“INSIDIOUS” MOVIE REVIEW. “The HOUSE ain’t HAUNTED, but your SON is.”

“INSIDIOUS” PRESS PREVIEW

For starters, the word “insidious” suggests a demonic attraction.

And it is starkly obvious that film director JAMES WAN and screenwriter LEIGH WHANNELL took the liberty to adapt creative cues from classic horrors such as “The Exorcist” and “Poltergeist”.

The results show.

Here’s an extraordinary movie about a haunted house that brings on the goosebumps.

Or did it really?

Mom, Dad and three kids — move into this divine place called home.

Surprise!

Pretty soon the happy family will be terrorized by unexpected thumps in the night, spooky faces at the window, and weird objects that apparently move when they shouldn’t.

And more …. to jolt you that, whatever you see is just starting to happen,

and there’ll be more than meets the eye in time to come.

This demonic presence threatens to rip their whole world apart.

The director and his sound editors time must have had a whale of a time imbuing a super loud crashing score to hit every split second after something creepy moves across the screen.

Some scenes may seem to have been heavily borrowed from the “PARANORMAL ACTIVITY” series.

Eventually Mom cracks up and wants out of this soul defeating house.

So the family relocates, moves to a new place to escape the hauntings.

But the apparitions vengefully stomp back again in full force.

The hapless couple eventually seeks the help of a female psychic and a couple of geeky paranormal researchers.

The perturbed psychic announces that all is not well and that the house is not haunted- but there’s a “demon” that lurks within the body of their comatose son and refuses to be evicted.

“The house ain’t haunted, but your son is.”

The ghost busters strategically install the entire house with security equipment for detecting ghost, the ectoplasm and energy vibrations providing a “scientific” examination of the events.

The family is warned to steel themselves for further impending shocks as they embark on a bizarre journey into the “other” world to retrieve their son.

Behold terror at its extreme when the exorcism rites are exercised, to forcefully “expel” the demon out of the son’s body.

”INSIDIOUS” is a horror thriller that expounds on the haunted house theme, only it’s a human that’s haunted instead of a house.

Actors PATRICK WILSON and ROSE BYRNE pitch in formidable performances as exasperated parents who are forced to accept the shocking truth that their eldest child is “possessed” even in comatose.

LIN SHAYE in a supporting role of the woman psychic is superb as she delivers a chilling albeit difficult part “so authentic” that it will surely blow your mind away and steal the thunder from the leads.

So much for the summary of the spook movie “INSIDIOUS”.

Just stay braced for the breathtaking climax.

“INSIDIOUS” isn’t just an intense horror flick served with dark savory wit.

It’s a psycho-supernatural thriller – scary, gripping and absorbing.

Now, go get a blast.

It may be one shock therapy you long needed to get yourself up and going, thanks

to smart director JAMES WAN and his merry gang.

“PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, ON STRANGER TIDES” MOVIE REVIEW. ‘Tis a Colourful Swashbuckling Adventure in the GRANDEUR of 3D.

NOW, IS THIS FOR REAL?

“PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES” PRESS PREVIEW IN 3D

Cinema goers are a fussy lot.

You can count on this.

Tons of negative vibes have been spun now and then.

And it all boils down that it’s really a case of “much ado about nothing”.

The “PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN” film series did score – and will continue to reap a tremendous following, all over the world.

You simply don’t leave a viable money spinner lying around intact.

The film trilogy (so far) has a wholesome appeal that sticks to you like jelly-O.

And it’ll have the young, the adult and the old enamoured, making this a heavenly captive market.

So this is one gregarious escapist FAMILY entertainment with something in store for everyone.

Little surprise that sequel after sequel had been spawned in the past years, and this commercial vehicle will ride on and on to keep the magic of the legendary pirate JACK SPARROW alive, whether you like it or not.

“ON STRANGER SHORES” is the fourth film in the successful franchise line-up, helmed by ROB MARSHALL who had given us CABARET and MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA.

