Reviews

I was supposed to watch this movie with no expectations because I had not watched the trailer and did not know what to expect beyond the premise of Ryan Reynolds buried alive in a coffin. But when I was putting my name on the list, Grace, organizer of the screening told me that the movie scored 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. I was like, “wow, that is high.” I still didn’t know what to expect though. I sat inside the cinema, and they started playing the trailers. The first trailer was for Buried. I mean come on! I’ve never been to a screening where they played the trailer of that very same movie just before the movie. The trailer had some really big statements, something along the lines of “Plot Twists Hitchcock would be proud of”. From that moment on, my expectations just shot through the roof. I was thinking to myself, “this must be one awesome movie.”

This is one of the most daring movies I’ve seen to date. Honestly, a movie that starts off with about a minute of blackness and just sound takes a lot of guts to pull off. The director managed to use enough different shots and angles to make it look interesting without being repetitive. Ryan Reynolds definitely pulls off his best performance to date (forget Deadpool)- the whole movie is just him in a box for about 1.5 hours. Yes, I kid you not. And it managed to hold my attention all the way to the end. I would compare it to the first half of Wall-E where you just have the robot all alone on the planet. Wall-E bored me to death, Buried did not.

But in the end I think my high expectations for the movie ruined my experience. The movie just left me with so many unanswered questions unsolved.

I can’t really review this movie without any spoilers, so if you haven’t watched the movie, skip the next 3 paragraphs:

Spoiler:
When watching the movie, so many questions ran through my head: Why does he need to turn on the lighter when he has the cellphone light? Why does he get so many items in his backpack? The knife felt like it was put there cos the kidnapper knew that he would have to use it. How can his phone make so many calls? Why did service get cut off sometimes? Why did the terrorist agree to lower his ransom of 5 million to 1 million so quickly? Why would they kidnap a truck driver when there were so many more valuable targets. I mean they could find out about his kid and wife, I’m sure they had the resources to find out he was broke.

I expected him to be trapped in a box in some sort of lab where they were testing humans ability to survive being buried. Or something more far fetched since the movie seemed like it was headed in that direction. I guess I was looking for something more.
/Spoiler

All in all, the movie wasn’t bad. It wasn’t fantastic either, but it was definitely above average. I really liked the fact that they managed to shoot the movie with just Ryan Reynolds in a box. I don’t think many people could pull that off. Props to the director and Ryan Reynolds for his performance. If you just watch the movie without thinking too much, it should be an enjoyable ride. Just don’t expect too much, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised. I rate Buried 6/10.

After watching the trailer for this movie, I kinda expected a decent chick-flick that shouldn’t be too bad. Considering the decent cast of Kristen Bell, Odette Yustman, Sigourney Weaver and Jamie Lee Curtis. If you are a guy and find women attractive, this movie is worth watching for Odette Yustman alone. Oh my god, I swear, she is a goddess sent to Earth.

You Again tells the story of Marni (Kristen Bell), a girl who was bullied terribly in high school and blossomed into a successful young lady working for a PR firm in another state. When she goes back to her home state for her brother’s wedding, she finds out that he is marrying her worst nightmare- Joanna (Odette Yustman), the girl who bullied her in high school. It turns out that Joanna has completely changed and is no longer the girl she used to be. Marni refuses to believe it and tries her best to expose Joanna’s past to her family. Hilarity ensues when Joanna’s visiting aunt, Ramona (Sigourney Weaver) turns out to be Marni’s mother, Gail’s (Jamie Lee Curtis) nemesis as well.

An interesting story that is downplayed by the immature gags weaved into the plot. Then again, what did you expect from a movie distributed by Disney? There are also parts of the story which felt like unnecessary fillers. It’s all good wholesome fun that isn’t by any means terrible, but fails to take the comedy into places where other movies haven’t gone before. Besides the unexpected cameo by the Rock in the intro, everything else seemed so scripted and forced. And one of the best gags was shown in the trailer- Gail and Ramona showing up to the wedding dinner in the same dress.

Kristen Bell plays Marni well, and is believable as the bullied high school girl (props to the make up/costume team for doing a great job with her looks as well). Odette Yustman, where do I begin? She is drop dead gorgeous. After only catching glimpses of her in Cloverfield, I haven’t had the chance to see her in any other movie until she appeared as Joanna in You Again. Though I didn’t like how Joanna’s role wasn’t clearly defined throughout the movie. After her introduction, in which she appears to be the perfect angel, her role then changed into somewhere in between evil and not-so-evil. I think they could’ve done a better job in that aspect. Gail and Ramona are played well, and provide some pretty good laughs in the show as well.

All in all, You Again will tickle some funny bones, but you won’t find yourself tearing up and gasping for air. There’s definitely something for everyone. A family-oriented, kid-safe comedy that you could bring your parents to. I’d rate You Again 5/10.

Reign of Assassins tells the story of the Wheel King in search of Bodhi’s, a legendary warrior, remains. With his band of assassins, he attempts to track down Drizzle, an assassin that turned against him and fled with one half of Bodhi’s remains. Drizzle undergoes surgery to change her appearance in order to start a new life in a quiet city, away from her old life. In the process, she falls in love and gets drawn back into the fray of her past. Quite a simple story that was cooked up as an excuse just to spill some blood. If you’re looking for an intelligent, thought-provoking story, look elsewhere. If you’re looking for high-octane, action-packed sword fights you’ve come to the right place.

First off I would like to say, this movie contains sword fights that I’ve never seen before. Drizzle wields a sword that bends and cuts like a whip on a stick. I’m not kidding. It’s so outrageous, it’s actually believable. By the end of the movie I was asking Fuad, “do such swords exist?” I haven’t done any research to find out yet, but it’s definitely something I haven’t seen anywhere. I guess some people might find it ridiculous, but in the context of a fantasy movie, it’s definitely not out of place. The other assassins have tricks of their own as well, but Drizzle’s swordplay was what I found most impressive.

Despite the impressive action sequences, the movie is neither here nor there. At times, it tries to be comedic, with some oddly placed gags during the slow paced parts of the movie, at other times it tries to be deeper than it really is, with the whole eunuch storyline of the Wheel King (that wasn’t fleshed out), and Drizzle’s trying to move on from her past life. Then we also have the element of magic, but only for one character- the Magician. I felt that if they wanted to have magic in the movie, they should have at least let it play a bigger part- by letting more than one character use it, and let the Magician use it more impressively. I mean, in one scene he throws a rope up into the air, climbs it, and disappears into a cloud. That seems like some pretty powerful magic to me. But when he’s fighting against the Wheel King, all he can do is muster up some flames to make his swords fiery. Come on! Why not use more powerful magic in such an important battle? And also- the reason the Wheel King goes through so much trouble for Bodhi’s corpse was not to rule the world, but to restore his ‘manhood’. Wow. I couldn’t have thought of a better reason myself. Why not just get the super surgeon to give you a new one? It sure beats me.

Overall, it was an alright movie- just don’t expect too much beyond brilliant swordplay. A standard popcorn affair. Go in and thrill yourself with the action scenes and forget about it. I’d rate Reign of Assassins 5/10.