It probably seems that I don’t like anything I watch. But, that’s definitely not the case. I just watch a lot of really shitty movies.

Outcast is a mediocre tale of Celtic witchcraft and secret societies. Mary is being sought by an occult group intent upon killing her son, who has a non-ironic mullet. The group sends an assassin armed with ancient mythical powers to seek out and kill the lad. The assassin invokes his magical powers by killing and gutting land fowl. It seems the boy possesses mystical powers which he has yet to fully realize or harness. Thus, the reason for his plotted demise. Against the advisement of his mother, the boy begins a flirtation with danger that could cost him and his mother their lives.

The film is co-written and directed by Colm McCarthy. I wasn’t particularly impressed with his directorial prowess or his ability as a writer. The whole film has a lackluster quality to it.

Outcast is all over the place. It never fully finds its footing. It dabbles in both the horror and supernatural thriller genres, though it never fully commits to either one. The same could be said for the pacing – it’s up and down. It’s fast, it’s slow. But, Outcast never settles on a consistent pace, providing the viewer with an unsettling feeling.

It also jumps around a lot. It’s constantly bouncing back and forth between characters we’ve been introduced to but don’t have anything invested in. They are not that interesting and they all blur together. Unlike other more polished films, Outcast never inspires the viewer to get behind the film’s leads. At most, we feel a sense of indifference in regard to the well being of Mary and her mullet-ed son.

I was pretty sure that I was going to hate Outcast from the beginning, but about 30 minutes in, the film seems like it’s going to find its way and it gets a little more interesting. There are a couple legitimate moments of suspense as Mary and the supernatural assassin play cat and mouse on the city streets, but this is just a tease, because it doesn’t actually go anywhere worthwhile from there. After a brief and misleading break in the monotony, It goes right back to being not that interesting or engaging.

The practical effects are ok. They are nothing to marvel over, but they serve their purpose. The CG effects are terrible. They are some of the worst I have seen. They were on par with the first attempts at CGI, years ago. We see a spiney greenish colored creature, throughout the film, that was done digitally. It is an absolute abomination to the world of special effects.

The cast has such thick accents that it’s difficult to understand what they are saying and the screening copy I watched had really poor audio. Poor audio quality coupled with thick accents made for a challenging viewing experience. As a result, I probably missed some of Outcast’s more subtle nuances. Although, I heard and saw all I needed to form an opinion.

Outcast is pretty sexually explicit. There are scenes from the film that could have been lifted from a soft-core porno flick. They don’t help the film’s credibility or increase its watch-ability. It comes off as an ill fated attempt to pacify the audience members looking for cheap thrills.

There’s also a lot of unnecessary nudity. Small, saggy, sweaty, weird boobie nudity. I get it, you need to get naked to cast a spell, but for the benefit of the viewing audience, please just shoot Katie Dickie from the neck up. She is not an attractive naked woman. I really hope she keeps her space suit on in Prometheus.

Outcast doesn’t waste a lot of time explaining itself or what’s going on. As an only marginally engaged and highly impatient viewer, I would have shut this off after fifteen minutes of no clear direction. Alas, I have a responsibility to the movie viewing public to get to the bottom of what is and is not worth your precious time. And, after three ill fated attempts to watch this film – I finally made it through on the fourth try – I can tell you that Outcast isn’t worth your time. Outcast isn’t a complete miss, but it’s close enough. There are plenty of other films that are worth 90 minutes of your time.

The film is currently available on DVD. However, it doesn’t work as a horror film. It doesn’t work as a supernatural thriller. It barely works on any level. Save your money and avoid it.

source from: shocktillyoudrop

Cast:Jason Segel as Tom Solomon

Emily Blunt as Violet Barnes
Chris Pratt as Alex Eilhauer
Alison Brie as Suzie Barnes-Eilhauer
Rhys Ifans as Winton Childs
Mindy Kaling as Vaneetha
Randall Park as Ming
Kevin Hart as Doug
Brian Posehn as Tarquin
Chris Parnell as Bill
Lauren Weedman as Chef Sally
Mimi Kennedy as Carol Solomon
David Paymer as Pete Solomon
Jacki Weaver as Sylvia Dickerson-Barnes
Jim Piddock as George Barnes
Dakota Johnson as Audrey
Jane Carr as Grandma Katherine
Clement von Franckenstein as Grandpa Baba
Michael Ensign as Grandpa Harold
Madge Levinson as Grandma Leonora
Gina Ragnone as Ashley

Directed by Nicholas Stoller

Story:
San Francisco chef Tom Solomon (Jason Segel) has finally proposed to his girlfriend Violet (Emily Blunt) but before they get married, she’s offered a job at the University of Michigan which puts their marriage plans on hold as well as forcing him to give up his career to support her dream job. Once there, problems arise in the relationship as Violet spends too much time with her charismatic boss (Rhys Ifans) while Tom gets deeper and deeper into a bitter funk as their wedding plans keep being delayed.

