.: ShaolinTiger - Kung-Fu Geekery :.

In 1957, Indiana Jones is thrust back in action, venturing into the jungles of South America in a race against Soviet agents to find the mystical Crystal Skull.

So Indy is finally back with the 4th part and high expectations with the first Indiana Jones movie back in 1981 being one of the best movies ever made (Raiders of the Lost Ark - #16 on IMDB). The Last Crusade was good too, Temple of Doom wasn't so great but was still enjoyable. All in all a great trio of movies..I was excited about Indy 4 coming out since it was rumoured then announced..

Finally I got the chance to watch it!

All in all it was good, it wasn't fantastic...it won't go down in the archives as a classic like Raiders of the Lost Ark but it was pretty decent.

Does Harrison still have it as Indy? Yeah he does! He kicked butt. I have to say the humour of the earlier films wasn't there in this one. It seemed a little too polished and a little less fantastic.

Our man held his end up tho, old he may be he still rocked and he was still pure Indy!

Shia LaBeouf was actually pretty decent and far less annoying than I expected him to be, Ray Winstone was far less of a bad-ass than he usually plays.

The rest of the cast were good, not a lot of depth to the characters though and I think the first time I've seen Cate Blanchett playing a real baddy.

The action sequences were good although the ending was a bit 'WTF is this ID4?'

It's certainly lacking the magic and suspense of the earlier 3 movies..I'd have to say so far this is the worst Indy.

Direction was good of course by Spielberg but mainly I think it's the script that let it down, should they have made this movie? I guess not...but they did, I hope they don't make another. Let Indy live as a legend!

All in all I'd give it a worth watching 6/10.

Scientist Bruce Banner desperately hunts for a cure to the gamma radiation that poisoned his cells and unleashes the unbridled force of rage within him: The Hulk. Living in the shadows--cut off from a life he knew and the woman he loves, Betty Ross--Banner struggles to avoid the obsessive pursuit of his nemesis, General Thunderbolt Ross.

The new Hulk movie came somewhat out of the blue and very quickly after the fabulous Ironman, it's another Marvel production and considerably better than the first Ang Lee effort "Hulk". It wasn't as hyped as Ironman and perhaps they should have bought it out first...

Not to say it's not a good movie, but it's hard to compete after Ironman. It's doing well om IMDB with a 7.9 at the moment - I'd say it'll go down to somewhere about 7-7.2 as it's not quite that good.

Some found the Ang Lee version much to 'talky', this one is a bit slow in the beginning too - it does pick up. Hulk is a sad story after all and thankfully it's much better played out in this version though.

Edward puts in a good performance as the weakling Banner trying to hide away and solve his problem with Gamma poisoning.

Liv Tyler is a bit annoying, she seems to be lacking depth..the Hulk on the other hand is fantastic. Especially the show down with the Abomination!

Hearing those immortal words of "Hulk Smash" was fantastic.

The rest of the cast was solid, William Hurt was great as the general and looked as though he came straight out of the book. Tim Roth was good as the slightly twisted Blonsky and the rest of the cast supported well (with the cameos from Stan Lee and the REAL Hulk Lou Ferrigno).

The Hulk is a bit of a one dimensional character himself, only the aspect of Banner adds something to the story...and the tussle between Ross and the General.

I'll be interested to see where they take it after this.

I give it a Hulk Smashing good 7/10.

Billionaire industrialist Tony Stark builds a high-tech suit of armor and leads a double-life as the superhero, Iron Man.

Well everyone has been buzzing about this movie, I have to admit I'm a little late in watching it - been WAYYY too busy lately. Managed to catch up with a couple of movies this week! I tried not to set my expectations too high for Iron Man as that tends to lead to disappointment. After a sneak peak at IMDB and the stunning 8.2/10 I was rather looking forwards to it (Not to mention it went straight into the top 250 movies!).

It is of course also the first Superhero/Comic movie that Marvel has actually made themselves, the others are made by big studios...and well now I think everyone hopes Marvel will continue making their own movies. Hulk is coming out soon, after that a list of others (Spiderman 4, The Avengers, Thor, Nick Fury etc).

Anyway back to Iron Man, this movie ROCKS! Plain and simple, Robert Downey Jr. absolutely owns the character of both Tony Stark and Iron Man.

