strong-willed kid and whose love for video games helps train his robots and Atom, a sparring robot found by Max in a junkyard and successfully fielded it into the World Robot Boxing Championship.

Dakota Goyo who played Max was an absolute darling on the big screen. His immense passion was clearly established with his relationship to Atom. I thought the dancing scenes were funny and it gives you that giggling feeling about the kid that served as an appetizer to an impending good fight, sort of like waiting for a Manny Pacquiao versus a Mexican boxer bout.

Hugh Jackman really delivered his role’s full potential. There were pretty touching moments that simply do magic into the film’s action-packed sequences. These sequences are well executed, as they do not exaggerate real battles but conform into the flow of the film.

The support was also impressive coming from Charlie’s love interest Bailey (played by Evangeline Lily) and his sister-in-law played by Hope Davis.

Another good thing about this film is that it has a vision. The cohesive storyline made it an enduring two-hour flick; you won’t even notice that it was that long. It was a normal story that does not need any twists or shocking scenes to lure you into watching it. It simply is just about robots and the father and son relationship. It may be the result of excellent special effects or good cinematography or maybe even good soundtrack but it boils down to the fact that it was one heck of a film that surely adults and kids alike would enjoy.

My Rating: 9/10

This film review was first posted at Pinoy Exchange. Read all my film reviews atPinoy Exchange Official PEx Movie Reviews.

@Gateway Cinema 5 w/D

Oct13,2011

Director: Shawn Levy
Hugh Jackman, Dakota Goyo, Evangeline Lilly, Anthony Mackie, Kevin Durand

Review: Cowboys & Aliens (2011)

via wikipedia

via wikipedia

Cowboys and Aliens is based on the 2006 graphic novel by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, which I haven’t read prior to watching this film. The movie starts with a stranger (Daniel Craig) who wakes up in the desert town of Absolution with no memory at all. The only clue to who he might be is a weird bracelet attached to his wrist. Colonel Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford) whose power is feared by the town’s people ran the town of Absolution.

At the night when the mysterious alien spaceships arrive in town and abduct most of its people one by one, the stranger whose name is Jake and is wanted for several crimes according to the town’s sheriff, discovers the use of his bracelet and collaborates with the cowboys to hunt the aliens and save those who were abducted.

I was thinking upon seeing the film’s trailer that it’d be a really interesting watch and something that would be a mash-up between Indiana Jones and James Bond boasting both actors who played each character. I was however a bit disappointed with the several loopholes presented in the film. Everything got mixed-up for me. First, the aliens’ objective to attack to accumulate gold lacks narrative (this is from someone who have not read the book.)

Ella’s scenes (Olivia Wilde) were a bit off because she would just pop out and it was distracting in the serious tone of the film. She always looks good and clean in the film’s dusty setting which kind of reminds me of Megan Fox in Transformers. Although her character is somewhat important because she knows stuff about Jake and the aliens, her dialogue didn’t give much information. Moreover, what exactly do the aliens want from Jake? They remind me of the prawns in District 9 but more grotesque and cartoon-like. Also, the scene which I’m just totally clueless about was the “light” the abductees are looking at. Exactly what is that? A hypnotism device of some sort?

Both Craig and Ford were actually okay and delivered most parts like how they should be delivered, it’s just that you will not feel for them because there’s no connection from them at all. I am not saying that it is a bad film. In general, it took me to that level where I’m expecting a lot of guns shooting and killing with the humans winning. I am just surprised with its mediocrity. The concept may be new to the ear but the scenes – I have seen them before.
Based on the graphic novel of Scott Mitchell Rosenberg
Director: John Favreau
Starring: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Paul Dano, Clancy Brown, Keith Carradine, Noah Ringer
Rating: 5/10
@ the Philippine Premiere of Cowboys And Aliens
SM Noth Edsa IMAX Cinema c/o Pinoy Exchange

This review was first posted at the Official PeX Movie Reviews at Pinoy Exchange.

 

Review: Insidious (2011)

Insidious is about a boy who succumbs into an unexplainable comatose which leads to supernatural events involving the devil himself.

via wikipedia

via wikipediaFilm

You can easily tell the similarity of its style to Paranormal Activity, though less canted in shots. That being said, it was mostly the shots that made the film scary. It was a bit slow-paced but I love how subtle each scene was presented in the first half of the film.

Rose Byrne was amazing as usual but the rest of the cast were such a waste. The evil “lurkers” acted much better than the rest of them. Patrick Wilson always reminds me of a one dimensional theater actor.

It actually felt like I was watching two different films forcibly joined together with all the dream sequences of Rose Byrne and Barbara Hershey and the idea of having spirit questors to fight off the evil spirits.

The latter part of the film started to become unbearable but I opted to finish it hoping that the film could redeem itself and fortunately, it did. The last few scenes were scary and give you that creepy feeling as if someone’s about to get you while you sleep.

If you are into the supernatural horror genre, you should go and watch it but do not expect it to be that good for it may disappoint you big time.

Director: James Wan
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, Ty Simpkins, Barbara Hershey, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson

My rating is 6/10

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Review: Hop (2011)

I was able to catch the advance screening of HOP last night in Glorietta 4 Cinema 3 with my friend Doms courtesy of Pinoy Exchange where I wrote a review of the film. Here’s what I thought of it –this review was first posted on the official PEx Movie Review thread.

via wikipedia

via wikipedia

The film focuses on E.B.–son of the Easter Bunny–who dreams of becoming a drummer instead of taking over his father’s job, and Fred, a happy go lucky human who accidentally injures E.B. and eventually helps him overcome the evil plan of the Easter chick Carlos to destroy Easter.

This film does not really require a great deal of dissection. We could easily relate with E.B’s character, someone who dreams big but is caught in an inevitable obligation; while Fred is someone who’s always yearning for something else in life without actually having any clue on what that is.

I thought the whole film was a bit slow, though it is highly entertaining especially to the kids who truly enjoy the antics of the very cute E.B. as well as the chicks’ characters. It is incomparable to Toy Story or Shrek or even the most recent film Rango, but it has the elements of a good film.

Its trailer alone is fun to watch but after watching the whole film, you’ll see that the story lacks depth. But hey! Who needs depth if you can just laugh along with the kids in the cinema?

I’m giving it a 7.5/10 rating.

Director: Chris Meledandri

Starring: James Marsden, Russell Brand, Kaley Cuoco, Hank Azaria, Gary Cole, Elizabeth Perkins, Hugh Laurie, David Hasselhoff

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