Analysis:
“Forgetting Sarah Marshall” director Nick Stoller’s third movie may struggle through some of the same problems faced by his producer Judd Apatow’s own third movie “Funny People” in that there are way too many ideas and tonal shifts creating a long movie that feels disjointed. That’s not to say “Five-Year Engagement” is bad, though; in fact, the tried-and-true comedy team of Stoller and actor Jason Segel prove themselves to be quite capable at creating something more accessible to mainstream audiences with jokes that should cross a fairly wide range of ages and locales.

We meet Segel’s Tom Solomon as he’s awkwardly proposing to his longtime girlfriend Violent (Emily Blunt), and they certainly seem like such a perfect couple, so what could possibly go wrong? If you’re going into the movie knowing nothing, you may be surprised how long it takes to set-up the general premise of this wedding that keeps being put on hold for different reasons as a wedge gets driven into Tom and Violet’s relationship once they move to Michigan and Violet gets deeper into her work developing an experiment involving stale donuts, while being overtly hit on by her charismatic supervisor, played by Rhys Ifans. Meanwhile, Tom lets his beard grow and takes up hunting with odd new local friends, played by Chris Parnell and Brian Posehn (a highly underrated comic who is finally used in a movie to show off his full potential).

Lots of couples may be able to relate to trying to manage two careers and the sacrifices we make for the one we love, although the marketing is a bit of a fake-out in making people think that this is another “Bridesmaids” and is about the disastrous lead-up to a wedding which isn’t really the case at all.

Segel and Blunt work well together, although you may wonder if Segel made the movie simply to get any excuse he can to make out with the comely British actress. Good on him if that’s the case, because it worked! Segel takes on more of a straight-man role for this one, allowing Chris Pratt to steal many scenes as Tom’s best friend Alex who has sex with Violet’s sister (Pratt’s NBC-mate Alison Brie from “Community”) at their engagement party and finds himself married with a kid on the way. There’s actually quite a lot of laughs to be found in the supporting cast including Violet’s fellow psych grad students, played by Kevin Hart, Mindy Kaling and lesser-known Randall Park.

For the amount of characters and ideas and subplots that are squeezed into two hours, Stoller does a fine job finessing it into a movie that offers just as much entertainment value as “Sarah Marshall” and “Get Him to the Greek,” even if it’s lacking some of the quirky imperfections of those movies. It also ends up being somewhat more predictable since the simpler story only leaves a few places where things can go. This includes the point when it enters darker and more dramatic territory as Violet and Tom’s relationship starts to crumble. Because the laughs haven’t been nearly as consistent up until that point, it might take people out of the movie entirely.

One minor quibble is that for a story taking place over five years, it’s surprising how little the characters seem to change over the course of the movie, other than a funky backwoods beard Segel grows for the middle act. One would think the passage of time would be hugely important, but other than having Violet’s sister and Alex show up from time to time with their kids, all the characters remain exactly the same, This is one place where Stoller could have learned something from Drake Doremus’ “Like Crazy” which makes you feel the passage of time without dragging.

Some may wonder why the movie keeps returning to Violet’s donut experiment, which isn’t exactly great material for a thesis or for humor, but be patient, because it does play a large part in the pay-off, and the film’s ending is surprisingly satisfying even if it ends in a rather obvious place.

The Bottom Line:
While “The Five-Year Engagement” sometimes get bogged down in a surplus of ideas, not all of them that work well together, it’s certainly one of the more palatable relationship comedies due to the notable chemistry between Segel and Blunt and a supporting cast who are constantly stealing scenes.

source from: shocktillyoudrop

Cast:
Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man
Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America
Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner / The Hulk
Chris Hemsworth as Thor
Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow
Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye
Tom Hiddleston as Loki
Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson
Cobie Smulders as Agent Maria Hill
Stellan Skarsgård as Selvig
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts
Paul Bettany as Jarvis (voice)

Written and Directed by Joss Whedon

Summary:
Fun battles between superheroes, a great ensemble cast, an excellent script, and amazing 3D make “The Avengers” a movie that will please comic book fans and general audiences alike. It’s a wonderful payoff from what Marvel has been building up to with their previous films.

