[Movie Review] Warm Bodies: Is It Just Another Love Story?

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Five years ago Hollywood turned two of the most feared paranormal creatures into love subjects through Twilight, in 2013 it was finally the zombies' turn at romance.

But is Warm Bodies just another cheesy Hollywood product that hopes to ensnare teens and young adults in a love story only to earn a few quick bucks, or are there deeper and more subtle underlying values that we could take away from the film?

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Warm Bodies

Language: English

Run Time: 97 minutes // 1 hour 37 minutes

Genre: Comedy, Horror, Romance

Rating: 'PG13' (Malaysia) // PG-13 for zombie violence and some languages

Director: Jonathan Levine

Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer and cast (See the elaborated list of cast members below)

Date-of-Release: 14 March 2013 (Malaysia) // 1 February 2013 (USA)

What is it about?

A zombie named R (Nicholas Hoult) formed a relationship with a human survivor Julie (Teresa Palmer) after rescuing her from other zombies. The relationship then started making an impact on themselves and the rest of their community.

Tagline: There's nothing hotter than a girl with brains.

(Read on for Warm Bodies review)

[Movie Review] Oz the Great and Powerful

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The plot is simple and easy to follow with plentiful light-hearted moments, but it's not really the focus of the film. The journey of discovery and the amazing visual effects have given life to a rather predictable storyline. Although it may not be as detailed and captivating as the Life of Pi, it was the best I've seen so far this year. Where Jack the Giant Slayer had failed to use the effects to their advantage, Oz the Great and Powerful did just that and it is a much better film to watch in 3D.

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As we entered the month of March, we take a step closer to the releasing of some of the most anticipated films of the year. To kick things off, let's have a look at Oz the Great and Powerful. Regardless of whether you've already been initiated to the Oz series of books, the Wizard of Oz film or Wicked, its trailer made it that much difficult to turn away from the film.

Oz the Great and Powerful

Language: English

Run Time: 130 minutes // 2 hours 10 minutes

Genre: Adventure, Family, Fantasy

Rating: 'PG13' (Malaysia) // PG for sequences of action and scary images, and brief mild language

Director: Sam Riami

Starring: James Franco, Michelle Williams, Rachel Weisz, Mila Kunis and cast (See the elaborated list of cast members below)

Date-of-Release: 7 March 2013 (Malaysia) // 8 March 2013 (USA)

What is it about?

Follow the journey of a small-time magician nicknamed Oz (James Franco) as he discovers the magical land of Oz and himself. The film is based on L. Frank Baum's Oz-series novels.

Tagline: The land you know. The story you don't.

(Read on for Oz the Great and Powerful review)

[Movie Review] Jack the Giant Slayer

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Okay, I admit that I am slightly disappointed with Jack the Giant Slayer. I was expecting a little more out of it, and my expectations rose after watching Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters in January. After all, Bryan Singer is a director that I respect for his involvements in the first two X-Men films. However, I do not find the similar magic here in Jack the Giant Slayer.

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Jack the Giant Slayer was highlighted as one of the films in 2013 which I was looking forward to. This film is also available in 2D and 3D. For the purpose of this review, I have selected the 3D version of the film in yesterday's session. Now before we proceed, let's have a look at some basic information of the film.

Jack the Giant Slayer

Language: English

Run Time: 114 minutes // 1 hour 54 minutes

Genre: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy

Rating: 'PG13' (Malaysia) // PG-13 for intense scenes of fantasy action violence, some frightening images and brief language

Director: Bryan Singer

Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Eleanor Tomlinson, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci and cast (See the elaborated list of cast members below)

Date-of-Release: 28 February 2013 (Malaysia) // 1 March 2013 (USA)

What is it about?

A young farmer boy named Jack (Nicholas Hoult) shared a common interest with Princess Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson). His life changed the day the magical beans came to him and soon he embarked on a journey to an unknown land and faced the most gruesome beasts of legends in order to save the princess.

Tagline: If you think you know the story, you don't know Jack.

