You Are The Apple Of My Eye (那些年，我们一起追的女孩) Review

You Are The Apple of My Eye is a Taiwanese romantic, coming-of-age comedy about Ko Ching-Teng (Ko Chen Tung), a mischievous, lazy student who falls for an honour student, Shen Chia-yi (Michelle Chen) and chases her.



I'm not a fan of romantic comedies at all. I loathe it when the main plot is about a couple. I, however, found this film very sweet. I loved the character and the relationship between the 2 main characters were beautiful and believable. You root for them to get together. And the film, unlike alot of romantic comedies out there, is funny.

I thought that even though Ching-Teng was a cliche character, he was still likable and you don't get bored from his character. Chia Yi was also another likable character and I really bought the relationship. So, kudos to the actors because both really have chemistry. Even though I thought that their acting could have used some improvement, it was not too much of a distraction.

One thing I really liked about the film was the ending. It made me respect the story a lot more and teaches us how love is about sacrifices as well. It may cause a huge upset but, let's face it, life can end up this way as well.

My complaints for this movie are very minor. First, I thought that some comedy (most of which derived from sexual humour) was little too much at times. The movie also dragged in the middle. And, as mentioned, the acting wasn't the best.

However, despite my complaints, I enjoyed watching this movie and I highly recommend it to everyone (who are not children).

Arthur Christmas: An animated comedy from Aardman. You know what that means? Lots of British humour! You know what that also means? I need to watch the movie more than once to get the British humour because I'm dumb that way!



Arthur Christmas answers a popular question: How does Santa get around the world with presents all in one night? Also, why is it that we can never see Santa's house even if we searched it on Google Earth? The answer is that Santa (voiced by Jim Broadbent)and his millions if (ninja) elves go around the world delivering presents in a high tech spaceship. The person controlling this mission is none other than his son, Steve (Hugh Laurie). One day, however, a child's present has not been delivered and it up to Arthur (James McAvoy) and his granfather, grandsanta (Bill Nighy)to get that present to the child before Christmas morning.

Yes, the story's highly predictable but aside from that I really enjoyed this movie. It was smart, funny and beautifully animated. This movie is, also, coming from Aardman (the people who created Chicken Run and Happy Feet). In this movie, every character is likable as well. Arthur, the extremely holiday-spirited boy, is very lovable and I thought that James McAvoy has done such a great job to bring out the sweetness and innocence of this character. Grandsanta is very funny as well.

The animation is brilliant. The details to the character's hair, clothes, clouds- all beautifully done. I know this sounds gross but I was looking at Grandsanta's nose at one point and I just love how they put so much detail into it. Also, the first flying scene was great and it really gave me that sense of flight (and it reminded me of How to Train Your Dragon as well!)

The humour, I thought, was okay. It wasn't laugh-out-loud funny but I had a few chuckles here and there. I saw what they were trying to do but I didn't think it was as funny as everyone said it was to be. Some jokes feel flat for me and were a little too kiddish for my taste.

The movie dragged in the middle and I couldn't help but feel a little bored.

The "moral of the story" was pretty interesting too because it wasn't for kids. They tackled on the issue of "Old vs New" and which is better. So, that's always interesting to see how one has an advantage over the other.

This would be definitely be one of the movies where families would watch over and over again on Christmas. Arthur Christmas is a Christmas classic.

Puss In Boots Review

Puss In Boots finally has his own movie! And what a great lead character he was!



Puss In Boots is a prequel of Shrek and it stars the sexy, charismatic Puss (Antonio Banderas) out on an adventure to find the magical beans and, subsequently, the golden goose. Together with him on this adventure are Kitty Softpaw (Salma Hayek) and Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis). Of course, with every hero, there's a villian. And for this movie, it's Jack and Jill fill those shoes. At the same, Jack wants to be a father!

First, the positives: This film is very funny and very cute. There's humour for everyone of any age and that's always great.

You care for the main character as well which is very important in films. Banderas does such a great job to bring out the character. I loved Puss in the Shrek films and he and Donkey were my favourite characters. Of course, what we've learned from Cars 2 is that you should never give the "clown" his own spin-off. And I am very glad they gave this movie to Puss. He's a great character and you would fall in love with him (especially if you are a cat-lover).

The relationship between Kitty Softpaws and Puss wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. I usually hate the romantic plots in movies but this was really sweet and believable.

