November Movies

YHelloowwww!

After endless beauty posts, one after another, i finally got sometime to write a non-beauty related post! It's movies review time! We didn't watch too many movies in November (please note that not too many in our book might means a totally different thing for you :p) and the ones that we watched, well some were REALLY good, and the others were so-so. 

Let's begin!

1. John Wick

We saw the trailer and it looked alright, nothing too special for me (any movie of Keanu Reeves rarely does...) but hunny wanted to watch it so we went..

John Wick is an ex hit man who quitted for the woman he loved. Unfortunately, only a few short years later his wife died and while he was mourning, a little puppy arrived in his house-a loving gift from his late wife and he suddenly sees hope again. But John cannot catch any luck, some random guy wanted his car but he refused to sell it-they tracked him down, attacked him violently, killed his dog and stole his car. Turned out that the bad guy is a son of his ex boss, who obviously wanted to protect his kid and put a number of John's head but John has not lost his touch and it turned into a real blood bath.

I didn't expect this movie to be... Kinda comic bookish? I thought it looked much more... Normal in the trailer. Definitely not for realists! It's not like he has super power or whatever, but the world he lives in is... Something i'd expect from a comic book. Killer club, anyone? Anyway, i didn't despise it, but i certainly not a fan either. I wouldn't call this a must watch, but my hunny kinda liked it so... Maybe it's a guy's movie.

2. Interstellar

Hunny mistaken this movie for something else, something that sounds extremely ridiculous from his description *LOL*, but thankfully we were told that it's not that movie or else we'd miss this!

Sometime in the future (but i honestly thought it was sometime in the 80s or 70s when it started *LOL*, it's the way they dressed!) earth is no longer ideal to live in. Drought and famine caused food scarcity and crazy extreme changes in climates (i'm talking about your interior covered in thick sand all the time WTF), this means humanity is facing extinction. NASA found a mysterious rip in the space-time continuum (i obviously had to copas this from the IMDb coz i don't speak Science! LOL) is discovered, which means a glimmer of hope for mankind. 

A group of explorers must travel beyond our solar system to search for a planet that can be our next home, including the pilot, Coop, who is a trained pilot with no experience to the space and been working as a farmer instead since NASA supposedly closed down (and even "Man on the Moon" was deemed a myth)-he has to leave his two young children to try to save their future, as well as the world's without knowing when or if he's ever coming home.

By the time i watched this movie, i've heard of raves for it-and even Oscar talks, which frankly scares me coz usually Oscar winning movies... Well, they're not our cup of tea. We're not that sophisticated, i'm afraid! I also have to admit that i was almost bored to sleep for the first... 20 minutes? 

Things started to get really interesting when they landed in the first planet, and it never went down from there. After the first 20 minutes, it's a rollercoaster through the space with amazing possibilities. It excites, gripped, and moved me to tears. The acting were superb, the casting brilliant, the story amazing and it's also believable, which makes it even better. I'd say it's a must watch, but maybe not for those who only wants nonstop action (it has its fair share of drama, which i love) or alien invasions, it's certainly not a popcorn movie but not so heavy that i couldn't enjoy it. Love it, ugh... I really do.

3. Big Hero 6

As much as i loved the previous movie i just reviewed, Big Hero 6 is hands down my favorite movie of November! I love animation movies with passion, but i am quite picky, i think! Big Hero 6 is definitely the best animation movie that i've seen in quite a while. In fact, i don't think i've been this excited about an animation movie since... Frozen? 

Hiro Hamada is a 13 year old genius who finds academic world to be "uncool" and spends his time with bot fights instead until one day, his equally smart big brother (Tadashi) managed to bring Hiro to his uni to let him see that it's not a school for nerds, but for brilliant inventors instead.  His planned worked and Hiro immediately drawn in. In order to get accepted to this school, he has to impress the head of the program (Callaghan)-which he did (with help from Tadashi and his gank) with his microbots. But the glorious day ended in devastation as the uni caught on fire and Tadashi was killed while trying to save Callaghan.

 Hiro, mourning his brother badly, accidentaly activated Baymax, a plus size healthcare companion robot Tadashi created one day. He also realized that his microbots weren't destroyed in the fire but someone's using them to do bad things instead. Hiro, Baymax and Tadashi's friends went to investigate the matter with their own hand and turned themselves into a band of high-tech heroes called Big Hero 6.

Based on the trailer itself, i already know i'd love it-but sometimes they show all the best bits in the trailer and there's nothing left in the movie. Clearly, it didn't happen here! It's an AWESOME movie! It's hilarious (Baymax... I want one!!!), touching (i obviously cried, but when i saw my 7 year old wiping tears from his eyes-that's when i know that this movie is GOOD!), and just stays with you like a warm feeling in your belly for days. Love LOVE LOVE it! And i know that loads of girls are falling in love with Tadashi, well... The voice behind Tadashi is even more good looking, girls! It's a MUST watch for the whole family-and the neighbors. Nuff said!

4. Kungfu Jungle

Hunny's a huge fan of Donnie Yen, so whenever his movie's playing (which is quite often these past couple of years) we definitely would go to watch it. Some of his movies are really really good (especially the Ip Man series) and some are really really bad so... I'm becoming quite cautious *LOL*. Thankfully this movie actually fell on the better category, what surprises me most is the fact that it got rating of 7.2 in IMDb, which is indeed, quite high.

