March Movies

Hellloooooooooooow :D!!!

How's the long weekend, peeps? I'm having loads of fun so far :D (that includes lazying around at home all day long today! Yes, on a Saturday!)! Now it's time for yet another monthly movies review (how is it that one month feels like a blink of an eye???) and i gotta say, March was a wonderful month movie wise! No bad movie that makes me regret spending our money to watch it! Let's begin :D.

1. The Wedding Ringer 

I LOVE Big Bang Theory and the cast, so i honestly only watched this movie because Kaley Cuoco (whom i've loved since her 8 Simple Rules to Date My Teenage Daughter days) was in it, turned out i love this movie but hated Kaley's character in it! LOL. Talk about irony...

Doug Harris (Josh Gad-whom i never seen before) is a chubby, nerdy, awkward but successful (financially) guy and he's engaged to a smoking hot girl (Kaley Cuoco) who's clearly out of his league. As their wedding date's approaching, Doug's panicking because he has no friends (at all) to be his best men even though he told his fiance that he has plenty. He was then referred to Jimmy (Kevin heart), a professional "best man replacement" with his own company. Jimmy then gathered a group of mismatched guys to be the best men and they went on practicing for the most challenging con in his career yet-but eventually he and Doug are starting to develop an unexpected bromance.

This movie didn't actually impress me in the first few minutes, it was a bit cheesy and slapsticky, but it definitely grew on me-to a point that i totally overlooked the stupid, cheesy, cringe-worthy scenes and focus on the good. It's funny (there are a lot of genuinely hilarious scenes among those slapstick ones), entertaining, heart warming and you'd find yourself rooting for Doug. It's not everybody's cup of tea (critics seem to hate it, but then again critics seem tend to favor movies that major movie goers don't), but if you like heart warming, silly comedy, i'd recommend to give this movie a watch.

2. Focus

I wasn't too interested to watch this movie, honestly. I like Will Smith a lot, but his last few movies made me feel less than enthusiastic-and the synopsis doesn't seem to be that exciting anyway. Hunny said this is a must watch though, so we went-and it turned out to be one of those nice moments where the movie totally exceeded my expectation and i ended up really really enjoying it!

Nicky (Will Smith) is a veteran professional con man with his own web of con men working with him. He took an amateur con artist, Jess (Margot Robbie, who's smoking hot but look 10 years older than me when in fact she's 7 years younger than me. It's unreal to learn that she was born in 1990!!!) under his wings. They starting to fell for each other, but Nicky felt with their line of work, romance with his "colleage" is not exactly a good idea and dumped her. Three years later they unexpectedly met again and things get really really messy involving a crazy billionaire motorsport team owner obsessed in getting his team to win the championship, double crossings, trying to outcon each other and plenty more.

I should say that it's a cool movie! Very interesting, always kept me guessing and with so many fun twist and turns that i didn't have time to get bored! If you love con movies (or just a regular popcorn movie in general), then you should watch this movie!

3. Chappie

Even though i do not hate this movie (at all!), i would say that this was my least favorite movie of the entire month. I don't want to spoil it for you if you haven't watch it, but i must say that the uber weird (at least for me. It's too out of the box) ending totally ruined it for me *LOL*. I was hoping it'll be a little more like Real Steel (you know, robots... and Hugh Jackman) but... Nope. Nothing like that. I think IMDb reviewers must be dominated by males because i definitely do not understand how Chappie could be having a higher rate than the previous two movies i've reviewed up there :p.

Sometime in the near future, police force in South Africa's is using robots to handle crimes. It pushes the crime numbers down and keeping polices' chances of getting hurt/killed during duty to a minimum and the company providing the mechanized police force is Tetravaal. The developer of the program, Deon (Dev Patel) is taking the next step and aspire to create a robot with the ability to think and feel, but the CEO of Tetravaal won't let him do it. By a twist of fate, Deon ended up creating the first humanized robot and Chappie was born. While Chappie, who's like a little boy, is torn between being good like Deon wants him to be and be gangsta like his "mommy and daddy" (who are punk, J-style gangstas haha), Deon's rival in Tetravaal found out about him and do everything in his power to destroy both Chappie and Deon.

