Buried: Movie Review

Since I like using other posters, I used this instead. And WOW. What a wonderful experience for me. Very haunting too. Since this movie can go 2 ways (you either love it or hate it), I suggest that if you don't want to see a guy stuck in a coffin for 94 minutes and just that only, don't watch it. But if you want to see how does it feel to be stuck in a coffin for that long of a time, read on.

Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds) is an American truck driver working in Iraq. He and his crew was ambushed by Iraqis and now, he's stuck 6 feet, or maybe even lower under and he has to cough up 5 million dollars as ransom so that he can escape. But from the time that he has (Movie time began at 6.05PM) to 9PM to pay up, can he survive?

The director was really having fun with the movie and its audience. Ryan probably felt it was a very good script and we all have to agree. Being stuck in a coffin for 94 minutes is no joke. I think its hard. But frankly, I somehow felt that Ryan did not fully deliver his A Game. Somehow, something was a miss. But I couldn't pinpoint it.

The script was also a genius. Truly awesome. Reason being you can see how they bring in so many issues being spoken off that truly makes the movie so believable that it goes higher with each note possible. The situation became so tensed that it really drives you at the edge of your seat wondering how Paul would make it out alive, or not.

I left the cinema hall with this very closed feeling. Like my whole mind was in a coffin. The dark theatre hall gave me a very horrible glimpse of how it feels to be really stuck in that coffin and to place yourself there. I was so quiet that i was holding the bar of a railing at The Curve after I left the movie. Got scolded by my GF but its alright, she didn't know what I went through. It all felt real. It was creepy.

I have to give kudos to the camera work. Very well done. All the while the movie can feel so closed. heck, it could even just be in a small studio and it would've been cool enough. The time lapse also was very accurate in the beginning. But somehow, it was not towards the end of the movie. (The time began at 6.05Pm to 6.35PM and a little bit. It did make up 30 minutes of the time. And then he woke up after sleeping a bit around 7PM. And then 8.15PM onwards). These little details were really awesome.

And the ending, well, thank God it wasn't typical, but definitely left a WTF moment for the hall I was in. Even the last line in the whole film shows that the director was really having fun with its audience. Its really a piece of work.

Sadly, the movie would only work once. That's it. Its not enough for repeated viewings. Once you know what happens, you're ok already. Perhaps one of the weakest points, but still shouldn't stop you from doing all of this.

Kyo's Score: 9/10. One of the best movies I had this year left feeling creeped out and smiling a little bit once it ended. I really had good fun. Even if it took a lot out of me to get out of that spooky feeling. hehe.

The Other Guys: Movie Review

Ever wondered why you were always the sidekick and never the hero? (Life situation applies entirely) Well, meet the other guys. That's you right there jumping with guns toting at shooting at bad guys. Well, before this you always had to sit on a desk doing paperwork. Feels shitty don't it? Well, that's also the movie in some ways. How it started was so nice that it was badly done in the end.

The Other Guys comprise of Detective Allen Gamble (Will Ferrell) and Detective Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg. WOOT!). 1 loves his desk pushing papers and developing Iphone apps (Faceback. Seriously. Cool) and the other, well, a disgraced detective who shot some baseball players knee and cost him his job. Owh, and he learned dancing, sarcastically to mock people. And he's fantastic at it too. That's a laugh out loud riot.

The story comes when 2 of the best police officers took a leap of faith into their deaths. IDIOTS. Well, that's Samuel L Jackson and Dwayne Johnson right there. When they died, the other guys gotta get up. So, they tried, and ended up uncovering something much bigger than they did expect.

What I loved about this movie? Its jokes are nice. (Wooden gun!) Michael Keaton was AWESOME, then again as always. And having Dwayne and Sam at the beginning was really cool and fun to watch. Marky Mark may have found his muse as a tough guy in a comedy. No kidding, ever since Date Night he was still in awesome mode. I don't know how the Fighter is going to look like but hey who knows?

However... the real problem was how sour the editing was done. Seriously, it was so horrible that it did not work well in so many ways. You get high moments, and then uber low. It was utter rubbish. It completely marred the whole movie experience. I'm gonna agree with another that Hot Fuzz would be the best choice.

So if you still wanna watch it, go for the early part, leave in the half way. The Good GUys win. Done. No need to spend more time on this.

Kyo's score: 6/10. If it weren't for the characters who worked their asses off, I would've left.

Devil: Movie Review

As a Muslim, I believe in the existence of many things. Satan, Jin, Ghosts, and so on of other worldly things. So I'm not surprised with the movie Devil really. The Devil can be anything or anyone. And the Devil will always be there to mislead. So when it comes to this movie, why the Devil choose an elevator to trap 5 strangers and execute them one at a time?

The story is basically the Devil taking 5 wretched souls to hell. The best part, among the 5, one of them is the Devil itself. Can you trust the person next to you then?

When it comes to the story, i would M Night deserves a "boleh tahan lah" rating. Its quite an old story of perhaps good vs evil, and why mankind should also do good and abstain from evil. But I can't help but feel that all this feels a little too cheesy. but perhaps that's just me. Though, that's not really my main gripe considering how M Night has been pure shit the past few movies.

My main gripe however was the dialogue. The script all felt cheesy. Its not charming in its own entirety. In fact, the only time I remembered the dialogue was fantastic was when the Devil revealed itself as... one of the members in the lift. I won't tell you who, but I love the quote that the Devil said. In fact, the Devil would probably be the only smartest being in the whole movie. Everyone else including the detective didn't do much to convince that everyone is to be judged.

So, for an average story and bad scripting issues, I can give this a pass. I have hated horror movies for quite a while now. But this does feel like the same ranks as other crappy Malay Horror movies I've seen (Then again, like there was any good Malay horror film made so far.).

Kyo's Score: 5/10. Honestly, I left the theatre just asking forgiveness from Allah for all that I did. For only He can forgive for all my sins.