Movie Review: What Happens in Vegas

So I decided to catch this show the day after my exams. Got drunk the night before cause Shimin got married and they decided to open 4 bottles of Martell at Zouk. Luckily, there was no hang-over effects and I could even write my resume when I woke up!

What Happens in Vegas stars Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher in a romantic comedy about finding love at the most unexpected places.

Joy (Cameron Diaz) gets dumped by her boyfriend at his surprise party which she planned for him and Jack (Ashton Kutcher) is fired from his job by his own dad. Down and out, both of them decide to go to Las Vegas, each with a friend, where they meet. Initially, both parties don’t really like each other and try to avoid each other but as the night goes on and the alcohol kicks in, they can’t help but have so much fun. Joy and Jack got so drunk that they ended marrying each other. The next morning, Joy and Jack decide to divorce and as the both of them are walking away, Jack slots Joy’s chip into a jackpot machine and win 3 million big bucks. Stuck with the money as a couple, they appeal to a judge who proceeds to force them to live together for 6 months before he would grant them a divorce. It is during those 6 months where the bulk of the movie takes place with both of them trying to grab the 3 million all for themselves.

I thought this movie started out very badly. There was no proper direction and the plot was very vague. It felt like the directors were trying to rush the movie to get to the middle part. Of course towards the middle, things slow down to a comfortable pace and that’s where the laughs begin. Ashton Kutcher plays his part perfectly as Jack, delivering all his lines with skill and precision. Cameron Diaz also dones a good job portraying a all-too-serious Joy. Overall, this movie is a fun watch filled with laughs for everyone to enjoy.

Directed by: Tom Vaughan

Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Cameron Diaz,

Year: 2008

Rating: PG

Review:

Movie Review: Iron Man

It’s been awhile since my last update. Sorry I was pretty busy with examinations and fund-raising activities and stuff. Now that my exams are over, I still got the FOC camp to plan and other errands to run. Not to mention look for a job for the next 3 months. Boy, life sure is busy these days.

Well at least I managed to squeeze in time off in-between to catch Marvel’s latest offering. That’s right it’s Iron Man. Starring Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow, this movie is based on the Marvel comics character of the same name.

The movie basically tells of Iron Man’s origins, starting with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) being portrayed as a rich, can-care-less-about-the-world man. Stark gets captured by terrorist while doing a weapons demonstration for the US Army in Afghanistan. During his capture, he learns of the pain the civilians living in those areas and how poorly they live life. In order to escape, he builds a power-suit with fellow-captive Dr Yinsen. After successfully escaping, he decides to dedicate his life to helping the very people that his company, Stark Industries, made to suffer. Thus begins Tony Stark’s long journey from building a mor powerful suit with flight capabilities to playing company politics with his own board.

Although many have reviewed this movie to be fantastic, my personal opinion of it was only so-so. I thought Spider-Man, X-Men and Batman Begins were much better movies. Also, I thought the screen time in the Iron Man suit was too little. The real Iron Man suit did not appear till more than half-way through the show. They really should have shown more of the suit. Still, it’s a pretty decent movie with great visual effects and really high-tech gadgets.

PS. There are loads of superhero movie slated to be released this year. Just thinking of it makes me drool. I’m such a fanboy. Incredible Hulk, The Dark Knight and Hancock are coming out middle of the year and I can’t wait! Not to mention the X-Men spin-off, Wolverine, will be out next year!

Directed by: Jon Favreau

Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges.

Year: 2008

Rating: PG

Review:

Movie Review: Definately, Maybe

I watched this show a couple of weeks back. Ryan Reynolds was the reason I wanted to catch it. I know it sounds funny coming from a guy but I’ve always liked him as an actor since Two Guys and A Girl. That’s a TV sitcom series by the way. Hm.. Maybe I should do reviews of TV sitcoms as well? Ah that’s for another time. Focus on the movies first! Now on to the review proper!

Definately, Maybe stars Ryan Reynolds, Abigail Breslin, Isla Fisher, Elizabeth Banks and Rachel Weisz in a romantic comedy about finding true love amid all the chaos that is relationships.

Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) is undergoing a divorce. He has a daughter, Maya (Abigail Breslin), with his wife. One day, his daughter gets all curious about how she got to the world and how her parents met because of the sex ed class she attended. In order to censor his story, Will changes the names and some facts and manages to create a sort of love mystery for Maya to solve.

There are three women in this love mystery. They are Emily (Elizabeth Banks), Summer (Rachel Weisz) and April (Isla Fisher). All three of them get involved with Will at different points in his life up till Maya came around. The bulk of the story would revolve around this love mystery as Will keeps Maya (and the audience) guessing exactly who his wife is.