Story:
Having fled from Asgard, Loki allies himself with an alien race known as the Chitauri. Intent on taking over the universe, they want the Tesseract (aka the Red Skull’s ‘Cosmic Cube’) in order to aid them in their conquest and they want Loki to get it for them. In return, Loki will be granted dominion over the Earth. Loki is more than happy to oblige them.

As soon as he returns to Earth, Loki throws S.H.I.E.L.D. into disarray as he steals the Tesseract and takes over the minds of several S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel. Unable to match the demi-god villain, Nick Fury falls back on his plan to form a team of Earth’s mightiest heroes, the Avengers. Fury and Black Widow gather Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and Bruce Banner/The Hulk in order to fight Loki, but they’re all going to have to learn to work together and overcome their weaknesses in order to save the Earth.

“The Avengers” is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action throughout, and a mild drug reference.

What Worked:
Ever since 2008′s “Iron Man,” Marvel Studios has been laying the foundation for an Avengers movie. It has been a delicate dance the entire way that could have fallen flat at any time. But thanks to the various directors and Marvel’s overall vision, it has worked so far. It’s like they’ve been stacking a bunch of blocks that could come crashing down at any moment, yet they haven’t. Now they’ve called on Joss Whedon to put the last block on the stack. And not only does he do it successfully, but he does it in spectacular fashion. Whedon compliments what all the previous films have done while bringing all of his strengths to “The Avengers.” He ended up making a movie that pleases young and old, comic fans and non-comic fans, and domestic and international audiences. For years to come, this will be the standard that all other superhero movies will be measured against.

First of all, Whedon is a fanboy at heart. He knows what comic fans want to see, and he delivers. As a Marvel fan, I always loved seeing the heroes battle each other, teaming up, and ultimately saving the day. We get that in spades with “The Avengers.” We get to see Iron Man battle Thor, Thor battle Captain America, Thor battle Hulk… you get the idea. As a Marvel Comics fan for over 30 years, every one of these battles met or exceeded my expectations. And what’s great is that even people who have never read the comics will get a kick out of these battles, too. They’re all breathtaking action sequences and fans of the movies will enjoy seeing last summer’s movie heroes going head to head this summer. It’s like seeing Frankenstein battle Dracula or King Kong vs. Godzilla. It’s just pure fun.

Joss Whedon has always been great at writing scripts for ensemble casts and that remains the case in “The Avengers.” Every single character in this film has a moment to shine… even the extras in the background. And nobody is really lost in the story. Robert Downey Jr. steals every scene he’s in, but Evans, Hemsworth, Ruffalo, and Jackson still manage to hold their own with him while remaining true to their characters in the previous films. Whedon manages to keep everyone relevant, too. For example, Black Widow is a character that could have very easily been lost among the heavy hitters of the team. But Scarlett Johansson’s character plays several key roles in the story and actually uses her strengths as a spy and assassin to help the team. The end result is yet another great female heroine from Whedon.

Whedon is also known for his skill at writing witty dialogue and that is used to its full potential here. Downey Jr. fires off one hilarious one liner after another that keeps the audience laughing. And even the straight men like Thor and Captain America get some great lines that bring the house down. But there’s one character that gets a lot of love from Whedon and that’s Tom Hiddleston as Loki. He gets one great villainous monologue after another with practically all of the characters in the film and every bit of it is engaging. Seeing him match wits with our heroes is a lot of fun.

A lot of people have been praising The Hulk as the MVP of “The Avengers” and there’s no question he steals the show in the finale. This is the first time that the Hulk has been portrayed as comic fans really want to see him – full of attitude and fully unleashed. He doesn’t even appear until late in the movie, but when he does… wow! Who would have thought that Hulk could steal the show from Robert Downey Jr.?

I saw this film in IMAX 3D and really enjoyed it. This was fantastic use of the 3D effect. When Iron Man flies between the city buildings, the camera follows him and you get a real sense of flying along with him. When the Chitauri invade New York, their flying ships really pop out of the screen at you. When Black Widow points her gun at you, you feel like it’s popping out of the screen and aimed at your head. Overall it’s just a superb use of 3D.

I took my seven-year-old and 10-year-old sons to this movie and all three of us absolutely loved it. This was truly a cross-generational geek fest. They loved seeing Hulk smash aliens. I loved seeing comics I followed for over 30 years play out on the screen. And after the movie was over and the post-credits scene rolled, my son was explaining to people the significance of the bonus scene. These were adult strangers we’d never met before raptly listening to a 10-year-old geek out over the bonus scene. Watching this movie, there was a real feeling of a communal experience that I don’t think I’ve experienced since the “Star Wars” movies. It was just a lot of fun.

