.: ShaolinTiger - Kung-Fu Geekery :.

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.

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 gun-for-hire known only as Agent 47 hired by a group known only as 'The Agency' is ensnared in a political conspiracy, which finds him pursued by both Interpol and the Russian military as he treks across Eastern Europe.

I was a great fan of the Hitman (Hitman: Codename 47) games even though they were ULTRA hard....1 life, no saves, no waypoints. You have to nail the level perfectly in one shot to proceed, and damn were they hard. It was the game that introduced bullet-time too (slow motion).

I was looking forwards to this movie for some time but only just got chance to watch it, I was expecting it to be pretty bad...as most game to movie efforts so far have been poor at best. I was pleasantly surprised as it was actually quite good.

Sure it's not going to win any Oscars..but it's worth watching to see Olga Kurylenko naked, man she's smoking hot.

Timothy Olyphant played Agent 47 very well, he had the character nailed down...the other characters in the movie were a little weak but it was interesting enough.

The plot was ok, the action was good (would have preferred if it were a little more graphic) and the pace decent enough. The movie somewhat reminded me of the Bourne trilogy, the style and the story too.

All in all it was an enjoyable Sunday evening movie, not too heavy and not too crappy. If you're a fan of the game or a fan of these kind of movies it's definitely worth a watch. Don't expect anything ground breaking.

I give it a cool as ice 6/10.

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.

Thomas Barnes and Kent Taylor are two Secret Service agents assigned to protect President Ashton at a landmark summit on the global war on terror. When President Ashton is shot moments after his arrival in Spain, chaos ensues and disparate lives collide in the hunt for the assassin. In the crowd is Howard Lewis, an American tourist who thinks he's captured the shooter on his camcorder while videotaping the event for his kids back home.

Vantage Point has gotten quite a lot of hype, it's very topical (terrorism) it's quite original (same event 8 unique points of view) and it has a fairly good cast (Dan Quaid, Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver etc). Even though you could say it's also a bit like Rashomon (4 view points of the same story).

It's a bit slow to start with the first few "Rewinds" not giving a lot of interesting information about the story, so it's a little repetitive...by the 3rd or 4th "Rewind" the people in the cinema had started laughing wtf.

Anyway it was getting interesting by then...but it reminds me why I hate going to the cinema, because people are noisy and annoying, they take their kids into late night shows...and it's bloody cold!

I prefer GSC btw, but they had all sold out, so tried at TGV - unsurprisingly they had loads of space.

The movie is pretty good, the acting is solid, the action is good, there are some believable and compelling characters, the camera work is a bit shaky if you are prone to motion sickness though.

There's some action, drama, touch of romance, humanity, politics and current affairs. It's definitely worth a watch and definitely a movie you should catch on the big screen.

One thing I would say which stems from the above, is it's trying to do too many things, some of which a bit convoluted...too many characters which you don't really get to know and too many double/triple crosses.

It was between Jumper and this...this being the first choice.

I give Vantage Point a watchable but not amazing (fairly predictable) 7/10 (Hello it's no Bourne Ultimatum).

Mr. Smith, the angriest, most hardboiled man in the world, finds himself entrusted to protect the most innocent thing of all--a newborn child. When Smith delivers the baby in the middle of a gunfight, he soon discovers that the infant is the target of a shadowy force that has sent a team of mysterious and endless assailants, led by Hertz..

This is a movie I heard a lot about and it was something I was definitely interested in, a bit weird, loads of action and a great lead man (Clive Owen!) plus a hot lactating prostitute (Monica Bellucci) - how can you beat that!

It didn't go down to well with the critics, but then it wouldn't...it's not arty or pretentious, it's not deep or meaningful, it's crazy, fun and entertaining. Not an Oscar or Grammy winner, but definitely capable of becoming a cult favourite for many people. It does pretty well on IMDB though with a 7.1.

There's not much of a plot so I won't bother going into that..but Clive Owen is one of my favourite male actors and he's just suited perfectly to this hard-edged, quirky, kick-ass kind of character.

Monica is scorching hot of course, a little weird too and very seductive.

The bad guy is creepy and weird with a soft side, which suits the odd nature of the film. He's played well by Paul Giamatti.

All in all it's a thouroughly entertaining film, it's not thought provoking (although it does take a few stabs at society and human nature) and it's not deep. It's a movie you can watch over and over easily without getting tired.

Do be warned though, it's a movie that may make your neighbors complain about loud noises (Yes it happened to me). It has some incredibly unique action sequence...and it makes carrots cool.

It's no masterpiece, but it's definitely worth a watch - forget what the critics say!

I give it a 'most bullets fired in 5 minutes' 8/10.

"Pan's Labyrinth" is the story of a young girl who travels with her pregnant mother to live with her mother's new husband in a rural area up North in Spain, 1944, after Franco's victory. The girl lives in an imaginary world of her own creation and faces the real world with much chagrin. Fascist repression during the first years of Franco's dictatorship is at its height in rural Spain and the girl must come to terms with that through a fable of her own

As the end of 2007 came to a close, I went through the IMDB top 250 list for 2006 and 2007 to make sure I hadn't missed anything. I found a couple of movies I hadn't seen yet such as Children of Men and Pan's Labyrinth - plus a few more which I haven't watched yet.

