“RED RIDING HOOD” Movie Review. FORGIVE this LEGEND.

“RED RIDING HOOD” PRESS PREVIEW

You take a famous fable.

You blend it, bleed it and laud it with an unexpected twist.

Next, you dress it up with one doe-eyed beautiful actress called Amanda Seyfried.

And, lo and behold!

You get a refresher version of RED RIDING HOOD.

Now, this is one film you either love.

Or you don’t.

It is a children’s story reconfigured for hormonal youth, to cater for a wider audience.

What follows a weird adaptation of the renowned children parable “Little Red Riding Hood”.

Or a sinister retelling of the Red Riding Hood saga.

It is set in medieval times, in a derelict village that’s being haunted by a giant werewolf for years, one that has so far been appeased by animal offerings.

Our Gothic tale begins under a blood moon which takes place only once every thirty years.

“Under the blood moon, once bitten is a man cursed”

There is this chilly saying that any victim bitten under the blood moon will too transform into a werewolf.

Valerie (Amanda Seyfried) loves Peter (Shiloh Fernandez) a childhood friend, but is arranged to marry Henry (Max Irons).

The two suitors fight to gain her affection, at the same time hunting for the werewolf.

The terrified villagers people finally enlists the services of a famed werewolf hunter, Father Solomon (Gary Oldman), to help them track the beast.

Yet Solomon’s arrival brings disastrous consequences as he warns that the wolf, who takes the human form by day, can be any one of the innocent villagers.

As the death toll rises with each moon, Valerie begins to suspect that the werewolf could be someone around her, someone she dearly loves.

Who, then, is the werewolf?

Directed by the female director Catherine Hardwicke who also helmed “Twilight”, it is therefore not surprising that this movie has raw touches of “Twilight” written all over it.

The cinematography by Mandy Walker is awesome.

Gushes of poetic beauty is brilliantly captured in scenes where Amanda Seyfried’s scarlet cape stands out as a stylish dreamlike contrast against a backdrop of white snow, a forlorn landscape bathed in the evening’s golden light and a chilly ambience of lonely trees with branches sticking out like thorny sticks.

C’est magnifique.

In the acting department, Amanda Seyfried is stunningly stylized. Hers is not a challenging role to match, other than looking wide-eyed with amazement or downcast in disbelief, when brutal circumstances spiral downhill.

Veterans like Julie Christie and Gary Oldman may be supporting but they command whatever screen time they can muster to give all and sundry a run for their money.

Art rests in the eyes of the beholder.

Let’s say that “RED RIDING HOOD” is a boldly conceived and astonishingly photographed blend of enchanting mythology and pagan magic.

With a pretty ensemble cast to boot, it makes for one wholesome entertainment for the open-minded.

Check it out.

“SCREAM 4″ MOVIE REVIEW. Watch SCRAMBLING VICTIMS screaming for MERCY, waiting to be BUTCHERED.

“SCREAM 4″ PRESS PREVIEW

It has been ten long years waiting for SCREAM 4 to arrive, and now that it’s here for us to drool with more screams, is it any good?

You can sock it to film director WES CRAVEN, the grand master of horror slasher flicks to bring the whole house down screaming in delirium, and he’ll never disappoint.

He’s back with more blood, gore and violence on a platter, and if you are the true-blue, hard-core bloodthirsty type, this one’s for you, honey.

Just sit back, ease your tension and enjoy the film as beautiful creatures make their advent on screen with gusto and then get peremptorily hacked to death within minutes.

That’s some wow, right?

You’ll get sucked into the mind-boggling maze trying to figure out who’s this killer, what’s the motive and you will get confronted lots of red herrings before the final showdown with the mad, gleeful killer who’s out for the berserk, vengeful slash.

Here’s the flow of the story:

It is the 15th anniversary of the Woodsboro murders (and the 15th anniversary of the first Scream movie).

Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) now returns to her hometown on the last stop of her book tour.

Bloody mayhem follows.

Someone has taken on the guise of the Ghostface Killer – the masked killer who enjoyed tormenting his victims with phone calls and movie references, and he’s recreating those murders again that took place 15 years ago.

While Sidney is put under 24-hour surveillance, the local high school kids, including Olivia (Marielle Jaffe), Kirby (Hayden Panettiere), Sidney’s cousin Jill (Emma Roberts), Charlie (Rory Culkin) and more are trying to avoid being the next victim.

Will Dewey (David Arquette) and Gale (Courtney Cox) be able to uncover the killer time runs out?

Who will live and who will die?

Directed with the keen eye of a horror master on a fast-paced script by the series’ creator, Kevin Williamson, “Scream 4” is everything what a pulse-pounding, suspense thriller should be.

Believe me, having reviewed countless bad imitators of so-called slasher films, this feature stands out like a rare gem.

It is possibly, film director WES CRAVEN’s best in the SCREAM franchise so far.

“SCREAM 4″ will definitely put you on the edge of your seat all the way to a heart-stopping finale with a wicked twist.

It can be funny, chilly and it is all at once, a well conceived murder mystery.

