Movie Reviews By Movie Reviews Pro

Tau Ming Chong: The Warlords

Rating:

Movie: The Warlords (2007)

Studio : Morgan & Chan Films

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 127 min

Website : warlordsthemovie.com

Trailer :
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcupej

Review:

Missing the chance to catch this film during New York’s Asian Film Festival, I was pleased to learn about the film’s “wider” release to theaters. While released a few years back, the task of subbing a foreign film into the U.S. combined perhaps with other unknown complications have disallowed American audiences from seeing this film locally until recently.

Although widely unknown by most Americans, the Taiping Rebellion is considered by many to be one of the most violent wars of all-time, matching World War I and some may even argue the second World War as well. I will skip the background of this time, as the movie itself actually centers less on the large scale of its history and more on a point involving three particular men. A fallen general finds solace in a poor village where he meets two bandit leaders. With his guidance, they not only do they become brothers-in-arms, but fight off the rebel insurgence. Between this, there is an affair, politicking, and quite a few gorgeous moments to drink in the scenery.

I should say that even as someone who has never been a historian of this period of time, you can still tell that this film is adulterated from its original content, although if you’re complacent with the accuracy of films like Braveheart and U-571, then you should be content with this film because, despite the nature of the film, the overall execution is brilliant. Wars are epic in scale and given a gritty feel, and while there is a martial arts feel to the film, this film attempts to ground itself a little more, give or take a duel or two.

I can honestly say I enjoyed this film and would watch it again. Granted, I am a fan of this kind of Hong Kong cinema, but even when the gloves are back on and the subterfuge plays, there is a lot to appreciate between the unspoken moments of the film, from jade-toned misty mountain ranges to gracefully filthy villages to unspoken words between vocal expressions. This is definitely a foreign blockbuster I would recommend to any fan of action films willing to do a little reading with some points of underexaggerated drama.

-Donald Lee

Action, Drama, In Theaters, War

The Bounty Hunter

Rating:

Movie: The Bounty Hunter(2010)

Studio : Original Film

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 106 min

Website : bountyhunter-movie.net

Trailer :
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcupc0

Review:

The whole premise plays out like the classic Seinfeld-ish chain of events. Gerard Butler plays a washed out cop-turned-bounty hunter, and Jennifer Anisten plays an aspiring reporter under parole. What do the two have in common? They were married. What happens when our female protagonist’s parole is missed for a big scoop? Wackiness!

It’s hard for me to not give The Bounty Hunter a little more credit where it’s due. Why? Ideally, I would like to say that the movie producers threw a little money my way and I complied like a bobblehead on a boat, but the honest truth is that despite how cliché this film is, it’s still reasonably watchable. This movie was made with no real contention for a great script, plot, or anything, and the actors know this and you can tell they’re having fun with it as a result. Gerard is practically borderline Jim Carrey at points in his outlandishness to Anisten’s forced straight man compliance, and I have to admit that it genuinely amused me feeling the energy the two gave off with each other. The side characters, while interesting, are fairly forgettable save two roles, one played by Christine Baranski as Aniston’s overly amorous lounge singer mother and Siobhan Fallon as Butler’s crude bail bond contact. Again, both seem to be somewhat exaggerated, and I think that’s what made them so infectiously funny.

This is the sort of film I would call a “compromise” if you want to see something with your amorous other and can’t choose between the chick flick or the action film. They’re both somewhat shlocky genres in general, and while the mishmash between them aren’t totally compatible (it actually stands out more towards the action end, in my opinion), there’s still enough in this film to make it fun to watch for some harmless entertainment.

-Donald Lee

Action, Comedy, In Theaters, Romance

Layer Cake

Rating:

Movie: Layer Cake

Studio : Sony

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 106 min

Website : Layer Cake Movie

Trailer :http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8ptle

Review:

When looking up “Layer Cake” on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB, the combined, it only gained a 7.75, but the reasons given by critics were that it was the same as all the other British crime dramas that predated it, mostly notably “Snatch” and “Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels”. As the producer on the two movies, it isn’t surprising that one would make this comparison, but they missed the mark. The point of “Layer Cake” was to take these same ideas, where bumbling criminals can always succeed and turn them on its head.

