Movies Update

The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep is a 2007 fantasy film directed by Jay Russell. The screenplay, written by screenwriter Robert Nelson Jacobs, is an adaptation of Dick King-Smith’s children’s novel The Water Horse. It stars Alex Etel as a young boy who discovers a mysterious egg and cares for what hatches out of it: a ‘water horse’ (loosely based on the Celtic water horse) which later becomes the fabled Loch Ness Monster.

The story of a youngster who befriends a mythical beast, The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep makes for occasionally magical family entertainment, critics say. Sorta like E.T but with a thicker brogue, The Water Horse tells the story of Angus (Alex Atel), who stumbles upon a mysterious egg that contains a creature that grows up to be the Loch Ness Monster. Pundits say that while it feels familiar and doesn′t stray too from coming-of-age story conventions, The Water Horse is loaded with charm and a sense of majesty, carried by strong CGI work. At 71 percent on the Tomatometer, this Water is safe to wade in for the whole family.

Replace Crusoe with a whale and you have Free Willy. Replace him with a dog and you have Lassie. The Water Horse follows in the tradition of movies like these, in which the bond between a boy and his pet opens the child to new possibilities. Because of Crusoe, Angus is able to overcome his grief over the death of his father and re-connect with his family and those around him. Crusoe gives him a reason to reach out and someone to care for other than himself. The obvious thing that makes this unique is the way in which it weaves one of the world’s most enduring modern-day legends into its text. Take away the Loch Ness Monster aspect of the movie and this would feel less fresh and more familiar.

Star(s) to watch : David Morrissey (”Basic Instinct 2?, “The Reaping”) as Captain Hamilton.

Genre : Adventure, Fantasy, Drama, Adaptation.

Release date : December 25, 2007

Rating : 7/10

Official website : http://www.thewaterhorse.com/

Poster : http://movies-update.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/the_water_horse_legend_of_the_deep-202𝗬.jpg

Trailer :

Love, politics and loyalty threaten to tear apart three soldiers in this lavish historical epic from Hong Kong. In 1870, the power of the corrupt Qing Dynasty has been threatened by the rise of a revolutionary army, led by religious fanatics, and civil war is tearing the nation apart. Pang Qingyun (Jet Li), a good man who finds himself fighting for the Qing leadership, is one of the only survivors of a bloody battle in between revolutionaries and Qing troops, and is looking for someplace to go when he’s offered shelter by a beautiful peasant woman, Lian (Xu Jinglei). Pang and Lian spend the night in each others arms, and he finds himself falling in love with her. Pang sets out to make his way home when he’s befriended by Zhao Erhu (Andy Lau) and Jiang Wuyang (Takeshi Kaneshiro), a pair of bandits. When Jiang is attacked in an ambush, Pang helps save his life, and the three men become blood brothers in a gory ritual. Pang convinces Jiang and Zhao to join him in the fight against the revolutionaries, and with their help Pang is able to achieve some impressive victories. However, when Pang allows his own ego and dreams of glory to override his common sense and loyalty, Zhao and Jiang come to distrust their ally, and matters become worse when it is revealed that Lian is Zhao’s wife. Tou Ming Zhuang (aka The Warlords) was a major box office success in China and Eastern Asia before making its way to theaters in Europe and the United States. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Star(s) to watch : Jet Li (”Hero”, “Fearless”, “Kiss of the Dragon”, “Once Upon a Time in China”) as General Ma Xinyi, Andy Lau (”Infernal Affairs”) as Cao Er-Hu, & Takeshi Kaneshiro (”Returner”) as Zhang Wen-Xiang.

Genre : Action, Drama, War.

Release date : December 13, 2007

Rating : 6/10

Duration: 2hrs 10min

Director:Peter Chan

Official website : http://www.warlordsthemovie.com/

Poster : http://movies-update.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/the_warloads1-205×300.jpg

Trailer :

The Bank Job is a 2008 crime film based on a 1971 true-life robbery of a bank in Baker Street, London, from which the money and valuables stolen were never recovered. The story was prevented from being told because of a D-Notice government gagging request, allegedly to protect a prominent member of the British Royal Family.

