UNSTOPPABLE

Directed by: Tony Scott

Trying to catch a speeding train? You can ask Denzel Washington and Chris Pine for that. As for Chris Pine, this can be his new career choice, after being Captain Kirk now he can become the machinist-minus insomnia and dark imagination. Why train? Since Keanu Reeves has already chase a bus in Speed and Steven Seagal messed up with his horse tail hair in Under Siege 2 so someone should give the train a proper stand off and that guy is Tony Scott.

As for Denzel, I like his movies but I haven't seen his latest flick like The Taking of Pelham 123, since I always remember him as Malcolm X and that guy from Training Day. I do have hopes for Chris Pine since he acted good in Star Trek. However I watch this movie with an expectation. It has a good rating from rottentomatoes. I am expecting this film to be as exciting as Die Hard series.

I have to say I forgot their character's name, even the back story since the main actor of this film is the train! Yes an unmanned half-mile-long freight train barreling toward a city, with poisonous tank behind it. If it crashes it can make a huge disaster. The authority has tried anything to stop it (including trying to shoot it with a machine gun, they must have forgot that Willie E Coyote has more chance stopping a speeding train that a bunch of hot shot SWAT team trying to shoot a small button with a machine gun) but still it doesn't work. Now it is left to these two machinist to stop it.

I like how Tony Scott direct this film. It is quick, fast and entertaining. It looks expensive too with trains collided and helicopters and stuff. The dialogs are also nice, heavy with specific terms on train with Washington and Pine give their best.

It is thrilling and entertaining. If there is one big flaw is that the train is an unmanned train. It has no villain at all except the mysterious train that suddenly went away because of human error.

It would be cool if the train was train jacked by Justin Bieber wearing nothing but a kilt made of Lady Gaga's album cover, demanding the authority to buy his album. Or if Bieber declined to do so make it supernatural, like a ghost manning the train. Now that would make this film an Oscar material.

EASY A

Directed by: Will Gluck

I have no idea why virginity is such a big deal in American teen movies. Is it like that in real life? I have no idea. However virginity is like some inspiration for most movies, from American Pie to The 40 Year Old Virgin.

Just like most teen rom com I have no expectation on this one, in fact I was kinda hoping that this one is like some MTV skit that is a bit funny and forgettable. But I was wrong, Easy A is this year's (500) Days of Summer, a fresh, witty, smart and funny idea for a movie about virginity.

It explores themes many movies have explored,;insecurities, the power of rumor and the hidden will to fit in but in a way smarter (and avoiding stereotypes) than most teen rom com.

Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone) is just an ordinary high school student from Ojai, California. I don't know why, but why does a film portraying an unpopular girl put an attractive girl acting as the unpopular girl? In my high school, Emma Stone could lead a cult of men worshiping her with me as the cult leader.

One day, Olive lied about losing her virginity and overheard by Marianne (Amanda Bynes), a self-righteous religious type. Seriously, these types existed in here too and they are freakishly hilarious.

It takes minutes until the rumor spread and Olive is no longer invisible on the radar of popularity, now even though she could be just a crack on the pavement, Google Earth can locate her.

Losing one reputation, Olive gain a new one. She helped a gay friend named Brandon (Dan Byrd), who has been bullied at school of being gay to make an impression on the public that Brandon is straight. Then it is just an opener, the 'let's not but say we did' antique attracts hordes of geeks and nerdy students who want their 'reputation' to be elevated to a new level. Actually Olive don't do sex at all, she just lied about it and it works.

So where does lie going to take Olive? To a new level and a new problem. Filled with reference to 80s movies and the letter 'A' from Scarlett Letter novel, in which Olive advise people to watch the original film version instead of the Demi Moore version with fake British accent, this one is a surprise for rom com fan and certainly will gain many fans.

Like many good comedies, Easy A manages to make you laugh out loud but also thoughtful in the execution. It proves that a film about virginity doesn't necessarily need to visualize gratuitous nudity, although the word 'twat' and 'skank' is abundant here.

SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT

Directed by: Detlev Buck

A story about a HIV positive ex prostitute from Cambodia and naive fresh graduate student from Germany could be a very serious and murky film. But with a romantic title which is taken from an Asian-English phrase mainly used in South East Asia can make this film looks beautiful.

As always I am afraid that if a film from Europe/United States try to portray a third world country (as far as I know there is only one world) it would fall into a film which degrade or mock the way people live there, as some movies used to portray. But avoiding postcard scenery (and poverty exploitation) plus the usual stereotypes, Buck has managed to deliver a decent and intimate inter cultural love story between Benjamin Prüfer (David Kross, you know him from Krabat and The Reader) and Sreykeo (Apinya Sakuljaroensuk) as they met in a party in Cambodia without over exploiting.

What I find as amazing is I directly recognize the song played in the club, it's Rammstein's Amour which lyrics are great in my opinion. Try to Google the lyrics and find the translation (if you understand German the meaning is more wonderful) of the song.

As their love grows Benjamin learns that Sreykeo is in dire need of money. He naively sent her money for her living (which her mother used it for gambling) and then after he got a job in Germany he return to Cambodia to fight for Sreykeo to have her medication.

What Benjamin did is amazing, not only that he fight for her life, he also have to experience the ups and downs of his relationship with Sreykeo. Will he find his true love in Sreykeo?

Without over the top melodrama and over melancholy song, I can get the chemistry between Benjamin and Sreykeo and how love can cross boundaries and difficulties. But I do mind on Benjamin being too naive, is there a person as naive as Benjamin in real life? I know this film is based on a real story but the director can at least add an edge on Benjamin's personality instead of making Benjamin a naive and a plain lovable person. By making Benjamin too naive the director fail to reach some emotional height necessary for this film. However in the light of that weakness, this film is not a disappointment but something nice to ponder and enjoy at the same time.

