Let's Watch Some Movies

Entry is updated because after writing this, I went and watched two more movies. Scroll for the movie updates. :) Cheers!

Returning to Malaysia means I now am able to watch movies as they are, without having to worry about them being translated into Russian. Two of them I watched while on the plane heading for Malaysia, the other two I got the chance to catch them at the theaters. The movies I watched on the plane turn out to be the Coming Soon movies here...

21

Based on a true story about the MIT Blackjack team, this movie follows a brilliant med-student of Harvard Medical School who seeks some extra cash to pay for his studies. His intelligence attracts the attention of a secret Blackjack team in the university which specializes in using their mathematical skills and sending secret signals to one another in order to win big money in casinos. He is reluctant at first, but after some intensive trainings and encouragements and of course, money, eventually he becomes a big-time gambler!

Starring: Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey

My verdict: First movie I watched while on board Thai Airways. Interesting to watch, but don't gamble! Haram. ~winks~


The Other Boleyn Girl

The Other Boleyn Girl is a romanticized account of the life of the 16th-century aristocrat, Mary Boleyn, who was the sister of Anne Boleyn and one-time mistress of King Henry VIII of England. Mary bears a son for the king, but her being the mistress makes the child deemed unfit for the throne. And then there's Anne, ambitious to become the queen after unable to become the mistress. Her actions in order to win the heart of the king eventually change the course of England's royal ways when her future daughter and only child, Elizabeth, becomes the country's first female monarch after a long line of male rulers.

Starring: Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and Eric Bana.
 
My verdict: At times I loved watching historical movies, this is the second movie I watched on board. Besides the leading actresses are also the pulling factor. The movie itself is good enough to entertain me for two hours or so while on a long flight.
 
 
The Dark Knight

This Batman Returns sequel needs no explanation, what more with the fact that Heath Ledger, the actor behind the creepy Joker, has died due to an accidental overdose after filming the movie. The Joker is the true star of the show although everyone else is equally excellent as well. Besides the Joker, the movie also has another villain, Two Face, who appears for a short but succint time towards the end of the movie.
 
Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman.
 
My verdict: I love this movie, and this is also the first movie I watched here in Malaysia, along with my family. Despite being aired for a couple of weeks already, when I went to watch it it was still a full house in the theater.
 
 
 
 
The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

The movie takes place ten years or so after The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, when adventurer Rick O'Connell, his wife Evelyn and brother-in-law Jonathan are all retired. In the meantime, Rick's son Alex is now an 18-year-old adventurer who is at China to seek to unearth the legendary Dragon Emperor's tomb, determined to not be overshadowed by his father's fame, and instead wants for his father to be known as "the famous Alex O' Connell's father".
 
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, John Hannah, Luke Ford, Isabella Leong and Dato' Michelle Yeoh.
 
My verdict: Very entertaining and witty movie, just like the previous two Mummy installments, with a touch of Chinese legends instead of Egyptian. Planned to watch this with Aysha, ended up dragging Ayman and Zayd as well to watch the movie, while my folks and Hannah watched the movie that same day but at different time. I heard that a prequel for The Scorpion King is gonna be in theaters soon as well, starring Michael Copon.

Meet Dave

Comedy movie about a race of people from another planet in another galaxy in search of water to save their waning planet. These people travel to Earth - where water is abundant - in a spaceship crafted to look like a human in form of Eddie Murphy, who is also the captain of the space crew in this Eddie-Murphy-spaceship. While on Earth, the captain and some of his crews observe the humans in order to deem whether the humans deserve to live - for when they suck in all the water from Earth the planet Earth itself will be destroyed...and so will the inhabitants.

Starring: Eddie Murphy

My verdict: If you are looking for a laugh and an ideal movie to bring your kid siblings, watch this.




Susuk

The title pretty much says it all: the use of susuks are deemed haram in Islam, yet many still opt to use it for it is believed that susuks can enhance the user's attractions. This is a story parallelling the lives of two women: A nurse, Soraya, dreams of a life far more glamorous than her current job as a nurse in a geriatric ward, and of Suzana, a famous diva who is haunted by her use of the strongest of all susuks - the susuk keramat, which demands human lives for every "pantang" that Suzana has committed while wearing the susuks. These two women share something in common other than the fact that they are wearing susuks, but what is it? Watch the movie to find out.

Starring: Ida Nerina, Diana Rafar, Adlin Aman Ramlie

My verdict: The fact that this movie has been put on hold from being screened for TWO YEARS after completing production gives it enough publicity to draw the crowds. Me, Ayman and Hannah went to watch the 10PM show at Pavilion GSC and still it was a full house. The movie is confusing at first but I figured the plot out halfway through, while Hannah who doesn't really understand much of Malay language since she goes to American school in Saudi is struggling to follow the stories, and Ayman breezed through the movie taking everything with stride. Zayd opted to stay at the apartment with my folks in favor of the anime series I have left in my old laptop, which is now his. He doesn't like 'ghost stories' anyway. Susuk is an interesting movie with a great storytelling but it kinda takes a while to figure out the two parallelling plots that eventually merged into one. The ending made me went 'Huh?' for a bit, but it kind of opens the movie for a sequel, if there's a plan for one.