It’s a cash machine and money makes the world go round.

JOHNNY DEPP reportedly struck gold for picking up a 21-million pound pay cheque for reenacting his famous screen role. He is laughing his way to the bank – thanks to you, chum.

Welcome to the latest albeit craziest of the series, this time with the sultry addition of the vivacious PENELOPE CRUZ on board.

Conspicuously absent would the regular pair of star-crossed lovebirds – KEIRA KNIGHTLEY and ORLANDO BLOOM whose characters had been peremptorily taken off the hook by the screen writers.

A new angle with the storytelling and a totally new take this time round.

All for the first time, in the brilliance of the 3D phenomenon.

You will be bedazzled by the awesome colours, glorious action and swashbuckling adventure.

“ON STRANGER TIDES” ignites the explosive fun, adventure and humor as usual. JOHNNY DEPP returns to his iconic role of Captain Jack Sparrow and crosses path with a woman of his past, the enigmatic Angelica (PENELOPE CRUZ).

He thinks he has finally found love but discovers she is just a ruthless con artist who’s making use of him to find the fabled Fountain of Youth.

When she lures him aboard the “Queen Anne’s Revenge,” the ship of the legendary pirate Blackbeard (IAN McSHANE), Jack finds himself caught in a precarious situation in which he doesn’t know whom to fear more or trust less: Blackbeard the father or Angelica the temptress.

Everyone’s out to get a piece of the action, to find the seemingly unattainable fountain of youth by braving new storms and charting perilous terrains.

Expect a bloody swashbuckling mayhem.

Who’d have expected that the dangerous monsters are the sweet, vulnerable seductive mermaids, who are cruelly hunted, butchered and tortured along the way.

These vengeful mermaids cry “murder most foul” and counter-attack by leaping from the waters at the throats of the sailors and slitting the them alive.

Other death-defying perils?

You can count on the zombie pirates and a fire breathing ship.

“PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES” is one visually stunning, wildly entertaining and action packed adventure that will keep you enthralled, that is, if you suspend your disbelief mode.

It will be a love-hate relationship for many who will love it as much as there will be the same numbers who don’t.

But that aside, the crowds will return to the cinema for another round of PIRATES 5.

Trick or Treat?

SEEING IS INDEED BELIEVING.

“SOMETHING BORROWED” MOVIE REVIEW. WOULD you SCREW your BEST FRIEND’s Fiance?

“SOMETHING BORROWED” PRESS PREVIEW

“SOMETHING BORROWED” has a strange yarn to spin,

a lesson to learn from, if any of those make any sound sense.

From one gal to another, it merely conjures an unapologetic statement, “Can I screw your fiance?”

Can you? Will you? (answer please, with a straight face).

The advertising slogan shouts “IT’S A THIN LINE BETWEEN LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP.”

So what kind of a moral is that?

The movie is based loosely on Emily Giffin’s naughty book of the same name, dwelling on the love/hate relationship of the two pairs of leads.

Rachel, an attorney is disgruntled because she’s still single and very available at 30 when most of her friends are already hitched.

She has to put up with being in the shadow of her best friend Darcy, a gregarious party girl who leads a charmed life.

Rachel has a secret crush on a dim-witted hunk Dex during law school . Lacking the confidence to divulge her true feelings for Dex, Rachel loses out and let a romance kindle between Darcy and Dex.

It’s a bad decision for sure.

Soon Darcy and Dex become engaged.

Rachel and Dex suddenly find a mutual sexual attraction for each other (at this time?) and begin balling each other behind Darcy’s back, starting an affair at a wrong time.

Ginnifer Goodwin plays Rachel. She may be wholesome and smart, but not smart enough as she shamelessly snares her best friend’s fiance.

Kate Hudson is Darcy. She’s beautiful, self-centered and not terribly bright. She’s the kind of girl all the fraternity guys’d fall for in college, until they realize she can be such an airhead.