David Kross is pulling his best here, he can switch talking German and English in an instant without hesitation and Apinya looks charming talking broken English and a bit German.

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS Part I

Directed by: David Yates

Most people review about the film; well I thought I shall review my journey to watch the film to begin with. It was a surreal journey as I sat on the bus going to the cinema and the bus driver is singing Bad Romance from Lady Gaga over and over again.

I have no idea what went through his mind as he torture the passengers with his very own special rendition. However that was a blast, since few days ago I hear another bus driver played Metallica on their radio.

I have no expectation on David Yates. Ever since he directed the fifth installment of the Harry Potter franchise I wish that the producer would take Darren Aronofsky or Lars von Trier as the director. His first Potter film, Order of the Pheonix is a decent installment and Half Blood Prince is a disappointment. So accompanied by that bus driver rendition of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance I have no expectation from Yates.

This one is different, the last film from an almost 10 year old franchise. We saw Daniel, Rupert and Emma grow on the big screen and time goes by, we have to bid farewell to them. By that, Warner Bros will make sure we dig deep in our pocket to bid farewell since they decided to split the seventh installment in two movies released in six month period. They even consider of converting the film in 3 D to make it more profitable, lucky for us they cancel it at the 11th hour. Ever since Clash of the Titans converted into 3 D, slew of ‘fake’ 3 D have appeared and make the audience disappointed. I do hope Warner Bros learn from that experience.

As for me, I do read the books and watch the previous films but I am not a hard core fan who watches the movie twice and point out differences between books and film while frowning, I tend to just enjoy the ride.

This one is different, the wizards of Hogwarts is no longer inside Hogwarts. They have to be out there in the wild (including in a real London instead of in magical places) surviving the onslaught of Voldemort and his follower ever growing power and influence over the wizarding world and try to destroy the remaining horxruxes (If you don't know what it is, let's say they have to destroy Voldemort's external hardd disk so he cannot backup his data in the future in case the main hard drive and CPU got destroyed by Lady Gaga). By this, the trio of wizards are exposed to new condition and Yates has manage make it as efficient and as entertaining as possible.

In terms of special effect, visual representation and music score there is no complaining at all, it all helps the understanding and by splitting this film into two makes more space for better interpretation and visualization from the book. But in terms of acting there are no improvements from Daniel Radcliffe, he look as wooden as we last saw him on the sixth installment. Emma Watson done decent job but Rupert Grint shines throughout the film. It seems if he keeps doing that he might have a better acting career post Potter fame. Unlike the yawn-ish Half Blood Prince, Deathly Hallows show that Yates has matured in his third attempt in this franchise, the viewers even can understand what a Deathly Hallows is, accompanied by a very interesting animation. Even the lengthy duration itself is not a big deal, everything moves in a good pace.

What I find to be funny is how Dobby is more similar to Vladimir Putin (this one has been a joke in the internet) and how Voldemort is like George W. Bush in terms of visual. Although the story has no allegory on real world we live in, I do hope that Harry Potter is not Tony Blair.

If you are not a Potter fan and never read the book (or at least watch the fifth and sixth installment), you might have difficulties understanding the story and this one definitely not for kids since it has harrowing scenes and some blood.

As for where they split the story, they have done it perfectly by leave it hanging in the middle, making those muggles eagerly anticipate the coming second part thus bidding farewell to a franchise more successful than James Bond franchise. I do hope that the second part will not be a 'Bad Romance' for us all.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Directed by: David Fincher

Do you really need to have a legion of friends to create THE most popular social networking site?

According to this cautionary tale, you don't have to. For all we know, this film is a dramatization of the beginning of Facebook although the people and the law suit that happens is real. This is the anti-social tale of the genesis of social networking.

Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) basically just some nerdy who just got dumped by his girlfriend. Then a combination of anger, feeling rejected, alcohol, blogging and programming ability gave birth to a website comparing woman in Harvard in terms of hotness with farm animals.

The website's traffic increased exponentially in matter of hours and attract the attention of Winkelvoss brothers (both twins acted by Armie Hammer), who wanted Zuckerberg to help them creating some Harvard social networking site. Here, Zuckerberg see a winning move and move ahead by delaying meeting with Winkelvoss brothers and move on with Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield, our future Spider-Man) to create baby Facebook, Facemash and leave the Winkelvosses uninformed at all. By that he infuriated the rich twins and has to face reprisal.

Then comes Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) the Rasputin who whispers ideas into Zuckerberg's mind and the rest is history, especially the breakup of his friendship with Eduardo and how Facebook become the most popular social networking site in the world worth of US$25 billion.

Framing the story in the legal lawsuit in flash-forward and flash-backward, Fincher manages to creep the audience by showing his version of Mark Zuckerberg; a cold, heartless, smart, calculating person who has zero interest in human relationship at all, he even doesn't care on parties and beautiful girls. He doesn't even care on money, it seems that his driving force is because he broke up with his girl friend. To that we have to thank Zuckerberg's ex girlfriend for 'motivating' the nerdy guy from Harvard to revolutionize our life.

This is a cynical and cruel film about how a venture into the making of a website based on friendship ended up destroying friendship of the maker itself.

Loaded with fast pacing dialogs that shoots like a bullet from a Rambo movie, if English is not your mother tongue, you need to concentrate more. Is this a masterpiece? I don't know, time will tell but this is a good film that lingers in my mind hours after I watch it.