ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER

What can I say, this movie, although having some cool fight scenes, failed to live up to my expectations. When I first saw the trailer for the movie, it intrigued me and immediately made its way into my "movies to watch list". However, it just did not have the impact I thought it would.

Set in the mid 1800s, young Abraham Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) witnesses the death of his mother after she was bitten by a plantation owner who is also a vampire. He vows to seek vengeance when he becomes of age and when he finally plucks up the courage to do so and puts a bullet through the man's head, finds himself being beaten to death by a man with a bullet embedded in his eye socket.

He is then saved by the likes of Henry Sturges, a vampire hunter with a secret, who proceeds to tell him of the existence of vampires and after some persuasion, decides to train Lincoln to be a vampire hunter. The sheer absurdity of the idea that the 16th president of America and one of the most respected man in history as a vampire hunter is what was supposed to make this movie great for me.

However, despite this concept, the movie was serious, way too serious. Vampire Hunter's supporting could have added some auxiliary comedic juice to the intrinsically outlandish setup, but the decision to play everything straight dooms the movie to the trash heap of boring cinema. Many characters in the movie accepted the fact that vampires existed with little to no surprise. One such example would be Lincoln's friend and boss Speed. Upon hearing of the existence of vampires, not only did he not seem surprised by the revelation, he even agreed to travel with Lincoln to kill the vampires that kidnapped their friend.

Having some visually stunning and well-executed fight scenes, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is by no means an ugly movie. But visual virtuosity can only take a film so far and in this case, not very far at all.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

The Dark Knight Rises takes place eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, Gotham city revels in some long-awaited peace. Yet Selina Kyle (Hathaway) whispers that this is merely the calm to a chaotic criminal storm. Still pinned for Harvey Dent’s crimes, Batman is forced to return to the city as a wanted fugitive in order to prevent the fall of Gotham, as well as the rise of Bane.

The Dark Knight Rises is a pretty amazing film. From the set pieces to the brilliant visual iconography, the film is extremely pleasing to the eyes. It is also filled with -almost- non-stop action sequences. If i had one problem with the movie, it would be the fact that it's the successor to The Dark Knight. By having The Dark Knight, who set a new bar for what comic book movies should be as its predecessor, makes it almost impossible for The Dark Knight Rises to meet the level of expectations of many fans and viewers.

However, The Dark Knight Rises does give a justified and well-earned conclusion to the trilogy and is a great movie to check out.

WE BOUGHT A ZOO

OMG WHAT AN AWESOME MOVIE THIS IS! The movie is based on a true story and centers on Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon), a recently widowed father struggling to raise a teenage son, named Dylan (Colin Ford) and a young daughter named Rosie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones). Looking for a fresh start, Benjamin begins looking for a new house and finds the perfect one. However, he soon discovers it has a catch, the house is a defunct zoo.

Although We bought a zoo might not be the most thrilling, suspenseful movie, and it may not be a laugh-fest, but it's just the tonic for days when you feel hopeless about the world and, yup, about modern day movies. The movie's genius lies in the many human interactions and how they develop as the movie progresses.

Every character in the movie was played by, in my opinion, the perfect actor/actress. The performance of Matt Damon stood out the most for me, the scenes where he had interactions with his son were brilliantly portrayed, with some leaving me teary-eyed.

If you are looking for a movie that will have your emotions running high or just something to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, then this is a move you definitely don't want to miss!

SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON

Ahh Spirit, one of my favourite animated movies as a child. Spirit is the story of a wild mustang, captured and stolen from his herd by U.S Calvary soldiers in the old west. In his journey to return home he bucks off cowboys, travels with North Americans, and even falls in love.

The genius of this film and perhaps the reason why I fell in love with it is that the horses in the movie are unable to talk. This might sound boring but trust me, this film is anything but boring. 

Another reason that makes this film so great is the soundtrack, primarily filled with musical scores voiced by Bryan Adams. Due to the horses being unable to talk, there will inevitably be quite a few stretches in the movie completely bereft of dialogue. The music covers these parts amazingly well, allowing you to enjoy the uplifting effect the well chosen musical tracks have, when combined with the beauty and majesty of Spirit's horses.

Spirit might be a kiddie movie, but the film has class and more importantly style. The animation is quite simply breathtaking for its time and each panel is wonderfully detailed and capably done, with a few really artistic shots interspersed in between.

At the end of the day, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron will always remain as one of my favourite movies of all time due to its ingenuity and amazing scenes.

THE DICTATOR

One of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time. The Dictator is a show about Haffaz Alladeen, played by Sacha Baron Cohen who starred in popular movies Borat and Bruno. Alladeen is the bizarre dictator of the oil-rich African nation of Wadiya and is as ruthless and egoistical as dictators come.  Aladeen is summoned to New York to a UN assembly to address concerns about his country's nuclear weapons program, where things start to go awry.

The Dictator is in essence a romantic comedy. While on his visit to the United States, Alladeen was captured by a US torturer and had his beard shaved off. Despite escaping, he found himself penniless on the Manhattan streets and becomes dependent on the charity of a feminist vegetarian cafe manager, Zoey, played by Anna Faris, who comes to his rescue.


So begins the misadventures of General Alladeen and Zoey. There were many funny scenes in the movie where i couldn't help bursting out in laughter. For me, there was never a dull moment and the characters are very well portrayed. 

Be warned though, the movie contains a lot of stereotyped humour that may be deemed offensive by some.

The Dictator is a show that probably will not win any awards. However, what it does have to offer is 83 minutes of outrageously funny content that will have you laughing throughout its entire duration.