It's not the most exciting movie ever, i felt that the movie seemed to be a bit slow right from the beginning but still quite interesting, with loads of funny scenes to keep me entertained. But somewhere near the end, it just got more and more ridiculous and weird... Topped with a very weird ending, it just ruined the movie for me! I also felt like Chappie (the movie) had a lot of heart in the middle and you would be rooting for him, but that didn't last long . It could be a much better movie if they develop the heart of the movie more instead of trying to give the biggest twist in the end by going on that very weird direction. It's not bad, but i wouldn't call it a must watch. Btw, Hugh Jackman was super annoying in this movie (he's better at being a villain that i expected him to be) but boy, shorts really doesn't suit him.

4. Cinderella

 

I honestly was not that enthusiastic when i heard that Disney's making a new, human version of their classic, Cinderella-simply because i am not a big fan of princesses (they're weak, always play the victim and always needing a Prince to save their butt. Yawn). Obviously i am super familiar with Cinderella's story (like any other girl out there), and even when i watched the super long trailer (that tells the basic story entirely) i wasn't that enthusiastic-probably because i saw how most human version of princess movies bombed (Mirror Mirror, anyone?). Baby Boy was the one who actually wanted to watch this movie (he likes princesses because they're pretty *his words, not mine*) so we went and i'm glad we did because it's so much better than i expected!

A girl named Ella had a wonderful childhood with a loving parents, until her mum died. When she's older, his father remarry a glamorous widow with two silly daughters. When her father suddenly died, the widow turned more and more cruel and Ella's getting more and more miserable until she met the prince (whom she thought to be a commoner) one day. When the Prince invited all of the country's females to a party in which he is to choose his bride, Ella (christened Cinderella by her step family) is helped by her quirky fairy god mother and the little creatures around her house to attend in the most magical way.

 

It's still the same Cinderella story that we all know (and probably love), no dramatic twists or anything, but they managed to add so much more into the classic story. They developed the characters strongly, i love how Cinderella-even though exceptionally kind-is actually not a helpless victim and strong enough to stand up to her step mother. I love how the Prince is funny and playful and not one dimensional like the original made him to be. I love how they explain that the "evil" stepmother is not always an evil person, but circumstances and wrong choices can make someone so bitter, that they become cruel. And i definitely love their crazy choice of fairy god mother who's probably the most hilarious part of the movie!

I ended up really liking this movie and shed some tears towards the end. The only part which i didn't like was the twirling when fairy god mother turned Cinderella's torn dress to a beautiful gown, i understand that the twirling is needed for the effect, but i wished Lily James didn't have to flail her arms so weirdly and awkwardly because she's perfect (except for her disturbing teeth, like Arman said hahaha) otherwise. Oh, it's also amazing what a corset can do to someone without any bust whatsoever, right? Lily James is as flat as it gets (pay attention to her in the wedding dress) and they managed to give her a pair in her everyday dress hahaha.

I would highly recommend this movie to kids and adults alike, it's a wonderful family movie-but beware that younger boys and older males might not find it to be so entertaining. L told me how bored her little son (who's 2 but watched Big Hero 6 happily from start to finish) was and how her dad fell asleep and snored in the cinema *LOL*. I loved it, my hunny and Baby Boy also enjoyed it a lot, so... I think anyone except males under 6 and above 50 (and in between if they only like violence and gory) should watch it hahaha.

5. American Sniper 

Hunny's been looking forward to watch this movie and for some reasons, i always worry about getting bored when the background of the movie is war-i have no idea why because in the end i always find war movies to be powerful and moving, especially when it's based on real stories.

Chris Kyle was a cowboy and he was a good one, but he found his true calling in his thirties when he witnessed 9/11 on TV. He knew he wanted to serve his family and really help so he went and join the SEALs. He proved that he was extraordinary with his gun and became a sniper. He just got married when he was called for the first tour in Iraq, when he returned from duty he found himself struggling to adjust to "normal life" back home. Unlike most soldiers that have issues with killing, he has issues about not saving enough (although he saved exceptionally plenty and became a legend for it).