(Read on for Jack the Giant Slayer review)

[Movie Review] Beautiful Creatures

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Beautiful Creatures has a simple plot that is easy to follow. Its the usual 'boy meets girl, falls in love and fights to overcome every obstacle that threatened to keep them apart' plot-line. Its director, Richard LaGravenese was also no stranger to romantic or fantasy films with his prior involvements in Water for Elephants, The Chronicles of Narnia and P.S., I Love You, which he also directed. The film was enjoyable, but rather forgettable. I personally have not read the book, but the film failed to capture my interest like how Hunger Games, Twilight or Harry Potter did which prompted me to read their books.

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It all began on a rainy Thursday evening. I arrived at the cinema a little later than planned, so I rushed to my seat. After I took my seat, I thought I was in the wrong hall because I saw Halle Berry on the screen. My initial thought was "I don't remember reading that Halle Berry was cast in the Beautiful Creatures." By a happy mistake, the cinema was playing the wrong film - they were screening Cloud Atlas instead. So I sat happily, waiting for the real movie to start. Yay! I didn't miss the beginning after all. I always hated missing the starting of a film, because it would take a lot more effort to link everything together at the end. 

But seriously, this was the second time in two weeks that the cinema, which shall remain nameless, messed up its screenings. A week before, I decided to catch a Chinese film called The Journey to the West, which was a HUGE mistake by the way. I wasn't late this time, but when I got into the hall, it had already started. I thought maybe they skipped the advertisements and headed straight to the movie. Needless to point out that I was completely clueless throughout the film. The movie ended less than an hour later, and I was like "isn't this movie supposed to be much longer?". That's when I realised the cinema played the movie waaaay ahead of schedule. The funny thing was, no one realised it or did anything about it. So, I'm not going to review that one, its not even worth reviewing anyway.

So, enough ranting. Let's get down to business. Malaysian cinemas sort of went on break for a week or two in conjunction with Chinese New Year. I don't mean that they were closed, but there weren't any decent movie releases then, so I decided to take the week off. This week, the cinemas tried to play catch up by releasing a hell load of films, but most of them have already been screened elsewhere like Lincoln and Flight. Beautiful Creatures was only released a week ago in the US, so this review isn't too outdated, I suppose.

Once again, let's start things off with a little introduction to the film.

Beautiful Creatures

Language: English with Southern Accent

Run Time: 124 minutes // 2 hours 4 minutes

Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Romance

Rating: 'PG13' (Malaysia) // 'PG-13' (USA)

Director: Richard LaGravenese

Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis, Emmy Rossum and cast (See the elaborated list of cast members below)

Date-of-Release: 21 February 2013 (Malaysia) // 14 February 2013 (USA)

What is it about?

The film is based on an American young adult novel written by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Set in a remote town named Gatlin of South Carolina, young Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich) aspired to leave the small town and religious townspeople someday. He had been waiting for something different and exciting to happen all his life. His prayers were soon answered by the arrival of Lena Duchannes, niece to a descendent of the founders of Gatlin, who transferred to the same school as him. Ethan was instantly captivated by the mysterious girl, but he did not realise just how mysterious she was. Follow Ethan as he discovered the secrets of Lena and her family.

Tagline: Dark secrets will come to light.

(Read on for Beautiful Creatures review)

[Movie Review] Bullet To The Head

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Out-of-time. That was what I've felt throughout the entire movie. I mentioned above that I was hoping to be surprised despite the dull movie poster, but the only surprise that I got was that the film was just as "old" as its poster. Bullet To The Head has a pretty similar storyline to Parker, the film that I reviewed last week, but the resemblance stops there. A professional criminal being double-crossed, seeking revenge and forming uncanny alliances, lots of killing and bleeding.

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Hollywood film releases are slowing down during this off-peak season and I only had to catch Bullet To The Head in the cinemas this week among the new releases. For Malaysians, the cinemas are preparing the onslaught of Chinese New Year movies in conjunction with the festival that's on February 10, while other countries are gearing up for Valentines Day. There are a few quite interesting movie releases on Valentines Day this year, I will discuss this in another post.

