I liked this movie. It’s different. It’s a movie about a disgraced journalist in Sweden which ends up moving out of the city into a rural town, aiding an aging businessman in finding out whatever happened to his niece who disappeared 40 years ago.

In Stockholm, a brilliant young hacker with a disturbed past and an unorthodox look and behavior struggles to make a living off the state’s welfare system. Eventually, she (Lisbeth) finds herself helping the journalist (Mikael), whom she had investigated previously, in finding the truth about Heriot (the missing girl).

Soon enough, a pattern of killing women emerges and the rural island where they’re investigating the disappearance of Herriot proves to be quite a complex mini-society of mostly psychotic relatives.

The twists and turns and sometimes graphic images make the movie awesome. There are instances in the movie where you’re gonna be like “fuck this shit” but then, another scene makes you go “hell yeah!”. Also, the movie’s makers are trolls. They drop obvious hints, making you feel like you’ve got it all figured it out, then the story takes a twist out of the blue which I found quite entertaining.

All in all, it’s a nice movie which is different. It combines several types of movies, with some cool action scenes, awesome mystery-solving plot and an ending to make the movie stand-out from the cliches we’re used to. So, I recommend you watch it, but, the length of it might make getting it on pirated DVD and watching it at home all the more appealing.

IMDB Rating: 8.2/10
My Rating: 8/10 

I loved this movie. It’s in French, I know, blekh… But, if you know just a little bit of French, combined with the English subtitles will eventually make you not sure if you were reading the English or magically understanding the French.

It’s a funny movie with plenty of witty jokes and some slapstick action. It’s also very touching and moving, but in a nice way. I’ll leave you to Hady’s review below. And by the way, Hady might’ve been a tad bit more moved than I was =P

IMDB Rating: 8.3/10
My Rating: 8/10 

A few months ago, Intouchables was released in France. It slowly became a nation-wide sensation, and broke all French box office records.

Intouchables was released on January 5^th, and I obviously decided to head down to the movies to see what all the fuss was about….

Intouhables is the touching and hilarious true story of two worlds that meet. Philippe, a rich paraplegic aristocrat hires Driss, a young man from an impoverished urban suburb, to care for him, to everyone’s surprise. Driss is certainly not the most qualified candidate, but Philippe appreciates his lack of compassion and pity towards him, which almost makes him feel normal again. On the other hand, Driss appreciates his newfound lifestyle: taking showers in big golden bathtubs, driving Philippe in a Maserati, and flirting with the enigmatic secretary.  However Driss’s past slowly surfaces, menacing both men’s friendship.

Directors Nakache and Toledano deliver a feel-good movie, where Omar Sy (Driss) &François Cluzet (Philippe) both excel in making us lauch, cry, and even cry of laughter at certain times!  The buildup is phenomenal and the film gradually become funnier, till the final scene (which is most likely sponsored by Kleenex) where you’ll probably shed a tear or two!  Keeping in mind that Cluzet only uses his face to express himself, he does a remarkable job conveying all his feelings and emotions, and Omar magnificently emits a wonderful “joie de vivre” which transcends right from the screen right into our hearts.

I strongly encourage all people (even if they don’t understand French) to watch it. I saw it twice in 4 days, and I cannot wait for it to come out on DVD and add it to my personal collection! I guarantee that this movie will shake you to the core, and you’ll leave the theater with a HUGE smile on your face.

I enjoyed this movie. It’s not Matrix-material in terms that it unexpectedly changed movie history when it was expected to flop, but it’s nevertheless an original look at how things could be different in our world.

It stars Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried in a world where genetically engineered humans stop aging at the age of 25. This is weird, since your mom, grandma and great grandma could all look as your girlfriend. The catch is, at 25, they only get one year. They can trade in time for services, and vice versa. For example, a cup of coffee costs 5 minutes.

It’s cool cause in a way, time really is money in that world. The world is divided into cheekily named “time zones” in that people with thousands and millions of years are in one sector, while others with mere minutes live in others.

The constant strive for more time creates an ideal Darwinian world where the fittest can become immortal and the not-so-fit run out of time and die. JT of course challenges that status-quo in this very enjoyable movie.

Despite the criticism, and perhaps the potential for major improvement, I really recommend you pay that 1$ and get it on a pirated DVD, or spend those few hours downloading it via internet torrents.

IMDB Rating: 6.6/10
My Rating: 7/10

This movie is full of stars. This epic new biological thriller features massive names like Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, and Bryan Cranston (the dad in Malcolm in the Middle).

The movie starts off with Gwyneth Paltrow’s character falling deeply ill after returning from abroad. Soon after, she dies in hospital, and her son dies minutes later. Soon enough, an epidemic begins to spread in cities all over the world. The virus is virtually unstoppable and kills millions around the world.

Lawrence Fishburne and Kate Winslet are CDC agents, Jude Law is an influential blogger, Matt Damon is Gwenyth Platrow’s oblivious husband and Marion Cotillard (HOT) is the WHO epidemiologist. In other words, each character tells a part of the story and most of the characters never cross paths in the story. The story is told from the perspective of a helpless patient, a hopeless professional, a skeptical blogger (who I am NOTHING like btw) and other angles on the same pandemic, making the storytelling rationale of this movie special.

The movie doesn’t dwell on the normal cliche of governments wanting to weed out a tiny population for the greater good, with the hero coming to the rescue at the last minute. In Contagion, millions of people die, and the rest wait patiently for a cure or vaccine. It also taps into the conspiracy theories that are fashionable today, like stupid socialists and communists claiming pharmaceutical companies are creating artificial viruses to make profits.

In other words, this is a proud addition to the epidemic thriller movies club. The star-studded, well-written and original movie will swell the theater’s bathrooms after the final credits run. Why? Because everyone is going to run there hysterically and feverishly wash their hands, avoiding contact with other people and running home with a bucket of ice-cream and hope you’re gonna be immune to the next super-virus.

IMDB Rating: 7.2/10

My Rating: 8/10 (I’m a biologist after all…) 

This movie was absolutely hilarious! It’s been quite a while since a real laugh-out-loud, snort-fest movie. Perhaps the closes thing was the first Hangover movie, which was a bit different than the usual Adam-Sandlerish comedy.

I mean, look at the cast! Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, and those are just the secondary roles! The main roles are played by Jason Bateman and two virtually unknown actors Charlie Day and Jason Seudeikis.

Aniston, Spacey and Farrel are the 3 horrible bosses and Bateman, Day and Sedeikis are the employees that decide it’s time to kill their bosses. The simpleton, geeky trio seek the help of Motherfucker Jones (Jamie Foxx) and things get extremely complicated from there.

The twists and quirks are absolutely hilarious. It’s also loads of fun seeing heavyweights like Spacey and Aniston and Farrel, go all the way. Spacey is a complete, murderous psychopath. Aniston is a masochistic maneater, she even says “slap my face with your cock.” Will Farrell is a cokehead that keeps sleeping around with two Asian transvestites. The new guys are also comedy geniuses.

I don’t wanna go into the storyline, for I’d ruin it for you guys! But, remember me when Motherfucker Jones explains how he got that first name

IMDB Rating: 7.5/10
My and Mika’s Rating: 9/10