This movie follows his journey (like he penned down himself with some help in his book) and struggles, both during his tours and back home. It's super engaging, thrilling and gripping. I was in awe with his story and shocked at how unbelievably sad how his life ended (well, this might me a spoiler, but Chris Kyle is a real person and his story is all over the net so i think it's not that big of a spoiler? I hope hehe). I was also in shock at how Bradley Cooper, who always looks lean, transformed into a huge, burly man to portray Chris. I love the movie and i think it's a must watch for those of you who are into action/war/biography movies.

PS : We received the news about our little dog's passing somewhere in the middle of the movie so my hunny watched the rest of the movie with tears running down his face hehe. I kept myself together until i was alone in the toilet somehow!

6. 7500

I wasn't initially interested to watch this movie (hey, this seems to be the recurring theme of this month hahaha), but i heard that this movie was actually finished production a few years ago but kept on being pushed back because of the last few tragic airplane crashes (i don't know if it's the real reason, not wanting to be insensitive during difficult times or because of other problems) and it piqued my interest to go and watch  it. I also recently learned that the base of the story is almost directly taken from the "ghost plane" tragedy of Helios Airways Flight 522.

On May 12th, Vista Pacific Flight 7500 departs Los Angeles International Airport bound for Tokyo. We were introduced to the flight's crews and their stories as well as a few key passenger's. Everything went normal at first, but when a man suddenly died during the flight, everything just take turn for the worse.

It is directed by a Japanese director (who directed The Grudge) so it's quite suitable for my horror taste (which is pretty bad. And very Asian. Meaning i don't think aliens should ever be considered horror *LOL*). I find the story interesting, it flows fast enough for it not to be slow and draggy (like how some horror movies can be). There are a lot of unexpected twists and turns (which one should expect from a Japanese film maker), and i'm glad that the ending's not too weird (coz most Japanese horror's ending's a total cliffhanger/too weird to comprehend) even though there were a lot of unexplainable plotholes, it's not that bad at all. It only received 4.9 on IMDb but i personally quite enjoyed it and would recommend my fellow horror buffs to watch it on DVD!

7. The SpongeBob Movie : Sponge Out of Water

Okay this time it's Baby Boy's movie. He'd very rarely point out one movie (he did ask to watch the last Transformer movie) that he'd like to watch (usually i'd be the one who'd ask him if he'd like to watch this or this), but he's actually been waiting for SpongeBob's months before it finally showed in local cinemas, so of course we went and bring him to watch it. 

As usual, Plankton's trying to steal Krabby patty's secret formula from Krusty Krab, but this time during their fight the secret formula disappeared into thin air. All Bikini Bottom go to a horrible apocalypse (isn't this already sounding ridiculously hilarious?) and they all believed that it was all SpongeBob and Plankton's fault. The unlikely duo went on a crazy adventure back in time to try to get the formula back, but ended up getting the false one. When Bikini Bottom people were trying to "sacrifice" SpongeBob, he smells Krabby Patty! They all ended up following the smells and it lead them to the bank of the surface.

Well, it's SpongeBob Squarepants! Of course it's super silly, utterly ridiculous but also entirely hilarious! We enjoyed the movie a lot, laughed pretty much nonstop (sometimes their jokes are so stupid that they are smart!) so i'd say this is a pretty good movie to watch with your entire family. I absolutely love the part where they were in the surface, so vibrant, so cute!

8. Run All Night

Geez, seriously-almost all of the movies in this month was hunny's choice, i just realized that! LOL. But thankfully his choices this month's not too bad, and this one wasn't bad either. 

Jimmy Conlon (Liam Neeson) is a veteran professional hitman (it's so rare for me to see him as sort of a loser-of course he's not a total loser in the end like how he was initially portrayed hahaha) who has an old time best friend as a boss, Sean Maguire. But one fateful night, he ended up killing Sean's son who's trying to kill Jimmy's estranged son and he must go against Sean and the mob to protect Mike at all costs. Together the dysfunctional father and son duo must face all kinds of obstacles in one night (hence the title hahaha).

