"Easy" to love, "A" for Awesome...

I find that Easy A is somehow a proper tribute to John Hughes, the guy who is responsible for 80's teenage flicks, such as Sixteen Candles, Breakfast Club, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Hughes has set up the benchmark of what so-called smart and contemporary teenager movies (back then, stars like Matthew Broderick and Molly Rigwald were youth idols). Alicia Silverstone was the cover girl of the 90's, thanks to her irresistible act as the spoiled Beverly Hills blonde girl in Clueless. Lindsay Lohan was predicted to be the new teenage star (before she committed lots of suicidal career moves) after portraying naïve high-school girl from the suburb in Mean Girls. These two movies have received many acclaims because they have good storyline without cheesy dialogues, and even better, the main stars were really shining on all scenes.

Fast forward another decade; I haven’t seen any other typical good and quality teenager movies, since the trend has changed into a different ‘type’. Thanks to American Pie, nowadays similar genre is not far from nudity or exposing blonde stupidity. Luckily, there are still some bright minded people and clever studio to execute a project such as Easy A. Typical as the previous mentioned movies, Emma Stone is the centre of the whole story, and I must say, she’s truly a perfect casting for the role of Olive Panderghast. Apart from her attractiveness, she is also outstanding and irresistible; you’ll end up loving to see her in every scene. In short, Stone really handles Easy A single handedly, good acting, funny, lovely expression, amazing lines delivery, and even convincingly sang Pocketful of Sunshine stupidly…hey not many can do that but still looks gorgeous!

The story starts with a simple lie which ends up being uncontrolled gossip and wrongly public interpretation. Olive and Rhiannon (Alyson Michalka) are besties who go to Ojai high school, California. Olive is smart, intelligent, and and never gets into trouble...well practically she's invisible. Until one day, Olive tries to avoid her best friend's dinner invitation by telling her that she went on a date with fictional guy. Olive convinces Rhi and creates a believable story of a one-night stand tale, that she's not virgin anymore. Instantly, the rumour of this fabled story has spread out to the entire school, including Marianne (Amanda Bynes), the leader of School Christian Crusade who thinks Olive is comparable with Hester Prynne’s adultery from ‘Scarlett Letter’. Literally at the speed of light Tweets, Facebook, and texts broadcast Olive's promiscuity. Then, a gay guy Brandon (Dan Byrd) asks for her help in the light of her reputation to act that they sleep together in order to spread the news that he’s a straight guy. After the false dramatization at a party, the news travel fast about Olive’s and Brandon’s action, which put her under the radar by all students. At first, she’s enjoying the whole attention, but bit by bit, the whole lies becomes down spiralling in the direction of uncontrollable and unrepairable, since suddenly lots of other ‘Brandons’ come forward to ask for the similar help.

To think Easy A is just another teen movie is a major understatement. It’s a strong film yet confident and well-paced. I like how the story told from Olive’s self broadcast video which she opens up the whole story and divides the movie into several chapters (notice that each chapter title always comes in smart and intelligent wording). It’s a refreshing experience which I haven’t seen in Hollywood for the past few years, perhaps after Mean Girls. It’s enjoyable, frequently funny with a witty script, great characters and an utterly charming central performance from Emma Stone.

Apart from Stone, Easy A is supported by other great cast. Amanda Bynes manages to change her ‘good looking’ image into a very annoying fanatical yet back stabber bitch, Thomas Haden Church is very convincing and charismatic as the Olive favourite teacher, while Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson teams up as Olive’s parents. I really enjoy the parents characters, since they are so funny and hilarious, the jokes are on the spots, while they still show good parenting, especially Tucci, he’s never being funnier. Church and Tucci steal some scenes with their array of comic genius. Penn Badgley (from Gossip Girl) as Todd, Olive’s love interest, is a good additional character to provide at least one positive decent guy in the movie. Another inspiring performance is delivered by Malcom McDowell as principal Gibbons, while Lisa Kudrow did some small role but important one (but she still can’t escape her ‘Phoebe’ tag).

