“UNKNOWN” 2011 Movie Review. A Gripping, Scorching “Stolen Identity” Thriller.

“UNKNOWN” 2011 PRESS PREVIEW.

If you relish a good drool of enthralling mystery, dark suspense and explosive action, then “UNKNOWN” definitely has the right package.

It won’t disappoint.

There’re also potent touches a la ROMAN POLANKSI and ALFRED HITCHCOCK if you can spot these.

What’s more, you’d probably get scorched to your seat whilst biting your nails anticipating the hero’s next move.

The heat is intense and the action hot-hot.

Danger lurketh in the unknown. As always.

Liam Neeson is this biochemist Dr. Martin Harris jetting into Berlin for a conference with his wife Liz (January Jones) bankrolled by an altruistic Saudi Arabian prince.

All is not well.

On a lone taxi trip minus his wife, the vehicle crashes, plunging violently off the bridge into the river, taking his memory along with it.

Accident or espionage?

Harris falls into a 4-day comatose after being saved by pretty cabbie Gina (Diane Kruger).

Yet, when he finally awakens from his “slumber” he discovers that his entire world has become topsy-turvy.

His wife does not recognize him and she’s enjoying the company of a suave impostor Martin B (Aidan Quinn) who has stolen his identity as the husband.

What has happened?

Failing to convince everyone that he’s the man, Harris finds himself alone on the icy streets with Gina in a city that’s full of strife and perils.

Directed by Spanish director Jaume Collet-Serra, who made the horror-thriller “ORPHAN”, this is an fast-paced conspiracy yarn, propelling the action fast and furious, with equal doses of mystery, thrills and spins.

Liam Neeson delivers a splendid albeit provocative performance in this psychological thriller as an exasperated man who is trying to prove all and sundry that he’s for real.

You can feel his blinding rage.

Neeson was a major international hit with 2008’s TAKEN and has become an every man’s vision of an action star.

The actor slips effortlessly into the role of an ordinary fella who finds himself in extraordinary circumstances, a man who’s forced to retaliate when fate pushes him into a tight corner.

Essentially it is Neeson’s acting vehicle where he delivers with aplomb.

Without him UNKNOWN the movie would not be able to stand to the fore.

A worthy mention here of two older actors: Bruno Ganz, an established Swiss actor, shows up as an old Stasi agent who understands the trappings of the dark, desolate world and the reality that comes with it.

And award winning Frank Langella, in the role of an aging professor, a trusted colleague of Dr. Harris.

Spanish director Jaume Collet-Serra sets a heart-pounding mood and tone throughout the film, one that leaves you with little time to ponder over the plot-holes unearthed by the perplexed script.

The fight sequences, frantic car chases and action scenes are well choreographed and executed, particularly the dramatic opening car crash and the ferocious showdown climax towards the end.

Footnote:

Sometimes you’ve to be discerning about friendships.

Your closest ally can turn out to be your most deadly enemy.

Not everything is always what it seems.

BE WARNED.

FRIENDSHIPS. ALL OVER THE WORLD.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Right?

What are FRIENDS for?

Cross over, chum.

Let’s unite to do whatever little

to turn this desolate world into a better abode.

For YOU.

For ME.

For US.

FRIENDSHIP IS ONE REAL WORD.

It is not strapped with a life-time warranty.

But while we are at it,

let’s try to make it last.

“BEASTLY”Movie Review. BEAUTY is but SKIN deep. Repeat this.

“BEASTLY” PRESS PREVIEW

BEAUTY IS BUT SKIN DEEP.

Right.

Only by delving deeper into the soul of that person can you learn if he is truly beautiful.

Looks are not everything.

And perceptions can shift over time.

If you’re starting to dislike a person, then that glowing feeling will surely vanish.

Circumstances can change.

Someone whom you previously ignore can now be the hottest dude in the world. It comes in a flash.

No prior warning.

Feelings have no explanations. They just come, when you least expect them.

Perception can take a nosedive, taking the love with it.

You either fall in love.

Or you step out.

You cannot rely on the exterior.

Beauty is but skin deep. Repeat.

Blogger KINKY ANGEL 69′s “BEAUTY” poem says for real, when she laments:

“Beauty is only skin deep

Beneath the surface of skin

Beneath the smile and eyes

There is a much greater beauty

That sometimes stays locked up inside

Beauty is only skin deep

Let it be free

Show your beauty from the inside out

It’s all inside waiting to be released.”

Hear this poet’s palpitations?

“BEASTLY” the movie is all about the preening of one male peacock who swears by his good looks and is beastly to everyone around him.

Of course he will meet his just desserts, as the story flows into the deeper end.

This dude is the obnoxious high schooler Kyle (Alex Pettyfer) who has all the trappings of looks and wealth.

He wastes no time to flaunt these.

And he relishes every opportunity to belittle people until he incurs the wrath of teen witch Kendra (Mary-Kate Olsen) who casts a vengeful spell on Kyle to teach him a worthy lesson.

Transforming his pretty boy face into a melange of scar tissue, tattoos, and open wounds, Kendra warns Kyle that he’d be maintaining this ugly exterior forever, unless he finds someone to love him.

Enter Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens) the impoverished scholarship student who sees behind Kyle’s facade and becomes the key to releasing him from his ugly-face prison.