The animation is (of course) amazing and beautiful. And this, being a Dreamworks film, has amazing 3D sequences. The animators did such a great job with Puss' fur and it looks so soft and realistic- amazing! The action scenes were great as well. The dance sequence between Puss and Kitty was very creative and very entertaining to watch as well.

Unfortunately, this suffers from what most Dreamworks film suffers from. It's entertaining but there's not much heart in their movies. Yes, they try with Puss' caregiver and Puss but it didn't work as well as I wanted. Furthermore, the relationship between Puss and Humpty wasn't very good, as well. And the main villian of this film was very weak and the film ran out of the steam before it ended. The climax of this movie was pretty ridiculous to be honest.

However, it's still an above average show and I liked it very much. It's very fun and exciting and I recommend it for the whole family.

The Three Musketeers (2011) Review

To be honest, I have no idea what the storyline for the original Three Musketeers is. So, I can't judge if the storyline is congruent to the recent Musketeers movie. I've only watched one Musketeer movie (besides this) and it's the Disney version. You know...



I don't think this is the real storyline, right?

Anyway, the recent Three Musketeers is about a young lad by the name of D'Artagnan [thank you internet! Or I would have never remembered his name] (Logan Lerman) teams up with three "retired" Musketeers (Matthew MacFadyen, Luke Evans and Ray Stevenson)to defeat the evil Richlieu (Christoph Waltz), Buckingham (Orlando Bloom) and a sly lady called Milady (Milla Jovovich).



To be honest, you don't really need to know the plot because the story-telling in this movie is really horrible. And so was the acting. Everything was just too cartoon-ish. The green screen was really obivious so points are lost for visual effects. Although, in it's defence, some visuals are pretty enough to enjoy.

I have heard many horrible things about this movie. So, I went into the theatres with really low expectations. When I came out of the movie, I thought that it was pretty decent. The movie did what it was meant to do: To be a fun show. And I, honestly, had fun in this movie. Although I didn't laugh at most of the jokes, it didn't make me cringe and I just went with the flow. The movie's pretty dumb as well but it's not dumb to the point that it's annoying. It's hard to explain, but I enjoyed the goofiness of The Three Musketeers.

It's a passable movie though. However, I didn't think it was as bad as everyone claims it is.

And is it me or does some part of the soundtrack sound very familiar?

At 0:24


At 0:26

Cars 2 Review

Over the weekend, I've watched Cars 2: The first Pixar movie that had a rotten in "Rotten Tomatoes", breaking Pixar's perfect streak. Was it really that Pixar bad?



Cars 2, if you have done your research, is about Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) instead of Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson). McQueen, who had invited Mater and some of their Radiator Springs buddy, is travelling across 3 countries to compete in the World Grand Prix. Somehow, Mater gets mistaken as an American spy and teams up with the 2 British spies: Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) and Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer).

First off, the positives: Cars 2 was beautiful! The reflections of the car, the waves (note: Water is probably the hardest thing to achieve in animation) and the sceneries. This is one beautiful film to watch. Another part I love about the movie (which I enjoyed from the first film) was the friendship formed between Mater and McQueen. Yes, it got a tad bit preachy and corny the middle, but, eventually, I thought the way they portrayed their bromance was sweet.

Now, for the bad, and, trust me, there is alot of things to complain about Cars 2.

I don't like Mater. I liked him in the first movie when he was the secondary character but he just cannot be the main character. His humour is so unfunny and the jokes wear out very quickly. And speaking of jokes, they are extremely childish in this film. I never liked Pixar jokes. I hardly laughed in Toy Story 3 or Up when you're supposed to laugh. But what do those 2 films have to make up for the lack of laughter? Having the heart at the right place. Another reason that I felt Cars 2 lacked. It had heart, trust me. It tried to have heart. However, it was all wrong. Like I said above, it was so cheesy and they emphasizing on Mater and McQueen's friendship that it became preachy and uncomfortable in the middle of it.

Pixar fans won't enjoy it. I don't think fans of the original Cars would enjoy it since the tone is extremely different. I didn't enjoy this movie and I thought it was a tad bit draggy in the the middle. However, I didn't think it was as bad as everyone says it is. It is a passable movie.

Toy Story 4?