What Didn’t Work:
As much as I’m a gushing fanboy, I will admit there were some things that I would nitpick about in “The Avengers.” First of all, in the bonus scene from “Thor,” we saw Loki masquerading as Dr. Selvig, but here they’re two distinctly different characters. Story-wise, it didn’t seem to fit. (But then again we saw Hulk smash ice with Captain America in it in a bonus scene from “The Incredible Hulk,” so there’s a history of the movies not meshing with the post-credit scenes.)

Another nitpick is that at the end of “Thor,” the Bifrost Bridge had been destroyed and Thor was cut off from Earth, but in “The Avengers” he kind of appears out of nowhere. Loki addresses it in a throwaway line, but it felt a tad rushed in order to bring Thor into the fray. Knowing that Joss Whedon originally had a much longer cut of the film, maybe this was addressed more in some deleted scenes.

I also felt the pacing was a tad slow at a couple of points. The movie hits the ground running with some big action scenes early on and doesn’t let up for quite some time, but as soon as Loki is captured things grind to a halt for about 20 minutes. We get a lot of dialogue heavy scenes between the characters. And as good as Whedon’s writing is and as intriguing it is for character development… it’s still a good point to go to the bathroom.

Continuing my nitpicking, I felt like the score by Alan Silvestri was utterly forgettable. When you walked out of “Superman: The Movie” or “Batman,” you were humming the theme song by John Williams or Danny Elfman. For some reason, after all of the things Marvel has done right, they can’t seem to get a memorable theme song for their characters even if they sold their souls to Mephisto. I wish they’d put as much effort into their scores as they do their scripts.

My next nitpick is really a Catch 22 for Marvel and Disney. On “John Carter of Mars”, the trailers were criticized for not showing the movie accurately enough. On “The Avengers”, I felt like a lot of the movie was spoiled by the trailers. Many of the biggest and best scenes in the film are shown in the commercials and trailers. You know what’s coming well before it happens just because you’ve seen so many commercials that you can’t avoid even if you tried. So I don’t think the happy middle ground has been hit just yet.

Finally, as fun as the big finale is, the final resolution is a tad anti-climactic. I won’t spoil it here, but I felt the big conclusion didn’t quite deliver after the buildup of the rest of the movie.

The Bottom Line:
“The Avengers” is pretty much everything you hoped it would be. Go see it in the theaters in 3D and you won’t be disappointed. Y’all need to take your kids, take your wife. Everybody’s going to love this one and it’s a great way to start the summer movie season. And it’s nice to see fan favorite Joss Whedon finally get the mainstream success that he deserves.

source from: comingsoon

Bully fits into the culture of your local multiplex the same way the subjects within this film fit into their peer groups—it doesn’t. While bombs are blasting in the action movie on one side of you, and teens are holding the biggest house party ever on the other, this documentary is somehow supposed to lure you in to see its very important message about bullying in America. It’s like serving spinach at a dessert buffet…

The film is admirable in its quest to help audiences understand not only that kids are being bullied, but also to have you feel their frustration, pain and hopelessness. It covers the stories of various young people, mostly in middle and high school, who are victims of verbal, physical and social abuse. As we view an average day in their lives we see the backstage behavior that teachers and parents aren’t privy to—including one vice-principal who appears naive to the point of negligent after a camera crew documents bullying behavior of kids she describes as, “Good as gold.”

Also impressive is the range of victims it presents. Most of these kids are targets of abuse simply due to social and physical perceptions. When an autistic boy’s mother asks why he would include children who bully him as friends, he wonders what friends he would have if he didn’t. A young girl, who identifies herself as gay, struggles with outright assault after a student driving a minivan deliberately hits her. Now she lives in social exclusion. Another boy pleads through tears for help at a town hall meeting that local school officials refused to attend. And the father of a teen who eventually took his own life frames the open and close of the film.

These moments and many more are authentic and powerful. Somehow director Lee Hirsch has managed to bring his camera into school busses, hallways and playgrounds with little evidence of distracting his subjects from their “natural” behavior.

If there ever was a film you should watch with your older children and teens it’s this one. In my experience, those of us who have been subjected to bullying will have no problem feeling the emotion on the screen. Meanwhile those fortunate enough to have bypassed this cruel initiation into adulthood may have a disconnect between what they witness and the director’s intended outcome. No matter which side of the line you or your child are on, taking the time to talk about these issues will make the experience more meaningful. (You may find some helpful discussion pointers in this downloadable guide to the filmBully.)