The drawback of Easy A perhaps lies in the very predictable ending, which is sort of too good to be true, especially how Olive can hook up instantly with a decent guy after a string of wrongful doings (which I think not many guys can accept it open heartedly). Another concern is the topic may somehow is a bit beyond the target audience (well, I still found it surprising and quite daring in some aspects). However these minor things aside do not make Easy A is less enjoyable. This modern Scarlett Letter story is well packaged, with Emma Stone is so winning in a star-is-born performance that you happily sit back and enjoy.

My Rating: 8.5/10

What do you know about the Deathly Hallows?

Harry Potter movie saga is just 2 steps away from the climatic ending, and what has been a magical journey for Potter and friends for the past decade to entertain us in the big screen. There hasn't been any other movie series where it keeps progressing throughout the years, with the same main cast, and most importantly, the new movie has been always much better, and matured a lot, following the growth of the main cast. Not all of us may like or follow Harry Potter, but we got to admit, it takes lots of dedication, work, time, and seriousness to make an extensive long time project such as this one. I believe Harry Potter has triggered lots of other projects to transfer fantasy stories into movies (apart from LOTR series, Narnia has been a successful example, while others were created ambitiously yet ended up as failures).

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (HPDH) is the final chapter of the saga, and with the consideration of more in depth storytelling, the studio decided to break the thing into two parts ala Kill Bill. And truthfully, it was a spot on decision, since in my opinion; HPDH is the best of the series so far. Not just it is dark and thrilling, but it shows the depth of the main character which was not shown in the previous movies. To tell you upfront without leaking any spoiler, most of the screen time is given to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Without the brilliant performance from Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, the movie must have been very dull and empty. These three people have matured a lot for the past few years, especially Rupert, in view of the fact that he shows many emotional sides of Ron Weasley.

HPDH part 1 story continues with the miserable life of the good guys after Dumbledore’s tragic death, while Voldermort and the Death Eaters have been gaining power and influence dramatically. Harry, Ron, and Hermione have been escaping any attention from the radar, whereas the moogle (non witch blood) are living under the new regime of terror, since the Ministry has been infiltrated by the dark side. Together, Harry must find the remaining horcruxes (7 parts of Voldermort soul for the purposes of gaining immortality), whilst in the process of finding them, he has to confront the internal problem of breaking up, and putting his loved ones life in peril.

I’m not about to exaggerate this latest Harry Potter, but straightforwardly, it’s a beautifully crafted movie yet terrifying (in a good way). It is the darkest and thrilling one, as if we are watching a semi-horror fantasy movie. Harry is in the edge of frailty which he can’t escape, and worse yet, he has to fight it without his sole guardian (a.k.a Dumbledore). The 1^st half of HDPH clearly describes Harry’s loneliness, and David Yates did a remarkable job to create the ‘empty’ environment (just as the detail description from the book), which is a hollow and empty within a very large area of no one’s land. Even the music score has helped out to build the mood of our fellow escapists.

How close the movie compared to the book? Well, I guess the decision to split the movie into two makes HDHP as the closest you can get as a perfect adaptation. Surprisingly, there is one scene of Harry and Hermione, which I can’t recall from the book, but it should have been in it. I won’t spoil it for you, but that scene is like a mood reliever halfway through the movie, and it was created really sweet (and a good soundtrack also). Another additional and different thing from the book is the final moment in the movie, and do believe me, Yates did a very good decision to cut it right on that moment.

Although it’s rated PG-13, Yates has pushed it to the limit, if you think Half Blood Prince was already the darkest one, you should see this. It will and surely scare out the children (yes, this one contains more blood scenes). The action scenes is intense, especially a very good choreographed scene of the Ministry infiltration by Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The opening escaping scene was superb, and we already provided with some shocks with the deaths of the key characters. Another risky subplot is where Ron progressive frustrations toward Harry and Hermione, where it climaxed in a very daring scene where he has an image of both of them kissing and…oh well, see it for yourself (It shows nothing actually, but I gotta admit, it’s hot scene!). Nevertheless, all of these things just show perfectly that the series has grown and matured over the years.

