Movie review: “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans”

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009) is the third installment in the Underworld series, although it is – somewhat confusingly – the prequel to Underworld (2003) and Underworld Evolution (2006). Essentially, it creates the back story to the war between the Lycans and the Vampires, portraying the Lycans – who were depicted as the villains [...]

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Movie review: “The curious case of Benjamin Button”

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) is a fantasy drama and love story directed by David Fincher about a man who is born an old man, and who grows younger as he ages. It is very loosely based on a short story of the same name by F Scott Fitzgerald, which you can incidentally [...]

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Movie review: “Max Payne: Harder Cut”

Max Payne: Harder Cut (2008) is described as “a 2008 American noir action film, loosely based on the 2001 video game of the same name by Remedy Entertainment.” (Wikipedia article about the film)
It stars Mark Wahlberg as Detective Max Payne, who is haunted by the brutal murder of his wife and baby daughter three years [...]

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Movie review: “Death defying acts”

Death Defying Acts (2008) is a romantic thriller based on a short period of the life of escape artist Harry Houdini (played by a superbly fit and very nicely built Guy Pearce – eye candy for the ladies ). (See trailer.)
On a tour of Britain in 1926, Harry offers a US10,000 reward to [...]

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Movie review: “Bicentennial man”

Bicentennial Man (1999) is based on the novella of the same name by sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov. (Trailer here.)
It tells the story of an unusual android by the name of Andrew (played by Robin Williams) who is bought by the Martin family in 2005 (which was the future in 1999!) in order to help with [...]

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Movie review: “Race to Witch Mountain”

Race to Witch Mountain (2009) was a thoroughly enjoyable family movie about two aliens who arrive on earth, and the chaos they inadvertently cause. You can watch the trailer here.
At the start of the film, we meet Jack Bruno (Dwayne Johnson, the muscle-bound actor whom I remember most vividly from “The Scorpion King” [2002]), playing [...]

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Movie review: “Tornado and the Kalahari Horse Whisperer”

This beautiful South African movie was shot on location in the Kalahari Desert, a breathtaking backdrop if ever there was one. It is directed by Regardt van den Bergh, who recently directed “Faith like potatoes” (2006), and it tells the story of a journey of healing and self-discovery. The movie is based on the real [...]

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Movie review: “Hey, Hey, It’s Esther Blueburger”

Hey, Hey, It’s Esther Blueburger (2008) is an independent Australian film, a teenage comedy, starring newcomer Danielle Catanzariti as Esther Blueburger, a 13-year-old Jewish girl from a dysfunctional family. She has a twin brother, Jacob (Christian Byers), who is just as odd as she is. With her braces and spectacles and her strange behaviour, she [...]

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Movie review: “Appaloosa”

When I was growing up, I loved watching Westerns. I was mad about horses, so that’s probably why; but I always hated it when the horses got hurt or shot or killed, and that did happen frequently in Westerns. It didn’t bother me so much when the goodies and the baddies shot each other up [...]

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Movie review: “Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li”

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009) “is the second live-action film based on the Street Fighter series of video games” (Wikipedia). It describes the personal history and quest for justice of Chun-Li (played by Kristin Kreuk).
At the beginning of the movie, Chun-Li is still a young girl; she moves from San Francisco to Hong [...]

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