However, this documentary’s ability to fight this prevalent problem still has some challenges.   The first came after the MPAA awarded the movie an R rating due to language used by kids interacting on the street and at school. We hear half a dozen sexual expletives, at least four derogatory homosexual terms and a few other profanities. One male also makes a violent and sexually explicit threat to another boy.

While the great deal of media attention that was drawn when the film’s distributor attempted to appeal the ruling might be seen as, “Any publicity is good publicity,” The Weinstein Company still failed to get a PG-13. So they decided to release the movie in the U.S. as “Unrated.” This choice still has the potential to limit audiences because many theaters typically refuse to show unrated films. (At the time of this writing some theater chains are allowing exceptions to this rule and giving young people, who can demonstrate permission from parents, access to the film.)

The second concern lies with an oversight in the story construction of Bully that is a sad reflection of our society’s desire for tales with clear protagonists and antagonists. The “bullies” in this movie are the bad guys. Yet, unlike the action film playing in the other theater, this isn’t a script about drug lords or zombies. The bullies seen in this documentary are children too and in need of help just as their victims are. What motivates a person to be a bully? What kind of intervention might assist them in correcting this destructive behavior? If you have an opportunity to view this production, be sure to ask those questions too.

Bully is rated Not Rated: The MPAA originally rated Bully R for language, however the distributor has surrendered this rating and has released the film without a rating.

Director: Lee Hirsch
Cast: Writers: Lee Hirsch, Cynthia Lowen
Studio: 2012 Weinstein Company

source from: parentpreviews

Directed by Peter Berg

Story:
As naval ships from around the world gather off of the coast of Hawaii for annual exercises, a beacon sent into space has reached its destination, a planet with a similar atmosphere as Earth that’s sent five spaceships filled with hostile aliens as envoys. Creating a domed force field around a portion of the fleet, it’s up to the crew of the destroyer USS John Paul Jones and one hot-headed lieutenant Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch) to put up a stop to the aliens’ plans to bring more ships to Earth and take it over.

Analysis:
There tends to be a collective groan whenever there’s news of a board game or toy optioned as a movie, and “Battleship” is going to give naysayers more ammo by showing exactly why some things really need to stay in their original medium. Those of you bummed there wasn’t a new Michael Bay movie released this summer are in luck, because director Peter Berg has come up with the next best thing by channeling the master of the big-budget summer blockbuster in bringing the classic Hasbro board game to the big screen.

As “Battlefield” opens, we’re introduced to the Beacon Project, which is trying to communicate with a planet found in another galaxy that matches Earth’s own conditions. We don’t spend too long on that premise before we’re moved to a bar on Oahu where two brothers, Alex and Stone Hopper (Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgard) are arguing over the former’s slacker mentality that keeps getting him into trouble. Being in the Navy, Stone of course thinks that’s his younger brother’s only viable option. Oh, boy, is he going to get his wish. But first, along comes Brooklyn Decker, who looks way too hot to be found in a dive bar in Hawaii, but offering Alex the motivation to break into a closed nearby grocery store to steal her a chicken burrito.

As we spend twenty minutes watching Alex sometime after his arrest, now in the Navy and taking part in the annual RIMCAP naval exercises, you may start wondering if they’ve forgotten that the movie is supposed to be about an alien invasion, but once the spaceships land, Alex is sent out on a raft to greet the large unknown object jutting out of the water with some of his crew, setting off a chain of events where the alien crafts start firing large explosive “pins” at the fleet, quickly destroying two of the three ships caught inside the force field.

This begins the type of FX-laden action that most will be expecting, and for many, Navy ships and alien starships (and their respective officers) battling it out for nearly 90 minutes may be enough, but the lack of originality in terms of creating characters that aren’t overused stereotypes and a story that lacks any sort of depth makes it hard to fully enjoy it, even in the context of being a popcorn movie.

Much of these problems can be blamed on the choice in actors, starting with Taylor Kitsch as Alex, the slacker screw-up who in a matter of weeks seems to have joined the Navy then next thing you know, he’s the senior officer on a Navy destroyer and in charge of making all the decisions. Hard as it may be to believe, that’s not the most ridiculous aspect of the movie either, and neither is the incomprehensible thought that supermodel Brooklyn Decker could pull off a convincing military physical therapist. As soon as she urges a bull-headed amputee, played by real-life military man Colonel Gregory D. Gatson, to take a walk with her in the Hawaiian hills, you should be able to figure out where it’s heading and the part he’ll play. (The only clue we’ll give you is Cuba Gooding Jr. in “Pearl Harbor.”)

