Summer Wars

Synopsis - The story centers on high school student Kenji Koiso (Ryūnosuke Kamiki), a child prodigy in mathematics who spends his time immersed in OZ, a massive computer-simulated virtual reality world. Kenji is a genius with numbers but ill-adept socially. He secretly has a crush on his attractive upperclassman Natsuki Shinohara (Nanami Sakuraba) but does not have the courage to tell her. At the beginning of summer vacation, he is asked by Natsuki to help in celebrating her great-grandmother's 90th birthday. Although Kenji does not know the details of the plan, he agrees and goes with Natsuki to her grandmother's estate in Ueda, Nagano Prefecture. Much to Kenji's surprise, he is introduced at the Shinohara family house as Natsuki's fiancé.

As Kenji tries to act the part, meets Natsuki's dozens of relatives, and deals with the advances of computer expert Wabisuke Jinnouchi (Ayumu Saitō), Natsuki's uncle and "first love", he receives a mysterious e-mail with a mathematics code. He cracks the code and returns it to the sender but finds himself at the center of a developing news story the following day. Overnight, OZ has been hacked and turned into a digital deadzone, and he is the prime suspect. Using Kenji's account and avatar, the real "hacker", which is actually the advanced artificial intelligence system Love Machine, has stripped the virtual world empty and wreaks havoc in the real world. With car navigation systems disabled and computers malfunctioning, Japan grinds to a halt. Love Machine also gains control of a satellite and threatens to send it crashing into a nuclear power plant somewhere on Earth. In order to fight back, Kenji enlists the help of Wabisuke, Natsuki's family, and his best friend using an army of avatars. With the fate of the world at stake, a great online summer war takes place.

Review - An online summer war. Something which could happen in the future if terrorists and hackers combine forces. Talks about family values and togetherness as a whole. The drawing is also pretty impeccable, doesn't lose much to Miyazaki's great works. From the people who brought you "The girl who leapt through time", this is another masterpiece from them.

Alice in Wonderland

Synopsis - 19-year-old Alice returns to the whimsical world she first encountered as a young girl, reuniting with her childhood friends: the White Rabbit, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Dormouse, the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, and of course, the Mad Hatter. Alice embarks on a fantastical journey to find her true destiny and end the Red Queen's reign of terror.

Review - Its Tim Burton what else can you say. Either its brilliant or its gone a little overboard. Sadly the story is rather boring but the characters are interesting enough to save this malice. Starting from the big headed red queen to the Cheshire Cat, Tim Burton knows how to exploit his characters to the fullest.

Nine

Synopsis - World famous film director Guido Contini reaches a creative and personal crisis of epic proportion while balancing the numerous women in his life including his wife, his mistress, his film star muse, his confidant and costume designer, an American fashion journalist, the whore from his youth and his mother.

Review - The story is pretty intensive so is the cinematography. Together with an average soundtrack, the movie is just another average movie musical. Too much glitz and glamour. However, the Italian lifestyle does look extremely appealing. Daniel Day Lewis is overly glorified in this film.

Up in the Air

Synopsis - Ryan Bingham, is a corporate downsizing expert whose cherished life on the road is threatened just as he is on the cusp of reaching ten million frequent flyer miles and just after he's met the frequent-traveler woman of his dreams.

Review - What a movie. Love it for being real. A story behind a story. Clooney is excellent (I'm slowly becoming a fan of his except for his Batman stint). Reitman is someone to watch. Great soundtrack and cinematography. Got to watch it.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Synopsis - Dr. Parnassus has the extraordinary gift of inspiring the imaginations of others. Helped by his traveling theatre troupe, including his sarcastic and cynical sidekick Percy and versatile young player Anton, Parnassus offers audience members the chance to transcend mundane reality by passing through a magical mirror into a fantastic universe of limitless imagination. However, Parnassus' magic comes at a price. For centuries he's been gambling with the devil, Mr. Nick who is coming to collect his prize -- Parnassus' precious daughter, Valentina on her upcoming 16th birthday. Oblivious to her rapidly approaching fate, Valentina falls for Tony, a charming outsider with motives of his own. In order to save his daughter and redeem himself, Parnassus makes one final bet with Mr. Nick, which sends Tony and Valentina and the entire theatre troupe on a ride of twists and turns, in and out of London and the Imaginarium's spectacular landscape.