Rarely a foreign language movie makes the list, but this one did. In parts it was over-hyped (20 minutes standing ovation at Cannes? Won 3 Oscars. Another 61 wins & 55 nominations) but it was well justified in most parts.

It is a Spanish language movie, but it's not overly dialogue based. It's a very visually rich film with stunning cinematography, it has some kind of dualistic nature too. Some might expect the dualism to be the Fantasy world of the princess and the real world Spanish fight against fascism. The fact is the dualism is the contrast between the two, it's almost like it's a war movie AND a fantasy movie.

Both elements are captured beautifully and they fit together so masterfully, there's not a lot of new subject matter here...but the way in which the movie plays out is seamless.

Ivana Baquero is fantastic as Ofelia and the monsters and the faun are believable. The movie is sometimes wonderful, sometimes terrifying.

There are some moments of extreme violence, which if are you are squeamish you may find hard to stomach. Somehow they don't feel exploitative though.

Sergi López as the Captain is just fantastic, showing his many sides, his psychosis and his flaws. Maribel Verdú is also excellent as Mercedes, the head housekeeper.

If you haven't watched this movie yet, you definitely should!

I give it a well worth it 8.5/10.

Detective Sergeant of Serious Crimes Unit, Jun (Donnie Yen) detests crime and his lifelong nemeses are a Vietnamese gang of three brothers - Archer, Tony and Tiger. In order to further infiltrate the gang and fight them from within, Jun has planted a mole, Wilson (Louis Koo), who has managed to gain the complete trust of the gang. However, Wilson's dual role is exposed and resulting battles leave him handicapped for life. The day before Tiger's trial, Archer turns up at the hospital to wipe out their only witness, Wilson.

After the superb movie that was SPL (Sha Po Lang) and the disaster that was Dragon Tiger Gate (Loong Fu Moon) was wondering what this Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen colloboration would be all about.

Apparently it originally penned a prequel to SPL, but didn't quite make it. I guess it's a pseudo sequel with Donnie playing the same character - Inspector Ma.

The movie is basically Donnie Yen pornography to put it in no uncertain terms, if you aren't a great fan of him (yeah we know he can't act) it's definitely worth watching for the action and fight scenes.

It reminds me of the excellent 80's heydeys of superb action/martial arts movies coming out of hong kong. Bone crunching fights that make you flinch when the blows land, none of this fancy smooth fighting from the modern movies that doesn't look like it hurts.

We need more of this, more pain, more Tony Jaa.

There's a thought, Tony Jaa versus Donnie Yen - hell of a movie that would be. Back it up with Wu Jing and Colin Chou and you have a hell of a fight.

Anyway back to the point, there is virtually no plot to this movie, some normal cop stuff, beauracracy and villains love their mothers. Other than that...not much.

Louis Koo plays a pussy AGAIN...then the action starts.

Colin Chou plays one hell of a badass, the first fight scene has some incredible intensity.

Donnie plays his character well enough, he can't act for shit, but he's an EXTREMELY convincing fighter on screen..it looks painful.

The last 30 minutes contain one of the craziest fight scenes ever, apart from the fact Colin Chou just seems to become a rechargeable dummy for Donnie to kick the shit out of (whilst being an incredible tough guy for the rest of the movie) it's an awe inspiring fight to watch.

The action is superb, it's non-stop pretty much.

The other characters are nothing much worth mentioning.

If you are looking for something deep and meaningful, don't bother with this.

If you want to see Donnie Yen strutting round like a model and destroying loads of people in crazy fights...THEN WATCH THIS NOW.

I highly recommend it and completely enjoyed it, one of the most enjoyable movies of the year so far.

I give it a nosebleeding (watch the out-takes) 8.5/10.

PS. If you want to read a damn funny review - read here.

Tom Stall, a humble family man and owner of a popular neighborhood restaurant, lives a quiet but fulfilling existence in the Midwest. One night Tom foils a crime at his place of business and, to his chagrin, is plastered all over the news for his heroics. Following this, mysterious people follow the Stalls' every move, concerning Tom more than anyone else. As this situation is confronted, more lurks out over where all these occurrences have stemmed from compromising his marriage, family relationship and the main characters' former relations in the process.

This is not a new movie, it came out in 2005 - I can't say I remember hearing about it at that time. Probably not a highly billed film, I just picked it up recently as it looked interesting.

It scores a very high 7.5/10 on IMDB though, which gives an indication that it should be a decent film.

The movie starts out pretty sharply with some strange characters, interesting dialogue and some extreme violence. In some ways the first few scenes reminded me of Tarantino movies.

The movie progresses from there, leaving you wondering what is going to happen next.

Drama is nicely handled through-out, the pacing is good and Mortensen plays his role very well on both sides of the fence.

Starting out as an accidental hero it leaves you with a feeling something odd is happening, and it plays out from there.

The violence is pretty brutal, like the sex scenes - straight to the point and direct. It also plays on some serious issues like 'good' vs 'bad' violence...how do you decide where the line is?

I won't spoil the movie for you, but I will very much suggest that you do watch it.

A brutal and gripping movie, I give it a nose pounding 8.5/10.