It's one of the better action movies i've watched (well, it's Liam Neeson, bitch! He's still definitely got it at 62!), it's fast paced, engaging, thrilling and you root for them to make it. I even liked it better than the last Taken movie! A must watch for all action movie lovers!

9. Insurgent

I couldn't wait to watch Insurgent because i loved Divergent (so much that i wrote an entire blog post for it) and i was also pumped when i saw good reviews raving about it (but to be completely honest with you, i mostly wanted to see Theo James :p), most of them said that it's better than Divergent. But i guess this proves how i have a weird taste that doesn't necessarily agree with the general population *LOL* coz Insurgent was just okay for me (or maybe it was because i brought Au to watch it and she kept on talking annoyingly during the most crucial scenes i really wanted to stuff a pillow on her mouth -____- *annoyed*).

Picking up where Divergent ended, war is now on full fledged between the factions, Tris and her companions are now fugitives being hunted Jeanine's troops. Tris is also battling her own demon, her guilt and self hatred, her belief that she had caused all the deaths of people who are close to her. Tris and Four ended up in the factionless, which is lead by Four's mother (who everybody thought to be dead) who asked them to join the fight to overthrow Jeanine. In the meantime, Jeanine is trying to open the elder's box to receive the message from them, but in order to do so she needs a true divergent to do it-and Tris is, obviously, it. 

I dunno why i didn't enjoy it as much as Divergent, probably because there was so little romance in this movie compared to Divergent and maybe because Four's scenes are not as much as last time *LOL* (and Four must always be decked in black leather, ordinary clothes doesn't suit him hahaha). It is still interesting, still entertaining, but a lot more political and i was not very happy with the direction it is going (FYI, i do not read the books coz i'm not actually into dystopian genre) because it's becoming sort of... cliche. Too similar with other movies like The Maze Runner and all. I honestly was underwhelmed *sigh*. It's still worth a watch of course, and maybe like most other people you'd like it, it's just not exactly my cup of tea.

10. Home

I told you that i'm a kid at heart and i love animation movies, i've always find Home's characters to be adorable in the short movie, Almost Home, and that they were hilarious so i was thrilled when i heard they're making the full movie! It also ended up to be one of my favorite movie in the entire month, partly thanks to Jim Parsons who's always crazily, adorably crazy. 

Oh is a very different kind of Boov (the self-proclaimed best species at running away), none of the other Boovs understand him. One day Boovs (who are running away from their enemy, the Gorg) find Earth and Captain Smek thinks it's perfect as their new home. They "nicely" located every human on earth and replaced them somewhere in a new community so that the rest of the world would be Boov's, but they missed a teenage girl named Tip and her cat (Pigcat). Oh made a silly mistake that makes him a fugitive and he ran into Tip, they ended up going on a trip where an unlikely friendship blossomed and they both discover the true meaning of home.

Well, it was hilarious from the moment the adorable Oh opened his mouth and Sheldon Cooper came out *LOL* (i did not know that Jim Parson's working in this movie because i don't watch TV and i don't really read celebrity news unless it pops up on my facebook's feed haha). It was silly (not in a bad way), warm hearted, and thoroughly entertaining. I must admit that the first part of the movie was just okay, it was hilarious but did not seem like a movie which would make me like, LOVE it. But it gets better as it progresses, and towards the end it became so touching that i *of course* had tears falling down my face hahaha. Yes, i LOVEEE it!

And it doesn't help that Oh is so so soooo cute!!!

Meee???

I love how Boovs pull their ears (nose???) down when they're frustrated/panic, and i love when Oh turns pink! But my favorite scene's definitely when Oh started dancing unconsciously while listening to a song.

A must must watch for everybody! (Okay, everybody who love animation hehe).

That's all of the movies that we watched in March, we watched Fast and Furious 7 yesterday and it was great (more about it in next month's monthly review)! My favorite is most probably Home and least favorite's definitely Chappie (but it's not even that bad).

Did you like any of the movies that i've listed here?

#Pink