Review - Sadly for me this movie is more about Lily Cole than Heath Ledger. Too messy probably due to his departure and too much CGI. Definitely could have been better with the potential of the plot.

Whip It

Synopsis - Tired of being pushed into beauty pageants by her parents, Texas teen Bliss finds herself after joining a female roller derby team.

Review - Its Ellen Page and it is really hard to hate her movies. The issues highlighted in the movie are definitely what most teenagers are facing and the stereotypes of fishnets and roller derby just make it better. Directorial debut from Drew Barrymore and it looks like a good start for her. Predictable but polished.

New York, I Love You

Synopsis - In the city that never sleeps, love is always on the mind. Those passions come to life in a collaboration of storytelling from some of today's most imaginative filmmakers and featuring an all-star cast. Together they create a kaleidoscope of the spontaneous, surprising, electrifying human connections that pump the city's heartbeat. Sexy, funny, haunting and revealing encounters unfold beneath the Manhattan skyline. From Tribeca to Central Park to Brooklyn the story weaves a tale of love as diverse as the very fabric of New York itself.

Review - An average film with good cinematography with tons of actors and actresses. Too much going on? Probably but there were some interesting and funny moments. Great movie for a weekend. Can't see the love and relation with New York. Pity.

Invictus

Synopsis - The true story of how Nelson Mandela joined forces with the captain of South Africa's rugby team, Francois Pienaar, to help unite their country. Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa's underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match.

Review - I'm very well aware of the great partnership between Morgan Freeman and Clint Eastwood. This is probably another result of their partnership. A story about politics and sports. Emotional at times but dull too at some point. The movie name was taken from a short poem by English poet William Ernest Henley and in actual fact, Nelson Mandela provided Francois Piennar an extract from Theodore Roosevelt's speech instead. So the connection of the name of the movie to the plot does not flow for me. A powerful movie but its impact has been heavily subdued.

Mother

Synopsis - Hye-ja is a ginseng vendor and an unlicensed acupuncturist in a small town in southern South Korea. She dotes on her son, Do-joon, who is 27, unemployed, and mentally incapacitated on some level, which Hye-ja seems to ignore.

A high school girl is found dead on the roof of an abandoned building, and the local detectives arrest Do-joon based on circumstantial evidence. They coerce him to sign a confession and quickly imprison him. Hye-ja, distraught and convinced he is innocent, searches for the real killer, uncovering many secrets from the townspeople.

Review - A pretty good film about a mother's struggles with a mentally unstable son. Loved the simple touches the director introduce to the film together with the eventual murder in the movie. The twist is also pretty good but there were some questions which weren't answered in the film to my dismay. The R21 rating in Singapore was also a little harsh considering the amount of nudity in the movie. Great performance from Kim Hye-ja.

Sherlock Holmes

Synopsis - Robert Downey Jr. brings the legendary detective to life as he has never been portrayed before. Jude Law stars as Holmes' trusted colleague, Watson, a doctor and war veteran who is a formidable ally for Sherlock Holmes. Rachel McAdams stars as Irene Adler, the only woman ever to have bested Holmes and who has maintained a tempestuous relationship with the detective. Mark Strong stars as their mysterious new adversary, Blackwood. Kelly Reilly will play Watson's love interest, Mary.

Review - A different Holmes with more muscles packed in him. Delivered to my expectation because I know what Guy Ritchie was capable of. Love the cinematography and how the movie paved itself to its sequel. Very old school. The soundtrack was also a blast. Robert Downey Jr. has nailed another character. If you are expecting something more demure and classy, I think you might not fancy this one but if you are fine with some dirt and blood, this is something you might consider watching.

Where The Wild Things Are

Synopsis - Max, a rambunctious and sensitive boy feels misunderstood at home and escapes to where the Wild Things are. He lands on an island where he meets mysterious and strange creatures whose emotions are as wild and unpredictable as their actions. The Wild Things desperately long for a leader to guide them, just as Max longs for a kingdom to rule. When Max is crowned king, he promises to create a place where everyone will be happy. Max soon finds, though, that ruling his kingdom is not so easy and his relationships there prove to be more complicated than he originally thought.