I know this movie news is pretty late but I didn't have time to report it over the week due to my examinations. So, Tom Hanks hinted in an interview that perhaps Toy Story 4 may happen?

Before anyone jumps in to say, "This is a terrible idea! Totally unnecessary. Toy Story 2 and 3 were great." First, let me tell you this: Unless planned, all sequels are unnecessary. We didn't need a Toy Story 2. We didn't need a Spiderman 2. We didn't need an Iron Man 2. And right now, we don't need a Thor 2 (which is set to come out in 2013). It's not about the numbers, it's about the story-telling nowadays. Yes, there should be a limit (I'm looking at your Kung Fu Panda) but it'll be interesting to know how things are going in Bonnie's house and perhaps we can see them returning to Andy when he has kids (which was what I really wanted because seeing Andy and Woody seperate broke my heart).



I am not a fan of sequels, though. There are some films that should be left alone. But there are some movies (like How To Train Your Dragon) where I wouldn't really mind a sequel because I want to get into that world again. Full of dragons and I absoublutely love the time I spent with the characters. So, I wouldn't mind a second and third one (which are, hopefully, good, if not, better than the first one)

So, I'm willing to give Toy Story 4 a try since I do love seeing the world in a toy's point of view.

*sniffles* Last Harry Potter Trailer Ever

I don't know about you but I have grown up with Harry Potter. Sure, there was a drought between Order of Phoenix but I still recovered and became a Potter head again. It's just devastating to see Hogwarts just destroyed like this. And now, readers, I will say my top 5 favourite parts of the movie:

1) Mummy Potter in the beginning
Mummy Potter telling little Harry to stay strong before she got killed by Voldemort. And little Harry's crying his eyes out. I feel a tear in my eye.

2) Contrast
I just loved how they showed the Qudditch pitch in a pretty bright background and then just transitioning to the pitch just being on fire and the stands are just falling off. Oh my goodness. My heart just... can't take the pain.

3) Snape
Gosh, I love this character. And Harry just shouting at him, telling him about the whole "Dumbledore trusted him", trying to make him feel guilty.

4) The Stone
*SPOILER*
Harry uses the Resurrection Stone to summon back Lupin, Sirius, Lily and James before he confronts Voldemort. A scene in the book that had me bawling my eyes out. I really wasn't expecting them to put this part in. Goodness, I'm crying just thinking about it.

5) NOSTALGIA!
They went back to all the previous movies and you see Harry and you'll go, "He's so grown up!" And you start crying. Or that's the case for me.

Btw, Dreamworks marketting team, this is how you're supposed to make a good trailer. Great blend of action and emotion.

Best. Trailer. Ever. Excuse me while I go blow my nose...

You Again (2010) Review

It's so hard to find clean live-action comedies nowadays. But here comes one: You Again

You Again is about a high-powered PR professional discovers that her brother is about to marry the woman who made her high school life a living hell in this comedy. Starring Kristen Bell and Jamie Lee Curtis.

I've heard many bad things about this movie. So, I decided to avoid it. But my mum rented it out of the blue and I thought, "Eh, why not?"

It wasn't as bad as other people say it is. Of course, to be fair, I did pause to go for lunch during the movie so that could've been a factor. I mean, it's pretty much clean comedy (no swearing, AMAZING!) with a few gags here and there. Some physical humour involved.

To be honest, I didn't find the movie funny... at all. I could just tell the jokes from a mile away. The jokes are extremely cliche or they just fall flat on the face. I really don't remember any time in the movie where I actually laughed. And just because you get Betty White as some sexy cougar doesn't equal to comedy gold.

The acting was fine. Nothing much to say. It was just... fine. Though, I did like the Rock's cameo. It was a very cute moment in the beginning.

But I have to give the movie some credit: They do attempt the whole "3-dimensional" character which I always appreciate in films. The "evil" character was not all out evil at all. Everyone had their reasons for being mean so, it's cool. Another thing I would give the movie credit for was that they didn't make Betty White this old lady that spouts vulgarities. Honestly, people, that's not funny. It's just sad to see them treating Betty White like that.

Overall, it was a pretty passable, extremely forgettable film. It was entertaining while it lasted but it wasn't funny. Period.

Despicable Me 2 Teaser

Following the 2010 box office success: Despicable Me 2!

The teaser's out pretty early. Darn, I want a How To Train Your Dragon 2 teaser now...