All the three main cast shows their optimal acting performances, while the supporting casts have been outstanding also (most of them are brilliant A-list British stars). Daniel, Emma, and Rupert deserve the praises and acclaim for keeping the continuity of the roles intact for the past decade. Unexpectedly, the character which has the most development is Dobby the house-elf. Frankly, I hated him in the beginning, where he’s just like Jar Jar Binks from Star Wars. But in the end, I was impressed by his transformation into a memorable character. By the end of the movie, my loath for him has changed into a bit of tears, I’m sure you’ll end up loving that poor elf.

759 pages of the last chapter, half of it has been magically transformed into an excellent movie. HDHP is brilliant in production quality, superb in story delivery, and what an outstanding cast ensemble. And for all Emma Watson fans (count me in), she has grown up to be an elegant yet beautiful actress (for me, I enjoyed every second of her appearances). HDHP Part 1 has just served us a good appetizer, makes us longing to what kind of main course and dessert they want to serve. I guess it’s gonna be a very long eight months of waiting.

My Rating: 9/10

We are talking about a missile the size of the Chrysler building!

Unstoppable is probably a good example that you don't always have to use guns and shooting scenes with cars blow up or buildings explode to make an action flick. While watching Unstoppable, I can't escape Speed from my head. Well, instead of using bus, it uses a unmanned train. Inspired by a true event back in 2001, a huge train has been loose without any conductor at the speed of 70 miles per hour, carrying explosive liquid, and it is heading to populated area. Meet our heroes of the day, a veteran train conductor, Frank (Denzel Washington) and a rookie under his supervision, Will (Chris Pine). They have to put aside their own differences and family issues, and crazy enough, start to chase the loose train suicidally in order to stop it. Meanwhile, Connie (Rosario Dawson), the yardmaster, has to push lots of ideas (and yell a lot) to help these guys and save the company ass.

Tony Scott is back at his best, perhaps after the revenge vendetta Man on Fire back couple of years ago. I have been admiring some of his works (which mostly action movies) back in the 90's and the last decade, with True Romance, Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State, and Spy Game. But somehow, his recent flicks were kinda boring and so-so. Truthfully, when I saw Denzel's and Scott's names on the poster, I thought...hey, you guys again? Gosh, I'm so bored (remember the mediocre Deja vu and Taking Pelham 1,2,3?). Turns out, Unstoppable proved me wrong, this is an enjoyable adrenaline thrilling ride with good 'not-involving any guns' actions scenes. I always like how Scott handles the camera and his editing works, truly a master class for this kind of genre, something like old school combined with MTV video style. He's very good in building the story and the tension slowly, bit by bit, and by the time it's all loose end, the tension never drops.

Another reason which makes Unstoppable is even much better, is the great chemistry between Denzel and Chris. Denzel has always been Denzel, he can almost fit in to any role, while Chris Pine has been benefited from his previous Captain Kirk role. I guess he's mature enough not to maintain his boyish look and choose lousy rom-com flicks. Rosario Dawson is a also a good addition for the supporting cast (well, you gotta have ONE female character at least). But, again, the main star of this flick is has to be 'the Beast', the huge loose red train. Somehow I think this thing has more screen time than the main actors, and boy oh boy, every time it passes on your screen with that loud noise, it just gave me a chill. Special mention goes to the sound design of the film, which in a proper theatre with good sound system will set the hall rumbling with the sound of the locomotive.

Unstoppable is not just an action flick without heart. It is nice that Tony Scott tries to show that our heroes are just normal human beings, with their own problems. Frank has just lost his wife, with his daughters are working at Hooters, while Will is in the 'separate' period with his wife, and is on the verge on losing the grip of the family. It's nice to see that these ordinary working-class background people are playing down the typical action heroes script, and rose to the occasion to save thousands lives, even their loved ones. Then, after the opening 20 minutes drama built up, 'the Beast' took over the whole scenes. Scott increases the height of intensity by showing the failure attempts of stopping the train over and over again, as an indication that this unmanned train is able to create a big catastrophic disaster unless someone can be a Superman to stop it.

