Saturday, April 28, 2007

Movie Review

Movie Review - "Wild Hogs"

Cast - John Travolta as Woody, Tim Allen as Doug, Martin Lawrence as Bobby and William H. Macy as Dudley

Put four biker friends who are facing mid-life crisis in a road trip to nowhere and you'll get the madcap adventure of the 'Wild Hogs'. Our foursome are dentist Doug Madsen, a wild college kid turned family man who is finding it hard to indulge in life when his cholesterol level is hanging by a thread. Deal-maker Woody Stevens, who lost his business, divorced by his swimsuit model wife and a recent bankrupt. Next we have Bobby, a hen-pecked husband taking a year off work as a plumber to write a book and finally, DUDley played by William H. Macy to comedic perfection as a clumsy computer programmer who has problems attracting the opposite sex.

To usher a wind of change, Woody suggested a bike trip to break their mundane daily routine by injecting some unknowns into their lives. The rest of the wild hogs went along after some soul-tripping. The trip started harmlessly with a cries of brotherhood and freedom, smashing their cellphones to cut their ties to the real world, not to mention the missus. Here onwards, there is nothing but the wild hogs and the open road! This is where the funnies come out to play when a marshmallow accident set fire to their tent, rendering our mates to 'spoon' on an inflated mattress. Mistaken by a highway patrolman as having a Gay's night out in the woods, they met again in a park caught swimming naked to roaring laughs. Soon, they were back on the road and took a pit-stop at a real biker bar, filled with Hell-Angels called the "Del Fuego's" led by meanie Jack, played by Ray Liotta. Our city slickers are no match for the real biker gang and got hustled into losing Dudley's Harley. Facing a premature end to their journey, Woody decides to act by stealing back Dudley's ride. Little did he knew that his act of cutting the fuel lines of the gang's bikes will indirectly cause the bar to explode in a ball of fire, and this incident had the rival gang fuelled with anger. Determined to seek revenge, Ray ordered a search of every town in sight till they are found. Marisa Tomei made a brief appearance as Maggie, an owner of a small town diner in Mandrid where the wild hogs are spending the night when they ran out of gas. She plays Dudley's love interest and did our geek get the girl? When the Del Fuegos eventually caught up to them, Woody finally spill the beans on what he really did at the bar to get Dudley's bike and they had to face up to reality of getting mangled. With their backs against the wall, they stood up against the 50 bad ass bikers with gusto and integrity which rally the small town into standing up for their own against the tormentors. "Wild Hogs" is a true comedy, sending a simple message to cherish every wonderful moment and to be yourself. Stay tuned for the ending credits for there is a finale by the Extreme Makeover - Home Edition hosted by Tyler on resurrecting the Del Fuego's bar. See tough, mean-looking man cry and getting all golly when their dream bar is revealed, Super funny!

There are bellies full of laughs in this trip of self-discovery and I recommend you to watch it for a good time! Ratings: 3 out of 5. Keep your eyes peeled for many cameos in the movie, most notably are the Tetuls from American Chopper and a custom bike by Orange County Choppers.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Movie Review

Movie Review - '200 Pounds Beauty'
미녀는 괴로워 (Mi-nyeo-neun Goi-ro-wa)

Cast - Kim Ah-Joong (김아중) and Joo Jin-mo (주진모)

'200 Pounds Beauty' is a sleeper hit from Korea, surpassing its predecessor 'My Boss, My Teacher' as the most successful Korean comedy of all time earning 6.23 million admissions. It is a romantic comedy about an overweight but talented singer named Kang, Hanna who is the lip-sync voice of K-pop singing sensation, Ami. While Ami struts her stuff on stage, our heroine is always in the background, hidden from view and singing her heart out. Her secret admiration for music producer Sang-Jun is her only hope for love. Aware of Hanna's affections for Sang-Jun, Ami seize the chance to humiliate her during the latter's birthday party and broke her heart. After turning her back on a suicide attempt, Hanna blackmails her sex line client, a plastic surgeon into performing the full-body alteration. The next part of the movie is just hilarious as she grapples the attention of being beautiful while unable to shake off her sub-conscious pounds. The scenes where she followed Sang-Jun to a car dealership and ended up buying a car in the process after being complimented on her looks were funny. Subsequent episode of our new Hanna rear-ending a taxi but getting out of it simply of her good looks were rip-roaring and ridiculous. Soon, Hanna work her way into the record label as Jenny, an American-Korean singer who floored Sang-Jun with her vocals, winning a record contract in the process. The rest of the movie centres around of their working relationship, blossoming romance and Jenny finding her true self while Ami probes into the disappearance of Hanna. This movie surprises me in being very entertaining and having a fresh feeling about it despite an age old storyline.

The finale where Jenny confesses her past and true feelings on her maiden concert really tugs the heartstrings at a high rate of gushing tears. What truly amazes me is that actress Kim Ah-Joong who plays Hanna/Jenny actually sang the theme songs featured in the movie. Every time she bit her lips and look at you with those big teary eyes simply melts the popcorn in my mouth.

Ratings: 4 out 5 - Just for Kim Ah-Joong alone......

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