Liam Neeson, presumably one of the primary draws for the movie, is barely in it ten minutes at the beginning and then quickly disappears once the force field goes up, only to return at the end to take credit and give a big rousing speech. For that matter, Alexander Skarsgard also leaves the picture once the action starts, leaving things to Taylor Kitsch and his skeleton crew, none of whom really have the charisma to keep one invested in the story. These include pop singer Rihanna playing the sort of tough bad-ass female role one normally expects from Michelle Rodriguez, her primary purpose to shoot big guns and say catchy lines like “Boom” and “Mahalo MotherBLEEPer” after doing so. The other three main crew members are mostly forgettable military stereotypes.

The design of the alien crafts makes them imposing enough as they have a way of leaping across the water in a menacing fashion, and those “pegs” aren’t their only weapon as they also shoot out giant spinning gear-bots (for lack of a better term) that raze anything in their path. These cause a few problems with scale as the initial construct and the spacecrafts seem enormous, but they seem to shift in size as needed when shown with humans. At one point, one of the gear-bots threatens a young boy and it doesn’t look to be that much bigger than him.

Then there are the aliens themselves, looking like something out of “Halo” until their helmets are removed and they look like old hippies with grey goatees, offering some of the movie’s only problems in terms of the CG FX. These aliens have a simplistic system of determining whether something they encounter is an enemy by how they appear on their helmet screens: Green= good; red = bad. It’s that simple and there’s no real logic to it, which essentially reduces their menace. At one point in the battle, they find a way to replicate the Battleship game by having our heroes tracking the aliens crafts on a radar and calling out coordinates to attack, which just makes it that much clearer how silly the whole thing is.

As much as “Battleship” may have been director Peter Berg’s tribute to our fighting forces, the screenplay by the Hoeber Brothers gets so ridiculous at times it may come across like a slap in the face to that audience with lines and moments that will have you howling with laughter. That is, until someone actually makes a joke that’s meant to be funny.

Going into the third act, it pulls out easily one of the most ridiculous plot devices you’re likely to see all year, and it’s likely to lose anyone who has been on board up until that point. For reasons left unexplained, Alex and a Japanese officer named Nagata end up working on the same boat even though they clearly hate each other, and it doesn’t take a film school degree to figure out they’ll end the movie as friends.

That’s not to say that all the problems fall on Peter Berg or his direction. He does the best he can to make an overly glossy commercial-looking movie out of a script that never really works. It seems once someone realized this, they just kept throwing money at the movie, hoping the spectacle and FX would make people ignore the fact the script sucks. Special kudos should be given to Berg’s visual FX team, a list so long it takes up a third of the extensive credits, which you may or may not want to stick through for a final tag that’s relatively funny, though not necessarily anyone would hope for it to be a set up for a sequel, which invariably will never happen.

The Bottom Line:
“Battleship” isn’t a complete disaster and it’s doubtful it’s going to make or break any careers – maybe just the executive who greenlit it. It’s just not very good and another clear-cut example of a movie that had absolutely no reason to be made.

Essentially, it’s Hasbro’s classic game clumsily shoehorned into a movie that literally takes every single Michael Bay movie and squooshes them into a formulaic action blockbuster. It mostly falters whenever it actually references the source material on which it’s based.

source from: comingsoon

source from: shocktillyoudrop

RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 27, 2012

Cast
Roger Kwok
Fala Chen
Sharon Chan
Louis Yuen
Yoyo Chen
Koni Lui
Raymond Cho
Ben Wong
Oscar Leung
Kitty Yuen

Official Synopsis
KING SUEN of CHAI (Kwok Chun On) pays visit to revered recluse CHUNG MO-YIM (Fala Chen) for advice of how to restore the reputation of the state. Without really thinking, he swears to agree with whatever she wants as a reward. Her request puts him in an awkward situation, as he has already promised great beauty HA YING-CHUN (Sharon Chan) that he will make her the queen. Taking the advice of AN YING (Louis Yuen), the official censor at court, he crowns YIM the Queen of the Eastern Palace and CHUN the Queen of the Western Palace in the end so as to settle their struggle. While YIM sincerely wants to help him rule, CHUN is waiting for a chance to take her revenge. Whatever their intention, the two queens use every trick to outdo the other. Although KING SUEN is obsessed by CHUN’s beauty, he dares not offend YIM, who is clever and resourceful. Then one day, a rare planetary alignment appears in the sky, resulting in a swap in their identity as well as endless fun and laughter!