This is a feature work of Scott's brilliancy: good camera work, low ground shots, blur in movement, close-up action, and a very imaginative use of sound and music (this film can be really loud in parts) – are things that really emphasizes the feeling of locomotive power, speed and imminent destruction. I could swear that my seat was shaking as the train speed increased. The near of total no-CGI scenes adds the gritty realism and adrenaline rush, especially with convincing stunts (Chris Pine did all his action scenes, while Denzel has 7 stuntmen). Some people may not enjoy Scott's trademark of shaky cam, but in my opinion, it's an impressive approach, doesn't feel monotonous and stagnant.

It's a good feeling to enjoy this movie, and what a money well spent. In a world where CGI is too overrated and overused, Tony Scott decides to go back to old school with real stunts and real action scenes. No villain, no terrorist, no drugs, no murder, no torture, no naked girls...it's a safe movie for all. Finally, a first worthy successor for Speed.

My Rating: 8.5/10

You call THIS predictable?

I have to say YES for that question...well, at least up till first half of the movie. Megamind is Dreamworks' latest animated movie, and since the Shrek series have been totally running out of ideas, they have been trying to establish new ideas (Kungfu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon were the successful ones, while the rest either they are mediocre, or just decent). Enter Megamind (Will Ferrell), which follows the story of a blue big headed alien, who has been destined to be evil minded since he was a kid, a contradiction with its fellow alien, Metroman (Brad Pitt), who happens to be the famous superhero, guardian of Metro City. Thanks to his genius and determination, the rivalry between good and evil has been the headlines for some time, with the blue side always be the loser one. But then, things change dramatically, when finally he defeats Metroman in the early part of the film, he realizes that without any 'good side', his life has become....meaningless.

The positive thing about Megamind, is that they are trying to be better than Pixar, since I've seen Dreamworks has been trying that. In short, Megamind is a good family movie, brings out positive message to kids, and it's fun, that's all. Sometimes, a good and fun kids' movie, is just a good and fun kids' move, and that's all it needs to be. It's a good thing they don't try to over-complicate things, and with just a plot twist in the middle, it has already delivered some refreshing story afterwards.

Actually, the 1st half of the movie has been summarized just by watching the trailer. In short, it was kinda lame, bit boring, and the lines were not that funny (kinda crispy). 1st half of the movie just justified my opinion, that I dislike Will Ferrell even more. I slept in some parts, and usually, it means the movie was very bad (reminds me of Monster and Aliens). Thankfully, the 2nd half of the movie was able to rescue the earlier horrendous plot (which I won't spoil anything). In my opinion, with a little rewrite, and perhaps some better lines, Megamind can still go far ahead compared to the current version. What I felt is that it has too few characters to show, the city is a bit lifeless, and some of the scenes are quite predictable, but hey, it's a kid's movie after all.

Most of the time, I always feel quite skeptical toward animation movie which uses lots of A-list actors, and this one doesn't escape from that treatment. But luckily, they are the reason what is stopping Megamind from crashing. They are funny, and they deliver their jokes and one-liners convincingly. While Ferrel is already used to this kind of role, Brad Pitt is a surprise addition (he did a pretty good job though), Tina Fey as Roxanne, the journalist and love interest, has the best performance, while Jonah Hill, is being...well...Jonah Hill. It's quite rare to see these A-list actors can somehow bring all their characters with their own textures without the need to let us know something like, "Hey, this is the voice of a famous actor" or whatsoever. The funniest moment comes when Ferrell tried to impersonate a very famous 'Godfather', damn, it he did it smoothly.

The animation was okay, perhaps not a top notch quality, but the final battle scene really pushed up the 3D and make use of it extensively. Somehow the 3D can blend it to the story line without making any distraction. My only complaint is that it takes time for us to get used to see Megamind as a likeable character, since I felt his animation is a bit underwhelming (well, I can't imagine kids want to buy the doll and give him a hug)

In the end, Megamind has the humor, heart, story, some originality and awesomeness. It delivers what it has to deliver, which is entertaining. Although I was very annoyed in the beginning, the end result pays well. I thought it's just another superhero movie, but turns out it's more than that. When it's funny, it's brings lots of laughters, but when it's serious, it shows the heart, so I guess it's a good balance after all. It may have some similarities with Despicable Me, which centers on an arch-villain who sees the error of his ways. Overall, Megamind is snappy good fun.