Afraid of the dark?

Learn the true meaning of fear in “SCREAM 4″.

It’s in this one-liner:

Scream ….. scream ….. scream …. SCREAM!

“THE ROOM MATE” Movie Review. WHAT if you do NOT get to CHOOSE your ROOM MATE?

“THE ROOM MATE” PRESS PREVIEW

If you love to “coo” over pretty boys and beaming girls, then drop over to “THE ROOM MATE”.

This is it.

Eye candy are strewn aplenty here.

Some of these will be bludgeoned or stabbed later for your viewing pleasure.

Or at least, that’s what you’d have thought.

Remember, this is a morbid drama about a warped girl who swears by same-sex romance.

Apparently so.

She has the hots for another girl, and woe betides anyone who comes in between.

The focus is on the psychosexual obsession of one woman for another as they share the same room in an university.

Just don’t expect this movie to make a lot of intellectual sense.

If nothing else, “THE ROOMMATE” will at least be a delicious feast for the eyes and ears, if not the mind.

The plot plods at a snail’s pace, sapping up every mental anxiety as we try to keep up with the draggy momentum hoping for the killings to start, and the victims to die in full gory glory.

Come on, Director.

Surely you can render a better treatment.

Bring on the mutilated bodies.

This Reviewer wouldn’t even call it half a thriller as it has none of the scares, much less the thrills and spins.

Even the ambient music to heighten the frights does not seem to sink in.

Except for a few key horrific scenes at the end, one can totally forget about blood, gore or any form of butchery.

These are few and far between to drool over, for die-hard bloodthirsty fans.

In “THE ROOM MATE” , Sara Matthews (Minka Kelly) arrives in a Los Angeles university to study fashion design.

On her first night on campus she meets Stephen (Cam Gigandet), a cute dude who plays in a band.

Everything seems to fall neatly in place, and the only uncertainty is who she’ll be sharing a dorm room with.

Her roommate Rebecca (Leighton Meester) seems pretty decent at first, and the two of them cement their friendship through interests in clothes and art.

Then Rebecca starts to get clingy and overprotective of her new friend.

As time goes by, though, Rebecca’s attachment to Sara begins to border on the bizarre.

She becomes obsessive, possessive and very psychotic.

“THE ROOM MATE” has a beautiful cast to boot.

It has the premise of being a promising thriller, but everything falls short in the hands of Christian E. Christiansen, the Danish film director who seems unsure of the genre, and the delivery of mood and tone throughout the movie.

The script is bland and is lacking in finesse.

Let’s say that in more capable hands, we could have enjoyed a more satisfying movie.

“LIMITLESS” Movie Review. BEWARE the DANGERS of the WONDER DRUG.

“LIMITLESS” PRESS PREVIEW

And so this story goes:

A down-and-out writer Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) is in a deep fix.

He’s at dead end, suffering from chronic “writer’s block” which is overpowering him, taking his depressive moods to the next level.

Then he accidentally stumbles upon a ray of hope.

It’s in the form of NZT, a wonder pill.

It’s a revolutionary new drug that can lay claim to enhance one’s senses and wit.

The vital question is: to take or not to take?

He succumbs to being a guinea pig, as he has nothing to lose.

Upon consuming the drug, he develops exhilarated feelings of inner euphoria.

All traces of the stubborn “writer’s block” completely disappear.

His creative juices seep through naturally in his mind.

Flow of ideas, words and content that were hard to come by, now bounce up and down in a continuous steady stream, non-stop.

NZT makes Eddie a genius — as long as he keeps taking it.

After stealing a supply, Eddie believes he’s got it made and for a while, he does. He finishes his book, works for a Wall Street superstar Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro), and lures his ex-girl friend back.

He is hailed as the latest literary genius, financial whiz and a lady-killer.

Everything’s happening so fast and seems too good to be true.

Then danger rears its ugly head.

The pill becomes his potent means to brilliant success, and he craves for more.

In doing so, he enters a world of intrigue, fraught with unforeseen danger.

He is mysteriously stalked by strange,ruthless pursuers who seem to fathom his innermost secret.

Or maybe, this is just a figment of his imagination?

A brilliant script by Leslie Dixon and film director Neil Burger pushes the film to the extreme at a delirious breakneck pace.

“LIMITLESS” is a taut, action-packed drama that propels you deep into the hero’s bewildered mind with a tour de force performance by Cooper.

A lesson we can learn from this movie is that nothing’s for free.

Don’t trouble trouble – unless trouble troubles you.

“LIMITLESS” is a fast-paced action thriller and will give you a run for your money.

Bradley Cooper is an energetic actor and he tackles the lead role of Eddie Morra with a good amount of verve.

Robert De Niro has a cameo role.

Despite his short screen time, he shows that he is always the veteran to root for.

Of course, there has to be a woman.

Abbie Cornish plays Lindy, the girlfriend who can’t believe she’s seeing the startling transformation Eddie has undergone.

He was a slacker but now a brilliant and suave dandy.

“LIMITLESS” is one pure entertainment that’s worth a watch.

Go get charmed.