On previous projects that Mr. Vaughn worked with Guy Richie, the characters played by Jason Statham, Tom and Turkish respectively were neither adept nor even competent. The character played by Craig is a middle man for the British drug trade with aspirations of getting out of the business, not because of morality, but because he is a business man who tires of the incompetence of those he works with. He is backed by a small group of cohorts who help him ply his trade. Because he is careful, Craig’s character tries to stay away from those who aren’t.

Unfortunately for him, in his self-stated last deal, he is given the task of selling 1,000,000 ecstasy hits which were stolen from a group of Serbian militants. The thieves are the kind that he attempts to avoid, but now has no choice but to associate with him. Having both the British drug lords and Serbian militants on either side of him, guns drawn if he decides to sell or give the drugs to anyone but them, he has to get creative.

With a stellar cast, including George Harris, Colm Meanny, Kenneth Cranham, Sienna Miller, and Michael Gambon, the film succeeds at every corner, giving only the exact amount of information needed to move the story forward. For a viewer that wants everything explained to them, this is not the film for you, but on a second watch, the film will answer most of the questions needed to truly enjoy the movie.

A last word about cinematography and soundtrack: I am not sure that I have seen many movies with many more beautiful shots which flow in and out like dancers on a stage or music that so suits the mood, from The Cult’s “She Sells Sanctuary” to Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get Blue Monday out of My Head” to Joe Cocker’s “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”, every song fits the moment of film perfectly as if they were written for this project.

Layer Cake is a must watch, and a suggested buy for film.

-M. Sigurd Hall

Crime, Drama, On BLU-RAY, On DVD, Thriller crime, Drama, Thriller

The Men Who Stare at Goats

Rating:

Movie: Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

Studio : BBC Films

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 94 min

Website : themenwhostareatgoatsmovie.com/

Trailer :http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xaaujb

Review:

Even with its somehow puzzling title, The Men Who Stare at Goats offers an impressive line-up that raises our expectations significantly. Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, George Clooney and Kevin Spacey form a high priced cast bound to please all viewers and that make us hold out for another Hollywood blockbuster on the American army. Mind you, this is not what you’re going to get (it’s much better).

Based on true events (and on Jon Ronson’s book of the same name), the film takes us on a mind-boggling adventure through the Middle East, as Bob Wilson (McGregor) digs deeper into Lyn Cassidy’s secret psychic army story. Gone to Kuwait to win back his ex-wife by impressing her with his war reporter experience (go figure!), Bob Wilson stumbles upon Lyn Cassidy, a special-op force psychic agent played by an especially tanned and crazy-eyed Clooney. Cassidy reluctantly takes him along his journey to find his mentor, Bill Django (Bridges), creator of “the New Earth Army”, a secret experimental army unit formed of psychic warriors aka “Jedi warriors” (humoristic hint at McGregor’s famous Star Wars’ role). Bob Wilson tries to learn more/make sense of the mission of these incredible super-powered soldiers by following Lyn Cassidy in his crazy adventures.

Super-powered? You may ask. Then it has to be some kind of science fiction movie, right? Or is this another “Roswell-like” situation the American people have not yet heard about? Not exactly. Weirdly enough, we do not once witness any super power display or have a tangible proof of their incredible capacities. Instead of that, we discover the power of the mind over logic, over physics and most of all over common sense. What the film succeeds to do is keep us at the edge of our seats, expecting to see the magic happen, with goofy plot twists and hilarious dialogues that make no sense whatsoever to people in their right minds. As the two men’s adventure goes from disaster to disaster, we can’t help but wonder why Ewan McGregor’s character keeps going along with this masquerade. But what we slowly realize is that this insane hippie project is maybe not that irrealistic and offers to those soldiers an ideal to follow, a place to belong to.

The magic power of The Men Who Stare at Goats resides in showing us the capacity of the human mind to believe and to defy logic with unconditional faith. Maybe this is what we need: something to believe in. No matter how crazy it may seem, we simply need something to make us keep on going. All in all, do not expect to get it, do not expect to make sense of the characters, just be prepared for a very odd hour an a half of delectable madness.

-Nolwen Cosmao

Comedy, On BLU-RAY, On DVD, War