Desperate Hollywood

In the year of the sequels (2011 has the most number of sequels coming out), it's pretty evident that Hollywood's getting very desperate for ideas. Right now, Hollywood's rebooting classics or just shoving out unnecessary sequels just to get some money. And most "original" movies that came out are basically the same formula (save for movies like Source Code).

Reboot of a Reboot


I have to admit, I didn't watch both Wolfman(men?). But this is just the perfect example of how desperate Hollywood is. Wolfman (2010) bombed in the box office. Yet, they're still rebooting this movie? This doesn't make any sense at all!

Movies out of board games
Apparently, Risk and Battleship are both getting a movie. Remember those childhood games you might have played with your friends and families? Hollywood just wants to make money out everything, don't they?

But I have to admit, I'm not as cynical with this option. I laughed and taunted at Hollywood for making a movie about the founding of Facebook. And The Social Network was one heck of a brilliant movie and made it on my top 10 list last year. I even rooted for it to win for Best Director (David Fincher lost to Tom Hooper).

Ruining everyone's childhood



So, we had Yogi Bear, Alvin and the Chipmunks and the new Smurf movie. And all of them just looks so awful. I've watched Alvin and the Chipmunks and I just hate how it's all cute and no story. I don't even feel the directors saying, "Hey! Let's make a movie about this particular show we watched as a child and pay a homage to it. Remind the audience why we loved it so much as a kid and why we still love it as adults now!" No! They downplay it to cheap slapstick jokes. They made those movies into a kids movie and not a family movie.

But I have to admit, the TinTin trailer (though not my cup of tea as a kid) looks very promising.



Not only that, Hollywood has decided to make sexy versions of our childhood stories like Red Riding Hood. Was it really necessary to sexify the whole d*mn story?! I mean, stop ruining our childhood Hollywood! Not everything's about sex! Seriously!


I think what Hollywood really needs to do is to think of new and creative ideas. And if they really can't, they can always dig out a formula and work on the storytelling. If your story's not original, then rely on your storytelling. Worked for many movies so far.

Movie to check out this week

In the late '70s, a mysterious train crash occured in a small Ohio town. Summer, 1979: a group of young friends are filming a Super-8 movie when a pickup truck derails a speeding train. When the locals start to disappear and even the inquisitive deputy can't come up with answers, suspicions emerge that the incident was anything but an accident. As the truth finally begins emerge, no one is prepared to learn what now stalks the unsuspecting citizens of this once quiet community.

Starring
Kyle Chandler
Elle Fanning

I've heard raving reviews about this movie. Unfortunately, I won't be able to review it myself due to time constraint. But I'll do a DVD review once it comes out. Always nice to go behind the scenes :)

OFFICIAL Twilight Breaking Dawn Trailer

I absolutely hate the Twilight saga. I read the books when everyone told me that it was the "new" Harry Potter or the "better" Harry Potter. I thought the first book was annoyingly boring, and I liked neither Bella nor Edward. In the second book, Jacob had more on-screen time. I liked him. I thought he was a pretty cool character. But by the end of the third and last book, man, did I loathe Bella and her terrible personalities.

And her boyfriend being a stalker that watches her to sleep every night. Jacob's in love with Bella's daughter. And they were all preparing for a fight that never happened. And Bella was just frustrating. I still remember I was so tempted to tear out one page where she said "oh, I was so ugly as a human, but now that I look like a vampire, I like GORGEOUS!" Honestly, Bella?!

But here's the trailer for the new Twilight: Breaking Dawn. I liked the trailer even though most people didn't. The music was epic and I was pretty fine with that. And I liked how they didn't show the wedding cards at first until Jacob's dad picked it up. I don't know. I liked it when most people don't. (And I bet you that this is probably going to be as good as it gets)

But what I don't get about Breaking Dawn is: Why is it split into 2 parts? I mean, for money, yeah. But I'm sure it'll be a total fluff the whole way through. At least in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, though they split it up for obvious economic reasons, it is understandable as well. Unlike Breaking Dawn, the last book was no fluff. It was story and emotions. And I don't mind that Warner Brothers is dragging it since the Harry Potter book and movie fans want to take their time to say goodbye.

So, what did you think of the Breaking Dawn trailer?