Review - Not your average kid's film. This is something that explores the psychology of a child and coming to understand the world around it. The pain of the modern child (from a single parent) could be seen and felt. The monsters were somewhat like an imagination run wild. Beautiful stuff packed with great cinematography. Love the soundtrack. This is something all kids should go watch instead of your usual kid's fix.

Avatar

Synopsis - AVATAR takes us to a spectacular world beyond imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on an epic adventure, ultimately fighting to save the alien world he has learned to call home. James Cameron, the Oscar-winning director of "Titanic," first conceived the film 15 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not exist yet. Now, after four years of production, AVATAR, a live action film with a new generation of special effects, delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.

We enter the alien world through the eyes of Jake Sully, a former Marine confined to a wheelchair. But despite his broken body, Jake is still a warrior at heart. He is recruited to travel light years to the human outpost on Pandora, where corporations are mining a rare mineral that is the key to solving Earth's energy crisis. Because the atmosphere of Pandora is toxic, they have created the Avatar Program, in which human "drivers" have their consciousness linked to an avatar, a remotely-controlled biological body that can survive in the lethal air. These avatars are genetically engineered hybrids of human DNA mixed with DNA from the natives of Pandora... the Na'vi.

Reborn in his avatar form, Jake can walk again. He is given a mission to infiltrate the Na'vi, who have become a major obstacle to mining the precious ore. But a beautiful Na'vi female, Neytiri, saves Jake's life, and this changes everything. Jake is taken in by her clan, and learns to become one of them, which involves many tests and adventures. As Jake's relationship with his reluctant teacher Neytiri deepens, he learns to respect the Na'vi way and finally takes his place among them. Soon he will face the ultimate test as he leads them in an epic battle that will decide nothing less than the fate of an entire world.

Review - James Cameron did it again. No wonder it took him so long since his last movie. Avatar has touched on many topics one can imagine through a war between nature and humans. Good performance by Sam Worthington and although the story may seem to take a leaf out of many other movies, they gel pretty well together to make it one kick ass movie of the year. Great special effects too. An awesome flick to end the year with and to reflect on.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Synopsis - Mr and Mrs Fox live an idyllic home life with their son Ash and visiting young nephew Kristopherson. But after 12 years, the bucolic existence proves too much for Mr Fox's wild animal instincts. Soon he slips back into his old ways as a sneaky chicken thief and in doing so, endangers not only his beloved family, but the whole animal community. Trapped underground and with not enough food to go around, the animals band together to fight against the evil Farmers -- Boggis, Bunce and Bean -- who are determined to capture the audacious, fantastic Mr Fox at any cost.

Review - Was captivated by the trailer and the movie did live up to expectations with its simple story packed with many exciting sequences. Stellar cast of George Clooney as the Fantastic Mr Fox. Really can imagine him doing all this voicing of the amazing mastermind thief after Ocean's Eleven. The stop motion effect added charm and a nostalgic feel to this classic story. Could not have been better and wouldn't have asked for more. Great animation. Love the soundtrack too.

(500) Days of Summer

Synopsis - Tom believes, even in this cynical modern world, in the notion of a transforming, cosmically destined, lightning-strikes-once kind of love. Summer doesn't. Not at all. But that doesn't stop Tom from going after her, again and again, like a modern Don Quixote, with all his might and courage. Suddenly, Tom is in love not just with a lovely, witty, intelligent woman -- but with the very idea of Summer, the very idea of a love that still has the power to shock the heart and stop the world. The fuse is lit on Day 1 when Tom, a would-be architect turned sappy greeting card writer, encounters Summer, his boss's breezy, beautiful new secretary, fresh off the plane from Michigan. Though seemingly out of his league, Tom soon discovers he shares plenty in common with Summer. By Day 31, things are moving ahead, albeit "casually." By Day 32, Tom is irreparably smitten, living in a giddy, fantastical world of Summer on his mind. By Day 185, things are in serious limbo -- but not without hope. And as the story winds backwards and forwards through Tom and Summer's on-again, off-again, sometimes blissful, often tumultuous dalliance -- all of which adds up to a kaleidoscopic portrait of why, and how, we still struggle so laughably, cringingly hard to make sense of love and to hopefully make it real.