Back to the movie at hand. I have to admit that I was rather sceptical when I saw the movie poster for Bullet To The Head. It looks old, uninspiring and a little out of time if you ask me, but I had to keep an open mind for the movie, and was hoping to be surprised. I'll start off with the usual introduction.

Bullet To The Head

Language: English

Run Time: 91 minutes // 1 hour 31 minutes

Genre: Action, Thriller, Crime

Rating: '18' (Malaysia) // 'R' for strong violence, bloody images, language, some nudity and brief drug use

Director: Walter Hill

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Sung Kang, Sarah Shahi, Jason Momoa and cast (See the elaborated list of cast members below)

Date-of-Release: 31 January 2013 (Malaysia) // 1 February 2013 (USA)

What is it about?

After watching their respective partners die, a New Orleans hitman and a Washington D.C. detective, James Bonomo (Sylvester Stallone) and Taylor Kwon (Sung Kang) form an alliance in order to bring down their common enemy.

Tagline: Revenge Never Gets Old

(Read on for Bullet To The Head review)

[Movie Review] Parker

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I think that the main focus of the film is on Parker's formidable fighting skills and his witty plans. The fight and gun-fight scenes are thrilling, gory and satisfying. On top of that, both Parker and Leslie have provided comical relief which lighted up the film at appropriate moments.

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Parker also opened this week, starring Jason Statham (from the Transporter and The Expendables series) and the bootylicious Jennifer Lopez. The KayElleGuy was kinda excited to catch JLo on the silver-screen again (Its the first movie starring JLo that I'm watching after Maid In Manhattan). First, let's see what the movie is about.

Parker

Language: English

Run Time: 118 minutes // 1 hour 58 minutes

Genre: Crime, Thriller

Rating: '18' (Malaysia) // 'R' for strong violence, language throughout and brief sexual content/nudity

Director: Taylor Hackford

Starring: Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez, Michael Chiklis and cast (See the elaborated list of cast members below)

Date-of-Release: 24 January 2013 (Malaysia) // 25 January 2013 (USA)

What is it about: A thief with a unique code of professional ethics, Parker (played by Jason Statham) is double-crossed by his crew and left for dead. Assuming a new disguise and forming an unlikely alliance with a real estate agent Leslie (played by Jennifer Lopez), he plans to evening out scores with the crew by hijacking their latest heist.

Tagline:  To Get Away Clean, They Have To Play Dirty.

(Read on for Parker review)

[Movie Review] Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters

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Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is a darker interpretation of the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale. What's really interesting about this movie is that the director and producers have given the story a modern spin, with the insertion of an impressive array of weapons and contemporary dialogues that were not present during the medieval setting of the story. 

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The KayElleGuy has just realised that movies these days are getting more violent and "mature". Seriously, out of the 4 newly-released movies I've watched in the cinema these two weeks, 3 of them are rated '18' while 1 other is rated 'P13' by the Film Censorship Board of Malaysia. I guess people are getting progressively immuned towards violent and adult materials these days with the internet and all. Just when you think that a real-life version of the Hunger Games will never happen in our world huh? What more, turning the main characters of a children fairy tale into a pair of ill-tempered, badass witch hunters who spilled obscenities left, right and centre. Let's check out how did Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters fare.

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters

Language: English

Run Time: 88 minutes // 1 hour 28 minutes

Genre: Action, Fantasy, Horror

Rating: '18' (Malaysia) // 'R' for strong fantasy horror voilence and gore, brief sexuality/nudity and language

Director: Tommy Wirkola

Starring: Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Famke Janssen and cast (See the elaborated list of cast members below)

Date-of-Release: 24 January 2013 (Malaysia) // 25 January 2013 (USA)

What is it about: Fairy tale siblings Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) have grown up to be a formidable team of bounty hunters who track and kill witches all around the world.

Tagline:  Classic Tale, New Twist.

(Read on for Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters review)