Synopsis
Emperor CHAI SUEN (Roger Kwok) visited the deep mountains to seek martial arts expert CHUNG MO YIM’s (Fala Chen) assistance to revive the Chai Empire. SUEN anxiously blurted out that he can do anything for her in return. Later after completing the task, YIM opens her big mouth and requests that she wants to be the Empress, but SUEN had just promised to give the title to the naturally beautiful HA YING CHEUN (Sharon Chan). SUEN’s legal adviser AN YING (Louis Yuen) quickly comes up with a plan to separate the two into the East and West palaces to temporarily prevent any disputes. In fact, YIM only wanted to be the Empress so she can help Emperor Chai take care of the country’s affairs. CHEUN, however, watches closely for an opportunity to take revenge. The two Queens uses gentle methods and force to battle one another. Emperor Chai loves CHEUN for her beauty, but in hope for a prosperous future of his country, he also did not dare to offend the strategic YIM. He even takes advantage of her innocent true love several times. (aZnangel)

CHARACTER MAP
- Fala Chen ==> Roger Kwok (done favor for)
- Roger Kwok ==> Sharon Chan (loves)
- Fala Chen <==> Sharon Chan (romantic rivals)
- Kitty Yuen <==> Fala Chen (mentor-student)
- Raymond Cho ==> Fala Chen (admires)
- Sharon Chan ==> Raymond Cho (takes advantage of)
- Fala Chen <==> Koni Lui (best friends)
- Koni Lui ==> Louis Yuen (female pursues male)
- Roger Kwok <==> Bella Lam (half-siblings)
- Ben Wong ==> Roger Kwok (secret motive)
- Ben Wong <==> Yoyo Chen (married)
- Yoyo Chen ==> Roger Kwok (still loves)
- Roger Kwok <==> Louis Yuen (good friends)
- Ben Wong ==> Al Wai (controls/uses)
- Al Wai & Chan On Ying ==> Sharon Chan (parents)

Info
- Roger is Emperor Chai Suen, Fala Chen and Sharon Chan are his wives
- Fala is Chung Mo Yim, a skilled martial artists with a disfigured face.
- Sharon is Ha Ying Cheun, nicknamed the Beautiful Concubine.
- Fala and Sharon are love rivals.
- Yoyo is the Emperor’s concubine and Ben Wong’s lover.
- Louis and Koni are lovers.
- Fala is the ‘See Jeh’ of Koni and Kitty.
- Raymond Cho is Ben’s older brother.

source from: asianuniverse

RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 31, 2011

Cast
Eddie Cheung
Kiki Sheung
Joyce Tang
Hanjin Tan
Lin Xiawei
Benjamin Yuen
Angela Tong
Charmaine Li
Susan Tse
Mannor Chan
Ronald Law
Wu Fung
Toby Leung (guest star, 30 episodes)

Synopsis
Career woman KAN YIK-PO (Sheung Tin Ngor) turns housewife unwillingly with the sudden resignation of her domestic helper. Being the only breadwinner in the family and faced with a restructuring at work, her husband, SUEN KA-ON (Cheung Siu Fai), finds himself on the verge of a mid-life crisis. PO’s younger sister, KAN YIK-TAN (Joyce Tang), is a devil-may-care woman. The fact that she has recently broken up with her boyfriend does not discourage her from starting another relationship. Quite the contrary, she marries Malaysian Chinese NG LOK-YAN (Hanjin Tan), a guy she merely knows about, and takes him back to Hong Kong. Come and see how intriguing and fun living in a household with culture shock under the same roof can be!

Info
- Eddie Cheung is the sales manager at a health product company.
- Kiki was the manager at the airline training department, but retires and becomes housewife.
- Wu Fung and Susan Tse are cousins
- Wu Fung is Eddie’s retired father.
- Charmaine Li is Susan Tse’s daughter
- Eddie and Angela Tong are siblings
- Kiki and Eddie are married with a son.
- Joyce is the senior manager at an insurance company.
- Kiki and Joyce are sisters.
- Joyce and Hanjin are married.
- Hanjin is a music professional.
- Benjamin Yeun is a senior manager at an insurance company.
- Benjamin and Liu Xiawei are married.