Review - Finally got to watch this flick. Not too serious. Casual. Kind of what the movie is trying to portray about relationships. Love the entire non-linear style of the movie which rotates back and forth between dates signified by a simple title card flashing in between scenes. Great to see Deschanel and Levitt who were extremely comfortable with their roles, together with some superb dialogue. The carefree girl meets the neurotic boy in love with the not so typical ending. Lovely and definitely worth a couple of smiles. Soundtrack was awesome too.

Inglourious Basterds

Synopsis - In German-occupied France, Shosanna Dreyfus witnesses the execution of her family at the hand of Nazi Colonel Hans Landa. Shosanna narrowly escapes and flees to Paris, where she forges a new identity as the owner and operator of a cinema. Elsewhere in Europe, Lieutenant Aldo Raine organizes a group of Jewish soldiers to engage in targeted acts of retribution. Known to their enemy as "The Basterds," Raine's squad joins German actress and undercover agent Bridget Von Hammersmark on a mission to take down the leaders of The Third Reich. Fates converge under a cinema marquee, where Shosanna is poised to carry out a revenge plan of her own...

Review - Awesome movie to catch to kick start the semester break after weeks of toil. A Tarantino delight with a stellar cast. Twisted and gory, you can't expect less from Tarantino but they all mix pretty well in this Spaghetti Western with World War II iconography. Loved the character portrayal by Brad Pitt whose accent was pretty hilarious and Christoph Waltz who was just plain scary. Interesting to see Eli Roth playing a character in this film too. On the whole, even though it was not part of what history was like, it was still one hell of an entertaining film.

The Hangover

Synopsis - Two days before his wedding, Doug and his three friends drive to Las Vegas for a blow-out bachelor party they'll never forget. But, in fact, when the three groomsmen wake up the next morning, they can't remember a thing. For some reason, they find a tiger in the bathroom and a six-month-old baby in the closet of their suite at Caesars Palace. The one thing they can't find is Doug. With no clue as to what transpired and little time to spare, the trio must retrace their hazy steps and all their bad decisions in order to figure out where things went wrong and hopefully get Doug back to L.A. in time to walk down the aisle.

Review - One hell of a bachelor party. Pretty cool to see a bunch of 30 something males getting crazy all over again. Best of all they come from different backgrounds and probably this is something that will go down in their memory lanes when they think back. Really rad stuff to do before you get hitched. Love the part when they rolled the credits, a good way to summarise the movie, to show the missed out parts and to add in some more humour. Not a bad movie to watch with a couple of friends.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Synopsis - With the help of the Autobots, the soldiers of NEST, and an old adversary-turned-ally, Sam and Mikaela must uncover the secret history of the Transformers presence on earth, and the sacrifices that have to be made to save it from an ancient threat sworn on returning here for revenge... an ancient Decepticon named THE FALLEN.

Review - Rather long and draggy for its plot but hey if you are a Tranformers' fan, you will love it from start to end. That's about all because its an orgy fest of transformation and action scenes.

Angels & Demons

Synopsis - When Robert Langdon discovers evidence of the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati -- the most powerful underground organization in history -- he also faces a deadly threat to the existence of the secret organization's most despised enemy: the Catholic Church. When Langdon learns that the clock is ticking on an unstoppable Illuminati time bomb, he jets to Rome, where he joins forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and enigmatic Italian scientist. Embarking on a nonstop hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals and even to the heart of the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra will follow a 400-year-old trail of ancient symbols that mark the Vatican's only hope for survival.