While being a heart-warming story about love, I really expected more laughs from Ryan Reynolds. I liked the fact that the audience are engaged with the mystery throughout the entire movie. I especially liked the opening credits. I thought the scenes and style of cinematography displayed a chic yet artistic feel. Overall, this movie is a family-oriented show and you can (and should) watch with your girlfriend. It ain’t that entertaining for a guy though.

Directed by: Adam Brooks

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Abigail Breslin, Isla Fisher, Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz

Year: 2008

Rating: PG

Review: 

Movie Recommendation: Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle

   

Now how can I review the sequel without mentioning the prequel? So here it is then, the prequel to the review below: Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle.

This show is a comedy film released way back in 2004 about the two title characters, Harold and Kumar. It chronicles their experiences one night while trying to find their way to a White Castle outlet. The show starts off with Harold in the office. Being the sterotypical Asian worker bee, he gets bullied by his co-workers into finishing up additional work while his collegues head off to party. Meanwhile, Kumar is at an interview for medical school when Harold calls and informs him that the “high” session is off cause he needs to complete his work. Kumar then proceeds to screw up his chances of getting into med school by spouting off obscenities in front of the interviewer. Kumar insists Harold gets back in time to smoke marijuana.

While smoking marijuana, both of them chance upon a White Castle advertisment on TV and decide to go off looking for the fast-food joint. This kicks off a series of happenings that serves as the main plot of the movie as the duo tries to find their way to the White Castle outlet. They would end up buying drugs from a college hippie only to get chased around by the campus security, land up in the hospital and get mistaken for doctors, run into Neil Patrick Harris who would eventually steal their car, gets jailed by a racist cop who fine Harold for jaywalking and keep bumping into the extreme sports punks who keeps harassing Harold. Of course, in the end, they would eventually find the White Castle outlet but it would take them the entire night to do so.

Like I mentioned in the previous post, the prequel is not as good as the sequel. It is still a good watch though and you would want to watch it before the Escape from Guantanamo Bay just so you would get the entire story line. There are inside jokes in the second show which rewards you for watching the first one.

Directed by: Danny Leiner

Starring: John Cho, Kal Penn

Year: 2004

Rating: M18

Review:

Movie Review: Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Woohoo! This is the very first movie review! And I’m honoured for it to go to this movie, which I think is awesome! Caught this show on Thursday 24/04/2008 with Kelly after she finished studying Finance with Eug Ang and Steph Soh. Read on for the review…

Starring John Cho and Kal Penn, Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay is the sequel to the movie Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle.

John Cho and Kal Penn reprise their roles as the stoner duo Harold Lee and Kumar Patel as they pick off from where the first movie left off. After returning from their trip to White Castle, Harold and Kumar decided to fly off to Amsterdam to look for Harold’s crush, Maria. Incidentally, Amsterdam is also the place where smoking weed is legal. Yeap, it’s practically their haven.

So along the way, things happen in time-honoured Harold and Kumar tradition. First off, the duo gets mistaken for terrorists while trying to smoke weed on board a plane using Kumar home-made device. They then get thrown into prison at Guantanamo Bay, where the guards make the inmates eat “cockmeat sandwich”. Of course, they manage to escape and end up running all over the country in a bit to avoid capture. Along the way, they bump into the KKK and Neil Patrick Harris, who stole their car in the first part, nearly gets shot to death in a whore house, attend a bottomless pool party and finally parachuting into George W Bush’s ranch and getting stoned with him.

I think this movie is hilarious. In fact, it’s even better than the first one. The jokes in this movie uses some references to American culture, American slang, etc so it might pose a challenge to the Singaporean viewer but in general, I think understanding the movie should not be an issue. I can’t remember not laughing during the show. It’s that good. Although it’s pretty much a no-brainer, it’s a must-watch purely for the entertainment value.

Directed by: Jon Hurwitz, Hay Schlossberg

Starring: John Cho, Kal Penn, Neil Patrick Harris

Year: 2008

Rated: M18

Review:  

 

The Drive-In

Welcome to The Drive-In!

Go ahead, park your car, wind down the window and relax.

There will be tons of movie reviews and recommendations here. Whether you’re looking for more information about a particular movie or just want to know whether you should even watch that movie, stop by The Drive-In and we’ll let you know what we think about it.

Movie reviews and recommendations will start from the next post. In the meantime, get used to finding your way here cause you know you’ll want to come back!