Then there is Colin Egglesfield as Dex. Good looking – yes, but too lame of a bloke to be a real man.

“SOMETHING BORROWED” directed by Luke Greenfield is not a film that tickles everyone’s fancy.

It’s a girlie flick for die-hard fans of romantic comedies.

True, the movie may, at times ambles predictably, but there’s a redeeming charm if you care to look for it.

The lead actors are likable and funny and they gave their best shot.

To sum it all up, hear what the film producer Molly Smith has to say:

“You know, I think audiences are used to romantic comedies being sort of tied up with a red bow at the end, and this one’s not,” she said.

“I love that about the film, and that’s why we wanted to make it, because this one felt real and genuine. Life is messy and love is messy. That’s what we were trying to say with this film, which is that these are real, flawed girls.

You know, they’re sort of coming into their own and growing up. And it was a story we wanted to tell, about love and life and friendship.”

Point taken.

Right.

“PUNISHED” 報應 Movie Review. HE who seeks REVENGE should REMEMBER to dig TWO GRAVES.

“PUNISHED” 報應 PRESS PREVIEW

This film is a tension filler about bad people facing bad karma.

In life you reap, so you sow.

All over the world, at home and in the workplace, you find scores of baddies.

ANTHONY WONG just fits into this baddie role like a glove, as if there’s anything unusual about that.

He’s this Hong Kong’s foremost baddie thespian sporting his trademark scowl, grunt and rant ….

and is back again playing a baddie kingpin at your expense.

This kind of role can do him no wrong. He’s absolutely magnificent.

This time round, he’s out on a vengeance streak to wreak havoc on the ones who had wronged him.

In PUNISHED, his callousness only allow him to remember those who had slighted him.

He is this deplorable tyrant who uses underhand tactics to terrorize his staff and he runs his family with an iron rod.

As a punishment his bratty teenage daughter is kidnapped and subsequently killed by suffocation.

Naturally, he’s out on a rampage.

Take note that in everyone’s life, there will always be a violent “downpour” when you are down-trodden upon, left to die in a pit and you can probably do with some vengeance.

Revenge can be uplifting, and you needn’t go to church for that.

Blood will spill blood, haven’t you heard?

RICHIE REN plays ANTHONY WONG’s ever loyal bodyguard.

He’s well connected with the underworld triads and will go out on a limb to do anything and everything for his unscrupulous employer (or won’t he, really)?

Maybe there’s a secret agenda, something that’s more than meet the eye, but stay tuned for the twist.

Whilst the bodyguard goes to uncover the culprits with great efficiency, the hapless tycoon finds little peace of mind on his own, and is listless about payback.

He has spun his own web of darkness and is now trapped within. There’s no turning back.

Multiple flashbacks shuttling back and forth throughout the entire movie reconstruct the flow of events to explain the dire situations, taking us into the shaping up of an explosive family drama with its hardboiled violence.

His beloved daughter Daisy (JANICE MAN) is dead, but nothing is what it seems.

As the story delves, we find that the sweet daughter was actually a wayward spoiled brat and cocaine addict who openly defied her stepmother (MAGGIE CHEUNG) and her control freak father.

“PUNISHED” strips apart the facades of two men of contrast capably played by ANTHONY WONG and RICHIE REN, heading for a meltdown.

One is a corporate bully who has to watch over his back all the time.

The other is a subservient follower who can solve most everything for his boss, yet is unable to cope with his disdainful adolescent son.

Sterling performances by the two male leads take this movie one-up above the usual cop-and-robber fare.

It is a intense compelling film directed by LAW WING CHEONG that embodies rage, revenge, confrontation, conscience and eventual retribution.

Pomp, power and all the material wealth in the world cannot redeem peace of mind and happiness.

You might want to know if there’s any redemption in the pseudo-spiritual finale.

Go check this out.