Kung Fu Panda 2 Review

To be honest, I've always like the first sequel in every single Dreamworks movie. For example, as much as I loved Shrek, I loved Shrek 2 more. I hated Madagascar but found Madagascar 2 pretty enjoyable. And it's no exception that I actually liked Kung Fu Panda 2 more than Kung Fu Panda (which I thought was good but just a tad bit overrated).

Kung Fu Panda 2 talks about Po (Jack Black) teaming up with the Furious Five to defeat their new enemy, a peacock by the name of Lord Shen (Gary Oldman), who created a weapon that could destroy kung fu and the whole of China. The problem now is "how can kung fu stop something that stops kung fu?" That and Po has some daddy issues.

After watching Kung Fu Panda 2, I realised what makes a sequel so great. Just like Toy Story 2, they never made their characters go to level zero again and learn everything from the start. Po can kick butt right from the beginning of the movie. He isn't some idiot that doesn't know kung fu like the first one. In fact, he improved alot! The movie decided to answer some unanswered questions in the first film or bring up some new questions for the viewers to ponder over instead. And, this is by far my favourite sequel out of all the Dreamworks movie in terms of a sequel (I still liked Shrek 2 more). It was a vast improvement from the original in terms of heart, story and visuals.

Po is still as likable as ever. Jack Black did a surprisingly fantastic job at the dramatic scenes. I actually forgave him for that horrid movie "Gulliver's Travel", which I went to watch because I love Jason Segal. I mean, that movie was just terrible! But I learnt that Black is a pretty good actor if given the right script. I enjoyed his presence. He made Po so funny and energetic but so vunerable at the same time.

Gary Oldman as Lord Shen was as good as I expected. That man is fantastic in everthing he does, that's all I need to say. I found Shen to be a very interesting villian. He has his sad backstory and you feel for him. You don't root for him but he's basically a Tai Lung from the first movie. He's a three-dimensional character and I was appreciate a villian that's 3 dimensional. Besides Tigress, the Furious Five didn't have much lines but I really loved their team dynamic in this film. Team Furious Five and Po! And Shifu and Mr Ping are as awesome as they are in the previous movie

I loved the Tai Lung/Shifu backstory. That was the reason why Shifu was my favourite character in the whole Kung Fu Panda series (even though he made a very brief appearance in this movie). However, though it made me feel for both characters, I never felt the urge to cry. Heart-wrenching as it was, it never pushed your emotions any further. KFP 2 is diffrent. When you find out what happened to Po (though the story was, admittedly, not original), you can't help but feel your heart being punched a thousand times and your tears are just threatening to fall down (and that's not good since I was watching it in 3D, which was superb and I would get on that later on). On the last note on the story's heart, loved Po and Mr Ping's relationship.

Visually, it was.... stunning. I mean, it's Dreamworks. Although they've got a bad record of making terrible movies (which I didn't think were THAT bad), their animation has always been very impressive. And they just keep improving with every single new film. Kung Fu Panda 2 is no exception. 3D: It wasn't dark and it was effective. I recommend 3D but it'll be fine if you don't watch it in 3D too.

Take note, though, that the humour in this movie was not as good as the humour in the first. Mostly because they replaced the humour with heart. Fortunately, this movie is well-balanced out between the humour and the emotional point of the story. And not one part funny and then sad and then funny again.

Now here's a very interesting part to this film:

The climax was just... wow. You would expect some big bad explosions with Po fighting off thousands of evil bad guys. But, no. The climax was nothing like that (though he does fight off hundreds of evil bad guys in the film for those who really want to see that happening). The climax was surprisingly.... a character moment. They never tried to do anything big (okay, to a certain extent, i guess it was pretty "big"). The climax was really all about Po and what he had learnt. And it was really really sastisfying. I was just sitting there going, "Wow.... I LOVE this movie" And it really proves to me that this movie never tried the "bigger is better" ploy. The climax was basically what the whole movie was about: The main character and the emotions that he was struggling with and I really respect the filmmakers for such a wise decision.

And I am really looking forward to the 3rd movie! (but, DW, PLEASE don't make 6 movies unless you have it all planned out like Harry Potter)

On this note, I would like to urge everyone: PLEASE! Watch this over Hangover Part II. This is a sequel that bothers with heart and telling the audience a good story instead of just being a cash cow.

And if you've watched the movie, tell me what you think of it

*superspeed hug* Thanks for reading!