Martine offers Terry a lead on a foolproof bank hit on London’s Baker Street. She targets a roomful of safe deposit boxes worth millions in cash and jewelry. But Terry and his crew don’t realize the boxes also contain a treasure trove of dirty secrets - secrets that will thrust them into a deadly web of corruption and illicit scandal.

The story is based on a 1971 London break-in where a band of inept thieves tunneled into a branch of Lloyds Bank and made off with the contents of its vault, valued at more than 3 million pounds. During the course of the robbery, a ham radio operator happened upon walkie-talkie communications between the robbers and a lookout. Authorities were summoned and the story was splashed across all the British news outlets. While the robberycaptured the attention of the public, it just as quickly disappeared. Covert machinations led to a surprising conclusion.

Star(s) to watch : Jason Statham (”Transporter”, “The One”) as Terry Leather, & Saffron Burrows (”Troy”, “Deep Blue Sea”) as Martine Love.

Genre : Drama, Action.

Release date : March 7, 2008

Rating : 7/10

Official website : http://www.lionsgate.com/thebankjob

Poster : http://movies-update.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/the_bank_job-196×300.jpg

Trailer :

Los Angeles police officers are corrupt. Really corrupt. We get it Hollywood. Here’s yet another in a long line of films about corruption in the LAPD. Don’t believe the film’s misleading trailers. Street Kings is not a movie about cops cleaning up the streets. This is a movie about cops cleaning up after themselves.

Take Training Day and cross it with the FX television series The Shield, and you have Street Kings. Keanu Reeves plays Detective Tom Ludlow, a dirty cop who works with a team of dirty cops. The difference between Tom and the rest of his squad is that he doesn’t seem to realize he’s a sleaze. His commander describes him as “the point of the spear”, and they use him whenever they want to abuse their badges to have a bunch of bad guys executed quickly, cleanly, and without the reading of Miranda rights. Tom is pretty good when it comes to killing and his commander is even better when it comes to covering up for his wanton slaughter.

Things change for Tom when his ex-partner is murdered in what appears to be a random act of gang violence. Ludlow may be a point and shoot killing machine, but he’s also loyal to his brothers in blue. He’s rocked by the death of his partner, and when the department inexplicably refuses to investigate his killing, Tom takes it on himself to figure out what the hell is going on. For Keanu Reeves, that means a lot of looking bewilderingly constipated, something he’s pretty good at.

Making fun of Keanu Reeves’ limited acting range is kind of like throwing rocks at a retarded kid though, and I’ve always been a big supporter of his. Sure he has only a scant a few facial expressions at his disposal, but they’re good expressions, and when he’s put in the right situation Keanu Reeves really works on screen. Unfortunately, he’s not give much to work with here. He guzzles vodka from tiny airplane-sized bottles, but it’s more of an affectation than a genuine character flaw. Tom and Street Kings are both standard stuff. Another convoluted cop corruption movie filled with unlikable characters and a dubious anti-hero who is only a hero because he seems to think he is, or because he shoots first.

Genre : Drama, Thriller.

Release date : April 11, 2008

Length: 107 min

Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures

Directed : David Ayer

Produced : Erwin Stoff, Alexandra Milchan, Lucas Foster

Written : James Elroy, David Ayer

Official website : http://www.foxsearchlight.com/streetkings/

Poster : http://movies-update.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/street_kings-202×300.jpg

Trailer :

When med school student Ted Gray (Milo Ventimiglia) graduates top of his class, he joins one of the nation’s most prestigious Pathology programs. With talent and determination, Ted is quickly noticed by the program’s privileged and elite band of pathology interns who invite him into their crowd.

Intrigued by his new friends he begins to uncover secrets he never expected and finds that he has unknowingly become a pawn in their dangerous and secret after hours game at the morgue of who can commit the perfect undetectable murder. As Ted becomes seduced into their wild extracurricular activities, the danger becomes real and he must stay one step ahead of the game before he is the next victim.

Star(s) to watch : Milo Ventimiglia (”Cursed”, “Stay Alive”, “Rocky Balboa”) as Dr. Ted Gray, &amp Alyssa Milano (”Commando”) as Gwen Williamson.

Genre : Drama, Thriller.