The CGI is flawless, the way he interacts with the holographic renderings is fantastic. The way the whole movie is put together is believable, it's not too fantastic or unrealistic and it shows the development of Iron Man. Iron Man itself is also a nice concept, a man made hero rather than something spawned from a genetic mutation or a spider bite or a nuclear reaction.

Of course there will be comparisons between this and Transformers - I'd say this has the edge very slightly due to the fact the jokes and character interplay are slightly more adult oriented. Transformers is excellent, bit a little kiddy in parts.

Iron Man is funny, I laughed out loud quite a few times, the lines are great and Stark is of course obnoxious but witty. I have to say I think this is the best movie of the year so far and something is gonna have to do bloody well to beat it.

If you haven't watched it yet...do stay until after the credits. The credits are damn bloody long, but it's worth it!

You have to watch this before it goes off the cinema - if you haven't already of course. This is a movie that has gone onto my "Buy Original DVD" list..

Ironman rocks, nothing else to say - 9/10.

The mysterious and charismatic Russian-born Nikolai Luzhin (Viggo Mortensen) is a driver for one of London's most notorious organized crime families of Eastern European origin. The family itself is part of the Vory V Zakone criminal brotherhood.

This is a pretty gritty film, I hadn't actually heard of it - but Suanie recommended it so it must be good! It's got a strong rating of 7.9/10 on IMDB (One of the highest scores I've seen for a while).

The movie revolves around an average British girl (Naomi Watts) getting entangled with the 'Vor V Zakone' AKA the Russian Mafia - a scary bunch at the best of times. There is really quite a number of then in the UK, especially around London and they control a fair amount of territory.

It's pretty gory, violent, sexual and nasty - there's betrayal and all kinds of things going on.

Viggo Mortensen absolutely rocks it as the bad-ass Nikolai. He took method acting to the max, he really becomes Russian, the way he tilts his head when he speaks, his mannerism, everything is fantastic!

Vincent Cassel is also excellent as the narcissistic, confused, violent and down-trodden big-shot mafioso.

After stabbing someone in the eye during a naked fight in a sauna, I have to say Viggo is a real man now!

This is a great movie, an unexpected gem in the rough...definitely a must watch in my books. If you haven't seen it go and find it now and watch it and watch Viggo ROCK IT.

This is a memorable movie, the noirish setting, the vivid characters, great scripting, character development...it has a the lot!

I give it an eye-poking 8.5/10.

Master director Quentin Tarantino indulges his inner fanboy by paying homage to his favorite B-movies in DEATH PROOF. Stuntman Mike stalks beautiful women with his deadly vintage car, but when he picks a trio of tough girls (Rosario Dawson, Tracie Thoms, and Zoe Bell), he learns they aren’t such easy prey. As with any Tarantino film, there are plenty of nods to pop culture.

This is a movie I've been meaning to watch for quite a while, it's part of a double bill 'Grindhouse' with Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez - the RR being Planet Terror (I haven't watched that one yet).

They are supposed to be oldskool exploitation movies from the 70's - those that come on late at night with guns, hot chicks and lots of car crashes. They generally have no plots and are padded with dialogue to extend the meager budget.

Death Proof is no different! It's pretty much nailed the genre right down, but then it should with QT being the ultimate movie geek.

It has a lot of references to his previous movies (Red Apple, Big Kahuna Burger, breakfast scene from Reservoir Dogs, lots of references to Kill Bill and more!).

There isn't much of a plot to speak of but there is loads of lightning dialogue from start to finish, very Tarantino dialogue.

This is not a movie destined to be a box office hit, it's a movie QT wanted to make himself, it's not guided by a studio or by commercial success - this is a movie fan movie - a movie for film geeks.

Personally I loved it, the hot chicks, the awesome car chase, the obscure references and the witty lines delivered with sass.

It had some characteristically bad ass female leads too, watch the tables turn in the second half of the movie.

I give it an ass whooping 7.5/10.

A thriller that centers on Isabella El-Ibrahimi, the American wife of Egyptian-born chemical engineer Anwar El-Ibrahimi, who disappears on a flight from South Africa to Washington. Isabella desperately tries to track her husband down, while a CIA analyst at a secret detention facility outside the U.S. is forced to question his assignment as he becomes party to the man's unorthodox interrogation.