Review - Its sure entertaining with all the religious issues being discussed in the movie as well as the wonderful artwork of Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Viscerally, it was a spectacle but I kind of felt that 2 hours wasn't enough for the movie to tell the whole story that it wanted. At times, it was too fast forwarded that it left me with more questions than answers. The twist was interesting nonetheless but if you've read the original novel before, you would feel that the movie's cover up job was pretty weak. Luckily, there was Ayelet Zurer who looked astonishingly like Nigella Lawson in the movie. Overall the movie looked good on the outside but lacked a certain motive or direction, it would have been a killer if there was no cover ups of the story (let it all out) and the movie would really create an impact. Go watch it if you haven't read the novel before because it would definitely raise interests in the topics heavily discussed in the movie but I suggest you stick to the original novel if you have read it before.

Departures/ Okuribito

Synopsis - Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) is a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved and now finds himself without a job. Daigo decides to move back to his old hometown with his wife to look for work and start over. He answers a classified ad entitled "Departures" thinking it is an advertisement for a travel agency only to discover that the job is actually for a "Nokanshi" or "encoffineer," a funeral professional who prepares deceased bodies for burial and entry into the next life. While his wife and others despise the job, Daigo takes a certain pride in his work and begins to perfect the art of "Nokanshi," acting as a gentle gatekeeper between life and death, between the departed and the family of the departed. The film follows his profound and sometimes comical journey with death as he uncovers the wonder, joy and meaning of life and living.

Review - Okuri means sending off in terms of death and Okuribito means people who sends off the dead. If you watched Six Feet Under before, its the same concept minus the dysfunctional family and sex. The impact of the film is extremely powerful because it deals with life and death in the most beautiful manner one can imagine. Since not many would want to associate with the dead, doing a job that faces death 24/7 can be pretty taxing but self-fulfilling at the same time. Beneath the heavy theme there is also something extremely real in terms of job hopping in times of bad economy. The desperation of landing a job and choosing one which is not appealing initially is awfully true for many but going on the job and gradually finding the true meaning of it can be really inspiring. This I have to take my hat off Motoki who did a marvellous job in portraying his character of Daigo who is like a "little man" out to fulfil his musical dream but due to his own limitations and bad economy, he ended up jobless and having to become an Okuribito. The entire process of how he managed to sharpen his craft of Okuri is funny and realistic in many ways. The people he had to prepare for burial were also a true reflection of the importance and impact of his occupation. This is probably the best movie I've seen this year. Death has never been so beautiful.

Suspect X (Yôgisha X No Kenshin)

Synopsis - The body of a male has been discovered, strangled to death, his face pulverized beyond recognition and fingers burned to a crisp. Assigned to the case are local precinct detective, Kaoru Utsumi, and her ex-colleague from headquarters, Shunpei Kusanagi. It turns out that the neighbour of the victim's ex-wife is a college alumnus of brilliant physicist, Manabu Yukawa, aka “Detective Galileo."He is Tetsuya Ishigami, a high school math teacher whom Yukawa personally considers a true genius. When Yukawa is brought onto help with the case by Utsumi, he begins to suspect that this “true genius"and with whom Yukawa shares a bond of friendship as an intellectual equal is somehow connected to the murder. Elaborate bluffs, false testimonials, loopholes in logic − all begin to appear in Detective Galileo's way as if intentionally placed as a challenge by someone with mathematical brilliance.

Review - Finally I got to see this movie. Love the concept of a physicist pit against a mathematician, it couldn't have been better. The battle of wits in a very humane way characterised by Jap movies. Would you prefer to create the perfect, unsolvable puzzle, or to be the one who can solve the unsolvable puzzle, that is the question of the movie between the two geniuses. The scenes and dialogues between the two are extremely thought provoking for me and not forgetting the many twists in the movie like how the alibi was made and Yukawa's vulnerability in one scene. Definitely not your typical detective movie like Se7en where the focus is on the twisted mind of the murderer, this flick highlights the whys and hows of the murder. The power of Cupid's arrow can be extremely strong at times and it could sometimes transform one to assist and become an accessory to murder. After watching the Galileo series, I kind of ponder the motives of the murders in the cases shown, many a times the murderer is innocent while the murdered is the guilty one but due to unwanted or accidental circumstances, the tables are turned and the good becomes the one to suffer. I guess its really depressing to go through such an experience but its also a stroke of genius by the writer to highlight the vulnerabilities of mankind. A must watch if you love the Galieo drama.