source from: asianuniverse

RELEASE DATE: MARCH 19, 2012

Cast:
Ha Yu
Steven Ma
Linda Chung
Nancy Wu
Evergreen Mak
Cilla Lok
Chris Lai
Edwin Siu
Sharon Chan

Synopsis
Pawnbroker KO YEE-MAN (Ha Yu) regards his pawnshop as a people-helping rather than a profit-making business. He has a solution for every problem too, though he at times finds his three children’s problems a headache. His eldest son, KO WAI-TING (Mak Cheung Ching), has a happy marriage with WAN YUEN-HAN (Nancy Wu) but his career development is never smooth. KO YU-CHU (Linda Chung), his second daughter, has fallen in love with a married man. Fortunately her bitter foe LAM FAT (Steven Ma) comes to her help when she is feeling at a very low ebb. MAN’s youngest daughter, KO YU-PO (Cilla Kung), is a typical talker and slacker who has no sense of responsibility. When MAN’s long serving employee LAM AH-NUI (Chow Chung) and apprentice YIP KWAI (Edwin Siu) are faced with trouble, MAN also feels it is his responsibility to help. After all, they are all his loved ones. Should any of them is in need of support, he is readily happy to lead a helping hand, no matter how much it will cost him.

CHARACTER MAP
- Ha Yu ==> Steven Ma (future father-in-law)
- Ha Yu <==> Chow Chung (good friends)
- Ha Yu ==> Nancy Wu (father-in-law)
- Evergreen Mak ==> Ha Yu (Eldest Son)
- Evergreen Mak <==> Nancy Wu (loving married couple)
- Linda Chung ==> Ha Yu (second daughter)
- Cilla Kung ==> Ha Yu (youngest daughter)
- Linda Chung <==> Steven Ma (bickering pair, later lovers)
- Steven Ma <==> Edwin Siu (best friends)
- Edwin Siu ==> Linda Chung (crush on)

Info
- Ha Yu has three children, Evergreen Mak, Linda Chung and Cilla Lok
- Linda is a policewoman and later transfer to CID.
- Linda will have a relationship with Steven Ma, Edwin Siu and Chris Lai
- Evergreen and Nancy Wu are married
- Steven is an assistant director working at TVB. He works part-time as a badminton instructor and a taxi driver.
- Steven is Sire Ma’s ex-boyfriend
- Edwin is Steven’s good friend, Sharon Chan’s boyfriend and has a relationship with Linda.

source from: asianuniverse

Producer: Lau Ka Ho
Costume Fitting: July 16, 2009
Episodes: 25
Genre: Police, Detective, Investigation

RELEASE DATE: May 24, 2010

Cast:
Raymond Lam
Kenneth Ma
Tavia Yeung
Bernice Liu
Lisa S.
Lawrence Ng (child actor)
Evergreen Mak
Jack Wu
Alex Lam
Stephen Huyhn
Astrid Chan
Jessie Shum

Synopsis
This is a love story between a professor and a policewoman. Their dating experience is enhanced with sense and sensibility through the application of interesting physics theories on the investigation of various crime cases.

KING POK (Raymond Lam) is regarded as the youngest genius in physics and he is appointed as an associate professor in a Hong Kong university. Invited by his good friend LO TIN-HANG (Ma Kwok Ming), Senior Inspector of Police at Regional Crime Unit, POK assists in cracking many mysterious crime cases and he also meets the policewoman CHUI SIU-LAI (Tavia Yeung) during the process. The rational POK evaluates that he has fallen in love with LAI because of a love hormone called “phenylalanine”. However, owing to the huge difference in their family background and life value, POK fails to tackle their ever-changing relationship problems with formulas.

On the other hand, the romantic and uninhibited HANG has been maintaining a sex only relationship with the journalist LING MAN-KA (Liu Bernice Jan). HANG doesn’t believe in eternity and he is only looking for sensual pleasure in a woman. However, his belief is suddenly shattered when he learns that MAN is going to get married.

Info:
- Adaption of a Japanese series: “Detective Galileo” 《神探伽俐略》.
- Raymond will play a physics professor.
- Kenneth Ma is a flirty investigator/cop.
- Tavia will play cop. Her reporting officer is Kenneth. There will not be any love relationships between Tavia and Kenneth.
- Evergreen Mak and Tavia will play brother and sister.
- Child actor Lawrence Ng will play Evergreen’s son (Tavia’s nephew)
- Kenneth Ma and Bernice Liu will be a couple.
- Raymond Lam and Tavia Yeung will be a couple.
- Kenneth Ma, Lisa S. and other girls will be involved in love relationship.

source from:  asianuniverse