Here’s a love story that has the potential to be sweet and disarming, but the film director Daniel Barnz’s meandering treatment brings forth the yawns.

And the subpar acting sabotage any chance at success.

So in which direction is the “BEASTLY” going?

We have here a little bit of heart and soul.

A little less of rock-and-roll.

Nothing more.

Everything less.

” BIG MOMMAS – Like Father, Like Son” Movie Review. ‘HE’ ain’t HEAVY. ‘HE’ is my BLACK MOMMA.

“BIG MOMMAS – Like FATHER, like SON” Press Preview

Welcome to the incorrigible flick “BIG MOMMAS- LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON”.

It’s the latest, and third in the MARTIN LAWRENCE’s comedy series about this blundersome FBI agent who has to delve undercover as a tubby matriarch.

Expect nothing new from this film.

The hero still cross-dresses, for voyeurs who shamelessly enjoy watching men parading in drag.

It’s the “he’s a WOMAN, she’s a MAN” genre.

What’s more, you get to see the MARTIN LAWRENCE exhibiting his saggy and cellulite driven body when he offers to model nude for a figure drawing class attended by female students.

(I almost puke).

“BIG MOMMAS” won’t just end here.

A loadful of crap?

Depending on which way you see it.

Some films are gleefully done, and then bludgeoned to death.

Like this one, treading on teeny wee ice.

MARTIN LAWRENCE reprises his role as Malcolm Turner, a federal agent who’s on the brink of nabbing Russian mobster Chirkoff (TONY CURRAN).

But his informant is killed and stepson Trent (BRANDON JACKSON), an aspiring black rapper witnesses the murder.

Both Malcolm and Trent must go undercover now at an all-girls performing arts academy. Like real.

More fluff than buff?

Absolutely.

There are dry humor scantily spilled here and there as MARTIN LAWRENCE and BRANDON JACKSON are trying hard to justify their roles as goofy comedians. Nothing out of the extraordinary.

Whatever the shortcomings, the first two BIG MOMMAS brought some broad appeal then.

This third one stands on a limbo.

It’s an overkill, with too much of a good thing.

Here’s a grim lesson to show us

that there’s only so much essence you can extract from a drying prune.

There can be better ways to spend your time, if you ask me.

(yawn).

“RANGO” Animated Film Review. WORTH waiting for, EVEN if it’s ONE too MANY.

“RANGO” Animated Film Preview

Let’s just say that too much of a good thing kills.

In recent months, there’s been a brewing storm-in-a-teacup on the subject of ANIMATED FEATURES.

We are spoiled for choice, with this endless deluge of motion cartoons on our platter.

It’s little wonder that anyone can get to be giddy-headed and animation-weary.

Are you an animated film snob?

Less can be more, in terms of quality.

Thanks to the marvels of the 3-D theatrical phenomenon, production houses worldwide are already smelling the cash, and are jumping on the bandwagon.

The heydays of cartoons and animated characters are definitely back.

Animation is big time, folks.

And the general audience by now would have gotten use to strapping on the special glasses and paying a little hefty extra for the price of a cinema ticket.

“RANGO” is another of those animated films that lay claim to being a blockbuster.

Thankfully, this one treads precariously on the old school, dispensing with the irksome 3-D.

At least JOHNNY DEPP’s name is on the bright lights lending his famous voice to this uncanny cartoon chameleon.

It may be his redemption exercise, after his recent dismal foray in that insipid “THE TOURIST”.

The “RANGO” character is personality-perplexed, a bug-eyed chameleon voiced by the ubiquitous JOHNNY DEPP.

He is a blur blob and at most times, deadbeat.

The feature is directed by GORE VERBINSKI (Pirates of the Caribbean), and it’s nicely done.

It’s a neatly assembled piece, no doubt.

RANGO could be one of the best computer animated films in recent years.

The action may start slowly at first,

but like a good workout, the “burn” comes on after fifteen minutes where the story takes off, cantering with a faint gallop before moving into full gear.

“Weirdo” characters take centerstage in a mood and tone that are peppered with stitching guffaws.

RANGO is a house pet chameleon who ends up lost in the desert and becomes the sheriff of a dusty town called Dirt that is facing a devastating drought.

Dirt is a frontier town in the baking hot Nevada desert.

This SPAGHETTI Western that will give ” True Grit” a run for its money. It even features a cute schoolgirl in pigtails, only in this film she’s a rat.

All the unlikely Wild West figures are there — from the boarish cigar-chewing mayor to the mean undertaker — and all played by a variety of mangy looking animals.

Providing voice duties are Brits Alfred Molina, Bill Nighy and Ray Winstone, alongside Harry Dean Stanton and Isla Fisher.

The surprisingly cute RANGO has hoodwinked his way into becoming Sheriff and soon finds himself up against a gang of gun-toting varmints and the suspicious disappearance of the town’s water supply.

Like, wow.

Please take note that this Reviewer wants to dispense with all the boring, highbrow technicalities on how a great CGI animated film should be “dressed” or made.

He is no expert on this.

It’s the film director’s business.

That said, “RANGO” is a quirky, computer-animated feature that is most ingenious, funny and wholesomely engaging.

It’s a gamely tribute to the era of spaghetti westerns,

yet it has a divine soul of its own.

“RANGO” is worth waiting for. Even if it’s just one too many.