A martial art expert (and police martial art instructor) named Ha turned himself in after accidentally killing his opponent in a duel, until one day a vicious (and seemingly reasonless) killer randomly kills people and Ha offers his help to catch the killer in return for his freedom. Turned out the killer is killing top martial arts in chronological order following martial art code of training. One thing led to another and the police must decide whether or not Ha is actually the killer's accomplice and the killing was just a plot to get him out of prison or Ha's really just trying to help.

I would say Donnie Yen is definitely better than say, Jackie Chan or Jet Li when it comes to dramatic roles. While the other two are legends for sure, they never seem quite that believable for dramatic role (well, Jackie Chan's getting better as he age...), but this is still an action slash martial art movie, and that mostly means that storyline is not the #1 priority. It's very straightforward and... Almost absurd. I went "HUH??? WHY????" when i learned the real reason why the (disturbingly ugly) villain's been killing people mercilessly.

Having said that, i did enjoy the movie immensely. It was fast paced, the fighting sequence and choreography tight (as you can always expect from Donnie Yen when he's in his element. Just don't put him in a very modern-day comic bookish style movies, he looks simply ridiculous. And he looks much better when he's doing more stylized fighting than the other type he also does, rumble tumble rough type). If you love Chinese martial art movies, this movie's a good choice!

5. The Hunger Games : Mockingjay Part 1

I'm not a fan of The Hunger Games, so i wasn't too enthusiastic when the third movie's playing-but we're the type of people that once we watch the first movie, it'd be impossible for us not to watch the next. Beside, even though i didn't love it, i also didn't hate it and that's a good enough reason for us to watch anything *LOL*. I believe the audience are firmly torn into two categories : one that dislike the movie (because according to them it's boring, not enough action at all like they expect from watching the previous two movies) and the ones that actually really enjoyed it. I surprisingly fell into the second category.

Picking up where they let off in the first movie, Mockingjay started with Katniss and the gank in District 13 after she destroys the game. She meets President Coin who convinces her to be the Mockingjay, the symbol of the rebellion and give people hope and strength to keep on fighting the Capitol-which she agrees on as long as they rescued Peeta.

I guess where the others find boring, that what draws me to this movie. There is MORE storyline in this movie rather than just a game where you're supposed to kill each other to survive (way too barbaric for me). There is drama, there is romance and for once i actually believe that Katniss and Peeta are in love instead of just acting in love. I actually shed a tears and that means i approve hahaha.

I like this movie for its heart, its story and also the acting of the casts. I really couldn't like Jennifer Lawrence no matter how hard i tried, but her acting in this movie actually started to make me warm up to her. For once i actually believe her (sorry for J-Law's fans, i think i keep on saying this whenever i review her movie. It's just a matter of taste really, i'm sure you find my taste repulsing either). And Josh Hutcherson, how he grows! Instead of being off and unconvincing, he looks scarily believable here and i applaud him for that. I can't believe i'm saying this, but i cannot wait for the part 2! Love this!

6. Automata 

So normally i wouldn't have such a clear cut favorite and least favorite every month, but yes : Automata is the worst movie i watched in November. And in months before that -___-. It's so boring i almost fell asleep watching it.

Jacq Vaucan (played by Antonio Banderas in what some describes as one of his best performances ever. I agree that he played Jacq convincingly but that didn't make this movie any more entertaining than it really isn't) is an insurance agent of ROC robotics in a world that's falling apart (that's really the favorite background for movies lately, yes? The almost-the-end-of-the-world or even post apocalypse). Where the robots were once human's best friend and heroes, they now are nothing more than slaves that's treated more like a trash. Jacq has to investigate cases or robot violating their primary protocols, which people believe would be harmful for mankind. 

My God is this movie boring and pointless. I kept on waiting for it to peak but it never happened. There were a few promising scenes which i hoped would lead to an exciting story, but nope. It didn't happen for me. I have no idea what the point of the movie is (except that... robots are better humans than human themselves? And they might have souls? Or that they ought to be freed?) , maybe there is a deeper meaning behind all of this that i just couldn't see. It's just NOT my cup of tea and i would not pretend that i enjoyed it when i really really didn't. I believe when i say i thought i hated sci-fi movies, i was thinking about this type of movies.

Having said that, i saw some real good reviews on this movie-on Antonio Banderas' acting (which i already mentioned, i agree), about the amazing way they chose to make this movie (less CGI, more "real" robots), about the deeper meaning of this movie, etc etc. I guess it could be some people's type of movie, it's just (definitely) not mine. Nor hunny's. Don't diss me if you love this movie, you know i love Twilight so i am definitely not qualified to do a real review here, just sharing my personal opinion is all i do.

So, that's all of the movies that i've watched in November! I watched two more movies ever since, and surprisingly i am a bit obsessed about this Chinese movie called "Rise of A Legend", admittedly it's mostly due to the sexy leading man, but all i would say for now is... Ladies, if your guy wants to watch this movie (for the kung fu), you say yes (so you can ogle at the cute actor playing the lead role) hahahaha.

Until next time!

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