Release date : April 18, 2008

Official website : http://www.enterpathologylab.com/

Poster : http://movies-update.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/pathology-200×300.jpg

Trailer :

A corporate workaholic finds that her decision to work late on Christmas Eve has potentially deadly consequences in this thriller starring Wes Bently and Rachel Nichols. It’s that time of the year, and as the snow falls outside and families gather around the dinner table, Angela vows to close one last deal before the holiday. Now late for her family gathering, Angela rushes down to the garage in hopes of racing home and catching dinner before it gets cold. When her car refuses to start, her phone fails to get a signal, and everyone else has already left, it begins to appear as if Angela’s luck may have finally run out. Thankfully, a friendly security guard appears and offers to lend a helping hand. During the course of discussion, the security guard flirtatiously invites Angela to share the Christmas dinner he has prepared in the parking office - an offer that the high-powered corporate climber laughingly dismisses. The next thing Angels knows, she wakes up tied to a chair in the cold security office located on level P2. It appears as if the security guard’s invitation wasn’t optional, and that Christmas dinner was the last thing on his mind. Upon realizing just how serious her situation truly is Angela struggles to escape her subterranean prison and make it out so that she may live to see another Christmas morning. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Star(s) to watch : Wes Bentley (”Ghost Rider”, “American Beauty”) as Thomas, & Rachel Nichols (”The Amityville Horror”) as Angela Bridges.

Genre : Drama, Thriller.

Release date : November 9, 2007

Rating : 8/10

Official website : http://www.p2themovie.com/

Poster : http://movies-update.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/p2-202×300.jpg

Trailer :

For what it is ? Eva Longoria Parker, as Kate, the ghost, represents the control-freak/ice-queen end of the female comedic spectrum pretty well, while Lake Bell as Ashley, the psychic, is perfectly lovely on the sweet, scatterbrained end. In the middle is Henry the vet, played by the winningly smirky Paul Rudd, and there are sidekicks drawn from the usual storeroom: the kooky sister (Lindsay Sloane) and the gay male best friend (Jason Biggs). There is no question that this movie, the first feature directed by Jeff Lowell, whose screenwriting credits include ‘John Tucker Must Die,’ But it also could have been, with a little more effort, a lot better.

Over Her Dead Body is marketed as a supernatural romantic comedy. The problem is that it’s neither very romantic nor very comedic—and things aren’t appreciably better on the supernatural front. The setup has Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria Parker (sporting one of those unhealthy-looking orange “tans”) as Kate, the obnoxious control-freak fianc?of Henry (Paul Rudd, Knocked Up). Kate is crushed to death by an ice sculpture of a wingless angel on her wedding day. Not only is this spectacularly unfunny and wrongheaded (three minutes of the Kate character and you’re ready to applaud the wingless angel and buy her a drink), but it is quite possibly the most amateurish bit of filmmaking ever to grace the screen.

So his naturally concerned sis, Chloe (Lindsay Sloane, Nancy Drew), drags him to see her friend Ashley (TV actress Lake Bell), a caterer who moonlights as a psychic (don’t they all?). The idea is to contact Kate’s spirit and get her to tell him to get on with his life. Of course, what happens is that Henry and Ashley soon fall in love (possibly because Ms. Bell shares the same alarming orange hue of Ms. Longoria Parker). Kate’s ghost witnesses this and decides that her unaccomplished mission in life (yes, this is one of those Lilliom-inspired affairs where the dead return to deal with unfinished business) is to save Henry from Kate. Complications, supposed mirth (including supernatural flatulence, of course) and the cheesiest special effects imaginable ensue.

Star(s) to watch : Eva Longoria (”The Sentinel”) as Kate, & Paul Rudd (”The 40-Year-Old Virgin”, “Night at the Museum”) as Henry.

Genre : Comedy, Drama.

Release date : February 1, 2008

Official website : http://www.overherdeadbodymovie.com/

Poster : http://movies-update.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/over_her_dead_body-202×300.jpg

Trailer :

Seemingly neither man nor animal, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) is the embodiment of evil in the Coen Brothers’ latest film, “No Country for Old Men.” Based on the novel of the same title by Cormic McCarthy, the film tells the story of Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), a Texas game hunter who stumbles upon a briefcase containing two million dollars of drug money. Coveting the money for himself, Chigurh, a recently escaped serial killer, hunts Moss without rest, a trail of death in his wake. Over-the-hill local sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) also enters the hunt, his only goals to save Moss’s life and prove to himself his own adequacy.