There seems to have been a spate of politically driven movies especially regarding the middle-east conflict and similar matters. It's to be expected I guess with the current climate, it is after all what is on peoples' minds.

Movies such as Babel, Syriana and even Constant Gardener come to mind as they all deal with conflicts.

Extraordinary rendition and irregular rendition are terms used to describe the apprehension and extrajudicial transfer of a person from one state to another and the term 'torture by proxy' is used by some critics to describe situations in which the U.S. has purportedly transferred suspected terrorists to countries known to employ harsh interrogation techniques that may rise to the level of torture. SOURCE

Scary eh? Basically you can be taken from anywhere to anywhere without ANYONE knowing about it.

Rendition tells a story, some may say an almost real story of an Egyptian man seized by the US government for no apparent reason..his case is very similar to the real life case of Khalid El-Masri who went through a similar experience due to one different letter (Al-Masri vs El-Masri).

The characters are strong, especially Omar Metwally as El-Ibrahimi, you can almost feel what he's going through.

Supporting are Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal.

The movie does make you think, is it ever right to torture another human being? Is what the US considers anti-terrorist action fair and just?

Do human rights matter when it comes to saving thousands of lives?

These are questioned that may be raised in your mind when watching this movie, to me that's a good sign..it means it's provocative and it touches on some fairly sensitive points.

The flow is good and the camera work is absolutely stunning, it's beautifully filmed. The soundtrack goes along with the movie well.

The only flaws I would say are the lack in character development of Mrs El-Ibrahimi and the agent played by Gyllenhaal. You never really get to understand these characters or find out who they are.

Even so it's worth a watch, I give it a strong 7/10.

A rancher struggles to support his ranch and family during a long drought. Desperately needing money to build a well, he takes an assignment to transport a notorious felon, in the hands of authorities, to Yuma for imprisonment. But, once the two meet, the criminal tries to tempt him with--in exchange for allowing him to escape--an offer of much more money than the rancher ever expected, the result of a hidden loot.

This movie is actually a remake of a classic 1957 cowboy flick of the same name, exactly 50 years after the original a star-studded remake appeared and took the cinemas by storm. It shot straight up in IMDB and is currently Top 250: #227 with a rating of 8.0/10 (47,816 votes) - pretty impressive eh!

The movie itself is a good old-fashioned cowboy movie that we haven't seen of for quite some time (do you count Brokeback?). It had ranchers, gun slingers, bad guys, good guys, sexy bartenders the whole works.

Crowe played the ice cool brooding bad boy of the cowboy world, he was smooth as butter with the ladies and relentless when it came to killing. He fitted the role very well.

Christian Bale demonstrated once again he is one of the best leading male actors out there, the way he commanded the screen and displayed such depth to his character was amazing. The interaction with his son was great and you really felt like you got to know Dan Evans.

Last but not least was Ben Foster as Charlie Prince who had a very memorable performance for me in Alpha Dog, he dominated the screen and there hasn't been someone as badass as his character for quite some time. He's definitely going to be one to watch.

The cinematography is just beautiful and the pace just right, it really takes you back to the heyday of Western movies.

All in all the movie has some good underlying morals and an interesting plot, how far would you go to be seen as a hero by your son? And even the bad have a good side....and vice versa.

It's definitely a movie you have to watch, the best movie I've seen for quite a while.

I give it a gun-slinging 9/10.

After the outbreak of a lethal virus in 2009, in 2012 U.S. Army virologist Lieutenant Colonel Robert Neville is left as the last healthy human along with his trusty dog in New York City and possibly the entire world. For three years, Neville is trying to discover a cure for this disease and to find out if any other people might have also survived. But most of humanity and transforms the rest into monsters, perhaps mankind's last, best hope, Neville is driven by only one remaining mission: to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus using his own immune blood.

I somehow had a feeling this movie wasn't good, I had no idea what it was about at all - and still had no idea when I watched it. I thought it was a love story or something, I was quite surprised when it got exciting and made me jump!

The jump factor was surely enhanced by the fact I completely wasn't expecting anything scary! I don't know why I thought it was bad either - it got pretty good marks on IMDB. It's actually based on a book, a 1954 Science Fiction novel by Richard Matheson of the same name "I Am Legend". This is the third time it's been made into a movie.