My Rating : 7.5/10

Drop the "the". Just "Facebook". It's cleaner.

The Social Network, in short, is a scarily good flick, compelling story line, supported by great young actors, and well-directed by David Fincher. Whoever has the idea to make a film about Facebook founders and to reveal all the drama behind in it, really has some guts to do it. Not just because the whole facebook thing is a recent thing, but also will it be painstakingly boring or overlong? I know that Fincher is able to make as good as 'Se7en', or the other way around, boring as 'Zodiac' or 'Benjamin Button'. But turns out he did a nice job for this one, and as far as I can recall, this is his first 'youth' movie, where all the main cast are mostly young people, and the story is something pretty sensitive to be put into the big screen. Nevertheless, in the end I can add 'The Social Network' into my favorite Fincher's movies.

The plot is simple enough, Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard undergrad and computer programming genius, formulated an idea (not a fresh one, of course) from his dorm room in 2003 and ended up six years later as a global social network which revolutionizes the way we communicate. With Facebook, he has 500 million friends, and becomes the youngest billionaire....but, success apparently comes with a ruined friendship and both personal and legal complications.

The story is being told in in flash back, and since I missed the first 5 minutes, I'm guessing the opening was started in the office room, where all the Mark (Jesse Eisenberg) is being sued by 2 sides, one is his best friend and co-founder, Eduardo (Andrew Garfield), and the other side are the Winklevoss twins (played brilliantly by one guy, Armie Hammer). Each accompanied by their own lawyers, and from there, the story begins on how the Facebook came up as an idea, and ends up being both hits and huge mess among these guys. The opening scene when Mark hacks all the other Harvard houses just to get the chics pics is damn mesmerizing, it's one of the scene that you don't need to understand the narration but it looks damn cool. Computer hacking is always cool when it is translated into the big screen.

One of many reasons why I like Social Network is that there's no 'white guy', everybody is both protagonist and antagonist, everybody is just normal human being, with all the greed and competitive hormone runs in the blood (especially guys). Up to certain time, everyone is guilty, and everyone is right, and in some cases, you really can't pick sides. It's quite scary to see how these kids are put to be in position to where they can pay their own bills and starting to gain huge amount of profit. Again, the long road to success (in their story) requires sacrifices on other parts, such as your friendship.

It's no easy to make this real life story into a movie, but Fincher is genius on putting all those ingredients altogether, and kudos to Aaron Sorkin to create such good script from the book by Ben Mezrich (The Accidental Billionaires), it's not too overlong with boring lines, in fact I enjoy the quick editing of the storyline, especially with its back and forth scenes. Music score by Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails also adds the 'teenage' ambiance, with its techno and quick beat catchy tunes.

From the cast department, Jesse Eisenberg did a nice work on portraying the cold, calculated and determined genius. Mark, I guess this is his best performance so far, after he did similar roles in Adventureland and Zombieland. At least he's very serious in this role, and he's able to land some difficult lines along the way. The rest are mostly newcomers, but the scene stealer is Armie Hammer who plays both twins. He put an amazing performance by playing this two similar face but distinctive character. Don't ask me how Fincher did the CGI thing, but it looks so seamless (Benjamin Button, ring a bell?). Also, the Justin Timberlake addition also provides some interesting scenes (well, he can act, for sure). The film is also a rare showcase of pure acting prowess, and features a very interesting and eclectic cast of young actors stepping out of their comfort zones and delivering some truly phenomenal work. The casting of the film is quite a departure for Fincher, who has enough clout to gather the biggest names working in the business. Instead, he opted to go for a cast of relative unknowns or up-and-comers, and really make stars out of them.

Perhaps it's too literal, but like many people said, this is the movie that defines 'our generation era', or bravely enough, 'the product of our time'. It was, while haunting, truly refreshing and ultimately a triumph in many aspects, whether it be considering the acting, script, or directing. 'The Social Network' is a timeless story of friendship, loyalty, greed and betrayal. But again, it's Hollywood, I'm sure their dramatization of certain scenes is too much, but again, it managed to keep people in their seats.

My Rating : 9/10