Another triumph for the Coen Brothers, No Country has the perfect mixture of suspense, humor, and desperately compelling performances. The seemingly simple story hides a more complex narrative, and high tension is maintained throughout.

The Oscar winning writing/directing team of Joel and Ethan Coen (?Fargo??1996) are at it again with another pot-boiler. This one stars Tommy Lee Jones who is as much at home in the West Texas setting as a lizard in the sun and one cool pro in playing Sheriff Ed Tom Bell. The last of a family of sheriffs, Ed can?t help but think of the old days, when things were much simpler. Back then many of the sheriffs didn?t even wear guns.

Star(s) to watch : Josh Brolin (”Hollow Man”, “Mimic”) Llewelyn Moss.

Genre : Drama, Thriller, Adaptation.

Release date : November 9, 2007

Rating : 7/10

Official website : http://www.nocountryforoldmen-themovie.com/

Poster : http://movies-update.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/no_country_for_old_men-187×300.jpg

Trailer :

Set against the action-packed world of Mixed Martial Arts, Never Back Down is the story of Jake Tyler, a tough kid who leads with his fists, and, often, with his heart. Jake Tyler, played by Sean Faris, is the new kid in town with a troubled past.

Attractive young actors and kick-ass fight scenes would seem to guarantee an audience of teens, and “Never Back Down” has been shrewdly engineered to tap into that hungry market. Although the movie set in the hot new arena of mixed martial arts is a bit short on star power, it’s energetic and warm-hearted enough to become a word-of-mouth hit.

But life ‘ in the form of Max (Peters) ‘ won’t leave Jake alone. Max has seen Jake?s right hook, and convinces and cajoles him to come down to his mixed martial arts club, run by coach Jean Roqua (Hounsou). Roqua is a legend in the world of MMA ‘ a sport that mixes fighting styles from a number of disciplines including karate, judo, kickboxing, wrestling ‘ and, after initial doubts, agrees to take Jake on as a student, on one condition; that there is no fighting outside the gym. Jake readily agrees, and loses himself in the training, coming on in leaps and bounds. At last he has an outlet for his aggression, and begins to temper and control it.

Star(s) to watch : Sean Faris (”Pearl Harbor”) as Jake Tyler, & Amber Heard as Baja Miller.

Genre : Action, Drama.

Release date : March 14, 2008

Official website : http://neverbackdownthemovie.com/

Poster : http://movies-update.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/never_back_down-205×300.jpg

Trailer :

Hey, wasn’t Stephen Chow supposed to be in this movie? Regardless of a lack of Chow, CJ7 channels Stephen Chow goodness and has the humor and heart to entertain the youngor those with young minds. You can decide which camp you belong to.

Featuring the trademark Chow slapstick humor, CJ7 is a comedy about a poor laborer father, Ti, played by Stephen Chow, and his young son, Dicky. When a fascinating and strange new pet enters their lives, Dicky, an elementary school student, sees a chance to overcome his poor background and shabby clothes and impress his fellow students for the first time in his life. The “pet” however has other ideas and when Dicky brings it to class, comedic chaos erupts including a showdown with the terrifying school bully, Storm Dragon!

The film’s difficulty in shifting between these tonal registers is the primary obstacle to its success. Chow seems unsure how to bridge low comedy and high melodrama, utilizing two wildly distinct formal approaches that often resonate atonally. One early comic sequence in which Dicky witnesses schoolmates playing with an expensive toy is quickly followed by a scene in which Ti spanks Dicky in a toy store for misbehavior. The extraordinarily loud, crisp sound work makes the sequence deeply upsetting, bringing to mind of all things that painful, awful slap in Bicycle Thieves (a comparison Chow would likely invite, given the film’s interest in class cleavages).

Star(s) to watch : Stephen Chow (”Kung Fu Hustle”, “Shaolin Soccer”) as Ti, & Kitty Zhang Yuqi as Miss Yuen.

Genre : Comedy, Sci-Fi, Drama.

Release date : January 31, 2008

Rating : 8/10

Official website : http://www.sonypictures.net/movies/cЫ/

Poster : http://movies-update.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/cj7-202𝗬.jpg

Trailer :