In some ways it reminded me of Tom Hanks Castaway - Will Smith really carried this movie and he showed what a power house actor he really is, he and his dog Sam. It's hard to find conflict when you are alone on screen and this is a big movie with a big void Will had to fill.

He did the job admirably! He really brings Robert Neville alive.

This is a big budget movie, but only one main actor - the support cast are not big stars. There are plenty of extras tho and special effects, the soundtrack is good and the effects well executed.

It's a gripping movie that keeps you interested all the way through. A lot more could have happened though, more character development, more about Neville coping with his solidarity and his insanity creeping up.

It is scary, it's convincing and it's gripping - if you haven't seen it, it's definitely worth a watch!

You can check out the alternate ending here, it's very cheesy tho - I'm glad they stuck with the one in the actual movie. The fans say however the alternate is more realistic and sticks to the book.

I give it a good solid 7.5/10.

Juno is a whip-smart teen confronting an unplanned pregnancy by her classmate Bleeker. With the help of her hot best friend Leah, Juno finds her unborn child a "perfect" set of parents: an affluent suburban couple, Mark and Vanessa, longing to adopt. Luckily, Juno has the total support of her parents as she faces some tough decisions, flirts with adulthood and ultimately figures out where she belongs.

This is a fairly low budget movie from a first time screenwriter (Diablo Cody an ex-stripper) that has won some critical acclaim and some heavyweight awards (Best Original Screenplay Oscar and a bunch of other nominations). It also scored very highly on IMDB making the top 250 easily.

It's a movie that some average Joes won't like, it's rather caustic, it doesn't have a very twisty plot or much of a plot at all really. It's an exceedingly human movie, it's about the journey of a young girl, her decisions (abort, continue or retry hoho), her sarcasm, her issues and the people around her.

Ellen Page is very convincing and snarky as Juno, the star and Michael Cera plays pretty much the same role he did in Superbad.

He has the most classic dopey expression evar! He fits the role well though and it's all rather sweet in the end.

The movie expands well on the yuppie couple too, which I guess most writers wouldn't - those secondary people tend to get glossed over in most movies. I think what wins with this movie is the fact it ambles along, it's relaxed, but it doesn't miss anything and has a surprising depth.

For most audiences it'll have trouble competing against the frenetic big budget movies with huge names and massive marketing budgets, but if you want to see a real movie about real people - this is definitely one to watch.

The dialogue is great, it has moments that are laugh out loud funny - that's if you appreciate extremely crude insults and witty reparte.

I give Juno a refreshing sidestep from big budget overload 7.5/10.

On January 23, 2002, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is to fly from Karachi to Dubai with his pregnant wife, Mariane, also a reporter. On the day before, with great care, he has arranged an interview in a café with an Islamic fundamentalist cleric. When Danny doesn't return, Mariane initiates a search. Pakistani police, American embassy personnel, and the FBI examine witnesses, phone records, e-mails, and hard drives. Who has him? Where is he? There's also the why: because of U.S. abuse of prisoners at Guantanimo, because of a history of Journal cooperation with the CIA, because Pearl is a Jew? Through it all, Mariane is clearheaded, direct, and determined.

This is a serious film, a very serious film...when I elected to watch a serious movie - I didn't quite realise how harrowing this film would be. It's extremely tense, emotional, sickening and the most horrifying part of all is that it's all real.

The story is based on the memoir by Mariane Pearl of the same name A Mighty Heart about the kidnapping of her husband Daniel Pearl which took place in 2002 and got a lot of press.

I'm sure most of you as my readers probably saw the video of the vile act when it actually occured.

Anyway...for the movie I have to say Jolie is really developing as an actress, the intensity she puts into this role is incredible. She did get some flack for the role as she's not black and was accused of blackfacing for the movie....a bit of outrage from the African American community.

Although from what I know, she didn't darken her skin for the role, Mariane Pearl isn't particularly dark anyway.

Either way she was great as Mariane.

Definitely a movie worth watching, but make sure you aren't feeling fragile when you do as it'll take you to some dark places even though the investigation and police work done by the Pakistanis was phenomenal.

The pace could have been a little better at times and I would have liked to have seen more of Danny.

I give it a worth watching but SERIOUS 7/10.